Northeast
Pennsylvania mom warns parents swimming pool game caused children’s ‘freak’ drownings
A Philadelphia mother’s loss of two of her children, who drowned in a pool over Memorial Day weekend, highlights the danger of breath-holding games in the water – even when played by children who are typically strong swimmers.
Early last month, Brittney McWhite made the decision to pull 14-year-old Wadale and 11-year-old London Marie off life support.
A week earlier, all was well in McWhite’s household, and she and her six children visited their aunt’s house for a Memorial Day cookout in New Jersey, Fox 29 reported.
“When we got there, I was like, ‘OK, I’ll help set up the food.’ Kids were playing in the pool. They were playing a game where you go down, Marco Polo, and you hold your breath,” McWhite told Fox News Digital.
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London Marie, 11, and Wadale, 14, died on June 2 after their mother made the decision to pull them off life support. Although they could both swim, both drowned while playing a breath-holding version of Marco Polo over Memorial Day weekend. (Fox 29 Philadelphia)
After three or four minutes, McWhite realized that she couldn’t see her children, who were both able to swim.
Family members leaped into the pool to pull out the two children, and “when they got out everyone was all hands on deck.”
“I am CPR certified. But in that moment, when it’s your own child, you go into shock, everything is shock for you – you can’t perform the thing you know how to do,” McWhite said.
Monroe Township Police received a call at 6:46 p.m. for a report of the two kids drowning, Fox 29 Philadelphia reported.
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Brittney McWhite, pictured with daughter London Marie and her 9-year-old daughter, is speaking out about pool safety after the tragic incident. (Brittney McWhite)
London Marie and Wadale were on life support for a week at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. Their mother said neither child showed signs of brain activity from the moment they were admitted and that they had regular seizures.
There was a small window of hope when both children began to take small breaths on their own, but ultimately, “the only thing keeping them alive was the machines,” she said.
“Keep your kids close. Tell your kids you love them while they’re here. Once something happens, all you have is memories,” Brittney McWhite told Fox News Digital. (Fox 29 Philadelphia)
“Keep your kids close. Tell your kids you love them while they’re here. Once something happens, all you have is memories,” McWhite told Fox News Digital. “It’s horrible, you never get those back. It’s hard, but you have other kids, and you still have a family. You don’t have time to grieve.”
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Brittney McWhite told Fox News Digital that her surviving children no longer play games in the water. (Brittney McWhite)
From now on, McWhite said she and her children are especially vigilant in the water.
“I’ll always be present, I’ll always be there. Life jackets, floaties, whatever they need,” McWhite said.
“My recommendation for parents is to prevent [their] kids from holding their breath while going underwater,” she said. “If they are going to go underwater, definitely make sure that they have eyes on them at all times; just because they know how to swim [doesn’t mean] freak accidents [can’t] happen.”
A report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that “dangerous underwater breath-holding behaviors” can lead to involuntary drowning in otherwise healthy people. Swimmers can suffer from “hypoxic blackout” or “breath-hold blackout,” which can lead to death.
According to Shallow Water Blackout Prevention, a nonprofit group dedicated to raising awareness about such deaths, the phenomenon happens when a swimmer faints due to a lack of oxygen to the brain. This can be triggered by holding your breath repeatedly or too long. Without immediate rescue, the swimmer quickly drowns.
London Marie, pictured, and her brother, Wadale, were on life support for a week before they died on June 2. (Brittney McWhite)
The organization was founded by the mother of a young man who died in his family’s swimming pool while doing breath-holding training, and it has support from Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps.
What’s more, lifeguards and other guardians can mistake drowning children at the bottom of the pool for children playing games involving breath holding.
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“This is the new ‘no diving,’” lifeguard Jeff Little told WRAL about signs prohibiting breath holding at the YMCA where he works, reminiscent of signs around pool decks that warn against diving in shallow parts of pools to prevent spinal injuries.
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Northeast
Pilot, passenger swim to safety after plane crashes into New York’s Hudson River
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A pilot and passenger swam through the frigid waters of the Hudson River and reached shore safely after their Cessna 172 made an emergency landing Monday night, officials said.
The aircraft had taken off from Long Island when the pilot was forced to land in the river just after 8 p.m., the Middle Hope Fire Department said in a Facebook post.
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating the incident.
Middle Hope Fire Department responders, along with personnel from other agencies, were dispatched to the scene. After a brief search, first responders located the plane within the City of Newburgh, authorities said.
A plane wades in the Hudson River. (Facebook/Middle Hope Fire Department)
Fire officials said the two occupants were able to free themselves from the aircraft and swim to shore. Newburgh Emergency Medical Services evaluated the pair before they were transported to a nearby hospital for further treatment.
Multiple agencies were on the scene after a plane crashed into the Hudson River. (Facebook/Middle Hope Fire Department)
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul hailed the incident as “Another miracle on Hudson.”
“Thank God both the pilot and passenger of a single engine plane that performed an ice landing near Newburgh have been located with only minor injuries,” the governor wrote in a post on X. “Grateful to our first responders for their quick actions.”
A plane made an emergency landing on the Hudson River Monday evening. (Facebook/Middle Hope Fire Department)
New York Rep. Pat Ryan said he was “closely monitoring reports of a small plane making an emergency landing near the Newburgh-Beacon Bridge.”
“I’m in touch with officials on the ground, who have shared that both passengers are safely out of the water & have been evacuated by EMS,” he said. “Incredibly grateful for our Hudson Valley first responders who are responding swiftly and put their lives on the line to keep others safe.”
First responders found the plane within the city limits of Newburgh. (Facebook/Middle Hope Fire Department)
The cause of the emergency landing remains under investigation.
Read the full article from Here
Boston, MA
Boston honors first casualty of American Revolution – The Boston Globe
“In moments of challenge and in moments of conflict, it does feel easier to put your head down,” Wu said at an event at the Old State House commemorating Attucks.
“Remembering the full history pushes us to be the beacon of freedom that the rest of the country and the rest of the world so very much needs.”
Inside the Old State House’s council chambers, city leaders, historians, and students gathered to celebrate Attucks’ legacy. They talked about the importance of memorializing him during a time when many present said the contributions of people of color to American history were being erased by the Trump administration, and the country’s founding principles were under attack.
Senator Lydia Edwards said the death of Attucks and the four others killed during the Boston Massacre helped establish important legal principles that still guide the country today.
Following the killings, British soldiers involved in the incident were put on trial. John Adams, who later became president, agreed to defend them in court, arguing that the rule of law must be upheld even during times of intense conflict.
“Even in these moments of strife, oppression of rogue federal government, that we remember that we stood up and still held to our court system, to the rule of law and to due process,” Edwards said. “We also remember who had to die in order to remind ourselves to do that.”
City Councilor Brian Worrell said Attucks was a symbol of the long struggle for equality in the country.
“It’s a story that is a reminder that Black and Indigenous Americans have always been at the forefront [of] the fight for justice,” Worrell said.
He said when he recounts Boston’s Black history, he almost always starts with Attucks’ story.
“He fought not simply against the tea tax or the Stamp Act, he fought for the most basic of rights. He fought for equal human lives. It’s a fight we as a city are still having,” he said.
Wu spoke about how on March 5, 2025, she was called to testify before Congress about Boston’s immigration policies during a six-hour hearing. She touted Boston’s safety record amid aggressive questioning, arguing that the city’s immigration policies improved public safety.
“On the 255th anniversary of the Boston Massacre, on Crispus Attucks Day, there was no way that this city wasn’t going to be represented in standing up for what’s right,” Wu said.
A chandelier lit the council chamber and red curtains covered its historic windows. On both sides of the room, students sat with their teachers. Winners of the Crispus Attucks Essay Contest, which invites local students to explore Attucks’ legacy, sat next to the podium.
“Sometimes history repeats itself,” said Toni Martin, an attendee at the event, who came to support her niece, who was being awarded. “Sometimes it gets better, but it takes revolutionary people to make change perfect.”
Outside of the State House after the commemoration, Sharahn Pullum, 18, who came in second for the essay contest, said, “My inspiration was just getting the opportunity to speak on something that matters.”
Michael Kelly, 65, joined the wreath-laying ceremony that took place at the Boston Massacre Commemorative Plaza. Kelly held a sign that said, “Ice Out Be Goode,” referring to Renee Good, a US citizen who was shot and killed by immigration agents in Minneapolis earlier this year.
Kelly said he had been standing at the plaza for three hours and is planning to stand there the entire day.
“People can stretch their imaginations to understand that this place, what happened here, is not at all different than what happened in Minneapolis,” Kelly said with tears in his eyes. “People standing up for something they believe in is vastly important, and we can’t be daunted.”

Aayushi Datta can be reached at aayushi.datta@globe.com.
Pittsburg, PA
Pirates Winning Streak Ends With Loss to Cardinals
PITTSBURGH — The Pittsburgh Pirates have had a strong showing so far in the Grapefruit League, but suffered a surprising defeat.
The Pirates lost 3-2 to the St. Louis Cardinals at LECOM Park in Bradenton, Fla., taking just their third defeat in Spring Training so far, dropping to 9-3 in the Grapefruit League.
Pittsburgh saw their five-game winning streak come to an end, but they are still level with the New York Yankees at the top of the Grapefruit League standings.
This game also came after the first off day for the Pirates on March 4 and a 7-1 win over Team Colombia in an exhibition at LECOM Park on March 3.
How the Pirates Fell to the Cardinals
Pirates right-handed pitcher Mitch Keller made his third start in the Grapefruit League and threw three scoreless innings, before giving up a solo home run to Cardinals third baseman Nolan Gorman on a slider down in the zone, putting the road team up 1-0 in the top of the fourth inning.
That represented the first run that Keller gave up all Spring Training and Pirates left-handed relief pitcher Derek Diamond came in for him after he gave up a single to Cardinals right fielder Jordan Walker.
Keller has just a 1.23 ERA over 7.1 innings for the Pirates in the Grapefruit League, a good start for the veteran on the starting rotation.
St. Louis loaded the bases against Pirates left-handed relief pitcher Evan Sisk in the top of the fifth inning with three walks, but Sisk struckout top prospect in shortstop JJ Wetherholt and forced Gorman into a double play to keep it a one-run game.
Pirates right-handed relief pitcher Chris Devenski gave up a run in the top of the sixth inning, as he walked second baseman Ramón Urías, who stole second base, then gave up a single to catcher Pedro Pagés, doubling the Cardinals’ lead at 2-0.
The Pirates tied the game up at 2-2 in the bottom of the sixth inning, as shortstop Alika Williams hit a two-run home run off of Cardinals left-handed pitcher Quinn Mathews.
Pirates right-handed relief pitcher Cam Sanders gave up the go-ahead run in the top of the eighth inning, hitting leadoff batter Joshua Baez with a pitch and then giving up a single to pinch-hitter Jimmy Crooks to make it 3-2.
Right fielder Ryan O’Hearn had a strong showing for the Pirates in the loss to the Cardinals with two hits in two at-bats. He is now slashing .462/.563/.769 for an OPS of 1.332 in six Grapefruit League games.
Outfielder Jhostynxon Garcia had a hit off the bench for the Pirates, as he is now slashing .533/.611/.733 for an OPS of 1.344 in seven games.
Make sure to visit Pirates OnSI for the latest news, updates, interviews and insight on the Pittsburgh Pirates!
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