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FDA approves new type of non-opioid pain medication, 1st of its kind in more than 20 years

(NEW YORK) -- The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Thursday approved a new type of prescription pain medication for adults to treat moderate to severe acute pain.

The drug, called Journavx (suzetrigine) and manufactured by biotech company Vertex Pharmaceuticals, is a non-opioid painkiller, which doesn’t have addictive properties, unlike opioids often used for this type of pain.

This is the first class of non-opioid pain medication approved to treat moderate to severe acute pain approved by the FDA in more than 20 years.

“Today’s approval is an important public health milestone in acute pain management,” said Dr. Jacqueline Corrigan-Curay, acting director of the FDA's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, in a press release. “A new non-opioid analgesic therapeutic class for acute pain offers an opportunity to mitigate certain risks associated with using an opioid for pain and provides patients with another treatment option."

In two clinical trials, tested on adults between ages 18 and 80, Journavx was found to reduce moderate to severe acute pain for adults from baseline by about 50% in 48 hours.

The average time to meaningful pain relief ranged from two to four hours, compared to eight hours in the placebo group.

Journavx works by inhibiting the NaV1.8 pain signal in the peripheral nervous system. This channel is not expressed in the brain or anywhere else in the central nervous system, therefore the drug does not have addictive properties like opioids, according to Vertex.

Journavx was found to be as similarly effective as hydrocodone, an opioid pain medication, for reducing acute pain, with the added benefit of being a non-opioid and non-addictive drug.

In another clinical trial, the drug was tested in patients with a broader range of surgical and non-surgical acute pain conditions and was found to be safe and effective.

More than 80% of patients in this clinical trial rated Journavx as a good, very good or excellent pain medication when investigating multiple acute pain types.

The new drug "offers a safer option for managing moderate-to-severe acute pain, reducing reliance on opioids," Dr. Jianguo Cheng, a professor of anesthesiology and medical director of the Cleveland Clinic Consortium for Pain at Cleveland Clinic, who was not involved in the clinical trials, told ABC News. "It offers rapid relief and can be integrated into postoperative pain protocols or acute pain scenarios where immediate relief is critical."

"By managing acute pain effectively, [Journavx] may help prevent the transition to chronic pain, reducing the need for long-term pain management strategies," he added.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs hit with new indictment in sex trafficking case

(NEW YORK) -- Sean "Diddy" Combs "abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires" over a longer period of time than first alleged, federal prosecutors in New York said in a superseding indictment filed Thursday.

The indictment contains no new charged crimes but includes additional conduct as part of the alleged racketeering conspiracy, which prosecutors now say spanned a longer time frame of about 20 years, from 2004-2024.

Prosecutors also included additional victims of Combs' alleged sex trafficking.

The superseding indictment said Combs assaulted not only women but also "his employees, witnesses to his abuse and others."

That alleged violence was most vivid in a video of Combs kicking, dragging and throwing a vase at his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura inside a Los Angeles hotel. The superseding indictment said Combs, with the assistance of several close associates, paid hotel security staff $100,000 for the footage.

The superseding indictment alleged Combs used force, coercion and threats to cause at least three female victims, identified only by number, "to engage in commercial sex acts." Something he referred to as "Freak Offs" but others "involved only Combs and a female victim," according to the indictment.

"Like the Freak Offs, these commercial sex acts involving Combs and a female victim were prearranged, sometimes lasted multiple days, were sometimes electronically recorded by Combs and often involved Combs distributing a variety of controlled substances to the victim, in part to keep the victim obedient and compliant," the new indictment said.

Combs has pleaded not guilty to the new indictment and is scheduled for trial on May 5. Prosecutors said the new indictment should not affect the timing of the trial.

"The latest Indictment contains no new offenses. The prosecution's theory remains flawed. The government has added the ridiculous theory that two of Mr. Combs' former girlfriends were not girlfriends at all but were prostitutes. Mr. Combs is as committed as ever to fighting these charges and winning at trial," defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said in a statement to ABC News.

Last month Combs abandoned an attempt to be released on bail. Combs has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since he was arrested in September.

Army Black Hawk crew involved in DC crash made up of ‘top pilots’ with thousands of hours of experience

Handout/Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles/U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) -- The three soldiers of the Army UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter that collided with a jetliner on Wednesday night just off of Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport were all very experienced and not only had thousands of hours of flight time between them but were very familiar with the flight patterns above the Potomac River.

The Army has confirmed that all three soldiers were from Bravo Company, 12th Combat Aviation Battalion, based at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, about 20 miles south of Washington, D.C. The unit primarily transports senior U.S. military officials around the Washington area and beyond.

Recovery efforts for two of the soldiers in the Black Hawk in the frigid waters of the Potomac River continued Thursday, as did the search for the missing among the 64 aboard American Airlines Flight 5342. Also being sought are the plane's data and cockpit voice recorder and the helicopter's integrated data and voice recorder.

The helicopter flight along the Potomac was a routine nighttime qualification flight in which an instructor pilot tests a pilot's skills at navigating the various routes through the Washington area that are key parts of his or her mission.

"It was a very experienced group," said Jonathan Koziol, a retired Army chief warrant officer with more than 30 years experience in flying Army helicopters. Koziol has been attached to the Unified Command Post created at Reagan National Airport to coordinate efforts following the deadly collision.

Koziol confirmed to reporters on a conference call that the male instructor pilot had more than 1,000 hours of flight time, the female pilot who was commanding the flight at the time had more than 500 hours of flight time, and the crew chief was also said to have hundreds of hours of flight time.

Koziol said that given the short duration of most helicopter flights, the number of hours they had flown showed how experienced they were.

As part of their annual qualifications, all Army aviators are tested on their skills during daylight and nighttime, as well as instrument flying.

An Army flight safety investigative team from the Army's Combat Readiness Center at Fort Novosel in Alabama has arrived in Washington to support the National Transportation Safety Board's investigation.

The evaluated pilot was in command of the flight, but if an emergency was to occur, the instructor would have taken control of the helicopter.

"Both pilots had flown this specific route before at night -- this wasn't something new to either one of them," he said. "These are our top pilots doing this National Capital Region."

The airspace around the nation's capital is one of the busiest in the nation, but Koziol described the helicopter flight corridor above the Potomac as "a relatively easy corridor to fly because you're flying down the center of the river, and it's very easily identifiable, especially at night" because there aren't a lot of lights.

Night vision goggles are available for Army aviators during nighttime missions, but they are not always necessary, said Koziol, who noted that he did not know if the pilots were wearing the goggles during Wednesday night's flight.

"They are helpful at night, obviously, and in an urban environment, they're still useful," but he discounted the notion that the Washington's bright lights may have affected the pilots, saying they were flying over the Potomac River, where "there are no lights, so that wouldn't impact them."

"They would have the peripheral vision of the lights on both sides of the shore, which actually helps them align and know which direction they're going," he added. "And it would help them see other aircraft."

Furthermore, Army aviators are required to test their ability to fly "night unaided" without night vision goggles.

Koziol said the pilots' situational awareness would have been aided by a moving tracking screen in the cockpit pinpointing their exact location, along with visual aids within their lines of sight.

"You have the lights on either side of you and, obviously, the rotating beacon on Reagan National to point out the airfield and all the traffic on it for them to know exactly where they're at," he said.

Army statistics show that last year saw the biggest spike in aviation mishaps in more than a decade following years of a downward trend.

There were 15 Class A mishaps in the Army in fiscal year 2024, the highest number since fiscal year 2014, when there were 16 mishaps. Last year's increase came after a period of time when the number of mishaps had trended downward. For example, there were seven mishaps in fiscal year 2021, four in fiscal year 2022, nine in fiscal year 2023 and then the 15 in fiscal year 2024.

Last April, the Army held what's called a "stand-up" where it reinforced safety training but continued flight operations -- this followed a series of Apache helicopter incidents the previous month.

There had previously been a stand-down of Army aviation that followed the March 2023 collision of two Black Hawk helicopters at Fort Campbell that killed nine soldiers.

Tyler man reappointed to state ag board

$Tyler man reappointed to state ag board$ TYLER – The Texas Agriculture Commissioner has reappointed a Tyler man to the Texas Agriculture Finance Authority (TAFA) Board on Thursday. According to our news partner KETK, Ted F. Conover will continue serving as the board’s chairman and agricultural lending representative.

Conover was the president and chief executive officer of Heritage Land Bank from 1985 to 2005 and the held the same positions at the Bank of Tyler from 2005 to 2010. Conover has served on the Greater Tyler Association of Realtors Board of Directors, the State Advisory Board for Texas Agricultural Lifetime Leadership and the Advisory Committee for the Dean of Agricultural Sciences at East Texas A&M University.

Conover received a master’s degree in general agriculture from East Texas A&M University in 1973 and graduated from the Graduate School of Banking at Southern Methodist University in 1999.

TAFA is a public authority designed to provide financial assistance to expand products, production, processing, marketing and exporting in Texas agriculture.

Measles cases reported in Texas as vaccine rates against the disease have fallen

At least four cases of measles, including two involving school-aged children, have been reported in Texas in less than two weeks, putting state health agencies on alert.

For some communities, this is the first case of measles in more than 20 years.

Laura Anton, spokesperson for the Texas Department of State Health Services, said the agency sent out an alert to health providers statewide once measles were confirmed to be found in two adult residents in Harris County last week.

The alert stated that both individuals reside in the same household and were unvaccinated against measles. These were the first confirmed cases of measles reported in Texas since 2023, when two were reported.

Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease. General symptoms may include fever, cough, runny nose, watery eyes, and a full-body rash. This disease can cause serious health consequences and even death, especially for young and unvaccinated children.

About 1 in 5 unvaccinated people in the U.S. who get measles will be hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Up to three of every 1,000 children who become infected with measles may die from respiratory and neurologic complications.

Houston Health Department officials say the cases of measles were associated with the pair’s recent international travel and released a list of possible locations and dates where members of the public might have been exposed.

This week, the Lubbock Health Department also confirmed two measles case in the South Plains, both involving school-aged children who were not vaccinated. Anton said they were hospitalized and have since been discharged.

Katherine Wells, the Lubbock Health Department’s health director, said the children were treated at a Lubbock health care facility. They were from the area, but not Lubbock resident. Wells said there are no known sites of exposure at this time outside the health care facility where they were tested. Since Lubbock is the medical hub for the South Plains, they traveled to Lubbock for testing.

“We’re working with the South Plains Public Health District and our medical partners to work and identify where there could have been some community exposures,” Wells said. The state health agency is helping with the disease investigation in Lubbock and the South Plains region.

Wells said the community should be aware of the cases, as well as health care professionals who see rashes or high fevers from their patients.

“We want people to know there were some cases here,” Wells said. “So if they have concerns and are unvaccinated, call your health provider or the health department for more information.”

Wells said that the last measles case in Lubbock County was in 2004.

Austin Public Health has also sent an alert about the potential measles outbreak, urging residents to take proactive measures to protect themselves and their families. The last confirmed measles case in the city of Austin was in December 2019.

“Vaccination is our best defense against measles and other preventable diseases,” said Desmar Walkes, medical director and health authority for Austin/Travis County. “By staying up to date on vaccinations, we not only protect ourselves but also the most vulnerable members of our community.”

The recent upswing in cases statewide comes as the measles vaccination rate among kindergarteners has dropped, from almost 97% in the 2019-2020 school year to 94.3% in 2023-24. Texas is among the majority of states that have seen vaccination declines since the pandemic.

In March 2024, there were already more reported cases of measles than in all of 2023, according to the CDC.

A result of the country’s vaccination program, measles was officially eliminated from the United States in 2000, meaning the disease has not spread continuously for over 12 months.

Experts recommend that children get the measles, mumps, and rubella vaccine in two doses: the first between 12 months and 15 months of age and the second between 4 and 6 years old. One dose is about 93% effective at preventing measles infection, and two doses are about 97% effective.

Other diseases considered long-forgotten are also now making a comeback.

Whooping cough is returning to pre-pandemic levels. Polio, another disease thought to be eradicated, was detected in New York State wastewater in 2022.

Vaccine proponents fear statewide disease trends will worsen as Texas lawmakers this legislative session try to weaken vaccine mandates and more families opt out of immunizations.

Since 2018, the requests to the Texas Department of State Health Services for an exemption form have doubled from 45,900 to more than 93,000 in 2024.

Lawmakers have filed more than 20 vaccination-related bills, including a House joint resolution proposing an amendment to the Texas Constitution to preserve Texans’ right to refuse vaccination.

President Donald Trump’s re-election and his selection of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his choice for U.S. Health and Human Services secretary has boosted the vaccine choice movement. Kennedy has previously made controversial comments about vaccines, which include linking them to autism in children.

During his confirmation hearing this week, U.S. Senators questioned his trip to Samoa in 2019, months before 83 people, mostly children, died of a measles outbreak there.

Kennedy has recently walked back some of his statements during the hearing, saying he is not “anti-vax” but “pro-safety” when asked to clarify his stance on vaccines.

“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will do nothing as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking anything,” he said.

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

Mira Sorvino shares excitement for ‘Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion’ sequel

Another reunion for Romy and Michele is in the works, and actress Mira Sorvino says she and Lisa Kudrow are "pretty excited" about it.

Sorvino, who starred in the 1997 beloved film Romy and Michele's High School Reunion with Kudrow, took to Instagram on Wednesday to share a report that she and Kudrow are in "final talks" to star in the sequel. Good Morning America confirmed the news on Wednesday.

Alongside a screenshot of the report from The Hollywood Reporter, Sorvino wrote, "We're pretty excited about it," adding in the comments, "Michele, this is definitely the cutest we've ever looked!"

According to the report, Sorvino and Kudrow, who will reprise their roles as Romy White and Michele Weinberger, respectively, are also in final talks to serve as executive producers.

Tim Federle, who is known for directing High School Musical: The Musical: The Series, is slated to direct the highly anticipated film, with Emily in Paris showrunner Robin Schiff set to write the script.

Schiff originally penned the screenplay for the 1997 film.

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion followed two best friends, Romy and Michele, who decide to create fake careers to impress former classmates at their 10-year high school reunion. Over the years, the film has become a cult classic.

Alan Cumming, Janeane Garofalo, Elaine Hendrix, Julia Campbell and Justin Theroux also starred in the film.

Earlier this month, Kudrow talked about the film on The Drew Barrymore Show, and said that she and Sorvino were "as close as we have ever been" in terms of a sequel.

"There's a script that's really good," Kudrow said. "Robin Schiff wrote it."

DC plane crash recalls similar event in 1982

Douglas Chevalier/The Washington Post via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) -- An American Airlines regional jet collided with a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia on Wednesday night before both aircraft plummeted into the Potomac River.

Sixty-four people were on the plane, which departed from Wichita, Kansas. Three Army soldiers were aboard the helicopter, which was on a training flight at the time, officials said. No survivors are expected.

The incident recalls a similar tragedy that took place 43 years ago.

On Jan. 13, 1982, Air Florida Flight 90 crashed into the 14th Street Bridge in downtown Washington, D.C., and plunged into the icy waters of the Potomac.

The Boeing 737-200 that was en route to Tampa departed from Runway 36 at Washington National Airport at 4 p.m., despite the dangerous blizzard conditions, according to various media reports at the time.

The plane, struggling to gain altitude, only rose a few hundred feet in the air after takeoff before suddenly dropping toward the bridge, shearing off the tops of cars and crashing into the river.

In total, 78 passengers, crew members and motorists died in the crash, according to officials. Five people were rescued from the frigid waters of the Potomac.

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the cause of the crash to be pilot error, along with improper deicing procedures. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a report that the flight "experienced difficulty in climbing immediately following rotation and subsequently stalled."

"Loss of control was determined to be due to reduction in aerodynamic lift resulting from ice and snow that had accumulated on the airplane's wings during prolonged ground operation at National Airport," the FAA said.

Flight attendant Kelly Duncan, the only crew member on board who survived, told ABC News in 1982 that the crash seemed unreal.

"My next feeling was that I was just floating through white and I felt like I was dying and I just thought, 'I'm not really ready to die,'" she said at the time.

We’ve only just begun.

President Donald Trump signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Most Americans do not favor open borders.

Most Americans do not favor hiring based on race, gender or sexual orientation, preferring hiring and advancement based on merit instead. Affirmative action going back to when it first emerged under John F. Kennedy, has never enjoyed majority support.

Many Americans like their electric vehicles. But most of us oppose being told we have to either drive one or not drive at all.

Most Americans believe that the federal government is too big and too intrusive.

Most of us oppose biological men competing in women’s sports. And by a very large margin, most of us are appalled at the very thought of mutilating children via gender surgery.

Speaking of children, most of us believe that sex education of any kind – straight, gay, trans or whatever – has no place in kindergarten.

Most of us believe that criminals should be punished, with the severity of the punishment rising proportionately to the seriousness of the crime. We, most of us, further believe that arrested suspects that have a clear propensity for repeat offense should at the very minimum have to post bail to be let out of jail pending trial.

Most of us believe – indeed the core principles upon which our nation was founded state – that justice should be blind and that using the justice system to persecute political enemies threatens the very foundation of the republic.

These positions stand solidly in the mainstream of American ethos.

And yet…

Millions of poor, social services-dependent migrants are in the country illegally, most of them having arrived in just the past four years.

Hiring, contracting and college admissions based on immutable characteristics like race or gender have crowded out merit in major companies and top universities across the country.

Repeat offenders are walking the streets of our major cities.

That the Department of Justice was weaponized by the Obama and Biden administrations for political purposes is now indisputable.

The federal government has gotten bigger and more intrusive with each successive administration (save for the deregulation push of Trump’s first term).

Had Kamala Harris won the 2024 election we’d all still be looking at being eventually forced to buy an electric vehicle, the blatant unfairness of men competing in women’s sports would be continuing apace, government would continue to grow and we’d have little recourse against leftist educrats pushing sex onto our grade schoolers.

Mainstream as we normals believe ourselves to be, it is undeniable that a small group of elitists living mostly on the coasts have been very successful at advancing hard left policies that defy majority opinion.

And that’s why we have been so giddy watching Donald Trump move with amazing speed to unravel the far left lunacy of the cosmically awful Biden administration.

Being happy right now is fine. But as my dad used to say, don’t get cocky.

The committed leftists that pushed these radical policies so successfully for so long have not gone away. They do not intend to surrender. They are momentarily on the back foot following Trump’s decisive victory. But they will regroup.

The fight’s not over.

It’s just begun.

Kristen Stewart, Steven Yeun on exploring humanity as AI robots in new film ‘Love Me’

Kristen Stewart and Steven Yeun dive headfirst into a love story between a buoy and a satellite spanning billions of years after the end of human civilization in the new film Love Me.

The project, in theaters Friday, explores themes of identity, love and what it truly means to exist.

Yeun said what drew him to the project was the "real wild and earnest swing that it was."

Stewart called the film "a cool opportunity to call into question authenticity, because we're so obsessed with it."

"It is like a long, big, elaborate acting exercise that kind of results in this acknowledgement of individuality being important, but also the fact that we are so linked," Stewart continued. "Humans are ... we're all the same."

Yeun said his satellite "wants to be defined by somebody or something" when he meets Stewart's buoy -- an event he says makes the character eventually "come to terms with the fact that he wouldn't have ever been defined or exist in this way if it wasn't for the other person."

Stewart praised Yeun for being "a muscular actor" to share a scene with in such a thought-provoking film as Love Me.

"He is down," Stewart said. "Steven's got this, like, very serious fieriness."

Love Me also explores one of the biggest technological jumps of recent years: the emergence of AI.

"These things are extensions of us. If anything, the thing that's difficult ... to talk about [when it come to AI] is you're really kind of talking about a portion of yourself, of ourselves," Yeun said, with Stewart agreeing that "they're mirrors" of us.

"Almost like the part that you don't want to lose control of, which is so scary," Stewart continued. "When we're like, 'Who knows what it could do.' It's like … are you talking about yourself right now? Are you scared of the evil within? Because, me too."

Centerpoint agrees to small rate decrease

HOUSTON – The Houston Chronicle says CenterPoint Energy has agreed to a rate decrease in its closely-watched rate case after months of settlement negotiations with city coalitions and consumer groups, the Houston-area electric utility announced Wednesday afternoon. The rate reduction amounts to approximately $0.82 per month for the average residential customer and approximately $1.28 per month for the average small business, according to CenterPoint’s announcement.

The rate reduction amounts to $50 million less per year in revenue for CenterPoint, Jason Ryan, the company’s vice president of regulatory affairs, said in an interview. CenterPoint had originally asked for a $60 million per year increase in revenue when it first filed its rate case in March, which would’ve increased electric rates for the average household by $1.25 per month. “We’re pleased that we’re going to be able to reduce customer rates while at the same time keeping up with customer expectations around resiliency and keeping up with the growth in the area,” Ryan said.

‘I lost everything’: Wife of skating coach killed in DC plane crash speaks out

(WASHINGTON) -- Natalya Gudin and her husband, Alexandr Kirsanov, who coached two young figure skaters aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, had a choice to make before the plane took off: Who would go and who would stay.

The couple decided Kirsanov would fly to Wichita, Kansas, to accompany their skaters at the National Development Camp for figure skating, Gudin told ABC News in an interview.

On Wednesday night, the Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet and Black Hawk helicopter both crashed into the icy Potomac River after colliding in midair, launching a desperate overnight search and rescue mission. No survivors are expected, officials said.

"I lost everything. I lost my husband. I lost my students. I lost my friends," Gudin said.

The last time she spoke to her husband was on Wednesday afternoon, when Kirsanov was at the gate at the Wichita Dwight D. Eisenhower National Airport.

"It's time for boarding," Gudin said her husband told her on the phone. They were supposed to talk again when he landed at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia.

That call never came.

Instead, Gudin said she heard from the mother of one of the other figure skaters aboard the flight that there was a crash. Gudin said they should "immediately go to D.C."

Just before 9 p.m., while on its final approach to the airport, the regional jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members collided midair with a U.S. military Black Hawk helicopter with three people aboard. Dive teams and other first responders worked through the night in the frigid waters of the Potomac River, where the aircraft had crashed.

Gudin said she stayed up through the night, hoping for good news.

But by Thursday morning, she learned her husband and their students had likely died. Officials said on Thursday that what began as a rescue rescue mission had become a recovery mission.

Authorities had recovered 30 bodies from the jet and one body from the helicopter as of Thursday afternoon, National Security
Adviser Michael Waltz told ABC News. D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly said they do not expect any survivors.

On Thursday afternoon, Gudin was at a hotel in Virginia waiting for more information about Kirsanov's remains.

"I need my husband back," Gudin said. "I need his body back."

DC plane crash: A timeline of the deadly collision

(WASHINGTON) -- Dozens of people are presumed dead after an American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Virginia on Wednesday night.

The Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet and Black Hawk helicopter both crashed into the icy Potomac River after colliding in midair, launching a desperate overnight search and rescue mission. No survivors are expected, officials said.

Sixty-four people were on the plane, which departed from Wichita, Kansas. Three Army soldiers were aboard the helicopter, which was on a training flight at the time, officials said.

Here's a look at how the tragedy unfolded, as the cause of the collision remains under investigation.

Wednesday, Jan. 29

5:38 p.m. CT: American Airlines Flight 5342 departs from Wichita, Kansas, headed to the D.C.-area airport, carrying 60 passengers and four crew members. The flight is scheduled to land in D.C. at 9:03 p.m. ET.

8:47 p.m. ET: A DCA air traffic controller asks the Black Hawk pilot if they have the CRJ in sight and to pass behind the plane. The pilot confirms to the DCA tower a few seconds later that they have the plane in sight and they will maintain visual separation, according to the ATC audio recording released by LiveATC.net.

8:47:58 p.m. ET: The time of the Black Hawk's last transmission.

8:48:01 p.m. ET: The time of the jet's last transmission.

Around that time, D.C. Fire and EMS receive an alert that an aircraft crashed while on approach to Reagan International Airport into the Potomac River, initiating a large local, state and federal response.

EarthCam footage from the Kennedy Center Cam captures an explosion in the air.

8:51 p.m. ET: Departures to DCA are grounded due to the aircraft emergency.

8:55 p.m. ET: DCA closes.

Around this time, Coast Guard Sector Maryland - National Capital Region command center watchstanders receive a report of the collision, with boat crews deployed to conduct searches.

8:58 p.m. ET: First responders arrive on the scene, with hundreds eventually responding from multiple agencies as they search into the night for any survivors.

Thursday, Jan. 30

At an early morning press briefing, D.C. Fire and EMS Chief John Donnelly says no survivors are expected from the plane crash and that crews are switching to a recovery operation.

Twenty-eight bodies have been recovered, including 27 from the plane and one from the Black Hawk helicopter, Donnelly says.

11 a.m. ET: DCA reopens, with planes now arriving and departing.

By the afternoon, dive teams cease operations on the Potomac River, having recovered all of the bodies of the victims they can without moving the fuselage, two sources familiar with the operation told ABC News. About 40 bodies have been recovered so far, including at least one of the soldiers from the Army helicopter, the sources said.

Trump’s missing the point on DEI and meritocracy, experts say

(WASHINGTON) -- Executive orders signed recently by President Donald Trump state that diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs prioritize diversity over merit in hiring, claiming DEI efforts are an “immense public waste and shameful discrimination."

Some experts in the DEI field disagree, and several tell ABC News that diversity, equity and inclusion programs are aimed at creating a true merit-based system, where hiring, salaries, retention and promotions are decided without bias or discrimination toward employees.

Before the anti-discrimination legislative movement of the 1960s -- including the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967 -- discrimination against certain groups was widespread, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

"If you were from a dominant group -- generally white people, generally men, straight, cisgender, fully-abled -- you had a huge leg up in terms of getting employment recommendations, higher pay promotions," Erica Foldy, a professor at NYU’s Wagner Graduate School of Public Service, told ABC News.

She continued, "So, Trump and his allies are harking back to this time that they say was more merit-based, but that's not at all how these organizations operated."

DEI initiatives -- like implementing accessibility measures for people with disabilities, addressing gender pay inequity, diversifying recruitment outreach, or holding anti-discrimination trainings -- are intended to correct discriminatory organizational practices, experts say.

DEI experts argue that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives are "on the path of creating more merit-based companies, more merit-based firms," Foldy said, aiming to ensure that qualified people of all backgrounds have an "equal chance of being hired; you're going to be paid the same as employees at comparable levels."

"Business as usual, without attention to discrimination, is deeply, deeply inequitable," Foldy said.

Amri Johnson, a DEI expert and author, told ABC News that the ideal of meritocracy operates under the assumption "that opportunities are fair." Today, studies across industries continue to show that discrimination against a person's race, gender, disability, sexual orientation, military background, or other factors continues to permeate the job market.

"If organizations truly want the best talent, companies need to be intentional about how they source and engage with talent," said Johnson.

Each year, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission plays a role in hundreds of legal cases concerning ongoing discrimination against protected classes in the workplace.

The EEOC's 2023 performance report offers a long list of lawsuits it settled or won that year. One lawsuit noted blatant racist graffiti or comments made by fellow employees, paired with the discriminatory designation of hard physical labor solely for Black employees; others noted the failures of several employers to make reasonable accommodations for pregnant or disabled workers that led to the employee's termination or job offers rescinded.

One study found that racial and ethnic discrimination in hiring continues to be a problem globally.

"Relative to white applicants, applicants of color from all backgrounds in the study had to submit about 50% more applications per callback on average," according to research from the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences that analyzed 90 studies involving 174,000 total fake job applications tweaked to include racial indicators but with otherwise similar professional credentials.

"Diversity doesn’t go away because DEI goes away. It is an inevitable part of any human community (business or otherwise)," said Johnson. "Not learning how to deal with its tensions and complexity is leaving value on the table."

Some DEI experts point to research from management consulting firm McKinsey & Company that found that companies with more diversity financially and socially outperform those that are less diverse.

"The most successful companies understand that DEI isn’t just a '"nice-to-have,'" said Christie Smith, the former vice president for inclusion and diversity at Apple, in a written statement. "It’s a driver of innovation, talent attraction, and competitive advantage. The question is whether leaders will have the courage to stay the course and hold firm against political headwinds."

On Thursday, Trump claimed, without citing evidence, that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives for air traffic controllers at the Federal Aviation Administration were partly to blame for the tragic plane and helicopter collision in Washington on Wednesday night.

The accusation comes after Trump signed sweeping orders aiming to terminate "diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility" programs in or sponsored by the federal government and its contractors.

The White House argues that DEI programs "deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system."

"Americans deserve a government committed to serving every person with equal dignity and respect, and to expending precious taxpayer resources only on making America great," reads Trump's executive order.

The order revokes several decades-old or years-old executive actions, including the 1965 Equal Employment Opportunity order prohibiting hiring discrimination by federal contractors and its amendments expanding professional development, data collection and retention opportunities.

The order also explicitly revokes a 1994 order to develop environmental justice strategies that address disproportionately high health and environmental impacts faced by low-income or minority communities.

Among the list of orders that are now revoked is a 2011 order requiring federal agencies to develop strategies "to identify and remove barriers to equal employment opportunity."

Those in favor of axing DEI programs argue that these initiatives could lead to lawsuits claiming discrimination following the Supreme Court's ruling on SFFA v. Harvard that disallows race to be taken into consideration in college applications.

The National Center for Public Policy Research has been a strong advocate against DEI, submitting shareholder proposals to reverse the DEI policies at major companies like Costco, John Deere, and others. Ethan Peck, deputy director for the NCPPR’s Free Enterprise Project, told ABC News that such companies should be "colorblind."

"We're saying that companies have an obligation, a legal obligation, and an obligation to their shareholders, and an obligation to their employees to treat everybody the same, regardless of their race and sex, and we'd submit any proposal to keep that that way," Peck said.

Trump’s tariffs loom and even his supporters in Texas are nervous

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump’s vow to levy punishing taxes on the country’s top trading partners is already having the Texas business community on edge, with even Republicans who support the president acknowledging it could cause pain in the state.

Trump threatened to implement 25% tariffs on goods imported from Canada and Mexico and an additional 10% tariff on China, which he subjected to tariffs under his first presidency. Mexico and Canada have threatened to levy retaliatory tariffs on the United States.

Mexico is by far Texas’ largest trading partner, followed by Canada with China coming closely behind. Free-trade advocates warn that tariffs on goods will be passed onto consumers — meaning higher prices for Texans. Any positive benefits such as bringing manufacturing back to the country may not appear for years.

“There would undeniably, indisputably be a negative economic impact if tariffs were to be enacted,” said Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Business, a group that supports many of Trump’s other domestic policies.

Texas prides itself in having one of the fastest growing economies in the country and one of the largest economies on earth, due largely to its looser regulatory environment and free exchange with other high value markets. Texas is the largest exporting state in the U.S. — a point of pride for Gov. Greg Abbott and that Abbott said aligns with Trump’s values for making the U.S. an exporting powerhouse. The state exports over $88.6 billion in goods to Mexico alone, and a further $23.4 billion to Canada.

Trump floated a Saturday target date to implement the tariffs, but there is still uncertainty over how — or if — they will be implemented. Since he first floated tariffs during his campaign, several of his defenders have posited that the focus on tariffs could be a negotiating tactic.

Trump threatened the tariffs, saying he wants to pressure Mexico and Canada to invest more in preventing illegal border crossings. He made a similar move on Colombia after it rejected deportation flights from the United States. Within hours of Trump threatening 25% tariffs on Colombia in retaliation, the country allowed deportation flights to resume.

“Let’s wait and see what the president actually does on tariffs,” said Sen. Ted Cruz, who chairs the Senate Commerce Committee. “In the first term, President Trump used very similar threats of tariffs to force Mexico to cooperate in securing our border, and it produced tremendous results.”

Cruz cited the “Remain in Mexico” policy, under which asylum seekers had to wait out their cases in Mexico in cooperation with the Mexican government. He declined to weigh in on ways to relieve pain if the tariffs are actually implemented.

The other Texas senator also advised a cautious approach. “It’s a little hard to separate the negotiation tactics from reality,” Sen. John Cornyn said. “I think we’re gonna have to see how this happens in practice, and then continue the conversation, because there comes a point at which tariffs add cost to consumers.”

The White House has asserted that the tariffs are happening, at least on Mexico and Canada, with tariffs on China still under consideration. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt assured reporters Tuesday that “the Feb. 1 date for Canada and Mexico still holds.”

Free trade advocates still see positives in the president’s trade position. During his first term, Trump negotiated the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement, colloquially known as the USMCA, to update trade agreements among the three countries. Hamer, of the Texas business group, said that many members of the business community feel “incredible optimism” about Trump after four years under President Joe Biden, who many of Texas’ largest industries felt constrained them with regulations. Members of both parties in Texas protested when Biden issued pauses on liquefied natural gas export permits, which they asserted unfairly targeted Texas’ energy sector.

The US-Mexico-Canada Agreement “is the best trade deal ever signed into law in the United States,” Hamer said. “And we want to see the USMCA continue and to be enhanced in ways that will increase trade between our three countries.”

Hamer said the impact of tariffs would be impossible to fully quantify before they are implemented. But the uncertainty of the tariffs is already beginning to impact the state’s economy, particularly in South Texas where trade with Mexico is a lifeblood.

Andrew Lawson Carranco, chair of the Government Affairs Council at the Laredo Chamber of Commerce, said the uncertainty of the tariffs and how they would be executed puts the business community in the city in a precarious situation. The city is home to the biggest port in the country, handling more than $300 billion worth of goods a year passing between the United States and Mexico. He said the city has seen increased exchange across the border to get goods through before they’re charged punishing new rates.

“Of course, we’ve heard a date on the implementation of tariffs, but no one’s really quite sure they’re actually going to be implemented,” Lawson Carranco said. “So we’re left with more questions than answers.”

Leaders in the manufacturing industry in the Rio Grande Valley agree that the immediate effects of tariffs would be devastating increases in prices to consumers. Joaquin Spamer, the president of Border Trade Alliance Mexico, said Mexico would likely retaliate with their own tariffs on farm products they import from the U.S.

“There is a very long list of U.S. agricultural products that are sold in Mexico,” Spamer said. “They know that the border base for Trump is the agricultural communities, that’s why they increase the tariffs immediately there.”

South Texas made a historic swing toward supporting Trump in last year’s elections, with the president winning every South Texas congressional district in the traditionally Democratic stronghold.

Spamer also pointed out that some products cross the border multiple times before being sold to consumers. This can apply to clothes that are manufactured in Mexico using cotton or polyester that was imported from the U.S. It’s unclear if goods will be subject to tariffs on final delivery or each time they cross the border.

“It’s not going to have a 25% tariff, it’s going to have a 25% tariff on the cotton and a 25% tariff on the final product,” Spamer said. “We’re calculating over 40% actual price increase.”

Companies could theoretically offset the costs to consumers by reducing their profit margins or renegotiating prices with foreign suppliers, but prices would increase regardless, said Jorge Torres, a licensed customs broker who is president of Interlink Trade Services. Either way, Torres said “it will be something that will be negative.”

Torres’ own business has a lot on the line. As a customs broker, he provides warehousing along the border that caters to cross-border transactions between Mexico and the U.S. The proposed tariffs would likely cause his own business to experience a downturn with less demand for warehouse space.

Trump has previously used tariffs to bring more manufacturing to the United States, and he’s vowed to make a similar pivot, particularly with semiconductors, a major industry in Texas. Texas lawmakers from both parties have tried to attract semiconductor manufacturing through generous subsidies in a bid to increase competitiveness with Asia, but Trump said he favors a more punitive approach.

He also implemented tariffs on Chinese goods during his last presidency that the Biden administration maintained. Trump offered subsidies for Texas’s agriculture sector at the time to help it weather the trade conflict with China, and Brooke Rollins, a Texan who is his pick for secretary of Agriculture, said she would support similar moves this time.

Still, if tariffs attract more U.S. manufacturing, the benefits will likely come much later than the immediate price hikes. Setting up factories and other elements of the supply chain requires planning and investment that can take years.

“These types of investments in factories and opening facilities, they don’t happen overnight,” Torres said. “We might see some that might happen during his term, but I see that most of this, if it happens, will happen after he leaves office.”

There are also likely to be negative effects on Mexico, said Adrian Gonzalez, also a U.S. customs broker. About 30% of Mexico’s GDP is related to exports and about 80% of those exports are to the U.S., Gonzalez said. Because Mexico relies heavily on exports, tariffs would devastate the economy and lead to more turmoil such as an increase in drug cartel activity or mass immigration.

“The collaboration that is needed to address larger problems like immigration, fentanyl, security,” Gonzalez said, “those would be terribly damaged if the US decides to prevent Mexico from having a source of jobs and resources that they need via trade.”

Article originally published by The Texas Tribune. To read the originally published article, click here.

DC plane crash victims: What we know about those aboard American Airlines Flight 5342, Army Black Hawk

(WASHINGTON) -- Dozens of people are dead after a regional jet collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter Wednesday night over Washington, D.C., officials said, the nation's first major commercial airline crash since 2009.

The aircraft went down in the frigid Potomac River, breaking into multiple pieces. The flight -- which had departed from Wichita, Kansas -- was approaching Reagan National Airport at the time of the collision, officials said.

There were no survivors in the crash, officials said Thursday.

There were 64 passengers aboard the plane, and three Army soldiers in the helicopter, according to officials. The soldiers, none of whom were senior leaders, were conducting a training mission, a defense official said.

Among those lost in the crash were 14 people who were returning home from a national figure skating development camp in Wichita, according to Doug Zeghibe, the CEO and executive director for the Skating Club of Boston.

Six of the victims were affiliated with the Skating Club of Boston, Zeghibe said.

"Skating is a tight-knit community where parents and kids come together 6 or 7 days a week to train and work together. Everyone is like family," Zeghibe said in a statement.

The U.S. Figure Skating organization confirmed that "several members" of the skating community had been on the flight.

"We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts," the organization said. "We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available."

Here's what we know about the victims so far:

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova

Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, a married couple, were also killed in the crash, according to the Skating Club of Boston.
Naumov and Shishkova, who were figure skating coaches, were world champions in pairs competition in 1994.

They joined the club in 2017, Zeghibe said.

Jinna Han and Jin Han

Jinna Han, a figure skater, and Jin Han, her mother, were killed in the crash, according to the Skating Club of Boston.

Spencer Lane and Molly Lane

Skater Spencer Lane and his mother, Molly Lane, were among the victims, the Skating Club of Boston said.

Alexandr Kirsanov

Alexandr Kirsanov was a coach of two of the youth ice skaters on board, his wife, Natalya Gudin, told ABC News.

"I lost everything," Gudin said. "I lost my husband, I lost my students, I lost my friends."

Gudin said Kirsanov traveled with two youth skaters to attend a development camp in Kansas this week. Gudin, who also coaches students with her husband in Delaware, said she stayed home to be with their other skaters.

She last spoke with her husband as he boarded the flight on Wednesday, she said.

"I need my husband back," Gudin said. "I need his body back."

Samuel Lilley

Samuel Lilley, the first officer on board American Airlines Flight 5342, recently got engaged, his sister, Tiffany Gibson, told ABC News.

"He was an amazing person. He loved people. He loved adventure. He loved traveling. He was excited. He was young. He was so young, and he was excited about life and his future and getting a dog and a house and kids. And it's just, this is just tragic," she said.

Samuel Lilley's former brother-in-law, Greg Gibson, remembered him for his passion for flying and willingness to help others.

Samuel Lilley died on the same flight path his father, Timothy Lilley, flew for years. Timothy Lilley flew Black Hawk helicopters for the Army, transporting passengers over the Potomac River from his base in Virginia.

"We were stationed in Virginia, and [Timothy Lilley] flew that same route back and forth to the Pentagon, over and over and over again until he retired," Tiffany Gibson said.

Ian Epstein

The family of Ian Epstein, the flight attendant onboard American Airlines Flight 5342, is remembering him as a cherished father, husband, brother and stepfather.

"Ian Epstein was full of life. He loved being a flight attendant because he truly enjoyed traveling and meeting new people. But his true love was his family. He was a father, a stepfather, a husband and a brother! He will be truly missed. The family appreciates the outpouring of love and support we’ve received, but at this time we would ask for privacy as we process and grieve our loss,” his family said in a statement.