The California sheriff whose office is investigating the death of John Elway’s agent after a golf cart incident said on Friday that the deadly fall appears to be an accident.
Elway, one of the best quarterbacks in NFL history, was reported to have been driving the golf cart Saturday night in the Palm Springs-area community of La Quinta when his agent, Jeffrey Sperbeck, fell and later died.
Riverside County Sheriff Chad Bianco said Friday that his office is not finished with the investigation, “but so far it appears to be just a tragic accident.”
John Elway speaks during the NFL Scouting Combine in 2020.Alika Jenner / Getty Images file
Sperbeck, 62, was taken to a hospital in critical condition and he was pronounced dead Wednesday, the sheriff’s office said.
A source familiar with the details of the incident confirmed to NBC affiliate KUSA of Denver that Elway, a Hall of Fame member and two-time Super Bowl winner, was driving the cart.
Elway said Wednesday that he was devastated by the loss of his agent and close friend.
Elway’s attorney, Harvey Steinberg, said in a statement Friday that “This has been a terrible time for everyone involved and our hearts continue to go out to the Sperbeck family.”
“The investigation has confirmed what we already knew: this was a tragic accident and sometimes things happen in life that we will never comprehend,” Steinberg said.
Two commercial flights approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport were ordered to do “go-arounds” Thursday because of an Army helicopter, three months after a mid-air collision that killed 67 people, officials said.
U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy on Friday said he would demand answers from the Pentagon about the Black Hawk helicopter flight that forced the Delta Air Lines and Republic Airways planes to abandon their landings.
“Unacceptable. Our helicopter restrictions around DCA are crystal clear,” Duffy wrote on X, referring to airport by its Federal Aviation Agency location identifier.
No one was hurt in the incident, which occurred around 2:30 p.m.
U.S. Army spokesperson Capt. Victoria Goldfedib said that the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter was “conducting flight operations into the Pentagon in accordance with published FAA flight routes and DCA Air Traffic Control” when it was told to go around by Pentagon Air Traffic Control.
The two commercial flights were then told to go around rather than land to ensure no conflicts in the airspace, Goldfedib said.
“The incident is currently under investigation. The United States Army remains committed to aviation safety and conducting flight operations within all approved guidelines and procedures,” she said.
The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration said they are investigating the incident.
The helicopter had no passengers, but two pilots and a crew chief were on board, two U.S. officials said. It was flying below 200 feet as it rehearsed a Joint Emergency Evacuation Plan, two officials told NBC, practicing approaches as part of the return to flight training operations.
Helicopters generally are not permitted to fly above 200 feet near Reagan, under FAA rules.
On Jan. 29, an American Eagle commercial plane and a Black Hawk helicopter collided in mid-air above the Potomac River near the airport, killing the 64 people aboard the jet and the three people aboard the helicopter.
The crash raised questions about the congested airspace around Ronald Reagan National Airport, which is in Arlington, Virginia, near Washington.
In that case, investigators have evidence that the helicopter involved in the mid-air collision was higher than the 200-foot ceiling, NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said in February.
The woman who kidnapped and held Elizabeth Smart captive for nine months in the early 2000s was arrested in Utah this week after visiting at least two parks, which she can’t do because of her status as a sex offender.
Wanda Barzee, 79, was arrested at her Salt Lake City home Thursday and was booked on one count of violating her status as a sex offender in Utah, a spokesperson for the Salt Lake City Police Department said Friday.
Utah law prohibits registered sex offenders from entering protected areas, including public parks.
Detectives with the Salt Lake Police Department received information that Barzee had allegedly visited at least two parks in the city — Liberty Park and Sugar House Park — in April, police spokesperson Brent Weisberg said.
Records from the Salt Lake County Metro Jail indicate Barzee is no longer in custody. It was not immediately clear if she was released on bail or if she has legal representation.
Weisberg said in the statement that court records show she was released on judicial orders.
Barzee’s husband, Brian David Mitchell, is serving a life sentence for Smart’s kidnapping and assaults.
Smart was taken at knifepoint from her Salt Lake City bedroom in 2002. The teen’s kidnapping and disappearance garnered media attention and headlines across the globe.
Nine months after she was abducted, Smart was seen walking the streets of a Salt Lake City suburb with Mitchell.
She has said her time in captivity included repeated sexual assaults by Mitchell. Whan Barzee was released from prison, Smart said that during her time in captivity, the woman would “encourage her husband to continue to rape me.”
Smart, now 37, has since become an outspoken advocate against child abduction and sexual violence.
Three good Samaritans — including two Army reservists — saved a woman who was being attacked during an attempted carjacking in Camden County, New Jersey, officials said.
The incident unfolded Thursday around 8:30 a.m. on Jackson Road near the intersection of Waverly Avenue in Waterford Township. Police said a man, later identified as 45-year-old Rondean McDonald, drove his vehicle off the road and crashed into a wooded area. A 59-year-old woman who was driving by stopped and tried to help, police said. McDonald then ripped open the woman’s passenger side door and entered her car, according to investigators.
McDonald asked the victim if she could drive him but she refused, according to the criminal complaint. As the woman tried to call 911, McDonald grabbed her phone and threw it to the floor, police said. When the woman told him to get out of the car, McDonald attacked her, scratching her and placing his hands around her neck, strangling her, according to the criminal complaint.
An aerial view of the area of Jackson Road near Waverly Ave., where the attempted carjacking occurred in Waterford Township, Camden County, N.J., on Thursday.NBC10 Philadelphia
Joseph Knazek said he witnessed the attack as it continued.
“She stood her ground but he was wrestling with her,” Knazek said. “The seatbelt was caught around her neck. He’s pulling and he’s scraping up her arms and he’s just screaming, ‘Drive! Drive!’”
Knazek said he jumped in to try and help the woman.
“So I took a hold of his wrists while trying to free her from the seatbelt just so she could get out,” Knazek said.
Two military men — both Army reservists and one of whom is a Philadelphia police officer — also noticed the attack and jumped in as well, investigators said. One of the men used a fire extinguisher to break into the driver’s side window and get McDonald out of the car, according to officials. They then restrained him until police arrived at the scene, officials said.
The victim was taken to the hospital in stable condition. McDonald, meanwhile, was arrested and charged with several offenses, including carjacking and driving while intoxicated
Video taken at a Minnesota public park this week shows a white woman apparently admitting she used a racist slur against a Black youth she accused of taking an item that belongs to her child.
The man who recorded the video, Sharmake Omar, 30, said in an interview Friday that the 5-year-old child was called the N-word by the woman Monday.
“The Rochester Police Department is aware of the video that was posted on social media and has received multiple calls related to it,” it said Friday. “We are gathering information and actively looking into the matter.”
Omar said that when he saw the woman berating the child of Somali heritage, a background he shares, he intervened and she turned her apparent anger on him, using the slur repeatedly, which was captured on the video.
Man accuses woman of using a racial slur towards a young child on the spectrum at a playground in Rochester, Minn., on Monday.Courtesy Sharmake Omar
In the video, verified by NBC News, the woman, apparently carrying her child away, answered, “Yeah” when asked if she called the youth the slur.
“He took my son’s stuff,” she said.
Omar asks if “digging” through her child’s belongings at the park, which is what the mother said the boy had done, would justify using the racist word against a child.
The woman responded, “If that’s what he’s going to act like,” the video shows.
On that video, and in Friday’s interview, Omar said the child has autism spectrum disorder. He said that he knows the boy’s parents, who he said are from Somalia, and that they were also supervising their three other children at the park.
The parents, he said, have expressed support for prosecuting the woman, if possible.
“That little boy … was visibly upset by the incident,” Omar said.
Omar said that when he intervened, the woman, whom he had never met before, also told him he and his wife shouldn’t have more children because they are a drain on the welfare system.
Minnesota has a long history of supporting and resettling international refugees accepted by the United States.
The office of Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, in 2023 estimated the number of people in the state who have Somali heritage at more than 86,000. On Thursday, Rochester’s congressional delegation issued a joint statement commending Omar for “standing up and protecting one of our youngest community members” and condemning “these vile acts of racism” he has described.
Also on Thursday, the NAACP Rochester Branch said in a statement that it “stands in solidarity with the impacted child” and called on police, the Rochester city attorney and the Olmsted County Attorney’s Office to investigate and charge the woman in the video, suggesting her interaction with the boy may have been a hate crime.
The Rochester Branch said the Monday incident was one of multiple recent examples of “a disturbing increase in racially motivated acts” in the city of more than 122,000, perhaps best known for being home of the Mayo Clinic and its world-renowned hospital and research.
“What happened at the park is yet another painful reminder that hate continues to exist,” it said in its statement.
Protesters are expected to gather Monday for a Protect Our Children: Arrest & Charge event organized by Rochester Action People’s Community.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia — A Canadian judge on Friday ordered a man accused of ramming his sport utility vehicle through a Filipino heritage festival crowd, killing 11 people and injuring dozens, to receive a mental health assessment to determine if he’s fit to stand trial.
A publicity ban prevents the publication of why Judge Reginal Harris made the decision.
Kai-Ji Adam Lo, 30, appeared in provincial court via video link. He wore an orange short-sleeved jumpsuit and sat on a blue couch. He is expected to return to court on May 30.
Lo faces eight counts of second-degree murder after allegedly driving an SUV through a crowd of people at the Filipino community’s Lapu Lapu Day Street festival on Saturday in Vancouver, British Columbia.
Attending Friday’s hearing was Marco Harder, vice consul for the Consulate General of the Philippines.
Lo had previously been scheduled to appear in court on May 26, after making his first appearance by video on Sunday, the day after the attack.
Damienne Darby with the British Columbia Prosecution Service said that Lo’s lawyer had requested the next appearance be moved ahead.
Lo’s court appearance came just hours before a memorial Mass to pray for victims of the tragedy.
The B.C. provincial government had declared Friday a provincial day of mourning for the victims.
In a statement, Premier David Eby extended his “deepest and most heartfelt condolences” to anyone who had lost a loved one. He also wished a speedy recovery for those injured.
“To anyone suffering: Your pain is our pain,” the statement said. “Your loss is our loss. We stand with you.”
Mayor Ken Sim also released a statement saying the tragedy has touched people of all backgrounds.
“We are devastated,” the statement said. “We are heartbroken. And we are standing together in grief and solidarity.”
WASHINGTON — Secretary of state is a big job. But try piling on top of that acting administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, acting head of the National Archives and Records Administration and acting national security adviser.
That’s Marco Rubio’s resume right now, and it might be that way for awhile.
Rubio gained his latest title after President Donald Trump announced that Mike Waltz — who has been under scrutiny since his central role in the Signal chat leak — would be stepping down and instead be nominated for U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
The White House raised the possibility of Rubio taking over Waltz’s job more than a month ago, according to a senior administration official. But it was tabled until recently, when Trump decided he’d had enough of Waltz.
There is a very real possibility that Trump keeps Rubio in the national security adviser role for the long term, according to three people familiar with the matter, including two administration officials. Trump appears to be in no hurry to find a replacement.
“The president has assembled an incredibly talented team that is fully committed to putting America and Americans first,” a senior State Department official said in a statement. “Secretary Rubio looks forward to serving as his interim National Security Advisor while ensuring the mission critical work at the State Department continues uninterrupted.”
Two of the sources said Waltz’s departure had been simmering for weeks after The Atlantic reported on March 24 that he created a group chat with top administration officials on the private messaging app Signal and inadvertently added Jeffrey Goldberg, the editor-in-chief of the magazine. But, one of the sources added, there was no appetite for immediately handing critics a victory by firing Waltz — leading to the decision to send him to the United Nations instead.
The senior administration official said the move was partly a lesson Trump learned from his first term: firing officials so they exit creates potential enemies who know a lot about the inner workings of the White House and how the president has operated. But moving them to a different job keeps them close.
Another senior administration official disputed this assessment, saying, “That was not part of the calculus at all.”
It’s widely expected that Waltz will get confirmed by the Senate if Trump does follow through and nominate him to be ambassador.
Several names have been mentioned as possible candidates to be the next national security adviser, according to three people familiar with the matter who spoke with NBC News. They include Michael Anton, the policy planning director at the State Department; Chris Landau, deputy secretary of state; and Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff and one of the administration’s most influential voices on policy.
Miller did not return a request for comment Friday.
There’s also a question about who will serve as deputy national security adviser — a role that could have outsized importance if Rubio continues to hold multiple jobs.
Alex Wong, who was Waltz’s deputy, remains at the National Security Council for now, both to help with the transition and to make sure Trump’s upcoming foreign trip to the Middle East goes smoothly, according to two senior administration officials. Much of the planning for a trip — which will be Trump’s first major foreign trip in his second term, aside from attending the Pope’s funeral — is done by the council.
Rubio is the first person since Henry Kissinger to hold the role of secretary of state and national security adviser at the same time.
A former senior cybersecurity official who refuted President Donald Trump’s lies that the 2020 election was “rigged” is under federal investigation, according to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson.
Chris Krebs is facing an unspecified government investigation, the DHS spokesperson said. As a result, Krebs was expelled from a U.S. customs program that allows expedited clearance for pre-approved American travelers at airports, known as Global Entry.
“Chris Krebs is under active investigation by law enforcement agencies,” the DHS spokesperson told NBC News. “That is a fact disqualifying him for global entry.”
Officials declined to say why Krebs was under investigation or which federal agencies were leading the probe. CNN first reported Krebs’ suspension from the Global Entry program.
The White House referred NBC News to the DHS and Justice Department for comment. The Justice Department declined to comment.
Refuting Trump’s election fraud claims
Krebs, who served as head of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency during Trump’s first term, declined to comment. Trump fired Krebs after he said in a statement that the 2020 election was the “most secure in American history.”
Krebs added, “There is no evidence that any voting system deleted or lost votes, changed votes, or was in any way compromised.”
The investigation of Krebs comes after President Trump issued a memorandum on April 9 directing the attorney general and the homeland security secretary to “take all appropriate action to review” Krebs’ activities during his time in government. The memo also revoked Krebs’ security clearance.
The memo targeting Krebs, and a similar memo naming former senior DHS official Miles Taylor, marked an escalation in President Trump’s campaign of retribution against perceived political enemies. It was the first time the president had requested possible government investigations against individuals.
Miles Taylor, center, departs the Republican Caucus luncheon on Capitol Hill, on March 5, 2019.Alex Brandon / AP file
The presidential memorandum accused Krebs of seeking to suppress “conservative viewpoints” on social media about the 2020 election and the COVID-19 epidemic, by allegedly coercing social media platforms under the “guise of combatting supposed disinformation.”
The memo claimed Krebs “falsely and baselessly denied that the 2020 election was rigged and stolen, including by inappropriately and categorically dismissing widespread election malfeasance and serious vulnerabilities with voting machines.”
Trump has repeatedly claimed that the 2020 election was “stolen” but there is no evidence that the vote was plagued by widespread fraud.
More than 50 lawsuits brought by Trump or his allies alleging fraud and irregularities have been withdrawn, dismissed or denied by state and federal judges.
After Trump signed the memorandum last month cancelling Krebs’ security clearance, Krebs stepped down from his role at the cyber security firm SentinelOne to prepare his legal defense. Security clearances are crucial for employees working on federal cyber security contracts.
Over 40 cybersecurity experts signed an open letter on April 29 condemning what they called “the political persecution” of Krebs.
“By placing Krebs and SentinelOne in the crosshairs, the President is signaling that cybersecurity professionals whose findings do not align with his narrative risk having their businesses and livelihoods subjected to spurious and retaliatory targeting,” the letter stated, “the same bullying tactic he has recently used against law firms.”
The Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to pause a lower court’s order restricting affiliates of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing sensitive Social Security Administration data, arguing in a Friday filing that the judicial order limits President Donald Trump’s executive authority.
“This emergency application presents a now-familiar theme,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote. “A district court has issued sweeping injunctive relief without legal authority to do so, in ways that inflict ongoing, irreparable harm on urgent federal priorities and stymie the Executive Branch’s functions.”
Sauer urged the court to lift an injunction issued by U.S. District Judge Ellen Hollander blocking DOGE from accessing the data, which includes Social Security numbers, medical records and tax and banking information.
In a separate filing seeking an immediate pause on Hollander’s order while the Court considers a longer term stay, Sauer argued that the order prevents the Musk-led agency from carrying out its stated function of detecting waste and fraud, describing that effort as “time sensitive.”
“The district court’s flawed injunction forecloses the Executive Branch from carrying out the pressing priorities of modernizing government information systems and ferreting out fraud, waste, and abuse—all at the behest of plaintiffs who gave their information to the agencies with the knowledge that other government employees may access their data. The district court has now blocked these time-sensitive efforts for over a month, without any legal basis for doing so,” he wrote.
Earlier this week, the full Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration’s request for a stay in this matter.
PORTLAND, Maine — President Donald Trump’s administration on Friday agreed to halt all efforts to freeze funds intended for a Maine child nutrition program after initially suspending those dollars due to a disagreement between the state and Trump over transgender athletes.
In response, the state will drop its lawsuit that had been filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Maine Attorney General Aaron Frey announced.
“It’s unfortunate that my office had to resort to federal court just to get USDA to comply with the law and its own regulations,” Frey said in a statement. “But we are pleased that the lawsuit has now been resolved and that Maine will continue to receive funds as directed by Congress to feed children and vulnerable adults.”
An email message seeking comment was sent Friday to the Agriculture Department.
The settlement closes a dispute first sparked by the federal government’s decision to freeze federal funds to Maine for certain administrative and technological functions in the state’s schools.
A letter from Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins explained that the decision stemmed from a disagreement between the state and federal governments over whether Maine was complying with Title IX, the federal law that bans discrimination in education based on sex. Trump had accused Maine of failing to comply with his executive order barring transgender athletes from sports.
Soon after the secretary’s letter was sent, Maine’s Department of Education could not access several sources of federal funds for a state nutrition program, according to the court’s written order.
Maine quickly sued the Trump administration, where the state’s attorneys argued that the child nutrition program received or was due to receive more than $1.8 million for the current fiscal year. Prior year funds that were awarded but are currently inaccessible total more than $900,000, the lawsuit states. The lawsuit also said that the program was anticipating about $3 million that is typically awarded every July for summer meal program sponsor administration and meal reimbursement.
A federal judge ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze funds last month after finding that Maine was likely to succeed in its legal challenge.
