Forever Home ended on a major cliffhanger tonight but fans are going to have to wait to find out what happens next.

Graham Norton’s Forever Home has been airing throughout the week, but this will no longer be the case.

The series continued to air tonight, Wednesday, September 16 on Channel 5, as Carol Crottie (played by Amy Nuttall) and mum Moira (Denise Welch) work out how to handle the body in the basement.

Elsewhere, Kaden (Lewis Cope) confronts increasing financial pressure as he attempts to sell his father’s property ahead of the birth of his and Dan’s (Shane Zaza) child.

Forever Home has shown its opening three episodes across three successive evenings on Channel 5, but regrettably for viewers, the drama will not continue tomorrow night.

In its place, an acclaimed period drama that has been absent for nearly a year will occupy the 9pm slot. All Creatures Great and Small officially returns with series seven premiering on Thursday, September 17, on Channel 5.

The complete principal cast will once again feature in the new episodes, headed by Nicholas Ralph as the renowned vet James Herriot, Samuel West as Siegfried Farnon and Rachel Shenton as Helen Herriot.

Taking place one year following the conclusion of series six, it marks a fresh chapter in All Creatures Great and Small with the conflict finally concluded as a “new vet in town threatens the status quo”.

The official synopsis adds: “James is stumped over a cat’s mystery illness, while Helen embraces the future over tradition.

“As Jimmy prepares to start school, everyone pitches in to help.”

Advertisement

However, the Forever Home story is far from finished, with three further episodes still to come.

Viewers will need to wait until Monday, September 21 for episode four to air on Channel 5.

Episodes five and six, the penultimate instalment and grand finale of Forever Home, will then be broadcast on consecutive nights, Tuesday, 22 September and Wednesday, September 23 respectively.

Forever Home continues on Monday, September 21, at 9pm on Channel 5.

It has been revealed that the soap star will be taking a break from his role as Alfie Moon in the BBC soap this Christmas season to star as Muddles in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend.

This will be before his criminal trial for allegedly drink driving which has been scheduled for November 2027 at Colchester Magistrates’ Court.

His temporary absence will happen following the permanent departures of a number of other characters on EastEnders.

READ MORE: Update on police investigation at Jeremy Clarkson’s Diddly Squat Farm

This week saw the death of Zoe Slater played by Michelle Ryan while according to The Metro, actresses Kellie Bright and Charlie Suff will be departing soon as will Aaron Thiara who plays ‘bad boy’ Ravi Gulati.

In addition Jessie Wallace – who portrays Alfie Moon’s partner Kat – is set to depart Albert Square, though temporarily as she is also performing in a pantomime.

Another cast member who has been missing from the soap from some time is Lacey Turner, who has played Stacey Slater for over two decades since 2004.

Lacey Turner will be in the next series of Strictly Come Dancing (Image: Ray Burmiston/BBC/PA)

Set to be a contestant in the upcoming season of Strictly Come Dancing, she is taking a break from Eastenders but remains a fan.

She explained she was “really sad” at the departures from the show, complementing both Mr Thiara and Ms Bright.

She said: “I always hope they will come back. They’re part of the furniture.”

Mr Richie, who will be returning, is also well known for coming fourth on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! in 2020 as well as hosting a number of TV game shows.

He also has strong links to Oxford’s theatre scene, having performed at the New Theatre in 2006 in a production of Scrooge.

READ MORE: BBC Saturday Kitchen chef silent as 100s of restaurants shut and jobs lost

More recently, he appeared in the city in 2025 as part of the Prat Pack, bringing a mix of music and comedy to local audiences.

The show teams him with fellow entertainers Bradley Walsh, Brian Conley and Joe Pasquale, who bill themselves as a tongue‑in‑cheek take on the classic Rat Pack.

Their 2025 tour stopped at the New Theatre Oxford on George Street for a one‑night date on 22 May, mixing big‑band standards, comedy and stories from their decades in showbusiness.

The New Theatre was one of a string of venues on the national run, giving city audiences a chance to see Mr Richie perform live alongside his long‑time friends.

Lena Dunham has revealed she’s welcomed her first child – a baby girl – via surrogate.

The Girls creator wrote about her journey to parenthood alongside her husband, Luis Felber, in an op-ed for Vogue published on Wednesday.

The Famesick author has been candid over the years about her reproductive health struggles, including a yearslong battle with endometriosis and undergoing a hysterectomy.

The 40-year-old said her daughter arrived 13 days late “in the face of a solar eclipse and a meteor shower”.

“I sat on a hospital bed, between the legs of a woman I hadn’t known a year ago, waiting for a glimpse of this person who I had been waiting for with something related to patience, but also none at all,” she wrote.

“I was so focused on our surrogate – in awe at her concentration, her period of quiet followed by what sounded like a roar – I forgot to look down until I heard our baby’s cry. I saw her face, gasping just as she did,” Dunham recalled, saying her midwife instructed her to talk to her newborn.

“‘Hello’ I said. ‘I’m your mama. You…you look nothing like I thought you would, but exactly right. We’ve been waiting for you, do you know that? It was so nice of you to come,’” Dunham shared.

Ashraful Islam made one unusual request to the police officers who came to arrest him

A student has avoided jail after he was found in possession of hundreds of images of child abuse, including hundreds of images categorised as the most serious.

On Friday, September 10, Ashraful Islam, 21, of Chippenham, Gloucestershire, pleaded guilty to taking indecent images of children and voyeurism when he appeared in court.

He was given a 26-month custodial sentence suspended for three years, and a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) was imposed for a period of 10 years, reports GloucestershireLive.

Islam was arrested in connection with an unrelated matter in March 2026.

Advertisement

His phone was seized, and as part of this, a significant number of child abuse images were located, including nearly 350 images classed as category A – depicting the most serious form of child abuse.

As well as this, images showing ‘upskirting’ of schoolgirls were also found on Islam’s phone.

In police footage of Islam’s arrest, when asked by a police officer if he needed to take anything to the police station, Islam replied, “I really need to put my uni work in, otherwise I fail.”

READ MORE: Body found by Noah Woods search team in pond after tot disappeared from park

READ MORE: Woman found with ‘face hanging off’ after alleged murder in Springburn flat

Det Con Will Saunders of Wiltshire Police said: “Islam was found in possession of hundreds of images of child abuse. Each of these images represents a real victim who has suffered serious, life changing abuse and those who view, possess, or share such material are contributing to that harm.

“I’d like to thank the officers who worked on this case particularly the digital forensics unit whose hard work allowed us to uncover a true picture of his offending.”

As well as the custodial sentence and SHPO that has been granted, Islam must also pay a £228 surcharge and complete 200 hours of unpaid work.

Ensure our latest stories always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as your Preferred Source in your Google search settings.

Kentucky Republican Senator Mitch McConnell, 84, was recorded visibly struggling to speak during a Wednesday meeting on Capitol Hill.

McConnell, who returned to Capitol Hill Monday after an absence of more than 90 days, appears to have been brought to earth by two colleagues, who told him that it was time to cast a vote, or even what vote to cast during a markup of the Farm Bill.

The Kentucky Republican, who served for nearly two decades as the GOP leader in the US Senate, has been plagued by health complications during his final term in office.

He suffered a fall on June 14, was briefly hospitalized, and had not been seen in public while recovering at his home in Washington DC for nearly three months.

In a post on X, McConnell noted Monday, that he was ‘really looking forward to being back on the Senate floor and seeing … colleagues.’

‘My recovery has been a long and often frustrating process, and the lingering effects of childhood polio haven’t made it any easier. I’m still not quite back to 100%, but I’ve assured Leader Thune that, as I continue with physical therapy on the advice of my doctors, I will do my best to be present for tough votes when our Conference needs me,’ the former longtime Senate Leader continued.

‘Elaine and I are very grateful for all the continued well wishes from our fellow Kentuckians, and I’m glad to get back to more of business as usual on their behalf this month,’ McConnell’s X post concluded. 

Capitol Police were seen gathering at McConnell’s home on Monday, and he emerged from the property that had elevated security measures to vote in the 5:30 vote series just before 6:00 PM on Monday. Minutes later he was on the Senate floor casting his ballot, and huddling with colleagues while in a wheelchair. 

Senator Mitch McConnell talks to his Chief of Staff Terry Carmack during a Senate Agriculture Committee on Wednesday in Washington, DC

McConnell spoke with reporters outside of the US Senate chamber on Monday, but due to Congressional rules, there is no recording allowed in the hallway where he gave remarks. Wednesday’s committee meeting was the first time McConnell was widely heard. 

Weeks after his hospitalization, he spoke with some of his congressional colleagues by phone and indicated that he was on the mend and looking forward to returning to work soon.

However, both Democrats and Republicans alike were not satisfied with his explanations.

After further pressure mounted to provide ‘proof of life,’ evidence McConnell released a photo of himself and his wife from the hospital, with a newspaper that was dated July 12, which some initially suspected was AI generated.

He disappeared for weeks after providing the photo, until his office put out a second picture on July 27.

Weeks later, it was revealed that he was discharged from the hospital and would continue his recovery at home.

‘Senator McConnell continues his recovery from a fall at home in June,’ a comment from his doctor attached to the photograph said.

‘Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation.’ 

Another statement from his office revealed that he had also had a mild case of pneumonia.

McConnell, who is not seeking re-election in this year’s midterms, has been dogged by health scares throughout his final term. 

Even before his fall earlier this summer, he frighteningly froze in a May hearing on Capitol Hill, raising alarms about his health and even prompting an attack on his staff by President Donald Trump.

Robert Karem, a staffer on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s Defense Subcommittee, interrupted McConnell to tell him that Democratic Senators Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, as well as Louisiana Republican John Kennedy, all still had questions. The hearing went on for 30 minutes after Karem’s interjection.

Karem was attacked by Trump as a ‘bum’ in a Truth Social post after a clip of the staffer’s interaction with the senator made the rounds online. 

The Houthis have been accused of launching a drone towards the holy city of Mecca, while the militant group claims to have shot down a Saudi fighter jet amid escalating conflict across the region. 

The developments come as fears are growing of a new global oil supply crisis after  Houthi rebels seized the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish in the southern Red Sea after attacking a Saudi pipeline.

The Iran-backed group have been fighting a civil war in Yemen against a Saudi-led coalition since 2014.

The Iran war has forced Saudi Arabia to shift its exports away from the Persian Gulf, since Iranian attacks have stifled shipping through the gulf’s sole exit, the Strait of Hormuz.

And on Tuesday morning, Brent crude rose 1.17 per cent to $106.92 a barrel, while the average US diesel price last week surpassed $6 a gallon for the first time as the war, compounded by Ukrainian strikes on Russian refineries, further squeezed global supplies.

Meanwhile in the UK, rises in petrol, diesel and airfares has pushed UK inflation up to its highest level in five months due to disruptions from the war in Iran.

Inflation rose to 3.1 per cent from 2.9 per cent, according to the Office for National Statistics.

Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree was quick to dismiss Saudi claims that the group had targeted Mecca, after widespread condemnation.

‘Our operations target its oil facilities and military bases, which are far removed from the sacred sites,’ he said.      

Mecca is regarded as the birthplace of the Prophet Muhammad and is the holiest city in Islam. 

Muslims who are physically and financially able are required to make the pilgrimage to the city at least once in their lifetime, with millions travelling there each year. 

Major General Turki al-Maliki, the spokesman for the Saudi-led Coalition Forces, condemned the attempted attack on X, writing: ‘This hostile attempt will also remain a black mark in the record of violations by the extremist terrorist Houthi militia, as a deliberate act intended to provoke the feelings of millions of Muslims.’

He vowed to take any ‘necessary and deterrent measures’ against the group.

And the Houthis on Wednesday said they shot down a Saudi fighter jet, claiming a locally made munition was used to target the warplane.

‘The Yemeni Armed Forces, with Allah’s aid and grace, succeeded in shooting down a Saudi F15 fighter jet while it was carrying out hostile operations in support of its military mobilisations in the airspace of Marib province,’ Saree said on social media, while accusing Saudi Arabia of launching 450 strikes.

He said the jet had been targeted ‘using a locally made air-to-air missile’.

Saudi Arabia has relied on the East-West Pipeline, which runs 1,200km (124 miles) across the breadth of the country, to move its crude production from Gulf ports to the port of Yanbu on the Red Sea. From there it can be put on tankers for export. 

But authorities were forced to shut down the pipeline after an attack on Thursday that Saudi Arabia blamed on drones from Iranian-backed militias in Iraq.

Repairing the damage, including at a major pumping facility, could take three to five weeks, officials have said. 

The pipeline may work partially during the repairs, one of the officials said, but they could not say how much oil might get through.

The pipeline has been moving an average of 2.6 million to four million barrels per day since late August – a quantity that will be lost to the market if the pipeline’s flow stops completely, according to an analysis issued Monday by Rystad Energy, a Norway-based research firm. 

Meanwhile, Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi rebels continued to expand their threat to Saudi shipping routes out of the Red Sea by capturing the strategic islands of Greater and Lesser Hanish, government and Houthi officials said Monday.

The islands lie 160km (99 miles) north of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. The strait is a choke point that connects the Red Sea to the open ocean and Saudi Arabia’s key Asian markets.

The Houthis’ advance also puts them just 20 miles from the US military base in the tiny Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti, on the other side of the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

For more than a month, the Houthis have been striking Saudi oil infrastructure and shipping in the Red Sea, stepping up pressure on global oil prices and boosting Iran’s leverage in its war with the US.

Houthi threats have kept the Kingdom on high alert, with air raid warnings sounding across the country daily, while a series of ballistic missile and drone attacks by the group wounded 13 civilians on Monday. 

The rebels deployed on the Hanish islands after hundreds of government-allied forces withdrew from the archipelago, according to two government officials and a Houthi official.

Last week, the rebels seized the port city of Mokha and the island of Mayun, inside the Bab el-Mandeb Strait.

Government forces are now attempting to rally and fight back. On Sunday, the military said it launched airstrikes on Houthi positions in Mokha, the coastal town of Dhubab and elsewhere in Taiz province.

A combination of satellite images shows the Saudi Arabia East-West pipeline before (top) and after (bottom) attacks

Supporters of Yemen’s Houthi rebels chant and raise rifles during a rally organized to celebrate the group’s capture of Mayun Island on September 11

Advertisement

A rebel spokesman said the Houthis fired dozens of missiles and drones at the King Khalid Airbase in the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, targeting hangars, radar installations and ammunition depots. 

The statement on Monday by Saree did not specify when the strikes took place but the Houthis often take hours or days to claim responsibility for attacks.

General al-Maliki said the attacks struck civilian areas in Khamis Mushait and other nearby cities, injuring 13 civilians and damaging several houses and vehicles. He did not say whether the airbase had been hit.

The Iran war has gouged Saudi oil production, which was down to six million barrels per day in August from nearly ten million in September the previous year, according to the International Energy Agency.

The fighting has also displaced nearly 94,000 people in Yemen who have since fled their homes.

‘Many of them don’t have enough food or water as they had to flee with whatever they could carry. In some areas, whole villages have reportedly emptied,’ said Khanzad Shah, acting head of Islamic Relief, a charity that operates in the area.

Around 200 schools have been converted to shelters in southwestern Yemen to absorb an influx of families, said Basma Alloush, deputy director of communications at the International Rescue Committee, an aid group.

A furious Prince Charles told Earl Spencer days after Princess Diana‘s death, ‘rest assured, we’ll forget her soon enough’, according to a devastating memoir.

In allegations that will send shockwaves through the Royal Family, Charles Spencer‘s bombshell book – to be exclusively serialised in the Daily Mail from tomorrow – lifts the lid on an incendiary row with the now King over funeral arrangements.

The argument followed the decision, opposed by Diana’s brother the Earl, that Prince William and Prince Harry, then aged 15 and 12, would walk in their mother’s funeral procession.

The Earl says he insisted to the then Prince of Wales that Diana would not have wanted her young sons to endure such a public ordeal. It is claimed Charles then questioned the Spencer family’s sense of duty before saying his ex-wife, whose death sparked a global outpouring of grief, would soon be forgotten.

Earl Spencer says the comments ‘unleashed’ by the King almost 30 years ago reflected ‘his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death’.

The astonishing account of the King’s alleged outburst is included in Swan Song: Diana, My Sister, which Earl Spencer, 62, says he has written to correct ‘untruths’ told about his older sister.

The Daily Mail can disclose that it includes a string of further extraordinary claims about Diana’s failed marriage to King Charles and the tumultuous aftermath of her tragic death in a car crash in Paris in 1997.

Revelations from the book are set to plunge Buckingham Palace into a fresh storm just weeks after the dramatic return of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex and their children to the UK from California.

Charles Spencer, the ninth Earl Spencer, delivers his famously defiant eulogy at his sister’s funeral

Advertisement

On September 6, 1997, six days after Diana’s death, Earl Spencer famously delivered a defiant eulogy at her funeral that was later named one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century.

His raw oration in Westminster Abbey was delivered after he walked alongside William and Harry, as well as Prince Charles and Prince Philip, behind Diana’s coffin in a funeral procession through central London broadcast to 2.5billion people worldwide.

In his book, Earl Spencer writes that when one of Queen Elizabeth’s most senior aides told him in the days before the funeral that William and Harry would take part in the procession, he responded: ‘That’s not going to happen.’

But minutes later he received a phone call from Prince Charles who insisted that 18 years earlier he had walked in the funeral procession of Lord Mountbatten, his great-uncle, who he affectionately called ‘uncle Dickie’.

The memoir describes how Charles ‘went nuts’ after Earl Spencer pointed out that the Prince had been 30 at the time of Lord Mountbatten’s funeral in 1979.

In one of the book’s most extraordinary passages, Earl Spencer writes: ‘Prince Charles continued his stream of anger, without me interrupting. Then he stopped.

‘I assumed the pause signalled an effort to bring himself under control, but then he unleashed down the phone what I have always taken to be his pent-up contempt for Diana, and his horror that the world was so bowled over by her death. ‘Rest assured,’ he hissed, ‘we’ll forget her soon enough!’

From left, the Earl, Prince William, Prince Harry and Charles at Diana’s funeral on September 6, 1997

Advertisement

The Earl, Diana and Charles at the Earl’s 21st birthday party in 1985 at the Mirabelle restaurant in London

Earl Spencer said that he was ‘so stunned’ by the alleged remarks that he took a few seconds to reply.

‘I can’t believe you just said that,’ I said flatly, before hanging up,’ he writes.

Earl Spencer’s description of the shocking outburst threatens to reopen the wounds of the so-called War of the Waleses and Prince Charles’s bitter split and eventual divorce from Diana.

A Palace spokesman said: ‘While we do not comment on books as a matter of principle, His Majesty is mindful that the pain of fraternal grief can cloud reason, affect judgment and colour memory in ways others do not recognise, even many years after such a loss.’ 

Described as ‘historic’ and ‘extraordinarily moving’, Swan Song is due to be published worldwide next Tuesday – in the UK by Penguin Michael Joseph, a division of Penguin Random House – with the Daily Mail’s exclusive serialisation starting tomorrow.

It comes as police in the Netherlands investigate what publishing sources say is the ‘extremely suspicious’ theft of four copies of the memoir from a lorry earlier this week.

The Daily Mail revealed how a lorry packed with thousands of copies of the book, which were wrapped in black plastic to hide their contents, was broken into after it was parked overnight in a car park while the driver slept in the cab.

Read more: 

Extracted from Swan Song: Diana, My Sister by Charles Spencer, to be published by Michael Joseph on September 22, £28. © Charles Spencer 2026. To order a copy for £23.80 (offer valid to 10/10/26; UK P&P free on orders over £25) go to www.mailshop.co.uk/books or call 020 3176 2937. 

Parents have compared their children’s school to ‘a military base’ after 25 pupils were suspended during the first week of term following the arrival of a new headteacher. 

Dan Jeffries, the new Interim Principal at Frome Community College, Somerset, said he stands by all 25 suspensions, which he said were for ‘persistent disruption’.

But parents have said they are ‘outraged’ after their children were suspended for reasons including ‘zipping their bag too loudly’ and ‘looking out of a window’. 

One parent, Natalie Morris, said her daughter was suspended during her first week for ‘nervously laughing’. 

She said: ‘She has SEND [special educational needs and disabilities], additional needs and sensory needs. So that was a massive setback for her when she did get suspended.

‘She was just nervously laughing because of her surroundings, strange faces. She gets overwhelmed – it’s a new school with new people.’ 

Ms Morris also claimed other pupils had been suspended for reasons including ‘being a minute late’, adding that the environment had also affected students’ mental health, with one feeling the need to ‘hide in the toilets’. 

She said: ‘You want your child to feel safe, you want them to learn. You want the same opportunities as every other child, like everyone else’s kids that come here.

Parents of children attending Frome Community College in Somerset have compared the school to a ‘military base’ 

‘That’s all we want, we want the kids’ needs to be met and not be treated like it’s a military base.’ 

Ann-Marie Ramsey, who also has a child with SEND needs at the school, described the discipline as ‘crazy’.

She said: ‘If she was a bit fidgety or not concentrating, she would be sent to the reset room where they get disciplined if they’re not doing what the school wants them to do.’ 

Ms Ramsey said her child does not get the ‘movement breaks’ she needs when sent to the room. 

She also claimed students were being policed on ‘hair and nail colour’ and that parents were ‘not being listened to’. 

But the new headteacher said all suspensions involved cases of ‘defiance leading to the disruption of the running of the school’ and not reasons of ‘uniform or lateness’. 

Ex-rugby union player and coach Mr Jeffries said: ‘For someone to be suspended for disruptive behaviour, they’d have to be completely defiant and disrupting us four times, in our policy, before we’d consider it.’ 

He added: ‘I am there to ensure we are inclusive and that we maintain really high standards.’ But not all parents have taken issue with his approach. 

Liz Halliwell said: ‘He has come in and he is making sure that the rules are being followed.’ 

She added that ‘as long as it’s fair and consistent for everybody involved’ she was pleased there would be a ‘more consistent education’ for her child.

Film and media teacher Seth Lavington said: ‘The idea is that these are clear and consistent routines which are going to enable the best learning.

‘Overall, the messages are still positive. We want disruption-free learning, we want the best possible outcomes, you need to try your hardest – none of that has changed.’

But sixth-form student Liam Backhurst criticised the approach, saying the reasons behind some suspensions were ‘outrageous’.

‘The most upsetting thing about it is that it has affected them mentally. These are new year nines which are coming up, excited to start a new chapter with school, and they now feel really unmotivated to carry on learning,’ he said.

Another student, Sam Shearman, added: ‘It sounded like teachers are stepping in expecting to give punishments, and I definitely don’t agree with that.’

Mr Jeffries said the number of suspensions should be considered in the context of the school’s overall pupil population.

He said: ‘We have 1400 children at the college, we had a total of 20 days’ worth of suspensions last week – that’s with some children receiving more than one day.

‘It wasn’t a wide-scale number, it wasn’t a particularly large-scale event. It is safe to say a number of children did find returning to school more complicated, and that does happen some Septembers.’

Mr Jeffries added that upholding school rules allows teachers to be ‘more consistent with behaviour’ so students feel ‘safe to learn’ – something he said was requested by parents in a recent survey.

He concluded: ‘All children deserve to have interruption-free education and where we have a very small minority of pupils who are disrupting the learning of others, it’s important that we support as much as we can, but we don’t allow that to affect everyone else’s education.’

• Is YOUR child a pupil at Frome Community College, or do you know “Jaff” from his rugby days? Email eleanor.mann@dailymail.co.uk 

A woman accused of causing a bus crash that killed two people has been charged with murder, after an NBC reporter and pilot died while covering the collision. 

Gage Weida, 31, and Daniel Castillo, 46, died when the Los Angeles metro bus they were riding was hit by a speeding SUV about 5pm on Tuesday.

An NBC helicopter that arrived to film the wreckage went down in a nearby parking lot about two hours later and burst into flames.

Eliana Moreno, 38, and pilot George Marciniw, 70, were killed in the chopper crash, along with a third person on the ground who is yet to be identified.

Their colleague, Robert Kovacik, raced from the scene of the bus crash, only to discover it was his own station’s aircraft that had gone down.

The SUV driver, Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, was charged with murder Wednesday morning. She was held on $4.03 million bail.

The Los Angeles Police Department said it would soon present the charges to the district attorney and was continuing to investigate the crash.

Witnesses claimed the SUV was traveling at ‘freeway speed’ when it plowed into the side of the Metro Line 166 bus.

The SUV was wedged into the bus after T-boning it and it had to be extracted to free the driver

Gage Weida, 31, died when the Los Angeles metro bus he was riding was hit by a speeding SUV about 5pm on Tuesday

Advertisement

The SUV driver, Bailee Lynn Rios, 36, was charged with murder on Wednesday morning. She was held on $4.03 million bail

Police said Rios was suspected of reckless driving, running a red light, and a possible DUI that is still being tested.

Kovacik’s dash from one crash site to the other was broadcast on NBC 4, along with his frantic efforts to reach his colleagues.

‘Trust me, I am putting my own life in my own hands,’ he pleaded with firefighters and police blocking his path as black smoke billowed in front of him.

‘Dude, that’s my crew in there, that is my own crew.’

A police officer responded: ‘We are gonna get them evacuated. This isn’t safe.’

The helicopter appeared to have suddenly lost altitude and fallen straight down to the ground.

Audio from inside the helicopter caught Marciniw saying ‘uh oh’ before Moreno asked, ‘You can’t pull up?’

Kovacik was on air covering the bus crash when his colleagues in the NBC 4 studio interrupted his report, instructing him to move towards the billowing smoke. 

‘Robert, we need you to move,’ an anchor said, interrupting his report. ‘Robert, we’re going to need you to move towards that smoke and get closer to that scene immediately.

‘We’re still working to get information on exactly what happened but we’re going to ask right now, as best you can, that you and your crew move in that direction immediately.’ 

NBC4 reporter Robert Kovacik was at the scene when a helicopter carrying his colleagues went down in Los Angeles’s Chatsworth neighborhood Tuesday night

Advertisement

Eliana Moreno, 38, and pilot George Marciniw, 70, were on board the aircraft when it went down while covering the fatal bus collision

Fox 11 reporter Ed Laskos put his arms around Kovacik and said, ‘It’s a chopper, a media chopper’

The broadcast cut back to the studio as Kovacik made his way to the scene. 

‘We understand there may be an aircraft down. We don’t have any more specific information than that,’ anchor Colleen Williams said.

‘Robert is driving in the direction. We did see a huge plume of black smoke in the area.’

When Kovacik’s crew resumed their feed, NBC4 viewers saw the reporter begging law enforcement to let him on the scene. 

‘We know it’s something bad judging from the smoke,’ Williams said.

Kovacik turned back toward the camera to resume his report, telling his colleagues that the LAPD would soon be evacuating them from the area.

Describing the scene, he shared how there was a ‘fire that is spreading.’

That’s when he spotted Fox 11 reporter Ed Laskos and asked, ‘What are you hearing?’

A blaze began after the chopper crashed at the Northoff Street and DeSoto Avenue intersection

Rios with her young daughter. Police said she was suspected of reckless driving, running a red light and a possible DUI that is still being tested

Advertisement

Weida (left) with his father. He was identified by the medical examiner on Wednesday morning

Laskos put his arms around Kovacik and said: ‘It’s a chopper, a media chopper.’

‘It’s a chopper?’ Kovacik repeated back to him.

‘Yes, it’s a media chopper,’ Laskos said.

‘Are you ok? It’s not you guys, is it?’ Kovacik questioned, as a burst of flames exploded behind him.

A female reporter ran past the cameras in tears.

Kovacik turned back to the cameras and said: ‘We don’t know where the chopper is from, we don’t know if it even is a chopper. If it’s a news chopper, we are just looking right now.’

He spoke to police and witnesses at the scene who confirmed the helicopter went down, but could not confirm which news outlet it had been affiliated with.

At this point, NBC 4 did not know that the helicopter belonged to their station. 

LA Mayor Karen Bass was seen consoling Kovacik later that night when she and other elected officials spoke about the tragedy. 

A person on the ground was also killed when the helicopter went down on Tuesday night

The NewsChopper4 was flying over the area between two warehouses at the intersection of Nordhoff Street and DeSoto Avenue, near where an SUV crashed into a bus earlier in the night, when it suddenly lost altitude and plunged to the ground. 

Two people were killed in the bus crash, while six others were injured, some of whom were in critical condition.

The chopper appeared to have crashed next to two shipping containers and several vehicles that were parked in the area, causing a massive blaze that threatened four vehicles nearby.

Moreno, 38, was a veteran aerial reporter for NBC4 Los Angeles and Telemundo, who had been flying in news choppers since 2010 – covering police pursuits, wildfires, traffic and major local events. 

She began her career in the air after graduating from Chapman University in 2010, where she studied broadcast journalism and political science. 

Moreno had worked at KCAL 9 and KCBS 2 before joining NBC and flying aboard NewsChopper4 around 2018 or 2019.

She was passionate about her role and frequently posted pictures of herself out in the field on her Instagram account, Eli in the Heli.

One was captioned: ‘After working 76 hours since Sunday, I’m almost done! I can’t complain though because I have the best job in the world.’

Moreno was a veteran aerial reporter for NBC and had been flying in news choppers since 2010

Advertisement

The journalist and her longtime boyfriend, Robert Barrientos, 47, announced their engagement in October last year

She was due to soon marry her boyfriend Robert Barrientos, 47, after the couple announced their engagement on Facebook last October.

Moreno and Barrientos have been together for at least three years, according to posts on her public Instagram account.

Although the reporter never publicly announced the start of their relationship, she did start subtly tagging the father of two in reels with her dogs in 2023.

She made a post in May praising him for running a half-marathon with her. 

Moreno, who has had ‘bad asthma’ throughout her life, completed the race in under two hours, she revealed. 

‘I did something I never thought I would ever do,’ she captioned a photo of her and her partner with their race medals. ‘I surpassed everything I thought I could ever do, so let’s see what I do next!’

Marciniw, 70, was an experienced pilot who had logged more than 14,000 hours in the helicopter. He and Moreno had been flying together since 2023.

NBC4 and Telemundo said in a statement on Tuesday night: ‘We are deeply saddened to share that a helicopter providing aerial news coverage for NBC4 and Telemundo 52 was involved in a fatal accident in Los Angeles on Tuesday evening. 

‘We extend our heartfelt condolences to the families, friends and colleagues of those who lost their lives.’

The scene of the bus crash with the car embedded into the bus

The confirmation of the deaths came after a longtime NBC 4 Los Angeles news anchor confirmed to viewers live on air that the chopper was a ‘television news helicopter.’  

‘We are not in contact with our television news helicopter,’ Colleen Williams said through tears, while other reporters on the scene choked up.

‘We have lost contact with our people.’ 

Williams also confirmed that the news helicopter was from NBC Los Angeles, before the news station took a break to process the information. 

LA Fire Department Captain Branden Silverman earlier told reporters on the scene that the helicopter is ‘pretty well destroyed.’ 

A friend of the two helicopter victims also told Fox Los Angeles he was ‘hurt,’ as he suggested the helicopter suffered from engine failure.

‘I’m lost for words, I don’t know what to say,’ he said, describing the pilot as experienced and noting that the NBC reporter had recently been married.

‘It’s heartbreaking to see the engine quit,’ the friend said. 

The crash came as local media outlets rushed to get aerial footage of the fatal bus collision as people ran away from the scene and police cruisers sped toward the fiery explosion.

One of those killed was reportedly ejected from the bus, while the other was said to have been on board. 

Although Moreno rarely publicized her romantic life online, she did make a post in May praising Barrientos for running the Hoag OC half-marathon with her

The intersection where the two fatal crashes occurred is set to be closed for ‘quite some time’

An LA Urban Search and Rescue Team was also seen extricating multiple people from the vehicle, with at least one person found stuck underneath it.

She was eventually freed and quickly loaded into an ambulance in unknown condition with what crews on the scene described as ‘crushing’ injuries.

Soon after the bus crash, images emerged showing the front half of the Ford SUV embedded in the side of the Metro bus.

At the height of the response, more than 70 fire department personnel were at the scene, a spokesman said at a news conference.

The intersection where the two fatal crashes occurred will now be closed for ‘quite some time,’ she noted. 

In a brief statement, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said she was ‘absolutely devastated by the loss of life in Chatsworth tonight.’

‘My heart is with the families and loved ones of those we lost in the tragic bus collision and helicopter crash,’ she posted on social media. 

‘I’m grateful to the city teams who responded so quickly,’ she added, as she urged the public to ‘please stay clear of the area as public safety officials remain on scene.’ 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said her heart was with those who lost loved ones on Tuesday

Advertisement

Bass also embraced NBC’s Kovacik following the fatal crash

California Governor Gavin Newsom also shared his condolences.

‘Our hearts are with the victims and families of tonight’s devastating Metro bus and helicopter crashes in Chatsworth, and with the entire NBC4 family,’ he said.

‘Thank you to the first responders working tirelessly tonight.’ 

Brendan Carr, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, added that it was ‘very sad news.’ 

Both the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate the helicopter crash. 

The crash happened at around 6.05pm on Tuesday, September 15, and involved a black Volvo XC40 and a black and white Triumph Daytona motorcycle.

Both vehicles were travelling towards Scarborough when the collision occurred near Helwath Beck.

The motorcyclist, who was from the Whitby area, was pronounced dead at the scene.

North Yorkshire Police are appealing for witnesses and dashcam footage.

An officer said: “We are appealing to witnesses who have not yet spoken to the police who saw either of the vehicles travelling along the A171 prior to the collision, or who witnessed the collision to come forward along with anyone who may have caught either vehicle on their dashcam before or during the collision.”

The driver of the Volvo, a woman in her 40s, sustained slight injuries but did not need hospital treatment.

She has been interviewed under caution in connection with the incident.

The road was closed to allow emergency services to respond and for collision investigators to examine the scene and recover the vehicles.

It reopened at 2am on Wednesday, September 16.

Officers have thanked members of the public who stopped to help at the scene.

Anyone with information is asked to email the Serious Collision Investigation Unit at SCIU@norhtyorkshire.police.uk.

Alternatively, information can be submitted via the North Yorkshire Police website by selecting ‘Tell us about’ and then ‘An existing case or report.’

The live chat service is also available on the website from Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm.

Those unable to use these options can call 101.

Please quote reference number 12260181610.