Free Republic

SEOUL, South Korea — Travis King, the U.S. Army private who intentionally ran across the border into North Korea this summer, is back in U.S. custody, an American official said Wednesday, shortly after the isolated East Asian country said it would expel the soldier. “U.S. officials have secured the return of Private Travis King from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea," Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder said in a statement. He went on to thank the U.S. military personnel who worked to "bring Private King home," as well as the governments of Sweden and China. King, 23, bolted across...

GOP lawmakers are calling for the United States to shoot down the alleged Chinese spy balloon found floating over Montana on Wednesday. The Pentagon said it would not shoot down the balloon, arguing it "does not present a military or physical threat to people on the ground at this time," and China blamed the incursion into U.S. airspace on a civilian aircraft that had deviated off course. Montana is home to sensitive nuclear military installations. "It was a mistake to not shoot down that Chinese spy balloon when it was over a sparsely populated area," Sen. Marco Rubio (FL), the...

A massive spy balloon from China is flying over the continental U.S., government officials said Thursday. "The United States government has detected and is tracking a high-altitude surveillance balloon that is flying over the continental United States right now," Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder told reporters. "NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense Command) continues to track and monitor it closely."

WEST HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (AP) — An employee was killed and two people were wounded Tuesday in a shooting at a Long Island grocery store, police said. Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said a person of interest in the shooting had worked at the store and remains at large. The shooting happened around 11 a.m. inside a manager’s office upstairs from the shopping floor at the Stop & Shop in West Hempstead, Ryder said. The man who was killed was a 49-year-old store employee, Ryder said. The two wounded were hospitalized and were conscious and alert.

[snip] "You want the best for your children. Not the worst," Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder said on "Fox & Friends." "MS-13's motto: Kill, rape, control ... That's what you want dating your daughter?"