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Nine soldiers are dead after a crash involving two Black Hawk helicopters out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky, on Wednesday night, a training accident that is one of the deadliest in Army history.

"This is a truly tragic loss for our families, our division and Fort Campbell," Brig Gen. John Lubas, deputy commander of the 101st Airborne Division, said at a press conference Thursday morning.

On Wednesday night, a pair of 101st Airborne Division Black Hawks were conducting routine training in southwestern Kentucky. The pilots were using night vision, a common practice for units to practice flying in low visibility. There was no hazardous weather, according to National Weather Service data.

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It's unclear what caused the two Black Hawks to crash, but the pilots were able to bring the aircraft down in an open field, away from a nearby residential area, according to Lubas. None of the soldiers on the two helicopters survived.

An investigation team from the service is set to arrive at the crash site Thursday afternoon.

It marks one of the deadliest days for the Army outside of combat since the 1994 Green Ramp disaster in which 24 soldiers at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, died after a F-16 fighter jet collided with a C-130 with the wreckage hitting a C-141 and igniting jet fuel and ammunition next to a group of paratroopers.

Five soldiers have died in on-duty aviation incidents per year on average since 2018, according to data from the Army Combat Readiness Center, which tracks training mishaps. The bulk of those incidents involved Black Hawks, which are produced by defense giant Lockheed Martin. In February, two chief warrant officers with the Tennessee Army National Guard died when their Black Hawk crashed near Huntsville, Alabama.

Last year, Lockheed was awarded a $2.3 billion contract to build at least 120 H-60M Black Hawks as the Pentagon works on plans for its next generation helicopter.

In 2021, after a series of Black Hawk crashes, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., called on the Pentagon to review the safety of the aircraft. "I ask that you take all necessary steps to promptly investigate these incidents to determine if they fit a larger pattern of malfunction with the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter," Gillibrand said in a statement at the time.

The investigation into the crash is likely to take months, with high-profile accidents also typically getting intense scrutiny from Congress and the media.

The Navy's investigation into the deadly sinking of a Marine Corps amphibious assault vehicle in 2020, which left nine service members dead, went on for more than a year and concluded with a report more than 800 pages long and a dozen officials reprimanded or fired.

-- Steve Beynon can be reached at Steve.Beynon@military.com. Follow him on Twitter @StevenBeynon.

Related: Navy Investigation into Deadly AAV Mishap Finds Issues But No Direct Link to the Sinking of Landing Craft

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9 Soldiers Killed as Pair of Helicopters Crash in One of the Army's Deadliest Training Accidents - Military.com

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt is responding to a former politicians call for her removal in the murder trial against him.

Leavitt wrote in an affidavit that she could be fair and impartial to former Clark County public administrator Robert Telles. Telles, who is charged in the killing of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative reporter Jeff German last year, had filed a motion for recusal, accusing Leavitt of badgering him during the Feb. 28 hearing where she approved his self-representation.

Leavitt ruled that Telles, 46, could represent himself in his murder trial which is set to take place in November.

During the hearing, Leavitt raised several concerns about Telles decision and his lack of experience and knowledge of criminal law.

It is always unwise to represent yourself in any matter let alone a first-degree murder case, Leavitt said in the hearing.

Leavitt told Telles that she was concerned because of his lack of experience in criminal cases and he will be up against the most experienced attorneys in this trial. Telles admitted in court that he had only handled a few civil jury cases.

Leavitt said in the hearing that her thorough questioning would establish a record that Telles was not very knowledgeable about criminal cases.

You really dont know about the charge against you and what youre coming up against, she told Telles.

Defendant brings this motion to recuse Judge Leavitt because the level of bias exhibited by Judge Leavitt displays a deep-seated antagonism that would make fair judgment impossible, Telles later wrote in court documents.

Judge Leavitts badgering led the media to believe defendant was foolish to seek self-representation, Telles said in court documents. Judge Leavitts behavior led the media to produce stories wherein defendants intentions and capacity were called into question. Comments made in one news [storys] comments section demonstrated members of the public took these points to heart.

Leavitt responded, the court cannot control the media coverage of this matter, in her affidavit filed on March 10.

The Nevada Supreme Court recently held the district courts canvass must ensure the defendant is waiving counsel with eyes wide open, Leavitt wrote. The district court must safeguard against the unacceptable danger that defendant would choose to represent himself with an incomplete understanding of the risks he faces.

Prosecutors accuse Telles of targeting German, 69, because of articles he was writing about problems in the court administrators office. Telles, a Democrat, lost a three-way primary in June. In online posts following the election, Telles appeared to blame German for his election loss.

Evidence in the case includes a video of a man prosecutors said is Telles walking up Germans driveway before the murder. Detectives found Telles DNA under Germans fingernails, police said.

In a separate filing earlier this year, Telles claimed other jail inmates are trying to coerce him to confess as he spends most of the day alone in a cell.

A hearing on Telles motion was scheduled for March 30. Telles trial is set to begin on Nov. 6.

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Court cannot control media coverage, Las Vegas judge responds in former politicians murder case - KLAS - 8 News Now

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nashville school shooting

By David Propper

March 27, 2023 | 8:04pm

The mother of the Nashville school shooter who killed six people including three 9-year-olds appeared to be a gun control activist who once urged friends on Facebook to sign a petition calling for keeping firearms out of schools.

So important! Norma Hale wrote in a March 8, 2018, Facebook post as she shared the petition to Keep Guns Out of School that appeared to be from the Sandy Hook Promise Foundation.

The webpages domain to the petition did not appear to exist anymore.

In another post from Feb. 21, 2018, Hale shared another petition from Sandy Hook Promise urging lawmakers to Make Large-Capacity Gun Magazines Illegal.

Hales adult child, Audrey Hale, carried out Mondays horrific mass shooting at theCovenant Schoolon Monday morning.

The 28-year-old, believed to be a former student at the small Christian school, was carrying at least two assault rifles and a handgun, police said.

In various other Facebook posts dating back several years, Norma Hale, who appeared to work at a Nashville-based church, the Village Chapel, as a coordinator, gushed over her two children for various achievements and milestones.

In the Jan. 28, 2019, post, she wrote found this in a devotional book I loaned to Audrey with a heart emoji at the end of the sentence and a photo that shows I (love) God written on the page.

She also commended her daughter in a March 15, 2017, Facebook post for impressing one of her college professors at Nossi College of Art and noted the instructor recommended her for an awards competition.

So proud of Audrey! the doting mother wrote.

Follow The Posts coverage of the school shooting in Nashville

She also stated in an August 2015 post that Audrey wrote thank you notes to all her professors at the end of her summer semester including to one teacher who lost her son in a car accident a year prior.

These were some of her words Dont ever let anything or anyone steal your joy. You have a reason and a purpose to be here, Hale wrote, adding, Amazing, Dre. I love you.

In other posts, she gave numerous shout-outs to her son and wasnt shy about how lucky she was to be the mother of her two kids.

In an Oct. 6, 2017, post, she wrote, Just grateful to be the Mom of these 2 awesome kids! with photos of Audrey and her brother growing up through the years.

Mothers Day 2014, she posted in May 2014 with a photo of her and her two children. I get to be these awesome kids Mom!

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Mother of Nashville school shooter Audrey Hale shared several gun control posts on social media - New York Post

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Gendered disinformation is a subset of misogynistic abuse and violence against women that uses false or misleading gender and sex-based narratives, often with some degree of coordination, to deter women from participating in the public sphere. Both foreign state and non-state actors strategically use gendered disinformation to silence women, discourage online political discourse, and shape perceptions toward gender and the role of women in democracies. In a groundbreaking study, Canada, the European External Action Service (EEAS), Germany, Slovakia, the United Kingdom, and the United States jointly assessed the tactics used by these actors to sow gendered and other identity-based disinformation across the world. Key findings from this report are detailed below.

Our research underscores the importance of using a gender and identity-based lens to analyze the tactics used by foreign state and non-state actors to spread gendered disinformation that deliberately polarizes attitudes, sows division, and undermines social cohesion. The spread of gendered disinformation harms not only the targeted individuals, but also democracy. The critical nature of the subject matter requires further investigation, particularly in understanding the use of gendered disinformation in Africa and Latin America; the evolving tactics of state actors; and Russias use of misogynistic narratives in Europe; in addition to furthering understanding of communicationsresponses and interventions that can be used to counter gendered disinformation.To inform our collective responses most effectively, we must continue to not only study gendered disinformation tactics and their impacts on targeted communities, but also partner across countries invested in preserving democracy to share findings, deepen the evidence base, and inform policy to tackle this scourge.

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Gendered Disinformation: Tactics, Themes, and Trends by Foreign ... - Department of State

WASHINGTON -- Last week's testimony from TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew "increased the likelihood that Congress will take some action" on the hugely popular and controversial social media app after his remarks on Capitol Hill failed to allay bipartisan worries over potential data privacy issues and Chinese government intrusion, Rep. Mike Gallagher said Sunday.

"They've actually united Republicans and Democrats out of the concern of allowing the [Chinese Communist Party] to control the most dominant media platform in America," he told ABC "This Week" co-anchor Martha Raddatz of TikTok, which has 150 million monthly active American users.

Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who chairs the House select committee on U.S. competition with China, touted legislation he and his committee's ranking member, Illinois Democrat Raja Krishnamoorthi, co-sponsored to either ban the app or force its sale to an American firm from Chinese parent company ByteDance.

Chinese officials have called such proposals overreach and unfair -- though China heavily restricts the use of the internet in its country -- and said they would resist a sale. Critics of the scrutiny say it hasn't applied to similar social media platforms.

MORE: TikTok CEO faces off with Congress, hoping to stave off possible ban over security fears

But Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi, appearing together on "This Week," told Raddatz that the risks warranted such moves.

Separately, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy tweeted Sunday that the chamber would be "moving forward with legislation" on TikTok.

Krishnamoorthi pointed to Chew's inability to call out "spying" by some ByteDance employees on American journalists last year or to "acknowledge that there's a genocide going on with regard to the Uyghur people in Xinjiang province, in the northeast corner of China. Again, bowing to pressure from this Chinese Communist Party," he told Raddatz.

Both he and Gallagher also sounded skeptical of "Project Texas," an endeavor TikTok says will keep U.S. data stored in Texas and prevent access by Beijing but that lawmakers say is insufficient.

"There are whistleblowers coming forward saying that whatever the TikTok management is saying about Project Texas is a pack of lies," Krishnamoorthi said, while Gallagher said protections for Americans' data are only part of the larger issue.

"The key part that's missing from Project Texas' mitigation strategy is control of the algorithm. That's really what we need to address," Gallagher said. "It's not just exfiltrating data from an American phone, it's what they're able to push to Americans through the algorithm -- control our sense of reality, control the news, meddle in future elections."

SEE ALSO: Gap grows between TikTok users, lawmakers on potential ban

Chew's lengthy testimony on Thursday in front of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce sought to satisfy concerns that TikTok would be forced to hand over data on U.S. users if the Chinese government requested it.

"I think a lot of risks that are pointed out are hypothetical and theoretical risks," Chew insisted at one point. "I have not seen any evidence."

He also pushed back against worries that TikTok's algorithm could be used to sway public opinion, including with pro-China content and election misinformation.

But lawmakers on the panel were less than impressed, with Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., telling Chew, "Your platform should be banned."

"I think that it created more concerns, quite frankly," Krishnamoorthi told Raddatz on Sunday of Thursday's hearing. "I don't think that he did TikTok any favors."

Raddatz pressed Krishnamoorthi on his response to the potential political fallout from a TikTok ban, given its popularity with younger people.

"I think that good policy makes good politics," he said. "And in this particular case, we have to recognize that while TikTok is another social media app, and we have a generalized concern about these social media apps, it's different in kind from any other social media app because its parent company is beholden to the Chinese Communist Party."

Beyond TikTok, Raddatz also asked Gallagher and Krishnamoorthi -- who sit on the House Intelligence Committee -- about strikes on U.S. bases in Syria last week, which killed an American contractor and wounded several others, including service members and a contractor.

Iran-backed militias are thought to be responsible, and the U.S. has retaliated with airstrikes.

Gallagher said the attacks stemmed from a "crumbling" of "our deterrent posture vis--vis Iran" and said that "we can't afford another failure of deterrence like that, which we saw in Ukraine."

"Some practical steps going forward in my opinion would be to reimpose a policy of maximum economic pressure, abandon an attempt to resuscitate the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [the Obama-era Iran nuclear deal] as well as force the Pentagon to deliver" a report on U.S.-Israeli cooperation on technology to boost both countries' capabilities, Gallagher said.

"We need to have a clear-eyed view of the regime we're facing in Tehran," he said.

Krishnamoorthi said that the U.S. would not back away from the region and would continue counter-terrorism work there, despite the danger.

"[W]e're kind of targets of opportunity for these Iranian-backed militias. But we're not going anywhere. We have to stay in northern Syria, and work with our partners in Iraq as well in fighting ISIS [the Islamic State]," he said. "Unfortunately, we're going to have to deal with them appropriately, but we're not leaving that part of the world as we deal with ISIS."

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Congress closer to a TikTok ban or forced sale after CEO's ... - WLS-TV