Latest news with #VFW
Business Upturn
5 days ago
- General
- Business Upturn
VFW and Grunt Style Foundation Deliver Over 100 Tons of Relief to Texas Flood Victims
Hill Country, Texas, July 24, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Hill Country Texas — 7/25/2025 The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the Grunt Style Foundation have joined forces in an extraordinary partnership, delivering over 100 tons of critical relief to flood-ravaged communities across Central Texas. From Kerrville to Hunt, Comfort to San Saba, and Marble Falls to San Angelo, veterans once again led from the front—this time, not in combat, but in compassion. When historic flooding struck the region, it was veterans who activated the engagement. Mobilizing VFW Posts in each affected area, the coalition launched a coordinated effort to move massive quantities of food, water, clothing, bedding, and search-and-rescue essentials to local communities who had lost everything. 'This was veterans doing what they do best—rallying to the mission and getting the job done,' said Tim Jensen, Chairman of the Grunt Style Foundation and Marine Corps veteran. 'We didn't wait for permission. We just got to work.' The relief operation—unfolding in real time—saw an impressive logistics network built virtually overnight. From securing supplies to coordinating trucks, warehouses, and local volunteers, the partnership demonstrated what veteran-led community service looks like when purpose meets action. VFW National Commander-in-Chief Al Lipphardt stated, 'This response effort is the blueprint for how VFW Posts across the country can respond to future disasters. It's not just about service—it's about relevance. Our GWOT veterans want to serve again. This gives them that opportunity.' The sentiment of the VFW Commander in Chief was echoed by Texas VFW Chief of Staff, Greg Brannan and lead disaster coordinator for the Texas VFW. 'I am incredibly proud of our partnership with the Texas VFW and the Grunt Style Foundation, which proved vital in delivering rapid and effective disaster relief. The speed and precision our team demonstrated ensured that critical supplies reached veterans, their families, and the communities most in need without delay. This collaborative effort showcased not only our shared commitment but also our ability to act decisively when it matters most. The Central Texas response is more than a victory in crisis relief—it's the birth of a new operational model. One that fuses veteran experience with community needs. One that inspires younger generations of post-9/11 veterans to re-engage with VFW Posts by giving them purpose, mission, and leadership roles. As the waters recede, the work continues—clearing debris, rebuilding homes, restoring hope. And this partnership isn't going anywhere. Plans are already underway to formalize the model for use nationwide during future emergencies. Because when disaster strikes, America's veterans don't retreat—they engage. About Grunt Style Foundation: The Grunt Style Foundation is dedicated to the mental and physical wellness of our veterans, service members, and their families. Through community partnerships and direct aid, the Foundation provides rapid support and long-term solutions for those who've served. About the VFW: The Veterans of Foreign Wars is a nonprofit veterans service organization with nearly 1.5 million members. With Posts in communities across the United States and abroad, the VFW continues to advocate for veterans' rights and provide vital support to those in need. Disclaimer: The above press release comes to you under an arrangement with GlobeNewswire. Business Upturn takes no editorial responsibility for the same. Ahmedabad Plane Crash
Daily Mirror
5 days ago
- General
- Daily Mirror
Man makes baffling historical discovery in house he's lived in his whole life
After discovering an unusual hat on top of a cupboard in the house he has lived in his whole life, a man sought advice from others to work out what the many badges attached to it might mean A man has sought the help of historians after he discovered an unusual artefact tucked away in the house he has lived in his entire life. He took to Reddit to share three snaps of a khaki-coloured hat featuring several badges and a patch embroidered with the letters 'CA'. It's not the first time someone has made a haunting discovery at home, so the man went online for advice. "Found this hat on top of a cabinet at my house I've lived in my whole life," the man penned in the Weird subreddit. "I have no idea where it came from." He went on to add: "I've lived in this house 10+ years and this just appeared randomly. My family and I have no idea where it came from." Badges included that of tanks, an eagle, stars and a hammer and sickle, which prompted several Reddit users to share their theories, many of who were quick to point out it may have been of Russian origin. "A unique find, well done," one person praised. A second added: "Looks similar to my pop's VFW [Veterans of Foreign War] hat, but foreign." Others offered more detailed information, however. "This is a Soviet military side cap used as organiser for pins and stuff," one person explained. "In the first photo there are a sleeve patch, collar tabs and pins of various Soviet Army branches and a souvenir pin from the Kremlin. The pin with the eagle appears to be from a Russian military uniform. In the second photo there's a shoulder mark. CA stands for Soviet Army." Whilst a second agreed, explaining in more detail: "In the context of military uniforms, 'CA' on epaulettes typically refers to the Soviet Army (Sovetskaya Armiya). The letters 'CA' are the Cyrillic abbreviation for 'Soviet Army'. "Epaulettes are ornamental shoulder pieces, often found on military and other formal uniforms. In the case of the Soviet Army, they were used to denote rank and branch of service. "The letters "CA" were present on the epaulettes of most enlisted personnel. The garrison cap is also Soviet make." Meanwhile a third person, while agreeing, questioned the hat's authenticity. "It's a pilotka, I have one from when I went on holiday to Moscow years ago," they said. "They tend to be sold in the touristy areas of the city by street vendors and loaded with old athletic badges and stuff." After the Soviet Union was dissolved in December 1991, the newly formed Russian Federation adopted its own military structure and abolished 'CA' from uniforms. This was due to the 'Russian Army' replacing the 'Soviet Army'. On May 7, 1992, meanwhile, Russian President, Boris Yeltsin signed a decree creating the Ministry of Defence and placing all Soviet troops on Russian territory under Russian control.
CBS News
7 days ago
- Business
- CBS News
Texas Senate committee advances new THC ban during special legislative session
Just weeks after the governor vetoed a bill banning products containing THC, state senators revived it in the special session, filing nearly identical legislation and passing it unanimously out of committee with a 10-0 vote on Tuesday. Gov. Greg Abbott explicitly asked lawmakers to regulate, not ban, hemp products. Senators argued on Tuesday that it's not going to work. "We'll regulate it," said Sen. Bob Hall, R-Edgewood. "We'll regulate it by banning it. Because we already tried regulating it." Allen Police Chief Steve Dye and Kaufman County District Attorney Leigh Wiley were the first of several invited witnesses to argue that most hemp-derived products on the market today are harmful. "When I went into the largest of the three warehouses, it looked like a giant candy store," said Dye. "So many packages marketed to our young people." Dye, who has led raids of hemp stores and warehouses, argues regulation would be too difficult and costly to be effective. "Regulation would likely be seen by the industry as carte blanche legalization," Dye said. Advocates argue a ban would close hundreds of businesses and hurt Texans who use these products. "Hemp-derived consumables are affordable, accessible and effective," said Mitch Fuller, who represents the Texas VFW. Fuller said many of the VFW's 65,000 veterans see the industry as an alternative to alcohol and opioids. But senators dismissed those claims. "We're taking a stance on this," said Fuller. "Again, no one's using us; we are doing this on our own volition because it helps us. It works great." Abbott was quoted by Impact News on Tuesday, saying he does want to ban intoxicating consumable THC products, which he views as those with more than 3 milligrams of THC. That's still more than what the Senate seems to want to allow, but it may be a sign he's willing to compromise. Senate Bill 5 now heads to the full Senate.
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Miami Herald
22-07-2025
- Miami Herald
He was the suspect in brutal Florida Keys murder. Now he's in Alligator Alcatraz
It was one of the more brutal crime scenes in recent Key Largo history when firefighters knocked down flames at a small house behind the local Veterans of Foreign Wars bar to find the body of a 70-year-old woman — whom investigators said was stabbed in the neck. The Keys community was still recovering from Hurricane Irma when the firefighters made the grisly discovery around 9:40 p.m. Oct. 21, 2017. And many of the people looking for work cleaning people's yards from the damage caused by the Category 4 storm lived on boats in a mooring field behind the Murray Nelson Government Center on the bayside of U.S. 1, right across the street from the VFW where the victim, Mary Bonneville, went to drink and play video poker just about every night. READ MORE: Detectives arrest suspect in post-Irma Florida Keys murder That's also where the man — who prosecutors charged with Bonneville's murder two years later — lived. Investigators said 59-year-old Eddy Lopez-Jemot stabbed Bonneville that night and then set her house at the 700 block of Ponce de Leon Boulevard ablaze. But he's not in prison; instead, he landed in Alligator Alcatraz, the tent city the state of Florida built this summer on an airstrip in the middle of the Everglades to temporarily hold migrants before they're to be deported. Lopez-Jemot pleaded no contest to first-degree arson June 30 and was sentenced to nearly four years in prison, but given time served for that entire time since he's been in Monroe County jail ever since the week Bonneville was found dead. In exchange for his plea, the state dropped the murder charge. Star witness became uncooperative Chief Assistant State Attorney Joseph Mansfield told the Herald this week that the second-degree murder case was getting increasingly difficult because one of prosecutors' star witnesses became uncooperative and the other disappeared. Monroe sheriff's homicide detectives tied Lopez-Jemot to the murder through DNA they found on a beer can and on a towel found outside of Bonneville's house. Since he had done work at the house in the past, it was reasonable that his DNA could be on the towel without him having committed the murder, Mansfield explained. 'Proving homicide was becoming more and more problematic,' he said. Monroe Circuit Judge James Morgan III also sentenced Lopez-Jemot to two years of probation, and as part of the plea deal, he had to promise to stay out of Monroe County, according to court records. Mansfield said that after his June 30 conviction, Monroe authorities notified federal immigration officials that Lopez-Jemot was in the U.S. illegally from Cuba. READ MORE: Is your family member or client at Alligator Alcatraz? We obtained a list It's not clear when he arrived at Alligator Alcatraz, but his name turns up in the list the Miami Herald obtained of the more than 700 people being held at the detention facility, which opened July 1. His court-appointed attorney, Philip Massa, declined to comment on the case. Person of interest from the start? Keys detectives focused on Lopez-Jemot from nearly the beginning. That's because about 20 minutes before firefighters arrived at Bonneville's burning house, Lopez-Jemot threatened to cut off his then-girlfriend's head and burn her house down. The confrontation occurred in the VFW's parking lot, located just 660 feet west of Bonneville's home, investigators said. And as he tried to force his way inside the woman's van, armed with a knife, he bragged that he had killed people in a similar manor several times in the past — stabbing them and burning their homes down — according to the sheriff's office. Detectives arrested Lopez-Jemot two days later on charges of felony assault with a deadly weapon and burglary. He ended up pleading no contest in January 2018 to aggravated assault. A judge sentenced him to a year in county jail, with credit for time served, plus three years probation. It would be nearly three years after Bonneville's death before Monroe detectives arrested Lopez-Jemot in connection with the murder. But a raid on his boat behind the Murray Nelson government center a month after she died gave early indication investigators had their eyes on him from the start. The victim in the aggravated assault case, Magdalena Soutelo Rodriguez, 57, was one of the two witnesses prosecutors were relying on for a murder conviction against Lopez-Jemot, Mansfield said. However, she has since become uncooperative after being arrested on felony cocaine possession in May 2024 and another felony arrest on two counts of possession of prescription drugs this May, according to Mansfield. Soutelo Rodriguez has pleaded not guilty in both cases, which are pending in county court. 'She's being uncooperative, and she has recanted statements,' Mansfield said.
Indianapolis Star
11-07-2025
- General
- Indianapolis Star
This Hamilton County VFW is cranking out Chicago pizzas with an old Italian family recipe
Friday nights at VFW Post 6246 in Noblesville run at a low hum with occasional yelps as bingo numbers are read and winners announce them themselves in the spacious community room. Nearby, the bar rumbles with low conversation, the clinking of glasses and the snap of beer cans opening. Lately though, barely noticed by the tab pullers, are lines of hungry customers in a far corner as they wait for their payoff — real Chicago pizza in Hamilton County. It's been like that for three months, ever since Michael Spencer was given a secret family recipe from a long-time but now shuttered pizzeria in Chicago and opened Nino's Pizza in the VFW kitchen. With no advertising, Instagram or TikTok, the word got out to pizza-cravers that this hidden walk-up spot just might be the real deal: Chicago thin crust, cut in squares, with fresh ingredients, pinched chunks of sausage and crispy crust, burnt on the outside, also known as Tavern Style. 'We've had 30 people waiting in line sometimes before we even open, it's been crazy,' said Spencer, a Fishers resident, who'd spent much of his professional career in health care and advising. The disarray has included several set-backs that included delivery problems with Door Dash, phone orders, hiring difficulties and an inability to bake the pies fast enough, which led to long waits for customers. Spencer had to close the kitchen for a week while a bigger conveyor oven was delivered — then the compressor broke. Recently, a new employee was sent to he hospital for dehydration after the air conditioning broke down. Through it all Spencer was unusually transparent about the regressions, posting updates on Facebook, apologizing profusely and pleading for patience. 'It was truly messed up and I was working to take care of it, but I also followed online reviews very closely and wanted to make sure to correct misinformation quickly,' Spencer, 49, said. The online response from those who have gotten a pizza has been overwhelmingly positive — especially from Chicago transplants ostensibly on a never-ending quest for the perfect thin crust. 'You make us miss Chicagoland and we are so happy we can get good and LEGIT Chicago food from YOU! THANK YOU,' reads a typical Facebook post from a Windy City ex-pat. Even patrons not familiar with the nuances — and debates — of Tavern style or Chicago thin crust have become quick devotees. 'I don't know about any of that,' said Donald Litke, 62, of Noblesville, while waiting to pick up a 16-inch sausage and mushroom. 'I just know that it is the pizza I've been waiting for. The cheese is just right. So is everything. It's my go-to pizza now. I've been here four or five times already.' Spencer's ascent from pizza newbie to savior is as unlikely as the venue. Spencer was tired and bored with his job as a hospital administrator and was grousing about it one night with good friend Mike Cisternino. Both are auxiliary members of the Ralph Lehr VFW south of downtown Noblesville. Cisternino mentioned that his late uncle, Nino Cisternino, once owned a pizzeria in Chicago. In fact, Cisternino said, Nino's widow Carm, still had all the recipes. What's that got to do with me? Spencer asked He told Spencer that Carm might be willing to give the recipe to him if he opened a place and recreated the magic. And he could open it right there at the VFW because the donut shop that then operated in the kitchen, Mochi Joy, was closing to move into a retail spot in Fishers. 'The recipe was sitting in a drawer somewhere in the Chicago suburbs with my aunt,' Cisternino said. 'Carm thought at one time that she could get royalties or something for selling it. That never happened but she still had it.' Spencer wasn't a complete culinary novice; he and wife Stacey owned a food truck selling sandwiches for a couple of years during the COVID-19 pandemic. But he waved off the offer as fanciful, though he said he'd think about it. Cisternino kept asking Spencer, however, and soon, so were other members of VFW. 'He had told them about it, so every time I'd go in here, they'd all be asking, 'When are you opening that pizza joint? We need a good place in here,'' Spencer said. Spencer finally decided to resign from the hospital and told Cisternino he'd run some numbers on the pizza venture to see if it could work. When Carm Cisternino and her son, Frank, came to the VFW in 2024 for a funeral reception for a friend, Spencer spoke with them. She and Nino were immigrants from Bari, a port city in southern Italy, and operated the pizzeria on the Northwest side of Chicago for 20 years until 1999. Nino died in 2020 at the age of 77. The dough and the sauce were long-held family secrets but Carm said she would gladly turn them over now and would be flattered if Spencer wanted to name the place Nino's. Spencer said he'd do it, but sat on the recipe for months while he gained a health department permit, registered the business with the state, signed a lease with the VFW and lined up food vendors. In March of this year Spencer began experimenting with the sauce and dough for hours each day at the VFW. The sauce was an instant hit with the veterans who served as his grizzled daily taste-testers. The dough, though, was a beast. "It was more complicated than I ever could have imagined,' Spencer said. 'The temperature of the room, the humidity, the water, all that is important.' He kept at it, feeding the vets a steady diet of practice pies. "They aren't shy about their opinions, so that helped prepare me,' Spencer said. 'I soon found out that you have to be a mad scientist in this business, because it is a science,' Spencer said. 'I thought I'd be twirling dough up in the air, whistling. I haven't done that once.' Just three months later Spencer opened Nino's, which is a takeout restaurant inside the VFW, built in 2011 to replace the old one. With a full-service bar and adjoining space, the VFW is a social club for veterans and their families. The members participate in parades and lead fundraising drives. The post hosts bingo on Fridays, karaoke on some Saturdays and musical acts. On a recent weekday Spencer began the 5 p.m. shift training two new employee — an order taker and pizza preparer. Before long the Door Dash ringtone sang with incoming orders, which began automatically queuing up on an overhead tablet screen. Spencer laid out the pizza doughs on a narrow counter near a row of metal ingredient bins and showed the worker how to load them; ladle a cup of sauce on the middle then spread it gently and evenly outward to within a quarter-inch of the edge. Make sure the mozzarella is single layer, then put on the other ingredients. When the employee began placing olives on one-by-one Spencer corrected him. Too slow, sprinkle them on, then space them, he instructed. Most importantly, Spencer said, think of the squares this masterpiece will be cut into. Each piece should include every ingredient — mini pizzas in themselves. Soon, as orders poured in, Spencer was in a pizza-making frenzy, putting them in the oven, removing and slicing them with a rocking pizza cutter, and boxing them. In between he jumped over to help prepare the pizzas and fill an order for a Chicago-style hot dog, which have their own mad scientist origins. He carefully built an order with its myriad components, making sure to top it with a dash of celery salt and 'sport' peppers. 'Wednesdays are usually slow, I don't know what's going on, but I'm not complaining,' said Spencer. 'I don't mind chaos. I can handle doing six, seven things at once. It's when it stops that I don't know what to do.' Spencer had gotten a taste of how hectic the business could be on one of the first Fridays he was open, bingo night, when he had to stop taking orders because he was overwhelmed. He went on Facebook quickly afterward to explain what happened. 'Everyone shows up between 6 and 7 p.m to order food before Bingo starts,' he wrote. "This means we have preorders, current orders then everyone from Bingo (could be 15-30 people) all at once in line waiting to order. Let us just say it gets crazy.' Spencer said he is constantly tinkering with the dough and pizza prep to make sure it's exactly right. He's open to constructive criticism — and has learned there is plenty available. 'The transplants from Chicago are out of this world,' he said. 'They are die-hard about their pizza. Not a day goes by when I don't hear a couple people saying, 'When I was a kid…,' or 'I'm from Chicago, we got high expectations for you.' Some people tell me I have to use water from Chicago in the dough to be authentic. I'm not hauling Lake Michigan water down here. That's crazy.' He said he's pretty practiced now at separating the bluster from the beneficial. 'We knew this was niche thing, just not to this level,' he said. As he slid a pizza from the box onto the VFW bar, Josh Stewart said he thought Chicago-style pizza meant only deep dish. He's glad it doesn't. "It just tastes really good and he's make it extra crispy if you request it," Stewart said.'I'd rather have this than a franchise pizza any day." Spencer has six employees now, including his 13-year-old son. Stacey makes the desserts and Post veterans have stepped in to volunteer on occasion during rushes. He doesn't know how fast or how much he has room to grow in the small kitchen. Mochi Joy was there for three years. 'I love it here and all the support we've gotten,' he said. 'I'm a loyal person. It's hard to say what could happen."
