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‘Full House’ alum Jodie Sweetin reveals where relationship with Olsen twins stands today
‘Full House’ alum Jodie Sweetin reveals where relationship with Olsen twins stands today
Trump Takes Maiden Flight On New Air Force One Jet
Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times,
Ahead of a trip to North Dakota on July 1 to honor the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, President Donald Trump officially debuted a refurbished Boeing 747-8 luxury jet that will serve as the interim Air Force One.
President Donald Trump pumps his fist after touring the inside of the newest aircraft in the presidential fleet at Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on June 19, 2026. The Qatari royal family gifted the $400 million, Boeing 747-8 to be used as the new Air Force One. Alex Wong/Getty ImagesSet to open on Saturday in Medora, North Dakota, the 96,000-square-foot facility is carved out of local soil and overlooks the Theodore Roosevelt National Park, among the rugged Badlands where the former president spent many of his formative years.
Trump is honoring Roosevelt ahead of the nation's 250th anniversary on July 4, and Wednesday's trip marks the new plane's inaugural flight as the interim Air Force One.
The Qatari government gifted the $400 million Boeing 747-8 luxury jet to the federal government last year, and it is one of the largest gifts Washington has ever received.
At the time, the gift drew scrutiny from across the political spectrum, including among some of the president's base.
When the Air Force first unveiled the plane earlier this month, it said the modified jet was up to the military's security standards.
"We're very proud of this. The country is very proud of it, and you can do two things: you can low-key it, or you can show it," Trump told reporters on the tarmac before departing for North Dakota on Wednesday.
When asked how much taxpayer money was required to refurbish and upgrade the plane to meet security standards, Trump said, "very little relative to what it would cost if we did it a different way."
"Frankly, we couldn't build a plane like this because we wouldn't be willing to spend the kind of money necessary. [Qatar] spent top dollars," Trump said.
"I went to Qatar and said, 'I'd like to use it for a period of time,' because the other ones, as you know, are under construction; they'll be here in two years, and because you know the [former Air Force One] is 35 years old."
The three new Boeing 747-8 jets that will serve as the new Air Force One fleet under the VC-25B program are still being prepared and are not expected to be flight-ready until mid-2028.
While built on the 747-8 airframe, the VC-25B jets come with critical upgrades, including advanced technology and "increased capacity and further enhanced capabilities for presidential travel," according to Boeing.
Jackson Richman and Reuters contributed to this report.
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Executive Order Execution: Three Reactors Achieved Criticality Before July 4th
On July 1st, the Department of Energy (DOE) announced microreactor developer Deployable Energy had achieved criticality on their Unity reactor design at Idaho National Labs (INL).
CRITICALITY NUMBER THREE! 🎉
On June 30, 2026, at around 11:55 PM MDT, @DeployableE’s Unity microreactor achieved initial criticality at @INL. It is the third nuclear test reactor this year to go critical under @ENERGY authorization.
Congratulations to Deployable Energy on… pic.twitter.com/TaIKbtnNTx
This is the third privately developed and funded reactor to have obtained the nuclear milestone of sustaining a chain reaction of fissioning uranium atoms inside of a reactor core.
Executive Order 14301, “Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy”, was the starting point. The executive order contained, among many other things, a goal for the DOE to start up a reactor testing program that enabled rapid iteration and commercialization of advanced nuclear technology.
Soon after, the DOE launched the Reactor Pilot Program (RPP), as well as a sister program to fuel these reactors (in the future) called the Fuel Line Pilot Program (FLPP).
The selectees of the RPP included 11 different reactor projects:
- Aalo Atomics Inc.
- Antares Nuclear Inc.
- Atomic Alchemy Inc.
- Deep Fission Inc.
- Last Energy Inc.
- Oklo Inc. (two projects)
- Natura Resources LLC
- Radiant Industries Inc.
- Terrestrial Energy Inc.
- Valar Atomics Inc.
Over the next several months, the developers raced to iterate through their designs with the goal of achieving criticality before America's birthday, this upcoming weekend.
First, Antares achieved zero power criticality on their sodium heat pipe design in the beginning of June. This was followed a couple weeks later when Valar achieved criticality on their gas reactor in Utah. Valar took the testing a step further to actually producing nuclear heat and performing critical safety tests on a live stream.
And just before reaching the July 4th holiday, Deployable Energy announced their success in achieving a chain reaction of fission in their core.
Deployable Energy's success is most notable because the company was not even a part of the RPP. The company was achieving iteration and criticality of their reactor design under the more recently launched Nuclear Energy Launch Pad. This program is the long-term successor project that will succeed the RPP in the FLPP for the years to come.
Multiple other companies are still in pursuit of initial criticality, which will enable them to continue on their path of iteration and preparation for commercializing their designs under the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. This includes companies like Oklo, Radiant, and Aalo.