NBC4 chopper’s final moments: a blaring alarm, loss of altitude and panic. Why did it crash?

LOS ANGELES — NBC4’s helicopter was one of several news aircraft flying over the scene of a deadly bus crash in Chatsworth Tuesday evening at sunset.

It’s common for multiple news choppers to arrive at the scene of breaking news, beaming live images for newscasts and streaming.

But around 7 p.m., something went horribly wrong and in a matter of seconds the NBC4 chopper dropped out of the sky, crashing into shipping containers and vehicles outside a warehouse a few blocks away, bursting into flames. Two station journalists, reporter Eliana Moreno and pilot George Marciniw, were killed along with a bystander on the ground.

Federal investigators are now trying to figure out what went wrong. The Times interviewed several experts, who reviewed recordings of the chopper’s final moments. They offered insights into the helicopter itself, its movements that afternoon and what is known about how its mechanics work.

—Los Angeles Times

Klobuchar pushes AI safety bill as Trump and GOP House leaders downplay need for oversight

WASHINGTON — As President Donald Trump and House Republican leaders downplay the risks of artificial intelligence, Republicans in the U.S. Senate are working with Sen. Amy Klobuchar to put safeguards on the technology.

While the national conversation around AI shifts from economic disruption, data centers and consumer annoyance to existential threat, Klobuchar said “we need to act now and not wait.”

“AI presents opportunities but also comes with significant risks,” she said. “We cannot allow the development of dangerous models, including those that evade the control of their developers.”

Former Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon recently warned that artificial intelligence may “kill us all by the end of the decade,” which sent federal lawmakers and industry leaders scrambling to figure out what to do in recent days.

—The Minnesota Star Tribune

Patrick Clancy, new wife break silence in first interview post mistrial

BOSTON — Patrick Clancy is speaking out for the first time since he took the stand in his ex-wife’s triple murder trial.

His former spouse, Lindsay Clancy, is accused of murdering the couple’s three children, Cora, 5, Dawson, 3, and Callan, eight months, in January of 2023. Her weeks-long trial ended in a hung jury earlier this month.

In a clip posted on social media by CBS’s 60 Minutes, Patrick Clancy says that he still speaks to his children. “I talk to them,” Clancy says in the short video while sitting on a park bench.

“What do you say?” 60 Minutes correspondent Ross Douthat asks. “Help me,” Clancy replies, “all the time.” Clancy’s current wife, Dr. Rachel Danis, will also join parts of the interview, CBS noted in another post. The interview, set to air Sunday night, will be the first time that Clancy has spoken publicly, not through an attorney, since he was called as the first witness in his ex-wife’s case.

—Boston Herald

Israel’s need for $8 billion of extra war funds leads to election showdown

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government is struggling to strike a deal to fund the Israeli military’s request for $8 billion before next month’s election.

Israel’s military is seeking about $8 billion in additional funding, but Netanyahu’s government is struggling to strike a deal to unlock the money before next month’s election.

Netanyahu this week failed to secure opposition leader Yair Lapid’s support to allocate 25 billion shekels ($8.2 billion) in extra funding to the military, whose finances have come under strain from almost three years of fighting in Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon and Iran, according to people familiar with the matter. They asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue.

After the meeting, Defense Minister Israel Katz appealed to Lapid to “support the IDF’s urgent request.” The extra funds are needed, he said, to pay reserve soldiers, protect Israeli border communities, and procure munitions.

—Bloomberg News