February 9 top news stories

It is Tuesday, February 9. Here are top news briefs.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the helicopter holding Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and seven others that crashed in southern California last year, killing all onboard, was not supposed to fly through clouds.

The pilot, Ara Zobayan, was flying under visual flight rules (VFR), which required him to be able to see where he was going. The NTSB said the pilot decided to go up into the “layers” to get above it, which violated VFR rules.

The NTSB believes the pilot became disoriented in the fog and couldn’t tell which direction the helicopter was going, up or down or left or right. The NTSB said prior to the crash, the pilot said he was climbing and almost clear of the clouds while in fact he was banking and descending. The helicopter crashed into mountain foothills.

Two weeks ago, a 84-year-old man named Vicha Ratanapakdee died after he was body slammed by a suspect in San Francisco. It was caught on video. I will show you a clip, and it is disturbing.

[Video clip]

A suspect was arrested — a 19-year-old man named Antoine Watson. He has been charged with murder.

On Sunday, a 91-year-old Asian man was shoved to the ground in Oakland’s Chinatown for what seems to be no reason at all. I will show you a clip, but I have to warn it is also disturbing.

[Video clip]

ABC 7 News said there are concerns about a wave of violence against Asian residents in the community with many small businesses getting robbed and customers and owners assaulted. Asian communities are already reporting an increase in hateful rhetoric because they are unfairly blamed for the coronavirus pandemic.

Actors Daniel Dae Kim and Daniel Wu offered a $25,000 reward for information about the suspect behind the attack in Chinatown.

Today ABC 7 News reported that a suspect in the Chinatown attack was arrested — a man named Yahya Muslim. He was accused of attacking two other people on the same day after pushing the 84-year-old man.

The Oakland Police Chief said he wanted to send a message that it’s not acceptable for things like this to happen in their community and they will pursue those who commit violence and arrest them.

[SPONSORED VIDEO FROM SORENSON]

This afternoon in Buffalo, Minnesota, there was a mass shooting at a medical clinic. There were several people who were shot, but the exact number is not clear as of this afternoon. A news report said there was an audio recording of a police officer saying there were five people who were critically wounded and that there were four homemade explosives that went off.

Today the impeachment trial for former president Donald Trump kicked off in the Senate. House impeachment manager Joe Neguse (D-Colo) explained that there were examples in history where federal officials were impeached after they left office, and used that as an argument that Trump can be impeached for “inflaming an insurrection” in his final weeks.

[VIDEO CLIP]

The Senate agreed to hold the trial every day, including on Saturdays, after Trump’s defense lawyer David Schoen withdrew his request to have the trial break so he could observe the Jewish Sabbath. So we’ll see the trial go on a daily basis for a while now.

Lead impeachment manager Rep. Raskin (D-Md) showed a video of Trump speaking at a “Stop the Steal” rally on January 6 and then showed a series of clips of the attack on the U.S. Capitol to try and tie Trump’s rally with motivating the attack.

[VIDEO CLIP]

Trump’s defense attorney Bruce Castor argued that if we went down this path of impeaching Trump, it would open the floodgates for future impeachments. Castor reminded the Senate that impeachments are supposed to be very rare.

[Video clip]

AND PARTISAN IMPEACHMENTS WILL BECOME COMMONPLACE. UNTIL THE IMPEACHMENT OF BILL CLINTON, NO ONE ALIVE HAD EVER LIVED THROUGH A PRESIDENTIAL IMPEACHMENT. NONETHELESS SOME OF YOU ARE 150 YEARS OLD. NOT A SINGLE PERSON ALIVE AND THEN THROUGH A PRESIDENTIAL IMPEACHMENT. NOW MOST OF US HAVE LIVED THROUGH THREE OF THEM. THIS IS SUPPOSED TO BE THE ULTIMATE SAFETY VALVE. THE LAST THING THAT HAPPENS. THE MOST RARE TREATMENT.

Today the Senate voted to proceed with the second impeachment trial. Six Republicans joined with all Democrats in the vote.

Tomorrow the House impeachment managers (the prosecutors) will present their case and then Trump’s defense team will give a presentation.

Axios said Trump will almost certainly be acquitted unless there is new and groundbreaking evidence against him.

That is all the top news briefs for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.

https://apnews.com/article/kobe-bryant-helicopter-crash-cause-2c87b04d28961fd277927eea8e8e5564

https://www.ntsb.gov/news/speeches/RSumwalt/Pages/sumwalt-20210209o.aspx

https://apnews.com/article/Trump-impeachment-trial-0d0916330d20cc139c64f73af5ef4647

https://abc7news.com/man-pushed-to-ground-in-oakland-violence-chinatown-robberies/10311111/

https://abc7news.com/san-francisco-senior-attacked-sf-man-pushed-on-video-day-time-attack-caught-anza-vista-crime/10205928/

https://www.vulture.com/2021/02/daniel-dae-kim-daniel-wu-offer-reward-for-info-in-assault.html

https://abc7news.com/suspect-arrested-in-attack-on-91-year-old-in-oaklands-chinatown/10322263/

https://www.kare11.com/article/news/crime/shooting-at-buffalo-clinic-multiple-people-wounded/89-dce25ca1-10a5-4b48-9ad8-3c5fd4116130

https://www.axios.com/trump-impeachment-trial-day-one-5728c1ad-bea2-4f9a-abb5-ef5456c319a1.html