Author: rpnadmin

LOS ANGELES — Military officials on Wednesday identified all eight men killed in this week’s fiery crash of a B-52 during a test flight at Edwards Air Force Base in Southern California. The victims include four active duty airmen, one reservist and three civilians, according to a statement from the base. They were identified as: Col. Gregory Watson, 53; Lt. Col. Gabriel Estrella, 40; Maj. Alexander Davis, 34; Maj. Robert Dee, 40; Maj. Brad Hovey, 35; Jeromy Smith, 32; and Christopher Rischar, 41. “They were dedicated professionals, beloved family members and irreplaceable teammates,” Col. Thomas Tauer, commander of the 412th…

Mount Holly, New Jersey, is canceling its Independence Day events due to safety concerns. In a joint release, town officials and the Mount Holly Township Police Department said their decision came after monitoring events across New Jersey in recent months. After seeing which events were canceled due to “alarming violence” and which were held with enhanced security, officials said in the release that “we could not enact a viable, actionable solution in such a short period of time to alleviate our security concerns without incurring additional, significant costs to the Township and our residents.” Last month, two carnivals elsewhere in…

A business jet with six people on board crashed on a highway in Laredo, Texas, and caught fire Tuesday night, authorities said, killing one person and causing chaos as people left their vehicles to frantically try to smash the cockpit window and free those inside. Drivers who came upon the burning plane, which was nearly sheared in half and tipped on its side, captured dramatic rescue scenes on video or rushed toward the aircraft on foot to help. Two people came running with a sledgehammer and shovel, which they used to strike the cockpit glass and try propping open the…

The District’s progressive candidates took healthy leads in crucial primary races Tuesday night as a new voting system resulted in hourslong delays. D.C. Council member Janeese Lewis George, a self-described socialist, was on a path to win the Democratic nomination for mayor while council colleague Robert White was doing even better in the contest to be the city’s nonvoting delegate to Congress. With 66% of the first-choice votes counted, Ms. Lewis George had 53% of the vote for mayor while former council member Kenyan McDuffie had 37%. With 64% of those votes counted in the delegate race, Mr. White had…

NEW YORK — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week refused to release a cruise ship passenger exposed to hantavirus in early May from a quarantine facility in Nebraska – despite a federal medical review that said there’s no need to confine her far from her Florida home. The order from Kennedy, one of the nation’s most prominent critics of vaccine mandates, lockdowns and other government public health restrictions, spurred outrage from some advocates and legal scholars, who called it illegal and rooted in politics rather than public health. The passenger, Angela Perryman, remained detained as of Tuesday.…

A British Airways flight from London to Las Vegas was able to land safely Monday after a cellphone caught fire and scorched the cabin.  British Airways Flight 271 was on its way from London Heathrow Airport to Harry Reid International Airport when the fire broke out, the Federal Aviation Administration said, according to CBS News. No injuries were reported, and the plane was not diverted. Airport officials told KTNV-TV that British Airways called in an alert and that “fire was extinguished and the aircraft landed safely and taxied to the gate.”  A British Airways spokesperson told KTNV-TV that “the safety…

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is helping one of Elon Musk’s companies fight a civil rights lawsuit that alleges it is illegally running dozens of natural gas turbines to power a $20 billion data center in Mississippi. The NAACP and other groups say Musk’s xAI subsidiary failed to get a permit for its power plant – which is located near homes, schools and churches – creating health risks for families in North Mississippi and nearby Memphis and violating the federal Clean Air Act. The Justice Department, in a motion late Monday, sought to intervene in the case and dismiss the…

WILMINGTON, Del. — A hospital in Delaware was locked down Tuesday after two people were shot inside, police said. The shooting was reported about 3:30 p.m. at Wilmington Hospital, said David Karas, the chief administrative officer at the Wilmington Police Department. Karas declined to immediately release any information about the status of the victims or whether police had located the shooter. ChristianaCare, which operates the hospital, said in an emailed statement it was diverting patients from its emergency department and “taking all appropriate steps to ensure the safety of our patients, caregivers and visitors.” “This is an active police investigation…

NEW YORK — The U.S. Justice Department accused New York state officials Tuesday of facilitating fraud, saying they let a Georgia company use a sham bidding process to gain control of and then abuse a $10 billion program to provide home care to disabled Medicaid patients. Federal lawyers made the claims in a civil lawsuit in Brooklyn federal court, naming the state’s Department of Health, its Medicaid director and the Alpharetta, Georgia-based company Public Partnerships LLC, as defendants. In the lawsuit, the federal government asked a judge to order the end to any wrongdoing and to appoint a receiver to…

A skydiving instructor who had made over 6,800 jumps. A drummer who was meticulous about safety since falling in love with the sport that helped him sober up. A software engineer on the cusp of becoming a certified skydiving coach. A grandfather honoring his sister lost to cancer. Family and friends of the 11 jumpers and pilot killed when their plane crashed shortly after taking off in Missouri said they loved their hobby – whether it was to find personal peace or to share a once-in-a-lifetime experience with others. They remembered the experienced skydivers as people who may have had…