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(WASHINGTON) —  The National Transportation Safety Board chairman called for immediate changes at Washington, D.C.’s Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, saying the current helicopter routes around the airport “pose an intolerable risk to aviation safety.”

Chairman Jennifer Homendy said the NTSB is recommending that the Federal Aviation Administration permanently ban helicopter operations near Reagan when runways 15 and 33 are in use.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy has “restricted helicopter traffic from operating over the Potomac River at DCA until March 31,” Homendy said at a news conference Tuesday. “And I want to commend him for that and commend the work of the FAA to also take swift action.”

However, “as that deadline nears, we remain concerned about the significant potential for future midair collision at DCA,” she said.

Homendy outlined a history of close calls at Reagan and offered a solution as the NTSB continues to the investigate the devastating crash between an American Airlines plane and a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter that killed all 67 people on board both aircraft.

The crash happened on the night of Jan. 29 when the PSA Airlines Bombardier CRJ700 regional jet, which had departed from Wichita, Kansas, with 64 people on board, was about to land at Reagan (DCA). The three soldiers on the helicopter were conducting an annual training flight and night vision goggle check ride for one of the pilots at the time when the two aircraft collided. Both aircraft plunged into the Potomac River.

Between October 2021 and December 2024, there were 944,179 commercial operations at Reagan, Homendy said. During that time, there were 15,214 close proximity events between commercial airplanes and helicopters, she said.

Encounters between helicopters and commercial aircraft near Reagan show that, from 2011 through 2024, a vast majority of reported events occurred on approach to landing, she said.

Homendy said last month that there was no indication the helicopter crew involved in the January crash could tell there was an impending collision.

The soldiers may have had “bad data” on the altitude from their altimeter, as the pilots had differing altitudes in the seconds before the crash, Homendy said. One helicopter pilot thought they were at 400 feet and the other thought they were at 300 feet.

The transmission from the tower that instructed the helicopter to go behind the plane may not have been heard by the crew because the pilot may have keyed her radio at the same second and stepped on the transmission from ATC, the NTSB added.

The Black Hawk crew was likely wearing night vision goggles throughout the flight, Homendy said.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(AUSTIN, Texas) — A homicide investigation is underway after a reporter for InfoWars, the website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, was shot dead outside his apartment complex in Austin, Texas, according to police.

The victim, Jamie White, 36, was found lying on the ground in the parking lot around 11:56 p.m. Sunday, Austin police said. Infowars is based in Austin.

The suspects may have been burglarizing White’s car when White interrupted them, police said.

The suspects fled the scene after the shooting, police said.

Jones wrote on X, “We pledge that Jamie’s tragic death will not be in vain, and those responsible for this senseless violence will be brought to justice.”

Anyone with information about this shooting should call police at 512-974-TIPS, or submit a tip to Crime Stoppers at 512-472-8477.

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(TROY, Mich.) — Three people have been charged with second-degree murder after a 5-year-old boy was killed when a hyperbaric chamber exploded at a medical facility in Michigan earlier this year, officials announced Tuesday.

Thomas Cooper died on Jan. 31 in the incident at the Oxford Center in Troy, officials said.

The chamber contained 100% oxygen, making it extremely flammable, Lt. Keith Young of the Detroit Fire Department said at the time.

The owner of the Oxford Center, Tamela Peterson, and two other employees of the facility, have now been charged with second-degree murder in connection with his death, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel said.

They also face an alternative charge of involuntary manslaughter. Nessel said a jury will ultimately decide if the state has enough evidence to prove the murder charge.

The operator of the hyperbaric chamber also faces a charge of involuntary manslaughter, Nessel said.

“Due to many failures by men and women who would call themselves medical professionals — and wanton or willful disregard for the likelihood that their actions would cause the death of a patient — 5-year-old Thomas Cooper was killed,” Nessel said at a press briefing.

The Oxford Center said it has been cooperating with multiple investigations into the “tragic accident” and is “disappointed” in the decision to file charges.

“The timing of these charges is surprising, as the typical protocol after a fire-related accident has not yet been completed,” the Oxford Center said in a statement. “There are still outstanding questions about how this occurred. Yet, the Attorney General’s office proceeded to pursue charges without those answers.”

“Our highest priority every day is the safety and wellbeing of the children and families we serve, which continues during this process,” the statement added.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Gusty winds, low humidity and dry conditions are expected to produce elevated fire danger in parts of the Southwest and Northeast on Tuesday following wildfires that erupted on New York’s Long Island over the weekend and in the Carolinas last week.

Red flag alerts were already in effect Tuesday morning for West Texas and southern New Mexico, where wind gusts are forecast to reach 40 mph and relative humidity is expected to plummet to as low as 5%. Combined with critically dry conditions on the ground, forecasters are warning of the potential of fast-moving wildfires.

“Any fires that develop may rapidly increase in size and intensity, move quickly, and be very difficult to control,” the National Weather Service office for Austin and San Antonio said in a forecast on Tuesday.

In the Northeast, elevated fire danger is forecast Tuesday for Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut and parts of southern New York. Winds gusts of up to 30 mph in the high-risk areas of the Northeast and the relative humidity is expected to fall to 30%.

Mild to above average temperatures are forecast to continue through this week across the eastern half of the country.

Daily record high temperatures are possible in Houston on Thursday and Friday. Temperatures are expected to get up to the mid-80s in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio. Memphis, Tennessee, is expected to reach the lower 80s on Friday.

The new fire danger warnings came even as firefighters continue to mop up from a series of brush fires that erupted on Saturday in New York’s Long Island.

The fires in Suffolk County, Long Island, ignited on Saturday amid northwest wind gusts of up to 45 mph and extremely dry vegetation.

At least four different fires broke out in Suffolk County, officials said. The fires quickly spread embers from Manorville to Eastport and into the publicly protected Pine Barrens region of West Hampton, officials said.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul declared a state of emergency and instituted a burn ban for Long Island, New York City and parts of the Hudson Valley.

The Long Island fires burned about 600 acres before officials reported Monday that the blazes were 100% contained. Two commercial structures were damaged in the fires. State and Army National Guard helicopters made water drops on the Long Island fires, which helped prevent the flames from reaching homes, officials said.

About 600 firefighters from more than 80 volunteer Suffolk County fire departments battled the blazes, officials said.

Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said Monday that the “operating theory” is that a fire was started at about 9:30 a.m. ET Saturday when a resident used cardboard to start a fire to make s’mores, a confection that includes toasted marshmallows and chocolate sandwiched between graham crackers.

The Long Island fires followed a rash of wildfires that ignited last week in South Carolina and North Carolina. Officials said 175 wildfires broke out near the border of both states, fueled by high winds and moderate drought conditions.

The fires in the Carolinas rapidly spread through the Carolina Forest in Horry County, South Carolina, burning over 2,000 acres and threatening the communities of Walkers Woods and Avalon, and reaching the edge of Myrtle Beach before being extinguished, according to the South Carolina Forestry Commission.

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