2 dead as medevac helicopter crashes off California’s Catalina Island
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A helicopter carrying five people crashed into the water off the coast of Catalina Island in California on Wednesday evening, killing two of those on board, sending two others to the hospital and prompting a search in the water for the last one.
“This remains an active scene with search and rescue operations continuing throughout the night,” the Los Angeles County Fire Department said.
Two of four people who were recovered from the water were taken to the hospital and another two were pronounced dead at the scene, the department said.
“I have been informed that a medevac helicopter leaving Catalina Island has crashed shortly after takeoff,” Janice Hahn, a county supervisor, said in a statement.
“LA County Fire, Sheriff, Coast Guard, and Avalon Fire are on the scene,” Hahn added. “Search and rescue operations are underway and I am praying for everyone who was on board.”
California officials said the National Transportation Safety Board had been made aware of the crash and that it would lead an investigation.
This image released by the Harris County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office shows the damage to a home after a Tesla crashed into it, in Katy, Texas, on June 19, 2026. (Harris County Precinct 5 Constable’s Office)
(KATY, Texas) — The driver in a deadly Tesla crash in Texas pressed the accelerator to 100% before colliding into a house, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
On June 19, the driver, Michael Butler, was behind the wheel of a 2025 Tesla Model 3 electric car when it went off the road and crashed into a home in Katy, killing 76-year-old resident Marta Avila, officials said.
Butler, who said the car was in self-driving mode, was arrested for manslaughter on July 1. He’s not entered a plea and is set to be arraigned next month.
The NTSB said on Wednesday that, at the time of the collision, “the driver had engaged Tesla’s Advanced Driver Assistance System (ADAS), Full Self Driving (FSD) (Supervised).”
But data shows that before the crash, Butler “manually overrode FSD (Supervised) by pressing the accelerator pedal to 100%,” the NTSB noted.
The Tesla was driving over 70 mph when it struck the house, the NTSB said, noting that the speed limit on Avila’s residential road is 30 mph.
“All aspects of the crash remain under investigation while the NTSB determines the probable cause, with the intent of issuing safety recommendations to prevent similar crashes,” the NTSB said in a statement.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating, the NTSB said.
Butler’s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Workers gather outside of the former Pfizer headquarters building on July 08, 2026, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — New York City officials began reopening some streets and buildings in Midtown Manhattan Wednesday, after engineering crews stabilized a building that was at risk of a partial collapse due to buckling beams.
Engineers worked throughout Tuesday night and the following morning to shore up the compromised floors at 235 E. 42nd St., the former Pfizer corporate building that is currently being converted into residential apartments.
“Right now, we have been in a consistent and stable and safe situation. We have been able to bring in a plan and materials to stabilize the impact,” New York City Buildings Commissioner Ahmed Tigani said Wednesday.
The building was evacuated Tuesday morning after construction crews discovered buckling beams on the 21st floor of the 37-story building. The 21st through 26th floors began caving as a result, according to DOB.
A five-by-three-block frozen zone was established to prohibit pedestrians and vehicles around the site. Nine buildings were evacuated as crews carefully made their way into the compromised building and worked to secure it.
Emergency shoring was installed from the 18th through 23rd floors, including structural steel shoring columns on the 21st and 22nd floors, and light-duty shoring posts on four other floors, the DOB said on Wednesday.
No additional movement has been detected as of Tuesday morning, according to DOB officials.
As of Wednesday afternoon, three nearby buildings remained vacated, along with one restaurant located near the site, DOB said.
The frozen zone was also scaled back. Vehicles are prohibited from entering 42nd and 43rd streets between 2nd and 3rd avenues, the city said.
The DOB is currently conducting an investigation of the incident, which it said “will include a detailed review of all associated plans and construction documents, interviews with witnesses and responsible parties, a full inspection sweep of the entire construction site, and review of available video and photo evidence.”
MetroLoft, the developer of the conversion project, said Wednesday that it will fully rebuild the impacted areas of the building and that the building was never at risk of collapse.
“We have been working closely with the Department of Buildings to rectify the situation. Our team worked through the night stabilizing the affected columns, and the DOB has confirmed the structure is now stable,” MetroLoft said in a statement on Wednesday. “We have identified the issue and developed a clear plan to fix it. This is a localized situation affecting less than 30 apartments out of over 1,600. At no time was the building, or any portion of it, at risk of collapse.”
“We are in the process of addressing the issue and will fully rebuild this portion of the building in tandem with ongoing construction,” the statement continued. “We remain on schedule, and this work will not delay delivery of the building as it is such a small portion of the project. We are working around the clock so that operations can resume and life in the area can return to normal.”
DOB said that it ordered the building’s owner to retain a third-party engineer to conduct a forensic evaluation.
The construction project is one of the city’s largest commercial-to-residential conversions in city history, officials said.
Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates stops to speak to the media as he arrives to testify at a closed-door interview with the House Oversight Committee on Capitol Hill on June 10, 2026 in Washington, DC.. (Photo by Tom Brenner/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates told the House Oversight Committee probing the government’s investigation of Jeffrey Epstein that Gates “never victimized anyone” and that meeting with Epstein “was a grave error in judgment,” according to his prepared opening remarks.
Gates is facing questions Wednesday about his relationship with the late financier, marking one of the most high-profile interviews conducted by the Oversight Committee since it began probing the government’s handling of its investigations into the notorious sex offender.
“I never witnessed nor had any indication that Epstein was engaged in ongoing criminal conduct. I never went to his island, his ranch, or his Florida home. I have never victimized anyone,” Gates testified in his closed-door appearance, according to a copy of his prepared opening statement.
Gates said that Epstein sought to “foster a personal relationship” with him, but said his focus remained on using Epstein to recruit new donors for Gates’ global health initiative.
“My interactions with Epstein began with a limited number of preliminary meetings — three in 2011 and two in 2012 — during which I talked about the goals of my work,” Gates said, according to his statement. “We began more extensive conversations in 2013 and 2014. The discussions focused on identifying potential giving structures, such as donor-advised funds, and how to enroll individuals he claimed were interested in making significant contributions.”
Gates said he can “recall being aware that Epstein had faced prior legal issues” but added he “did not fully understand the extent of the crimes he committed,” per the statement.
He also told the committee that he Epstein learned “sensitive information about my personal life” — including that he had been unfaithful in his marriage to Melinda Gates.
“These affairs had nothing to do with my interactions with Epstein, but they were painful for my family,” Gates said, according to the statement. “As the public can now see, based on what has been released in the files, Epstein was working to use information about my infidelities — in addition to many lies that he layered on top — to pressure me to re-engage with him. He was unsuccessful in this effort, but it shows some of the ways he tried to leverage his interactions with me to further his agenda.”
In brief remarks to reporters on his way in Wednesday morning, Gates said, “I’ll start with an opening statement in the hearing room. I hope my testimony is helpful to the work, important work of the committee to find justice for the victims.”
Gates’ association with the late financier has roiled his nonprofit and reshaped the public perception of the tech billionaire who was once the world’s richest man.
“I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him,” Gates said in February.
House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-Ky.) first reached out to Gates in March to schedule the behind-closed-doors interview, writing in a letter that the tech billionaire might “have information that will assist in its investigation.” In recent weeks, the Committee has conducted similar transcribed interviews with former Attorney General Pam Bondi, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, and Epstein’s longtime executive secretary Lesley Groff.
“Gates welcomes the opportunity to appear before the Committee,” a spokesperson for Gates said in March. “While he never witnessed or participated in any of Epstein’s illegal conduct, he is looking forward to answering all the committee’s questions to support their important work.”
Gates’ relationship with Epstein faced a new wave of scrutiny earlier this year when the Department of Justice’s release of Epstein files included correspondence between the two men, as well as cryptic notes drafted by Epstein that hinted at Gates’ extramarital affairs.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Gates apologized to the staff of his nonprofit during a town hall in February and acknowledged that he had affairs with two Russian women that Epstein later discovered. A spokesperson for Gates in a 2023 statement said that Epstein “tried unsuccessfully to leverage a past relationship to threaten Mr. Gates.”
“In the town hall, Bill spoke candidly, addressing several questions in detail, and took responsibility for his actions,” a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation told ABC News.
Melinda French Gates — who previously said her 2021 divorce from Bill Gates was driven in part by his association with Epstein — said earlier this year that the documents brought back memories of “some very, very painful times” in their marriage.
“Whatever questions remain there … those questions are for those people, and for even my ex-husband,” she said on NPR’s Wild Card podcast about what she described as a societal “reckoning” over the Epstein files. “They need to answer to those things, not me.”
Members of the Oversight Committee have expressed a desire to learn whether Epstein used his sex trafficking network to lure in wealthy and influential men to blackmail — allegations that the DOJ and FBI said they found “no credible evidence” of last year.
Neither of the women who Gates acknowledged having affairs with — a Russian bridge player and nuclear physicist — were said to have been introduced to Gates by Epstein, though a spokesperson later said that Epstein sought to “leverage” his knowledge of one of his past relationships to “threaten” Gates.
The interview is also likely to touch on how Epstein was able to ingratiate himself with Gates just three years after pleading guilty to charges of soliciting a minor for prostitution. Gates has previously said he was aware of an “18-month thing” that limited Epstein’s travel, and he regrets not further investigating Epstein’s background.
According to documents released earlier this year by the Department of Justice, Gates first met Epstein in 2011.
“I won’t have time to do another meeting and I won’t be able to do the dinner with Jeff Epstein,” Gates wrote in a 2010 email to Boris Nikolic, his former science advisor. “I was looking forward to the dinner.”
Gates later said he hoped he could leverage Epstein’s relationships with “very rich people” to support his global health philanthropic efforts.
“The focus was always: he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. In retrospect, that was a dead end,” Gates told 9News Australia in February.
According to documents released by the DOJ, both men continued to communicate for at least three years, with Epstein at one point urging Gates to use a specific philanthropic vehicle known as a “donor advised fund” to make charitable contributions. At the time, Epstein compared donor advised funds to “cloud computing for the giving world.”
“It is a good analogy,” Gates wrote in a February 2014 email. “It is clearer to me now than before and it could be a great thing.”
But by December 2014, Gates appeared to cool on Epstein’s proposal, suggesting in an email that the plan was not viable for him.
“In terms of the DAF I don’t think we have any people at this point who will move to do something soon,” Gates wrote. “It is a good idea, but it won’t come together with 4-6 partners anytime soon.”
In a statement earlier this year, the Gates Foundation said it did not move forward with Epstein’s fund and never transferred any funds to the disgraced financier.
“On the basis of Epstein’s claims that he could mobilize significant philanthropic resources for global health and development, a small number of foundation employees interacted with Epstein to try to secure this potential funding. Ultimately, the foundation did not pursue any collaboration with Epstein and no fund was ever created,” a spokesperson for the Gates Foundation said in February.
By March, the Gates Foundation commissioned an external review to assess its past engagement with Epstein as well as its policies for vetting philanthropic partnerships. Foundation officials said in a statement they expected to get an update about that review later this summer.
