Issue link: https://www.epageflip.net/i/513885
ByDaisyNguyen The Associated Press LOSANGELES Extremeath- lete Dean Potter knew the risks every time he jumped off a cliff, but loved the feeling he got by cheating death. "I love the idea that I can change the worst pos- sible thing to the best pos- sible thing: dying to flying," Potter says in "Fly or Die," a documentary about his wingsuit jumps that can be seen on National Geograph- ic's website. "The wingsuit is basically the flying squirrel suit," Pot- ter explained in the video. "Everyone kinda fantasizes about it — flying. And it's an amazing place in history right now, that man actually has the skills to pull it off." Potter, 43, and his climb- ing partner Graham Hunt, 29, were killed Saturday when they slammed into a ridge after jumping from Taft Point, a promontory about 3,500 feet above the valley floor in Yosemite Na- tional Park. With their arms and legs outspread and the webs between them catch- ing rising air currents, they were supposed to glide si- lently downward just be- yond the cliff face, then zoom through rocky out- croppings and over the trees to a safe landing. Instead, they stepped off the cliff and disap- peared from view. When they didn't reach the val- ley below, someone alerted the same park rangers both men had sought to avoid when they prepared for the illegal jump. Park ranger Scott Ged- iman said rescuers looked for the men overnight but couldn't find them until a helicopter crew spotted their bodies Sunday morn- ing. Both wore skintight wingsuits with batwing sleeves and a flap between their legs. Neither deployed parachutes, Gediman said. Potter was renowned for his daring and sometimes illegal climbs and BASE jumps. Hunt was still de- veloping his reputation in the community of extreme athletes drawn to Yosem- ite's cliffs. Friends remembered how Potter spoke about the death-defying nature of the sport at a memorial service last year to a friend who died in a BASE jump- ing accident. "He always recognized how dangerous the sport was and at the same time, how magical it was — the tension between those two things," fellow climber Chris McNamara said. BASE jumping can be done with a parachute or a wingsuit, dropping from high-altitude structures or cliffs. It is illegal in all na- tional parks. About five peo- ple have died trying it in Yo- semite alone, said Gediman. Potter was famous for pushing the boundaries of climbing by going up some of the world's most daunting walls and cliffs alone, using his bare hands and without ropes. He took the sport to an extreme level with high- lining — walking across a rope suspended between towering rock formations while wearing a parachute for safety in case of a fall. FATAL LEAPS Ex tr eme a th le te P ot te r kn ew dangers of BASE jumping TOMASOVALLE—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Extreme athlete Dean Potter stands in front of El Capitan a er a speed-climbing attempt up El Capitan in Yosemite National Park in this file photo. KIMBERLY HYND — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Smoke rises from a Marine Corps Osprey aircra a er it made a hard landing on Bellows Air Force Station near Waimanalo, Hawaii, on Sunday. By Audrey Mcavoy The Associated Press HONOLULU One Marine is in critical condition and three others remain hos- pitalized in stable condi- tion after a fatal MV-22 Os- prey crash over the week- end, the Marine Corps said Monday. Seventeen others treated for injuries have been re- leased, the 15th Marine Ex- peditionary Unit said in a statement. The next of kin of the one Marine who died have been notified, the Marines said. The Marine Corps won't release the Marine's identity until 24 hours af- ter the notification. The crash is under in- vestigation. The Osprey had a "hard landing mishap" during training Sunday at Bellows Air Force Station on Oahu, the Marines said. There were 21 Marines and one Navy corpsman on board. Witnesses saw three Osprey aircraft flying to- gether, and then one catch fire after crashing in an open field. They said black smoke was billowing from the fire. The 15th Marine Expe- ditionary Unit is based at Camp Pendleton in Cal- ifornia. It's currently in Hawaii for about a week of training exercises. The incident over the weekend wasn't related to a symposium on amphibi- ous landings involving de- fense leaders from 23 na- tions, which will include a demonstration of an am- phibious landing at Bel- lows on Tuesday. Ospreys may be equipped with radar, la- sers and a missile defense system, and each can carry 24 Marines into combat. Built by Boeing Co. and Bell, a unit of Textron Inc., the Osprey program was nearly scrapped after a his- tory of mechanical failures and two test crashes that killed 23 Marines in 2000. The aircraft have since been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Some Os- prey also are helping with earthquake-relief efforts in Nepal. 1 critical, 3 hospitalized a er Marine Corps crash HAWAII By Ellen Knickmeyer The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO Califor- nia regulators on Monday expanded their list of thou- sands of state-permitted oil and gas wells where be- low-ground injections may be contaminating drink- ing-water reserves. State water officials al- ready have acknowledged that improperly permit- ted oilfield operations have contaminatedunderground aquifers that are federally protected because they hold current or potential sources of drinking water. An ongoing state review orderedbytheU.S.Environ- mental Protection Agency has yet to break that down into whether any Califor- nian is drinking contami- nated water as a result of the improperly authorized oilfield operations, a state water official said. "We don't really know yet," and the answer "is not going to be tomorrow," John Borkovich, chief of the state water board's ground- water monitoring section, told reporters. The review by state oil and gas regulators iden- tified in 2014 more than 2,500 oilfield wells that were injecting brine and other production and waste fluids into the federally pro- tected water aquifers. State regulators this year and last ordered oil companies to shut 23 central California oilfield injection wells — 22 in Kern County and one in Tulare County — that offi- cials said posed the biggest potential threat to nearby public water wells. OnMonday,regulatorsre- leased a state letter sent Fri- day to the U.S. EPA identify- ing an additional 30 oilfield injection sites as high-prior- ity potential risks to nearby water wells. State officials said they believed many or all of the threatened water wells were not currently be- ing used for drinking water or irrigation, however. Unlike in the previous 23 oilfield operations closed by emergency state orders, reg- ulators will wait for the oil companiesinchargeofthose 30drillingsitestocompletely assess the threat to local wa- ter wells before officials de- cide whether to shut those immediately as well. CALIFORNIA AQUIFERS Co nc er ns g ro w ov er o il operations near water By Sudhin Thanawala and Brian Melley The Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO A federal appeals court panel should not have forced YouTube to take down an anti-Muslim film that sparked violence in the Middle East and death threats to actors, a larger group of judges ruled Monday in a victory for free speech advocates. The 11-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal sided with Google, which owns YouTube, say- ing the previous decision by a three-member panel of the samecourtgave"shortshrift" to the First Amendment and constituted prior restraint — a prohibition on free speech before it takes place. "The mandatory injunc- tion censored and sup- pressed a politically sig- nificant film — based upon a dubious and unprece- dented theory of copy- right," Judge M. Marga- ret McKeown wrote in an opinion joined by nine other judges. "In so do- ing, the panel deprived the public of the ability to view firsthand, and judge for themselves, a film at the center of an interna- tional uproar." In a statement, YouTube said it has long believed the previous ruling was a mis- application of copyright law. It did not say whether the movie would go back up. Actress Cindy Lee Gar- cia sought the injunction to have "Innocence of Mus- lims" removed from the website after receiving death threats. Her lawyer argued that she believed she was acting in a differ- ent production and had a copyright claim to the low- budget film. Google countered that Garcia had no claim to the film because the filmmaker wrote the dialogue, man- aged the production and dubbed over her lines. Garcia was paid $500 to appear in a movie called "Desert Warrior" that she believed had nothing to do with religion. But she ended up in a five-second scene in which her voice was dubbed over and her character asked if Muhammad was a child molester. A call to Garcia's attor- ney, Cris Armenta, was not immediately returned. The ruling likely ends any further consideration of the case by the 9th Circuit, though an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court would be possible. The film's writer and director, Mark Basseley Youssef, initially posted the nearly 15-minute trailer on YouTube in 2012, accord- ing to the appeals court. The film sparked riot- ing by those who consid- ered it blasphemous to the Prophet Muhammad. Pres- ident Barack Obama and other world leaders asked Google to take it down. The larger 9th Circuit panel said it was sympa- thetic to Garcia's concerns, but copyright law is not in- tended to protect people from the type of harm Gar- cia claimed to have suffered, including death threats. The court cited a deci- sion by the U.S. Copyright Office that denied Garcia's copyright claim to the film. The copyright office said it does not allow such claims by individual actors involv- ing performances in mov- ies, according to the court. THREATS MADE Court sides with Google in anti-Muslim film case JASON REDMOND — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS FILE Cindy Lee Garcia, one of the actresses in "Innocence of Muslims," right, and attorney M. Cris Armenta asked a judge to issue an injunction demanding a 14-minute trailer for the film be pulled from YouTube in this file photo. 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