DC plane crash marks first major commercial crash in US since Buffalo crash in 2009
Map of the area around Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport and the layout of Runway 33, which the regional American Airlines jet was approaching at the time of the collision with the Army Black Hawk helicopter, according to officials. Via ABC News
(WASHINGTON) — The crash involving a regional aircraft and a Black Hawk helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport on Wednesday marks the first major commercial crash in the United States since 2009.
The last crash took place on Feb. 12, 2009, when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed during landing near Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 people onboard.
There have been other deadly incidents in the U.S., such as the Asiana runway crash at San Francisco International Airport in 2013. Three people died when Flight 214 came in to the airport too low and too slow, hit a seawall and sheared the tail section and left engine off the plane as it spun down the runway.
One of the three who was killed was run over by an emergency vehicle responding to the crash.
Nearly 200 people were also injured in that crash, which was blamed on the Asiana Airlines pilots mismanaging the autopilot system, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
The last fatality on a plane in the U.S. came in 2018 when a woman was partially sucked out of a Southwest Airlines window.
Passenger Jennifer Riordan died in that incident, when Flight 1380 suffered engine failure and had to make an emergency landing in Philadelphia.
(ATLANTA) — The state prosecution of Donald Trump on election interference charges in Georgia may be able to continue despite his impending inauguration, a lawyer for Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis signaled in a court filing that urged an appeals court to reject the president-elect’s request to throw out the case based on presidential immunity.
The filing argued that Trump’s lawyers failed to demonstrate why a state prosecution would be subject to the Department of Justice memorandum prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting presidents — which was cited by special counsel Jack Smith when he wound down his federal cases against Trump — or impede Trump’s duties as president.
“Appellant does not specify or articulate how the appeal — or indeed, any other aspect of this case — will constitutionally impede or interfere with his duties once he assumes office,” Fulton County Chief Senior Assistant District Attorney F. McDonald Wakeford wrote.
“The notice makes mention of these concepts without actually examining them or applying them to the present circumstances. In other words, Appellant has not done the work but would very much like for this Court to do so,” the filing said.
According to the filing, state prosecutors are not bound by the Department of Justice’s policies, and past court decisions have not clearly established a precedent for state cases proceeding against a sitting president.
“Given these vague statements, to simply invoke the phrase ‘federalism and comity concerns,’ without more, offers nothing of substance,” the filing said, accusing Trump’s lawyer of making “sweeping legal generalizations which are either misleading or oversimplified” and providing “a smattering of quotations that are alternately mischaracterized or stripped of context.”
Trump and 18 others pleaded not guilty last year to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia. Four defendants subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
Wakeford, in his filing, urged the Georgia Court of Appeals to reject or ignore Trump’s request to order the dismissal of the case, describing Trump’s recent filing as nothing more than a “decree.”
“The notice thus fails to adequately notify this Court of anything except for the outcome that Appellant would prefer — and expects — to see,” the filing said. “Such a filing is best understood as a decree. Appellant has provided this Court with half a thought and gestured toward a smattering of constitutional principles, and as a result, he feels entitled to instruct this Court as to what its conclusions are expected to be.”
The Georgia Court of Appeals took up Trump’s case after trial Judge Scott McAfee declined to disqualify Willis over her romantic relationship with a fellow prosecutor, who was forced to resign from the case. Earlier this month, Trump’s lawyer sent the court a notice requesting they order the trial judge to dismiss the case based on Trump’s presidential immunity, which they argued applied to him as president-elect.
Wakeford, in his filing, categorically denied the existence of president-elect immunity.
“While the courts’ understanding of presidential immunity continues to evolve, ‘president-elect immunity’ obviously does not exist,” the filing said.
Wakeford also defended the integrity of the case against Trump, accusing the president-elect of using a “familiar tactic” when he argued the case is politically motivated.
“This case is thus the result of two separate grand juries and years of investigation, and any suggestion it is motivated by ‘possible local prejudice’ remains utterly unfounded,” the filing said.
The entrance doors of the River Glen of St. Charles, in St. Charles, Illinois, are seen in a screengrab of a video shot Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024. (WLS)
(ST. CHARLES, IL) — A man wielding a chainsaw inside a senior-living facility in St. Charles, Illinois, was shot and killed by police early Sunday, state and local law enforcement said.
The man, whom police have not publicly identified, was allegedly attempting to cut down a tree on the facility’s property at about 8:45 a.m. on Sunday. He was “shirtless” when police arrived at the facility, on the 900 block of North 5th Avenue, the St. Charles Police Department said in a press statement.
“Just before police arrival, witnesses advised the subject had now gained entry to the lobby of the building and began confronting residents with the chainsaw,” the department said.
Officers sought to deescalate the situation, but “the suspect continued his attempts to use the chainsaw against residents of the building,” as well as against responding officers, the department said.
Officers used a taser on the man, “but his attack continued,” the press statement said. An officer then fired his gun, striking the alleged attacker, police said.
“The male suspect was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced deceased,” the Illinois State Police said in a press release.
Officers and residents of the assisted-living facility were treated at the scene for minor injuries, police said.
“We are deeply grateful for the swift action of our team and law enforcement,” a spokesperson for the facility, the River Glen of St. Charles, said in a statement. “We want to emphasize that our community is secure, and all residents and staff members are safe.”
The Illinois State Police said it would investigate the shooting.
(BELLEVUE, Wash.) — Two people have been killed by falling trees in Washington state as a powerful storm hits the Pacific Northwest.
In Bellevue, a tree fell into a home, hitting and killing a woman while she was in the shower Tuesday night, Bellevue fire officials said.
In Lynwood, a woman in her 50s was killed when a tree fell on a homeless encampment, officials said.
More than 500,000 customers are without power in Washington state on Wednesday.
The storm exploded into a bomb cyclone off the coast, near Vancouver Island, Canada, where winds gusted near 101 mph.
A bomb cyclone means the pressure in the center of the storm drops 24 millibars within 24 hours.
Wind gusts reached 50 to 84 mph from Northern California to Washington.
As the storm sits and spins over the ocean this week, it will help to push a plume of Pacific moisture called an atmospheric river into Oregon and Northern California.
Alerts are in effect through Friday for flooding, snow, avalanches and high winds.
Some places could see more than 1 foot of rain this week. A flood watch has been issued in Northern California.
