Pilot killed while fighting wildfire near Estes Park, Colorado
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — The pilot killed in a plane crash near Estes Park while battling the Kruger Rock fire has been identified as Marc Thor Olson, according to Colorado Fire Aviation, the company that owned the aircraft.
The plane Olson was piloting went down near the south end of Hermit Park just before 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, officials said.
"The CO Fire Aviation family is deeply saddened by the sudden, tragic loss of one of our brothers serving as a tanker pilot," officials said in a statement on Facebook.
Olson was described as a highly decorated veteran who served for 32 years in both the U.S. Army and Air Force. He began flying planes in 1979 and amassed more than 8,000 total flight hours and 1,000 hours of night flight, including in combat and civilian fight, according to the statement.
Tuesday night's operation was believed to be the first of its kind in the United States, where a fixed-winged aircraft was being used to attack a fire at night using night vision goggles, according to Gazette news partner 9News.
Olson told 9News he was excited to make "history" with the Tuesday flight.
—The Gazette
1,000 dead manatees: Florida surpasses a grim milestone
TAMPA, Fla. — Since July, every weekly update from state wildlife officials has set a new record for the most manatee deaths counted in a single year. On Wednesday, Florida crossed an especially tragic threshold: more than 1,000 manatees dead.
The exact count, through Nov. 12, was 1,003 manatees, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
That is up from 637 all of last year and far above the previous record, 830, in 2013. Florida passed the previous high halfway through 2021. Manatee death reports are filed each Friday and published by the state the following Wednesday.
“It makes me sad and angry,” said Patrick Rose, executive director of Save the Manatee Club, a conservation nonprofit.
The bad year got off to a quick start. Manatees took shelter from cold water by warm discharges from a power plant in the Indian River Lagoon off Brevard County, scientists say. The area is a typical wintering spot, but years of algal blooms there have killed tens of thousands of acres of seagrass. That destruction left manatees without enough food. Many starved.
The die-off in 2021 has left some with fears for the long-term health of one of Florida’s most beloved and iconic species. Manatees are listed as a threatened animal, after federal wildlife regulators improved their status from endangered in 2017. The Conservation Commission in recent years estimated at least 7,520 were alive.
—Tampa Bay Times
‘Rust’ script supervisor sues Alec Baldwin and producers
LOS ANGELES — The script supervisor on “Rust,” who was the first to call 911 after cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on the movie’s set, sued actor Alec Baldwin and the film’s producers for assault, saying they intentionally ignored safety protocols that would have prevented the tragedy.
Mamie Mitchell, who was standing close to Hutchins when a bullet from Baldwin’s gun struck her, is the latest member of the “Rust” crew to take legal action against the film’s production company, Rust Movie Productions LLC, for the Oct. 21 tragedy in New Mexico.
The allegations in the suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, include assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress and deliberate infliction of harm.
“Every safety protocol designed to ensure that firearms would be safely used were ignored, and actions that were taken were against all industry norms,” Mitchell’s lawyers alleged in the complaint. The suit said Baldwin “intentionally, without cause or excuse, cocked and fired the loaded gun even though the upcoming scene to be filmed did not called for the cocking and firing of a firearm.”
Mitchell is represented by attorney Gloria Allred.
Matthew Hutchins, husband of the late “Rust” cinematographer, has enlisted the law firm of Panish Shea Boyle Ravipudi.
Santa Fe County Sheriff’s detectives are still investigating key details of the shooting, including how live ammunition got onto the movie set — a major violation of film production safety protocols — and how at least one lead bullet got into the revolver used by Baldwin. No criminal charges have been filed.
—Los Angeles Times
Texas governor candidate O’Rourke raises $2 million in 24 hours
AUSTIN, Texas — Democratic Texas gubernatorial hopeful Beto O’Rourke raised more than $2 million in his first 24 hours as a candidate this week, breaking records, his campaign said Wednesday.
O’Rourke said he’s cobbling together “the largest people-powered campaign that Texas has ever seen” in his bid to oust GOP Gov. Greg Abbott.
The former El Paso congressman raised more than $80 million for his U.S. Senate race three years ago — and, through his failed presidential bid and recent leadership of voter-registration drives, amassed an enviable donor list.
“Texans across the state are demanding change,” O’Rourke said in a written statement. “We entered this race because we believe in a bigger vision for Texas. I’m honored to have the support of tens of thousands of Texans.”
In the 24 hours after he announced Monday, O’Rourke raised $2,015,885 from more than 20,000 donors, the campaign said.
That breaks the fundraising record “for any Democratic gubernatorial candidate for the first 24 hours” of a campaign, according to O’Rourke’s release. It’s more than any Democrat running for governor has raised in the first day nationwide, O’Rourke spokesman Abhi Rahman clarified.
The campaign also said O’Rourke had raised “the most in the first 24 hours of any campaign in 2021.” Of the donors, 57% are Texas residents, Rahman said.
—The Dallas Morning News
