(NEWARK, NJ) — A Pennsylvania man attempting to go through airport security was discovered to have been hiding a living turtle in his pants as he tried to sneak it onto the plane, authorities said.
The incident took place last Friday at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey when a man from Pennsylvania was going through a body scan in the security area when an alarm was triggered “in the area of the man’s groin,” according to a statement from the Transportation Security Administration on Tuesday.
“A TSA officer administered a pat-down of the area of the man’s body where the alarm was triggered and in doing so, determined that there was something concealed in the area of the man’s groin,” TSA officials said regarding the incident. “When asked if there was something hidden in his pants, the man, a resident of East Stroudsburg, Pa., reached down the front of his pants and pulled out a live turtle that was wrapped in a small blue towel.”
The turtle was estimated to be approximately five inches in length and identified to be a red-ear slider turtle – one of the most popular breeds of pet turtle in the United States – by the man once he was caught by airport security.
“Port Authority Police questioned the man, took possession of the turtle and indicated that they would contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local animal control officials,” the TSA said.
The unnamed man missed his flight and was escorted out of the checkpoint by police.
Thomas Carter, TSA’s Federal Security Director for New Jersey, said that this is the first time he has ever seen someone trying to smuggle a live animal down the front on their pants as they attempted to go through security.
“I commend our officer who conducted the pat-down in a very professional manner in an effort to resolve the alarm,” said Carter. “We have seen travelers try to conceal knives and other weapons on their person, in their shoes and in their luggage, however I believe this is the first time we have come across someone who was concealing a live animal down the front of his pants. As best as we could tell, the turtle was not harmed by the man’s actions.”
(NEW YORK) — One day ahead of a court hearing for Mahmoud Khalil — the activist who was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement on the campus of Columbia University, despite possessing a green card — his wife and attorney both released statements shedding more light on Khalil’s detainment and the days leading up to it.
Khalil’s wife, who is eight months pregnant, issued a statement speaking of the outpouring of love she has received and the urgent need for him to be home in time for their baby’s birth.
In it, she said that Khalil “begged” Columbia University for legal support one day before his arrest, explaining that he was fearful that ICE might target him.
Khalil allegedly sent an email to the university urging them to intervene, his wife said.
“I haven’t been able to sleep, fearing that ICE or a dangerous individual might come to my home. I urgently need legal support and I urge you to intervene,” he reportedly said in his email.
His wife claimed that the university never responded.
ABC News reached out to Columbia for comment and has not independently reviewed the reported emails.
Khalil’s wife also said in her statement that a “doxxing” campaign began targeting her husband about six days ago and anti-Palestinian groups were also spreading “false claims” about him.
She recalled the moment she was also threatened with arrest when she refused to leave her husband with the agents, claiming that the couple was never shown a warrant.
“I was born and raised in the Midwest. My parents came here from Syria, carrying their stories of the oppressive regime there that made life unlivable. They believed living in the US would bring a sense of safety and stability. But here I am, 40 years after my parents immigrated here, and just weeks before I’m due to give birth to our first child, and I feel more unsafe and unstable than I have in my entire life,” her statement said.
The Trump administration said it detained Khalil, who was a leader of the encampment protests on Columbia’s campus, alleging he was a supporter of Hamas.
Baher Azmy, one of the lawyers representing Khalil, called his client’s alleged alignment with Hamas “false and preposterous.”
According to a joint letter filed in court and obtained by ABC News, the government and Khalil’s attorneys conferred on Monday but were unable to agree on how to proceed. Khalil’s side asked the court to first decide a pending motion to compel the government to return him to New York; the government indicated that it intends to move to dismiss or transfer the case for improper venue and is asking the court to address that first.
“For everyone reading this, I urge you to see Mahmoud through my eyes as a loving husband and the future father to our baby. I need your help to bring Mahmoud home, so he is here beside me, holding my hand in the delivery room as we welcome our first child into this world. Please release Mahmoud Now,” the statement from Khalil’s wife concluded.
Attorney Amy E. Greer said she spoke with Khalil on Tuesday and that he is “healthy and his spirits are undaunted by his predicament.”
“He also greatly appreciates, and, typically for him, is moved by the extraordinarily broad and steadfast support he has received from a variety of communities that understand what is at stake,” she said.
Greer also hinted that some of the administration’s comments about Khalil, including President Donald Trump’s social media posts, may be used by his legal team to argue for his release.
“The remarks by government officials, including the President, on social media only confirm the purpose – and illegality – of Mahmoud’s detention. He was chosen as an example to stifle entirely lawful dissent in violation of the First Amendment. While tomorrow or thereafter the government may cite the law or process, that toothpaste is out of the tube and irreversibly so. The government’s objective is as transparent as it is unlawful, and our role as Mahmoud’s lawyers is to ensure it does not prevail,” Greer said.
The court has scheduled a hearing on the habeas petition on Wednesday at 11:30 a.m.
Khalil’s team will be asking the court to order the government to return him to New York to while the legal battle plays out. Khalil is currently being held in Louisiana — a move that Greer claimed is a “blatantly improper but familiar tactic designed to frustrate the New York federal court’s jurisdiction.”
(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge on Wednesday will consider the fate of more than 20,000 probationary government employees fired by the Trump administration.
During a hearing in U.S. District Court in Maryland, Judge James Bredar will consider issuing a temporary restraining order that would block future firings and reinstate the probationary employees who have already been terminated.
The court hearing Wednesday comes after 20 Democratic attorneys general sued to block the firings last week.
“These large-scale, indiscriminate firings are not only subjecting the Plaintiff States and communities across the country to chaos. They are also against the law,” the Democratic officials argued in their complaint, which named 41 agencies and agency heads as defendants.
The attorneys general have argued that the Trump administration violated federal law with the firings by failing to give a required 60-day notice for a reduction in force, opting to pursue the terminations “suddenly and without any advance notice.”
Lawyers with the Department of Justice have argued that the states lack standing because they “cannot interject themselves into the employment relationship between the United States and government workers,” and that to grant the temporary restraining order would “circumvent” the administrative process for challenging the firings.
In separate lawsuits, two other federal judges have declined to immediately block firings of federal employees or to reinstate them to their positions.
“The third time is not the charm. Like the unions and the organizational plaintiffs, the States are strangers to the employment relationships at issue and cannot disrupt the exclusive remedial scheme that Congress put in place to adjudicate these disputes,” lawyers with the DOJ argued.
(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Education initiated mass layoffs on Tuesday night, reducing its workforce by nearly 50%, sources told ABC News.
The “reduction in force” notices began to go out at about 6 p.m.
Some 1,315 employees were affected by the RIFs, leaving 2,183 employed by the department, according to senior officials at the DOE.
Impacted staff will be placed on administrative leave starting March 21, a statement from the Education Department said. They will receive full pay and benefits through June 9, senior officials added.
The statement also said that the DOE will “continue to deliver on all statutory programs that fall under the agency’s purview, including formula funding, student loans, Pell Grants, funding for special needs students, and competitive grantmaking.”
“Today’s reduction in force reflects the Department of Education’s commitment to efficiency, accountability, and ensuring that resources are directed where they matter most: to students, parents, and teachers,” said Secretary of Education Linda McMahon shortly after the notifications went out on Tuesday.
“I appreciate the work of the dedicated public servants and their contributions to the Department,” she said. “This is a significant step toward restoring the greatness of the United States education system.”
The downsizing impacts “every” sector of the department in some way, according to senior department of education officials.
“This is primarily a streamlining effort for internal facing roles and not external facing roles,” senior officials said.
Following the flurry of layoff notifications, those who remained employed by the DOE received their own email. ABC News obtained a copy, which said, in part: “As we move forward, our mission and responsibilities will remain, but there will need to be significant changes to the way that we work. What we choose to prioritize, and in turn, not prioritize, will be critical in this transition.”
“Please know that these decisions were not made lightly, and in no way reflect on the dedication and hard work of those who are leaving,” it said, before referring to this moment as the DOE’s “final mission” and suggesting: “Let’s continue to move forward as a team.”
In next steps, six communications offices are going to be consolidated, officials explained, and leases will end in major cities including San Francisco, New York, Cleveland, Boston, Chicago and Dallas.
The three DOE buildings in Washington, D.C., will also eventually be consolidated, according to the senior officials.
The announcement came shortly after DOE employees were told that their offices — including those in the National Capital Region, along with regional locations — would be closed for the day on Wednesday.
Citing “security reasons,” an email went out saying that the buildings would be inaccessible starting at 6 p.m., a source within the department told ABC News.
“You must vacate the building by that time,” a department email to employees reads in part, adding “All ED offices in the NCR and the regions will be closed to employees and contractor employees on Wednesday, March 12th.”
Senior officials later elaborated that the safety precautions were meant to protect the remaining employees who retained their positions with the DOE.
The email also instructed employees to take their laptops home with them after work on Tuesday.
“Please take your laptop with you when you depart on Tuesday. Employees will not be permitted in any ED facility on Wednesday March 12th for any reason. All offices will reopen on Thursday, March 13th, at which time in-person presence will resume,” the email said.
The email also said that employees with approved telework agreements may work from home; however, such telework agreements are largely no longer in place, an employee told ABC News. The DOE called for its total workforce to return to its offices late last month.
The closure notification comes as President Donald Trump weighs an executive order to shutter the agency and transfer education oversight to the states. The decision to sign that order was delayed due to concerns over questions the administration might get about vital programs that could potentially be gutted by it.
Inside the department, employees are bracing for uncertain futures.
“People are petrified to do their jobs,” an Education Department employee told ABC News recently. “People are worried about like, if I push back on something that somebody wants to do, right, and I say, that’s not really what the law says or is legal, am I going to get a bad performance and now they use a bad performance to kick me out?”
“Everyone here is holding their breath,” the DOE employee added.
National Education Association President Becky Pringle released a statement in response to the layoffs on Tuesday, saying: “Firing — without cause — nearly half of the Department of Education staff means they are getting rid of the dedicated public servants who help ensure our nation’s students have access to the programs and resources to keep class sizes down and expand learning opportunities for students so they can grow into their full brilliance. The Trump administration has abandoned students, parents, and educators across the nation.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration could be sanctioned by a federal judge later this week after lawyers with the Department of Justice advised a federal judge Tuesday evening that they will not make a top administration official available for sworn testimony.
U.S. District Judge Charles Alsup had sought to have the acting head of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Charles Ezell, testify on Thursday about the mass firing of probationary employees.
But the DOJ said Tuesday that they would not make Ezell available for testimony.
By making Ezell unavailable, DOJ attorneys also withdrew his sworn affidavit, a move that Judge Charles Alsup suggested would heavily increase the odds that the Trump administration loses the case, which involves the legality of firing thousands of probationary employees.
“Live testimony of Mr. Ezell is also not necessary, as a factual matter, because existing documentary evidence and briefing demonstrates that OPM is not directing agencies to terminate probationary employees,” DOJ lawyers argued.
A group of federal unions has alleged that Ezell lied in a sworn declaration that his office did not order the firing of probationary employees based on “performance or misconduct,” prompting Judge Alsup to order Ezell to testify in person and under oath in San Francisco on Thursday.
The Trump administration attempted to push back on the order — arguing in a filing Monday that the testimony raises “fundamental constitutional concerns.”
Judge Alsup late Monday denied their request to cancel the hearing.
“The problem here is that Acting Director Ezell submitted a sworn declaration in support of the defendant’s position but now refuses to appear to be cross examined or to be deposed,” Judge Alsup wrote in an order Monday night.
The plaintiffs allege that on Feb. 13, Ezell convened a phone call with the heads of federal agencies to direct them to terminate thousands of federal employees and “falsely state that the terminations are for performance reasons.”
In a sworn declaration last month, Ezell denied directing the terminations based on performance reasons, instead arguing that OPM only issued guidance to individual agencies about the need for probationary workers to “demonstrate why it is in the public interest” for the government to continue to employ them.
“OPM did not direct agencies to terminate any particular probationary employees based on performance or misconduct, and did not create a ‘mass termination program,’ as the plaintiffs in this matter described it,” Ezell wrote.
The groups challenging the firings in court say that was a lie, and Judge Alsup appeared inclined to agree during a court hearing last month.
“How could so much of the work force be amputated suddenly overnight? It’s so irregular and so widespread and so aberrant from the history of our country,” Judge Alsup said. “How could that all happen with each agency deciding on its own to do something so aberrational?”
“I don’t believe it,” said the judge. “I believe they were directed or ordered to do so by OPM in that telephone call. That’s the way the evidence points.”
The allegations about the mass firings comes as the Trump administration faces increased scrutiny about the role of the Department of Government Efficiency in reducing the size of the federal government. During a cabinet meeting last week, Trump told the heads of the federal agencies that they are in charge of making cuts to their own departments, rather than Elon Musk and DOGE.
The booking photos for Isaiah Smith, left, and Kyle Thurman (Baton Rouge Police Department)
(BATON ROUGE, LA) — Two more suspects have been arrested in connection with the death of a Southern University and A&M College student during an alleged hazing incident, police said Tuesday.
Caleb Wilson, a 20-year-old junior at the college in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, died following an off-campus incident last month, school officials said.
Wilson collapsed after being punched in the chest multiple times while pledging to a fraternity, according to Baton Rouge Police Chief TJ Morse.
A group of males dropped him off unresponsive at a local hospital and reported he collapsed after being struck in the chest while playing basketball at a city park, according to court filings. But upon investigation, officers learned that the incident actually occurred at a warehouse in Baton Rouge while he was pledging to the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, according to Morse.
One suspect, 23-year-old Caleb McCray, turned himself in to the East Baton Rouge Parish prison last week with his attorney and has been charged with criminal hazing and manslaughter, Morse said.
Two additional suspects were arrested this week for criminal hazing, a felony, the Baton Rouge Police Department said Tuesday.
Kyle Thurman, 25, was arrested in Port Allen, Louisiana, on Monday by the U.S Marshals Fugitive Task Force and Baton Rouge Police Department’s Violent Crimes Apprehension Team, police said. He was extradited to Baton Rouge and booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, police said. It is unclear if he has an attorney.
Isaiah Smith, 28, turned himself in early Tuesday and was booked into the East Baton Rouge Parish Prison, police said.
“A fair bond was set and his family are going through the process of bonding him,” his attorney, Franz Borghardt, said in a statement Tuesday evening to ABC News. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Wilson family in this time of mourning.”
The three suspects allegedly punched some of the pledges with boxing gloves while the students stood in a line during a meeting at a flooring company warehouse on Feb. 26, according to their arrest warrants. McCray is the only suspect specifically accused in the documents of punching Wilson.
Smith held the title of dean of pledges and was in charge of the nine pledges at the time of the alleged hazing, according to the affidavit in his arrest warrant. He is accused of punching “at least one pledge” during the alleged hazing, according to the affidavit.
Thurman allegedly punched pledges in one group, while McCray is accused of punching pledges in another group that included Wilson, according to the affidavits in their arrest warrants. Both suspects are current members of the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, the affidavits said.
McCray allegedly punched Wilson four times in the chest, at which point Wilson fell to the floor, becoming unresponsive and appearing to have a seizure, according to the affidavits.
Wilson was brought to a local hospital in a vehicle registered to Smith, according to the affidavits. Officers also identified Smith as the person seen on surveillance video removing an unresponsive Wilson from the car, according to the affidavits.
Following McCray’s arrest, his attorney said they are reviewing the facts of the case and are committed to ensuring that “due process is followed.”
“At this time, I have not been presented with any evidence to support such serious accusations,” his attorney, Phillip Robinson, said in a statement Friday. “I maintain my client’s innocence and urge the public to withhold rushing to judgment until all the evidence is heard.”
Wilson was pronounced dead shortly after midnight on Feb. 27, according to the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office.
The cause of Wilson’s death has not yet been determined while awaiting the results of the additional forensic testing that was ordered by the pathologist, the East Baton Rouge Parish Coroner’s Office confirmed to ABC News on Friday.Additional suspects and arrests are possible, Morse said.
Southern University, a historically Black college and university, said it is cooperating with the criminal investigation. The school is also conducting an internal investigation into what led to Wilson’s death following reports of “unsanctioned off-campus activities” and will “take appropriate action” once completed.
“Hazing is a violation of the University’s rules and regulations as well as Louisiana law, and it will not be tolerated in any form at Southern University,” the school said.
Last week, the university said it had begun its student judiciary process for any alleged breaches of school policy amid its hazing investigation. It has also indefinitely banned membership intake for all student organizations in the wake of Wilson’s death.
Ricky Lewis, the highest-ranking national official in the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, previously said in a statement that they are “actively working to gather accurate information” amid the investigation by local authorities and “we fully support their efforts to seek the truth.”
A public memorial is scheduled to be held for Wilson at Southern University on Friday to “mourn this tremendous loss,” school officials said.
“He was a bright light in Jaguar Nation, a dedicated scholar, and a proud member of the world-renowned Human Jukebox,” Southern University Chancellor John Pierre said in a statement. “Caleb Wilson’s kindness, passion, and unwavering spirit left a lasting impact on all who had the privilege of knowing him.”
(WASHINGTON) — The tariffs the Trump administration is imposing on Canada could disrupt the longstanding trade of electricity between the United States and its northern neighbor, effectively raising energy bills in multiple U.S. states.
President Donald Trump ignited a trade war on Canada and Mexico immediately upon taking office, announcing on Inauguration Day that he expected to place 25% tariffs on both countries. After weeks of back and forth, the trade war escalated further after Ontario slapped a 25% surcharge on electricity sent to the U.S. in response to Trumps’ tariffs.
The tariffs will likely have reverberations for Americans who use electricity imported by Canada, as the U.S. and Canada are each other’s largest energy trade partners, according to Washington, D.C.-based research institute Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS).
The history of electricity trade between the U.S. and Canada
The U.S. and Canada have been trading electricity for more than a century — long enough to have established an integrated grid, which offers a sense of security for both countries’ energy needs, according to Ontario-based utilities association Electricity Canada.
The electricity interdependence between the two countries was borne out of complementary needs — Canadians tend to use more electricity in the winter for heating, while demand is higher in the U.S. during the summer for cooling, according to Electricity Canada. An integrated grid offers strategic balance and reliability for both countries. according to the Canada Energy Regulator (CER).
The cumulative volume of energy trade between the U.S. and Canada has consistently risen year over year, according to the CSIS.
For the better part of the last two decades, the U.S. has imported “significantly more” electricity from Canada than it has exported, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The balance shifted in the fall of 2023, however, because severe drought significantly reduced the amount of hydropower generated in Canada.
In 2023, electricity exports from the U.S. to Canada were valued at about $1.1 billion and electricity imports from Canada to the U.S. were valued at $2.9 billion, according to the CER.
Tariffs could cause Americans’ electricity bills to increase
Since the integrated electricity system between the U.S. and Canada was built on the idea of tariff-free trade, introducing tariffs is “hugely disruptive” and will be felt by citizens of both countries, according to Electricity Canada.
Both American and Canadian consumers and businesses can expect to pay more for electricity, the association said.
On Monday, Ontario Premier Doug Ford announced a 25% surcharge on electricity from Ontario to the U.S. Customers in states that import the most electricity from Ontario — like Minnesota, Michigan and New York — could see higher prices as a result.
Ford said during a press conference on Monday that he would “not back down” until the tariffs are abolished “once and for all.”
“Believe me when I say I do not want to do this,” Ford said. “I feel terrible for the American people who didn’t start this trade war.”
Ford suspended the surcharge on Tuesday after a “productive conservation about the economic relationship between the United States and Canada,” he wrote on a statement posted to X.
Other states that are top importers of Canadian electricity include California, Nevada, Arizona, North Dakota, Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine, according to the CSIS.
The amount of electricity imported from Canada is a small portion of the overall power supply in the U.S., but the transmission connections are an important component of markets in northern states, according to the EIA.
On Tuesday, Trump imposed another round of tariffs on Canadian steal and aluminum products in response to Ontario’s surcharge on electricity.
Trump also announced that he planned to declare a national emergency in the regions of the U.S. impacted by the surcharge but did not provide any specifics on actions the government might take.
ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart and Max Zahn contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Fourteen members of Congress have signed a letter demanding the release of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, despite being a legal permanent resident.
Khalil was detained on Saturday after two plainclothes Department of Homeland Security agents entered Columbia student housing and detained Khalil without presenting a warrant or any filed charges, according to the letter.
Khalil is a legal permanent resident and is married to a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant, according to the letter.
The 14 members of Congress — including “Squad” members Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. — called Khalil’s detention an “attempt to criminalize political protest” and a “direct assault on freedom of speech.”
“Khalil has not been charged or convicted of any crime. As the Trump Administration proudly admits, he was targeted solely for his activism and organizing as a student leader and negotiator for the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Columbia University’s campus,” the members of Congress wrote in a letter addressed to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
The members of Congress, all Democrats, also called Khalil’s detention an act of “anti-Palestinian racism intended to silence the Palestine solidarity movement in this country.”
The ICE agents who arrested Khalil at his home first said that the State Department had revoked his student visa. After being informed by Khalil’s attorney that he was a permanent resident with a green card, the ICE agents said that his green card was being revoked instead, according to the letter.
The agents also threatened to arrest Khalil’s pregnant wife, according to the letter.
“DHS initially informed them he was being held in Elizabeth New Jersey, but his wife attempted to visit the facility on Sunday only to learn that he was not there. DHS refused to provide additional information on his location to his attorney or spouse,” the letter said.
Shortly after his arrest, Khalil was transferred to an ICE facility in central Louisiana.
“Khalil’s constitutional rights have been violated. He has been denied meaningful access to counsel and any visitation from his family. This is absolutely unacceptable — and illegal,” the letter said.
A federal judge has blocked Khalil’s removal while weighing a petition challenging his arrest.
The Trump administration said it has the authority to remove Khalil under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the secretary of state has the right to revoke a green card or a visa for individuals who serve, or are adversarial to the foreign policy and the national security interests of the United States of America,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “Mahmoud Khalil was an individual who was given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges and he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege, by siding with terrorists, Hamas terrorists.”
Baher Azmy, one of Khalil’s lawyers, called his client’s alleged alignment with Hamas “false and preposterous.”
“Setting aside the false and preposterous premise that advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights and to plead with public officials to stop an ongoing genocide constitutes alignment with Hamas, his speech is absolutely protected by the Constitution, and it should be chilling to everyone that the United States government could punish or try to deport someone because they disapprove of the speech they’re engaged in,” Azmy told ABC News on Monday.
Khalil completed his program at the university in December and expects to graduate in May, according to the habeas corpus petition filed by his lawyer.
Leavitt also said Tuesday that more arrests will come and added Columbia University is “refusing to help” DHS in identifying other individuals.
“I also know that Columbia University has been given the names of other individuals who have engaged in pro-Hamas activity and they are refusing to help DHS identify those individuals on campus,” Leavitt said.
Petty Officer 1st Class Brandon Giles/ U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images
(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.
(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.
