5 Things To Know For Your New Day-Thursday April 19th

via CNN:

Trump bullish on North Korea talks, but willing to walk away:

President Donald Trump offered a bullish view on Wednesday of his planned talks with North Korean despot Kim Jong Un, insisting he’s positioned to accomplish what his predecessors could not.

Still, he maintained he’d be willing to stand up and leave the highly anticipated summit should the meeting fall short of his expectations.

“If we don’t think it’s going to be successful, we won’t have it,” the President said, standing alongside his Japanese counterpart at Trump’s oceanfront Mar-a-Lago estate here. “If the meeting when I’m there isn’t fruitful, I will respectfully leave the meeting.”

“I like always remaining flexible,” Trump said. “We’ll remain flexible here.”

Airmen fired, demoted over dinosaur puppet video:

The US Air Force is making it clear that dinosaur puppets have no place in its “time-honored” military traditions — levying tough punishments against three members of the Tennessee Air National Guard involved in a viral video depicting a reenlistment ceremony.

All three of the individuals involved in the viral video — which showed a female non-commissioned officer taking the reenlistment oath with a dinosaur puppet on her right hand — were removed from their posts, according to an announcement posted on Facebook on Wednesday by Maj Gen. Terry M. Haston, the adjutant general for the Tennessee Guard.

The colonel shown administering the oath “was immediately retired at the rank of Lieutenant Colonel” and the senior NCO who recorded the event was “removed from his position as a unit First Sergeant” but will be retained in the Air National Guard, the statement said.

Gregg Popovich’s Wife, Erin, Dies After Extended Illness:

Erin Popovich, the wife of San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich, died Wednesday, the team announced in a statement.

“We mourn the loss of Erin,” Spurs general manager RC Buford said in a statement provided to Bleacher Report. “She was a strong, wonderful, kind, intelligent woman who provided love, support and humor to all of us.”

Erin and Gregg Popovich were married for four decades. She is survived by the Spurs coach, their two children and two grandchildren

Southwest pilots righted plane quickly after engine failed:

When the engine on the left wing broke in mid-flight, the pilots of Southwest Airlines Flight 1380 had to deal with a 737 that suddenly banked left on its own, well past any angle they would use.

The plane was pitched at an angle of more than 40 degrees for a few unnerving seconds before it leveled out and began an emergency descent, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman Robert Sumwalt told reporters Wednesday in Philadelphia.

The plane was ascending past 32,500 feet Tuesday morning and 144 passengers were settled in for a three-hour flight when a fan blade in the No. 1 engine apparently broke. A window next to a passenger in row 14 shattered and she was sucked into the hole while other passengers struggled to pull her back into the cabin.

Widespread power outage persists in Puerto Rico:

In another blow to its recovery efforts, an island-wide power outage left most of Puerto Rico in the dark, with only a fraction of residents regaining electricity by Wednesday night.

The latest blackout prompted Gov. Ricardo Rossello to call on the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) to cancel its contract with the subcontractor that caused the massive outage.

“I have suggested to the PREPA Board of Directors that they cancel the contract with the Cobra subcontractor who is directly responsible for this power outage,” he said in a statement Wednesday.

CLICK HERE to read story

RELATED TAGS

Current Events news