Training Flights Suspended Following Cobra Crash

1. The Marine Corps suspended training flights across the Southland today in the aftermath of a helicopter crash that killed two USMC pilots during exercises at Camp Pendleton. Capt. Jeffrey Bland, 37, and 1st Lt. Thomas Heitmann, 27, were piloting an AH-1W Super Cobra that went down for unknown reasons about 1 p.m. Monday in the southeastern reaches of the northern San Diego County military station, according to the Miramar-based 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing’s public affairs office.

2. About 200 Kaiser Permanente employees in San Diego walked off the job today to protest proposed benefit cuts and what they regard as insufficient staffing levels. Audiologists, dieticians, health educators, social workers, speech pathologists and mental health therapists began picketing at the Kaiser Hospital in San Diego’s Allied Gardens neighborhood about 6 a.m. Leighton Woodhouse of the National Union of Healthcare Workers said the employees would return to work Friday.

3. The National Weather Service forecast for today calls for patchy fog before 11am. Otherwise, cloudy early, then clearing, with a high near 81. Calm wind becoming west between 5 and 10 mph. Tonight will be mostly clear, with a low around 58. West wind around 5 mph becoming calm.