NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-31-2025 1PM EST

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Nora Rahm. Recovery efforts resume this morning at the Potomac River, where an Army helicopter and a passenger plane collided Wednesday next to Washington, D.C. All 67 people aboard the two aircraft were killed. D.C. officials say that 41 bodies had been recovered as of last night. Some of the three-person crew of the helicopter have been identified by their home state's governors. NPR's Quill Lawrence reports. The governors of Georgia and Mississippi have identified two of the Blackhawk crew members

killed in the collision. They are Mississippi native Chief Warrant Officer Andrew Eves, whose wife also posted about his death on Facebook and asked for privacy. The other is Georgia native Staff Sergeant Ryan O'Hara. In an extraordinary move, the Army has told NPR it will not announce the name of the third crew member at the request of her family. Misinformation on social media falsely claims the third crew member was a transgender woman pilot from the Virginia National Guard named Jo Ellis. Ellis has posted a proof of life video on Facebook denouncing the rumors and offering condolences to those killed in the crash. Quill Lawrence, NPR News.

People with disabilities are offended that President Trump targeted them when he tied the deadly crash Wednesday night to diversity hiring efforts in government, NPR's Joseph Shapiro reports. No, the Federal Aviation Administration did not recruit people with intellectual disabilities to work as air traffic controllers. But President Trump said incorrectly that they can get those jobs. It's not the first time air safety problems have

been linked inaccurately to diversity, especially to the hiring of people with disabilities. Last year, when a door blew off of an Alaska Airlines jet mid-flight, Fox News ran a misleading story that said the FAA was recruiting people with intellectual disabilities and significant mental illness for key air safety positions. At its press conference on the deadly crash,

Trump then read from that story to back up his inaccurate claim. Joseph Shapiro, NPR News. Hamas says it will release three more hostages tomorrow, including an American citizen. NPR's Daniel Estrin reports from Tel Aviv. Hamas has released the names of three Israeli hostages it says it will release Saturday.

One is 65-year-old dual American-Israeli Keith Siegel. His wife Aviva, a former hostage, told NPR last year how she'd react when he'd be freed. I think I'll scream and just jump on him. I can't wait. Two other men on the list to be freed Saturday include a 35-year-old father. There's been speculation about the fate of his wife and young children in captivity. Hamas says they were killed.

Israel has not confirmed that. Israel has promised to release more than 100 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the three hostages Saturday. Daniel Estrin, NPR News, Tel Aviv. This is NPR News. Russia claimed today that its forces captured another village in Ukraine in the eastern Donetsk region. The claim has not been independently verified. Russia has been moving to complete its hold on Donetsk for months.

Both sides have been seeking battlefield gains to obtain any advantage in any peace talks. During the campaign, President Trump had promised to end the war right away. India's tiger conservation program is reporting some progress, doubling the population of the endangered species in a decade. Amkhar Khandekar reports. India has worked to protect its tigers from poachers, reduce human wildlife conflict and increase the living standards of people living near tiger habitats. Around 60 million people live in such habitats, of which 70 are killed in attacks every year. But a new study in the journal Science suggests that humans can coexist with tigers, and it

is their attitudes towards the animals that matters. As tigers' native habitat shrinks, the successes of India's conservation programme could offer lessons to other countries where the animals are still found in the wild, including Indonesia, China and Russia. Omkar Khandekar, NPR News, Mumbai. Scientists at NASA are tracking an asteroid that has a 1 percent chance of affecting the Earth on December 22, 2032. It's estimated to be between 130 to 300 feet wide. It's listed on NASA's Sentry Risk List that includes any near-Earth asteroid that has

a non-zero probability of impact. There have been several objects in the past that have risen on the risk list but then dropped off later as more data comes in. I'm Nora Rahm, NPR News in Washington.