The Headlines - Plane Crash Clues, and a New Way to Treat Pain

Episode Date: January 31, 2025

Plus, 82,000 gallons of blue paint. On Today’s Episode:Washington Crash Renews Concerns About Air Safety Lapses, by Sydney Ember, Emily Steel, Mark Walker, Kate Kelly and Niraj ChokshiFrom Anguish to Aggression: Trump Goes on Offense After Midair Collision, by Peter BakerHow the World Is Reeling From Trump’s Aid Freeze, by Sui-Lee Wee, Declan Walsh and Farnaz FassihiF.D.A. Approves Drug to Treat Pain Without Opioid Effects, by Gina Kolata82,150 Gallons of Paint Later, a Blue Man Group Farewell, by Melena RyzikTune in every weekday morning. To get our full audio journalism and storytelling experience, download the New York Times Audio app — available to Times news subscribers on iOS — and sign up for our weekly newsletter.Tell us what you think at: [e-mail]. 

From the New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Friday, January 31st. Here's what we're covering. Clues are coming to light from the moments before a plane and a helicopter collided near D.C. this week, and they suggest that multiple layers of the U.S. aviation safety system failed. The Army helicopter may have been flying outside its approved flight path by as much as half

a mile and at a higher elevation than it should have been. And the air traffic controller was juggling two jobs at once. Typically there would have been one controller for helicopter traffic and another one for plane traffic. After reviewing recordings of the communications that night, five current and former air traffic controllers told the Times the person on duty should have more proactively directed

the helicopter and the plane to fly away from each other. Instead, the controller only asked the helicopter to steer away. The National Transportation Safety Board says the investigation into the crash is just beginning. But lapses in air travel safety have been increasing for years. There's been an alarming pattern of near misses involving commercial airlines. Airports have been getting busier and more congested, including Reagan National Airport, where the plane was about to land. At the same time,

there's been a severe shortage of air traffic controllers. A Times investigation found that that has left some staff working 10 hour days, six days a week, pushing them to the brink. Multiple federal agencies have warned that the schedule is so tiring, it could affect controllers ability to do their job. For more on the investigation into the crash,

listen to today's episode of The Daily. [♪MUSIC PLAYING, FADES OUT, FADES IN, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES OUT, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, FADES out, led to this crash, but we have some very strong opinions and ideas and I think we'll probably state those opinions now. At a press conference yesterday, President Trump claimed without proof that diversity efforts lowered hiring standards for air traffic controllers leading to the crash. My administration will set the highest possible bar for aviation safety. We have to have our smartest people. It doesn't matter what they look like, how they speak, who they are. It matters intellect, talent, the word talent. There is no evidence for Trump's claims. Reporters pressed the president for more details.

It's all under investigation. I understand that. That's why I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash. Because I have common sense, okay? While a lot of people may have found Trump's comments shocking, in fact, it's in keeping with the way he has long approached disasters. Peter Baker is the Times chief White House correspondent. Trump often frames any major disaster

to fit his own political or ideological narrative, whether the facts fit it or not. When somebody attacked Bourbon Street in New Orleans on New Year's Day, he blamed immigration even though the attacker was a US citizen who was born in Texas. When the wildfires raged through Los Angeles, he blamed environmental or water policies

going after Governor Gavin Newsom, the Democratic leader of the state, even though experts say that Trump's assessment of what caused or fueled the fires was inaccurate. This is his way of changing the storyline or controlling the storyline in ways that he sees as being beneficial. [♪ music playing, ticking clock ticking, clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock ticking, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking clock, ticking, clock, ticking clock, funded by the U.S. have been shut down, endangering some of the most vulnerable people and intensifying multiple humanitarian crises. Last week, President Trump signed an executive order freezing most

foreign aid for about three months. His administration quickly pivoted to say that some of that money would keep flowing, at least temporarily. But the budget freeze has already started to take a human toll. In the war-torn capital of Sudan, most of the soup kitchens that over 800,000 people rely on for food have closed, since the U.S. was their main funder. In Ukraine, people living near the front lines who use firewood to cook and heat their homes are going to have their supplies cut off in the middle of winter. In Afghanistan, 1,700 women who worked for a reproductive health program are being laid off. And on the border of Myanmar and Thailand, aid groups are shutting down multiple hospitals for refugees.

Videos showed people being carried out on makeshift stretchers. Foreign aid makes up less than 1% of the federal budget, and it's long been seen as a way to build goodwill and shore up America's national security. But the Trump administration sees it differently. In a press release, the State Department said, the United States is no longer going to blindly dole out money with no return for the American people.

One aid worker in Sudan told the Times, it was our fault to rely so heavily on one donor, but this has really shocked us. You can't take food off people who are starving. That's just insane. Federal regulators have approved what could be the first drug in a new generation of powerful pain medicine that is not addictive. It's called sous-etrogen, and it appears to be as effective as opioids in treating patients

with intense pain. But unlike opioids, which essentially rewire a patient's brain, the new drug works outside the brain, blocking pain signals. Researchers say that will prevent the risk of addiction. Studies showed it also doesn't have other side effects of opioids like drowsiness and nausea. Some hope that if the drug becomes widely available, it could help address the country's opioid crisis. About 100,000 Americans a year die from overdoses.

But Suzetrogen is not cheap. Opioid pills can cost pennies. The list price for the new drug will be more than $15 per pill. Patients are supposed to take two a day. And finally, Blue Man Group, the stage show featuring paint-wing, bald cap wearing blue men, ends its three decade run in New York City this weekend. The group came out of the East Village art scene in the late 80s, and over the next few decades they became a global sensation.

International shows, studio albums, a Grammy nomination, TV ads, and, I'm afraid I just blew myself. a running punchline on Arrested Development. There's got to be a better way to say that. When we first got Bald and Blue, we did look at each other and go, holy cow, this is bigger than us. Yeah, that's really true. The founders of the group told the Times, the whole thing began as kind of an art experiment.

Three men in full blue body paint, not speaking, banging drums, making melodies from plastic tubes and spewing paint across the stage. And somehow, that show won over audiences around the world. You're in this wild celebration. Everyone's like really freaking freaking out. We were always going for that transcendent experience that it's not an intellectual thing, it's an experiential feeling state.

The show will continue in a few other cities. All in all, in its 33 year run in New York, the group told the Times they went through 82,000 gallons of blue paint. They did not tell us how many wet wipes. Those are the headlines. This show is made by Will Jarvis, Jessica Metzger, Jan Stewart, and me, Tracy Mumford. Original theme by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Larissa Anderson, Isabella Anderson, Jake Lucas, Andres Martinez, Zoe Murphy, Melaina Ryzek, and Paula Schumann.

The headlines will be back on Monday.