The US is sending a warship and helicopters to help New Zealand, which is recovering from a 7.5-magnitude earthquake that hit the island on Monday. At least two people were killed in the shake and a series of aftershocks throughout the country, according to BBC News. Adm. Harry Harris, commander of US Pacific Command, said the USS Sampson, an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, and its two MH-60 Seahawks will join a P-3 Orion already in New Zealand in disaster relief efforts. Landslides, heavy rain, and flooding has hampered responses throughout the country and in the capital of Wellington.
A three-month continuing resolution that ended in December inflicted less pain on the Department of the Air Force than it had expected, as procurement and construction continue in the new year. The federal government operated under a stopgap spending measure that stretched from the beginning of the fiscal year on…