The city of Lancaster is now accepting applications for the fourth annual Uniting Neighbors in a Team Effort (UNITE) program.

Applications for the UNITE program are available on the city’s website at www.cityoflancasterca.org/unite and must be submitted by Friday, June 14 at 5 p.m. (postmark dates will not be accepted).

The program, which aims to help build safer and stronger neighborhoods, offers residents an opportunity to propose neighborhood improvement projects and compete for the resources and funding needed to make those projects a reality.

An Air Force captain who is a new mother from Palmdale was identified by the Pentagon this week as one of three airmen killed when their tanker plane crashed in Central Asia, while supporting American troops in Afghanistan.

Capt. Victoria “Tori” A. Pinckney, 27, of Palmdale, was killed in the May 3 crash of a KC-135 tanker near Chon-Aryk, Krygyzstan, the Defense Department announced.

Colorado Springs television station KKTV reported that Pinckney was the mother of a 7-month-old son, and was a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.