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The fiery Tesla crash that killed 2 people in Texas was most likely the result of the car's Autopilot feature failing, as cops tell TMZ ... neither man was behind the wheel.

Physical evidence after the Saturday night crash led authorities to believe the 2 men in the Tesla 2019 Model S were not driving it when it failed to navigate a turn, ran off the road and hit a tree ... then burst into flames.

According to Mark Herman, the Harris County Precinct 4 constable ... one of the men was in the front passenger seat, and the other was in the rear seat when it was traveling at a high rate of speed before the crash.

Law enforcement sources tell us they'll be issuing subpoenas for information on the car to determine if it was indeed on Autopilot ... though that's their working assumption. We're told law enforcement is also in contact with Tesla honchos to determine what went wrong.

The men, ages 59 and 69, were with their wives minutes before the fatal wreck telling them about taking the Tesla out for a drive and wanting to use the driver-assistance feature ... according to Herman.

It's another small step for man and giant leap for mankind -- this on Mars, where NASA just pulled off the first-ever powered flight on another planet ... courtesy of a mini helicopter.

NASA flew the aircraft, dubbed Ingenuity, and beamed in the live stream first thing Monday morning. Sending it instructions all the way here (some 180 million miles away) ... this little chopper got up off the ground at about 10 feet!

It's a historic feat ... marking the first time we've ever flown something that wasn't a rocket on another celestial body in our solar system. Think of it as the Wright Brothers flying the first plane on Earth -- this is like that, only it happened on Mars, with no one aboard ... and slightly better video!

As for the specs of how NASA was able to make it happen ... it sounds like they just had to tweak a few things for Ingenuity to achieve liftoff on the Red Planet.

For starters, Mars' atmosphere is quite thin compared to ours -- only about 1% as dense -- and it also has less gravity than what we're working with here. So, to account for that, NASA built this thing with much bigger blades that rotate incredibly rapidly ... around 2,537 RPM.

Now that they know Ingenuity can indeed get some air ... the plan is to test its capabilities and see if it can help us navigate and explore the mysterious red planet some more.

Joe Buck is set to try and fill Alex Trebek's shoes on "Jeopardy!" -- at least temporarily, and perhaps forever(?) ... this according to some new reports.

Different outlets are reporting that Buck -- perhaps America's most famous sports broadcaster -- will serve as a guest host on the legacy game show soon ... with his episodes apparently slated to air later this summer.

Unclear when filming begins, or how long his stint will be -- but it probably wouldn't run longer than 2 weeks, which is about how long all the other guest hosts have stepped in. Word is his time on "Jeopardy!" won't get in the way of his other broadcast duties for FOX.

One report claims Buck's "Jeopardy!" attempt is actually being considered for a longer-term role ... maybe even as permanent host of the series. IF true, that'd be a huge blow to people who have been begging for LeVar Burton to get a shot ... which has yet to happen.

Of course, the actor was the longtime host of "Reading Rainbow" once upon a time ... and many think he'd be a natural fit. LeVar does too, apparently, as he's been very vocal recently about his desire to stand behind the podium ... even posting a viral petition demanding it.

LeVar has been even more explicit than that, though .. there's a clip of him doing an interview and getting into the nitty-gritty of the "Jeopardy!" gig, which he says he's had his eye on for a long time now ... harkening back to before Trebek passed and was in contract negotiations. At the time, LeVar notes he was quite interested ... and appears to remain so to this day.

The question, of course, is whether Sony Pictures Television -- which produces "Jeopardy!" -- is listening, and whether they'll actually cave in to the overwhelming sentiment that LB is perfect for the job.

You gotta imagine if they're going through the Rolodex of well-spoken, brainy and calm-your-nerves on-camera personalities ... then LeVar oughta be at least considered for a go at it. Nothing against Joe or anything, but the guy's got his hands full in the sports world.

A massive police presence has converged on a mall in Omaha, Nebraska -- where another shooting just took place.

The details are scarce at this point, but one thing is clear ... Omaha PD is telling the public to steer clear of the Westroads Mall, where a legion of police cruisers and ambulances have arrived. OPD says there are 2 suspects at large, and that cops are doing a sweep of the facility out of precaution. So far, one person has been transported in critical condition.

Word of the shooting first started percolating on Twitter, where a local reporter said she saw people running for their lives ... but stopped short of saying she heard any shots herself. Another person confirmed people were barreling out of the mall, but with no obvious signs of a shooting just yet. Still, it's clear that one did, in fact, occur.

The mere fact officers were loading up semi-automatics in tactical gear and preparing for some type of gunfight indicates this might have been an active shooter situation at one point.

There has been a slew of shootings recently since restrictions have eased over the pandemic.

We're trying to get more details on what led up to the latest incident -- but haven't been able to get through to anyone. OPD says a press release will be sent out soon detailing the narrative.

Geraldo Rivera has seriously pissed off his fellow Fox News pundit Leo Terrell by challenging his cred in the Black community -- and they just went HAM on each other!!!

Geraldo and Leo were on Bill Hemmer's "America's Newsroom" Thursday to talk about race and policing, particularly in St. Louis. That city's Mayor-Elect Tishaura Jones -- a Black woman -- questioned the "lived experience" of white allies in leading a population that is nearly 50 percent Black.

That remark got Leo all hot and bothered, and as he started going off on Mayor-Elect Jones ... Geraldo jumped in with, "Hey, Leo! When was the last time you were in the ghetto?"

Explosion in 3, 2 ...

Leo -- a famed civil rights attorney for several decades -- damn near jumped through the TV screen in his rage at Geraldo. Both men exchanged inner-city resumes, barking out their hometowns. FYI, Leo's reppin' the West coast, and Geraldo the East.

You gotta see the fireworks. Far as we can tell, the only real winner is Fox News' ratings. We doubt Geraldo and Leo will be breaking bread anytime soon.

The man who rammed into Capitol police and attempted to slice them with a knife, bought that weapon just hours before the fatal incident ... suggesting he premeditated the whole attack.

TMZ has obtained shots of Noah Green in a D.C. kitchen appliance store 90 minutes before authorities say he drove his car into a barricade at the Capitol last week and proceeded to get shot and killed after getting out to attack officers with a knife.

Green was in District Cutlery -- about a 10-minute drive from the Capitol -- and he purchased the blade you see here. We're told it's a Kurosaki Shizuku Sujihiki 270mm SG2 knife, and it retails for about $300.

You can see the knife he purchased at the store looks identical to the one police recovered at the scene after Green was gunned down, and a Capitol Police officer was killed.

Eyewitnesses say Green was calm and collected during his purchase, and didn't seem to raise any red flags to bystanders.

Marc Lamont Hill says traditional media has an unconscious white bias and does not properly cover black issues, but he has a solution ... a show called "Black News Tonight."

Marc's the host of the daily news show, which debuts Monday night on the Black News Channel, and he appeared Monday on "TMZ Live." He says there's a giant hole in the market when it comes to black issues -- CNN, MSNBC, FNC, ETC, he says largely caters to white folks, so there's a need to present issues and stories that directly impact the black community.

This is where it gets really interesting. Marc doesn't think his show puts a wall up between black and white communities. Quite the opposite ... he thinks black-focused media can help drive their stories to the mainstream and connect with both.

Rep. Matt Gaetz is under investigation for sex trafficking, allegedly with a 17-year-old girl, but Gaetz says he's not only innocent ... he suggests there's foul play afoot.

The U.S. congressman from Florida came on Tucker Carlson's show Tuesday to explain his side after the NYT published a story that Gaetz was being investigated by the DOJ over an alleged sexual relationship he had with a 17-year-old girl, whom he supposedly paid to travel with him a couple years ago. There's a bizarre exchange, where Gaetz tries to remind Carlson of a dinner they had -- Carlson, his wife, Gaetz and an unnamed woman -- almost like it was an alibi. Carlson said he didn't know what Gaetz was talking about.

The Times says the investigation is part of a broader case involving local politician Joel Greenberg, who's pled not guilty to charges of sex trafficking a minor. The outlet says the probe was opened late in Trump's final months at the behest of AG William Barr.

As for Gaetz ... he's flat-out denying any wrongdoing, while also insisting what's happening is actually a lot more sinister behind the scenes. Long story short, Gaetz says a former DOJ official named David McGee is trying to blackmail him and his family ... having allegedly demanded $25 million to make the allegations "go away."

MG even says he and his family went to the FBI to tell them about this, and he claims they set his father up with a wire to help expose the alleged plot. It's all very bizarre.

Richard Branson's space tourism company is doing something NASA has struggled with for a long time -- making a rocket ship actually look cool ... because, hey, optics are important.

Virgin Galactic just unveiled its latest spaceship ... the beginning of what they're calling a new series of spacecraft vehicles that are supposed to be revolutionary. This model's been dubbed VSS Imagine ... and it's been designed to lead the pack in the company's fleet.

What's different about this rocket -- the third such spacecraft Virgin has made thus far -- is that it's supposedly quicker to assemble, and quicker to do maintenance on ... so they can get more of them up in the air in an efficient manner.

Virgin says it can't produce VSS Imagine on an assembly line quite yet, but based on this prototype ... they can start cranking out a lot of them sooner, which will advance their plans to shoot paying customers off into space.

Virgin hopes Imagine follows in the successful path of its VSS Unity ship which has completed a couple spaceflights in recent years ... with a 3rd expected in May.

All of Virgin's spaceships have looked pretty sleek in appearance -- but VSS Imagine tops them all with an out-of-this-world design that looks like it's straight out of "The Jetsons."

Compare that to rocket ships that have been part of NASA's Space Shuttle program for the last 30 odd years ... and you can immediately see the difference. The Space Shuttle ships have been bulky and a bit of an eyesore through the years, and haven't changed a whole lot in terms of design, externally, anyway.

Granted, NASA is the OG of space travel in this country -- and they've had a lot of historical success. Still, they should upgrade their look if they wanna capture the youth's imagination again.

Chrissy Teigen says she's leaving Twitter for good, because the negatives outweigh the positives on the social media platform ... for her, at least.

CT just broke her silence on her Twitter exodus, and she's pretty much chalking up her exit to all the negative energy she was getting from the tweets, replies and mentions she says were filling her timeline.

Chrissy says she's not leaving because of Internet trolls, bullies or Qanon followers that love to come after her ... she says she just can't deal anymore with letting folks down or upsetting them, which she feels she did over and over again.

She says it's been exhausting scrolling through Twitter day in and day out ... and she's just over it at this point.

Remember ... Chrissy amassed over 13.7 million followers since joining Twitter in May 2009 and really seemed to take Twitter to heart, so much so she requested an unfollow from President Biden so she wouldn't feel so bad about tweeting profanities and being herself.

Chrissy's not leaving social media entirely, though ... she's still got her Instagram.

Sean Hannity's guilty of breaking the golden rule: Puff, puff, put down the e-cig before coming back from commercial break, damn it!!! But, at least it created this priceless moment.

Not since the election has the Fox News anchor been this shocked -- looks like Sean was chilling, vaping and reading something during a commercial break of his show Thursday night. Typically, someone would give him at least a 5-second heads-up before coming back live to the studio.

You can tell, Sean totally missed the warning, and then -- looking like a teen caught in his parents' liquor cabinet -- made a poor attempt to hide the evidence. All you could hear for 5 seconds was the stage manager loud whispering, "Sean!" ... trying to get his attention.

He recovered, but the worst part had to be taking some crap from Laura Ingraham when his show wrapped, and hers began.

LeBron James says his thoughts and prayers are with the "entire Asian community" after a gun-toting maniac went on a shooting spree in Atlanta Tuesday night, killing 8 people including 6 Asian women.

"My condolences goes out to the families of all the victims and the entire Asian community tonight on what transpired in Atlanta at the Aromatherapy Spa," Lebron said in a statement late Tuesday evening.

LeBron then tore into the shooting suspect -- 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long -- calling him a "Coward a** young man!!"

Bron continued, "Just senseless and tragic!!"

Officials say Long opened fire at Young’s Asian Massage Parlor in Cherokee County, Georgia -- killing 4 people and injuring 1 more.

Then, officials say Long went to the Gold Massage Spa where he killed 3 more people.

Finally, Long allegedly went across the street to the Aromatherapy Spa and killed one more person.

In total, 8 people are dead including 6 Asian women.

Officials captured Long Tuesday night by using a pit maneuver on his SUV to stop his car.

He's since been taken into custody and charged with murder.

Investigators have neither confirmed the motive behind the shooting or confirmed if it was racially motivated.

After the incident, NBA star Jeremy Lin -- who's been speaking out against anti-Asian racism for years -- also weighed in saying, "This is sooo heartbreaking ... praying for our world."

"To my Asian American family, please take time to grieve but know youre loved, seen and IMPORTANT. We have to keep standing up, speaking out, rallying together and fighting for change. We cannot lose hope! #StopAsianHate #NOW."

Atlanta Falcons kicker Younghoe Koo also released a statement Wednesday ... saying he's "deeply saddened" by the tragedy ... and went into detail about his own experiences with racism.

"As an Asian American, I have heard the jokes and name calling," Koo said. "I often dealt with it by ignoring what was said and minding my own business."

FYI -- Koo was born in South Korea but was raised in the United States.

He continued ... "I don’t have all the answers, but I realize now more than ever that this is an issue that needs to be addressed and that ignoring it won’t help us do that."

Yo-Yo Ma decided to do what he does best to celebrate COVID immunity ... he played his cello for those right behind him.

The famed musician received his second dose at Berkshire Community College in Massachusetts Saturday and you could call this bookends.

Exactly a year ago Yo-Yo Ma posted a recording of himself playing music with the hashtag, @Songs Of Comfort. This was posted at a time of fear, and now there are signs of hope.

It's interesting ... there are other clinics administering the vaccine where music is everywhere.  Doctors say it's calming for people who are anxious about getting the vaccine. Some clinics actually encourage dancing ... making the atmosphere friendly and celebratory rather than scary.

Fox News host Greg Gutfeld really had to use the bathroom, so he broke out in song about his need to relieve ... his bladder, and he did it live on the air.

Ya gotta see the hilarious moment ... Greg's on camera during "The Five," and his mic is hot as he starts singing about having to pee. It seems he doesn't realize they're back from commercial, and although his colleagues try to alert him ... oops!!!

Turns out, he had reason to sing ... after the fact he tweeted confirmation of what went down as soon as he got off-camera.

Greg is known for a segment about litter boxes, and his co-hosts cracked a few jokes about him needing one himself.

Meghan Markle says she knows what it's like to experience bullying, but denies dishing it out ... something Kensington Palace staff have accused her of doing.

According to a spokesperson for Meghan and Prince Harry ... "The Duchess is saddened by this latest attack on her character, particularly as someone who has been the target of bullying herself."

The spokesperson says Meghan's "deeply committed to supporting those who have experienced pain and trauma" and is "determined to continue her work building compassion around the world and will keep striving to set an example for doing what is right and doing what is good."

All this comes in response to UK reports Tuesday the Duchess faced a bullying complaint in October 2018 -- made by her former communications secretary, Jason Knauf.

Meghan allegedly drove 2 personal assistants out of her household with her treatment, undermined the confidence of another worker and would occasionally reduce staff to tears ... according to the reports.

A report from The Times also claims that during a trip to Fiji in 2018, Meghan wore earrings that were a wedding gift from Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia ... the same man who has been accused of allowing the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

A spokesperson for Harry and Meghan called the recent bullying report a "calculated smear campaign" by Buckingham Palace against the couple, and said it was no coincidence the report came out just days before their sit-down with Oprah.

A royal source reportedly told MailOnline the recent allegations were in no way an orchestrated attack, and that aides are currently focused on the declining health of Prince Philip.

Despite what The Palace has said, it's hard not to question the timing of everything -- Meghan and Harry's potentially explosive sit-down interview with Oprah about dealing with the Royal Family and the British media is set to air Sunday.

The Duke and Duchess also recently made it official they will not be returning to their roles as senior royals after stepping back from their duties last year.

Dr. Seuss books have been beloved by children and adults for generations, but 6 of them will no longer be published because they are racially offensive ... according to the business that preserves the author's legacy.

Dr. Seuss Enterprises says these 6 Seuss books -- including "And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street" and "Scrambled Eggs Super!" -- "portray people in ways that are hurtful and wrong."

The company says it made the decision to cease sales on these books -- which also include "If I Ran the Zoo," "McElligot’s Pool," "On Beyond Zebra!" and "The Cat’s Quizzer" -- after consulting with educators and reviewing its catalog.

The announcement was made on Tuesday, March 2 -- Dr. Seuss's birthday -- though the decision was made last year. The move comes as President Biden also omitted mention of Dr. Seuss on Read Across America Day ... which is held annually on the author's bday.

Dr. Seuss -- born Theodor Seuss Geisel -- has come under increased scrutiny over the years as his history of racist and anti-Semitic work has been uncovered. A study of 50 Seuss books in 2019 found 43 of 45 characters of color had characteristics aligning with "Orientalism" and 2 "African" characters had anti-Black qualities.