A US military fighter aircraft shot down the Chinese spy balloon that had been floating across the country's airspace Saturday as it moved beyond the shores of South Carolina and over the Atlantic Ocean.

The balloon, which US officials described as a "high-altitude surveillance balloon," entered the continental airspace on Tuesday near Idaho before drifting over Montana. Chinese officials claimed that the balloon was a civilian airship with "mainly meteorological purposes" and said it ended up over the US by accident. But US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said in a statement that the government believes the device was being used by the People's Republic of China "in an attempt to surveil strategic sites in the continental United States."

After days of breathless coverage of its intrusion into American airspace, people online couldn't help but crack some jokes about its demise. Many wondered why the Chinese government felt the need to send the big white vessel — which was described as being about three buses wide — in the first place. Aren't they already surveilling us on that app where grown adults film themselves lip-syncing to Mickey Mouse theme songs?

The EMTs supposed to treat Tyre Nichols failed to help him for 19 minutes, a review finds

• A sixth Memphis police officer who was involved in the arrest that led to the death of Tyre Nichols was fired. Officer Preston Hemphill, who deployed his Taser during the Jan. 7 incident and is heard on his body camera video saying, “I hope they stomp his ass” after officers catch up to Nichols, was initially suspended from the police force on Monday. Memphis police are continuing to investigate other officers for department violations in relation to Nichols’s death.

Also, the Tennessee Department of Health suspended the licenses of EMTs Robert Long and JaMichael Sandridge. A review by the department’s Board of Emergency Medical Services found that for 19 minutes the emergency medical workers failed to check Nichols’s vital signs, conduct an examination, and provide him with oxygen.

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What experts say about cracking your neck and your risk of stroke. In fact, any sudden movement of the cervical spine — which includes the seven bones in the neck — can result in an injury to your neck arteries.

No charges will be filed against the police officers who shot and ultimately killed a 28-year-old man in Ohio who, according to his family, was cleaning out his late grandmother's house. Joe Frasure Jr., 28, was transported to the hospital in critical condition and died last week.

Alec Baldwin allegedly skipped a mandatory firearms safety session and was "distracted" on his phone during private training before the tragic Rust shooting. The movie’s armorer, Hannah Gutierrez-Reed, has claimed that she “pleaded” with producers to give Baldwin more firearms training before he accidentally shot and killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins.