The crash of an American Airlines jet that collided with an Army helicopter was the latest to strike the sports world in the U.S. and globally.

Among the passengers were several members of the Skating Club of Boston who were returning from the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas. They included teenage figure skaters Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, their mothers and two highly regarded Russian-born figure skating coaches, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. All 64 people on board were feared dead.

RELATED STORY | Champion figure skaters among those on board the plane that crashed into the Potomac

Air travel accidents in sports are rare, but they have had devastating impacts on national programs, amateur teams and professional clubs.

A look at some of the plane crash tragedies that have struck the sports world over the decades:

Manchester United football club

On Feb. 6, 1958, a plane carrying the Manchester United team and officials crashed as it attempted to take off on a slush-covered runway in Munich. The team was returning from a European Cup match against Red Star Belgrade, and the plane stopped to refuel in Munich. Among the 23 people were killed were eight Man U players and three team officials. Among those who survived was England great Bobby Charlton.

U.S. Figure Skating team

On Feb 15, 1961, a commercial flight carrying all 18 members of the U.S. Figure Skating team to the world championships in Prague crashed near the Brussels airport, killing everyone one board. Six coaches were also on the plane, along with four team officials and six of the groups family members.

Wichita State University football

On Oct. 2, 1970, one of two chartered jets carrying the Wichita State football team to a game in Utah crashed near Silver Plume, Colorado. Of the 40 on board, 31 died, including 14 players along with coaches, boosters, administrators, trainers and three crew members. The NTSB later said the crash could be attributed primarily to pilot error.

Marshall University football

On Nov. 14, 1970, a chartered jet carrying the Thundering Herd crashed in fog and rain into a hillside upon approach to an airport near Huntington as the team returned from a game at East Carolina. All 75 on board were killed, including 36 football players and 39 school administrators, coaches, fans, spouses and flight crew.

RELATED STORY | 67 people presumed dead after collision between military helicopter and plane

Uruguay rugby club

On Oct. 13, 1972, a chartered Uruguayan Air Force flight carrying the Old Christians Club from Montevideo Uruguay, to Santiago, Chile, crashed in the snowy Andes Mountains. The wreckage was not found for two months and only 16 of the 45 people on board survived. Facing snow storms, avalanches and starvation, survivors awaiting rescue were forced to eat the flesh of those who had died, and their ordeal has been chronicled in books and movies.

Evansville University basketball

On Dec. 13, 1977, an Air Indiana chartered plane with the Evansville University men's basketball team crashed 90 seconds after takeoff from the Evansville airport. The 29 people killed included 14 players and first-year head coach Bobby Watson.

U.S. Boxing team

On March 14, 1980 the U.S. amateur boxing team was flying from New York to Poland for international events ahead of the 1980 Moscow Olympics when their plane crashed near Warsaw. All 87 on board were killed, including 14 boxers and eight team staff members. Two months later, the U.S. decided to boycott the Olympics due to the Soviet Unions invasion of Afghanistan.

Zambia national soccer team

On April 28, 1993, a military aircraft carrying Zambias national soccer team to a World Cup qualifying match crashed into the sea minutes after takeoff from Libreville, Zambia. The team was on its way to play Senegal in the second round of qualifying for the 1994 World Cup. Eighteen players and five team officials were killed.

Oklahoma State University basketball

On Jan. 27, 2001, a turboprop plane carrying 10 men associated with the Oklahoma State University basketball team, including players Nate Fleming and Daniel Lawson, crashed shortly after takeoff near Boulder, Colorado, after the Cowboys had played at the University of Colorado. Six team staffers and broadcasters also were killed.

Russian ice hockey team

On Sept. 7, 2011, 36 players, coaches and staff of the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl professional ice hockey team were killed when their plane crashed near Yaroslavl in central Russia. Investigators said one of the two pilots accidentally put the wheel brakes on during takeoff. Of the 45 people on board, 44 died. The only player who survived the initial crash later died of burns. A flight engineer was the sole survivor.

By Stephanie Armour, KFF Health News

In summertime, cows wait under a canopy to be milked at Mark McAfee’s farm in Fresno, California. From his Cessna 210 Centurion propeller plane, the 63-year-old can view grazing lands of the dairy company he runs that produces products such as unpasteurized milk and cheese for almost 2,000 stores.

Federal regulators say it’s risky business. Samples of raw milk can contain bird flu virus and other pathogens linked to kidney disease, miscarriages, and death.

McAfee, founder and CEO of the Raw Farm, who also leads the Raw Milk Institute, says he plans to soon be in a position to change that message.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the anti-vaccine activist President Donald Trump has tapped to run the Department of Health and Human Services, recruited McAfee to apply for a job as the FDA’s raw milk standards and policy adviser, McAfee said. McAfee has already written draft proposals for possible federal certification of raw dairy farms, he said.

Virologists are alarmed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends against unpasteurized dairy that hasn’t been heated to kill pathogens such as bird flu. Interstate raw milk sales for human consumption are banned by the FDA. A Trump administration that weakens the ban or extols raw milk, the scientists say, could lead to more foodborne illness. It could also, they say, raise the risk of the highly pathogenic H5N1 bird flu virus evolving to spread more efficiently, including between people, possibly fueling a pandemic.

“If the FDA says raw milk is now legal and the CDC comes through and says it advises drinking raw milk, that’s a recipe for mass infection,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist and co-editor-in-chief of the medical journal Vaccine and an adjunct professor at Stony Brook University in New York.

The raw milk controversy reflects the broader tensions President Donald Trump will confront when pursuing his second-administration agenda of rolling back regulations and injecting more consumer choice into health care.

Many policies Kennedy has said he wants to revisit — from the fluoridation of tap water to nutrition guidance to childhood vaccine requirements — are backed by scientific research and were established to protect public health. Some physician groups and Democrats are gearing up to fight initiatives they say would put people at risk.

Raw milk has gained a following among anti-regulatory conservatives who are part of a burgeoning health freedom movement.

“The health freedom movement was adopted by the tea party, and conspiracy websites gave it momentum,” said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, who has studied the history of the anti-vaccine movement.

Once-fringe ideas are edging into the mainstream. Vaccine hesitancy is growing.

Arkansas, Utah, and Kentucky are weighing legislation that would relax or end requirements for fluoride in public water. And 30 states now allow for the sale of raw milk in some form within their borders.

While only an estimated 3% of the U.S. population consumes raw milk or cheese, efforts to try to restrict its sales have riled Republicans and provided grist for conservative podcasts.

Many conservatives denounced last year’s execution of a search warrant when Pennsylvania agriculture officials and state troopers arrived at an organic farm tucked off a two-lane road on Jan. 4, 2024. State inspectors were investigating cases of two children sickened by E. coli bacteria and sales of raw dairy from the operation owned by Amish farmer Amos Miller, according to a complaint filed by the state’s agricultural department.

Bundled in flannel shirts and winter jackets, the inspectors put orange stickers on products detaining them from sale, and they left toting product samples in large blue-and-white coolers, online videos show. The 2024 complaint against Miller alleged that he and his wife sold dairy products in violation of state law.

The farm was well known to regulators. They say in the complaint that a Florida consumer died after being sickened in 2014 with listeria bacteria found in raw dairy from Miller’s farm. The FDA said a raw milk sample from the farm indicates it was the “likely source” of the infection, based on the complaint.

Neither Miller’s farm nor his lawyer returned calls seeking comment.

The Millers’ attorney filed a preliminary objection that said “shutting down Defendants would cause inequitable harm, exceed the authority of the agency, constitute an excessive fine as well as disparate, discriminatory punishment, and contravene every essential Constitutional protection and powers reserved to the people of Pennsylvania.”

Regulators in Pennsylvania said in a press release they must protect the public, and especially children, from harm. “We cannot ignore the illnesses and further potential harm posed by distribution of these unregulated products,” the Pennsylvania agricultural department and attorney general said in a joint statement.

Unpasteurized dairy products are responsible for almost all the estimated 761 illnesses and 22 hospitalizations in the U.S. that occur annually because of dairy-related illness, according to a study published in the June 2017 issue of Emerging Infectious Diseases.

But conservatives say raiding an Amish farm is government overreach. They’re “harassing him and trying to make an example of him. Our government is really out of control,” Pennsylvania Republican Sen. Doug Mastriano said in a video he posted to Facebook.

Videos show protesters at a February 2024 hearing on Miller’s case included Amish men dressed in black with straw hats and locals waving homemade signs with slogans such as “FDA Go Away.” A court in March issued a preliminary injunction that barred Miller from marketing and selling raw dairy products within the commonwealth pending appeal, but the order did not preclude sales of raw milk to customers out of state. The case is ongoing.

With Kennedy, the raw milk debate is poised to go national. Kennedy wrote on X in October that the “FDA’s war on public health is about to end.” In the post, he pointed to the agency’s “aggressive suppression” of raw milk, as one example.

McAfee is ready. He wants to see a national raw milk ordinance, similar to one that exists for pasteurized milk, that would set minimal national standards. Farmers could attain certification through training, continuing education, and on-site pathogen testing, with one standard for farms that sell to consumers and another for retail sales.

The Trump administration didn’t return emails seeking comment.

McAfee has detailed the system he developed to ensure his raw dairy products are safe. He confirmed the process for KFF Health News: cows with yellow-tagged ears graze on grass pastures and are cleansed in washing pens before milking. The raw dairy is held back from consumer sale until it’s been tested and found clear of pathogens.

His raw dairy products, such as cheese and milk, are sold by a variety of stores, including health, organic, and natural grocery chains, according to the company website, as well as raw dairy pet products, which are not for human consumption.

He said he doesn’t believe the raw milk he sells could contain or transmit viable bird flu virus. He also said he doesn’t believe regulators’ warnings about raw milk and the virus.

“The pharmaceutical industry is trying to create a new pandemic from bird flu to get their stock back up,” said McAfee, who says he counts Kennedy as a customer. His view is not shared by leading virologists.

In December, the state of California secured a voluntary recall of all his company’s raw milk and cream products due to possible bird flu contamination.

Five indoor cats in the same household died or were euthanized in December after drinking raw milk from McAfee’s farm, and tests on four of the animals found they were infected with bird flu, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Health.

In an unrelated case, Joseph Journell, 56, said three of his four indoor cats drank McAfee’s raw milk. Two fell sick and died, he said. His third cat, a large tabby rescue named Big Boy, temporarily lost the use of his hind legs and had to use a specialized wheelchair device, he said. Urine samples from Big Boy were positive for bird flu, according to a copy of the results from Cornell University and the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

McAfee dismissed connections between the cats’ illnesses and his products, saying any potential bird flu virus would no longer be viable by the time his raw milk gets to stores. He also said he believes that any sick cats got bird flu from recalled pet food.

Journell said he has hired a lawyer to try to recover his veterinary costs but remains a staunch proponent of raw milk.

“Raw milk is good for you, just not if it has bird flu in it,” he said. “I do believe in its healing powers.”

©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

By CHRISTINA A. CASSIDY

WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s cybersecurity agency has played a critical role in helping states shore up the defenses of their voting systems, but its election mission appears uncertain amid sustained criticism from Republicans and key figures in the Trump administration.

President Donald Trump has not named a new head of the U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and for the first time since it was formed, there are no plans for anyone in its leadership to address the main annual gathering of the nation’s secretaries of state, which was being held this week in Washington.

On Thursday, a panel on cyberthreats included an update from an FBI official who said the threats remained consistent.

“I’m often asked what the FBI sees as the top cyberthreats facing the U.S., and really the FBI’s answer for the last several years has been the same: China, China, China, ransomware, Russia, Iran, North Korea,” Cynthia Kaiser, a deputy assistant director in the bureau’s Cyber Division, told attendees at the National Association of Secretaries of State meeting.

Trump’s new homeland security secretary, Kristi Noem, said during her Senate hearing that CISA had strayed “far off mission.” She pledged to work with senators “should you wish to rein them in” with legislation.

The agency formed in 2018 during the first Trump administration is charged with protecting the nation’s critical infrastructure, from dams and nuclear power plants to banks and voting systems. It is under the Department of Homeland Security, but CISA is a separate agency with its own Senate-confirmed director.

The agency has received bipartisan praise from many state and local election officials, but Trump and his allies remain angry over its efforts to counter misinformation about the 2020 presidential election and the coronavirus pandemic. The agency’s first director, Chris Krebs, was fired by Trump after Krebs highlighted a statement issued by a group of election officials that called the 2020 election the “most secure in American history.”

That drew Trump’s ire as he was contesting his loss to Democrat Joe Biden. Republicans have claimed repeatedly since then that CISA had worked with social media companies to censor conservative viewpoints on issues related to elections and health.

Agency officials have disputed that: “CISA does not censor, has never censored,” the agency’s then-director, Jen Easterly, said last fall in an interview with The Associated Press. Nevertheless, Republicans continue to blame the agency and insist changes are necessary.

“Joe Biden’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) was more focused on undermining President Trump than they were protecting our own critical infrastructure,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., chair of the newly formed House subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, said in a social media post last week. “The thugs responsible for that kind of waste and abuse will be held accountable!”

During the 2020 election, agency officials worked with states to help them notify social media companies about misinformation spreading on their platforms, but they have said they never instructed or sought to coerce those companies to act. For the 2024 election, CISA and other federal agencies alerted the public to various foreign misinformation campaigns, including a fake video linked to Russia purporting to show the mishandling of ballots in Pennsylvania.

In recent months, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has echoed the GOP claims and announced plans to dismantle the company’s fact-checking program.

One of the first actions Trump took after returning to the White House on Jan. 20 was a signing of an executive order “ending federal censorship” and instructing his attorney general to investigate federal actions under the previous administration and to propose “remedial actions.” There is little information about what’s next and whether CISA’s mission could change under new leadership.

Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for a Republican administration, recommended that CISA be moved to the Transportation Department and focused solely on protecting government networks and coordinating the security of critical infrastructure.

It said the agency should only help states assess whether they have “good cyber hygiene in their hardware and software in preparation for an election — nothing more.” That’s what the agency has been doing in recent years, by providing training and security reviews.

Voting systems were designated critical infrastructure after an effort by Russia in 2016 to interfere in that year’s presidential election, which included scanning state voter registration databases for vulnerabilities.

Some state election officials were initially resistant to the idea of federal assistance. But many now credit the agency and federal money with helping them improve security ahead of the 2020 and 2024 presidential elections.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat who is president of the secretaries of state association, said it was understandable that a new administration needed time to decide what role it wanted for the cybersecurity agency. But he hoped its work with the states would continue, both in improving election security and highlighting disinformation campaigns.

“We need to know if a foreign adversary is seeking to misdirect and mislead Americans on any subject, whether it’s elections or science or national security or foreign policy,” he said in a phone interview Thursday from Minnesota before he was scheduled to leave for Washington.

National chicken finger restaurant Raising Cane's is opening up its first metro Detroit location on Tuesday, Feb. 4 with a celebration.

According to Raising Cane's, the location at 144218 Ford Rd. in Canton will have the grand opening celebration that will include Detroit Lions punter Jack Fox.

This will be only the second Raising Cane's location in Michigan the first is in Lansing.

Fox will arrive to the location around *;45 a.m. and participate in a ribbon-cutting ceremony, serve drive-thru customers, accept a $2,500 donation, sign posters and more.

Fans can get in line early and there will be a "Lucky 20" drawing to award 20 customers free Raising Cane's for a year. Entries will be accepted from 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m.

There will also be giveaways for combos, complimentary coffee and more.

The restaurant will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m.

The Wayne County official and her husband facing felony charges in connection with a fight at a Farmington Hills gas station are scheduled to return to court next week.

A Feb. 5 pre-exam conference before 47th District Judge James Brady is set for Alicia Bradford, 55, and Larry Bradford, 72, both Farmington Hills residents, who face charges of assault with a dangerous weapon and using a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Alicia Bradford is Wayne County’s director of parks and recreation, and, following the incident, was reportedly suspended from her job where she’s paid $146,000 annually.

According to police reports and security video obtained under Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, the charges stem from an incident that happened just before 1 a.m. on New Year’s Day at a  gas station on Orchard Lake Road.

As seen on security video from inside the business, Larry Bradford appears to get into a fight with another man, knocking down racks of merchandise in the process.

According to police, the other man was a customer standing behind Larry Bradford when Bradford began arguing with the store clerk, accusing him of charging tax on a bottle of Mountain Dew. “Bradford was charged a 10 cent bottle deposit and accused (the clerk) of charging him tax,” the police report states. The other man got involved in the argument and told Bradford to leave the gas station, which sparked the fight, the report states.

The report further states that after the tussle, Larry Bradford left the store and returned with a 9mm handgun which he pointed at the customer, demanding he get on his knees and apologize. Larry Bradford struck the man and ordered him to find a ring he lost during the fight; Alicia Bradford then entered the store, armed with a firearm and asked if someone tried to rob her husband. Larry Bradford repeatedly said “no” and told her the fight was over the price of the pop, the report states.

Police called to the scene subsequently arrested the Bradfords.

Assault with a dangerous weapon carries a penalty of up to four years in prison. Using a firearm in the commission of a felony is punishable by up to two years incarceration.

The Bradfords are out of custody, each on $50,000 personal bonds — which require no cash or surety to be posted.

The Detroit News contributed to this report.

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By ZEKE MILLER and CHRIS MEGERIAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday questioned the actions of the army helicopter pilot and air traffic controller ahead of a deadly midair collision in Washington and quickly veered into politics to speculate that Democrats and diversity initiatives shared blame for the deaths of 67 people.

As Trump spoke, a federal investigation into the crash was just getting started and first responders were still working to recover bodies from the wreckage of the commercial jet and army helicopter that crashed into the Potomac River near Reagan Washington National Airport Wednesday night.

Speaking from the White House — just over three miles from the scene — Trump at points acknowledged that it was too soon to draw conclusions as he encouraged the nation to pray for the victims. But he moved nonetheless to assign blame.

Trump said “we are one family” as he expressed condolences for the crash. He then proceeded to attack political opponents and unleash grievances about diversity initiatives.

“The FAA is actively recruiting workers who suffer severe intellectual disabilities, psychiatric problems and other mental and physical conditions under a diversity and inclusion hiring initiative spelled out on the agency’s website,” Trump said. He added that the program allowed for the hiring of people with hearing and vision issues as well as paralysis, epilepsy and “dwarfism.”

Trump said air traffic controllers needed to be geniuses. “They have to be talented, naturally talented geniuses,” he said. “You can’t have regular people doing their job.”

Trump said he had no evidence to support his claims that diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and hiring preferences played a role in the crash, allowing that “it just could have been.” He defended doing so “because I have common sense.”

The plane crash marked the first major disaster of Trump’s new term, and his response evoked his frequent — and controversial — briefings on the COVID-19 pandemic. His handling of the pandemic helped sour voters on him as he failed to win reelection in 2020.

Trump said “we do not know what led to this crash but we have some very strong opinions.” Then he proceeded to hold forth at length about what happened, at one point wondering if the helicopter pilot was wearing night vision goggles.

Trump declared that “you had a pilot problem” and the helicopter was “going at an angle that was unbelievably bad.” And he questioned why the Army pilot didn’t change course, saying that “you can stop a helicopter very quickly.” He also mused about the air traffic controller, saying of the two aircraft, “for whatever reason they were at the same elevation,” adding “they should have been at a different height.”

Vice President JD Vance, new Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth all lined up behind Trump to praise his leadership and echo his concerns about DEI programs and hiring.

“When you don’t have the best standards in who you’re hiring, it means on the one hand, you’re not getting the best people in government,” Vance said, “But on the other hand, it puts stresses on the people who are already there.”

Trump complained specifically about Pete Buttigieg, who served as transportation secretary under former President Joe Biden, calling him “a disaster.”

“He’s run it right into the ground with his diversity,” Trump said.

Complaining about the previous administration, Trump continued, “their policy was horrible and their politics was even worse.”

Buttigieg responded in a post on X, calling Trump’s comments “despicable.” He added: “As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying.”

Trump made a point to tell Duffy, who was sworn in on Tuesday as Buttigieg’s replacement, “It’s not your fault.” Duffy took the White House podium alongside Trump and declared, “When Americans take off in airplanes, they should expect to land at their destination.” Duffy added, “We will not accept excuses.”

Despite the crash, Trump said he “would not hesitate to fly.”

By MARIA SHERMAN, AP Music Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — The 2025 Grammy Awards are right around the corner, which means it is time to get those viewing party plans in action. Allow us to help.

The 67th annual Grammy Awards will still take place Sunday, Feb. 2, at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles — though the Recording Academy has refocused its aim to support relief efforts following the devastating Los Angeles-area wildfires.

Here’s what you need to know about watching the 2025 Grammys, including how to stream and where you can see music’s biggest stars walking the red carpet.

When does the Grammys start and how can I watch?

The main show will air live on CBS and Paramount+ beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern. Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers can also watch live and on demand.

Who is performing at the Grammys?

Benson Boone, Billie Eilish, Chappell Roan, Charli xcx, Doechii, RAYE, Sabrina Carpenter, Shakira and Teddy Swims will perform at the Grammys.

Who is hosting the Grammys?

Comedian Trevor Noah will host the show for the fifth consecutive time.

The only other people to host five or more Grammy telecasts were musical artists: Andy Williams hosted seven shows, followed by John Denver with six and LL Cool J with five.

How do I stream the Grammys?

The Grammys can also be watched through live TV streaming services that include CBS in their lineup, like Hulu + Live TV, YouTube TV and FuboTV.

Paramount+ subscribers will be able to stream the Grammy Awards the day after the ceremony.

How can I watch the red carpet?

The Associated Press will stream a three-hour red carpet show with interviews and fashion footage. It will be streamed on YouTube and APNews.com.

Who is nominated for the Grammys?

Beyoncé leads the Grammy nods with 11, bringing her career total to 99 nominations. That makes her the most nominated artist in Grammy history.

As of 2023, she’s also the most decorated artist, having earned 32 trophies across her career.

Post Malone, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar and Charli XCX follow with seven nominations.

Taylor Swift and first-time nominees Sabrina Carpenter and Chappell Roan boast six nominations each.

How will the Los Angeles-area wildfires affect the Grammys?

The 2025 Grammy Awards will go on as planned but will focus its attention on wildfire relief efforts.

Each year, the Recording Academy hosts a multitude of events to welcome the music industry during Grammy week; record labels do the same. However, many institutions have canceled their plans — Universal Music Group, BMG and Warner Music Group among them — and instead are allocating resources to Los Angeles-area wildfire relief and rebuilding efforts.

On Wednesday, the Recording Academy announced it had condensed pre-Grammy week plans to just four events, each featuring a fundraising element.

Events like the annual pre-Grammy Black Music Collective event, Grammy advocacy brunch, and others scheduled to take place at the immersive pop-up Grammy house have been canceled. In all, at least 16 pre-Grammy events sponsored by the Recording Academy have been canceled.

“We understand how devastating this past week has been on this city and its people. This is our home, it’s home to thousands of music professionals, and many of us have been negatively impacted,” Recording Academy CEO Harvey Mason jr. said in a statement.

Last week, the Recording Academy and MusiCares launched the Los Angeles Fire Relief Effort with a $1 million donation. According to the letter, thanks to additional contributions, they’ve already distributed $2 million in emergency aid.

How is the broader music industry responding to the fires?

Spotify has canceled all of its Grammy week events, including its annual Best New Artist showcase. “We’ve decided that the most impactful approach is canceling all our Grammy Week events, including our annual Best New Artist party, and redirecting funds to support efforts to reach local fans and charitable organizations,” Spotify’s Global Head of Music Partnerships & Audience Joe Hadley wrote in an announcement.

Universal Music Group, one of the big three major record labels, has canceled all of its Grammy-related events. Those include its annual artist showcase, held on Saturday, and its after-party on the Sunday of Grammy week. Instead, it will redirect those funds to wildfire relief.

BMG will no longer host its pre-Grammy party and a representative for Warner Music Group confirmed to The Associated Press that the major label will not host a party this year and are instead “redirecting funds to support efforts.” Earlier this week, WMG and the Blavatnik Family Foundation Social Justice Fund pledged $1 million to Los Angeles area fire relief and rebuilding efforts.

Sony Music Group confirmed it has canceled its events during Grammy week and after the ceremony and will instead redirect efforts and money to local relief efforts.

MusiCares, an organization that helps music professionals who need financial, personal or medical assistance, holds its annual Persons of the Year benefit gala at the Los Angeles Convention Center a few days before the Grammys. The 2025 gala will still take place on Jan. 31, this year honoring the Grateful Dead with an additional commitment to wildfire relief.

“At our upcoming Persons of the Year, we will make a special appeal for donations to support our wildfire relief efforts,” according to an email sent by the Recording Academy to its members on Tuesday.

Residents in Monroe were evacuated after a gas leak, the Public Safety Department said in a Public Service Announcement posted on Facebook.

The department said that the gas leak occurred in the 600 block of John Anderson Court, west of West Lorain Street and North Telegraph Road.

The public is asked to avoid the area until further notice while the cause of the leak is investigated.

"We thank you for your cooperation and we will update the public once the all clear is given to return to the area," the department concluded in the post.

By Amy Maxmen, KFF Health News

The Trump administration has intervened in the release of important studies on the bird flu, as an outbreak escalates across the United States.

One of the studies would reveal whether veterinarians who treat cattle have been unknowingly infected by the bird flu virus. Another report documents cases in which people carrying the virus might have infected their pet cats.

The studies were slated to appear in the official journal of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. The distinguished journal has been published without interruption since 1952.

Its scientific reports have been swept up in an “immediate pause” on communications by federal health agencies ordered by Dorothy Fink, the acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. Fink’s memo covers “any document intended for publication,” she wrote, “until it has been reviewed and approved by a presidential appointee.” It was sent on President Donald Trump’s first full day in office.

That’s concerning, former CDC officials said, because a firewall has long existed between the agency’s scientific reports and political appointees.

“MMWR is the voice of science,” said Tom Frieden, a former CDC director and the CEO of the nonprofit organization Resolve to Save Lives.

“This idea that science cannot continue until there’s a political lens over it is unprecedented,” said Anne Schuchat, a former principal deputy director at the CDC. “I hope it’s going to be very short-lived, but if it’s not short-lived, it’s censorship.”

White House officials meddled with scientific studies on covid-19 during the first Trump administration, according to interviews and emails collected in a 2022 report from congressional investigators. Still, the MMWR came out as scheduled.

“What’s happening now is quite different than what we experienced in covid, because there wasn’t a stop in the MMWR and other scientific manuscripts,” Schuchat said.

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Neither the White House nor HHS officials responded to requests for comment. CDC spokesperson Melissa Dibble said, “This is a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization.”

News of the interruption hit suddenly last week, just as Fred Gingrich, executive director of the American Association of Bovine Practitioners, a group for veterinarians specializing in cattle medicine, was preparing to hold a webinar with members. He planned to disclose the results of a study he helped lead, slated for publication in the MMWR later that week. Back in September, about 150 members had answered questions and donated blood for the study. Researchers at the CDC analyzed the samples for antibodies against the bird flu virus, to learn whether the veterinarians had been unknowingly infected earlier last year.

Although it would be too late to treat prior cases, the study promised to help scientists understand how the virus spreads from cows to people, what symptoms it causes, and how to prevent infection. “Our members were very excited to hear the results,” Gingrich said.

Like farmworkers, livestock veterinarians are at risk of bird flu infections. The study results could help protect them. And having fewer infections would lessen the chance of the H5N1 bird flu virus evolving within a person to spread efficiently between people — the gateway to a bird flu pandemic.

At least 67 people have tested positive for the bird flu in the U.S., with the majority getting the virus from cows or poultry. But studies and reporting suggest many cases have gone undetected, because testing has been patchy.

Just before the webinar, Gingrich said, the CDC informed him that because of an HHS order, the agency was unable to publish the report last week or communicate its findings. “We had to cancel,” he said.

Another bird flu study slated to be published in the MMWR last week concerns the possibility that people working in Michigan’s dairy industry infected their pet cats. These cases were partly revealed last year in emails obtained by KFF Health News. In one email from July 22, an epidemiologist pushed to publish the group’s investigation to “inform others about the potential for indirect transmission to companion animals.”

Jennifer Morse, medical director at the Mid-Michigan District Health Department and a scientist on the pending study, said she got a note from a colleague last week saying that “there are delays in our publication — outside of our control.”

A person close to the CDC, speaking on the condition of anonymity because of concerns about reprisal, expected the MMWR to be on hold at least until Feb. 6. The journal typically posts on Thursdays, and the HHS memo says the pause will last through Feb. 1.

“It’s startling,” Frieden said. He added that it would become dangerous if the reports aren’t restored. “It would be the equivalent of finding out that your local fire department has been told not to sound any fire alarms,” he said.

In addition to publishing studies, the MMWR keeps the country updated on outbreaks, poisonings, and maternal mortality, and provides surveillance data on cancer, heart disease, HIV, and other maladies. Delaying or manipulating the reports could harm Americans by stunting the ability of the U.S. government to detect and curb health threats, Frieden said.

The freeze is also a reminder of how the first Trump administration interfered with the CDC’s reports on COVID, revealed in emails detailed in 2022 by congressional investigators with the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis. That investigation found that political appointees at HHS altered or delayed the release of five reports and attempted to control several others in 2020.

Bird flu likely ‘widespread’ in Massachusetts, officials say

In one instance, Paul Alexander, then a scientific adviser to HHS, criticized a July 2020 report on a coronavirus outbreak at a Georgia summer camp in an email to MMWR editors, which was disclosed in the congressional investigation. “It just sends the wrong message as written and actually reads as if to send a message of NOT to re-open,” he wrote. Although the report’s data remained the same, the CDC removed remarks on the implications of the findings for schools.

Later that year, Alexander sent an email to then-HHS spokesperson Michael Caputo citing this and another example of his sway over the reports: “Small victory but a victory nonetheless and yippee!!!”

Schuchat, who was at the CDC at the time, said she had never experienced such attempts to spin or influence the agency’s scientific reports in more than three decades with the agency. She hopes it won’t happen again. “The MMWR cannot become a political instrument,” she said.

Gingrich remains hopeful that the veterinary study will come out soon. “We’re an apolitical organization,” he said. “Maintaining open lines of communication and continuing research with our federal partners is critical as we fight this outbreak.”

©2025 KFF Health News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Our Grant Me Hope child this week is 15-year-old Sevonia, who wants to be an author when she grows up.

Sevonia told the Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange "I like to make every moment matter and I like to make people laugh."

Sevonia also loves watching movies after school and hanging out on the weekends.

She also likes staying active by swimming, bowling, riding bikes, riding horses, playing soccer, volleyball and basketball.

"Faith is important to me because when I lost my mom, I got closer to God. I like basketball. Soccer. Volleyball. My dream goal is to be in the WNBA. My favorite player is Michael Jordan," Sevonia said.

She also enjoys quieter times by coloring, painting and making crafts, and she likes playing board games, especially Candyland. She loves animals including dogs, cats, horses, ferrets and pretty much any animal she runs into! says one of Sevonias close adults. Her favorite holidays include Easter and Christmas, and Sevonia likes celebrating them by making videos, laughing, talking and spending time with family. When she gets older, Sevonia wants to be a social worker who helps children. She dreams of traveling to Florida and California to do some exploring. Since making every moment matter is important to Sevonia, she hopes a forever family will savor time together talking, playing and taking pictures to preserve their memories. And she hopes they enjoy some of her favorite activities such as bowling, swimming, doing crafts and going out to eat.

Sevonia is described as a bubbly, outgoing and very energetic young lady. Adds an adult close to her,

Sevonia likes to stick up for others and enjoys helping other people. She is open and a good communicator, a close adult said. She also does well in school and loves reading.

A single female parent with a strong support network or two female parents would make a great fit for Sevonia. She would do best as the youngest child in her new forever family, and she would love to have sisters. Her new parent or parents should be experienced, trauma informed and able to make sure she gets the services that will benefit her now and into the future. A forever family must be willing to let Sevonia maintain her sibling relationships if she desires. Finally, Sevonia wants a family who has pets and says dogs and horses are her favorite

For more information on Sevonia, visit the Michigan Adoption Resource Exchange website, and view a list of waiting children there. You can also view more stories on our Grant Me Hope page.

President Donald Trump suggested on Thursday that the Department of Transportation's hiring practices may have played a role in a mid-air collision between a regional jet and a Black Hawk helicopter.

He claimed that the Biden and Obama administrations lowered the standard to become an air traffic controller with the Federal Aviation Administration.

"They put a big push to put diversity into the FAA program," he said.

Authorities said that it was likely no one on board the helicopter and the airplane survived the crash. At least 30 bodies have been pulled from the Potomac River, officials said.

Officials are at the beginning stages of their investigation, and the cause of the crash has not officially been determined. The National Transportation Safety Board is launching an investigation, but as President Trump noted, its investigations can take months or even years to complete.

RELATED STORY | DC Fire: 'We don't believe there are any survivors' after helicopter collides with passenger jet

It is unknown who was the air traffic controller or whether human error was a factor.

In his address, President Trump blasted the Biden and Obama administrations' policies that promoted the hiring of people with disabilities for government jobs. He claimed that the approach was in place as part of a broader diversity, equity, and inclusion hiring policy within the federal government that he has sought to end.

On July 26, 2010, President Barack Obama issued Executive Order 13548, which stated that the federal government should be a model for hiring people with disabilities.

On Thursday, President Trump echoed a statement he released last week blasting the Federal Aviation Administration for hiring people who have "severe intellectual disabilities."

"Brilliant people have to be in those positions," President Trump said.

RELATED STORY | Champion figure skaters among those on board the plane that crashed into the Potomac

According to the FAA, a person with severe intellectual disabilities, severe physical disabilities, or psychiatric disabilities is eligible for non-competitive appointments to FAA positions if they can provide documentation that they are "physically qualified to do the work without hazard to self or to others."

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg responded to Trump's claims on Thursday.

Despicable. As families grieve, Trump should be leading, not lying. We put safety first, drove down close calls, grew Air Traffic Control, and had zero commercial airline crash fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch. President Trump now oversees the military and the Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) January 30, 2025

Also during Trump's first term, the FAA announced a pilot program to help prepare people with disabilities for careers in air traffic operations.

"The candidates in this program will receive the same rigorous consideration in terms of aptitude, medical, and security qualifications as those individuals considered for a standard public opening for air traffic controller jobs. Participants in the program will receive up to one year of experience in an Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC) with the potential to be appointed to a temporary ATCS position at the FAA Academy," the FAA said in 2019.

A Michigan priest had his license revoked by the Anglican Catholic Church after he mimicked a straight-arm gesture performed by Elon Musk during a speech earlier this month that some have interpreted as a Nazi salute.

Calvin Robinson, who is listed as the priest-in-charge of St. Pauls Anglican Catholic Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan, performed the gesture at the end of a Jan. 25 speech at the National Pro-Life Summit in Washington, D.C.

On Wednesday, the Anglican Catholic Church posted a statement that said Robinson's license in this Church has been revoked after he made a gesture that many have interpreted as a pro-Nazi salute.

While we cannot say what was in Mr. Robinsons heart when he did this, his action appears to have been an attempt to curry favor with certain elements of the American political right by provoking its opposition, the statement read.

We believe that those who mimic the Nazi salute, even as a joke or an attempt to troll their opponents, trivialize the horror of the Holocaust, it continued.

Musks gesture that Robinson was mimicking came in a Jan. 20 speech during celebrations of Donald Trump's presidential inauguration. Musk slapped his hand on his chest, extended his arm straight out and up with his palm facing down and said, My heart goes out to you.

At the close of Robinson's Jan. 25 speech, he quoted Musk, saying my heart goes out to you, before mimicking his straight-arm motion.

In a statement posted to his Facebook page, Robinson said in case it needs saying: I am not a Nazi, and that the gesture was a joke.

Robinson is from England and in the past has been outspoken about his conservative views, according to a biography on St. Pauls Anglican Catholic Church's website.

A ground stop put in place at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, has been lifted following a deadly overnight multi-aircraft crash.

Takeoffs and landings resumed Thursday morning at the airport, though travelers have been advised to expect delays.

The mid-air collision involved a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter conducting a training flight and a regional American Airlines flight originating from Wichita, Kansas which ultimately crashed in the nearby Potomac River.

RELATED STORY | Champion figure skaters among those on board the plane that crashed into the Potomac

American Airlines CEO Robert Isom said 60 passengers and four crew members were on the plane. At least three people were in the Black Hawk helicopter.

All passengers involved have been presumed dead.

Trump administration officials confirmed at least 30 bodies had been recovered as of Thursday morning as a recovery mission remained active.

Multiple investigations are underway in attempt to understand what actions were taken leading up to the fatal collision. But aviation experts say this is not the sort of crash that would typically take an extended period of time to comprehend considering it was a passenger plane on a very familiar landing path and a military helicopter in an area where drills are often conducted.

RELATED STORY | Army crew involved in mid-air collision with jet was 'fairly experienced'

Airport communications obtained by Scripps News from the time of the collision indicate that air traffic control did ask the military helicopter whether it saw the plane in sight. We did not hear the cockpit respond with a clear "yes" or "no."

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that it was a clear night and both the jet and helicopter were in a "standard flight pattern" at the time of the crash. Duffy added he believes the incident could have been prevented, but expressed confidence in flight safety and said the investigation is ongoing.

Northern Strike 25-1, this year’s winter training exercise hosted by the Michigan National Guard (MING), was set for Jan. 27-30, at Northern Michigan’s National All-Domain Warfighting Center, (NADWC).

Northern Strike (NS) 25-1 is part of the semi-annual exercise series, which includes NS 25-2, scheduled for this August, according to a news release from the Michigan National Guard.

“For a decade, Northern Strike has helped our nation’s reserve component forces build readiness as a lethal fighting force,” said Col. Todd Fitzpatrick, land exercise director for NS.

“This marks the 6th cold-weather iteration of this event and as our national defense strategy changes, so does the exercise.”

NS is a Joint National Training Capability accredited, Army sponsored, and National Guard Bureau program. The exercise is tailorable, scalable and a cost-effective readiness producer. Participants will brave the cold-weather conditions while training to meet objectives of the Department of Defense’s arctic strategy.

“Wind, snow, and single digit temperatures force units to adapt and overcome conditions they could potentially face against a near-peer threat,” said Maj. Gen. Paul D. Rogers, adjutant general and director of the Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs.

“In years past, temperatures at Camp Grayling have been colder than Alaska, so this exercise serves as one of the best opportunities for units to train in some of the most challenging conditions.”

Northern Michigan’s National All-Domain Warfighting Center, which includes Camp Grayling Joint Maneuver Training Center and Alpena Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC), offers a cost-effective way for units across the Department of Defense (particularly reserve components) to experience cold-weather, joint all-domain operations. The ability to easily transport people and equipment to Camp Grayling via rail and roadway helps units save time, money and training days. Air component units can fly to Alpena CRTC without leaving U.S. air space.

Participating units will include the 125th Infantry Battalion, MING; Second Air-Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, Camp Lejeune, N.C.; Marine Air Control Squadron, 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, Yuma, AZ; Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 162, New River, NC; and other units from the U.S. Army National Guard.

This year’s exercise includes shaping operations with joint fires and a cold-weather equipment pool offered at Camp Grayling. Visiting units will be able to draw from items such as skis, snowmobiles and snowshoes to meet their training objectives.

“By offering the cold-weather equipment, our Camp Grayling partners have made the exercise even more tailorable,” said Col. Todd Fitzpatrick.

“Having equipment pre-positioned here reduces logistical concerns for units so they can focus on their warfighting tasks. Our goal is to provide units with the tools to become more effective warfighters, ready to meet the ever-evolving demands of today’s security environment.”

For more information about the Michigan National Guard, visit minationalguard.dodlive.mil.

Upcoming events

• Oxford American Legion Post 108 to host Euchre from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 3 and from noon to 3 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6 and Fish dinners from noon to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, at 130 Drahner Road, Oxford. For more information, call 248-628-9081.

• Oxford American Legion Post 108 to host Broasted Chicken Buffet from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 5, at 130 Drahner Road, Oxford. For more information, call 248-628-9081.

• Clarkston American Legion Post 63 to host Shuffleboard from 6:45 to 10 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 6, and Euchre from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 8, at 8047 Ortonville Road. For more information, call 248-625-9912.

• Clarkston American Legion Post 377 to host Bingo from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 4 and a Fish Fry from 5 to 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 7, at 4819 Mary Sue Ave. For more information, call 248-673-9301.

• Milford American Legion Post 216 to host Burger Nite from 5 to 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 6, at 510 W. Commerce Road, Milford. For more information, call 248-684-9919.

• Holly American Legion Dance Jam is from 7 to 11 p.m. Friday, Feb. 14, at Holly VFW Post 5587, at 201 Airport Drive, Holly. Live guest band Dumb and Dumber with Mike Nau. Dancing, refreshments, donations accepted to go to Tornado fund. Open to the public. For more information, call 810-348-9960.

• Holly Area Veterans Resource Center Vet-To-Vet Dinner is from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, at VFW Post 5587, at 201 Airport Drive, Holly. The dinner is open to veterans and their families. Bring a dish to pass if desired. Event includes speaker and Q&A. For more information, call 810-348-9960.

The Oakland Press is interested in all veterans events in Oakland County. Please send info in the body of an email with subject line “Veterans Affairs” to Sharon Longman at sslstart@aol.com. Allow two weeks’ notice for scheduled events.

By JILL COLVIN

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean Duffy, the new transportation secretary, is facing his first major crisis just hours after his swearing-in.

Duffy, who was confirmed by the Senate Tuesday, quickly emerged as a public face of the federal government’s response to the deadly plane crash at Reagan National Airport, the closest airport to Washington, D.C. An Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines jet carrying 60 passengers and four crew members Wednesday night while the plane was landing, sending it careening into the frigid Potomac River. All onboard are feared dead in what is shaping up to be the deadliest U.S. air crash in decades.

“Our new Secretary of Transportation, Sean Duffy — his second day on the job when that happened. That’s a rough one,” Trump said as they appeared together during a White House briefing Thursday.

“Great gentleman. Just started. It’s not your fault,” he later said.

Here are some things to know about Duffy:

He was on scene at the airport and by Trump’s side at the White House

Duffy appeared alongside Washington D.C.’s mayor and other local officials at airport briefings overnight and early Thursday, representing the administration. And he joined Trump in the White House briefing room Thursday, where the new president offered prayers to the victims and lamented the tragedy, but also made a series of politically charged accusations that he acknowledged were not based on fact.

Duffy began his remarks by complimenting Trump, saying his “leadership has been remarkable during this crisis.” And he assured victims’ loved ones that he was committed to getting to the bottom of what happened as quickly as possible.

While Duffy did not explicitly echo Trump’s claims that diversity hiring and lower standards were somehow to blame for the tragedy — it is still unclear exactly what happened to cause the crash – he also did not refute them.

“When we deal with safety, we can only accept the best and the brightest in positions of safety that impact the lives of our loved ones, our family members,” Duffy said. “We are going to take responsibility at the Department of Transportation and the FAA, to make sure we have the reforms that have been dictated by President Trump in place to make sure that these mistakes do not happen again.”

He’s a former reality TV star, lumberjack and congressman from Wisconsin

A former Republican congressman from Wisconsin, Duffy’s résumé includes stints as a lumberjack athlete, reality TV star, prosecutor and Fox News host.

He was featured on MTV’s “The Real World: Boston” in 1997 and met his his wife, “Fox & Friends Weekend” co-host Rachel Campos-Duffy, on the set of MTV’s “Road Rules: All Stars” in 1998.

Duffy later worked as a special prosecutor and the district attorney of Ashland County in northern Wisconsin. He won election to Congress as part of the tea party wave in 2010.

Rep. Tom Tiffany, who succeeded Duffy in Congress, said he first knew of Duffy when he was a lumberjack in the 1990s before either of them entered politics.

“He’s got a big job ahead of him here,” Tiffany said. “It’s jumping right into the frying pan with a situation like this.”

An underdog who served nine years

When he first ran for Congress, Duffy was considered an underdog. But he attracted national attention with his campaign ads, which featured him dramatically chopping wood while donning a red flannel shirt. He told voters he came from a “long line of lumberjacks” and would bring his axe to Washington.

Duffy served in the House for nearly nine years. He was member of the Financial Services Committee and chair of the subcommittee on insurance and housing.

Fox News defender

After leaving Congress in 2019, citing the need to care for his growing family, Duffy became a contributor to Fox News and one of Trump’s most visible defenders on cable television. He served as co-host of “The Bottom Line” on Fox Business before being picked for the new administration.

He was one of several Fox personalities that Trump chose to fill his Cabinet, including Pete Hegseth, the new defense secretary.

A father to nine

Duffy has nine children, the youngest of whom was born with a heart condition.

In announcing his pick, Trump noted that “Sean knows how important it is for families to be able to travel safely, and with peace of mind.”

Because of his large family, Duffy will have empathy with the relatives of crash victims, said Mark Graul, a longtime Republican operative in Wisconsin who has known Duffy for more than 25 years.

“When you have the size of family he has, empathy is part of the process there,” Graul said. “He’s going to want to bring certainty to everyone who is hurting from this.”

Graul said Duffy is an “incredibly decent person” and “very approachable,” which will aid him as he navigates this crash.

“His family is the center of his universe and more than most politicians he cares a great deal about being successful,” Graul said. “He doesn’t want to just do things to get attention. He likes having success.”

A sprawling agency

The Transportation Department oversees the nation’s complex and aging transportation system, including its highways, railroads and airspace. It sets safety standards for trains, cars and trucks.

The department regulates the airline industry through the Federal Aviation Administration, which has been grappling with a shortage of air traffic controllers. The agency also includes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which regulates automakers and sets fuel economy standards for cars and trucks.

In his statement announcing the pick, Trump had said Duffy would “prioritize Excellence, Competence, Competitiveness and Beauty when rebuilding America’s highways, tunnels, bridges and airports” and said he would “make our skies safe again by eliminating DEI for pilots and air traffic controllers.” DEI refers to “diversity, equity and inclusion” programs, which Trump has worked to bar through federal action since returning to office.

In his first act after his swearing-in, Duffy rolled back fuel mileage standards put in place by the Biden administration.

His confirmation hearing

During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Duffy had promised to scrutinize Boeing ’s safety issues and “restore global confidence” in the beleaguered company, as well as to hire more air traffic controllers amid a national shortage. (The plane involved in Wednesday night’s collision was a CRJ-700 manufactured by Canada-based Bombadier.)

Duffy also said he would cut DEI programs at the agency and create federal rules for self-driving cars instead of leaving that to a patchwork of state regulations, a key priority of Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who is running Trump’s government efficiency effort.

Duffy assured lawmakers that he would not interfere in ongoing agency investigations into Musk’s electric car company over the safety of Tesla vehicles.

He was approved by a bipartisan 77-22 vote.

Associated Press writer Scott Bauer contributed to this report from Madison, Wisconsin.

Fans came to see a Guster concert on Wednesday night, Jan. 29, at Detroit’s Majestic Theatre.

Instead it was what percussionist Brian Rosenworcel called “our experimental high school play.”

The veteran indie rock troupe used the occasion of its 34th anniversary to review its history with the We Also Have Eras Tour, a high-concept, cheerfully low-tech theatrical piece that pokes fun at Taylor Swift but on Wednesday had a lot of fun with fans who may have picked up on the band at any point of its nine-album career. It came complete with a script, skits, props and a narrator — tech Dave Butler, who also played drums and keyboards and cautioned at the beginning of the night that “no one on stage tonight is a professional actor.”

That, of course, is what gave the nearly two-and-a-half hour show — including a 15-minute intermission that paid tribute to Guster crew, management, producers and more on the video screen — it’s winning charm.

Band founders Ryan Miller and Adam Gardner started things off in a recreation of their dorm room at Tufts University, the backdrop complete with a Kiss poster and school pennant. The two played a seated, acoustic rendition of “Parachute” before Rosenworcel and his bongos joined them for “Happy Frappy” before the trio moved to standing position for “X-Ray Eyes” — Rosenworcel still a marvel on a set full of hand percussion instruments.

From there Guster took a historical and mostly chronological roll through its career, 27 songs sampling from every album and including its cover of Talking Heads’ “(Nothing But) Flowers” from 2004’s “Guster on Ice” live album and DVD. “Keep It Together,” the group’s 2003 major label debut and home to hits such as “Amsterdam” and “Careful,” got the most weight, while Guster drew only two songs from last year’s “Ooh La La.”

The characteristically stellar musical performances were abetted by the “drama,” including an early career name change from Gus (Gardner sported an original T-shirt), the addition of a fourth member (Joe Pisapia, “played” by current multi-instrumentalist Luke Reynolds), the loss of the group’s recording contract and the troubled making of 2010’s “Easy Wonderful,” with its original producer represented by a Satan puppet. (Some flubbed lines also added to the merriment.) The first “act” finished with the band on shaky ground and Rosenworcel, aka The Thunder God, taking stock of the situation with the torchy “Thunder Song,” written especially for the show.

The second half was somewhat smoother sailing, with outfit changes (the onstage Costume Counter rolled up more than 30, though it was actually closer to a dozen), an OK Go-styled “Instagram moment” and a rap song paying tribute to Butler, placing him in a pantheon of other Daves (Grohl, Matthews, Lee Roth). Miller, suffering from a cold, donned a Covid face mask as he walked through the crowd during “Doin’ It By Myself,” while Gardner whipped out a trumpet during “Terrified.”

The moody “Long Night,” meanwhile, was a highlight among some of the night’s most sublime and sophisticated performances, and Guster introduced an “in-progress” version of “Ooh La La’s” “The Elevator” before finishing the main set with “Keep It Together’s” dynamic “Come Downstairs and Say Hello.” For an encore — termed the “Dumpster set” and performed in front of a faux dumpster on stage — Gardner (who composed music for last year’s stage adaptation of the film “Safety Not Guaranteed”), Rosenworcel and a sneezing Miller sat down again for “Happier” before being joined by Reynolds on banjo and Miller on harmonium for the show-closing “Amsterdam.”

It was goofy and gleefully nerdy — both Guster stock in trades — and sweetly sentimental. And it certainly made anyone in the packed Majestic proud to be a Guster fan, and ready to stay on board for the eras to come.

Former U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard faced the Senate Intelligence Committee as she seeks to be confirmed as President Donald Trump's director of national intelligence.

She was among three of President Trump's nominees to face Senate questioning on Thursday, all of whom could face significant Democratic opposition. The others who went before Senate committees were secretary of Health and Human Services nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Kash Patel, President Trump's pick to lead the Federal Bureau of Investigations.

One thing both Gabbard and Kennedy have in common is that they are former Democratic Party candidates for president. Gabbard vied for the Democratic nomination in 2020, and Kennedy ran for president as a Democrat in 2024 before becoming an independent.

RELATED STORY | Former congressman Lee Zeldin confirmed to lead Environmental Protection Agency

In her testimony, she accused the intelligence community of being "weaponized" against political opponents. She claimed that she was among those targeted by the intelligence community after she said she was placed on a terror watch list within 24 hours of criticizing the nomination of 2024 Democratic Party presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

The New York Times reported that intelligence officials briefly subjected her to special scrutiny on airline flights after she attended an event at the Vatican organized by a European businessman who appeared on an FBI watch list.

"President Trumps reelection is a clear mandate from the American people to break this cycle of failure, end the weaponization/politicization of the intelligence community, and begin to restore trust in those who have been charged with the critical task of securing our nation," she said.

Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, said that her background checks showed that she was "clean as a whistle."

"I suspect some of my Republican colleagues might disagree with some of Ms. Gabbard's votes in the House of Representatives," Cotton said. "Just as I suspect that some of my Democratic colleagues might criticize Ms. Gabbard's statements and actions since she saw the light and left the Democratic Party. But I sincerely hope that no one today will impugn Ms. Gabbert's patriotism and integrity."

Democrats focused some of their questions on surveillance programs. She also faced questioning from Republican Sen. James Lankford on whether she thinks Edward Snowden is a "traitor."

"Was he a traitor at the time when he took America's secrets, released them in public, and then ran to China and became a Russian citizen?" Lankford asked.

"Senator, I'm focused on the future and how we can prevent something like this from happening again," Gabbard responded.

Gabbard also vowed to "assess the global threat environment" after so-called failures, including the October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorist attack, the takeover of Syria, and failures to identify the source of COVID-19.

RELATED STORY | Trump administration rescinds memo on federal funding freeze for grants, loans

"I will assess the global threat environment and where gaps in our intelligence exist, integrate intelligence elements and increase information sharing, and ensure unbiased, apolitical, objective collection and analysis to support the president and policymakers decision-making," she said.

But some Democrats have expressed concern that she does not have the requisite experience to lead national intelligence. While many past directors of national intelligence had political experience, many of them also had experience in diplomacy or national security.

Gabbard served in the National Guard and later was on the House Committee on Homeland Security for one term. She also served on the Committee on Foreign Affairs.

As director of national intelligence, she would play a key role in national security for the White House. Her agency is tasked with preparing the president's daily briefing and overseeing the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council for intelligence matters related to national security.

Her confirmation requires a majority of 100 senators. There are 53 Republicans in the Senate.

Karen Philbrick of Oxford was named as the Chief People and Culture Executive for the Detroit Zoological Society (DZS), a nonprofit that operates the Detroit Zoo and Belle Isle Nature Center.

Philbrick previously served as vice president of human resources at Troy-based Populus Group, where she supported more than 300 full-time employees and 5,000 contingent workers across the United States.

In the newly created role as Chief People and Culture Executive at DZS, Philbrick will lead the human resources team and oversee and assess the organization’s culture, leadership practices and development systems to attract, retain and develop talent.

Philbrick holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Central Michigan University and a Senior Professional in Human Resources certification from the HR Certification Institute. Philbrick is in the process of obtaining a Master of Science in human resources management, strategy and leadership from Michigan State University.

For more information, visit https://detroitzoo.org.

A Detroit woman was set to fly out of Reagan National Airport on Wednesday night but had her flight canceled after the deadly collision between an American Airlines jet and a U.S. Army helicopter.

All 64 people on board the jet are feared dead and emergency crews are still working on a recovery operation in the Potomac River after the crash on Wednesday night.

Related Video: What we're learning about the mid-air collision outside Reagan National Airport What we're learning about the mid-air collision outside of Reagan National Airport

We caught up with Bennita Rogers on Thursday morning at Detroit Metro Airport after her flight from Washington D.C.

She was in a plane waiting to take off when the midair collision occurred. She should have taken off just before 9 p.m. That's when she started seeing flashing lights swarming the tarmac.

Interview: Detroit woman waiting to take off from Reagan when crash happened shares her experience Detroit woman waiting to take off from Reagan when crash happened shares her experience

"A few ambulances and emergency vehicles at first, and then more and more and then we taxied back to the gate," she told us. "A little nervous this morning flying out, a lot of nerves. Were on a small plane."

Rogers' flight was one of 19 diverted from Reagan National to Dulles, and the closure of Reagan National Airport canceled about a dozen flights between the airport and DTW on Thursday morning.

The first flight out of DTW to Reagn took off around 10:20 a.m.