The raw emotion  We start your week on an unbelievably tragic note with the news, first reported by TMZ, that Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash in Calabasas yesterday. The pilot and all eight passengers aboard the helicopter also died in the crash, which occurred shortly before 10 a.m. amid foggy conditions.
Richard Winton, Dan Woike, Sonali Kohli, Tania Ganguli and Ben Poston at the Los Angeles Times are reporting that federal investigators are looking for answers as to why the helicopter crashed. The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board are investigating, with assistance from the FBI. Fernando Alfonso, Amir Vera and Aimee Lewis have been providing ongoing updates at CNN, including the news that, for the next seven days, every professional team in all levels of basketball throughout Italy will honor Bryant with a moment of silence in every game. Bryant grew up in Italy during the 1980s when his father played for a series of local teams in the country. He spoke fluent Italian. 
The tributes have been pouring in, and we’ll share just a few of them here. In his Los Angeles Times column, Bill Plaschke asks, How can Kobe Bryant be gone? His legend wasn't supposed to end this way (92,000+ shares). “I’m screaming right now, cursing into the sky, crying into my keyboard, and I don’t care who knows it,” he writes. Sam Farmer says, “The raw emotion in this @billplaschke column captures how so many of us feel on this terrible day. And it demonstrates why Plaschke is second to none in his job.” Adds Tim Kawakami, “Nobody wrote about Kobe better or for longer than Bill Plaschke. It’s the column I had to read and hits me the hardest.” “Go ahead and keep crying, you won’t be alone,” Plaschke says. “A huge hole has been cut out of Los Angeles’ heart, and the wound is breathtaking.” Richard Deitsch shares, “Two columns on Kobe Bryant. Very different. Worth reading both.” Plaschke’s is one. The other is from Charles P. Pierce at Esquire, It Is a Terrible Irony That Kobe Bryant Should Fall From the Sky. Quoting Jim Carroll (“In basketball, you can correct your mistakes immediately and beautifully, and in midair”), Pierce addresses the 2003 rape case brought against Bryant by a 19-year-old hotel worker in Colorado. “There was no way to work that night in the Colorado hotel into the biography that unspooled thereafter and came to such a sudden end on Sunday,” he writes. In the end, says Pierce, we’ll have to judge whether Bryant corrected his mistakes immediately and beautifully. Doug Tribou says, “When difficult situations in sports require context and deeper thought, few write about them as well as my former @OnlyAGameNPR colleague @CharlesPPierce.” Danielle Cadet agrees: “This from @CharlesPPierce is spot on & poignant. Legacies can be complicated. Heroes can be flawed. We need to leave room for that — and all the feelings that come with it.” At The Atlantic, Jemele Hill shares, “I found the words. My piece for the @TheAtlantic on @kobebryant. Hardest column I’ve ever written and I cried through most of it.” That’s her piece on The Kobe Bryant I Knew, about which Adrienne LaFrance urges, “Read @jemelehill on Kobe Bryant, scoring magician and defender of unpopular opinions.” Jackie MacMullan of ESPN remembers Kobe Bryant as relentless, curious and infinitely complicated. Tim Bontemps highlights, “Jackie MacMullan on Kobe Bryant, including thoughts from Michael Jordan, Charles Barkley and Jerry West on his passing - plus Kobe helping her learn how to text.” We’re with Kelly Cohen, who says, “this kicker by jackie macmullan gutted me.” 
Meanwhile, Molly Knight of The Athletic writes about Bryant’s daughter, Remembering Gigi Bryant (2006-2020). As Eric Stephens tweets, “@molly_knight tells you a little bit about Gianna Bryant. Gigi was poised to write her own story.” And Steve Fryer of the OC Register reveals that Orange Coast College baseball coach John Altobelli, his wife and daughter also died in the crash. The Grammys paid tribute to Bryant last night as well, which Hilary Lewis recaps at The Hollywood Reporter. Host Alicia Keys pointed out, “We’re literally standing here heartbroken in the house that Kobe Bryant built.” A confusing and bizarre choice One strange footnote to the coverage over the past 24 hours: Ariel Zilber reports at the Daily Mail that The Washington Post suspended journalist Felicia Sonmez after she tweeted a link to a 2016 Daily Beast story about Kobe Bryant’s rape case from 2003. Max Tani thinks, “This is insane and clearly an overreaction by WaPo. The rape allegation is a part of Kobe’s legacy. Punishing a reporter for pointing that out is confusing and a bizarre choice for an outlet that does serious reporting on harassment and misconduct.” Sonmez says she received death threats after posting the tweets. Every day, more evidence 
Back to the impeachment saga, this big story dropped yesterday: “SCOOP: Bolton book draft, circulated to associates and sent to WH for review process, describes a convo w POTUS where he says he doesn’t want to release withheld aid till Ukraine turned over material related to investigations.” Maggie Haberman links to her scoop with Michael Schmidt of The New York Times, Trump Tied Ukraine Aid to Inquiries He Sought, Bolton Book Says (233,000+ shares). Smells a bit quid pro quo-ish, no? “Every day, more evidence,” as Charles Blow says. Schmidt also highlights a “New data point in Barr timeline. Bolton says that after Trump’s July call with Zelensky, he told Barr that Trump mentioned his name on the call. DOJ has said that Barr learned about the call in mid-August in the context of the whistle-blower’s complaint.” Jonah Goldberg points out, “Seems to me that if you don’t think Bolton should be a witness it’s simply because you want to protect Trump more than anything else.” Adds Kara Swisher, “The truth always out, not matter how the GOP tries to outrun it, squash it or lie about it. One thing is clear: They own it, every corrupt and rancid bit.” In light of that bombshell report, Democrats are calling for Bolton to testify in the impeachment trial, writes Seung Min Kim of The Washington Post. After the publication of the Times report, “The odds of deposition for new witnesses is certainly rising dramatically,” one senior Republican official told her. 
In an op-ed for The New York TImes, Neal Katyal, Joshua A. Geltzer and Mickey Edwards argue that John Roberts Can Call Witnesses to Trump’s Trial. Will He? Tweets Kimberly Atkins, “It’s Chief Justice John Roberts’ 65th birthday, and there’s more than cake on his plate: as new revelations from John Bolton’s book drop in the middle of the impeachment trial, legal scholars and a former lawmaker say Roberts can subpoena Bolton himself.” The Trump pathology is contagious In case you missed it, here’s the full transcript of Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s interview with NPR’s Mary Louise Kelly last week. You may remember that Pompeo said Kelly lied in setting up that interview with him, but as Paul Farhi now reports at The Washington Post, email records support the journalist’s account of how the contentious exchange came to be. Julie Brown wonders, “Is it more than a coincidence that the reporters Pompeo has treated badly are all women??” Kurt Andersen says he “Figured @SecPompeo was shrewd enough not to lie (about someone lying) when he could be so quickly and easily and definitively proven to be lying. The Trump pathology is contagious.” Meanwhile, former ambassador to Ukraine William Taylor has penned an op-ed in The New York Times to the Secretary, explaining why Yes, Secretary Pompeo, Americans Should Care About Ukraine. In which “Bill Taylor claps back at Pompeo,” tweets Andrew Desiderio. Edward Wong calls it a “Must-read by Bill Taylor — ambassador to Ukraine who testified to Congress about Trump’s shadow policy. It looks like Taylor is furious at his old boss @SecPompeo, who dropped F-bombs while asking @NPRKelly: ‘Do you think Americans care about Ukraine?’” As Taylor points out, “Until Russia recommits to a rules-based international order, Western nations are in jeopardy. Ukraine is the front line.” Media news 
Sarah Ellison of The Washington Post gives us the backstory on The 19th, a new media outlet covering the intersection of women and politics that’s launching as the 2020 election kicks off. The repeated refrain on Twitter: “SO excited to see where this goes,” as Terri Rupar tweets. Nicholas Jackson offers up a “Happy launch day to @eramshaw,@amzam, @andreamvaldez, and co.! I’m excited for this—and for the other niche non-profit journalism launches I imagine we’re going to see this year.” Adds Tracy Jan, “Congratulations to @eramshaw & your all-star team on the long-awaited launch of The 19th, covering the intersection of women and politics 100 years after white women got the right to vote. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾” And Ed O’Keefe shares, “As someone who once worked for/with @amzam, I know she’s been dreaming of doing something like this for years — and that it’s going to be a serious, smart outlet. Congrats on the launch!” Head over to The 19th News website to find out more about it. Marc Tracy of The New York Times writes about how worried journalists at the Chicago Tribune and elsewhere are sending out an S.O.S.: Please Buy Our Paper. “This is a remarkable effort by @chicagotribune journalists to find a new owner. Their pitch: ‘It’s one thing to put your name on a museum, but this is to save an institution that safeguards this city.’ I talked to @marcatracy for this story,” tweets Ann Marie Lipinski. As the Chicago Tribune Guild puts it, “We will not go without a fight. Thanks to everyone who is stepping up for our readers, our newsrooms and our company.” And Tom Gara links to some more “Monday morning media news!” Rosie Gray of BuzzFeed News brings us the scoop that Leftist Magazine Jewish Currents Is Expanding — And Hiring A Leading Writer On American Jewish Politics. She reports that Peter Beinart is leaving his post as a columnist for The Forward to write a twice-monthly column for Jewish Currents. Grammys round-up 
It’s been a rough one already, so we’ll leave you with some coverage that might help take the edge off. First, Gwen Aviles of NBC News catches you up with the top moments from the Grammys, and David Oliver of USA Today reveals some of the Grammys moments you didn’t see. But most important, as Stephen Daw writes for Billboard, Please Give Billy Porter’s Spectacular, Outrageous Hat All of the Grammys. And at Vanity Fair, Kenzie Bryant gets the story on How Billy Porter’s Motorized Hat Came to Be. “Billy Porter with remote-control fringe. What more do we need in life?” asks Sher Spooner. | 
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