What we know about the figure skaters lost in the plane crash
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What are today's episode highlights?
Good morning. It's Friday, January 31st. I'm Shamita Basu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, inside the tense hearings for some of Trump's more tenuous cabinet nominees. Some migrants say they're being subjected to inhumane conditions while being deported. And practical tips for navigating this overwhelming moment in the news.
Who were the figure skaters involved in the tragic crash?
But first, the elite ice skating community is reeling after the crash between an American Airlines passenger plane and an Army Blackhawk helicopter over the Potomac River on Wednesday night. All 67 people on board these aircraft died. Fourteen of the victims were en route to Washington from a national figure skating development camp in Wichita, Kansas. Among them, two sisters, 14-year-old Everly and 11-year-old Lydia Livingston, and their parents from the D.C. area. Six of the victims were from the skating club of Boston. 13-year-old Gina Hahn and 16-year-old Spencer Lane were described as the future of the sport. Their mothers were also on board, as well as two coaches at the club, Russian figure skaters Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov.
They were married, and they won the world championship in pairs figure skating in 1994 in Paris. Doug Zegheib, the CEO and executive director of the Skating Club of Boston, addressed reporters yesterday.
What was the impact of the crash on the skating community?
Skating is a very close and tight-knit community. These kids and their parents, they're here at our facility in Norwood six, sometimes seven days a week. It's a close, tight bond. And I think for all of us, we have lost fam.
The Skating Club of Boston is one of the oldest and most prestigious clubs in the country. It's produced Olympic and world champions like Nancy Kerrigan, who won the silver medal in the 1994 Olympics. She joined Zeghaib in addressing the crash while holding back tears.
Much like everyone here has been saying is not sure how to process it. Shoot, I'm sorry.
Kerrigan also spoke about how close this community is.
You don't have to know everybody to feel that connection. We've been through the same thing, that training, that rigorous schedule of falling over and over and somehow picking yourself back up, which is like the main lesson I think learned in skating is you get back up, keep on trying. And even when it's hard, you get back up. Even when you're crying, hurt, pain, you get back up and move forward. It's not easy, but that's what we all have to do now together.
Has figure skating faced similar tragedies before?
This is not the first airplane tragedy to hit the figure skating community. Many recalled an eerily similar event that took place 60 years ago on Valentine's Day that killed 73 people, including all 18 members of the U.S. figure skating team headed to the World Championships in Prague. Here's Doug Zeghaib again reflecting on the parallels between the two events.
It had long-reaching implications for the skating club and for the sport in this country because when you lose coaches like this, you lose the future of the sport as well. It's been a long time in redeveloping it. And I personally feel that this club, the Skating Club of Boston, has just now, almost 60 years later, been coming out of the shadow of that 1961 crash.
We're still learning more details about all of the victims of this crash, and it's too early to know what caused it. A preliminary report from the Federal Aviation Administration found that staffing at the air traffic control tower was, quote, not normal at the time of the crash, and that just one controller was doing work that's typically assigned to two.
What are the latest details on the plane crash investigation?
Let's turn now to the Senate confirmation hearings yesterday for three of President Trump's more controversial cabinet nominees. That's Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's nominated to lead Health and Human Services, Tulsi Gabbard, nominee for director of national intelligence, and Kash Patel, who's been tapped to lead the FBI. Patel, a lawyer and former Republican staffer on the House Intelligence Committee, has been a Trump loyalist for years and has in the past courted parts of the QAnon community. As a congressional aide in 2016, he helped the GOP defend Trump during investigations into Russian election interference.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What are today's episode highlights?
0:05–0:34
2
Who were the figure skaters involved in the tragic crash?
0:34–1:34
3
What was the impact of the crash on the skating community?
1:34–2:53
4
Has figure skating faced similar tragedies before?
2:53–4:09
5
What are the latest details on the plane crash investigation?
4:09–4:53
6
Who are Trump's controversial cabinet nominees?
4:53–7:01
7
What are Tulsi Gabbard's views on Edward Snowden?
7:01–14:24
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Apple News Today
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