BREAKING! Three Idaho National Guard pilots killed in a helicopter crash. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

An Oklahoma “monster” gunned down his brother and three of his own children in the shooting rampage that killed six people, police and relatives said. Jarron Deajon Pridgeon, 25, lived at the Muskogee home with his brother, Javarion Lee, 24, and the five children between the ages of 1 and 9 who were killed in an early Tuesday morning massacre. The mother of the children, Brittany Anderson, was also shot, but was listed in stable condition at a Tulsa hospital, Tulsa World reported. Police identified the young victims late Tuesday as Jalaiya Pridgeon, 1; Jaidus Pridgeon, 3; Harmony Anderson, 5; Neveah Pridgeon, 6; and 9-year-old Que’dynce Anderson. It’s unclear why Pridgeon allegedly opened fire. A message seeking additional comment from Muskogee police spokeswoman Lynn Hamlin was not immediately returned early Wednesday. Pridgeon was arrested after a foot chase at the home, where cops responded on a report of multiple people shot and encountered an armed suspect later identified as the Muskogee man.

Sleepy Joe and the rest of congress live action on the $2,000 stimulus checks.

ORLANDO, Fla. - A California man is facing drug trafficking charges after TSA agents at Orlando International Airport caught him trying to board a plane with 22 pounds of crystal meth. It was among the largest drug busts in recent history at the busy Orlando airport, police said of the Jan. 22 incident. Eli Priestly Brown, 46, of Long Beach, Calif., was preparing to board a plane at gate 35 when an agent conducted a random search of his bag. The agents opened his backpack and found several clear bags with a crystal-like substance inside, according to an arrest affidavit. Orlando police were called and tests were conducted on the contents of the bags, the newspaper reported. It tested positive for meth. The meth was valued at more than $500,000, the affidavit said. Brown was carrying $900 in cash, according to the report. Brown was charged with trafficking of amphetamines over 200 grams and remained at the Orange County Jail on a $500,000 bond on Wednesday. Court records did not list an attorney for Brown.

Andy Ngo Tells Tucker Carlson How Antifa Is Like A Religious Death Cult

Officers face life-threatening situations daily, sometimes with mere seconds to react. This suspect took a gun out of his pocket, feet away from officers. Thankfully, it ended just as many other encounters do, with an arrest & a gun recovered safely without any injuries.

Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, who died from injuries sustained during the Jan. 6 protest at the Capitol Building, returned Tuesday evening to lie in honor in the Capitol Rotunda.

As more Americans anxiously wait their turn to get the COVID-19 vaccine, people are discovering that smokers are one of the priority groups for vaccination.

Some don’t agree with the guidance, and have expressed their frustrations on social media. But health experts say the rationale is clear.

“I could see why people would feel as if that would be unfair but people who are smokers are in general at higher risk for getting sicker when they develop COVID-19,” said Dr. Samuel Kim, a thoracic surgeon at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago.

A study, published Jan. 25 in the peer-reviewed journal JAMA Internal Medicine, found that people who smoke or who have smoked in the past are more likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19 than people who haven’t smoked.

“The finding that smoking is associated with increased risk of poor outcome from COVID-19 is not surprising,” said study co-author Dr. Joe Zein, a pulmonologist at the Cleveland Clinic. “Smoking induces structural changes in the respiratory tract and compromises people’s ability to mount appropriate immune and inflammatory responses (against infections).”

Smokers are also more likely to have other diseases such as high blood pressure, coronary artery disease and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, which further increases their risk of bad outcomes, he added.

The Cleveland Clinic study found that COVID-19 patients who had smoked more than 30 packs of cigarettes were 2.25 more likely to be hospitalized and 1.89 times more likely to die compared with never-smokers.

Zein said it’s difficult to capture the link between smoking and worse COVID-19 outcomes because electronic medical records may misclassify patients. Instead of putting a patient down as a “former smoker,” they’re sometimes classified as “never smokers.”

Researchers at the University of California, Los Angeles, discovered how smoking worsens COVID-19 infections in a smoker's airways in a November study published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell Stem Cell.

The group infected cultures exposed to cigarette smoke and identical cultures that weren't exposed, and saw between two and three time more infected cells in the smoker cultures.

(Read more.)

Meanwhile in Atlanta at CNN HQ, anti-Myanmar coup block is out.

LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas police say a female in her late teens is dead after a confrontation at an apartment complex near Lake Mead Boulevard and Los Feliz Street on the far east side of the valley. Police say they received multiple phone calls about gunshots around 9 p.m. Tuesday.

Upon arrival, they discovered the female who had been killed at the top of the stairs of one of the apartment buildings. According to Lt. Ray Spencer, at least 2 males and 1 female got into an argument with another male inside of an apartment in the building.

The male inside of the apartment opened fire, hitting the woman and one of the males, whom Spencer initially described as a “juvenile” and later said was in his late teens.

The other male, also believed to be in his late teens, in the group drove the injured male to North Vista Hospital. He was then transported to UMC Trauma and rushed into surgery because of multiple gunshot wounds.

The shooter (age unknown) was taken into custody by Las Vegas police without incident.

Detectives are waiting to talk to the teen who was shot. They are also attempting to locate the other male, whom police believe had a gun.

The motive for the shooting is unknown at this point.

The National Fraternal Order of Police reports with sadness that as of today, 402 law enforcement officers have died in the line of duty due to COVID19.

View the state-by-state breakdown https://fopcovid19.org/news/covid-19-line-of-duty-deaths/