Morning Wire
Collision Investigation & TN Passes School Choice | Afternoon Update | 1.31.25
Fri, 31 Jan 2025
Developing stories you need to know just in time for your drive home. Get the facts first on Morning Wire.
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I'm Georgia Howe with Daily Wire Editor-in-Chief John Bickley. It's Friday, January 31st, and this is your Morning Wire afternoon update.
Investigators continue to piece together a troubling sequence of errors that led to the deadly collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet. Early findings suggest the helicopter was flying at least 100 feet higher than it should have and a half mile off course when it collided with the jet.
Compounding the danger, the air traffic controller on duty was handling both helicopter and airplane traffic simultaneously. That's a workload typically shared by two controllers. Near misses at Reagan have been an escalating concern.
In April, a commercial pilot warned that a military helicopter came dangerously close to his jet while landing, saying, quote, "...I cannot imagine what business is so pressing that these helicopters are allowed to cross the path of airliners carrying hundreds of people."
A decade earlier, another pilot wrote that helicopter crossings near the runway posed an unacceptable risk to passenger aircraft. Despite years of warnings, congestion at Reagan has only increased.
Boston University will shut down the Center for Anti-Racist Research, founded by Ibram Kendi. Kendi's Boston Center received millions of dollars in funding, but faced scrutiny over financial mismanagement and limited output, leading to staff layoffs. The center failed to deliver on its promises with little published research and key initiatives left stagnant.
Kendi, who has profited significantly from so-called anti-racist speaking engagements, will open a new institute at Howard University that will focus on global racial issues, technology, and climate change.
Mexico is scrambling to accept migrants deported by the Trump administration from the US. Daily Wire reporter Tim Pearce has the story.
Officials in Mexico are scrambling to set up shelters and support systems for the 4,000 deportees returning from the US. President Claudia Scheinbaum is pledging financial aid to help them return home. At the same time, Mexico is hosting hundreds of thousands of non-Mexican migrants who are seeking asylum in the U.S.
after the Trump administration ended the CBP One app, which was used to schedule asylum appointments. Now those migrants are no longer allowed to enter the U.S. before their asylum case is heard. Mexican officials say they plan to send non-Mexican nationals back to their home countries. Illegal border crossings into the U.S. have dropped sharply since Trump took office.
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt says Trump would certainly back legislation from Congress to bar trans procedures on minors and investigate doctors who perform these surgeries. She made the remark in response to a question from Daily Wire White House correspondent Mary Margaret Olihan. Here's the exchange.
We know that President Trump has taken a bunch of steps to protect children from irreversible transgender procedures. Is he interested in backing congressional legislation on this point? Well, the president has already taken a very strong stance on this issue this week with the signing of his executive order, a few executive orders in this space.
Certainly the president would support Congress's efforts as he has already made that very clear this week.
President Trump won a big legal victory over Meta. Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has the settlement details.
Meta Platforms has agreed to pay Trump $25 million for suspending his Facebook account following the January 6th riot back in 2021. Most of the settlement, $22 million worth, will go toward Trump's presidential library, while the rest of the money will cover legal fees and other plaintiffs.
The deal comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November, seeking to repair ties with the incoming president. The lawsuit was one of several Trump filed against social media companies with mixed success. Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the settlement, calling it a bribe.
U.S. economic growth slowed in the final months of 2024, with GDP rising at a 2.3% annual rate. Daily Wire deputy managing editor Tim Rice has the numbers.
GDP came in below the 3.1% forecast, meaning the economy is slowing down. Despite high prices, consumers are still spending at a strong pace, which helps support the economy. Inflation has dropped from its 2022 peak, but remains a worry for many households and economists.
The Federal Reserve is taking a cautious approach, signaling that interest rate cuts are unlikely in the near future, a position Trump has criticized. Meanwhile, new home sales rose in December, increasing 3.6% from the previous month, despite mortgage rates remaining at a whopping 7%.
School choice is now the law of the land in Tennessee. Daily Wire investigative reporter Mairead Elordi has details on the new law.
Tennessee lawmakers have passed a $447 million school voucher program, which is seen as a major win for Governor Bill Lee. The bill expands school choice statewide, clearing the Senate 20-13 and the House 54-44, despite bipartisan opposition. The program will offer 20,000 taxpayer-funded scholarships for private and public school students with some income-based requirements.
Supporters say it gives parents more options when educating their kids. The bill now heads to Lee's desk where he is expected to sign it into law.
The NFL reported a 17% drop in concussions during the 2024 season. That's the lowest since tracking began nine years ago. League officials credit safer equipment, stricter rule enforcement, and a stronger culture of concussion awareness. The NFL's chief medical officer credits advanced helmets designed to reduce head injuries and increased self-reporting of concussions.
League officials say they'll keep working to eliminate dangerous hits from the game.
And the Recording Academy will hand out awards this weekend. Music's biggest stars will take the stage Sunday for the Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles. Beyonce leads this year's nominations with 11, making her the most nominated artist in Grammy history. Trevor Noah returns as host, and the show will feature performances from Taylor Swift, host Malone, and Billie Eilish.
Fans can watch the show live on CBS or stream it on Paramount+.
All right, those are your drive home updates this afternoon. To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com. And in case you missed it this morning, we covered some important stories, including the recovery operation in the Potomac and the contentious confirmation hearings. Thanks for tuning in. We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.