promoearn: Who is liable in Halyna Hutchins' death?

Sunday, October 24

Alec Baldwin speaks on the phone in the parking lot outside the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office in Santa Fe, N.M., after he was questioned about a shooting on the set of the film "Rust" on the outskirts of Santa Fe, Thursday, Oct. 21, 2021. Baldwin fired a prop gun on the set, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza, officials said.

Here's the biggest news you missed this weekend

A furious storm unleashed from a bomb cyclone slammed the West Coast. And the Braves are going to the World Series. It's the weekend's news.

Alec Baldwin prop gun incident: Assistant director accused of past 'unsafe' practices

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was remembered by fellow crew members and supporters on Saturday with a candlelight vigil in New Mexico where "Rust," the Western she died making, was in production. On Friday, court records released said an assistant director unwittingly handed Alec Baldwin a loaded weapon and told him it was safe to use in the moments before the actor fatally shot Hutchins on the Bonanza Creek Ranch set. No charges have been filed. "Cold gun," the assistant director announced, according to a search warrant filed in a Santa Fe court and obtained by The Associated Press. Instead, the gun was loaded with live rounds, and when Baldwin pulled the trigger Thursday, he killed Hutchins. Director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her, was wounded, the records said.

•	How can a prop gun kill someone? How the Alec Baldwin tragedy was possible.
•	Could Alec Baldwin be charged after the fatal 'Rust' incident? Who is liable for Halyna Hutchins' death?

'Too fast, too furious': Bomb cyclone, atmospheric river threaten California with flooding

A furious storm unleashed from a "bomb cyclone" over the Pacific Ocean slammed ashore Sunday in drought-plagued Northern California, blasting a wide swath of the West Coast with heavy rain, damaging winds, flooding and mudslides. The storm could unleash more than a foot of rain in some areas of California and up to 8 feet of snow over the mountains, forecasters say. What's a bomb cyclone? It forms when air pressure rapidly drops as the storm explosively strengthens. Much of the West Coast is beginning to feel the effects of the deepening low-pressure system off the Pacific Northwest coast, the National Weather Service's Weather Prediction Center said Sunday. The region needs the rain. Gov. Gavin Newsom just last week declared a drought emergency for the entire state, citing three years of drought across the West.

•	'Deluge' in a drought: Millions of Californians warned of flash flooding risk on Sunday.

Rocks and vegetation cover Highway 70 following a landslide in the Dixie Fire zone on Sunday, Oct. 24, 2021, in Plumas County, Calif. Heavy rains blanketing Northern California created slide and flood hazards in land scorched during last summer's wildfires.

Noah Berger, AP

2 children killed, 8 people hurt in Texas 'no-prep' drag racing crash

A drag racer in Texas lost control of his car and slammed into a crowd of spectators, killing two young boys and injuring eight people on Saturday, authorities said. A 6-year-old died at the scene and an 8-year-old was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later, police in Kerrville said. The car roared off a runway at "Airport Race Wars 2," an event at Kerrville-Kerr County Airport, 65 miles northwest of San Antonio. No-prep drag racing is racing on a surface that has not been "prepped" with solutions that improve traction. Police said the investigation was "active and ongoing."

Real quick

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•	Surfside condo had a connection to the cartel: How a 'Cocaine Cowboy' called Champlain South home.
•	Kellogg's faces $5 million lawsuit for not having enough strawberries in its Pop-Tarts.
•	'Widely felt' magnitude 3.6 earthquake rattles Southern California, no reports of damage.
•	The manhunt for Brian Laundrie is over. What happens next in the search for answers to Gabby Petito's murder?
•	Vanessa Bryant testifies how she learned of Kobe and Gigi's death.
•	Democrats weigh filibuster reform to pass voting rights legislation after GOP opposition.

Sweet revenge: Atlanta Braves knock off Los Angeles Dodgers to advance to World Series

Eddie Rosario made history on Saturday and sent the Atlanta Braves to their first World Series since 1999. The Braves outfielder blasted a massive three-run home run that helped eliminate the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 4-2 victory in Game 6 of the National League Championship Series. Rosario, the fifth MLB player to have 14 hits in a single postseason series, was named NLCS MVP. Atlanta will face the Houston Astros in the World Series beginning Tuesday in Houston. The Astros beat the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series Friday night to advance to their third World Series in five seasons. For the city of Atlanta, this is a measure of revenge after MLB moved the All-Star Game to Denver in protest of Georgia's voting laws.

•	Braves' Freddie Freeman at a loss for words in reaching first World Series: 'Means the world to me'
•	Astros close out Red Sox in Game 6 of ALCS, return to World Series for third time in five seasons

The Braves celebrate after beating the Dodgers in Game 6 of the NLCS.

Dale Zanine, USA TODAY Sports

COVID-19: CDC chief says she doesn't plan to stop flights from UK, Europe

An alarming rise in cases of the "delta plus" COVID-19 variant in the United Kingdom is unlikely to result in a ban on flights from Britain and Europe, CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said Sunday. "We're absolutely following the science very, very carefully, but we are not anticipating or looking into that right now," Walensky said. The delta plus variant, identified by British scientists last month, is considered a relative of the delta variant that fueled a deadly surge across the U.S. this summer. Because it isn't a variant of interest or concern, it has not yet been named after a letter of the Greek alphabet. The U.N. health agency is tracking about 20 variations of the delta variant.

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This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network.