US Air Force Captain Lucas Gruenther

US Air Force Captain Lucas Gruenther, of Twain Harte, California, died on Monday.

He was flying his F16 in training exercises over the Adriatic Sea, when his plane went down, on January 28.

His body was found on January 31.

Gruenther was the chief of flight safety for the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base, Italy.

He had graduated from the Air Force Academy, in Colorado Springs, in 2003.

Senate Votes to Raise Debt Ceiling

The US Senate has vote to extend the debt ceiling.

It passed with a vote of sixty-four to thirty-four, showing the clear dislike of it.

The House vote for it, last Wednesday.

President Obama is expected to sign the bill, either this evening or tomorrow.

Under the bill the debt ceiling is now raised until May 18.

Both the House and Senate are required to come up with budgets by April 15, or the salaries of that body will be stopped, until they can do so.

The Senate has not passed a budget since 2009, despite the House doing so, repeatedly.
However, it could be a struggle to get even that far.

On March 1, the "fiscal cliff" will strike again, if something isn't done by then, and then on March 27, the government will run out of money, with which to stay open.

Bundestag Renews German Mission in Afghanistan

Germany's Bundestag approved a continuation of German troops in Afghanistan, on Thursday.

With a vote of 435 to 111, the mission was extended for thirteen months.

While it did continue their presence, Thursday's vote also lowered the number of German troops, that will be there.

The new vote dropped German numbers down to thirty-three hundred, from the current forty-five hundred.

Shooting at Atlanta Middle School

A shooting took place outside Luther J. Price Middle School, in Atlanta, Thursday afternoon.

A fourteen year old was rushed to Grady Memorial Hospital, with a bullet wound to the neck.

Luckily, his injury was not severe, and he is expected to be released, Thursday night.

A teacher's aide was treated on the scene, for cuts and bruises, received when they were knocked down during the panic.

The shooter, another student, was subdued by an armed off duty police officer, who was working security in the school.

Police arrested the shooter, and are holding him without bail, at this time.

Labrador Retriever Once Again America's Top Breed

The American Kennel Club has released it's list of top dog breeds, in the US.

For the last twenty-two years the top spot has gone to the same breed.

At that rate, it seems Labrador Retrievers may always be on top.

They were followed by German Shepherd's, who kept their number two spot.

Golden Retrievers took the third spot from Beagles, knocking them down to number four.

The rest of the top ten breeds are: Bulldog, Yorkshire Terrier, Boxer, Poodle, Rottweiler, and Dachshund.

Most of them kept their exact same spot, as they had last year.

Icelandic Girl Wins Right to Legally Use Her Birth Name

Blaer Bjarkardottir finally legally has her own name. At fifteen, she has won a court case against the Icelandic government, which makes her name legal.

Her mother named her Blaer, which means "light breeze", but didn't realize it wasn't an accepted name.

Iceland has an extremely specific list of what names are allowed for children. All names must fit Icelandic grammar and pronunciation rules.

The government considered Blaer to masculine for a girl, and so legally listed her as "Girl" on all documents. Reykjavik District Court overturned the government's ruling, but the government could take the case to the Supreme Court.

For Blaer, this was the best day of her life, as she can now finally be herself.

Aspen Looking to Drop Speed Limit to 14

The city of Aspen, Colorado is proposing dropping speed limits.

Concerns about so many people ignoring the posted twenty-five mile per hour limits started the discussion.

At first Mayor Mick Ireland suggested a new limit of eighteen miles per hour, saying the unusual number might grab people's attention.

However, some worried that eighteen wasn't low enough yet.

Eventually, the council members agreed to put it down to fourteen miles per hour.

A vote, on the new limit, is upcoming, but not scheduled yet.

Europol Leads Raid on Human Trafficking Ring

Europol and various police forces throughout Europe made a huge sting on Tuesday.

Twelve hundred police in ten countries made a synchronized attack upon a human trafficking ring.

Electronic equipment, money, weapons, and ammunition were seized in the raids, while an unreleased number of people were freed from their captors.

Authorities say that the gang was responsible for trafficking in thousands of people, in inhumane conditions.

Some had paid for their trip, while others were sold into slavery.

Most of the trafficked people were from Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan, and Syria, and had been seeking to escape the war zones.

Police in Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Poland, Slovakia, and Turkey were involved.

4 Quebec Best Buys Close Without Notice

Employees in four Quebec Best Buys went to work, on Thursday, to find their stores shut down.

None of them had been given notice that the stores would be shutting down.

The stores are already off the list of locations, on Best Buy's site.

Best Buy Canada Ltd. says that they are closing twelve locations, across the country, but did not have any further comment.

It is not known where the other eight locations will be, nor when they will close.

Justice Deparment Blocking Busch Buyout of Grupo Modelo

Anheuser-Busch InBev had been working out the details in a buyout of Mexico's Grupo Modelo.

In June of 2012, Busch already invested nearly fifteen billion to become part owner of Modelo.

The proposed agreement would've cost them another twenty billion dollars.

Under the agreement, some of the world's most popular beers would've been united under the same company.

Budweiser, made by Busch, is the number one selling US beer and Corona, made by Modelo, is the top selling Mexican beer.

However, things have now hit a snag, known as the US Justice Department.

The Justice Department is suing to block the buyout from happening, under anti trust laws.

They say that it would put too much market power in the control of one company.