Albuquerque Public Schools will use a $16.25 million grant, awarded by the Defense Department’s Office of Economic Adjustment, to demolish and rebuild Wherry Elementary School located on Kirtland AFB, N.M., according to a DOD release. The school, which was ranked No. 11 on DOD’s public schools on military installations priority list, will serve 500 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. OEA also awarded Geary County Unified School District 475 a $16.1 million grant to replace the Fort Riley Elementary School at Fort Riley, Kan. That school also will serve 500 students in grades K-5. Funding for the grants is provided under DOD’s public schools on military installations program, which must give priority consideration to military installations that are deemed the most deficient, states the release.
Amid NATO’s continued push to ramp up air defenses in Eastern Europe, Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall swung by seven allied countries to boost relations last week, including those on Russia’s and Ukraine’s doorstep.