Idiot of the Week: Brooks Potteiger evangelical pastor & Joshua Haymes Podcaster Call for Death of Democratic Candidate

This week's Idiots are Evangelical Pastor Brooks Potteiger, and Christian Podcaster Joshua Haymes, who both said "“We want him crucified with Christ,” of the Texas Senate Democratic nominee James Talarico. He said he prays “that God kills him.”  Is this what Evangelicial Christianity in Tennessee has become?

(Apparently pedophilia, rape, causing wars, killings, stealing, adultery is all okay with these two, but not a politician who points out the hypocrisy in using religion to justify it all). Here's the blog about today's idiots. 

Pete Hegseth’s Pastor & A Christian Podcaster Say They Want James Talarico To Die

Jennifer Bendery, Mar 24, 2026, 03:25 PM EDT

The pastor from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's home church in Tennessee said he wants Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico to die. "First and foremost, we pray that a man like this would be cut to the heart," he said.

WASHINGTON — The pastor from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s home church in Tennessee said last week on a podcast that he wants James Talarico to die, referring to the Texas Democratic state representative and Presbyterian seminarian who regularly discusses his Christian faith in his current bid for U.S. Senate.

IDIOT #1-  Brooks Potteiger, an evangelical pastor who has been described as Hegseth’s closest spiritual adviser, repeatedly attacked Talarico on the podcast “Reformation Red Pill.” 

IDIOT #2- The show is hosted by Joshua Haymes, a former pastoral intern at Potteiger’s church.

After referring to the Texas Democrat as “a wolf,” a “demon,” and “a snake,” the two talked about what they hope becomes of Talarico.

“First and foremost, we pray that a man like this would be cut to the heart,” Haymes said. He said he puts Talarico in the category of “public enemies,” or those you “are not called to love.”

“This is where you have imprecatory psalms. This is where you pray strongly,” he said. “The psalmist is not shy. God, destroy them. Make them as dung on the ground.”

“I pray that God kills him,” Haymes said. “Ultimately, that means killing his heart and raising him up to new life in Christ.”

Potteiger concurred. “Right, right,” he said. “We want him crucified with Christ.”

Haymes repeated that he wants “death and new life” for Talarico. “And if it would not be within God’s will to do so, stop him by any means necessary,” he said.

At one point, the podcast host said Talarico “is the kind of guy you pray imprecatory psalms against. And I mean that actually.” An imprecatory psalm is a biblical song or prayer that invokes God’s judgment, curses or destruction upon enemies.

Requests for comment were not immediately returned from the Defense Department, Talarico’s campaign or Potteiger’s church, Pilgrim Hill Reformed Fellowship.

The defense secretary has appeared on at least four episodes of the “Reformation Red Pill” podcast, and has reportedly endorsed the show on several occasions.

Heroes of the Week: Vermont State Police’s search and rescue teamsaves Hikers amid sub-zero temperatures

This week's heroes are the members of Vermont State Police’s search and rescue team who braved subzero temperatures in the middle of February to rescue two Canadian hikes from Camel's Hump Mountain. You'll also learn about the mountain and the history of the area in today's blog.

(Photo: Search and rescue teams rescued two Canadian hikers, a 21-year-old man and 19-year-old woman. Credit: Vermont State Police)

ABOUT CAMEL'S HUMP 

Camel's Hump is a mountain in the Green Mountains in Vermont. The north slope of the mountain borders the Winooski River, which has carved through the Green Mountains over eons. At 4,083 ft (1,244 m), it is tied with Mount Ellen for the third-highest mountain in Vermont. Hiking time is approximately 6 hours. As in all mountain hiking, be sure to wear sturdy shoes, bring lots of water, and be prepared for changeable weather. This is an undeveloped, FREE ENTRY state park with no phone or visitor facilities.

Hikers rescued in Vermont amid sub-zero temperatures

Two hikers were rescued in Duxbury, Vermont, police said. Vermont State Police 

By Carson Lyle, Boston Globe, February 9, 2026

Two Canadian hikers were rescued Saturday after facing “life-threatening” conditions while climbing a Vermont mountain, Vermont State Police said.

State Police academy supervisor and 3 instructors charged with manslaughter in death of recruit

A 21-year-old man called 911 on Feb. 7 after he and a 19-year-old woman needed rescue after becoming extremely cold. The pair were close to the summit of Camel’s Hump mountain in Duxbury, State Police said.

Rescue teams began to climb the 4,083-foot mountain at about 6 p.m., searching for the freezing hikers, police said.

Temperatures were below zero, with wind chills nearing minus 20 degrees. There was also deep snow on the mountain, police said.

Emergency crews audibly directed the hikers to the Alpine Trail, where the two began to make their way below the tree line, police said.

Search and rescue teams began heading to the Monroe Trail, with a team of rescuers climbing the peak with a stretcher. The Monroe Trail intersects with the Alpine Trail, Vermont State Police said.

At 11:20 p.m. rescue teams reached the hikers, who were suffering from hypothermia, according to State Police.

The man was able to walk down the trail after being warmed. The woman was loaded onto the stretcher, police said.

(Photo: Camel's Hump Mountain. Credit: Vermont State Police) 

Crews reached the bottom of the trail close to 4 a.m., where an ambulance transported the woman to a local hospital for treatment. The hikers, both from Ontario, are expected to make a full recovery, police said.

Lt. Thomas Howard, commander of the Vermont State Police’s search and rescue team, said the combined efforts and multiple rescue crews in “incredibly challenging conditions” saved the hikers’ lives.

The state of Vermont does not hold those who call for backcountry help financially liable for their rescue, State Police said.

HISTORY OF CAMEL'S HUMP MOUNTAIN

Waubanaukee Indians first named it "Tah-wak-be-dee-ee-wadso" or Saddle Mountain. Samuel de Champlain's explorers in the 1600's called it "lion couchant" or resting lion. The name "Camel's Rump" was used on a historical map by Ira Allen in 1798, and this became "Camel's Hump" in 1830.

The park came about as an original gift of 1000 acres including the summit from Colonel Joseph Battell, who originally bought Camel's Hump to preserve the wooded mountainous view from his home. In 1911, care of the mountain was entrusted to the State Forester who managed with the aim to keep it in a primitive state according to Battell's wish.

Book of the Week: DC Showcase Presents: Green Lantern Volume 5

This week's book of the week is a collection of some of the most moving, and award-winning comics in the series that highlight issues like racism, pollution, violence and drugs. Written by Denny O'Neal and drawn by amazing artists Mike Grell and Neal Adams - this collection of issues totally remade Green Lantern and it was the best of the best. Today's Blog is about the book and how I love the character (and dressed up as him!).

One of the superheroes I love is the Green Lantern. This character has been around since the 1940s, but in a different interation. When he was created, he was Alan Scott, who worked in broadcasting. He found a mysterious green lantern and a power ring that gave him the ability to construct anything he thought of with his ring. It had the weakness of wood, so anything with wood could resist the powerbeam. - In the 1960s, Green Lantern was reimagined as Hal Jordan, test pilot, with the same green ring, powered by a green lantern from a space corps known as the Guardians of the Galaxy. I loved the character and the costume and dress up as him during some comic-cons! 

(Photo: Rob at the Baltimore Comic-Con dressed as Green Lantern/Hal Jordan)

DC SHOWCASE PRESENTS: GREEN LANTERN VOL. 5

Green Lantern's SHOWCASE PRESENTS series continues with issues #76-100, including the famed stories that teamed Green Lantern with Green Arrow, in which the two heroes face issues of the day including women's rights, political corruption, religious intolerance and more — all while battling evil. This volume also includes adventures from GL's 1976 relaunch, collected here for the first time!

SUMMARY: Over 500 pages of classic super hero adventure are collected in this valuepriced volume! Green Lantern – a.k.a. test pilot Hal Jordan – battles evil as a member of the star-spanning Green Lantern Corps. This new Showcase volume collects the famed stories by writer Dennis O’Neil and artist Neal Adams that teamed Green Lantern with Green Arrow, in which the two heroes face issues of the day including women’s rights, political corruption, religious intolerance and more — all while battling evil.

Birds are declining faster and faster in 3 US hotspots, new study finds

Climate warming has adversely affected bird populations. Researchers have revealed that North American birds are declining at an accelerating rate in three regional hotspots associated with intense agriculture.

(Photo: Male house finch and white breasted nutchatch at the Fort Valley Experimental Forest; AZ; USA. Credit USDA)

Birds are declining faster and faster in 3 U.S. hotspots, new study finds 

 By Patrick Pester published March 4, 2026, Live Science

Bird populations are in free fall across North America. And in some hotspots their decline is accelerating, a new study reveals.

Wild bird numbers declined at an accelerating rate in California, the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic between 1987 and 2021. Across these hotspots, losses were associated with high-intensity agriculture, according to the study.

Although the study, published Feb. 26 in the journal Science, shows a correlation between declining bird populations and intense agriculture, it doesn't definitively prove that agriculture is driving the increased decline or identify which agricultural activities might be responsible.

However, signs of intense agricultural activity consistently proved to be the best predictor of increased bird decline, which mirrors similar research conducted in Europe. The researchers also found that declines were stronger in warming areas, suggesting that rising temperatures due to climate change were driving some bird disappearances.

Birds perform important roles in the ecosystem, including spreading plant seeds and keeping insect populations under control. For decades, scientists have been concerned that bird populations are falling due to human activities, both in North America and globally — a plight shared by many other animals. What's special about the new research is that it reveals how the decline in North America has accelerated since the late 1980s.

"We are not talking about the decline but the acceleration of the decline," study lead author François Leroy, a postdoctoral researcher in macroecology at The Ohio State University, told Live Science. "We see that this decline is getting faster and faster with the intensification of human activities."

Common birds ‪—‬ like red-winged blackbirds (Agelaius phoeniceus), house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) and American crows (Corvus brachyrhynchos) ‪—‬ were among the native species found to have suffered an accelerated decline.

A 2019 study published in the journal Science estimated that the North American bird population decreased by 2.9 billion individual birds between 1970 and 2017. That estimate equated to a drop of 29%, which is almost double the 15% decline documented in the new study. However, the 2019 study also covered an earlier and longer time period when there may have been more severe losses. CLICK HERE FOR FULL ARTICLE

95 million-year-old Spinosaurus , a "Hell Heron" had a scimitar-shaped head crest

Researchers have identified a new Spinosaurus species with a blade-like crest in Niger, changing our understanding of dinosaur evolution and behavior.

An illustration shows Spinosaurus mirabilis standing along a river's edge over its prey some 95 million years ago. (Image credit: Artwork by Dani Navarro)

 

95 million-year-old Spinosaurus had a scimitar-shaped head crest and waded through the Sahara's rivers like a 'hell heron'

By Kenna Hughes-Castleberry LIVESCIENCE, February 19, 2026

Around 95 million years ago, a Spinosaurus dinosaur with a tall, blade-like crest on its head and a large sail on its back lived in what is now Niger, a new study finds.

The newfound species, which the researchers have named Spinosaurus mirabilis ("astonishing Spinosaurus" in Latin), lived far inland, in river country — which could be the key to settling a debate about whether this dinosaur and its relatives were swimmers, the team reported Thursday (Feb. 19) in the journal Science.

"There's just no way that you're going to find … essentially an aquatic animal hundreds of miles from the shoreline, buried … right in a river deposit," study first author Paul Sereno, a paleontologist at the University of Chicago who led the team that found the fossil, told Live Science.

Sereno's team made the discovery thanks to a Tuareg guide, a member of a local nomadic population that live in the Sahara Desert, who led them to the remote site on an hours-long trek back in 2019. Upon seeing the fossils, the paleontologists noted a peculiarity: The bones were black, caused by an increased concentration of phosphate in the bone. Sereno said that, in his 25 years of fieldwork, he'd never seen fossils that color in the Sahara Desert.

The crest points to a new species 

At first, Sereno and the team couldn't figure out how some of the bones fit together with the rest of the skeleton. "We didn't recognize the crest," Sereno said." It was just so weird [and] asymmetrical."

When a larger team returned to the same site in 2022 and uncovered a skull with a partial crest attached, it all clicked. While running CT scans of the fossil and using computer models, the team found lots of fossilized blood vessels inside, plus a surface texture that suggested a keratin sheath covered the bone in real life, which would have made the crest stand up to 20 inches (0.5 meters) tall.

In the paper describing their findings, the researchers called it the tallest crest known in any meat-eating dinosaur and argued it played a decorative role, possibly allowing the animal to identify potential mates or rivals while wading along riverbanks.

A full body rendering of Spinosaurus mirabilis showing its scimitar-like crest and large back sail. (Image credit: Artwork by Dani Navarro)

 So … was Spinosaurus a swimmer? 

In recent years, some researchers have argued that Spinosaurus — a genus that includes S. mirabilis, as well as its relatives, such as S. aegyptiacus — chased prey underwater as a marine hunter. For instance, S. mirabilis has the iconic teeth of a fish hunter, with those on the lower jaw protruding outward and fitting neatly between the sharp teeth on the upper jaw, the team reported.

Yet, based on the fossil's location — buried next to two long-necked sauropods in a river bed, and its body shape — Sereno sees "this dinosaur as a kind of ‘hell heron’ that had no problem wading on its sturdy legs into two meters [6.5 feet] of water but probably spent most of its time stalking shallower traps for the many large fish of the day,” he said in a statement.

The back sail would have added so much weight to Spinosaurus' body that it would have made it difficult to move, Sereno noted. So it's unlikely that any members of the genus swam, he said. "It's sacrificing … aspects of its agility for this, but it's an important feature," Serano told Live Science.

In the paper, the researchers compared S. mirabilis' body shape with other living and extinct predators and placed it between semiaquatic waders like herons and aquatic divers like penguins.

"It shows the process of science evaluating evidence and new evidence appearing," Sereno said.

North Jersey Sinkhole Swallows Dump Truck!

In west central New Jersey, in the town of Phillipsburg located along the Delaware river, an apparent water main leak caused a large sinkhole that swallowed most of a dump truck last month. Today's blog is about the original incident, and since I want to know how things resolved, I followed up with the town's website to learn that it took about 3 days to get the dump truck out and repair the water lines, electric and gas lines. Here's the story to accompany the dramatic picture. 

(Photo courtesy of Amber Mariee)

New Jersey Sinkhole Swallows Dump Truck, Driver Injured 

Jack Slocum,Patch Staff, Feb 17, 2026 at 3:23 pm ET 

WARREN COUNTY, NJ — A dump truck driver was injured Tuesday, Feb 17, 2026 after the roadway beneath the truck collapsed in Warren County, according to police.

On Tuesday, around 1 p.m., police were called to the intersection of Summit Avenue and Lewis Street in Phillipsburg, where roadwork was being done to repair previously reported sinkholes.

[EDITOR NOTE:] Phillipsburg is a town located along the Delaware River that is the most populous municipality in Warren County, in New Jersey. It is part of the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton, PA-NJ metropolitan statistical area.

The dump truck, working to repair the sinkholes, partially collapsed into a new one that had opened up, officials said.

The driver sustained minor injuries and was treated on site by medical personnel, police said. The incident prompted a hazmat response due to a diesel leak, officials added.

With the sinkhole “appearing larger than originally assessed,” authorities evacuated residents in the immediate area. ************* 

EDITOR Update on Feb 20th from the Town of Phillipsburg

Overnight crews successfully and safely removed the dump truck that had been engulfed by a sinkhole at the intersection of Lewis Street and Summit Avenue.

Repair crews remained on site throughout the night, continuing critical work to stabilize the area and address remaining issues at the intersection; which includes replacing the water main and backfilling the hole.

Electric service has been fully restored to the affected area.

Gas service is still out to the immediate area and is anticipated to be restore later today, Feb 20, 2026.  Water service has been restored to all homes in the impacted area, with the exception of approximately 10 residences. Crews were actively working to restore service to these remaining homes.

Local Stuff: Archaeology Lecture and Fiddlers

 There are always things to do in Northern New England when the weather is cold. Recently we attended a library lecture and heard fiddlers perform in anticipation of St. Patrick's Day. Today's blog is about each of those events!

(Photo: The Fiddling Thompsons (left) are introduced by Sharon, the head librarian. Credit: R.G.)

1) Heard the Fiddling Thomsons at the Berwick Public Library! 

The Father and son duo Ryan and Brennish Thomson visited the library in mid-March. The two have been performing together for over 20 years. Their large repertoire of Irish music includes jigs, reels, hornpipes, aires, slides and more, which they play on fiddles, accordion, guitar, banjo, bones, Irish tin whistle, and other instruments.

They have performed throughout New England and far away places such New York, California, England, and China. Besides numerous awards for their playing on various instruments, they are the recipients of the 2023 New Hampshire Governor’s Arts Award for Folk Heritage. 

(A 13 second video of some of the Irish Jig fiddling! Credit: R.G LINK: Video link

https://youtube.com/shorts/-lsIa2Gdcbg)

2) Local Historical Presentation: 1642 Abraham Preble Garrison in York Maine, excavated in 2021-2022

In October 2021, a team from Northeast Archaeology Research Center began scraping the surface of the site at 142 York St., looking for any traces of historical value. All the artifacts recovered from the Davis land went to the Northeast Archaeology laboratory to be cleaned, catalogued, analyzed and curated. Some of the artifacts were brought to the York, Maine library for attendees of the lecture.

(Photo: The archeological dig. Credit: Seacoast Online) 

WHAT IS THE PREBLE HOME? The Abraham Preble Site in York Maine began as a family homestead in 1642 and was later fortified to serve as a militia garrison and place-of-refuge during King William’s War (1688-1697), a destructive frontier conflict that pitted the English Colonists against the native Wabnaki and their French allies.

(Photo: The archeological dig at the Preble Home area in York, Maine.) 

THE PRESENTATION - The historical presentation was about the Phase III Data Recovery of the Abraham Preble Garrison on York Street in York, Maine. It was excavated in 2021-2022 because there is a proposed building project slated for that area. The developer funded the excavation to ensure any historic artifacts would be preserved.

WHAT WAS UNCOVERED? The team has found a number of interesting artifacts, including many old tobacco pipe stems, ceramics and traces of trenches used by soldiers in the late 17th century. Tables of artifacts from the dig were on display.

NINE BUILDINGS - Intensive archaeological excavations in 2021 and 2022 revealed at least nine buildings stood in and adjacent to successive palisade (fencing) lines, marking the site’s evolution. Confined to an area of 800 m², many of the structures appeared contemporary with the most intensive period of occupation, when the complex housed not just the Preble family, but the militia garrison and as many of 100 refugees from nearby farmsteads.

(Photo: An artifact excavated from the Preble House site)

WHAT WILL BE BUILT THERE? The Mary McIntire Davis Trust, a family trust, currently owns the property, and the York Planning Board okayed the development of 115 residential units on the property, including six workforce housing units and more than 40 units for people 55 and older.

Idiot of the Week: NH man sentenced for using $1M in COVID relief funds to buy golf course

This week's idiot stole a million dollars to buy himself a golf course. He secured more than $1 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) through the federal CARES Act during COVID. Why he's only getting a short prison sentence is unknown. The article doesn't say anything about him paying it back, though.

NH man sentenced for using $1M in COVID relief funds to buy golf course 

Michael Kirouac will serve 15 months in prison after pleading guilty in October.

February 21, 2026 Boston.com By Morgan Rousseau

A New Hampshire man who fraudulently obtained more than $1 million in COVID-19 relief funds and used much of the money to buy a golf course has been sentenced to federal prison, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Hampshire announced.

Michael Kirouac, 38, of Pembroke, was sentenced Wednesday to 15 months in prison and one year of supervised release after pleading guilty in October to one count of wire fraud, prosecutors said.

Federal investigators said Kirouac secured more than $1 million in Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDLs) through the federal CARES Act. The loans were meant to help small businesses cover payroll and other necessary expenses during the early months of the pandemic.

Instead, authorities said, Kirouac used roughly $600,000 of the funds to help purchase the Angus Lea Golf Course in Hillsborough after he was unable to get private financing.

“The defendant stole over a million dollars from taxpayers amidst one of the worst health and economic crises in a century,” U.S. Attorney Erin Creegan said in a statement. “This office will continue to vigilantly investigate and prosecute those who defraud pandemic relief programs.”

According to court documents, Kirouac owned or controlled four companies: HK Manchester, HK Loudon, HK Hudson, and HK Pelham. Prosecutors said he certified that the EIDL funds would be used as working capital and not for personal expenses or business relocation.

Beginning in 2021, while attempting to buy the golf course, Kirouac obtained EIDL funds on behalf of HK Manchester and HK Loudon and put a large portion of the money toward the purchase, prosecutors said. He also misused funds tied to HK Pelham.

Kirouac also received a $260,500 EIDL loan for HK Hudson even though he had already agreed to sell the company to a third party, authorities said. He didn’t disclose the pending sale to the Small Business Administration when applying for the loan.

“Today’s sentencing of Michael Kirouac demonstrates IRS-CI’s continued commitment to prosecuting all those who took advantage of the CARES Act for their own undue self-enrichment,” said Thomas Demeo, Special Agent in Charge of the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, Boston Field Office. “Kirouac defrauded a federal program designed to help those most in need at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic with the intent of misappropriating these funds to purchase a golf course, while others, who were truly in need, struggled.”

Hero of the Week: Betty, assistance dog at Santa Fe sex assault services nonprofit, helps victims find calm

This week's hero is a black labrador retriever with a talent for bringing calm. Betty works in Santa Fe, New Mexico with her human, and has already done amazing things. That's today's blog. 

(Photo: Betty’s handler, Jacquelyn Belinsky, who is also a nurse practitioner and sexual assault nurse examiner getting ready for work. Credit: Nathan Burton, Santa Fe New Mexican) 

Betty, assistance dog at Santa Fe sex assault services nonprofit, helps victims find calm 

By Lily Alexander, February 9, 2026, Santa Fe New Mexican news

Though her 90-day orientation period is still underway, the newest staff member at Solace Sexual Assault Services — a black English Labrador named Betty — has already made an impact.

“One of Betty’s superpowers is that she will be nonjudgemental,” said Betty’s handler, Jacquelyn Belinsky, who is also a nurse practitioner and sexual assault nurse examiner. “There’s non-judgement coming from her eyes, and also she emits a sense of safety. And with those two qualities, she helps people — they feel safe, they don’t feel judged, they can just go ahead and tell their stories.”

Solace, a nonprofit facility located on Santa Fe’s south side, serves hundreds of victims of sexual violence in Northern New Mexico each year. Four-year-old Betty — the facility’s first assistance dog — sits with children and teenagers during forensic interviews, and she will soon accompany clients to therapy sessions, too.

She even has an office.

Having an assistance dog was a longtime dream of both Belinsky and Solace’s executive director, María José Rodríguez Cádiz. For Belinsky, the dream dates back two decades — to a day she was in Taos to testify in a case regarding the sexual abuse of a young girl by a family member.

The girl was so terrified she could not enter the courtroom, Belinsky recalled. Then a service dog was brought in. The dog lay down on the ground, the young girl locked eyes with it “and bravely disclosed — while making eye contact with the dog — the whole story of what had happened to her while her perpetrator was in the courtroom,” Belinsky said.

“The dog gave her this sense of safety and decreased intense anxiety,” she added. “And I saw, so long ago, the power of what a dog could do. … That stayed with me.”

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Child Sexual Abuse found a service-trained facility dog at a child advocacy center in Virginia significantly decreased the stress of children participating in forensic interviews.

Assistance dogs provide a new means of healing that traditional therapy — though also effective — does not, Rodríguez Cádiz said.

“It is just a very effective way to help folks regulate while undergoing acute trauma,” she said.

Betty is a product of Assistance Dogs of the West, where Belinksy started volunteering in 2019. The Santa Fe-based nonprofit breeds and trains dogs to work in a variety of settings across the country — courthouses, schools and following mass-casualty events, for example.

As she helped to raise puppies, Belinksy started thinking about her work with Solace and the impact an assistance dog could make there. And after several years of collaboration and discussion, Betty, with her temperament of calmness and peace, “became the ideal candidate,” Belinsky said.

AMAZING EXAMPLE OF BETTY'S TALENTS 

So far, Betty’s impact has been “amazing,” Rodríguez Cádiz said, citing a recent example of a child who was set to participate in a forensic interview, but was so nervous the staff did not think they would be able to do it that day. The advocate in the room quickly thought of Betty, and when they brought her in, the child’s demeanor immediately changed.

“It wasn’t seasoned professionals, fully trained, who have done this over and over again that were able to create that shift,” Rodríguez Cádiz said.

It was Betty.

It was the English lab, too, a couple of weeks ago, when a young girl who came in for services was anxious and hyperventilating, Belinsky said. Belinsky brought Betty into the room, and the girl wrapped her arms around the dog and cried into her chest. The pair stayed together for two hours, she said.

“And when she was done and she was going home, she said, ‘I couldn’t have done this without Betty,’ ” Belinsky said.

At the end of her day, Betty goes home with Belinsky and takes off her assistance dog vest. She enjoys chewing on her toys, watching the birds in her backyard and playing with Belinsky’s grandchildren.

“But when I put that vest on her ... she knows she’s on duty,” Belinsky said.

Betty also provides support to Solace’s staff. Belinsky brings her to visit the detectives at the Santa Fe Police Department’s Special Victims Unit, which is housed at Solace.

The pup is also prepared to attend meetings and accompany Rodríguez Cádiz to community events.

“And this is just the beginning,” Rodríguez Cádiz said.

Lily Alexander is a Santa Fe New Mexican reporter through a fellowship with the New Mexico Local News Fund.

Book of the Week: Tails You Lose: Witch City Mystery by Carol J Perry

The Witch City Mystery series by Carol J. Perry is one of my all time favorite series!  I have read most of them, and finally went back and read the second book of the series "Tails You Lose." - Somehow I had missed it, and it was AWESOME. That's today's blog.

The main characters are wonderful, Lee who teaches television at a local school (and in later books becomes a reporter for WICH-TV), her boyfriend, later husband, detective Pete Mondello, her aunt Ibby, a retired librarian, and her cat O'Ryan, who originally belonged to a local witch found murdered in book one- are all captivating. There's also Lee's best friend River North, a true witch who reads tarot.

Tails You Lose is a GREAT mystery that will keep you wanting to finish. I read it in 1 week, which is Super-fast for me. In the book, Lee is teaching a television class, and the assignment is to write about the history of Trumbull's deparment store, which happens to be haunted by one of the former residents when it also served as a home. There's mystery, secret tunnels, ghosts, and various new characters. 5 of 5 stars!

ABOUT THE BOOK:  Her instincts may be killer--but can she catch one this wicked?

After losing her job as a TV psychic, Lee Barrett has decided to volunteer her talents as an instructor at the Tabitha Trumbull Academy of the Arts--known as "The Tabby"--in her hometown of Salem, Massachusetts. But when the school's handyman turns up dead under seemingly inexplicable circumstances on Christmas night, Lee's clairvoyant capabilities begin bubbling to the surface once again.

The Tabby is housed in the long-vacant Trumbull's Department Store. As Lee and her intrepid students begin work on a documentary charting the store's history, they unravel a century of family secrets, deathbed whispers--and a mysterious labyrinth of tunnels hidden right below the streets of Salem. Even the witches in town are spooked, and when Lee begins seeing visions in the large black patent leather pump in her classroom, she's certain something evil is afoot. But ghosts in the store's attic are the least of her worries with a killer on the loose. . .

New 'sungrazing' comet could become visible to the naked eye during the day (April 4-5)

A newly discovered sungrazing comet C/2026 A1 will make an extremely close slingshot around the Sun in early April, and could become bright enough to be seen without a telescope during the day.... if it doesn't burn up, that is. That's today's blog.

(Image: This is NOT C/2026 A1. Instead it is comet ISON. Comets are thought to hold material from the time when the Sun and planets were forming. They are like giant, frozen time capsules in our solar system. Credit: NASA/MSFC/Aaron Kingery)

New 'sungrazing' comet could become visible to the naked eye during the day — if the sun doesn't destroy it

By Harry Baker, LIVE SCIENCE,  (Updated by editor to reflect comet arrival April 4-5) 

Astronomers have discovered an exciting new "sungrazing" comet that will have a perilously close encounter with our home star in less than a month  (April 4-5). Some experts predict the hefty ice ball could become bright enough to be visible to the naked eye, even in daylight — but only if the comet survives its deadly solar slingshot.

The newfound comet, dubbed C/2026 A1 (MAPS), was discovered Jan. 13 by a team of French astronomers at the AMACS1 Observatory in Chile's Atacama Desert. It is likely around 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometers) wide and, when it was first spotted, was just over twice as far from the sun as Earth is, according to Sky & Telescope magazine.

C/2026 A1 belongs to the Kreutz family of "sungrazing" comets — a group of at least 3,500 comets with orbits that take them within 850,000 miles (1.4 million km) of our home star. The Kreutz sungrazers are suspected to be fragments of a single massive comet that was ripped apart by the sun around 1,700 years ago, according to Live Science's sister site Space.com.

The icy ball of rock and gas will reach its closest point to the sun, called perihelion, on April 4, when it will come within around 500,000 miles (800,000 km) of our home star — or roughly 70 times closer to the sun than Mercury is. At such proximity, the comet will whip around the sun at more than 2 million mph (3.2 million km/h), causing it to experience intense gravitational pressure, high temperatures, and a hefty dose of solar radiation.

This immense strain may end up ripping the comet apart, which happens to most other sungrazing comets. But if it survives its perilous perihelion, C/2026 A1 will be so changed by the event that it will shine like an incredibly bright star — potentially even during the daytime.

How bright will it get?

C/2026 A1 comes from a particularly noteworthy subgroup of Kreutz sungrazers that are thought to be fragments of the "Great Comet of 1106," which was itself a remnant of the family's massive progenitor. Previous alumni of this subgroup include Comet Ikeya-Seki, which shined brighter than the full moon in 1965, and Comet Lovejoy, which became a "headless wonder" after being largely ripped apart in 2011.

As these comets made their own solar flybys, they became uncommonly bright, largely due to the significant amounts of gas that were released as they soaked up solar radiation. This has also caused several sungrazers to grow spectacular "broom-like" tails as they neared the sun, which could also happen to C/2026 A1, according to Sky & Telescope.

It is too early to accurately predict how bright C/2026 A1 will become. However, some researchers speculate that it could get several times brighter than the full moon, which would make it visible to the naked eye in the daytime sky, according to an article in The Conversation. But this will happen only if it survives perihelion; if not, it won't get anywhere near its max brightness.

Most sungrazing comets are small and are discovered mere days before they reach perihelion. Usually, they also get ripped apart by the encounter. For example, during the total solar eclipse of April 2024, researchers discovered a tiny sungrazer just hours before it disappeared forever.

How to see C/2026 A1 (MAPS)

If C/2026 A1 survives its deadly dance with the sun, it will likely reach its max brightness a few days later as it nears its closest point to Earth later in the month.

Archaeologists raced against the tide to record a unique set of footprints made 2,000 years ago on a Scottish beach.

For just a few days, storms revealed something extraordinary on a beach in Scotland — ancient human and animal footprints pressed into clay nearly 2,000 years ago. When a couple walking their dogs after a strong storm unearthed ancient footprints, archaeologists from the University of Aberdeen were contacted and came out immediately to capture them before they were washed away. That's today's blog.

(Image:  The outline of a footprint left in the clay 2,000 years ago. The orange coloring is digitally added. (Image credit: University of Aberdeen)

In a 'race against time,' archaeologists uncovered Roman-era footprints from a Scottish beach before the tide washed them away. 

LIVE SCIENCE  Kristina Killgrove published February 19, 2026

While walking their dogs along a cliff-flanked Scottish beach after an intense storm, a couple stumbled upon a series of unusual markings on the damp ground — patterns that looked like ancient human and animal footprints.

Their discovery sparked an archaeological race against the clock to document and study the prints before they disappeared into the surf.

"It's very rare that you get involved in a genuine archaeological emergency where, if we didn't do it very, very quickly, the whole site would be gone," Kate Britton, an archaeologist at the University of Aberdeen, said in a video about the find.

On the beach at Lunan Bay in eastern Scotland, locals Ivor Campbell and Jenny Snedden — along with their dogs Ziggy and Juno — spotted a fresh layer of clay in the storm-damaged dunes with what appeared to be prints. They notified Aberdeenshire council archaeologist Bruce Mann, who brought in Britton and her team to excavate the newly uncovered site before it was lost forever.

The team of archaeologists worked in wind gusts up to 55 mph (88.5 km/h), racing to document the prints as the site was eroded with each high tide. They used drones, cameras and, later in the lab, 3D modeling software to record images of the archaeological site. They also used plaster to create molds of some of the better-preserved prints, which were made by barefoot humans and several animals, including red deer (Cervus elaphus) and roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), according to the statement.

"I'd never seen a site like this in Scotland," Britton said. "It was just immediately clear that this was something special."

Underneath the prints, the archaeologists found a layer of charred plant remains. They carbon-dated the plants to 2,000 years ago, during the late Iron Age.

"It's very exciting to think these prints were made by people around the time of the Roman invasions of Scotland and in the centuries leading up to the emergence of the Picts."

The Lunan Bay site "tells us how this now sandy beach was once a muddy estuary and that humans were using this environment, perhaps for hunting deer or to collect wild plant foods," William Mills, an archaeologist at the University of Aberdeen, said in the statement. Britton and her team excavated the site for two days, recording as much as they could. When they returned a week later, the prints were completely gone.