Thursday, January 30, 2025
Hello, it is Thursday, January 30, 2025.
I posted a video this morning about the tragic airplane/helicopter collision near D.C. You can look at that video first if you haven’t already. I will cover some updates related to the crash and other top stories here.
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Updates on airplane/helicopter collision
President Trump said there are officially no survivors from the American Airlines / US Army helicopter collision. Trump also caused some controversy by saying he believes the incident was due to the previous Democratic administration because they lowered standards for air traffic controllers in a diversity push. Trump has not provided evidence that lower standards caused the crash — he said it’s based on his common sense.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) is investigating the collision and hopes to have a report within 30 days.
News reports said that during the time of the collision, there was one air traffic controller working two different tower positions and this one person was handling both local and helicopter traffic.
The captain of the American Airlines flight was Jonathan Campos, who became captain in 2022. Another pilot was a 28-year-old man named Samuel Lilley. His father said it hurts so bad to lose him.
The U.S. Army Black helicopter in the crash was on a training mission with an instructor and a copilot that had at least 500 flight hours each. I’m not sure about who the third pilot was. Defense Sec. Hegseth said there was a mistake made during the training.
AP News said 14 people from the figure skating community were killed in the crash and six of them were from a Boston club. They were coming from a camp for young skaters after a U.S. Championships event in Wichita, Kansas. Two of them were teenagers, Jinna Han (13) and Spencer Lane (16), who died along with their mothers. Two others were former pairs world champions, Russians Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
https://apnews.com/article/dc-helicopter-jet-crash-figure-skaters-391a4c7bd0e617a08d9532a8faab206b
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Trump to use Guantanamo Bay for criminal immigrants
President Trump said yesterday that he wants to use a detention center at the U.S. naval base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba to hold up to 30,000 criminal immigrants after they are deported from the U.S.
The Trump administration said they would start readying the center to receive people and that it would be run by the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
Guantanamo Bay is best known for holding suspects detained by the U.S. government after the Sept. 11 2001 attacks. A legal advocacy group said using the base can be dangerous to those detained because they would be removed from legal and social services and supports.
Cuba’s President Diaz-Canel said he’s opposed to this idea.
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Former Sen. Bob Menendez sentenced 11 years
Former Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ) was sentenced to 11 years in prison for accepting bribes and valuable items to do corrupt favors for businessmen in New Jersey and for Egyptian government officials.
Menendez is 71. He said he is innocent and said he would appeal. A judge ordered him to report to prison on June 6.
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[Sponsored video from Sorenson: www.sorenson.com]
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Spectator at athletic event killed by errant hammer throw
A 57-year-old man was tragically killed when he was hit by an errant hammer throw during a high school track and field meet on Saturday in Colorado. His name was Wade Langston.
People.com explained that the hammer throw bypassed protective netting and as it flew towards spectators, Wade was trying to protect his wife and son when the hammer hit him. First responders tried to treat him but he died at the scene.
The hammer’s weight is 16 lbs for men and 9 lbs for women in adult competition. Local police said they are not looking at this incident as criminal.
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More hostages and prisoners freed during Gaza ceasefire
AP News said eight more hostages were freed from the Gaza Strip by Hamas-led militants today in exchange for Israel’s release of 110 Palestinian prisoners.
This is a part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas that is so far holding up. The first part of the ceasefire calls for the release of 33 hostages from Gaza in exchange for almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Of the eight hostages that Hamas released, three were Israelis and five were Thai nationals who were farm workers in southern Israel at the time they were seized by Hamas fighters during the Oct. 7 attacks.
AP said there were joyous homecoming on both sides when the hostages and prisoners arrived on the opposite side, but that there were also chaotic scenes with many people swarming around Israeli hostages in Gaza and Palestinians throwing stones outside of an Israeli prison with Israeli forces shooting tear gas to clear the area.
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That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.