TV News LIES

Retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his immediate family and others on board a business jet were killed after the plane crashed and burst into flames in western North Carolina on Thursday, Dec. 18, according to the family members of the people on board and NASCAR.

The Cessna C550 crashed about 10:15 a.m. local time while landing at Statesville Regional Airport in Iredell County, about 40 miles north of Charlotte, according to local officials and the Federal Aviation Administration. The airport confirmed that seven people were on board the plane at the time of the crash.

The North Carolina Highway Patrol said it is believed that Biffle and members of his family were among those killed in the crash, but a formal confirmation has not been completed due to a severe post-crash fire. Identification of the victims is pending confirmation from the medical examiner’s office.

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The US government admitted Wednesday that the Federal Aviation Administration and the army played a role in causing the collision in January between an airliner and a Black Hawk helicopter near the nation’s capital, killing 67 people in the deadliest crash on American soil in more than two decades.

The official response to the first lawsuit filed by one of the victims’ families said that the government is liable in the crash partly because the air traffic controller violated procedures about when to rely on pilots to maintain visual separation that night. Plus, the filing said, the army helicopter pilots’ “failure to maintain vigilance so as to see and avoid” the airline jet makes the government liable.

But the filing suggested that others, including the pilots of the jet and the airlines, may also have played a role. The lawsuit also blamed American Airlines and its regional partner, PSA Airlines, for roles in the crash, but those airlines have filed motions to dismiss.

At least 28 bodies were pulled from the icy waters of the Potomac River after the helicopter apparently flew into the path of the American Airlines regional jet while it was landing at Ronald Reagan airport in northern Virginia, just across the river from Washington, DC, officials said. The plane carried 60 passengers and four crew members, and three soldiers were aboard the helicopter.

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Rob and Michele Reiner's children are breaking their silence following the couple's killing.

The acclaimed "Princess Bride" director and his producer wife were found dead in their Southern California home on Sunday, Dec. 14. On Tuesday, prosecutors filed criminal charges against their son, Nick Reiner, who is accused of "fatally stabbing" his parents.

"Words cannot even begin to describe the unimaginable pain we are experiencing every moment of the day," Jake and Romy Reiner said in a statement to TMZ and People released Wednesday. "The horrific and devastating loss of our parents, Rob and Michele Reiner, is something that no one should ever experience. They weren't just our parents; they were our best friends."

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Rob, Michele, Romy and Jake Reiner for comment.

Nick Reiner has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder with a special circumstance of multiple murders, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office announced during a Tuesday press conference. The 32-year-old screenwriter also faces a special allegation that he used a dangerous and deadly weapon, namely a knife, in the killing of his parents.

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Authorities said on Dec. 16 that they launched a homicide investigation after a professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology was fatally shot at his home.

Nuno F.G. Loureiro, a 47-year-old theoretical physicist and fusion scientist from Portugal, was found with "apparent gunshot wounds" at his house in Brookline, Massachusetts, on the night of Dec. 15, according to the Norfolk District Attorney’s Office. He was transported to an area hospital and was pronounced dead on Dec. 16.

Massachusetts State Police and the Brookline Police Department responded to the scene after receiving a report of a man shot at his home on Gibbs Street, the district attorney's office said in a statement. Brookline is a wealthy suburb of Boston.

Brookline Police Chief Jennifer Paster stated that the investigation is active and ongoing, adding that patrol vehicles, officers, and unmarked units remained at the scene. No suspects had been taken into custody as of Dec. 16.

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Nick Reiner will be charged with two counts of first-degree murder, after he was arrested on suspicion of murdering his parents, the director and actor Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer Reiner, the Los Angeles district attorney has said.

Nathan Hochman, the district attorney of Los Angeles, said the charges could carry the death penalty, and said that the counts against Nick Reiner include a special circumstance of multiple murders and a special allegation that he used a deadly weapon or knife to commit murder.

At a press conference on Tuesday, Hochman said the charges would be officially filed later today. Nick Reiner will brought to court to be arraigned on the charges after he has been medically cleared to be transferred from the jail, Hochman said.

“This case is heartbreaking and deeply personal, not only for the Reiner family and their loved ones, but for our entire city,” said Jim McDonnell, the chief of the Los Angeles police department.

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An arrest has been made in the killing of Rob Reiner and his wife, Michele Singer.

Their son, Nick Reiner, has been taken into police custody Monday, "booked for murder" and is being held on $4 million bail, according to Los Angeles Sheriff's Department records viewed by USA TODAY. The acclaimed Hollywood director and actor was killed alongside Singer in their California home Sunday night, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said in a press conference Monday, Dec. 15.

Their deaths continue to be under investigation by the LAPD after the couple was found dead in their home in the Brentwood neighborhood of Los Angeles. In an earlier press conference Sunday, Dec. 14, the LAPD said the robbery-homicide division would investigate through the night.

Authorities confirmed that "many family members" would be interviewed in the course of their work and that they were obtaining a search warrant to conduct a full crime scene investigation. They did not comment on the injuries sustained by Reiner, 78, and Singer, 68.

A representative for Reiner has not yet responded to USA TODAY's requests for comment.

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