Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/444500
TheAssociatedPress LOS ANGELES A small plane crashed Friday in a Los Angeles intersection just south of Van Nuys Air- port, killing the one person aboard, authorities said. The aircraft did not hit any vehicles or structures and there was no fire, Fire Department spokesman Erik Scott said. The victim died at the scene. The plane was a single- engine Lancair and went down around 1:15 p.m. shortly after takeoff from Van Nuys, Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Ian Gregor said. Sharon Mashal, 22, said she was getting lunch when she heard a big boom. "It was really loud, I thought something ex- ploded. I looked around the corner and I saw a plane on the ground," she said. She said she saw the wings and nose in pieces on the street. "As for the cockpit, there was no roof, everything was really crushed," she said. Others witnesses to the crash told her they watched the plane spiral out of con- trol before hitting the ground. The plane ended up against a curb with one wing bent around a traf- fic signal pole. The craft's front end and cockpit were demolished. It appeared most of the debris ended up on the street outside a used car sale lot, said Rick Grant, who arrived on scene after the crash. PJ Jafari, a manager at the used car dealership, was sitting at his desk when he saw the plane from his window. "Then I heard a big boom. It was like a bomb went off," he said. Van Nuys Airport is a large general aviation airport in the middle of the San Fernando Val- ley. Around the time of the crash, the National Weather Service reported 6 mph winds, a tempera- ture of 69 degrees and 10- mile visibility in the area. FLIGHT 1killedassmallplane crashes on LA street DAMIANDOVARGANES—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Unidentified firemen cover the body of a pilot killed in a small plane crash at a Los Angeles intersection just south of Van Nuys Airport, in Van Nuys on Friday. The Associated Press SACRAMENTO A flight from Sacramento to Denver with 135 people aboard made an emer- gency landing after hit- ting birds shortly after takeoff. Sacramento Interna- tional Airport spokes- woman Laurie Slothower says the bird strike oc- curred shortly before 6 a.m. Friday and forced a 737 jet to turn around and land back at the airport. The flight safely touched down at 6:20 a.m. None of the 129 passen- gers and six crew members was injured. KCRA-TV meteorologist Eileen Javora says she was on the plane and tells the station that she heard a couple of booms and then smelled smoke. United Airlines spokes- woman Mary Ryan says a maintenance team is in- specting the aircraft. SACRAMENTO Fl ig ht r et ur ns t o ai rp or t a er h it ti ng b ir ds The Associated Press SACRAMENTO A Northern California man considered by the federal government to be a radical eco-terrorist and a threat to the nation was set free after nearly nine years in prison when the government conceded that thousands of pages of evidence were never turned over to his defense attorney. U.S. District Judge Mor- rison C. England Jr. or- dered Eric Taylor McDa- vid, 37, released from cus- tody Thursday, saying he had "never heard or seen of anything like this," the Sacramento Bee reported. As part of a deal with pros- ecutors, McDavid agreed to plead guilty to a lone con- spiracy count, which would have earned him a shorter prison sentence of as much as five years. McDavid was sentenced to 20 years in 2007, according to the Bee. "I sat through the 10-day trial of Mr. McDavid," Eng- land said, sometimes stop- ping to hold his head in his left hand. "I know he's not necessarilya choirboy,but he doesn'tdeservetogothrough this, either. It's not fair." McDavid was accused of plotting to bomb or torch the Nimbus Dam, a U.S. For- est Service lab and cellphone towers in the Sacramento re- gion. The FBI had touted the case as a success in fight- ing domestic terrorism. But McDavid's supporters said he was the victim of entrap- ment by an FBI informant — a woman who urged him to take violent action against government targets with promises that they would later consummate a roman- tic relationship. The documents that were withheldincludelovenotesto the informant. "I asked for this stuff," McDavid's defense attorney, Mark Reichel, said. "They said, 'Mark Reichel's crazy, it doesn't exist.'" He said, "I knew they had to have more on the infor- mant, but they just denied it and there was nothing I could do." Prosecutors for years re- jected claims that critical evidence in the case had been withheld, the Bee re- ported. But they began turning over documents in recent months, as McDavid and his appellate attorneys continued fighting for them. NORTHERN CALIFORNIA 'Eco-terrorist' freed amid claims FBI hid evidence The Associated Press BIG SUR Two California condors have secretly mated in the woods of Northern California, thrilling wild- life biologists by producing unexpected offspring. The San Francisco Chronicle reports that the breeding was only the third unobserved pairing of con- dors in the wild since 1997, when biologists began re- leasing the endangered birds in Big Sur. The last 27 California condors left in the wild were captured and placed in a breeding program in 1987. The Big Sur flock came from that program. The bird is already 9 months old. The parents raised the hatchling for many months before be- ing detected by prying bi- ologists. WILDLIFE California condors secretly mate, produce a baby By Olga R. Rodriguez The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO The Golden Gate Bridge will shut down to private vehi- cles for 52 hours starting at midnight Friday so work- ers can install a moveable median barrier designed to prevent head-on colli- sions, part of an effort to increase safety along the iconic structure. Transit buses, emergency vehicles, pedestrians and bi- cyclists will be able to cross the bridge while the bar- rier is being installed, the Golden Gate Bridge High- way and Transportation District said. The bridge is scheduled to reopen to all traffic Monday at 4 a.m. The weekend closure will be the longest in the bridge's history and the first since 1987, when the bridge closed for a few hours for a celebra- tion of the 50th anniversary of its construction. Thomas Sturm, who lives in Sausalito and uses the Golden Gate Bridge to com- mute to his job as a soft- ware engineer in San Fran- cisco, said he changed his plans for the weekend be- cause of the closure. "Instead of going to the city for an event, we're go- ing to stay in Marin" and maybe go for a hike, he said. Currently, small plas- tic tubes are all that sep- arate vehicles traveling in opposite directions on the bridge. They have done little to prevent crashes. Since 1970, there here have been 128 head-on collisions on the bridge, resulting in 16 deaths, Golden Gate Bridge spokeswoman Priya David Clemens said. To create a moveable bar- rier, 3,500 steel-clad con- crete blocks attached to- gether by steel pins will be installed through the week- end along the 1.7-mile-long bridge and on the approach portion of Highway 101 north of the Golden Gate. BAY AREA Golden Gate Bridge closing for upgrade | NEWS | REDBLUFFDAILYNEWS.COM SATURDAY, JANUARY 10, 2015 6 A