On today’s show: What we know about the figure skaters who were on board the American Airlines flight that collided with an Army helicopter near Washington, D.C. USA Today reports on the reaction to the crash from the skating world. CNN has a look at how Trump’s Cabinet nominees faced their sharpest bipartisan grilling to date, along with other takeaways from Thursday’s confirmation hearings. Juan Forero with the Wall Street Journal describes what recently deported migrants say about how they were treated by U.S. officials. Plus, tips on how to follow the news in a chaotic time, the force in women’s sports that’s even more powerful than Caitlin Clark, and why people are asking if this could be the year Beyoncé finally wins the Grammy for Album of the Year. Today’s episode was hosted by Shumita Basu.
Chapter 1: 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.
Chapter 2: 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.
Chapter 3: 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.
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Chapter 4: 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.
Chapter 5: 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.
Patel was a board member of the parent company for Trump's social media platform, Truth Social, and he has a side hustle selling pro-Trump T-shirts and children's books.
Chapter 6: Who are Trump's controversial cabinet nominees?
However, during questioning by Democratic Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, Patel broke from the president slightly when Durbin asked if Trump was wrong to issue a blanket pardon for over 1,500 people charged in connection to the Capitol attack.
I have always rejected any violence against law enforcement. And I have, including in that group, specifically addressed any violence against law enforcement on January 6th. And I do not agree with the commutation of any sentence of any individual who committed violence against law enforcement.
That's not entirely true. Patel's personal foundation has worked to support families of January 6th rioters, including some accused of and convicted of violent felony crimes against police. In the past, Patel has described January 6th rioters as political prisoners and promoted conspiracy theories that falsely claimed undercover FBI agents instigated the riot.
If confirmed, Patel could serve up to 10 years in the role of FBI director. In Gabbard's hearing with the Intelligence Committee, senators from both parties pressed the former Democratic congresswoman on her qualifications. As director of national intelligence, she would oversee 18 intelligence agencies, including the NSA.
She was asked about her previous comments expressing sympathy for Edward Snowden, a former NSA contractor responsible for one of the largest intelligence leaks in U.S. history. Gabbard testified that Snowden broke the law, but she repeatedly deflected questions about whether she believes he's a traitor. Things got tense during this exchange with Colorado Democratic Senator Michael Bennett.
Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America? That is not a hard question to answer when the stakes are this high.
Senator, as someone who has served in uniform—
Is Edward Snowden a traitor to the United States of America?
As someone who has worn our uniform in combat, I understand how critical our national security is. Apparently you don't.
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Chapter 7: What are Tulsi Gabbard's views on Edward Snowden?
And in Robert F. Kennedy Jr. 's second and final day of hearings, he faced more questions about his history of anti-vaccine activism, which included petitioning the FDA, an agency he would oversee if confirmed, to revoke the COVID-19 vaccine. Independent Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders asked Kennedy if his position on the vaccine has changed.
Was the vaccine, COVID vaccine, successful in saving millions of lives? I don't know.
We don't have a good surveillance system, unfortunately. We don't know? I don't think anybody can say that. If you show me science that says that.
You know, Bob, you say if I show you, you're applying for the job. I mean, clearly, you should know this. And that is the scientific community has established that. That COVID vaccines save millions of lives, and you're casting doubt. That is really problematic.
These three nominees might face skepticism from some of the same Republicans that had issues with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, which could complicate their path to confirmation. One senator who didn't vote for Hegseth was Mitch McConnell, who, as a survivor of polio, may not back Kennedy's nomination.
One of President Trump's core campaign promises was to deport millions of migrants living here without legal documentation. Hundreds have been deported already since he took office. Trump says he's focusing on people with criminal records. But Juan Ferrero, bureau chief for The Wall Street Journal in South America, told us that isn't always what's happening.
In the case of a large group of Colombian migrants who were recently deported, over 100 men, more than 70 women and 16 children, the Colombian government says none of them had criminal records. Here's Ferrero.
There were no outstanding issues with the justice system in Colombia and there was no outstanding issues with the justice system in the U.S.,
Many people are being transported not on commercial planes, but on military cargo jets. And that comes at a significant cost. One military deportation flight to Guatemala earlier this week was estimated to have cost at least $4,675 per migrant, according to data provided to Reuters by U.S. and Guatemalan officials. That's much higher than the cost of a commercial charter flight by ICE.
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