By LOLITA C. BALDOR

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Army has released the identity of the fourth soldier who died in a training accident in Lithuania, a day after his body was recovered during a weeklong search that took hundreds of troops and other rescue workers from three nations.

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The 3rd Infantry Division said Wednesday the soldier was Staff Sgt. Troy S. Knutson-Collins, 28, of Battle Creek, Michigan. It said Knutson-Collins and two of the other soldiers who died have been posthumously promoted to the rank of staff sergeant.

The other two sergeants who were promoted were Jose Duenez Jr., 25, of Joliet, Illinois, and Edvin F. Franco, 25, of Glendale, California. The other soldier who died was Pfc. Dante D. Taitano, 21, of Dededo, Guam.

Their three bodies were recovered on Monday after U.S., Polish and Lithuanian armed forces and other rescuers dug their M88 Hercules vehicle out of a peat bog at the expansive Gen. Silvestras Žukauskas training ground in the town of Pabradė, 6 miles west of the border with Belarus.

All four soldiers were part of the 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division, and were on a tactical training exercise when they and their vehicle were reported missing on March 25, the Army said. The 63-ton armored vehicle was discovered the following day submerged in 15 feet (4.5 meters) of water. It took days to pull it out of the bog.

Knutson-Collins, an artillery mechanic, had served in the Army for more than seven years and was assigned to 1st Battalion, 41st Field Artillery Regiment. He deployed to Korea in 2020.

“Words cannot express how deeply this loss is felt by everyone in our unit,” said Capt. Jackson Patillo, a commander in the 1st Battalion. “Staff Sgt. Troy Collins was an exceptional friend to all of us and an irreplaceable member to our entire Fox family that we will truly miss.”

There will be a formal dignified departure ceremony for the soldiers on Thursday in Vilnius, the capital, which is expected to include top Lithuanian officials and military leaders. They will eventually be transported to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.

By Sara Rathner, Kimberly Palmer, NerdWallet

The first three months of 2025 have been a lot. Tariff threats, cuts to federal jobs, and still-high prices for food, gas and housing have shaken consumer confidence.

If you started the year hopeful but now feel anxious, channel those negative emotions into action. Spring is the perfect time to open some windows, plant some flowers and freshen up the money goals you set at the start of the year.

Here are some things to focus on.

1. Review your spending

Your spending habits may have fluctuated wildly over the past few years. According to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, travel, hotel, restaurant and bar spending fell during the pandemic, while grocery and beverage store spending went up. Then, post-COVID revenge spending kicked in as people went out and traveled once again.

Now, you may be tightening your belt once more. Consumer spending went down in January 2025, according to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis. “I think people are slowing down on spending right now to see how things shake out with the new administration,” Shea Newton, a certified financial planner and president of Financial Journey in Pensacola, Florida, said in an email.

» MORE: How to create a spending plan

2. Find easy cuts

Recurring expenses silently cost you money in the background, so they’re all potential budget items to review. If you haven’t watched shows on a particular streaming service in a while, cancel your subscription and see whether you actually miss it. If another cell phone company provides similar coverage at a lower price, look into switching.

Even credit cards, especially those that charge annual fees, warrant a periodic look. As your spending patterns change, consider a new credit card that better maximizes your current lifestyle. Curtis Bailey, certified financial planner and founder of Quiet Wealth Management in Cincinnati, suggests first logging into your credit card accounts and pulling up a summary of last year’s spending, as well as the rewards that you earned.

Did you maximize your reward-earning potential and redeem those rewards in valuable ways? If not, it might be time to apply for a new card, he says.

3. Check in on financial goals

Your priorities can significantly shift, even from one month to the next. “Finances is one of those things where there’s always 12 decisions to be made at one given time,” says Andrew Mitchell, a financial advisor at Fiduciary Financial Advisors in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

For big financial goals, Mitchell recommends moving beyond the here and now and thinking about what you might need or want in a few years. “If you’re thinking far enough into the future and preparing, even in a scenario where there’s these big things going on, you have cash on hand to be able to deal with those situations,” he says.

» LISTEN: NerdWallet’s Smart Money podcast: How to set goals you can actually achieve

4. Ensure adequate insurance coverage

Natural disasters affected residents of multiple states in the past year, many of whom are still dealing with the resulting costs. Noah Damsky, founder and wealth advisor at Marina Wealth Advisors in Los Angeles, suggests you review your homeowners insurance policy at least every few years. The increased cost of labor and building materials can make it significantly more expensive to repair or rebuild your home.

Damsky, who bought his home in 2020, recently revisited his insurance policy. “I’m just a few miles away from where the wildfires were in L.A.,” he says.

Shop around to see whether other insurance providers can offer you similar or better coverage for a lower cost. And if you’ve acquired any luxury items in the past few years, such as jewelry or art, make sure you have policies in place that would cover those things, too.

» MORE: NerdWallet’s guide to homeowners insurance

Kimberly Palmer writes for NerdWallet. Email: kpalmer@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kimberlypalmer.

The article 4 Steps to Take Toward Financial Spring Cleaning originally appeared on NerdWallet.

“In the last four years, much has changed about Latino voting trends, shaped by Donald Trump’s re-emergence, the aftermath of COVID, the exodus of many Latinos and the arrival of others, and dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party.”

Photo by Adi Talwar.

Four years ago, I wrote a series for Gotham Gazette on the all-important Latino vote in New York City and the 2021 citywide elections. I am grateful to City Limits for the opportunity to provide a new series on how Latinos can shape the 2025 races.

In the last four years, much has changed about Latino voting trends, shaped by Donald Trump’s re-emergence, the aftermath of COVID, the exodus of many Latinos and the arrival of others, and dissatisfaction with the Democratic Party. No doubt new developments and insights about Latino voting patterns will emerge in the run up to, and the results of, the 2025 municipal elections.

The 2024 elections were instructive. Support for Trump among Latinos increased, though not at the scale some have suggested. The largest increase in Trump support came from Latinos in Queens. Voter registration numbers have declined among Latinos over the last few years, and voter participation likewise since 2018.

What this is likely to mean for the 2025 citywide elections is not only a guess. We already know that:

With over 1 million of us registered in the City of New York, Latinos comprise 23 percent of the entire voting population.

Within the Democratic Party, Latinos now exceed 700,000 voters.

Despite diminishing voting participation, Latinos may constitute 18 percent of the possible primary electorate this June. In the 2021 mayoral election, Latinos comprised 17 percent of the primary electorate, and it was my contention that Latinos helped get Eric Adams over the top in a multiple field race.  

In specific Council districts, Latinos can help increase Latino political representation.

Latinos could make the difference in the Bronx borough president’s race.

In the following weeks and months, I welcome your company, questions, and comments as I explore these dynamics in this series on the Latino vote in the 2025 municipal elections.

Have questions about the Latino vote in NYC’s elections this year? Send them to editor@citylimits.org with the subject line “Latino Vote 2025.” 

Eli Valentin is a former Gotham Gazette contributor and currently serves as assistant dean of graduate and leadership studies at Virginia Union University. He lives in New York with his family.

The post New Series on the Latino Vote & the 2025 NYC Elections appeared first on City Limits.

A former legislative aide to St. Paul City Council Member Anika Bowie who was fired after five months on the job is suing Bowie and the city based on a highly critical email she circulated to 11 city officials after he was quickly rehired by another council member.

Jon Berry filed his lawsuit on Monday in Hennepin County District Court, and the case was assigned Tuesday to Judge Susan Burke. He is being represented by the Minneapolis law firm of Gustafson Gluek.

In the 16-page civil filing, he accuses the city of violating the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act by illegally disclosing his private personnel data, and he accuses both defendants — Bowie and the city — of a single count of defamation and a single count of negligence.

The city council met behind closed doors in January to consider Berry’s suit, when it was still deemed pending litigation, but the city has yet to file a formal legal response.

Bowie and other city officials did not immediately return calls for comment on the lawsuit Wednesday.

Hired last May

Bowie hired Berry last May as her legislative aide, a position that paid $42 per hour, or more than $92,000 annually. He maintains he received “positive feedback from various city staff” about his job performance but was still let go by Bowie on Oct. 2, with the sole reason given being that he was “not a good fit” for the position, according to the lawsuit.

On Oct. 21, St. Paul Council Member Cheniqua Johnson hired Berry back to City Hall for a 10-week part-time communications position in her office, a job that paid $17 per hour.

After his rehiring, Bowie sent a two-page email that same day to 11 city officials, including Johnson, Berry, the city attorney, a deputy city attorney, officials with Human Resources and others who work in city finances. In that email, she “illegally disclosed private personnel data” about him and made four defamatory statements, according to the lawsuit.

Berry maintains that much of the information Bowie shared by email was not true, but even misinformation can be characterized as private data under the law.

Among the claims that Berry maintains constitute private data, Bowie accused him of a “misappropriation of travel funds” and unauthorized expenses during a Sept. 10 to Sept. 13 work trip. She noted he “consistently failed to meet the needs of the office, demonstrating a lack of organization and preparation for community meetings,” and she said he was terminated based on her decision to forego an investigation into the misappropriation of funds.

Bowie said Berry was issued an employee improvement plan on Aug. 12, and he failed to meet expectations.

“This statement is false and defamatory,” reads the lawsuit. “Mr. Berry was never issued an improvement plan by Councilmember Bowie. Accordingly, he never failed to meet any such improvement plan.”

She also wrote in her email that there were rumors of a prior intimate relationship between Berry and Johnson, and that the relationship had been mentioned to her “by mutual acquaintances in Councilmember Johnson’s presence.”

“No such conversation, in the presence of Councilmember Johnson, took place and, more importantly, Councilmember Johnson and Mr. Berry never had an intimate relationship,” reads the lawsuit.

Email mailed out

In what the lawsuit describes as yet another breach of state data privacy laws, someone anonymously mailed a printed copy of Bowie’s Oct. 2 email to the St. Paul Pioneer Press, which published a front-page article about the internal council dispute in December after attempting to confirm details and interview individuals involved. Given that the email had initially been shared with city personnel, Berry maintains that it must have been a city employee who leaked it to the media.

On Dec. 11, two days after the article was published, an independent investigator hired by the city substantiated a workplace conduct complaint against Bowie, which had been filed by Johnson in response to the Oct. 2 email. The investigator, who reviewed city records and conducted multiple interviews, found that Bowie violated city policy, defied state data privacy law and “potentially” defamed Berry.

“The investigator concluded that Councilmember Bowie had ‘no objectively valid or productive business reason’ to ‘publicly disseminate the email to … 11 recipients,” states the lawsuit.

Berry is seeking attorney’s fees and damages for an amount to be proven at trial.

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