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Biden administration announces $5 billion commitment for research and development of computer chips

February 10, 2024 by WDNY Radio

Biden administration announces billion commitment for research and development of computer chips

(WASHINGTON) — The Biden administration announced Friday that it expects to commit $5 billion in a public-private consortium for research and development of computer chips.

The White House said this would advance President Joe Biden’s goals of driving research and development in the United States, which include cutting down on the time and cost of commercializing new technologies.

The development comes as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are gearing up for the global chips competition through a new partnership that would tap into what they say is one of America’s greatest strengths: diversity

HBCU leaders and federal government officials convened on Thursday to support research and development in advanced computer chips and diversify the semiconductor industry.

“It’s a moment for everyone to get in the boat and row in the same direction,” U.S. Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo said in her remarks at the HBCU CHIPS Network event, adding “[It] may be the first time in the United States’ history we make sure that the people who get these jobs look like America.”

Sec. Raimondo said the semiconductor industry needs diversity if the country wants to out-compete China, Taiwan, and the rest of the world.

“I’m just here to say we need you,” Raimondo said to the auditorium of HBCU leaders.

During the network’s public kickoff in Washington, D.C., more than a dozen HBCUs joined White House and Commerce Department officials to discuss the Biden administration’s Chips and Science Act. The legislative victory became law in August 2022 and provides funds to support the domestic production of semiconductors. In addition, the law authorizes various programs and activities of the federal science agencies, according to the text.

The HBCU CHIPS Network, which is unaffiliated with commerce’ CHIPS for America under the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), held its convening of stakeholders and institutions at commerce’s headquarters in D.C. The event sparked an opportunity for Black schools to pool their resources together with help from Georgia Tech University.

Chip production, according to Morgan State University’s Willie E. May, is an “existential issue” for America. He believes it’s time to include African Americans in this movement.

“The only way that we can succeed is to invest in our natural resources,” Mays said. “It’s the talent that resides in the Black community.”

HBCUs enroll nearly 10% of all Black undergraduates and promote the majority of Black engineers, and other scientific and technological professionals, according to United Negro College Fund and the Thurgood Marshall College Fund. As a matter of national security, Tuskegee University Provost S. Keith Hargrove said the U.S. shouldn’t depend on one country or company. Therefore, he said the partnership is as important now more than ever.

Provost Hargrove told ABC News there are three major challenges facing the U.S., including national security risks since chips power our military weaponry, supply chain shortages of consumer products, and semiconductor workforce.

CHIPS for America Chief Opportunity and Inclusion Officer Kylie Patterson said her unit is dedicated to supporting underrepresented and overlooked individuals nationwide. This event led many of the country’s leaders in higher education to Washington so that they could engage with the federal branch.

“This is one of those moments where we can be super intentional about creating a table where everyone is at the table,” Patterson told ABC News.

CHIPS for America leads the execution of the department’s efforts to establish activities that engage “economically disadvantaged individuals,” as stated in provision 104 of the Chips and Science law. Georgia Tech values diversity of thought, according to the university’s Senior Director of Partnerships George White, who said his team reached out to the HBCUs to boost collaboration and help them with research.

“It’s not so much specifically with the HBCUs but it’s also the communities that those HBCUs serve,” he said, adding “as we start lifting those boats up, then it kind of gravitates to the community.”

This comes as federal government data found HBCUs have been underfunded for decades and higher education advocates previously told ABC News that it’s time to support these institutions with the resources they are owed. UNCF Senior Director of National STEM Programs and Initiatives said HBCUs have been behind since the start of the race.

“We have been, in some cases, intentionally debilitated by lack of funding and lack of support so it’s hard to compete,” UNCF’s Chad Womack told ABC News.

Neelam Azad is vice president for research at Hampton University. She said additional funding for research would help HBCUs build on their overall capacity.

“Build our infrastructure, build our capacity,” Azad said. “If our capacity, our capability, if our infrastructure is stronger, we can explore [more] things.”

What to know about landmark AI regulations proposed in California

February 10, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(Sacramento, CA) — Sweeping advances in artificial intelligence have elicited warnings from industry leaders about the potential for grave risks, including weapon systems going rogue and massive cyberattacks.

A state legislator in California, home to many of the largest AI companies, proposed a landmark bill this week that would impose regulations to address those dangers.

The bill requires mandatory testing for wide-reaching AI products before they reach users. Every major AI model, the bill adds, should be equipped with a means for shutting the technology down if something goes wrong.

“When we’re talking about safety risks related to extreme hazards, it’s far preferable to put protections in place before those risks occur as opposed to trying to play catch up,” state Sen. Scott Wiener, the sponsor of the bill, told ABC News. “Let’s get ahead of this.”

Here’s what to know about what the bill does and how it could impact AI regulation nationwide:

What would the bill do to police the risks of AI?

The bill would heighten the scrutiny faced by large AI models before they gain wide option, ensuring that state officials test the products prior to their release.

In addition to mandating an emergency off-switch, the bill would implement hacking protections to make AI less vulnerable to bad actors.

To bolster enforcement, the measure would establish the Frontier Model Division within the California Department of Technology as a means of carrying out the regulations.

Since the legislation focuses on extreme risks, it will not apply to small-scale AI products, Wiener said.

“Our goal is to foster innovation with safety in mind,” Wiener added.

Even more, the bill would promote AI development by creating CalCompute, a publicly owned initiative that would facilitate shared computing power among businesses, researchers and community groups.

The effort would help lower the technical threshold for small firms or organizations that may lack the immense computing capacity enjoyed by large companies, Teri Olle, the director of nonprofit Economic Security California, told ABC News.

“By expanding that access, it will allow for there to be research and innovation and AI development that is aligned with the public interest,” said Olle, whose organization helped develop this feature of the bill.

Sarah Myers West, managing director of AI Now Institute, a nonprofit group that supports AI regulation, applauded the preventative approach taken by the measure.

“It’s great to see the focus on addressing and mitigating harms before they go into the market,” Myers West told ABC News.

However, she added, many current risks posed by AI remain unaddressed, including bias in algorithms used to set worker pay or grant access to healthcare.

“There are so many places where AI is already being used to affect people,” Myers West said.

For his part, Wiener said the California legislature has taken up other bills to address some of the ongoing harms caused by AI. “We’re not going to solve every problem in one bill,” Wiener added.

How could the bill impact AI legislation nationwide?

The California measure on extreme AI risk comes amid a surge of AI-related bills in statehouses nationwide.

As of September, state legislatures had introduced 191 AI-related bills in 2023, amounting to a 440% increase over the full previous year, according to BSA the Software Alliance, an industry group.

Legislation proposed in California carries special weight, however, since many of the largest AI companies are based in the state, said Olle, of Economic Security California.

“Regulations in California set the standard,” Olle said. “In complying with these standards in California, you affect the market.”

Despite recent policy discussion and hearings, Congress has achieved little progress toward a comprehensive measure to address AI risks, Myers West said.

“Congress has been kind of stuck,” Myers West added. “That does mean there’s a really important role for the states.”

Dylan Hoffman, executive director for California and the Southwest at industry lobbying group TechNet, emphasized the importance of U.S.-based AI regulation that shapes global rules surrounding the technology.

“America must set the standards for the responsible development and deployment of AI for the world,” Hoffman told ABC News in a statement. “We look forward to reviewing the legislation and working with Senator Wiener to ensure any AI policies benefit all Californians, address any risks, and strengthen our global competitiveness.”

While crafting the bill, Wiener borrowed some concepts from an executive order issued by President Joe Biden in October, such as the threshold used to determine whether an AI model reaches a large enough scale to warrant regulation, Wiener said.

Still, Wiener said he remains skeptical of the likelihood for federal legislation that would mimic the approach taken by the California bill.

“I would love for Congress to pass a strong, pro-innovation pro-safety AI law,” Wiener added. “I don’t have extreme confidence that Congress will be able to do anything in the near future. I hope they prove me wrong.”

Rep. Elise Stefanik, possible Trump VP contender, signals she wouldn’t have certified 2020 election

February 9, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Republican Rep. Elise Stefanik, who is being floated as a possible running mate to Donald Trump in 2024, signaled if she had been serving as vice president in 2020 she wouldn’t have certified the election results.

“I would not have done what Mike Pence did,” Stefanik said.

Stefanik made the comments Thursday night during an appearance on CNN’s “The Source” with Kaitlan Collins. Collins asked Stefanik if she’d been part of any vetting process yet with the Trump team.

“I would be proud to serve in a future Trump administration, but we have a lot to do,” she said, referring to priorities for House Republicans and her role as conference chair.

Stefanik was later asked what she would’ve done if she were in Pence’s shoes on Jan. 6, 2021 — the day the congressional certification of the 2020 presidential election results was interrupted by a violent mob breaching the U.S. Capitol.

Pence, who said Trump endangered his life and his family’s lives on Jan. 6 by disparaging him in social media posts while the riot was happening, oversaw the certification of results and announced the final results: 306 votes for Biden, 232 for Trump.

“I don’t think that was the right approach,” Stefanik said of Pence.

Stefanik was one of the 147 Republicans in Congress to vote to reject the election results, though she only rejected electors from Pennsylvania, not Arizona like many other GOP lawmakers.

“So, you would have rejected the votes?” CNN’s Collins asked.

Stefanik responded by repeating false claims that there was “unconstitutional overreach in states like Pennsylvania” and that the 2020 presidential race was not a “legal and secure” election.

Pence has made clear that he did not have the authority as vice president to unilaterally reject the results. Speaking to ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl last year, Pence said “Trump is wrong” on this issue.

“I know by God’s grace, we did our duty that day, to act out the express language of the Constitution of the United States,” Pence told Karl.

Stefanik’s comments were quickly met with push back from another member of the New York delegation: Democratic Rep. Dan Goldman.

“She’s a sycophant willing to do or say anything for Trump’s approval, including sacrificing our democracy,” Goldman said in a social media post.

Also appearing on CNN, Goldman added her comments “should scare the American people because that is anti-democratic, and that is going to lead us down a very, very dangerous road if there’s a yes-person as vice president who will do whatever Donald Trump wants.”

Another Republican lawmaker, Rep. Dan Crenshaw of Texas, also criticized Stefanik as “incorrect.”

“The Constitution gives you no power — you being the vice president — no power to decertify the election,” he told CNN’s Dana Bash.

In addition to Stefanik, other names that have been mentioned as possible vice president contenders are South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.

Suspect charged in ‘brutal’ murders of two Indianapolis women found dead days apart near each other

February 9, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.) — A suspect has been arrested in the “brutal and evil” murders of two Indiana women who were both stabbed to death days apart and found near each other, police announced on Friday.

The victims were found dead on Indianapolis’ east side, police said. The body of the first victim — Shannon Lassere, 58 — was found in a parking lot on Jan. 27, while the second — Marianne Weis, 52 — was found behind a building about 150 yards away on Feb. 1, police said.

Both had been killed by “multiple sharp force injuries,” the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said.

“This was brutal and evil, what happened to them,” Indianapolis Interim Police Chief Christopher Bailey said at a press briefing on Friday.

“An arrest in this case will not bring these two women back, but I pray this step brings the family and the loved ones the comfort they need as they continue to grieve. I also pray that this arrest brings our neighbors on the east side, a sense of peace and safety,” he added.

David Hiner, 30, was charged on Friday with two counts of murder in their deaths, the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office said. He is in custody and is likely to make his first court appearance next week. It is unclear if he has an attorney.

Marion County Prosecutor Ryan Mears thanked the community for their help on what he called the “unnecessary and thoughtless killing” of two vulnerable members of the community.

“Where you have two separate incidents involving two different people over the course of a couple of days, it is paramount that we’re in a position to hammer down a timeline — which we were able to do because of the community’s involvement and participation,” Mears said during a press briefing on Friday. “We would not be here without those individuals coming forward with that information.”

Hiner knew the second victim, Weis, according to Indianapolis Deputy Chief Kendale Adams. Police do not have any information that the suspect knew Lassere, Adams said.

Surveillance and forensic evidence helped lead detectives to arrest the suspect, Adams said.

Surveillance footage showed Weis walking with a man after leaving a bar the night she was killed, according to the probable cause affidavit. Several people at the bar also told people they saw Weis leave with a man, according to the affidavit.

Detectives began looking for a person who fit the description of the man captured on the surveillance footage, Adams said. While patrolling the area near where the women were found on Tuesday, detectives saw Hiner leave his apartment building wearing a black coat similar to the one seen in the video, according to the affidavit. He also had the same style of hair, build and complexion as the man seen in the footage, according to the affidavit.

Hiner was taken into custody on Tuesday and detectives obtained a search warrant for his apartment.

During the search on Wednesday, detectives found a pair of Nike Air Max-style shoes in his bedroom that appeared “to have dried blood on them,” according to the affidavit.

Jeans that appeared to match those seen in the surveillance video were also found “soaking in bleach in a bucket in the bathtub,” the affidavit stated. Another pair of jeans found in a hamper also appeared to have “specks of possible blood on them,” the affidavit stated.

Detectives needed more time while awaiting DNA results on the evidence before making an arrest, police said. They had learned that Hiner was on probation out of La Porte County in Indiana, and a probation violation and warrant for his arrest was issued out of the county on Wednesday, police said.

A preliminary DNA analysis of blood from the suspect’s shoes matched the blood of both victims, police said.

“This confirmation from the lab was key to positively connecting the suspect, David Hiner, to the victims,” Adams said.

No murder weapon has been recovered, Adams said.

While being interviewed by police, Hiner allegedly said he was aware that two women had been killed recently near his home but “had nothing to do with it and only saw what was on the news,” the affidavit stated. He also denied being at the bar where Weis was prior to her murder, according to the affidavit.

After being shown photos from the video surveillance cameras he “admitted that it was him in the photos,” though denied that Weis was with him despite witness accounts, the affidavit stated.

He also allegedly claimed the shoes belonged to his mother’s boyfriend, though she told police she had recently given them to her son, according to the affidavit.

A motive remains unknown, police said.

Hiner had been released from prison in September 2023, police said.

Online court and state correction court records show he had served at least 10 years for aggravated battery after pleading guilty in 2012 to shooting a pizza delivery driver two years earlier.

At least two dead after small plane crashes onto Florida highway: Authorities

February 9, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NAPLES, Fla.) — At least two people are dead after a small plane crashed onto a Florida highway Friday afternoon, authorities said.

The aircraft crashed onto Interstate 75 near Naples around 3:15 p.m. ET, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It collided with a vehicle, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office said there have been two confirmed fatalities in the crash.

Three people survived the crash, though their condition is unknown, the Naples Airport confirmed to ABC News.

Five people were on board the plane — a Bombardier Challenger 600 jet — according to the FAA.

A large fire and a billowing black cloud of smoke could be seen at the location.

PHOTO: The scene after a small plane collided with a vehicle on I-75 near Naples, Florida, Feb. 9, 2024.
The scene after a small plane collided with a vehicle on I-75 near Naples, Florida, Feb. 9, 2024.
Florida Highway Patrol
Southbound interstate lanes are currently closed and drivers are asked to avoid the area if possible.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

White House fires back at special counsel report, Harris calls descriptions ‘politically motivated’

February 9, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — Less than 24 hours after the release of a harsh report from special counsel Robert Hur that concluded President Joe Biden would not face charges over his handling of classified documents but cast doubt on his mental fitness, the White House fired back Friday.

President Biden, who lashed out at Hur’s comments about his memory when it came to his son Beau’s death in his own news conference on Thursday night, didn’t take additional questions when he met Friday afternoon with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the Oval Office.

But Vice President Kamala Harris and the White House stepped in to criticize what they called the special counsel’s “gratuitous” statements, taking issue not only with Hur’s description of Biden’s mental acuity but also some of his critical findings that Biden willfully retained and shared classified information.

Harris told ABC News Senior White House Correspondent Selina Wang that, as a former prosecutor, she believed the depictions of Biden included in the report were “inaccurate and inappropriate.”

“The way that the president’s demeanor in that report was characterized could not be more wrong on the facts and clearly, politically motivated, gratuitous,” Harris said.

Hitting Hur even harder, Harris continued, “When it comes to the role and responsibility of a prosecutor in a situation like that, we should expect that there will be a higher level of integrity than what we saw.”

At the daily press briefing Friday, White House Counsel’s Office spokesman Ian Sams said he found Harris’ remarks “very powerful” as he suggested Hur may have felt political pressure to criticize the president.

“There’s an environment that we are in that generates a ton of pressure because you have congressional Republicans, other Republicans attacking prosecutors that they don’t like. And it creates, you know, a need — if you’re going to determine that charges weren’t filed, people are human and they’re thinking through, you know, what do we need to do? And it leaves one to wonder exactly why he included a lot of the criticisms that were in there.”

The Justice Department has, so far, declined to comment on the White House statements.

Hur, a Trump appointee tasked by Attorney General Merrick Garland with investigating Biden’s handling of classified documents after he left the vice presidency, ultimately concluded that no criminal charges were warranted.

However, the report said investigators “uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified information after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen” though the evidence didn’t establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

And most politically damaging, it included many unflattering characterizations of Biden’s mental acuity. Hur said one concern about a possible prosecution would be the jury’s perception that Biden is “a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

It also described Biden’s memory as “significantly limited.” On example it gave was that Biden didn’t remember the years when his vice presidency began or ended or the year his son Beau died.

That last statement appeared to anger Biden the most as he told reporters, choking back emotion, “How in the hell dare he raise that?”

Biden also insisted he never shared classified information with his ghostwriter, among other details included in the report.

White House insists Biden didn’t willfully retain or share classified material

The White House on Friday defended the president’s handling of the material, arguing the report itself lays out “example after example” of how the president did not willfully take classified documents or share them.

The report specifically states: “Our investigation uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen” including “(1) marked classified documents about military and foreign policy in Afghanistan, and (2) notebooks containing Mr. Biden’s handwritten entries about issues of national security and foreign policy implicating sensitive intelligence sources and methods.”

Sams, however, pointed to other parts of the report that stated “there is a shortage of evidence” on whether Biden purposefully put the Afghanistan documents in a box found at his home and knew they were there; and one section that states the evidence “does not prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. Biden willfully retained the notebooks.”

On the special counsel’s finding that the president shared classified information in the notebooks with his ghostwriter, Sams noted no classified information was published in the president’s book.

He also sought to downplay the report’s finding that Biden read aloud verbatim from the notebooks to the writer, describing some of those instances as Biden reading from his “personal diary” and that he warned the writer some material might be sensitive.

“I think it’s lost in the shuffle of all this, that the president did what all of his predecessors had done, which was take notes for himself, to keep a diary of his own daily life, so that he could think back on these big moments of the time,” Sams said.

-ABC News’ Mary Bruce, Justin Fishel and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

Children in Rafah flying kites to forget war, as Israeli military escalation looms in Gaza

February 9, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(RAFAH AND LONDON) — In the sand dunes above Rafah in southern Gaza, a ricochet of children’s laughter rings out, mixing with the unrelenting sound of Israeli reconnaissance drones. This odd combination can be heard most days as children from the tent city populated by the displaced gather to fly their kites, finding some joy amidst the horrors of war.

“We just forget everything, we make kites and fly them, we forget the bombing,” 12-year-old Oday Abu Odeh told ABC News. “When we sit at home, the sound of the reconnaissance planes annoys us all, but when all of us here fly kites, we don’t feel it.”

Oday said they make their kites from whatever scraps they can find and run to the sand banks above the encampment to fly them whenever they can.

Flying his kite brings, “freedom and happiness,” to 15-year-old Nael Muhammad Al-Najjar. “And we forget our worries,” he told ABC News.

For these children, they said flying kites is a welcome distraction from the grim reality of life in Rafah’s tent city.

Aid agencies estimate there are now 1.4 million people, or two-thirds of Gaza’s total population, displaced in this small town that borders Egypt. All are competing for the scant resources available amid the Israel-Hamas war. They pitch tents wherever they can.

“We have been suffering for more than five months from place to place, from place to place,” Filastin Jamal Abd el Hamid, who had been displaced from northern Gaza, told ABC News.

“They said a place was safe then they entered it. There is no safe place,” she said.

Many of the people camping here said they have been displaced several times since Hamas’ surprise terrorist attack in Israel on Oct 7. and the military response by Israel in Gaza. They said they are now living in fear the Israeli military will begin an incursion into Rafah after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced plans to do so.

“It is impossible to achieve the war objective of eliminating Hamas and leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Friday. “On the other hand, it is clear that a massive operation in Rafah requires the evacuation of the civilian population from the combat zones.”

Netanyahu said this is why he directed the Israel Defense Forces and the defense establishment to bring to the cabinet a dual plan for both the evacuation of the population and the disbanding of the battalions.

“We honestly don’t know what will happen to us next,” Feryal Mahmoud Al-Najjar, who has been displaced many times, told ABC News. “We came here, to the end of the world, at the Egyptian border. This is the last place we can reach. After that, we don’t know where to go.”

With much of central and northern Gaza reduced to rubble, questions are being asked about where these people can realistically be evacuated to.

“An expansion of hostilities could turn Rafah into a zone of bloodshed and destruction that people won’t be able to escape. There is nowhere left for people to flee to,” Angelita Caredda, the Norwegian Refugee Council’s Middle East and North Africa Regional Director, said in a statement to ABC News.

“There are no homes or anything, it is all scrubland and tents and displaced people. Why will they enter and what will they do? Will they beat us?” Abd el Hamid asks.

Netanyahu’s plans to advance on Rafah have led to calls for restraint from the Biden administration and aid agencies alike.

“There are a lot of innocent people who are starving, a lot of innocent people who are in trouble and dying, and it’s gotta stop,” President Joe Biden told reporters Thursday, calling the Israeli military’s attack on Gaza “over the top.”

“There’s a lot of displaced people there and the Israeli military has a special obligation as they conduct operations there or anywhere else, to make sure that they’re factoring in protection for innocent civilian life,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters Thursday.

Kirby, however, said the U.S. had not seen any indication the Israelis were about to launch a major operation on Rafah, adding, “given the circumstances and the conditions there that we see right now, we think a military operation at this time would be a disaster for those people.”

“An escalation of the fighting in Rafah, which is already straining under the extraordinary number of people who have been displaced from other parts of Gaza, will mark another devastating turn in a war that has reportedly killed over 27,000 people – most of them women and children,” UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said in a statement Friday.

In the Gaza Strip, at least 27,947 people have been killed, and 67,459 others have been wounded by Israeli forces since Oct. 7, according to Gaza’s Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health.

In Israel, at least 1,200 people have been killed and 6,900 others have been injured by Hamas and other Palestinian militants since Oct. 7, according to Israeli officials.

While many in Rafah brace themselves for this incursion the kite runners carry on.

“Now we’ve made this kite we’ve forgotten our worries,” 12-year-old Fawzi Muhammad Fawzi Al-Najjar told ABC News. “Now we pass all our free time flying kites because there are no schools, we don’t read, we don’t practice sports or anything else.”

But they, too, want the war to end.

“We want a solution to come back. We want a cease-fire,” Oday said. “We want to live in peace, to return to our homes alive, we want to return to schools.”

A sentiment his friend Nael Muhammad Al-Najjar shares, “I wish we could go back to our homes, go back to our studies, and our old days.”

Small plane crashes into vehicle on Florida highway: Police

February 9, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NAPLES, Fla.) — A small plane collided with a vehicle after crashing onto a Florida highway Friday afternoon, authorities said.

The aircraft crashed onto Interstate 75 near Naples around 3:15 p.m. ET, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. It collided with a vehicle, according to the Florida Highway Patrol.

Five people were on board the plane — a Bombardier Challenger 600 jet — according to the FAA.

A large fire and a billowing black cloud of smoke could be seen at the location.

Southbound interstate lanes are currently closed and drivers are asked to avoid the area if possible.

The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Earthquake hits Hawaii’s Big Island, ‘strong shaking’ in many areas

February 9, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(NEW YORK) — A 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck near Pahala on Hawaii’s Big Island on Friday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

A reporter with Honolulu ABC affiliate KITV said he felt strong, intense shaking near Hilo on the Big Island.

The governor’s office said no tsunami is expected.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

Five Marines killed in helicopter crash are identified

February 9, 2024 by WDNY Radio

(WASHINGTON) — The five Marines who died when their helicopter crashed during a routine training flight this week have been identified, the Marine Corps said.

They were: Lance Cpl. Donovan Davis, 21, of Olathe, Kansas, a CH-53E helicopter crew chief; Sgt. Alec Langen, 23, of Chandler, Arizona, a CH-53E helicopter crew chief; Capt. Benjamin Moulton, 27, of Emmett, Idaho, a CH-53E helicopter pilot; Capt. Jack Casey, 26, of Dover, New Hampshire, a CH-53E helicopter pilot; and Capt. Miguel Nava, 28, of Traverse City, Michigan, a CH-53E helicopter pilot.

Alec Langen, 23, got married a few weeks ago, ABC San Diego ABC affiliate KGTV reported.

Langen’s dad, Steve Langen, was also a Marine and said he flew the same aircraft.

“I would give anything to be able to trade places and just have him come home,” Steve Langen told KGTV.

“He died with people he wanted to be with, doing what he loved and wanted to do,” he added.

The Marines had been reported missing when their CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter was “reported overdue” to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar Tuesday night. The helicopter departed from Creech Air Force Base near Las Vegas and was en route to Miramar, in the San Diego, California, area.

A search effort was launched and the helicopter was discovered Wednesday morning.

On Thursday morning, the Marine Corps announced that the five missing Marines had been confirmed dead. The families had been notified Wednesday night and Thursday morning, the Marines said.

An investigation is ongoing. The Marines called it a “tragic mishap.”

“We have been confronted with a tragedy that is every service family’s worst fear,” Lt. Col. Nicholas J. Harvey said in a statement Friday. “Our top priority now is supporting the families of our fallen heroes, and we ask for your respect and understanding as they grieve. The Flying Tigers family stands strong and includes the friends and community who have supported our squadron during this challenging time. We will get through this together.”

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