Nonprofit flies troops home for milestones they can't afford to miss

Forty nine outs of baseball were played at Taylor Stadium on Saturday.

The Tigers finished one game from the night before and played their regularly scheduled game, with both heading into extra innings. Mizzou took a Game 1 victory, but lost Game 2.

Game 1: Mizzou 8, Vanderbilt 7

After the first pitch of the Friday game was pushed back three times due to rain, the game finally began at 8:55 p.m.

The Tigers were held to just one run through the first seven inning, before they exploded for a six-run eighth for an improbable comeback. This put Mizzou on top 7-6 heading into the ninth.

Mizzou needed just three outs out of Sam Rosand to send the Tigers home with a win. But immense fog that had began rolling in during the eighth now made Kaden Peer seem like a ghost in center field.

A single and a walk put two runners on for the game-defining controversial call. Braden Holcomb, already with one home run in that game, hit a deep ball that got lost in the fog.

After Donovan Jordan put his hands up, it was ruled a ground-rule double. Trackman data on the exit velocity and launch angle suggested a home run, but the umpires could not make a conclusive call with the field conditions. Replay also did not offer any help for the decision.

The umpires put the runners back on second and third, then suspended the game at 12:10 a.m. with two outs in the ninth.

The game proceed at 4 p.m. Saturday and Juan Villarreal took over on the mound, quickly shutting down the inning.

With the game tied at seven, Mizzou needed just one run to walk it off.

The Tigers failed to produce a run in the bottom half of the inning, stranding runners at second and third. Villarreal came back out for the tenth, gave up a double, but muted the Commodores again.

Kam Durnin earned a pivotal lead-off walk to begin the 10th, then was pushed to second on a groundout. This put Durnin in position to score off of the single up the middle from Jordan.

Yes, the same Jordan who raised his hands to call a ground-rule double on what might have been a three-run homer to give Vanderbilt the lead.

He walked it off in the 10th inning. Jordan was 1-for-4 in the game coming into the final at-bat.

That was the Tigers’ second Southeastern Conference home win of the season and fifth overall.

Game 2:

The second game between Mizzou and Vanderbilt began with a surefire ground-rule double. No debate about that one.

The Commodores had a hot start, stalled, then made a late comeback against Mizzou. A three-run 11th inning sealed Mizzou’s fate in its 11-8 loss in Game 2.

The Tigers pushed ahead early, aided by seven runs in the first three innings.

Three free bases put a man at each station for the first free run of the game. The Commodores opted to switch pitchers in the second, but Brennan Sieber balked to push Eric Maisonet home. Mizzou responded with a bases-clearing double from Kam Durnin to tie the game.

Blaize Ward singled to score Durnin and give Mizzou an early lead. That was just the beginning.

With three runs in the third inning, the Tigers gave themselves a four-run divide from the Commodores. Two of the runs scored on wild pitches and the other on a sacrifice fly from Jase Woita. Mizzou scored another in the fourth as a double from Jordan followed a walk from Mateo Serna, bringing the Tigers’ lead to 8-3.

The Commodores finally forced starter Brady Kehlenbrink out of the game before the sixth inning, tagging him for two earned runs on five hits. He struck out six in his outing and held Vanderbilt scoreless in three of his five frames.

After Kehlenbrink, Mizzou couldn’t find a solution to Vanderbilt’s resurging offense. It took two pitchers to get through the sixth inning. Three runs scored on a solo homer, RBI groundout and a single before Eli Skidmore forced the final out of the inning.

After the top of the sixth, the game entered into a weather delay. Vanderbilt came out of it and cut the deficit to one with an RBI groundout in the seventh. It was tied with a solo shot in the eighth.

The Commodores and Tigers locked horns through the ninth and 10th, each not plating a run.

Then Vanderbilt’s Ryker Waite broke the tie in the 11th, swatting a two-out homer that there was no doubt of the ball leaving the stadium.

A two-out double added some late insurance runs for the Commodores and pushed the score to 11-8.

Mizzou will return against Vanderbilt at 1 p.m. Sunday in Columbia. Keyler Gonzalez is set to make his second start of the season for the Tigers.

(The Center Square) – The Trump administration's $1.5 trillion military budget request would rewrite how the Pentagon buys weapons – forcing contractors to fund their own factory expansions and penalizing them for missing production targets – in a bid to fix what officials describe as a decades-long failure to turn American innovation into usable military capability.

Submitted to Congress on April 3, the proposal allocates more than $100 billion to rebuilding the defense industrial base through four programs: $20.2 billion through the Office of Strategic Capital for low-interest credit and loan guarantees; $30.4 billion through the Defense Production Act to expand production capacity; $41.8 billion for industrial base analysis and sustainment to attract new suppliers; and $52.9 billion through the Munitions Acceleration Council to send long-term demand signals to manufacturers.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth told the House Armed Services Committee on April 29 that funding alone will not solve the problem – the procurement system itself must change.

"The historic, generational, and transformational changes we implement will move us from the current prime contractor-dominated system defined by limited competition, vendor lock, cost-plus contracts, stressed budgets and frustrating protests – to a future powered by a dynamic vendor space that accelerates production," Hegseth said.

At the center of that shift is a new multi-year procurement model – contracts lasting up to seven years for critical munitions – designed to give manufacturers the certainty needed to build new facilities rather than add shifts to existing ones. Under the model, contractors fund their own capital expenditures upfront and face financial penalties if they fail to meet agreed-upon production ramp rates.

Jules "Jay" Hurst III, performing the duties of Under Secretary of War Comptroller, said the previous approach, in which the government financed capacity expansion, had produced marginal results.

"We're making them put skin in the game," Hurst said at an April 21 Pentagon budget briefing. "We're giving them a multi-year order, and we expect them to meet the ramp rates that they agree to, and if they don't, there'll be penalties for them."

The changes target a structural problem that the government's own watchdog has tracked for years and found to be getting worse. In its June 2025 annual weapon systems assessment, the Government Accountability Office found that major defense acquisition programs now take nearly 12 years on average to deliver even an initial capability to troops, up 18 months from the prior year. Combined costs across 30 major programs increased by $49.3 billion in a single year, with the Air Force's Sentinel ICBM program accounting for $36 billion of that growth alone.

"DOD plans to invest nearly $2.4 trillion to develop and acquire its costliest weapon programs," the GAO reported. "But it continues to struggle with delivering timely and effective solutions to the warfighter."

Even the Pentagon's own fast-track acquisition pathway – designed to deliver capability in two to five years – has fallen short, with programs entering it with immature technologies and exiting without being ready for production. GAO's recommendations to fix the problem, issued to the Pentagon and all three military services, remain open, indicating no satisfactory corrective action has been taken.

During a June 2025 congressional hearing, U.S. Rep. William Timmons, R-S.C., said promising technologies routinely fail to reach military use.

"Unfortunately, for too many of those innovators, the path to partnership with the federal government is blocked by a procurement process that is opaque, rigid, and often punishing," he said. "The risk of entering the defense market – both in time and cost – deters even the most promising companies. And for those who try, many never make it past what many in the industry have called the 'valley of death,' where transformative technologies die on the vine between prototype and production, often because of bureaucratic red tape."

Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, put the acquisition gap plainly in written testimony to the House Armed Services Committee on April 29.

"We have been outstanding at buying 10 to 15 years behind the technology development curve," Caine said. "But over the last year, we have made significant reforms across our acquisition enterprise to close the gap. Together, we still have much work to do."

The National Defense Industrial Association's Vital Signs 2026 report, drawing on responses from 1,646 government, industry and academic officials, found that progress on industrial readiness is measurable but fragile. The report identified budget instability, compliance burdens and unclear demand signals as persistent constraints limiting industry participation — the precise conditions the multi-year contract model is designed to address.

"A robust defense industrial base is among the most powerful tools we have to deter conflict and protect our national security," said David Norquist, NDIA president and CEO.

Eric Fanning, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, said the budget delivers what manufacturers most need.

"The President's budget request lays a strong foundation for America's aerospace and defense industry because it provides what we need most: clear demand signals that tell companies where to invest, what to build and how to plan for the future," Fanning said.

Shipbuilding represents the largest single industrial investment in the proposal. The request includes $65.8 billion to procure 18 battle force ships and 16 support ships — the largest shipbuilding request since 1962 — along with $8.7 billion for shipyard infrastructure across seven private and four public yards. The budget also funds a study for a potential fifth public shipyard.

On munitions, the request allocates $26 billion for multi-year procurement contracts and $31.8 billion for land-based missiles, including expanded production of Patriot and Terminal High Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, systems. For next-generation platforms, the budget funds continued development of the F-47 sixth-generation fighter and the B-21 stealth bomber and increases F-35 procurement from 47 to 85 aircraft as part of a $102 billion air power investment, a 26% increase.

The Pentagon has already begun restructuring how it manages acquisitions, standing up 23 Portfolio Acquisition Executives responsible for weapons programs from development through fielding, with performance tracked publicly.

Congressional reaction has been divided.

Senate and House Armed Services Committee chairmen Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., and Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., called the request essential, saying the country faces "the most dangerous global environment since World War II."

Senate Armed Services Committee Ranking Member Jack Reed, D-R.I., rejected it.

"This is not a serious budget," Reed said. "The U.S. Department of Defense doesn't lack funding, but it currently lacks responsible civilian leadership and management."

The sharpest structural critique came from within the Republican Party. Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., chairman of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense, warned that the budget's reliance on $350 billion in reconciliation funding — which requires only a simple majority and bypasses the traditional appropriations process — undermines the industrial base argument at its core.

"Budget reconciliation, for its part, can only supplement – not replace – the consistent demand signals necessary to secure the private sector investments necessary to adequately expand and modernize our defense industrial base," McConnell said. "Regular order appropriations are the right way to meet the scale and scope of the requirements of our military."

The concern is practical. Multi-year production contracts that depend on reconciliation funding that expires or fails to pass offer manufacturers less certainty than the administration's model promises. McConnell called for a separate supplemental appropriations request to fund munitions contracts Congress already authorized but said were "unnecessarily hamstrung by an insufficient defense topline."

Analysts at the International Institute for Strategic Studies highlighted additional execution risks. The budget's 42% increase figure combines base and reconciliation funding; excluding reconciliation, the base budget grows by 28%. The IISS also noted that a 188% increase in missile procurement "raises questions as to whether U.S. industry can meet demands" and that the budget's financial assumptions relied in part on tariff revenues the U.S. Supreme Court has since ruled illegal.

The sixth inning started with a misplayed ball in left field.

Linny Ramsey lost a leadoff triple in the wind at John Cropp Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky, and the team unraveled after the mistake. A throwing error then a wild pitch led into a two-run homer from Auburn freshman Hannah Roebuck. She who hadn't homered since the season opener. Those misplays contributed to six unanswered runs in the final two innings. Mizzou softball lost 6-2 in a game that ended its season.

For the second consecutive year, Missouri finished below the .500 threshold required for at-large bids to the NCAA Tournament, ending at 28-29. It marked the first time since 2002 the program had missed back-to-back tournaments.

Under NCAA rules, a team must finish at or above .500, including conference tournament games, to be eligible for at-large consideration. Missouri knew it coming in. It knew it after every loss. It knew it in the final inning Tuesday in Lexington.

Feb. 9: Missouri opened the season at the NFCA Division I Leadoff Classic in Clearwater, Florida, going 2-3 in a competitive first five games. Two of the three losses came in extra innings. The third came against Oregon, which is currently the No. 11 in the country.

The freshman class immediately introduced itself, leading the way for the rest of the season. Two-way player Abby Carr earned a spot on the NFCA Leadoff Classic All-Tournament Team after carrying a no-hitter into the final inning against then-No. 23 Liberty. Sidney Forrester hit her first collegiate home run against South Alabama.

“For the first time being outside, I was extremely happy,” head coach Larissa Anderson said following the tournament. “I see where our potential is. We're not even close to it as a whole.”

March 1: That optimism quickly faded. Missouri went 2-3 at the Shriners Children's Clearwater Invitational, including a competitive matchup against currently ranked No. 6/8 UCLA, before going 1-4 in the Cajun AC Louisiana Clash. The Tigers lost twice to McNeese State, once to Houston and suffered a 9-1 run-rule loss to Louisiana in six innings. This stretch also included a 5-1 road loss to UCF.

The Tigers entered the Mizzou Invitational with a record of 5-11 – the first time Anderson had had a losing record through 16 games since taking over the program in 2018. The team batting average sat at .248, the worst in the Southeastern Conference. The pitching staff's ERA was 3.80.

The Tigers split their weekend at home, run-ruling Drake and Wichita State while losing a pair against Miami (Ohio).

“When you have seven out of nine players in your lineup who are either freshmen or sophomores, they don't have a lot of experience understanding the game within the game,” Anderson said after losing to Miami 8-2. “There were times we just got ourselves out of situations that we could have capitalized on.”

Mar. 12: Conference play arrived and Missouri seemed to have figured some things out. Despite being swept in its SEC series opener against then-ranked No. 5/8 Florida, Missouri lost two games by just one run and pushed Game 2 to 11 innings before former Tiger Madison Walker won the game with a walk-off single.

Mar. 30: While the Tigers fell to 7-16 and 0-3 in SEC play, but something shifted after Florida. Missouri won 13 of its next 15 games, a stretch that included a statement win over No. 6 Alabama and a series sweep over Auburn.

In front of more than 3,500 fans at Mizzou Softball Stadium, the Tigers beat the Crimson Tide 5-2 in Game 2 of the series. Cierra Harrison settled in after allowing two early runs, finishing with five strikeouts in 4⅓ innings pitched. Carr earned her first career save, stranding three Alabama runners seventh with a line out. Sophie Smith delivered the decisive two-RBI double in the third.

"They walked Abby Carr to get to me and I knew I had to make them pay for that," Smith said.

Alabama took the other two games of the series, marking the only two losses in the 15 game stretch. But Missouri kept rolling, sweeping Auburn on the road. This was the first time the Tigers swept a conference opponent since South Carolina to close the 2024 regular season. Carr hit the go-ahead two-run homer in the fifth inning of the finale. The Tigers moved to 19-18, above .500 for the first time all season.

"If you don't believe, you have no shot," Anderson said following the win against Alabama. "They're starting to believe that everything that they're doing is paying off.”

April: Missouri remained around .500 for the rest of the season. The Tigers won its midweek matchup before stealing a game in the weekend's SEC series on five separate occasions - including Alabama.

LSU run-ruled the Tigers 9-1 in the series opener at Mizzou Softball Stadium, with pitcher Jayden Heavener striking out 11. Harrison responded by throwing a shutout in game three to salvage the series with a 1-0 win.

In Athens, Georgia, Missouri stole game two against No. 14 Georgia 4-3 thanks to four shutout innings from Marissa McCann shutout and a career-high six strikeouts from Carr in relief. Missouri was 22-22 following its trip to Athens.

In its toughest midweek game against Kansas, Abby Hay delivered with a go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh inning to take down the Jayhawks 4-2. It was the kind of win that could only come at the hands of a Columbia native.

"They know what's at stake more than anybody else," Anderson said. "The pride that they have and the rich tradition and the history, they understand the rivalry, it just means more."

South Carolina followed, a team the Tigers ranked ahead of in the SEC standings. McCann threw her first career SEC shutout in a 5-0 win in Game 2. She was backed by a Claire Cahalan throw that gunned down a runner at home and a Forrester diving catch in right field.

“They work so hard and I'm just so happy that they got to showcase some of their skills,” McCann said. “Knowing I can pitch free and my defense always has my back no matter what.”

But the Gamecocks took the other two games, winning their first series against the Tigers since 2018. Mizzou fell to 23-24 with Arkansas and Tennessee still ahead.

Missouri added a midweek game against SIUE to help boost its record. McCann delivered the signature moment of her career thus far after throwing the 13th perfect game in program history, striking out 11 in a 7-0 win.

"It almost made me want to tear up seeing the way that my teammates ran out of the dugout," McCann said. “That just shows a lot about the closeness of this team.”

In Fayetteville, Arkansas, Missouri dropped the first two games to No. 6 Arkansas before stealing the series finale 3-1. Forrester hit a three-run homer off Payton Burnham, who had shutout the Tigers in game one. Harrison entered the game out of the bullpen, holding one of the SEC's most dangerous offenses scoreless over 4⅔ innings. Lenger gunned down a runner at home from center field. Ramsey made a running catch in the left-center gap that robbed Arkansas of a sure double.

After a midweek win over Kansas City, Missouri came home to face Tennessee and Karlyn Pickens, the No. 1 overall pick in the AUSL Draft. The Tigers upset Tennessee in game three 4-3 in Harrison's final home start. She pitched four innings, allowing two runs and striking out three in her final game in Columbia. When the senior walked off the mound, the crowd of more than 2,600 rose. She was greeted at the dugout with hugs from McCann, Anderson and Hay.

At 28-28, Missouri needed just one win in the SEC Tournament to remain at .500 and be eligible for the NCAA Tournament.

May 5: Missouri led Auburn 2-0 through five innings in Lexington. Harrison held Auburn to three hits and zero earned runs – one final dominant performance from the senior who was the mark of consistency all four years.

Then the sixth inning happened.

The season ended the same way it had threatened to end all year. One win short.

Of the nine starters in Missouri's final batting lineup, six were underclassmen. Carr, Forrester and Addy Waits, the freshman trio that defined this season, will all return. So will McCann and Hay. The biggest loss is Harrison, who leaves behind a legacy Anderson described through tears after the loss.

"She's got guts," Anderson said. "One of the toughest pitchers I've ever coached and I'm extremely proud of her. It's always tough when you have players that give everything they have and this is the end. Our defense has been our staple all year and defense let us down today."

But these returners will attempt to shake off the past two seasons and take Mizzou back to the NCAA Tournament.

(The Center Square) – A gun smuggling operation run by Canadian, Pakistani and Jordanian citizens has been thwarted at the U.S.-Canada border, authorities said.

While illegal border crosser crime has dropped considerably at the U.S.-Canada border from the Biden administration era, border crime is still ongoing, including human, drug and weapons smuggling and trafficking.

On Friday, three men were magistrated before a federal judge in White Plains, New York, and detained after their arrest for an alleged gun running scheme. The scheme involved trafficking 89 firearms, including at least 17 stolen firearms, and attempting to smuggle them to Canada through or near an Indian reservation.  

Canadian national Malik Bromfield, Pakistani national Faizan Ali, and Kamal Salman, who claims to have citizenship in Canada, Jordan and the U.S., were arrested on Thursday after a traffic stop in Liberty, New York, in Sullivan County.

They were each charged with smuggling, unlicensed dealing in firearms, transporting stolen firearms in interstate commerce and unlawful possession of firearms, according to the complaint. Bromfield was also charged with “unlawful possession of a firearm by an alien.” If convicted, they each face decades in prison. 

“As alleged, Malik Bromfield, Faizan Ali, and Kamal Salman were caught transporting more than 80 guns, including short-barreled rifles and stolen firearms, to smuggle them out of the country,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton said. “It is critically important to New Yorkers and Americans to keep illegal weapons out of the hands of criminal actors.  The trafficking of dangerous weapons will be relentlessly pursued by this Office.”

On or about May 7, New York State Police pulled over Bromfield, driving a vehicle with a North Carolina license plate, after he was allegedly swerving in out of lanes near State Route 90. The troopers asked the men to exit the vehicle and after receiving inconsistent and evasive responses to questioning troopers discovered an array of alleged criminal activity. 

Bromfield claimed he was traveling from New York City to Syracuse to visit Salman’s family members, according to the complaint. Salman and Ali said they were traveling from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Law enforcement later learned that they had left Jupiter, Florida, the day before they were arrested. 

The stop led to the troopers finding an Afghan national’s ID card, suspected narcotics, a weapons cache and $3,000 in cash, and an alleged plan to traffic weapons into Canada for profit, according to the criminal complaint.

After Ali consented to a roadside search of his person, a trooper found an “expired Pakistani National Driving Permit issued to an Afghan national in another name concealed in ALI’s buttocks,” according to the complaint. 

Salman and Bromfield declined searches resulting in a canine sweeping the exterior of the vehicle. The canine alerted troopers to the potential presence of narcotics. 

After the canine search resulted in probable cause, the troopers initiated a preliminary search of the vehicle and found an unusually heavy suitcase. Inside was the weapons cache.  

Additional firearms were found on the floor of the back seat, according to the complaint.

They also found a GPS navigation app on Bromfield’s phone’s home screen with an address in or near Hammond, New York, located across the St. Lawrence River from Ontario, Canada. 

The location is a hotspot for illegal border crosser crime through the Akwesasne Mohawk Territory. The territory, which straddles the international border along the St. Lawrence River, has been a target of human, drug and weapons smuggling, as well as other crimes, The Center Square reported. Understaffed with limited resources, First Nation chiefs have had difficulty combatting smuggling and trafficking crime. 

Upon further investigation, Ali has at least four outstanding arrest warrants in Canada, including one related to a fatal automobile collision and another connected to alleged methamphetamine trafficking, according to the charges.

The complaint includes details about the seized firearms, including those reported stolen in Pasadena, Texas, and Fort Lauderdale and North Miami Beach in Florida.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives New York Field Office, and FBI-New York Hudson Valley Safe Streets Task Force, are involved in an ongoing investigation. 

The bust comes as ongoing border security efforts continue at the northern border after the president declared a national emergency at the northern border last February, The Center Squa.

(The Center Square) – More than 200 children were rescued and more than 350 child sex offenders arrested in one month in the latest Department of Justice targeted enforcement operation to find child sex abuse victims and arrest child sex predators. 

The operations are nationwide and involve staff from all 56 FBI field offices and U.S. Attorney’s offices. 

In Operation Iron Pursuit, which occurred during the month of April, key enforcement actions were led by the Buffalo FBI Field Office and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of New York.  

“This operation puts every child predator on notice: we are coming for you,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said. “The sexual exploitation of minors is an abomination with no place in our society. We will hunt down these offenders, hold them fully accountable under the law, and deliver justice for victims.”

The DOJ highlighted examples of two alleged male offenders charged in the Western District of New York. One, CJ A. Wolf, of Lewiston, was charged with enticement of a minor after he began communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer via text message thinking he was speaking to a 13-year-old girl who was advertised online. Wolf traveled to a retail parking lot and interacted with the undercover officer who was coordinating the staged sexual interaction where he confirmed he had $200 for “a half hour.” according to the charges. After further conversation, he was arrested.

Kenneth Tootle, of Rochester, was arrested and charged with production of child pornography, enticement of a minor, and receipt of child pornography. According to the criminal complaint, Rochester Police responded to a mother claiming she found disturbing messages between her 7-year-old daughter and Tootle on her daughter’s cell phone. They included sexual photos and videos constituting child pornography, according to the criminal complaint. He was arrested after an investigation was conducted and a search warrant was executed. 

Both men face a maximum penalty of life in prison if convicted.

Operation Iron Pursuit was the latest of several targeted enforcement operations led by the FBI. Last December, Operation Relentless Justice led to the rescue of 205 children and arrests of 293 offenders. 

Key arrests included an airman in Dallas, Texas, who was charged with his wife on charges of producing child sex abuse material (CSAM); a police officer in Raleigh, North Carolina, distributing CSAM to an undercover officer; five leaders of Greggy’s Cult; and a Virginia man who persuaded a 14-year-old to produce CSAM. “The victim attempted suicide after he allegedly told her to kill herself,” the DOJ said.

Last August, Operation Enduring Justice led to the rescue of 133 children and the arrests of 234 offenders. 

Last May, Operation Restore Justice led to the rescue of 115 children and the arrests of 205 child sex abuse offenders.

Key arrests included a state trooper and Army Reservist in Minneapolis for allegedly producing CSAM while in uniform and a former Metropolitan Police Department officer for allegedly trafficking minor victims in Washington, D.C.

“Every single day this FBI is working 24/7 to break networks of child abusers all across this country,” FBI Director Kash Patel said. He said last year, the FBI and law enforcement partners identified and rescued more than 6,300 missing children.

“Let this be a message to criminal actors who seek to target America’s children: you will be pursued, and you will be brought to justice,” he said.

The DOJ urges the public to report suspected exploitation of children by calling 1-800-CALL-FBI (225-5324) or the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children at 1-800-THE-LOST.

GREAT FALLS, Mont. - Hear from Bradley Warren and Shannon Newth on these great things you can get up to in Great Falls! 

On Saturday, May 16, several businesses from around Great Falls are participating in the Mimosa Showdown, each featuring a unique mimosa concoction. 

Plan your showdown ahead of time by checking out the concoctions ahead of time on the Visit Great Falls website here.

An Irish music and dance group is making a stop in Great Falls at the Mansfield Center on May 20 starting at 7:30 pm.

You can get tickets to Taste of Ireland online here. 

The Electric City Speedway is starting their dirt truck racing season under new ownership and is anticipating infrastructure improvements and new experiences. 

Check out events and get more information on the Electric City Speedway website here. 

(The Center Square) – For junior enlisted military members earning about $30,000 a year, the cost of a round-trip ticket home can be the difference between witnessing a family milestone and missing it entirely.

Miles for Military, a Boston-based nonprofit, is working to close that gap – one flight at a time.

The program offers to fly junior enlisted service members home for special occasions if they first spend 25 hours volunteering off-base in their communities. When Geoff Rehnert, a co-founder and co-CEO of Audax Group and a board member of Miles for Military, first heard the idea, he was struck by a gap he hadn't known existed.

"I had no idea that the military did not provide transportation home for enlisted personnel, and I was unaware how little they were paid and what a hardship it was for so many of them to go for years without being able to afford to see their families," Rehnert told The Center Square.

He took the idea to friends and acquaintances who had served or were senior military officers. All of them, he said, saw it as addressing a critical unmet need.

"I believe that the most significant impact on our junior personnel is that it improves morale and their sense of being cared for and appreciated for their service by the people in the country that they are serving," Rehnert said.

The volunteer component, he said, serves a dual purpose.

"It is an incentive to get troops out of their barracks and into the communities on or surrounding the base where they are stationed and to engage in an activity which both helps the community and improves their own mental health and sense of well-being," Rehnert said. "It also gives them a sense that they have earned something that is above and beyond what their military contract entitles them to – and everything in the military is earned."

Since its founding, Miles for Military has flown 818 junior enlisted service members home from more than 150 military installations across the country and around the world, nonprofit founder Maureen Byrne told The Center Square. The organization is aiming to fly 5,000 troops home in 2026.

Ticket prices vary widely: domestic flights around the holidays average more than $700, while international flights average more than $950, with some routes, such as those from Guam, exceeding $2,000. A single donor is covering the organization's overhead costs, meaning all public donations go directly toward flights.

The need is vast. There are approximately 500,000 junior enlisted personnel – E1 through E4 – eligible for the program, according to the Defense Department's 2022 Demographics Profile of the Military Community. They represent the bottom quartile of more than 1.3 million active-duty service members in terms of rank and pay. That figure does not include the Coast Guard, which is administered by the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Defense Department.

"We need the financial support of the public to be able to fly everyone home who will want to take advantage of this program," Rehnert said. "In addition to the institutional donors and corporate partners we are beginning to work with, we are going to need donations of money from the public."

The flights that matter

The troops Miles for Military is preparing to fly home reflect the range of milestones that distance and finances can put out of reach.

A graduation, finally

Airman First Class Natrese Dorsey, 28, is stationed at Yokota Air Force Base in Tokyo, Japan. Her youngest sister Kayla is set to graduate from Winthrop University, with the ceremony in Charlotte, North Carolina, on May 9, and Dorsey is planning to be there, a milestone she has not been able to afford in the past.

"Having the opportunity to make it home and have something to present as a gift instead of arriving empty handed is what this trip ticket means to me. This trip would have otherwise cost me my entire savings," Dorsey told The Center Square.

Dorsey volunteers with the USO and said the experience has given her a new appreciation for what it takes to create a welcoming environment for troops and civilians alike.

"I learned that to maintain a space like that takes a team of mindful individuals working diligently both externally and internally to maintain peace and harmony. I learned how tangible and vital those soft skills are and what they can mean for an entire organization," she told The Center Square.

Her sister Kayla said she is looking forward to the reunion.

"I haven't seen her in a while so I'm really excited," she told The Center Square.

There for the birth

Airman First Class Clayton Warr, 24, has been on temporary duty assignment for nine months. His first daughter is due at the end of the month, and a Miles for Military flight will get him to Utah in time.

"Our first daughter is going to be born at the end of the month and being able to go and see the birth is life changing," Warr told The Center Square.

Warr, based at JBSA Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, is traveling from training in North Carolina to Utah, where he also plans to attend baby showers and a blessing for the newborn.

(The Center Square) – Last year was the third most violent year on record for American Jews, according to an analysis by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). 

Although antisemitic incidents of harassment and vandalism significantly decreased last year from record highs in 2023 and 2024, physical assaults against Jews were the highest on record since ADL began tracking antisemitic incidents in 1979.

The ADL tracks reports of criminal and noncriminal incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism of property, and assault targeting individuals or groups because of their Jewish identity. 

Last year, 6,274 incidents of antisemitic harassment, vandalism and assault were reported, according to the data. That’s down from 9,354 incidents in 2024, The Center Square reported. While the 33% drop from 2024 is significant, ADL notes the number is still five times higher than it was 10 years ago.

Antisemitic incidents drastically increased nationwide after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel. This was after antisemitic incidents were already at a historic high in 2022, with an 87% increase occurring in the southwest U.S., The Center Square reported. Incidents increased in 2023, breaking records. These records were again broken in 2024, the year with the highest incidents reported on record.

Physical assaults also slightly increased last year, up from 196 in 2024 and 203 in 2025. 

Notably, three Jewish people were killed last year.

Incidents involving a deadly weapon also increased last year. Of the 32 reported, several made national news, including the Capital Jewish Museum shooting in Washington, D.C., where two Israeli Embassy staffers were shot to death. Another was in Colorado, where an Egyptian national threw Molotov cocktails into a crowd of people participating in a solidarity walk for hostages taken by Hamas. Another was the political assassination attempt of Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro by a perpetrator who set the governor’s house on fire while he and his family slept inside.  

In seven of the 32 cases, victims were targeted because of their perceived support of Israel, the analysis states.

The majority of antisemitic incidents that occurred nationwide occurred in public areas, followed by Jewish institutions, colleges and universities and K-12 public schools, according to the data.

The greatest number of antisemitic incidents occurred in New York (1,160), California (817) and New Jersey (687), according to the data.

The 10 states where the greatest number of antisemitic incidents were reported were New York, California, New Jersey, Florida, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Illinois, Texas, Maryland and Colorado. 

New York City reported the most antisemitic incidents of any city in the country of 860. Manhattan accounted for more than half of the incidents, 465; followed by 278 in Brooklyn. 

More than half of antisemitic assaults reported in New York, 56%, were reported in Brooklyn; 60% of all assaults statewide targeted Orthodox Jews, according to the data.

Los Angeles County reported the most antisemitic incidents of any county in the country. 

It also accounted for nearly half of all incidents reported, 398. Nearly all incidents reported in the county were in Los Angeles, 322. 

In New Jersey, Bergen County accounted for 20% of incidents in the state, 139. The communities of Teaneck, Bergenfield and Englewood were the most targeted, according to the analysis. Incidents of vandalism and assault also increased in New Jersey over the year.

One key factor for a marked reduction in violence and antisemitic attacks on college campuses was due to the encampment movement being shut down, the report notes. The ADL doesn’t credit the Trump administration or Congress for shutting it down. 

As riots began and college campuses were taken over by pro-Hamas supporters who attacked Israeli and Jewish students, President Donald Trump threatened to withhold federal funding until the universities and colleges changed their policies to protect Jewish students. Congress also held several hearings resulting in the deans of Ivy League colleges being forced to resign. 

A game between Mizzou baseball and Vanderbilt that was initially supposed to start at 6 p.m. did not see the first the first pitch tossed until the 8:55 p.m.

Due to immense fog at 12:10 a.m at Taylor Stadium, the game was not able to end in the ninth, and was suspended until Saturday at 4 p.m.

Weather delay after weather delay kept pushing the game back. Determined to get the game in on Friday night, Mizzou played in one of its latest start times in recent history. 

Coming out of the rain, the offense initially had a slow night. As May 8 waned, the Tigers offense woke up for a late comeback attempt against Vanderbilt.

Four consecutive plate appearances brought home four runs with no outs in the eighth. A single by Blaize Ward and a double from Mateo Serna led off the inning, then Donovan Jordan was able to reach on an overthrown ball, scoring Ward on the play. 

A double from Kaden Peer, then back-to-back bunt singles from Keegan Knutson and Eric Maisonet each brought in runs. Jase Woita earned a walk to load the bases and was followed by another walk to Kam Durnin.

Vanderbilt had officially blown a 6-1 lead and walked in the tying run. 

This forced the Commodores to a pitching change. Ward, who began the inning, responded with an RBI groundout to put the Tigers in front 7-6.

But then Sam Rosand put two on in the top of the ninth with a chance to close things out. Braden Holcomb hit the ball as the clock struck midnight, but due to immense fog covering the field, no one was sure where it landed. Mizzou right fielder Donovan Jordan instantly put his hands up to signal a ground-rule double.

After a review, the umpires ruled it a ground-rule double to tie the game at 7-7, then suspended the game to be finished tomorrow at 4 p.m.

On the mound, Josh McDevitt did not shine the way he had been in recent games. Coming off back-to-back quality starts, McDevitt was not able to reach the trifecta. He went just five innings and allowed four runs to the Commodores. 

Vanderbilt was relentless pushing traffic across the bases. It brought one home on an RBI groundout in the second and two RBI singles in the fourth. The outlier was the solo home run from Braden Holcomb in the fifth. 

As they often have this season, the Tigers found themselves in a 4-0 hole that they would have to dig out of. The quest began with a double from Kam Durnin in the sixth and a single from Blaize Ward to push him across. 

Mizzou followed the first run by loading the bases, but weren't able to capitalize. The Tigers stranded all three with a swinging strikeout from Keegan Knutson to end the sixth. 

The Commodores got the run right back with another solo shot, this one a 407-foot homer from Korbin Reynolds in the seventh. It was his sixth of the season.

An RBI single followed quickly and brought in Vanderbilt's sixth run. 

Once the Tigers finally broke into the Commodores bullpen, the offense was able to plate the six runs in the eighth. 

After McDevitt's five innings, lefty reliever Dane Bjorn took over and pitched the sixth, seventh and eighth, allowing both aforementioned runs. Sam Rosand came in for the ninth, before the game was suspended. 

(The Center Square) – Another international human smuggling ring exploiting lax Canadian border security and visa processes has been thwarted by U.S. officials. 

Mexican smuggling at the U.S.-Canada border isn’t new but during the Biden and Trudeau administrations, illegal activity increased to record levels that exploited weak Canadian border security and lax visa policies, The Center Square reported.

In one recent case, a Mexican national in the U.S. illegally pleaded guilty for his role in an international human smuggling conspiracy that involved transporting foreign nationals from Central and South America and Mexico to Canada and across the border into New York. In another case, a New Jersey man was sentenced on Friday for smuggling Irish nationals into Vermont from Canada. 

The smuggling incidents occurred in the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Swanton Sector, where record high illegal crossings occurred during the Biden administration, The Center Square first reported. 

In the New York case, Mexican national Edgar Sanchez-Solis pleaded guilty to leading an “alien smuggling organization” (ASO) while he was illegally living in Kansas City, Missouri. The scheme involved smuggling hundreds of illegal foreign nationals by employing drivers to pick them up in designated areas and drive them into the interior of the country. 

A multi-agency investigation found that Sanchez-Solis “personally participated in and coordinated smuggling events.” In one instance in May 2023, he drove a van full of illegal border crossers and engaged in a high-speed pursuit with Border Patrol agents. He was ultimately stopped and apprehended by the sheriff’s office. 

Despite his involvement in smuggling hundreds of people, Sanchez-Solis was only charged and pleaded guilty to six alien smuggling offenses. His sentencing is scheduled in September. He faces between five and 15 years in prison. 

The smuggling operation was an outworking of “the prior administration’s unprecedented open border policy,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney John Sarcone III for the Northern District of New York said. Sanchez-Solis had “ties to Canada and Mexico, but he coordinated many of the smuggling events while he was also illegally living in the United States. He also exploited Canada’s lax visitor visa policy and used Canada as a waypoint for unvetted aliens traveling from Mexico looking for a way into the United States,” Sarcone added.

His conviction “sends a message that the North Country will not tolerate illegal immigration along its border, and the Northern District of New York and its federal partners in law enforcement will identify, apprehend, and prosecute alien smugglers to the fullest extent of the law,” Sarcone said.

In New Jersey, another human smuggler was sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in smuggling Irish nationals from Canada into Vermont. 

On Thursday, Tyshan Murray of Elizabeth, New Jersey, was sentenced after pleading guilty “to unlawfully transporting aliens in furtherance of their unlawful entry into the United States.”

He was apprehended in September 2024 after he picked up nine Irish citizens near Richford, Vermont, after they illegally crossed the northern border from Canada. 

Similar to other cases, local residents notified Border Patrol agents after observing unlawful crossings in a remote area. Border Patrol responded and investigated and were able to locate Murray. After they pulled him over, they observed nine illegal border crossers “in the rear seats” with “young children in the rear cargo compartment sitting on luggage.”

At sentencing, the prosecutor requested a 33-month sentence, “noting Murray’s reckless endangerment of the unrestrained children and his extensive criminal history, which includes multiple previous sentences of incarceration.” 

The judge didn’t grant the request, sentencing him to roughly half of what was requested.

“The smuggling of aliens across our northern border creates significant national security risks and endangers the lives of the people unlawfully entering our country. Those like Tyshan Murray, who reap illicit profit from alien smuggling, should receive significant punishment,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jonathan Ophard said. 

Human smuggling operations are being targeted through Joint Task Force Alpha operations, involving the DOJ, Homeland Security and other federal, state and local law enforcement agencies. 

As of May 8, JTFA’s efforts have led to more than 455 domestic and international arrests of those involved in alien smuggling and/or trafficking. So far, more than 400 have been convicted and more than 345 significant jail sentences imposed, the DOJ says.