🎧News Brief: More Details Emerge in Deadly Midair Collision; Some Hospitals Stop Transgender Surgeries on Children After Trump’s Order

Additional details emerge in the investigation of the deadly midair crash over Washington...
🎧News Brief: More Details Emerge in Deadly Midair Collision; Some Hospitals Stop Transgender Surgeries on Children After Trump’s Order
The U.S. Coast Guard investigates aircraft wreckage after a midair collision over the Potomac River near Washington, on Jan. 30, 2025. Brandon Giles/ U.S. Coast Guard via Getty Images
Bill Thomas
Updated:
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Good morning, and welcome to The Epoch Times News Brief for Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025. I’m Bill Thomas, it’s the start of a brand new month, we have some pressing stories to share with you right now, and here’s what’s happening nationally and around the world.

Additional details emerge in the investigation of the deadly midair crash over Washington; a number of U.S. hospitals react to President Donald Trump’s executive order banning transgender surgeries for minors, and our nation’s top diplomat says that the White House is very serious about buying the largest island in the world.

Also, one branch of the U.S. military warns service members about using a popular new Chinese AI app, and a federal court issues a critical ruling concerning handgun sales, adults under the age of 21, and the U.S. Constitution.

We’ll get to each one of these impactful stories and we begin here. We’re learning more about Wednesday’s tragic collision between a commercial passenger jet and a military helicopter near Washington, and here’s what we know.

More Details Emerge in Deadly Midair Collision

Military personnel, figure skaters, and many others were among the 67 people who died when an American Airlines flight en route to Reagan National Airport from Wichita, Kansas, collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter, with both aircraft crashing into the Potomac River.

Within hours of the accident, officials said there were no survivors, and they began their recovery mission to find the bodies of the victims.

We now know that the soldiers who were on board the helicopter at the time of the crash were from the 12th Aviation Battalion out of Davison Army Airfield in Fort Belvoir, Virginia, and that the helicopter was reportedly taking part in a routine training exercise.

Additionally, the American Airlines flight was carrying 14 members of the figure skating community who were returning from the U.S. national championships in Wichita. They include a number of teenage skaters, their mothers, and a pair of former world champions from Russia.

Also reportedly on board the passenger jet were four members of a plumbing and pipefitting union, a pair of Chinese nationals, and people from both Germany and the Philippines.

Meanwhile, Trump said yesterday that the Army helicopter was flying “far above the 200-foot limit” that should have been its maximum altitude before it collided with the commercial jet.

By the way, the crash was our country’s deadliest aviation-related incident in nearly 25 years, and it remains under investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, which has not yet revealed a cause.

Another headline we’re watching very closely right now: Some U.S. hospitals say they’re changing their policies concerning certain controversial medical procedures for minors following an executive order issued by Trump. More now on that story.

Some Hospitals Stop Transgender Surgeries on Children After Trump’s Order

A number of hospitals in Colorado, Virginia, and the nation’s capital say they’re stopping all transgender procedures for youth while they evaluate Trump’s executive order regarding this highly controversial issue.

A spokesperson for Denver Health in Colorado says that in order to comply with the order and to continue receiving federal funding, they’ve completely stopped providing transgender-related surgeries such as breast removal for people under the age of 19.

However, it’s not clear whether or not that particular hospital will continue to provide other transgender procedures and medicine for youth, including puberty blockers.

Meanwhile, in Virginia, VCU Health and Children’s Hospital of Richmond says they’ve suspended all transgender medication and surgical procedures for people under the age of 19.

Additionally, Children’s National Hospital in Washington says they are pausing their prescriptions of both puberty blockers and hormone therapy to comply with the directive while they assess the situation. Prior to the order, that hospital did not perform transgender surgeries on minors.

In case you missed it, earlier this week Trump signed an order that says it is now official U.S. policy not to fund, sponsor, promote, assist, or support “the so-called ’transition' of a child from one sex to another.” The directive also says that the federal government will “rigorously enforce” all laws that prohibit what they call “destructive and life-altering” procedures.

By the way, after the order was signed, a number of other hospitals said that their current practices regarding the procedures will continue as before. This includes one Chicago hospital, which says its team will continue to fight for access to all “medically necessary care” for the patient-families they serve.

Moving along, you may have heard the president say that buying a large island in the Arctic is vital to our nation’s security and our new secretary of state now says he agrees. More now on this significant development.

Rubio: Trump Buying Greenland ‘Not a Joke’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is doubling down on the president’s recent remarks about buying Greenland, and he says the issue is “not a joke.”

Rubio says that buying the island is in the best interest of our nation, that the problem needs to be solved, and that it’s not simply about “acquiring land.” He says that with the ice melting, shipping lanes through the Arctic are going to become increasingly navigable, and that we need to be able to defend those routes from foreign adversaries like China.

You may recall that just last month, Trump said that taking control of Greenland, which is an autonomous territory of Denmark, is necessary for “protecting the free world.” Also, he did not rule out using either military force or economic coercion to achieve the goal.

Meanwhile, the United States government has raised a number of concerns about Greenland as the Chinese communist regime steps up its efforts to bolster commercial and military capabilities in the Arctic. Additionally, the island houses a U.S. military base that plays a key role in both missile defense and satellite communication.

Rubio went on to point out that we already have multiple agreements with Denmark to protect Greenland from military threats, and that if we’re “already on the hook” for having to do that, we might as well have more control over what happens there.

By the way, Trump also recently sounded the alarm about Chinese influence over the Panama Canal, which will be one of the first stops on Rubio’s trip to Central America that begins today.

We turn the page now to technology and one branch of the U.S. military is now warning its service members to steer clear of the new Chinese AI app that’s taking the world by storm. More now on this breaking story.

US Navy Warns Service Members Against Using DeepSeek App

The U.S. Navy is now telling all of its members to avoid using artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots, including the Chinese-made DeepSeek app.

A Navy spokesperson tells The Epoch Times that their branch has recommended that their personnel should not use any publicly accessible, open-source AI programs or systems for their official work. The spokesperson went on to say that DeepSeek was mentioned as the most recent example of how that policy applies.

So you know, the Navy sent out an email to all of its personnel warning that DeepSeek should not be used “in any capacity” due to “potential security and ethical concerns” associated with both the model’s origin and its usage.

By the way, the Navy first released guidance regarding the security vulnerabilities of AI back in 2023. At that time, they said that certain AI models can execute a number of tasks with unprecedented speed and efficiency, but that in order to take full advantage of that potential, they must be “complemented by human expertise.”

Meanwhile, DeepSeek’s privacy policy points out that the app collects user information such as date of birth, email address, text and audio input, chat history, and keystroke patterns, which it stores in China-based servers.

Additionally, offices in the U.S. House of Representatives have just been told to avoid using the DeepSeek software. In a mass email, congressional offices were warned that “threat actors” are already exploiting DeepSeek in order to “deliver malicious software and infect devices.”
We have just enough time to squeeze in one more story for you today and it concerns the U.S. legal system, adults under the age of 21, and the right to bear arms. Here’s more on that story.

Fed Ban on Handgun Sales to Adults Under 21 Violates Constitution, Court Rules

A federal appeals court has just ruled that a decades-old government ban on handgun sales by licensed firearm dealers to adults under the age of 21 is unconstitutional.

The court’s decision was made in light of a pair of recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings that have set a higher bar for restricting a citizen’s Second Amendment rights, and it reversed a district court’s prior ruling that had upheld the ban.

Additionally, the key to the judges’ conclusion was a consideration of the text of the Second Amendment, and whether or not its mention of “the people” who have the right to bear arms included adults under the age of 21.

By the way, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives was the defendant in the case, and the government’s position was that the limited ban was not an infringement on Second Amendment rights. It argued that the young-adult age group was not among “the people” protected by those rights.

However, the judges rejected those points and said that the government had produced “scant evidence” that the firearm rights of adults under 21 were similarly restricted during the founding era.

One of the plaintiffs in the case praised the decision, saying that the ruling is another critical win against what they call an “immoral and unconstitutional age-based gun ban.” Meanwhile, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives did not respond to our request for comment.

And now, it looks like our time is just about up for today, so we’re gonna call it a wrap for the Saturday edition of the Epoch Times News Brief.

To make contact with the News Brief crew, simply reach out to us via email—we’re at [email protected]—and you can also leave comments for us on the Epoch Times app, which you can download for free on either the App Store or Google Play.

Don’t forget the News Brief Motto: We’re portable, affordable, and we’re always on-demand.

And finally, as we do each and every day on this program, we wrap everything up with a very notable quote, and this one comes to us from Carol Burnett, who said:

“When you have a dream, you’ve got to grab it and never let go.”

Burnett is an American comedian, actress, and singer, and we all recall her well from “The Carol Burnett Show.” She also starred in the movie “Annie,” which came out in 1982.

For all of us here at the Epoch Times News Brief, I’m Bill Thomas.

The Epoch Times News Brief program is written each day by David Ross.

Thank you for making us your one-stop source for a concise, accurate, and unbiased daily synopsis of many of the news stories you need to know about.

Enjoy the remainder of your day and we’ll see you right back here next time for another edition of the Epoch Times News Brief.

For now, it’s imperative that we all continue to watch out for one another and have an absolutely superb day today. Bye for now.

Bill Thomas
Bill Thomas
Author
Bill Thomas is a two-time Golden Mike Award winner who has specialized in breaking news coverage. In his career he has covered floods, forest fires, police pursuits, civil unrest, and freeway collapses. He is a host of EpochCasts News Brief, an audio news show from The Epoch Times. You can reach Bill via email at [email protected]