National, Regional and Local News

[patrick]

My guess is South Carolina then will find somewhere else to go as he does not want to deal with any flooding.

[ti-amie]

It's amazing that this discussion can be had about a sitting governor. SMH

[ti-amie]

Apparently this incident caused a sonic boom over DC.

[Owendonovan]

I don't think a Cessna can go fast enough to create a sonic boom, maybe the explosion of the plane was heard/felt in DC?

[ponchi101]

The sonic boom was created by the F16 that scrambled to catch up with the Cessna. Which...
What did they expect? You tell an F16 to intercept an airplane and the F16 pilot will say "sorry, can't go faster because I will create a sonic boom"? That is what intercept means.
Imagine a Cessna loaded with something. Heck, imagine a Cessna smashing into something.

[ti-amie]

The sonic boom was created by the F16 that scrambled to catch up with the Cessna. Which...
What did they expect? You tell an F16 to intercept an airplane and the F16 pilot will say "sorry, can't go faster because I will create a sonic boom"? That is what intercept means.
Imagine a Cessna loaded with something. Heck, imagine a Cessna smashing into something.

From what I read this was not a private plane Cessna but a full sized business Cessna.

Also the flight plan that was registered said it's destination was Islip on Long Island. Why did it turn around and come back?

[ti-amie]

F-16 pilot sent to intercept plane saw its pilot slumped over before crash
Experts said publicly available flight data suggests the pilot had fallen unconscious and that the plane was flying on autopilot until it ran out of fuel
By Ian Duncan, Dan Lamothe, Emily Davies and Michael Laris
Updated June 5, 2023 at 3:40 p.m. EDT|Published June 5, 2023 at 9:35 a.m. EDT

The pilot of a military jet that scrambled to intercept a private plane that flew over D.C. before crashing in rural Virginia saw that aircraft’s pilot slumped over, according to two people familiar with the situation.

The development, described by people speaking on the condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, came as National Transportation Safety Board investigators arrived at the scene Monday of a private jet crash linked to a sonic boom heard a day earlier across the Washington region.

Adam Gerhardt, the lead investigator, said he expects his team to be on the scene for three to four days, and that investigators will be contending with remote, mountainous terrain.

“The accident site will take us extensive time to get to,” Gerhardt told reporters near the scene Monday. “The wreckage is highly fragmented.”

Experts said publicly available flight data suggests the pilot had fallen unconscious — most likely because of a loss of pressurization — and that the plane was flying on autopilot until it ran out of fuel. The Federal Aviation Administration said preliminary information shows the pilot and all three passengers died, which it said occurred “under unknown circumstances.”

John Rumpel, 75, said authorities told him that all four people on the plane — including his daughter and 2½-year-old granddaughter — had died. Rumpel said police told him they were still investigating what caused the incident but that the plane was likely to have crashed after losing pressurization.

The Cessna Citation (seen above) departed Sunday from a small airport in Tennessee and was bound for Long Island, but it turned back south after reaching New York and eventually flew over D.C. The two people familiar with the investigation said contact with the plane was lost about 15 minutes after its departure as it was passing over Virginia for the first time.

They said the pilot of a military jet saw the Cessna’s pilot sitting in the left seat slumped over to the right.

Six F-16s were scrambled from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland and two other facilities, a Pentagon spokesman said Monday. The F-16s were granted rare authorization by commanders to fly at supersonic speeds over an urban area to intercept the private jet — causing the boom — a sign of the urgency of the military’s response.

“It is important for the responding aircraft, in this case F-16s, to reach the situation as quickly as possible,” Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Devin Robinson said. “This allows more time for the people on the ground to run through procedures and gives more time for decisions to be made.”

The military jets and air traffic controllers were unable to make contact with the plane, officials said, and it crashed about 3:30 p.m. in Augusta County. First responders reached the crash site about 8 p.m. Sunday, according to Virginia State Police.

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters Monday that officials were on the phone while receiving real-time updates from the F-16 pilots, and that the president was kept informed.

“They did exactly what they were supposed to do,” Kirby said of the military pilots. “Try to get on the radio, communicate to the pilot. That wasn’t working. Made themselves visible. That didn’t work. And tragically, it ended, obviously, in the crash and the death of all on board.”

Leslie Snyder, an Augusta County, Va., sheriff’s lieutenant, said the crash site is near the Blue Ridge Parkway. She described the area as extremely remote, with no cellphone service.

NTSB investigators will document the crash scene and examine wreckage of the aircraft, as well as gather information from radar, weather data, the plane’s maintenance records and pilot medical records.

The board is expected to release a preliminary report in about three weeks, summarizing facts that investigators have gathered. A final report including a formal cause is likely to take at least a year.

Jeff Guzzetti, a former FAA and NTSB investigator, said flight-tracking data suggests the pilot was not in control of the private jet long before it reached New York.

The plane made no attempt to descend at its destination on Long Island and appeared to have turned around to head back to Tennessee. Guzzetti said that would indicate the plane was flying on autopilot.

“Whatever happened, happened at altitude, which is a critical location to lose pressurization,” Guzzetti said. “The higher up in altitude you are, the less time you have to get on oxygen.”

The plane continued to fly at about 34,000 feet until it begin to spiral to the ground. Guzzetti said the final minutes of the flight indicate the fuel for the plane’s right engine was exhausted.

It will be up to the NTSB to determine what might have caused the plane to lose pressure and why the pilot was not able to use an oxygen system. Guzzetti said investigators will want to know when the oxygen system was last serviced and whether maintenance records reveal any issues with the plane.

“It’s going to be challenging for the NTSB to answer these questions given the destruction of the wreckage,” he said.

A spokesman for the North American Aerospace Defense Command said two jets “inspected” the Cessna, which was intercepted about 3:20 p.m. The pilot was unresponsive and crashed near the George Washington National Forest in Virginia, officials said. The military did not shoot down the plane and there is no indication the interception caused the crash.

The crash location is about 160 miles southwest of Washington.

FAA records list the plane that crashed as being registered to Encore Motors of Melbourne, a Florida-based company. The FAA records indicate the plane was only recently acquired by Encore. Guzzetti said that transaction would have involved an inspection by the FAA, but only a cursory one that likely would not have delved into the condition of the plane’s pressurization system.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/transpor ... stigation/

[ti-amie]

[ti-amie]

Feds: Human brains, skin stolen from Harvard morgue, sold on black market
The manager of Harvard Medical School's morgue is accused of letting buyers come into the morgue to pick what remains they wanted to buy, then stealing parts of donated cadavers like brains, skin and bones
By Asher Klein, Bianca Beltrán and Carla Rojo • Published June 14, 2023 • Updated 9 mins ago

A group of people stole and sold off human remains from Harvard Medical School's morgue, federal prosecutors say, with a grand jury indicting the morgue's manager and his wife, among others.

The body part-stealing scheme stretched from 2018 to early 2023, according to a complaint filed in federal court in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where one of the defendants lives. Another defendant runs a store called Kat's Creepy Creations in Peabody, Massachusetts, that was searched in March.

Cedric Lodge, the morgue manager, is accused of letting buyers come into the morgue to pick what remains they wanted to buy, then stealing parts of donated cadavers like brains, skin and bones, taking them to his home in New Hampshire and shipping them to buyers through the mail.

Prosecutors also said Denise Lodge, Cedric Lodge's wife; Katrina Maclean; Joshua Taylor; Mathew Lampi; and Jeremy Pauley were charged. It wasn't immediately clear if all had attorneys who could speak to the charges. A mortician from Arkansas was previously charged in the investigation.

A federal grand jury has brought charges of conspiracy and transporting stolen goods across state lines against all six people. If convicted, they face up to 15 years in prison for the charges, prosecutors said.

Reaction from federal prosecutors, Harvard
"Some crimes defy understanding," said U.S. Attorney Gerard Karam in a statement. "The theft and trafficking of human remains strikes at the very essence of what makes us human. It is particularly egregious that so many of the victims here volunteered to allow their remains to be used to educate medical professionals and advance the interests of science and healing. For them and their families to be taken advantage of in the name of profit is appalling."

He characterized Harvard Medical School as another victim of the scheme and appreciated their cooperation with the federal investigation.

Cedric Lodge, 55, was fired on May 6, the Harvard medical deans wrote to the community in a message titled, "An abhorrent betrayal." The university has been working with federal investigators and examining logs of cremations to see which anatomical donors may have been affected by the incident.

"We are appalled to learn that something so disturbing could happen on our campus — a community dedicated to healing and serving others. The reported incidents are a betrayal of HMS and, most importantly, each of the individuals who altruistically chose to will their bodies to HMS through the Anatomical Gift Program to advance medical education and research," said the statement from George Daley, the dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Harvard University and Edward Hundert, the dean for Medical Education at Harvard Medical School

They offered an apology to the families and loved ones and donors, offering them resources including a 24/7 counseling hotline — anyone who thinks they may have been affected by the scheme can also reach out to federal investigators at usapam-victim.information@usdoj.gov or 717-614-4249. They also said Harvard has also appointed an external panel to investigate the policies and practices at the morgue and the Anatomical Gift Program.

Cedric Lodge's name was no longer listed on Harvard Medical School's website as of Wednesday, but an archived version of his biography page said he'd worked with the school's Anatomical Gift Program since fall 1995 and that he was responsible for "maintaining the anatomical morgue and teaching labs while working closely with HMS faculty and students."

He didn't answer questions leaving federal court in New Hampshire — the Goffstown was released and will have to appear in a Pennsylvania court at a later date. Denise Lodge, 63, had a hearing earlier in the day in New Hampshire.


Cedric Lodge leaving federal court in New Hampshire on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. The former Harvard Medical School morgue manager is accused of stealing body parts from donated cadavers and selling them on the black market.

Investigators outline black market for body parts
The federal complaint depicts a busy black market in human remains facilitated by the Lodges, who allegedly took body parts before they were scheduled to be cremated.

In 2020, Maclean allegedly paid $600 for two desiccated faces she picked up at the school's morgue from Cedric Lodge. Months later, Taylor, who is from West Lawn, Pennsylvania, sent Denise Lodge "$200 with a memo that read, 'braiiiiiins,'" according to the complaint.

In all, Taylor, 46, is accused of sending the Lodges over $37,000 for human remains.

The FBI confirmed in March that agents searched two locations in Peabody, including Kat's Creepy Creations. The bureau didn't comment on the search at the time.

The shop sells horror- and macabre-themed oddities. Multiple posts on the Kats Creepy Creations Instagram page depict what it says are human skulls, including one from February 2020 that says, "If you’re in the market for human bones hit me up!"

The 44-year-old from Salem, Massachusetts, didn't respond to questions from reporters outside of federal court in Boston Wednesday.


Katrina Maclean outside federal court in Boston on Wednesday, June 14, 2023. She's accused of buying stolen human remains from the manager of the morgue at Harvard Medical School.

Maclean is also accused of sending human skin to Pauley, a 41-year-old from Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania, who was arrested there last year and is accused of buying stolen remains from a mortuary employee in Arkansas, including the remains of two stillborn babies who were meant to be cremated.

Pauley's Instagram account also shows a plethora of human remains for sale, including brains, teeth and bone.

He and Lampi, a 52-year-old from East Bethel, Minnesota, allegedly exchanged more than $100,000 as they bought and sold goods made from remains.

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/4- ... e/3068131/

[ponchi101]

There's a joke there about Harvard selling brains, and I just can't find it...

[ti-amie]

Canada’s fires could worsen next week, sending more smoke into U.S.
There are no signs that outbursts of smoke from Canada into the Lower 48 states will end

By Ian Livingston
June 15, 2023 at 2:39 p.m. EDT


Smoke from the wildfires in Canada envelopes the Minneapolis skyline Wednesday. (Abbie Parr/AP)

The latest surge of smoke pollution from Canadian wildfires is smothering parts of the Northern Plains and Midwest, resulting in unhealthy air for a second day in Minnesota and parts of neighboring states.

Reminiscent of last week’s historic smoke incursion into the Northeast, the air quality in Minneapolis plummeted to its worst level on record Wednesday evening. It reached the Code Purple range, meaning very unhealthy air for the entire population. As smoke lingered Thursday, air-quality alerts covered Wisconsin; Minneapolis and southern Minnesota; eastern Iowa; Green Bay and Madison, Wis.; and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Some of the smoke in the Upper Midwest may seep into the Northeast on Friday, and there are no signs that outbursts of smoke from Canada into the Lower 48 states will end soon.

Canada’s historically bad fire season, in which 5.3 million hectares (13.1 million acres) have burned, is young, and weather projections suggest the hot, dry conditions that have fueled these blazes could intensify next week. Then, steering currents in the atmosphere could ferry yet more smoke into the northeastern United States.

“It’s not if but rather when the northern Ontario and Quebec will make headlines again,” tweeted Anthony Farnell, the chief meteorologist at Canada’s Global News.


Air quality, fire locations and smoke plumes as of Thursday morning. (AirNow.gov)

On Thursday, wildfire smoke in the Lower 48 states was thickest in eastern North Dakota, southern Minnesota, eastern Iowa and parts of Wisconsin and Illinois and was drifting toward the south-southeast. At midday, the Air Quality Index was in the Code Red range — signifying unhealthy air for most people — in locations including Marshall, Minn.; Waterloo, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City and Dubuque, Iowa; and Sterling, Ill.

The air quality in Chicago could deteriorate for a time Thursday, although a passing area of low pressure should switch wind directions there, shunting smoke away.

Smoke at higher altitudes — which doesn’t tend to affect air quality near the ground — was much more expansive Thursday, shrouding sunshine in portions of more than two dozen states across the eastern half of the country. One plume stretched from the Plains to Pennsylvania on Thursday morning. While much of this smoke was suspended high in the sky, some had settled closer to the ground, degrading air quality as far east as Pittsburgh.

As in recent episodes of compromised air quality associated with Canadian wildfire smoke, the main concern for human health is related to PM2.5, or particulate matter that is 2.5 microns and smaller. These fine particles can travel deep into the lungs and enter the bloodstream, leading to a number of detrimental health consequences.


The outlook for early to midweek next week shows high pressure building over Canada and wind flow that may push more smoke into the Northeast. (weatherbell.com)

On Friday, some of the smoke over the Upper Midwest could bleed into the Northeast, but it shouldn’t be nearly as thick as it was last week. But forecasters are becoming increasingly concerned about next week.

A zone of high pressure, also called a heat dome or upper ridge, is in its early stages over Canada’s central provinces. It is expected to expand northeastward and intensify.

“The upper ridge developing over Quebec is concerning,” said Mike Flannigan, a professor and wildfire expert at Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops, British Columbia, in a message to The Washington Post.

Temperatures under this ridge or heat dome are forecast to be unusually high, even for the beginning of summer, across much of Ontario and into Quebec — into the upper 80s and 90s.


Forecasts from the European weather model show extreme temperatures as high as the mid-90s next week right up to the shore of Hudson Bay. (weatherbell.com)

Tomer Burg, a PhD student in meteorology at the University of Oklahoma, shared an image on Twitter showing substantial probabilities for record-breaking temperatures in Ontario and Quebec next week. The abnormally high temperatures could begin Tuesday and last for days.

In addition to the heat, little or no rain is predicted underneath the heat dome from the Great Lakes toward the southern Hudson Bay, including much of Ontario and a large swath of Quebec. The predicted lack of rain will dry out the land surface and make it more combustible in this fire-prone zone.

Forecasting smoke specifics outside a few days is difficult, but steering currents in the atmosphere next week may allow additional incursions of smoke into the Lower 48 states.

Computer models project a zone of low pressure to become stuck over the Mid-Atlantic states. The counterclockwise winds around it, combined with clockwise flow beneath the high-pressure zone over southeast Canada, would direct smoke along two potential pathways, according to Burg: 1) Eastward into northeast Canada and the northern Atlantic Ocean, and 2) into the northeast United States.

It is too soon for computer models to simulate how much smoke may develop and its timing.

While eastern Canada may roast under a high-pressure ridge next week, fueling its fires, a parade of low-pressure systems arriving in portions of western Canada may offer much-needed rain.

Much of Canada’s west is in moderate to extreme drought, which has substantially contributed to the severity of its fire season. Alberta is already experiencing its worst fire season since at least 1950. Meanwhile, British Columbia’s Donnie Creek Fire is close to its largest on record, having burned 500,000 hectares (1.2 million acres).

Computer models project the potential for up to a few inches of rain in the next two weeks, which would be welcome but may not significantly reduce the overall summer fire risk.

Flannigan cautioned that the peak season for fire in British Columbia isn’t typically until mid-July to early September.

“These larger fires in Alberta/British Columbia/Saskatchewan/Northwest Territories will burn through the summer and some will burn through the winter,” he said.

Jason Samenow contributed to this report.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/ ... ed-states/

[ti-amie]

[ponchi101]

Reminds me of the people at companies that are good at CLIMBING positions, despite not knowing anything; I have met a few in my days.
That is what the GOP is: POLITICIANS.
The DEMS are terrible at that and at showing their results. They are good administrators, but then lose the election to the GOP because, well, the GOP is good at political maneuvering.

[ti-amie]

An air quality alert has been issued for NYC but right now it's 50 per my weather App. The bad stuff is supposed to hit tomorrow as you can see.

[ti-amie]

A more detailed map.