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      Astroworld Victims: Who They Were

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      The music festival at Astroworld in Houston left eight people dead. Here is what is known about them so far.Excitement and adrenaline soon turned to panic and horror as a crowd of 50,000 descended into chaos at the Astroworld music festival in Houston on Friday night. Unconscious bodies were lifted and surfed through the crowd, while other attendees begged for the concert to stop as they watched others around them collapse.Hundreds of people, including a 10-year-old child, suffered injuries. Some were rushed from the NRG Park in Houston, where the festival took place, to hospitals. By Saturday afternoon, Houston’s mayor confirmed that 13 victims remain hospitalized, including five minors. And eight people, ranging in age from 14 to 27, with one age unknown, were dead. Here is what we know about some of the lives that were lost. Franco Patino, 21, was majoring in mechanical engineering technology at the University of Dayton in Ohio.Patino FamilyFranco PatinoFranco Patino, 21, a senior at the University of Dayton in Ohio, was among those who died at the music festival, the university and one of Mr. Patino’s brothers confirmed.Mr. Patino, who was from Naperville, Ill., was majoring in mechanical engineering technology with a minor in human movement biomechanics, the university said in a campuswide email on Saturday. Mr. Patino was a member of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and Alpha Psi Lambda, a Hispanic interest fraternity, the university said.A brother, Julio Patino Jr., said his younger brother was planning to pursue a career in biomedical engineering and had a particular interest in prosthetics. Julio Patino Jr. said his brother was active in volunteer work and regularly sought to help others.“He was just that type of person,” he said. “He was always there for the people he cared about. He had a big heart.”He described his brother as an avid video game player (“Call of Duty” was a favorite) who competed in football, rugby and wrestling in high school. He said his brother had been to other concerts without incident but that this was his first time attending the Astroworld festival.“This should have never happened,” Julio Patino Jr. said of the deaths at the music festival. “There should be more rules in place to prevent this in the future. They should have stopped the concert right away as soon as all this started happening.”John HilgertGreen ribbons appeared at Memorial High School, just outside of Houston. It was the favorite color of John Hilgert, 14, a freshman, who was the youngest person to die at Astroworld, according to the authorities. He told friends that he wanted to get to the performance by the rapper Travis Scott early to get a good view, The Houston Chronicle reported. Now, family members, friends and former coaches were left to make sense of his death. On social media, those who knew Mr. Hilgert told similar stories of a young, kind boy who was known for being a good student and an athlete who played baseball and football. “The kid impacted everyone that met him,” Justin Higgs, a former baseball coach of Mr. Hilgert, wrote on Facebook. “Privileged to have had the opportunity to coach him during those seasons of his life.” Mr. Hilgert’s principal, Lisa Weir, sent an email to the entire school the morning after the concert, identifying Mr. Hilgert as one of the victims. The school will have counselors available to talk to students. “He was one of the nicest kids I knew and always made people laugh,” a friend tweeted. Brianna Rodriguez Brianna Rodriguez, 16, was a student at Heights High School in Houston and was a drill dancer as part of the band program, which paid tribute to her on Saturday on Twitter. “Brianna was someone who performed with the band and was someone who could always make anyone smile,” the band said. “Although she’s gone and she cannot perform with us anymore, we know she’d want to still enjoy our time in heights.”In an automated phone call on Saturday to parents, the school’s principal, Wendy L. Hampton, said that a student had died on Friday night while off campus and that grief counselors would be available. The call did not identify the student. On a GoFundMe page raising money for funeral expenses, Ms. Rodriguez’s family said that she was passionate about dancing.On Sunday, Erica Davis, a trustee for the Harris County Department of Education, shared photos of Ms. Rodriguez on Twitter.“There is no level above Tragedy … my heart mourns for families and all who experienced this,” Ms. Davis said. Rudy PeñaRudy Peña died at the Astroworld music festival.GoFundMeRudy Peña, 23, was identified by a cousin, Kimberly Escamilla, as being one of the victims. “Rip to my cousin,” she wrote in a Facebook post, “you will be missed.” She described him as “always smiling and so nice.” His sister, Jennifer Peña, told The Laredo Morning Times that he was “the sweetest person, friendly, outgoing.” She said that Mr. Peña had been taken to Ben Taub Hospital in Houston, where staff members told Mr. Peña’s mother that he had died. Danish BaigThe brother of Danish Baig described him in a Facebook post as a “beautiful soul” who put “everyone before himself.”“I am scarred for life,” said the brother, Basil Mirza Baig. “You were my role model, and I have so much pain in my heart. I can’t believe I lost you.”Basil Baig, who attended the festival, said his brother died as he tried to save a sister-in-law from “horrendous things that were being done.” People were “trampled, walked and stomped on,” he wrote.“In this time of mourning and grief and such pain, I would like everyone to pray for my family and my brother,” he wrote. Jacob E. Jurinek, who died at the Astroworld music festival, was a student at Southern Illinois University.Jurinek familyJacob E. JurinekHis younger cousins called him “Big Jake.” The nickname suited Jacob E. Jurinek, 20, well, his family said in a statement, because the young man with many friends and a “larger-than-life personality” was known for his “contagious enthusiasm, his boundless energy and his unwavering positive attitude.”Mr. Jurinek was a junior at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, where he was studying art and media and was on the dean’s list this semester. The chancellor of the school, Austin A. Lane, described him in a statement as “a creative, intelligent young man with a promising career in journalism and advertising.”Mr. Jurinek graduated in 2019 from Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, about 30 miles west of Chicago.At the university, he worked as a graphic arts and media intern for the athletic department, his family said. He was a music fan, an artist and a “beloved cousin, nephew and grandson,” the family said.His father, Ron Jurinek, said Mr. Jurinek would be most remembered as his “best friend.”The father and son were brought closer by a previous loss, the death of Jacob’s mother, Alison, in 2011. Since then, they have been inseparable, and attended White Sox and Blackhawks games together and spent weekends at a family cottage in Southwestern Michigan, the family said.“We are all devastated and are left with a huge hole in our lives,” Ron Jurinek said. Axel Acosta, 21, was a student at Western Washington University.Acosta familyAxel AcostaAxel Acosta, 21, was identified on Sunday by his brother, Joel Acosta, as the man in a photograph circulated by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences in Texas, which was seeking the public’s help to identify the man.Mr. Acosta was a junior at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., where he was majoring in computer science, his younger brother said on Sunday.Mr. Acosta was a fan of Mr. Scott, but had never been to one of his concerts before, said Joel Acosta, 19, who recalled driving his brother to the airport in Bellingham last Wednesday. From there, Axel Acosta rented a car and drove about 90 miles south to Seattle before flying to Houston for the music festival, his brother said.“He finally had the money to go,” Joel Acosta said. “He was excited to go.”Axel Acosta was from Tieton, Wash., a community of fewer than 2,000 people in the Yakima Valley. When Joel Acosta did not hear from his brother on Friday night, he said he figured that his brother was just having a fun time at the festival. “He said that reception was spotty and the internet was really bad,” Mr. Acosta said. During the concert, Axel Acosta got separated from a person he had been rooming with at a local hotel, his brother said.“The roommate had called me that he had not seen Axel come to sleep that night,” Joel Acosta said. That’s when Mr. Acosta said that he began to worry that his brother might have been among the people who died. His fears were confirmed, he said, when the authorities released a photo of his brother on Saturday. Joel Acosta said he stopped looking at TikTok and other social media posts from the concert.“Now, I can’t look at the videos anymore,” he said. Reporting was contributed by More

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      Marília Mendonça, Brazilian Pop Singer, Dies in Plane Crash at 26

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      Ms. Mendonça, who was a social media sensation with millions of followers, was iconic in a type of Brazilian country music called sertanejo.Marília Mendonça, one of the most popular Brazilian pop singers who was known as “The Queen of Suffering” for her angst-filled ballads, was killed on Friday in a small plane crash in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais in Brazil. She was 26.The singer’s press office confirmed Ms. Mendonça’s death and said her producer, Henrique Ribeiro; her uncle who was also her assistant, Abicieli Silveira Dias Filho; and the pilot and co-pilot of the plane were also killed.The plane had been headed from the city of Goiania to Caratinga, where Ms. Mendonça was to have performed in a concert on Friday night. There was no immediate word on the circumstances leading up to the crash. The authorities said they were investigating.Ms. Mendonça was iconic in a type of Brazilian country music called sertanejo, a popular genre in Brazil. Her legions of fans found power in her song lyrics, which implored women to reject bad and abusive relationships, and told the stories of flawed characters.Ms. Mendonça was a social media sensation, with 7.8 million followers on Twitter, 22 million on YouTube and more than 38 million on Instagram.The plane had been headed to Caratinga, where Ms. Mendonça was to have performed on Friday night. Minas Gerais Civil Police, via Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBrazil’s president, Jair Bolsonaro, said on Twitter, “The whole country receives in shock the news of the death of the young country singer Marília Mendonça, one of the greatest artists of her generation, whom, with her unique voice, charisma and music won the affection and admiration of all of us.”Anitta, a funk singer popular in Brazil, said on Twitter: “I just found out. I can’t believe it.”Some in Brazil’s cosmopolitan circles had scorned Ms. Mendonça’s country ballads as “‘brega,’ or corny music,” NPR reported in 2019.“Sentimental or not, her songs offer a woman’s perspective that hasn’t been heard much in sertanejo’s machismo culture, and it’s made Mendonça the leading voice of a new subgenre called ‘feminejo’ — music by and for women,” NPR said.Ana Ionova contributed reporting. More

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      Brandon Lee and Other Deaths on Set

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      Accidents on sets have resulted in numerous deaths and injuries over the years, some bringing about lawsuits or changes in safety guidelines.Behind the magic of movies and television are actors and props, crew members, stunt performers and a sometimes dangerous set of circumstances for the people filming scenes.On Thursday, the potential danger on some sets made news around the world, after the actor Alec Baldwin discharged a gun that was used as a prop on the set of a western in New Mexico, killing the film’s director of photography and wounding the movie’s director.The authorities said the shooting took place in the middle of a scene that was either being rehearsed or filmed. Many other details of what happened remained unclear on Friday.Accidents on movie and television sets, like stuntmen and stuntwomen being injured during action sequences or actors getting killed when props malfunction, have occurred with some regularity over the last several decades. There have been at least 194 serious television- and film-set accidents in the United States from 1990 to 2014, and at least 43 deaths, according to The Associated Press.Here’s a partial list of set accidents from recent history.‘Twilight Zone: The Movie’The actor Vic Morrow on the set of the ABC series “Combat!”Moviestore Collection Ltd / Alamy Stock PhotoA helicopter crash on the Los Angeles set of the “Twilight Zone” movie killed the actor Vic Morrow and two child actors, Renee Shinn Chen and My-ca Dinh Lee, in July 1982.The tail rotor of the helicopter was hit by debris from explosives detonated in a scene depicting the Vietnam War. The main rotor of the helicopter struck and killed Mr. Morrow and the children as the aircraft pitched into a river on the set.The film’s director, John Landis, was charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with the deaths, as were with four other members of the film crew, including the helicopter pilot. After a trial that lasted nearly a year and nine days of deliberation by a jury, all five were acquitted in May 1987. In the aftermath of the accident, the Directors Guild of America created a safety committee to put in place safety guidelines.‘Cover Up’Jon-Erik Hexum in “Cover Up,” a CBS detective action television series, in 1984.CBS, via Getty ImagesThe actor Jon-Erik Hexum accidentally shot himself in the head while playing Russian roulette on the set of the television series “Cover Up” in October 1984.Mr. Hexum, 26, had loaded three empty cartridges and two gunpowder-filled blanks into a high-powered handgun before firing the gun, according to a detective on the case.Mr. Hexum sustained a fractured skull and underwent five hours of surgery. He died several days later. The police ruled the shooting an accident.‘The Crow’Brandon Lee in “The Crow.”Allstar Picture Library Ltd. / Alamy Stock PhotoBrandon Lee, an actor and the son of the martial-arts star Bruce Lee, died in March 1993 during the filming of “The Crow,” after being shot at with a gun that was supposed to fire blank cartridges.The tip of a .44-caliber bullet had become lodged in the gun’s barrel in filming a close-up scene, and dislodged when a blank cartridge was fired. The bullet pierced Mr. Lee’s abdomen, damaging several organs and lodging in his spine.Mr. Lee, 28, was the star of the film, about a rock musician who is killed by a street gang and then comes back to life with supernatural powers.An executive producer of the movie said at the time that when a blank is fired, a piece of soft wadding normally comes out of the gun, but in this instance, a metallic projectile came out. A police investigation into the shooting found no evidence of criminal wrongdoing and no charges were filed.‘Midnight Rider’Richard and Elizabeth Jones at a memorial for their daughter, Sarah Jones, who was killed in 2014 by a train while shooting the film “Midnight Rider.”David Mcnew/Getty ImagesSarah Jones, a camera assistant, died on the set of the independent film “Midnight Rider,” about the musician Gregg Allman, in Georgia in February 2014. Ms. Jones was killed while helping prepare a shot that involved placing a bed across the tracks of a CSX railroad line.After two trains passed, crew members on the film believed they would have a safe interval to get the shot, part of a planned dream sequence. But a third train appeared, moving at high speed through the set, killing Ms. Jones and injuring others.Later that year, the family of Ms. Jones reached a settlement with 11 defendants in a lawsuit over her death. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed. In 2015, the film’s director, Randall Miller, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and served a year in jail. He was also sentenced to 10 years of probation.‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’Olivia Jackson, a stuntwoman for the actor Milla Jovovich, was severely injured while filming a sequence for “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter” in South Africa in September 2015. While riding a motorcycle, Ms. Jackson collided with a piece of camera equipment, according to Deadline.The accident nearly killed Ms. Jackson, leaving her with multiple injuries including disfigurement, several nerves torn out of her spinal cord and a partly amputated left arm.In April 2020, the High Court in South Africa ruled in favor of Ms. Jackson and against a company involved in the movie.Two months after Ms. Jackson was injured, another crew member, Ricardo Cornelius, died after a Humvee slid off a rotating platform and crushed him against a wall, Deadline reported.‘The Walking Dead’A scene from “The Walking Dead” featuring, from left, Andrew Lincoln, Danai Gurira and Melissa Ponzio.Gene Page/AMC , via Associated PressJohn Bernecker, a stuntman for AMC’s “The Walking Dead,” died in July 2017 after falling on a balcony set in Georgia.Mr. Bernecker, who had been an active stuntman since at least 2009 and had appeared in films such as “Get Out” and “The Fate of the Furious,” died of blunt-force trauma, a coroner said. Production of the show’s eighth season was temporarily shut down after the accident.Mr. Bernecker’s family filed a wrongful-death lawsuit in early 2018 against AMC Networks, the production company Stalwart Films and other parties in Georgia, claiming they had failed to make the show with appropriate safety measures. The suit claimed that some fall protection was in place but that airbags and spotters were not used, and that the padding did not fully cover the area below the fall. Mr. Bernecker landed on his head or shoulder area.In December 2019, a jury found AMC Networks not to be negligent but awarded more than $8 million in civil damages. The Georgia Court of Appeals overturned the decision in March 2021.‘Deadpool 2’A woman was killed while attempting a stunt on a motorcycle on the set of “Deadpool 2” in Vancouver, British Columbia, in August 2017. The woman, Joi Harris, was acting in her first film as a stuntwoman, according to Deadline.Ms. Harris, 40, had worked as a motorcycle racer before joining the crew of the film, and was serving as a stunt double for the actor Zazie Beetz. More

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      Halyna Hutchins, Cinematographer of 'Rust,' Was Talented and Spirited

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      Halyna Hutchins, the director of photography for the film “Rust,” was killed when the actor Alec Baldwin discharged a firearm being used as a prop.Shortly before the cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot on a film set in the foothills of New Mexico, she smiled at the camera as she recorded herself riding a chestnut horse through the desert brush.“One of the perks of shooting a western is you get to ride horses on your day off,” Ms. Hutchins wrote this week in an Instagram post.On Thursday, Ms. Hutchins, 42, was killed when the actor Alec Baldwin discharged a firearm being used as a prop on the set of “Rust,” a western about a teenage boy who goes on the run with his grandfather after the accidental killing of a local rancher. Ms. Hutchins, the film’s director of photography, died after being flown to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque. The film’s director, Joel Souza, was injured in the shooting and was released from a hospital.Friends in Ukraine, where Ms. Hutchins is originally from, described her as spirited, and said she never forgot her home. She was proud of her heritage.Instagram/Halynahutchins/@Halynahutchins Via ReutersFriends in Ukraine, where Ms. Hutchins is originally from, described her as spirited, someone whose talents had propelled her from that country to success in Hollywood but who never forgot her home. She was proud of her heritage, they said, and returned regularly to visit.Yana Nestoliy, a friend from college, described her as an ambitious, focused woman with intelligent eyes and a sincere smile.“She could have been among the top Hollywood stars on camera, not behind it,” Ms. Nestoliy said.Ms. Hutchins grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle, where, according to her personal website, she was “surrounded by reindeer and nuclear submarines.” She studied economics at the Agrarian University in Ukraine before switching to a journalism program at Kyiv National University. She later attended the American Film Institute Conservatory in Los Angeles.Andriy Semenyuk, a friend and fellow Ukrainian cinematographer, said in an interview with Detector Media, a media organization in Ukraine, that even as her career blossomed in Hollywood, she made a point of embracing her background, making an effort to help fellow Ukrainians in California. He called her death a “stupid, shocking loss.”The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that the country’s consulate in Los Angeles was trying to contact Ms. Hutchins’s relatives.Also on Friday, Mr. Baldwin released a statement on social media saying, “There are no words to convey my shock and sadness regarding the tragic accident that took the life of Halyna Hutchins, a wife, mother and deeply admired colleague of ours.” He said that he is in contact with Ms. Hutchins’s husband, adding, “My heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna.”Among filmmakers in the United States, Ms. Hutchins was remembered as a skilled cinematographer with an artistic vision who was deeply committed to her work.Adam Egypt Mortimer, the director of a 2020 superhero action movie “Archenemy,” on which Ms. Hutchins worked as director of photography, wrote on Twitter that Ms. Hutchins was a “brilliant talent,” pointing to a series of posts he made last year about Ms. Hutchins’s work. He had written that Ms. Hutchins’s “tastes and sensibility of what is cinematic were a huge asset for executing our style” and that she had been visually inspired by Jim Steranko comics.“She was a true wartime sister,” Mr. Mortimer wrote, “fighting the battles to make this thing look amazing despite the unrelenting limitations and catastrophes.” More

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      Alec Baldwin Fatally Shoots Crew Member on 'Rust' Set, Authorities Say

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      The movie’s director of photography was killed and the director was injured on the set of “Rust,” a Western, a sheriff’s office in New Mexico said.Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies investigated the set of “Rust” in New Mexico after the actor discharged a prop firearm, killing the film’s director of photography and wounding the director.Angela Weiss/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAlec Baldwin discharged a prop firearm on the set of a Western he was making in New Mexico on Thursday, killing the film’s director of photography and wounding the movie’s director, the authorities said.The cinematographer, Halyna Hutchins, 42, was killed, and the director, Joel Souza, 48, was injured around 1:50 p.m. on the set of “Rust,” which is being filmed in Santa Fe County, said Juan Rios, a spokesman for the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office. The circumstances of the shooting are under investigation.Mr. Rios said the shooting at Bonanza Creek Ranch happened in the middle of a scene that was either being rehearsed or filmed. He said the Sheriff’s Office was interviewing people on the set to determine how the two had been shot.“We’re trying to determine right now how and what type of projectile was used in the firearm,” he said.Halyna Hutchins was killed and the director Joel Souza was injured on set of the movie “Rust” in Santa Fe on Thursday.Fred Hayes/Getty Images For SAGIndieMr. Rios said on Thursday night that the Sheriff’s Office had not filed charges against anyone in connection with the shooting.Ms. Hutchins was flown to the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, where she later died, Mr. Rios said. Mr. Souza was taken to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe. Mr. Souza’s condition was not immediately available.The film’s producers and a representative for Mr. Baldwin, 63, did not immediately respond to emails or phone calls on Thursday night.In a statement, the movie’s production company, Rust Movie Productions LLC, said: “The entire cast and crew has been absolutely devastated by today’s tragedy, and we send our deepest condolences to Halyna’s family and loved ones. We have halted production on the film for an undetermined period of time and are fully cooperating with the Santa Fe Police Department’s investigation. We will be providing counseling services to everyone connected to the film as we work to process this awful event.”On Thursday morning, Mr. Baldwin posted a photo on Instagram in his film costume, which included what appeared to be a prosthetic wound on his torso.According to Ms. Hutchins’s website, she was originally from Ukraine and grew up on a Soviet military base in the Arctic Circle. She studied journalism in Ukraine and film in Los Angeles.She called herself a “restless dreamer” and an “adrenaline junkie” on her Instagram profile. She posted multiple images this month from the set of “Rust,” including a video on Tuesday of her riding a horse on her day off.In a statement, John Lindley, the national president of the International Cinematographers Guild, and Rebecca Rhine, the organization’s national executive director, called Ms. Hutchins’s death “devastating news.”“The details are unclear at this moment, but we are working to learn more, and we support a full investigation into this tragic event,” their statement said. “This is a terrible loss, and we mourn the passing of a member of our Guild’s family.”A statement from the New Mexico Film Office on Oct. 6 said Rust Movie Productions would employ 75 crew members, 22 actors and 230 “background talent.”Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputies responding to the scene of a fatal shooting on a movie set at the Bonanza Creek Ranch in Santa Fe County, N.M., on Thursday.KOAT 7 News, via Associated Press“Rust” is a movie about a 13-year-old boy who goes on the run with his estranged grandfather after the accidental killing of a local rancher, according to IMDb. The movie, which was set to be filmed this month and next month, is directed by Mr. Souza and stars Frances Fisher and Mr. Baldwin, who is also producing the film.The shooting echoed an accident on a movie set in 1993 in which the actor Brandon Lee, Bruce Lee’s son, was shot and killed during a scene when a bullet that was lodged in the barrel of a gun was discharged along with a blank cartridge. “Our hearts go out to the family of Halyna Hutchins and to Joel Souza,” Brandon Lee’s sister Shannon Lee tweeted late Thursday.In 1984, the actor Jon-Erik Hexum accidentally shot himself in the head and died when he was playing Russian roulette on set.Mr. Baldwin, an Emmy Award-winning actor, has had a long career in movies, plays and television. In one of his best known roles, he played Jack Donaghy, an oblivious, domineering TV executive on the sitcom “30 Rock,” which ran on NBC from 2006 to 2013.He also portrayed Donald J. Trump on “Saturday Night Live” with a custom-made wig, glued-on eyebrows and puckered lips. He and Mr. Trump sometimes sparred on social media.Mr. Baldwin also has a history of run-ins with the police.In 2014, he was arrested after he rode his bicycle the wrong way on Fifth Avenue near 16th Street in Manhattan. Officers charged him with disorderly conduct after they said he became belligerent.In 2019, Mr. Baldwin pleaded guilty to harassment in Manhattan Criminal Court and agreed to take an anger management course in a deal with prosecutors to dispose of charges that he had assaulted a man during a dispute over a parking spot.Nicole Sperling More

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      Bolshoi Performer Is Killed in Onstage Accident

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      The man, in his late 30s, was crushed during a scene change as the opera “Sadko” was performed before an audience, the theater said.A performer was killed during an opera at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow on Saturday when there was an accident during a scene change, the theater said.The man, in his late 30s, was working as an extra in a performance of the opera “Sadko,” by the Russian composer Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov.Russian news reports said that the man had been crushed by a piece of scenery, and videos of the event that circulated online showed it happening as a backdrop descended to the stage. As the chorus kept singing and the orchestra continued to play, there was a sudden commotion onstage. Performers waved their arms and shouted “Stop!” The music ground to a halt, and most of the performers walked offstage while a few went to the rear of the stage to help the man. The curtains closed.The show was stopped immediately, the Bolshoi said in a statement, and the audience was asked to leave.“A tragic accident happened during the ‘Sadko’ production tonight,” the Bolshoi, one of Russia’s most prestigious theaters, said in a statement. The theater said it was assisting investigators as they sought to determine the circumstances of the man’s death.The man was identified as Yevgeny Kulesh. He worked as part of a 50-person group of Bolshoi employees who serve as onstage extras, supplementing singers and dancers.Russian news reports said that audience members had not initially seemed aware of the death and appeared to think that the panic onstage was part of the performance.The Bolshoi has a history of strange deaths and injuries. In 2013, the artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet was severely injured when a masked man threw acid in his face. That same year, a violinist died after falling into the orchestra pit. More

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      How ‘Boeing’s Fatal Flaw’ Grounded the 737 Max and Exposed Failed Oversight

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      A new documentary by Frontline, in partnership with The New York Times, examines how competitive pressure, flawed design and problematic oversight of the Boeing jet led to two crashes that killed 346 people.A new documentary by Frontline, in partnership with The New York Times, investigates the Boeing 737 Max catastrophe, and will air on PBS on Tuesday, Sept. 14, and will be streaming on PBS.org/frontline, YouTube and in the PBS Video App.Ruth Fremson/The New York Times‘Boeing’s Fatal Flaw’Writer/director Thomas JenningsReporters David Gelles, James Glanz, Natalie Kitroeff and Jack NicasWatch the new documentary by Frontline, in partnership with The New York Times, on Tuesday, Sept. 14, on PBS and streaming at pbs.org/frontline, on YouTube and in the PBS Video App.Airplanes are designed to go up after takeoff, but that’s not what happened to Lion Air Flight 610 when it left Jakarta, Indonesia, in October 2018.“You don’t see planes diving on departure,” one Indonesian aviation expert said. And yet the Boeing 737 Max jet, piloted by an experienced crew, went into an irrecoverable nosedive minutes after takeoff. All 189 people on board were killed when it crashed into the Java Sea.Four months later, 157 people died when another 737 Max, operated as Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302, plummeted to the earth, ringing new alarms about the aircraft. Days later, the jet was grounded.“Boeing’s Fatal Flaw,” a new documentary by Frontline, featuring reporting by The New York Times, investigates the causes of the two crashes and how a software system that was supposed to make the plane safer played a role in the catastrophes.The Boeing 737 Max began as a success story: The plane was the company’s best selling jet ever, with hundreds of billions of dollars in advance orders from airlines around the world. But our reporters’ investigation shows that, early on, the tale had all the elements of a tragedy in the making.Internal Boeing documents and interviews with former Federal Aviation Administration officials and congressional investigators reveal how competitive pressures influenced the efforts to bring the 737 Max to market. And The Times’s investigation details how an essential software system known as MCAS was implemented with insufficient oversight and inadequate pilot training.“Boeing’s Fatal Flaw” traces The Times’s investigation. Boeing declined to be interviewed for the film, but the documentary includes details from our reporters’ on-the-record interview with the company’s chief executive, Dave Calhoun. The film also features on-camera interviews with congressional investigators, aviation experts and family members of the passengers aboard the two fatal flights.You can watch on Tuesday, Sept. 14, on PBS and streaming at pbs.org/frontline, on YouTube and in the PBS Video App.Featured ReportersDavid Gelles writes the Corner Office column and other features for the Business section. Since joining The Times in 2013, he’s written about mergers and acquisitions, media, technology and more.James Glanz is a reporter on the Investigations desk. Before joining the desk, he spent nearly five years in Iraq as a correspondent and Baghdad bureau chief. On Sept. 11, 2001, he covered the collapse of the twin towers and, for two years, continued to report from ground zero. He has a Ph.D. in astrophysical sciences from Princeton.Natalie Kitroeff is a foreign correspondent covering Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. Before that, she was a business reporter writing about the economy for The Times. She also covered the California economy for The Los Angeles Times and reported on education for Bloomberg.Jack Nicas has covered technology for The New York Times since 2018. Before joining The Times, he spent seven years at The Wall Street Journal covering technology, aviation and national news.Producers Vanessa Fica and Kate McCormickSenior producer Frank KoughanExecutive producers for Left/Right Docs Ken Druckerman and Banks TarverExecutive producer of FRONTLINE Raney Aronson-RathFRONTLINE, U.S. television’s longest running investigative documentary series, explores the issues of our times through powerful storytelling. It is produced at GBH in Boston and is broadcast nationwide on PBS. More

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      Trevor Moore, Co-Founder of ‘Whitest Kids U’Know’ Comedy Show, Dies at 41

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      The comedian, who released a solo album called “Drunk Texts to Myself” and whose films included “The Civil War on Drugs,” was killed in an unexplained accident.Trevor Moore, a comedian and co-founder of the popular sketch comedy show “The Whitest Kids U’Know,” which appeared on the Independent Film Channel, died on Saturday in Los Angeles. He was 41.His death was confirmed by the Los Angeles County medical examiner-coroner, who said that Mr. Moore had died in a yard on a residential block in the Franklin Hills section of the city, the same block where public records showed that he had lived.He was killed in an accident, according to a statement from his wife, Aimee Carlson, that was released by his manager, Kara Welker. The statement did not provide details of the accident, and Ms. Welker said she did not have additional information. The medical examiner’s office said it would conduct an autopsy.Mr. Moore released a solo comedy album, “Drunk Texts to Myself”; hosted a one-hour special on Comedy Central; and co-directed, co-wrote and starred in the films “Miss March” (2009) and “The Civil War on Drugs” (2011).But he is best known for his work on “Whitest Kids U’Know,” which ran for five seasons starting in 2007. Zany and wry, it sought to wring laughs out of thorny issues like police brutality, the war on drugs and student debt.One writer at the website Salon last year said the show “eerily foresaw the Trump era.” Other times, the show veered into the absurd. After going off the air, it developed a following online, and its YouTube channel has more than 100 million total views.Mr. Moore often rooted his comedy in terrain his audiences could recognize — a park with an old friend, a modern-day White House news conference — and injected each scenario with dizzying amounts of lunacy and humor.In one memorable sketch, a White House press secretary reveals more and more details about an unlikely turn of events on a secret United States space station on the moon that has been taken over by bears.“We believe they may be involved in some sort of intergallatic drug cartel, perhaps affiliated with one of the interstellar wizard alliances,” the press secretary deadpans. Stunned reporters try to absorb the shocking news when one finally asks, “You wouldn’t happen to be invading Iran today, would we?” The press secretary pauses, then smiles wryly and says, “You got me.”In 2019, Mr. Moore brought his idiosyncratic sensibilities to the talk show format, and began hosting “The Trevor Moore Show” on Comedy Central. Its early episodes had titles like “Achieving World Peace with Flat Earth Theory” and “Why is Everyone So Horny All the Time?”“See, the worst part about dying,” Mr. Moore said on the show in June, “is that you don’t get to hear all the nice things said about you after you’re gone.”Born on April 4, 1980, in Montclair, N.J., Mr. Moore was raised in Charlottesville, Va., by his parents, Mickey and Becki Moore, popular Christian rock singers, according to Vanity Fair and the website IMDb.At 16, Mr. Moore began creating weekly cartoons for local newspapers in Virginia, and by 19 he had written and produced a weekly sketch comedy program, “The Trevor Moore Show,” for local television stations, according to IMDb.Mr. Moore graduated with a degree in film from the School of Visual Arts in New York City. In 2010, he married Ms. Carlson. In addition to his wife and parents, Mr. Moore is survived by a 3-year-old son, August. He is also survived by a sister, Lila Haile.News of Mr. Moore’s death drew an outpouring of praise for the comedian from collaborators and admirers.On Instagram, the comedian James Adomian of IFC’s “Comedy Bang! Bang!” said Mr. Moore “was a magnetic friend to all, who thought everything was unstoppably hilarious no matter how scary or hopeless — this sardonic gallows humor was a beacon and a guide to me and many others in dark times.”Referring to two sketch comedy shows with strong cult followings, David Gallaher, who has written for Marvel and DC Comics, said on Twitter that Mr. Moore “blended the BEST of The State and Kids In The Hall to create something beautiful, subversive, and contemporary.”Neil Vigdor More