Weeks after the tragic crash, the remains of Kobe Bryant, Gigi and others are released to their families

The remains of Kobe Bryant, his 13-year-old daughter Gianna “Gigi” Bryant, and four of the other nine people killed in the Jan. 26 helicopter crash in Calabasas, California, have been released to their families, according to the Los Angeles County coroner’s office.

READ MORE: Kobe Bryant dies in helicopter crash

In addition to Bryant and Gigi, the remains of Christina Mauser, 38; Sarah Chester, 45, and her daughter Payton, 13; and pilot, Ara Zobayan, 50, were released to their families. The bodies of the three remaining victims, John Altobelli, 56; his wife, Keri Altobelli, 46; and their 13-year-old daughter, Alyssa — have not yet been released, the Los Angeles Times reported.

The helicopter was transporting Bryant, 41, his daughter, other players and parents to Bryant’s Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks for a girls’ basketball game. The girls were teammates on the same basketball team, which Bryant and Mauser coached.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is still investigating the crash and may offer an initial report next week. A final report could take as long as a year to be complete, according to the Times. The NTSB had previously recommended that helicopters be equipped with a safety feature known as a terrain warning system, which could have saved the passengers on board.

The day the crash occurred was so foggy that the Los Angeles Police Department’s Air Support Division grounded all of its helicopters until later in the day, LAPD spokesman Josh Rubenstein told the Los Angeles Times.

Zobayan, the pilot of the Sikorsky S-76B helicopter, asked flight controllers to keep track of the helicopter. When the chopper dipped too low, flight controllers radioed him to tell him. Zobayan ascended the aircraft 765 feet in 36 seconds, giving him enough clearance to pass some nearby hills. The NTSB is investigating what occurred next, when the helicopter suddenly descended rapidly, dropping 325 feet in 14 seconds and crashing, killing everyone on impact.

READ MORE: Kobe Bryant’s sisters issue statement after tragic death: ‘Our lives are forever changed’

The remains of the deceased were released as Vanessa Bryant, Kobe’s widow, works with the Lakers organization and Los Angeles civic leaders to put together a public memorial to honor the basketball star and his daughter.

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Louisiana Governor Appoints First Black Female Police Captain In State History

Democratic Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards announced that Treone Larvadain has been promoted to lead the Protective Services for the Louisiana State Police.  This promotion makes Captain Larvadain the first African-American female captain in Louisiana State Police history.

The role of the Protective Services Unit is to ensure the safety of the Governor and the Governor’s immediate family members.

“I am extremely proud of both Captain Larvadain and Captain Chutz and congratulate them on their accomplishments,” said Gov. Edwards. “They have both provided excellent service to the people of our state and exemplify the best of the Louisiana State Police. My family and I are especially grateful for the professional work Captain Chutz has provided to us over the last four years and have the utmost confidence in Captain Larvadain, who has worked alongside him and has now taken over the reins. The longevity of Captain Chutz’s career and the promotion of Captain Larvadain are a direct reflection of their dedication and commitment to the force and our great state.”

Captain Larvadain has been with the force for close to two decades.  She started her career in Troop C in March of 2006 and then moved to the Protective Services in 2008.  She also held positions as a sergeant in the Bureau of Investigations and was a lieutenant in Internal Affairs.  Captain Larvadain also served as an instructor at the training academy.

In 2018, after Captain Larvadain’s daughter, Tiah Larvadain, graduated from cadet training, she became part of the first mother-daughter duo in state police history.  The younger Larvadain said she was inspired by her mother to walk in her footsteps.

“It’s very much an honor to be in the same uniform as her,” Trooper Larvadain told WBRZ.com. “Seeing the impact that they had on people… How they would help people, how they would respond to people, how people would respond to her… I just knew I wanted to have that affect on people the same way.”

 

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Louisiana Governor Appoints First Black Female Police Captain In State History

Democratic Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards announced that Treone Larvadain has been promoted to lead the Protective Services for the Louisiana State Police.  This promotion makes Captain Larvadain the first African-American female captain in Louisiana State Police history.

The role of the Protective Services Unit is to ensure the safety of the Governor and the Governor’s immediate family members.

“I am extremely proud of both Captain Larvadain and Captain Chutz and congratulate them on their accomplishments,” said Gov. Edwards. “They have both provided excellent service to the people of our state and exemplify the best of the Louisiana State Police. My family and I are especially grateful for the professional work Captain Chutz has provided to us over the last four years and have the utmost confidence in Captain Larvadain, who has worked alongside him and has now taken over the reins. The longevity of Captain Chutz’s career and the promotion of Captain Larvadain are a direct reflection of their dedication and commitment to the force and our great state.”

Captain Larvadain has been with the force for close to two decades.  She started her career in Troop C in March of 2006 and then moved to the Protective Services in 2008.  She also held positions as a sergeant in the Bureau of Investigations and was a lieutenant in Internal Affairs.  Captain Larvadain also served as an instructor at the training academy.

In 2018, after Captain Larvadain’s daughter, Tiah Larvadain, graduated from cadet training, she became part of the first mother-daughter duo in state police history.  The younger Larvadain said she was inspired by her mother to walk in her footsteps.

“It’s very much an honor to be in the same uniform as her,” Trooper Larvadain told WBRZ.com. “Seeing the impact that they had on people… How they would help people, how they would respond to people, how people would respond to her… I just knew I wanted to have that affect on people the same way.”

 

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Iconic Black feminist who helped coin ‘Identity Politics,’ endorses Bernie Sanders

Barbara Smith, who played a significant role in building the Black Feminism movement, has now come forward to announce her endorsement of Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) for president.

During an exclusive interview with The Root, the founding member of the Combahee River Collective that coined the term “identity politics,” explained why she had been a proponent of Sanders since the last election.

READ MORE: Cardi B tweets endorsement for Sen. Bernie Sanders in 2020 presidential bid

“Of all of the people who are running, Bernie Sanders is the person whose political commitment most closely reflects and align with political commitments that I’ve had throughout my life,” she said. 

“He has a much deeper understanding of what the situation is, why we have injustice and inequality and oppression and discrimination or whatever words you use to describe a society that isn’t functioning the way that it should be functioning,” said Smith. “He [has] the most incisive, sharpest understanding of where all that comes from.”

Sanders’ campaign responded to the endorsement, saying they were “enormously proud to have earned the endorsement of one of the preeminent black feminist activists in American history.”

READ MORE: ‘Insecure’ actor Kendrick Sampson says he’s backing Bernie Sanders for president

READ MORE: Laverne Cox talks #MeToo and intersectionality

They point out that Smith’s work, which seeks to highlight oppressive intersectional realities of “race, gender identity, sexual orientation, and class,” has aided in empowering millions of people. In the “fight for substantive equality,” they say they are “humbled to have earned her support.”

To those who have criticized the outspoken senator for not having a race analysis, Smith pushes back, stating that the way the term “identity politics” has been used in the last few decades is “very different than what we intended.”

“The Combahee River Collective has a race, class, gender, and sexuality platform and analysis. We wrote in our statement that all of the systems of oppression are interlocking,” she clarified.

“When we use the term’ identity politics,’ we are actually asserting that black women had a right to determine our own political agendas. We, as black women, we actually had a right to create political priorities and agendas and actions and solutions based in our experiences in having these simultaneous identities—that included other identities via the working class, gay, lesbian, bisexual, etc. So that’s what we meant by it. That didn’t mean we didn’t care about other people’s situations of injustice.”

“We absolutely did not mean that we would work with people who were only identical to ourselves,” she concluded. “We did not mean that.”

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