A fatal plane crash in Watertown, Wisconsin, claimed the lives of a 73-year-old pilot and his 8-year-old grandson joining him for a flight up to northern Wisconsin.Summit View Elementary School sent a letter to inform families about the tragic loss of student Colin Strebe on June 14 due to an accident.The aircraft plunged into a grove of trees at Brandt Quirk Park near a residential area on Wednesday at approximately 9 a.m. Investigators spent much of Thursday at the site, where pieces of the wreckage were spread across the soccer field.The National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration were at the airport hangar to examine the evidence. According to reports from Federal Aviation Administration, the plane had just taken off from the Municipal Airport about 3 miles from the accident site. Sources say the flight was planned to Manitowish Waters.Investigators will collect as much information as they can from witnesses, and the wreckage itself, to determine, if they can, what led to this family tragedy in Watertown.Watertown police department said the Brandt Quirk Park would remain closed through the weekend for site cleanup.Police have yet to identify the victims, officially saying only that there were two victims. The pilot is from Watertown, and his grandson is from Waukesha.The FAA and National Transportation Board will lead the investigation. WATCH: Scary moment for Watertown neighbors who heard and 'felt' the plane crashTOP STORIESHungry bear eats employee's lunch in company truckFox Point pool will be closed for the summerCheap Trick cancels Summerfest performance

Thick, smoky air from Canadian wildfires made for days of misery in New York City and across the U.S. Northeast this week. But for much of the rest of the world, breathing dangerously polluted air is an inescapable fact of life — and death.Almost the entire world breathes air that exceeds the World Health Organization's air-quality limits at least occasionally. The danger grows worse when that bad air is more persistent than the nightmarish shroud that hit the U.S. — usually in developing or newly industrialized nations. That's where most of the 4.2 million deaths blamed on outdoor air pollution occurred in 2019, the UN's health agency reported.“Air pollution has no boundaries, and it is high time everyone comes together to fight it,” said Bhavreen Kandhari, the co-founder of Warrior Moms in India, a network of mothers pushing for clean air and climate action in a nation with some of the world's consistently worst air. “What we are seeing in the U.S. should shake us all."“This is a severe air pollution episode in the U.S.,” said Jeremy Sarnat, a professor of environmental health at Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health. "But it’s fairly typical for what millions and millions of people experience in other parts of the world.”Last year, nine of the 10 cities with the highest annual average of fine particulate matter were in Asia — including six in India, according to air quality company IQAir, which aggregates readings from ground level monitoring stations worldwide.Fine particulate matter, sometimes denoted as PM 2.5, refers to airborne particles or droplets of 2.5 microns or less. That’s far smaller than a human hair, and the particles can reach deep into lungs to cause eye, nose, throat and lung irritation and even affect heart function.Sajjad Haider, a 31-year-old shopkeeper in Lahore, Pakistan, rides his motorbike to work daily. He wears a mask and goggles against frequent air pollution in the city of 11 million, but suffers from eye infections, breathing problems and chest congestion that get worse as smog grows in winter.On his doctor's advice, he relies on hot water and steam to clear his chest, but said he cannot follow another bit of the doctor's advice: Don't go out on his motorbike if he wants to keep his health.“I can't afford a car and I can't continue my business without a motorbike," said Haider.Last year, Lahore had the world's highest average concentration of fine particulate matter at nearly 100 micrograms per cubic meter of air. By comparison, New York City’s concentration hit 303 at one point on Wednesday.But New York's air typically falls well within healthy levels. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s standard for exposure is no more than 35 micrograms per day, and no more than 12 micrograms a day for longer-term exposure. New York’s annual average was 10 or below the past two years.New Delhi, a heaving city of more than 20 million where Kandhari lives, usually tops the list of the many Indian cities gasping for breath as haze turns the capital's sky gray and obscures buildings and monuments. It's worse in autumn, when the burning of crop residues in neighboring states coincides with cooler temperatures that trap deadly smoke over the city, sometimes for weeks. Vehicle emissions and fireworks set off during the Hindu Diwali festival add to the murk, and the results include coughs, headaches, flight delays and highway pileups. The government sometimes asks residents to work from home or carpool, some schools go online and families that can afford them turn to air purifiers.On Thursday, even as a hazardous haze disrupted life for millions across the U.S., New Delhi still ranked as the second-most polluted city in the world, according to daily data from most air quality monitoring organizations.Kandhari, whose daughter had to give up outdoor sports over health scares related to the bad air, said the air pollution is constant but policymakers only seem to notice its most acute moments. That has to change, she said.“We should not compromise when it comes to access to cleaner air,” Kandhari said.Many African countries in the Sahara Desert regularly grapple with bad air due to sandstorms. On Thursday, AccuWeather gave nations ranging from Egypt to Senegal a rating of purple, for dangerous air quality. It was the same rating given this week to New York and Washington, D.C.Senegal has suffered unsafe air for years. It's especially bad in Senegal's east as desertification — the encroachment of the Sahara onto drylands — carries particles into the region, said Dr. Aliou Ba, a senior Greenpeace Africa campaigner based in the capital of Dakar.The Great Green Wall, a massive tree-planting effort aimed at slowing desertification, has been underway for years. But Ba said pollution has been growing worse as the number of cars on the road, burning low-quality fuel, increases.In the U.S., the 1970 passage of the Clean Air Act cleared up many smog-filled cities by setting limits on most sources of air pollution. The landmark regulation led to curbs on soot, smog, mercury and other toxic chemicals.But many developing and newly industrialized nations have weak or little-enforced environmental laws. They suffer increased air pollution for other reasons, too, including a reliance on coal, lower vehicle emissions standards and the burning of solid fuels for cooking and heating.In Jakarta, capital of Indonesia, the world's fourth-most populous country, it's often difficult to find clear blue sky, with power plants and vehicle emissions accounting for much of the pollution. It's also one of the world's largest coal-producing nations.In one apartment building in the north of the city, between two busy ports where coal is shipped and stockpiled and where factories burn more, residents tried filtering coal dust with a net. It didn't work.“My family and I often feel itching and coughing," Cecep Supriyadi, a 48-year-old resident, said. “So, when there is a lot of dust entering the flat, yes, we must be isolated at home. Because when we are outside the house, it feels like a sore throat, sore eyes, and itchy skin.”An Indonesian court in 2021 ruled that leaders had neglected citizens' rights to clean air and ordered them to improve it.China has improved since Beijing was notorious for eye-watering pollution that wreathed office towers in haze, diverted flights and sent the old and young to hospitals to be put on respirators. When the air was at its worst, schools that could afford it installed inflatable covers over sports fields with airlock-style revolving doors and home air filters became as ubiquitous as rice cookers.Key to the improvement was closing or moving heavy industries out of Beijing and nearby areas. Older vehicles were taken off the road, many replaced with electric vehicles. China still is the world’s largest producer and consumer of coal, but almost none is consumed at street level. The average PM 2.5 reading in Beijing in 2013 of 89.5 — well above the WHO’s standard of 10 — fell to 58 in 2017 and now sits at around 30. China had just one city — Hotan — in the world's top 10 for worst air.Mexico City, ringed by mountains that trap bad air, was one of the most polluted cities in the world until the 1990s, when the government began limiting the number of cars on the streets. Pollution levels dropped, but the city's 9 million people — 22 million including suburbs — rarely see a day when air pollution levels are considered “acceptable.”Each year, air pollution is responsible for nearly 9,000 deaths in Mexico City, according to the National Institute of Public Health. It's usually worse in the dry winter and early spring months, when farmers burn their fields to prepare for planting.Authorities haven’t released a full-year air quality report since 2020, but that year — not considered particularly bad for pollution, because the pandemic reduced traffic— Mexico City saw unacceptable air quality on 262 days, or 72% of the year.In the summer months, intense rains clean the city's air somewhat. That's what brought Verónica Tobar and her two children out Thursday to a small playground in the Acueducto neighborhood near one of the city's most congested avenues.“We don’t come when we see that the pollution is very strong," Tobar said. Those days “you feel it in your eyes, you cry, they’re itchy," she said.Her son was diagnosed with asthma last year and changes in temperature make it worse.“But we have to get out, we can’t be locked up,” Tobar said as her children jumped off a slide.___Naishadham reported from Washington. Associated Press researcher Yu Bing in Beijing and journalists Babar Dogar in Lahore, Pakistan; Mark Stevenson and Teresa de Miguel in Mexico City; Sheikh Saaliq in New Delhi; Sam Mednick in Dakar, Senegal; Edna Tarigan and Victoria Milko in Jakarta, Indonesia; and data journalist Camille Fassett in Seattle contributed to this report.

On air quality maps, purple signifies the worst of it. In reality, it's a thick, hazardous haze that's disrupting daily life for millions of people across the U.S. and Canada, blotting out skylines and turning skies orange.With weather systems expected to barely budge, the smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia and sending plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe should persist into Thursday and possibly the weekend.That means at least another day of a dystopian-style detour that's chased players from ballfields, actors from Broadway stages, delayed thousands of flights and sparked a resurgence in mask-wearing and remote work — all while raising concerns about the health effects of prolonged exposure to such bad air.Video below: Poor air quality can have negative health effectsThe weather system that's driving the great Canadian-American smokeout — a low-pressure system over Maine and Nova Scotia — "will probably be hanging around at least for the next few days," U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Ramsey said."Conditions are likely to remain unhealthy, at least until the wind direction changes or the fires get put out," Ramsey said. "Since the fires are raging — they're really large — they're probably going to continue for weeks. But it's really just going be all about the wind shift."Across the eastern U.S., officials warned residents to stay inside and limit or avoid outdoor activities again Thursday, extending "Code Red" air quality alerts in some places for a third straight day as forecasts showed winds continuing to push smoke-filled air south.The smoke has moved over Greenland and Iceland since June 1, and was expected to reach Norway on Thursday, the Norwegian Climate and Environmental Research Institute said, but wasn't expected to be a health concern.In Washington D.C., the roads were unusually clear as many stayed home and about half the people on the streets wore their pandemic-era masks. The local D.C. government canceled all outdoor activities at public schools and local senior centers, closed all public parks, suspended work by city road construction and paving crews, and delayed trash collection.The poor air quality also forced the closing of the National Zoo, a popular tourist attraction in the nation's capital. Zoo officials said they were taking the action "for the safety of our animals, our staff and our guests."In suburban Philadelphia, officials set up an emergency shelter so people living outside can take refuge from the haze.New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a briefing Thursday in Albany that "this continues to be a public health crisis," with the worst air quality since at least the 1960s."This is not over. We might get a little respite, but I don't want people to let down their guard and to become complacent about this because we have to be prepared for the winds to shift. This is the unknown," Hochul said.Video below: NY governor issues warning about air qualityThe message seemed to be getting through. Hochul said state officials have not noticed a spike in people going to emergency rooms, though there were a few hospitals New York City reporting more patients coming in.More than 400 blazes burning across Canada have left 20,000 people displaced. The U.S. has sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment to Canada. Other countries are also helping.Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to President Joe Biden by phone Wednesday. Trudeau's office said he thanked Biden for his support and that both leaders "acknowledged the need to work together to address the devastating impacts of climate change."Canadian officials say this is shaping up to be the country's worst wildfire season ever. It started early on drier-than-usual ground and accelerated quickly. Smoke from the blazes has been flowing into the U.S. since last month but intensified with recent fires in Quebec, where about 100 were considered out of control Wednesday.The smoke was so thick in Canada's capital, Ottawa, that office towers just across the Ottawa River were barely visible. In Toronto, Yili Ma said her hiking group canceled a planned hike this week, and she was forgoing the restaurant patios that are a beloved summer tradition in a nation known for hard winters."I put my mask away for over a year, and now I'm putting on my mask since yesterday," Ma lamented.Eastern Quebec got some rain Wednesday, but Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault said no significant rain is expected for days in the remote areas of central Quebec where the wildfires are more intense.In the U.S., federal officials delayed some flights bound Thursday morning for New York's LaGuardia Airport; Newark, New Jersey; and Philadelphia because smoke was limiting visibility. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that it will likely need to take steps to manage the flow of air traffic into Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, North Carolina, as well.Major League Baseball's Yankees, Phillies and Nationals had their games postponed. Hochul said air quality could affect the Belmont Stakes scheduled for Saturday in the New York City area.On Broadway, "Hamilton" and "Camelot" canceled Wednesday performances and "Prima Facie" star Jodie Comer left a matinee after 10 minutes because of difficulty breathing. The show restarted with an understudy, show publicists said.It was not to be at Central Park's outdoor stage, either. Shakespeare in the Park canceled its Thursday and Friday performances of "Hamlet," saying 'tis not nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of wretched air.

NEW YORK —

On air quality maps, purple signifies the worst of it. In reality, it's a thick, hazardous haze that's disrupting daily life for millions of people across the U.S. and Canada, blotting out skylines and turning skies orange.

With weather systems expected to barely budge, the smoky blanket billowing from wildfires in Quebec and Nova Scotia and sending plumes of fine particulate matter as far away as North Carolina and northern Europe should persist into Thursday and possibly the weekend.

That means at least another day of a dystopian-style detour that's chased players from ballfields, actors from Broadway stages, delayed thousands of flights and sparked a resurgence in mask-wearing and remote work — all while raising concerns about the health effects of prolonged exposure to such bad air.

Video below: Poor air quality can have negative health effects

The weather system that's driving the great Canadian-American smokeout — a low-pressure system over Maine and Nova Scotia — "will probably be hanging around at least for the next few days," U.S. National Weather Service meteorologist Bryan Ramsey said.

"Conditions are likely to remain unhealthy, at least until the wind direction changes or the fires get put out," Ramsey said. "Since the fires are raging — they're really large — they're probably going to continue for weeks. But it's really just going be all about the wind shift."

Across the eastern U.S., officials warned residents to stay inside and limit or avoid outdoor activities again Thursday, extending "Code Red" air quality alerts in some places for a third straight day as forecasts showed winds continuing to push smoke-filled air south.

Julio Cortez

The smoke has moved over Greenland and Iceland since June 1, and was expected to reach Norway on Thursday, the Norwegian Climate and Environmental Research Institute said, but wasn't expected to be a health concern.

In Washington D.C., the roads were unusually clear as many stayed home and about half the people on the streets wore their pandemic-era masks. The local D.C. government canceled all outdoor activities at public schools and local senior centers, closed all public parks, suspended work by city road construction and paving crews, and delayed trash collection.

The poor air quality also forced the closing of the National Zoo, a popular tourist attraction in the nation's capital. Zoo officials said they were taking the action "for the safety of our animals, our staff and our guests."

In suburban Philadelphia, officials set up an emergency shelter so people living outside can take refuge from the haze.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a briefing Thursday in Albany that "this continues to be a public health crisis," with the worst air quality since at least the 1960s.

"This is not over. We might get a little respite, but I don't want people to let down their guard and to become complacent about this because we have to be prepared for the winds to shift. This is the unknown," Hochul said.

Video below: NY governor issues warning about air quality

The message seemed to be getting through. Hochul said state officials have not noticed a spike in people going to emergency rooms, though there were a few hospitals New York City reporting more patients coming in.

More than 400 blazes burning across Canada have left 20,000 people displaced. The U.S. has sent more than 600 firefighters and equipment to Canada. Other countries are also helping.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau spoke to President Joe Biden by phone Wednesday. Trudeau's office said he thanked Biden for his support and that both leaders "acknowledged the need to work together to address the devastating impacts of climate change."

Canadian officials say this is shaping up to be the country's worst wildfire season ever. It started early on drier-than-usual ground and accelerated quickly. Smoke from the blazes has been flowing into the U.S. since last month but intensified with recent fires in Quebec, where about 100 were considered out of control Wednesday.

The smoke was so thick in Canada's capital, Ottawa, that office towers just across the Ottawa River were barely visible. In Toronto, Yili Ma said her hiking group canceled a planned hike this week, and she was forgoing the restaurant patios that are a beloved summer tradition in a nation known for hard winters.

"I put my mask away for over a year, and now I'm putting on my mask since yesterday," Ma lamented.

Eastern Quebec got some rain Wednesday, but Montreal-based Environment Canada meteorologist Simon Legault said no significant rain is expected for days in the remote areas of central Quebec where the wildfires are more intense.

In the U.S., federal officials delayed some flights bound Thursday morning for New York's LaGuardia Airport; Newark, New Jersey; and Philadelphia because smoke was limiting visibility. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that it will likely need to take steps to manage the flow of air traffic into Washington, D.C., and Charlotte, North Carolina, as well.

Major League Baseball's Yankees, Phillies and Nationals had their games postponed. Hochul said air quality could affect the Belmont Stakes scheduled for Saturday in the New York City area.

On Broadway, "Hamilton" and "Camelot" canceled Wednesday performances and "Prima Facie" star Jodie Comer left a matinee after 10 minutes because of difficulty breathing. The show restarted with an understudy, show publicists said.

It was not to be at Central Park's outdoor stage, either. Shakespeare in the Park canceled its Thursday and Friday performances of "Hamlet," saying 'tis not nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of wretched air.

The photos and videos out of the Northeast look like scenes from “Mad Max,” as a monstrous cloud of smoke spewed by Quebec’s wildfires engulfed communities.Video above: Timelapse video shows smoke engulfing NYC over a 3-hour periodThe air is an eerie shade of orange and the visibility is low. Distant buildings that you would otherwise be able to see on a clear day are blotted out by the murky haze.But why is it orange – and not white, gray or some other color?Wildfire smoke turns the air orange for the same reason clear air makes the sky look blue – it has to do with what kind of tiny particles are in the air, how many there are and what wavelength color they block.Think back to the days in school when you learned about ROYGBIV, all the colors of the rainbow. Sunlight contains all of those colors. As it passes through the Earth’s atmosphere, the sun’s light hits all of the molecules and particles in the air.The colors we ultimately see are whatever wavelengths are left over after they’ve interacted with those particles. Wildfire smoke blocks the shorter wavelengths – like yellow, green and blue – leaving just the red and orange to pass through.This effect is even more pronounced in the morning and evening, when the sun is low in the sky. The light has more atmosphere to pass through before it gets to our eyes, which amplifies the colors and how thick the smoke looks in the air. Major metro areas had air quality indexes ranging from 200 to 300 – which is considered “very unhealthy,” according to government website AirNow.gov. The enormous cloud of pollution could cause long-term health effects, depending on the individual and their amount of exposure, experts have warned. And officials have urged many residents to stay indoors. Smoke conditions could last through at least Thursday.

With the stench of smoke permeating Yankee Stadium and wafting through its walkways, Major League Baseball postponed games in New York and Philadelphia on Wednesday night because of poor air quality caused by Canadian wildfires.Video above: Smoke pours into Cassville, NY, from wildfires in CanadaA National Women's Soccer League game in New Jersey and an indoor WNBA game set for Brooklyn were also called off Wednesday amid hazy conditions that have raised alarms from health authorities.The New York Yankees' game against the Chicago White Sox was rescheduled as part of a doubleheader starting at 4:05 p.m. on Thursday, and the Philadelphia Phillies' game against the Detroit Tigers was reset for 6:05 p.m. on Thursday, originally a day off for both teams.“These postponements were determined following conversations throughout the day with medical and weather experts and all of the impacted clubs regarding clearly hazardous air quality conditions in both cities," MLB said in a statement.The National Weather Service issued an air quality alert for New York City, saying: "the New York State Department of Health recommends that individuals consider limiting strenuous outdoor physical activity to reduce the risk of adverse health effects." In Philadelphia, the NWS issued a Code Red.The Yankees and White Sox played through a lesser haze on Tuesday night. A day later, stadium workers and fans arriving early to the ballpark wore face masks for protection in a scene reminiscent of the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.“It was business as usual for me coming in. I got in around 12, 12:30, and didn't really think too much of it,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “I actually walked outside about 2 o'clock and was like — like everyone else, like — whoa.”White Sox manager Pedro Grifol thought MLB made the right decision postponing the game.“These are health issues, right? So this has got to be it. We’ve been through everything — snow, rain, hail. I don’t think I’ve been through something like this,” he said. “Today at one point, it was pretty bad out there. We walked out of the dugout and it was kind of orange. They did the right thing. They got all the information.“I’m assuming if Major League Baseball is comfortable setting up a doubleheader tomorrow, they have some type of information that it should be better than what it is today, or at least safe.”In Philadelphia, the Phillies beat the Tigers 1-0 on Tuesday night in a game played in hazy conditions with the smell of smoke in the air. Afterward, manager Rob Thomson and his Phillies players said the conditions didn't affect them.About a half-hour before Wednesday's postponement, Thomson said he thought the game would be played. But the Philadelphia skyline could not be seen from the ballpark in the afternoon, and the smoky smell remained.Minor league teams nearby also changed plans. The Yankees' Triple-A affiliate at Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in Pennsylvania, and the Mets' top farm club in Syracuse, New York, postponed their games for the second consecutive night.The Mets' High-A affiliate in Brooklyn completed a game Wednesday against Greenville that began at 11 a.m.The WNBA called off a game between the Minnesota Lynx and New York Liberty, saying the decision was made to “protect the health and safety of our fans, teams and community.” A makeup date wasn't immediately announced.Even inside Barclays Center at the morning shootaround, reporters could smell smoke in the arena.The NWSL postponed Orlando's match at Gotham in Harrison, New Jersey, from Wednesday night to Aug. 9.“The match could not be safely conducted based on the projected air quality index,” the NWSL said.At nearby Belmont Park, the New York Racing Association said training went on as planned Wednesday ahead of Saturday's Triple Crown horse race. However, NYRA canceled training Thursday morning at Belmont and Saratoga Race Course upstate “due to poor air quality conditions forecast to impact New York State overnight and into Thursday morning.”NYRA said a decision about Thursday’s live racing program, scheduled to begin at 3:05 p.m., will be made Thursday morning “following a review of the air quality conditions and forecast.”“NYRA utilizes external weather services and advanced on-site equipment to monitor weather conditions and air quality in and around Belmont Park," spokesman Patrick McKenna said Wednesday. "Training was conducted normally today, and NYRA will continue to assess the overall environment to ensure the safety of training and racing throughout the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.”New York’s NFL teams, the Giants and Jets, both had Wednesday off from offseason workouts. The Giants had been planning to practice inside Thursday, and the Jets said they are also likely to work out indoors Thursday.Youth sports in the area were also affected, with parents quick to voice concern about their children's safety outdoors.In a statement Wednesday, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association said schools should understand that all schedules were subject to change.“NJSIAA is closely monitoring air quality data across New Jersey and local/state health advisories. As start times for athletic events draw near, we will make decisions for each venue and sport based on currently available information,” the organization said.It’s not the first time in recent years that wildfires forced changes to the MLB schedule. A two-game series in Seattle between the Mariners and Giants was moved to San Francisco in September 2020 because of poor air quality caused by West Coast wildfires.About an hour after Wednesday night's game at Yankee Stadium was postponed, two fans visiting on vacation from Vancouver, British Columbia, were still lingering.“It’s just circumstances. What do I say? It makes me disappointed because this is one of the highlights of the trip," said Malcolm, who was in town with his daughter and didn't want to give his last name.“I have a heart condition. That’s the only reason I’m wearing two masks and whatever. And my personal thought is that, why wasn’t it canceled two days ago? Because we knew about all this two days ago. But having said that, I don’t want the players running around and putting out in this, too. It can’t be good for them.”___AP Baseball Writer Ronald Blum, AP Basketball Writer Doug Feinberg, AP Pro Football Writer Dennis Waszak Jr., AP Sports Writers Tom Canavan, Pete Iacobelli and Stephen Whyno and AP freelance writers Larry Fleisher and Aaron Bracy contributed to this report.

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