NPR News Now - NPR News: 01-31-2025 3AM EST

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

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Live from NPR News in Washington, I'm Shae Stevens. Recovery operations continue near Washington, D.C.'s Reagan National Airport, where 67 people perished Wednesday in a midair crash of a passenger jet and an Army helicopter. Investigators say it will take time to go through the black box recorders that had been retrieved from the river where both aircraft landed. National Transportation Safety Board member Todd Inman says the NTSB is helping to oversee efforts to determine what caused the crash. Since we're just beginning our investigation, we don't have a great deal of information

to share right now. We will keep you informed by giving regular updates as we learn more. Our intention is to have a preliminary report within 30 days and the final report will be issued once we've completed all of our fact-finding and investigation. Inman says the NTSB is still combing through a large packet of information that it received from the Federal Aviation Administration early Wednesday. Members of the Skating Club of Boston were among those aboard the American Airlines flight that crashed Wednesday. Members of the skating club of Boston were among those aboard the American Airlines flight that crashed Wednesday. They were remembered by friends who gathered at an ice rink

in the Boston suburb of Norwood on Thursday. From member station WBUR, Deborah Becker has more. Deborah Becker Although the rink was quiet today, members gathered there to grieve, including two-time Olympic medalist Nancy Kerrigan. She says she hopes the lessons of resilience learned in skating will help the community process the tragedy. 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. The six club members, two teens, their moms, and two coaches were returning after the national championships and a training clinic in Wichita, Kansas. For NPR News, I'm Deborah Becker in Boston.

An appeals court in New Orleans has knocked down a longstanding federal law that bars handgun sales to people under the age of 21. As NPR's Martin Costey reports, the question may head to the US Supreme Court. Martin Costey The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, which covers Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi, has ruled that a 1968 federal age restriction is unconstitutional. The law barred people under 21 years of age from buying handguns from federally licensed dealers. But the constitutionality

of that kind of gun control became less certain after a 2022 Supreme Court decision known as Bruin, which says such laws must be consistent with American history and tradition. That's the basis of this ruling in the Fifth Circuit, which cites the 1792 Militia Act, which requires 18-year-olds to bear arms. It's not clear yet how this decision will affect gun sales nationally, and gun control groups say they hope it will be overturned. Martin Costi, NPR News. US futures are higher in after-hours trading on Wall Street.

This is NPR. NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore did some maintenance work outside of the International Space Station Thursday. They've been stranded aboard the outpost because of technical issues that were found during their arrival aboard Boeing's Starliner spacecraft nearly eight months ago. Legendary figure skater Dick Button has died at the age of 95. Button won Olympic gold medals but became best known as a figure skating broadcaster. Steve Federman reports. Dick Button was a pioneer in figure skating. Button electrified the crowd with his phenomenal jumps. He won back-to-back Olympic gold medals in 1948 and 1952. He was the first to ever complete

a triple loop. But to later generations, he became known as the most prominent voice of the sport. The thing to watch for in Peggy's skating. In 1968, he described Peggy Fleming. He would go on for decades, and Button could be blunt. That was a terrible, terrible kind of spill. In a 2010 interview with NPR, Button explained his approach to calling the sport. I don't think anybody wants to sit there and listen to somebody say, ooh, ooh, ooh, wasn't that beautiful.

Dick Button was part of the first group to be inducted into the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. For NPR News, I'm Steve Futterman. British pop icon Marianne Faithfull has died in London. Faithfull's hits include the 1964 song, As Tears Go By, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. She recorded dozens of songs over a career lasting nearly six decades, including The Ballad of Lucy Jordan, a soundtrack in the Hollywood film Thelma and Louise. Faithful was 78. This is NPR.