Author: Gesi Lloyd

At approximately 3:45 p.m. local time on Thursday, Kauai Police Dispatch received a text-to-911 message reporting that a helicopter had gone down in the ocean near Kalalau Beach on the island’s north shore. The beach sits along the Na Pali Coast, a stretch of coastline accessible only by hiking trail or boat. There are no roads in. The helicopter, operated by Airborne Aviation, was carrying one pilot and four passengers when it crashed approximately 100 yards offshore, coming down on the sandbar at Kalalau Beach, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. Three people died. Two others were transported to Wilcox…

On a Wednesday morning in South Los Angeles, a routine sealing operation stopped before it started. A worker in a reflective yellow vest peered into a storm drain at West 88th Street and South Grand Avenue and spotted movement in the dark below. Seconds later, a man in his late 20s climbed out carrying a pink polka dot roller suitcase. He walked away. Minutes after that, a welding gun sealed the opening shut behind him. It was not an isolated incident. Crews working in the Broadway-Manchester neighborhood discovered that multiple people had been living inside the storm drain system running…

Three Big Ten programs punched their tickets to the Elite Eight this weekend, and the path each one took says something different about how deep this conference runs in March. Purdue survived. Illinois dominated. Iowa shocked everyone who was not paying close enough attention. The last time a Big Ten school won the NCAA men’s basketball national championship was in 2000. A generation of college basketball fans has grown up without seeing it happen. The way this bracket is setting up, that drought may be running out of time. Purdue holds on when it matters most No. 2 seed Purdue…

Netflix adjusted its subscription rates on March 26, pushing every tier higher by at least $1. The ad-supported plan moved from $7.99 to $8.99 per month. The standard ad-free plan climbed from $17.99 to $19.99, a $2 increase that stands out as the sharpest jump in the current round. The premium plan, which supports 4K Ultra HD, HDR viewing, Netflix spatial audio and up to four simultaneous streams, went from $24.99 to $26.99. Extra member pricing also went up. For ad-supported plans, adding a non-household user now costs $6.99 per month, up from $5.99. Ad-free add-ons increased from $8.99 to…

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier has formally asked the National Football League to stop enforcing the Rooney Rule, a policy requiring teams to interview minority candidates for key leadership positions. In a letter directed at Commissioner Roger Goodell, Uthmeier argued that the rule conflicts with Florida’s civil rights statutes and requested written confirmation by May 1 that the league would drop it. His office added that failure to comply could trigger civil rights enforcement action from the state. The demand marks one of the more pointed government challenges to a private sports organization’s internal hiring practices in recent memory. The…

Diana Ross spent the 1960s as the lead voice of The Supremes, a group that helped define the Motown sound and delivered a run of hits that still appear in commercials, films and playlists more than half a century later. Baby Love and Stop! In the Name of Love were part of that foundation. When she stepped away from the group and launched her solo career in 1970, she carried that momentum forward with records that blended disco, soul and adult pop in ways few artists of her era could manage. Ain’t No Mountain High Enough and I’m Coming Out…

The National Weather Service issued a fire weather watch This afternoon covering dozens of Alabama counties, with the threat window running from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday. The watch covers Marion, Lamar, Fayette, Walker, Blount, Etowah, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, Pickens, Tuscaloosa, Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair, Talladega, Clay, Randolph, Sumter, Greene, Hale, Perry, Bibb, Chilton, Coosa, Tallapoosa, Chambers, Marengo, Dallas, Autauga, Lowndes, Elmore, Montgomery, Macon, Bullock, Lee, Russell, Pike and Barbour counties. Forecasters are expecting northeast winds of 10 to 15 mph with gusts reaching up to 30 mph. Relative humidity is projected to drop as low as 19%. The…

Civil rights activist Najee Ali has sent an open letter to Steve Ballmer, owner of the Los Angeles Clippers and the Intuit Dome, asking him to use his influence to address what a growing coalition describes as a public safety failure in Inglewood, California. The letter, signed by Ali and several community and faith leaders, follows the death of Bryan Bostic, an African American man who died while in the custody of the Inglewood Police Department after a routine traffic stop. Bostic was a father, a son, and a brother. His death has sharpened an already tense conversation around policing…

Nine Moroccan companies earned spots on Forbes Middle East’s annual ranking of the 100 Most Valuable Companies in the Middle East and North Africa, placing Morocco fourth overall by number of firms represented. Only the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar had more companies on the list, making Morocco the highest-ranked African nation in the region’s most closely watched corporate index. The ranking, published annually by Forbes Middle East, draws from market capitalization data across 12 stock exchanges in 11 countries, with figures recorded as of January 31, 2026. The top 100 firms together carry a combined valuation of…

Frank Thomas, the two-time American League MVP and Hall of Famer who spent 16 of his 19 major league seasons with the Chicago White Sox, filed a lawsuit on March 19 in Cook County, Illinois, against the White Sox, Nike and Fanatics. The suit alleges that all three defendants profited from the sale of merchandise bearing his name and likeness without his knowledge or compensation. At the center of the complaint are the team’s City Connect 2.0 jerseys, which went on sale around April 28, 2025, and feature Thomas’ No. 35 on the front along with his name and number…