Southwest
Rodeo star's son Levi Wright dies after Utah river accident: report
Saddle bronc champion Spencer Wright’s 3-year-old son has died nearly two weeks after he fell off his toy tractor and into a Utah river, drowning and losing oxygen to his brain, a family friend said.
The toddler was airlifted to Beaver Valley Hospital after the accident in Beaver Creek on May 21, Fox News Digital previously reported.
He remained in critical condition there until the family made the decision to take the boy off life support on Sunday, family friend Mindy Sue Clark told People magazine.
“I cannot even begin to explain how hard the last two weeks have been,” Clark, who told Fox News Digital that she is the boy’s mother’s best friend, wrote in a Facebook post Monday. “From the moment my phone rang the night of his accident, to last night receiving the message that he had to go.”
RODEO STAR SPENCER WRIGHT’S FAMILY HOPES TO WEAN CRITICALLY INJURED 3-YEAR-OLD OFF BREATHING TUBE
Levi Wright with his father, saddle bronc riding champion Spencer Wright. (Kallie Wright/Facebook)
The boy’s mother, Kallie Wright, wrote in a separate Facebook post Sunday that their family had to “face [their] biggest fear” after “several sleepless nights, lots of research, multiple conversations with the world’s best neurologists [and] millions of prayers.”
“Levi showed us just enough to buy us time for all this,” she wrote. “We prayed those things were him defying the odds and proving to us that he wanted to stay here, but we see now he wanted to give us time to find peace with letting him go.”
WIFE OF RODEO STAR SPENCER WRIGHT SHARES TRAGIC UPDATE ON THREE-YEAR-OLD SON LEVI AFTER RIVER ACCIDENT
Levi, 3, is with his mother. (Kallie Wright/Facebook)
The toddler was swept up by the river in the moments that his mother took to run inside – when she came outside to find her son’s tractor alongside the river and the boy missing, she contacted authorities and amassed a search party.
The 3-year-old’s mother dialed 911 on May 21 when she saw Levi’s toy tractor overturned by the river with no sight of the boy. (Kallie Wright/Facebook)
In the initial days afterward, Levi’s prognosis was not good, with Clark writing that “his sweet little brain was without oxygen too long” and that the family “[felt] strongly that his spirit [was] no longer with us.”
Levi’s mother wrote shortly after his hospitalization that their family “feared [Levi’s] soul is no longer with us.” (Kallie Wright/Facebook)
The boy began to show promising signs of brain function last week, briefly opening his eyes and showing a reaction to his sister’s voice on an EEG, according to earlier Facebook posts. The family had hoped to wean the boy off his breathing tube pending further promising results.
But the toddler’s mother wrote in her post yesterday that she would soon “climb into bed with [her] baby and hold him as he falls asleep for the last time on Earth,” saying she found “comfort in knowing he will be restored to the perfect little boy he was.”
RODEO STAR SPENCER WRIGHT’S 3-YEAR-OLD SON HOSPITALIZED AFTER FALLING INTO UTAH RIVER ON TOY TRACTOR
Despite the tragic outcome, both Clark and Levi’s mother were in awe of the community response to the boy’s situation.
“I don’t want to focus on the bad or sad, even though it feels like someone ripped my heart out and squeezed it right in front of me. I want to focus on the many miracles we all got to bear witness to in those 12 days,” Clark wrote in her post, referring to the time between the boy’s accident and his death on Sunday.
“Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of people surrounded our best little buddy, lifted him up in prayer and threw their loving arms around Levi and his family,” she said.
Spencer Wright competes during the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, March 5, 2014, in Houston. (Marie D. De Jesus/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
Before his death, his mother wrote in her post, Levi “brought out humanity across the nation… dropped so many to their knees and reminded them what truly matters in this world.”
The toddler’s father, 33-year-old Spencer Wright, is ranked No. 40 in the world in saddle bronc riding. He and his three brothers made history in 2014 when all four qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Wright ultimately won the championship.
The family was the subject of the book “The Last Cowboys” and has been featured on an episode of “60 Minutes.”
Spencer Wright, 33, is ranked No. 40 in the world in saddle bronc riding. (Stacie Scott/The Deseret News via AP)
Earlier this year, Wright won the Rio Grande Livestock Show and Rodeo in Mercedes, Texas.
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Long Beach will hold a pride festival this weekend after the one they originally had scheduled was canceled.
Long Beach city officials said the celebration was nixed after the nonprofit that organizes it, Long Beach Pride, failed to submit the required information for an event permit.
It was supposed to start on Friday and last through Sunday.
“Despite continued collaboration and multiple deadline notices, the City did not receive the required documentation needed to complete safety reviews, inspect critical event infrastructure, such as the stage, electrical systems and tent, and emergency exiting plans to ensure compliance with public safety standards,” the city of Long Beach said in a statement. “With event programming scheduled to begin on May 15 at 5 p.m. with Teen Pride and essential information still outstanding, there is no longer sufficient time to safely permit the festival this year.”
Officials noted that they were working to see if a “shortened event” could be held this weekend, and indeed, an agreement was reached to stage a one-day gathering on Sunday.
Billed as “Canceled? Never Heard of Her!” and emceed by comedian and drag queen Jewels, it will still bring the city’s LGBTQ community together after Sunday morning’s Long Beach Pride Parade, which was not canceled.
“Long Beach Pride weekend is a culmination of celebrations put on by our community, including our many vibrant restaurants, bars and businesses, and that will never change,” Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson said in a press release issued late Saturday night. “Along with the Pride Parade, we are proud to join the party with this new event that reaffirms what this City has always stood for: that every person belongs here.”
“The festival may have been canceled, but Long Beach drag artists don’t cancel joy,” added Jewels Long Beach.
The one-day “Canceled? Never Heard of Her!” festival will take place at Bixby Park from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. A free event, it will include music by several performers and a drag show.
More information can be found here.
Los Angeles, Ca
L.A. Jewish institution among targets of foiled terrorist attack, U.S. officials say
A Jewish institution in Los Angeles was among the locations targeted in a recently foiled terrorism plot, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Jay Clayton announced this week.
The thwarted terrorist attacks were the result of the recent arrest of Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, an Iraqi national and senior member of Kata’ib Hizballah, U.S. officials said.
“Mohammad Baqer Saad Dawood Al-Saadi, a commander for the terrorist organization, Kata’ib Hizballah, faces serious charges for his role in numerous attacks against U.S. interests across the globe, including his efforts to kill on U.S. soil,” Clayton said. “As alleged, for years, Al-Saadi committed himself to furthering the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the IRGC, two terrorist organizations dedicated to harming the United States and its allies.”
Al-Saadi recently attempted to carry out attacks in the U.S., officials said, including attacks at Jewish cultural places of interest in New York, Los Angeles and Scottsdale, Ariz.
“Al-Saadi attempted to disrupt American society through intimidation and violence,” a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office reads. “… Those who engage in or support terrorism against Americans and on U.S. soil should take note: the whole of the federal government is committed to dismantling terrorist organizations and bringing their members to justice.”
In a three-month period, Al-Saadi allegedly directed 18 terrorist attacks throughout Europe, including bombings, arson, and assaults targeting American citizens and points of interest. Prior to his arrest, national security officials say he was planning similar attacks on U.S. soil. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg said that Al-Saadi “presented a serious threat to our national security.”
The European attacks included the bombing of the Bank of New York Mellon, an American bank, in Amsterdam on March 15. On April 29, two Jewish men, one of whom was a dual U.S.-British citizen, were stabbed and seriously injured in London.
In 2020, Al-Saadi took to social media, calling for others to attack and kill Americans in retribution for the deaths of Iranian military officer Qasem Soleimani and Iraqi military commander Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, U.S. officials said. In more recent months, Al-Saadi allegedly used social media to encourage the killing of Americans and Jews to further the terrorist goals of Kata’ib Hizballah and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
“In or about February 2026, for example, AL-SAADI posted on one of his social media accounts a message in Arabic, which read in part, ‘Do not abandon the blood of your Imam of the time, oh Shiites of Iraq. Kill everyone who supports America and Israel. Do not leave any of them remaining. Civil and military targets, as well as voices of discord, kill them everywhere.’” U.S. officials said.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica S. Tisch confirmed that one of the U.S. targets was a Manhattan synagogue. On April 3, Al-Saadi allegedly spoke to an undercover law enforcement officer whom Al-Saadi believed could carry out attacks in the U.S. That same day, Al-Saadi allegedly texted the undercover officers photographs and maps showing the exact location of a prominent Jewish synagogue in New York City.
Officials have not said what specific locations in L.A. and Arizona were targeted by the terrorist group.
Al-Saadi now faces numerous charges for these crimes in U.S. court. If convicted, he could be sentenced to life in prison.
The case is under investigation by the FBI’s New York Joint Terrorism Task Force, which is comprised of investigators and analysts from the FBI, the NYPD, the FBI Washington Field Office, Counterterrorism Division, and more than 50 other federal, state, and local agencies. Investigators also received help from the Department of Justice’s National Security Division, Counterterrorism Section, the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, and U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
A man armed with a knife was shot by L.A. police officers responding to an assault with a deadly weapon call overnight, authorities said.
According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers with the Hollenbeck Division responded to an apartment complex in the 3000 block of Glenn Avenue in Boyle Heights at 1:45 a.m. Saturday after callers reported a male suspect was armed with a knife and had just assaulted someone in the complex.
Arriving officers found the suspect in front of the residence, but he did not comply with officers’ commands to drop the weapon. He then advanced toward the officers and an officer-involved shooting occurred, LAPD confirmed.
“The suspect was struck by gunfire and remained non-compliant,” the LAPD Public Information Officer said on X early Saturday morning. “Officers deployed a 40mm foam round and ultimately took the suspect into custody.”
Video obtained by KTLA shows the man being loaded into an ambulance and taken to a hospital; officials said he was transported in stable condition, adding that his knife was recovered at the scene and booked as evidence.
No officers or community members were injured during the incident. The man’s name was not released.
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