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The Daily Briefing

YOUR MORNING NEWS ROUNDUP

Thu Jan 30 2025

Nicole Fallert | Newsletter Writer

@nicolefallert

Scores of people are feared dead after the crash of a passenger jet and a U.S. Army helicopter. Confirmation hearings for President Donald Trump's cabinet picks continue on Thursday. Rapper A$AP Rocky is in a Los Angeles courthouse fighting two felony charges that he fired a handgun at a former friend.

🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Daily Briefing author. Are you a thrifty shopper?

American Airlines plane collides with helicopter, crashes into DC river

Major search and rescue operations in the freezing-cold Potomac River continued into Thursday morning after an American Airlines regional jet with 64 people aboard collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter above Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday night.

What we know: Authorities said the flight from Wichita, Kansas, was preparing to land at the airport before it "collided in midair" with the helicopter around 9 p.m.

•	Area officials have not said how many people died or were injured in the collision. At least a dozen bodies were recovered as authorities late Wednesday rushed boats into the water to search for survivors.
•	The cause of the crash is not yet known. The military helicopter that collided with the plane was on a "routine training flight," officials said.
•	Washington-area residents are stunned by the crash. Dozens of police, ambulance, and rescue units, some ferrying boats, staged along the Potomac River and raced to positions along the airport's tarmac. Live television images and footage showed several boats in the water, flashing blue and red lights.

Rescue boats search the waters of the Potomac River on Jan. 30, 2025 after a plane on approach to Reagan National Airport crashed into the river outside Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29.

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS, AFP via Getty Images

What to know about immigration raids across the country

"All of them, because they illegally broke our nation's laws and therefore they are criminals as far as this administration goes."

~White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt at a news briefing answering a question about how many of the people arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement since President Donald Trump returned to power actually have criminal records. The agency is publicizing its daily total of arrests, which added up to 3,104 in the past three days alone. Here's the USA TODAY Network's look at states that have seen major immigration actions in recent days.

More news to know now

•	Israeli hostage Agam Berger was released by Hamas in Gaza.
•	Trump axed support for tribal and Hispanic-serving colleges.
•	Former Sen. Bob Menendez was sentenced to 11 years in prison.
•	A USDA inspector general was escorted out of her office after defying the White House.
•	Republicans in Miami this week get three days of sun, golf and Trump-branded hamburgers.

What's the weather today? Check your local forecast here.

More confirmation hearings are on the way

President Donald Trump's pick for FBI director, Kash Patel, faces a contentious confirmation hearing Thursday, with Democrats expected to focus on his plans to overhaul the bureau and whether he'll seek legal retribution against Trump's political opponents. Meanwhile, Tulsi Gabbard, Trump's pick for director of national intelligence, will face accusations that she is an apologist for foreign dictators and heavy scrutiny over her meeting with Syria's toppled president at her Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Two North Koreans indicted for fooling American companies

Five people, including two Americans, were indicted in a fraud scheme that aimed to put remote IT workers in U.S. companies so they could funnel hundreds of thousands of dollars to North Korea, the Department of Justice announced. They funneled roughly $900,000 they raised between 2018 and 2024 to the coffers of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The case out of the Southern District of Florida is the latest in federal efforts to put a stop to increasing cases of North Korea remote worker fraud. American companies cannot hire nationals of the belligerent nation due to sanctions. Read more

Today's talkers

•	Pro-Palestinian student protesters could have their visas revoked.
•	Zayn Malik returned to touring after 10 years.
•	There's a new royal baby!
•	Blake Lively's brother-in-law has entered the chat.
•	Can a website help take the stress off wedding planning?

Super Bowl 59 will include 'more visible' law enforcement

The NFL has adjusted its security plans and received additional law enforcement support for Super Bowl 59 in New Orleans following the deadly attack in the city on Jan. 1, local officials said this week. The Super Bowl is coming to New Orleans for the first time since 2013 − and less than six weeks after Shamsud-Din Jabbar, 42, drove a truck into a crowded portion of the city's iconic French Quarter, leaving 14 dead and dozens of others wounded. Officials say they requested and received upgraded security measures following the incident.

Photo of the day: A$AP Rocky on trial

Rapper A$AP Rocky is in court this week for allegedly shooting a former friend in 2021. If convicted, Rocky could get up to 24 years in prison. Rihanna, Rocky's partner and the mother of his children, made a rare public appearance in the court on Wednesday, dodging cameras to attend the trial and was escorted to the courthouse and courtroom by security officials.

US rapper Rakim Mayers, aka A$AP Rocky, leaves court during his felony assault trial at the Clara Shortridge Foltz Criminal Justice Center in downtown Los Angeles, California on January 29, 2025.

FRAZER HARRISON, POOL/AFP via Getty Images

Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at USA TODAY, sign up for the email here . Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.