News & Politics

The Latest on the Potomac Air Disaster, and Other News for Thursday Morning

This is Washingtonian Today.

Emergency response units assemble at Ronald Reagan Washington Airport as search and rescue operations are underway in the Potomac River on January 30, 2025. An American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas collided with a helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

Good morning. A high of 50 today and a low of 40 tonight. You can find me on Bluesky, and there’s a link to my email address at the bottom of this post.

The latest on the air disaster:

A jet approaching National Airport collided with a US Army helicopter over the Potomac River Wednesday night. Sixty-four people were aboard American Eagle Flight 5342 from Wichita; at least three people were aboard the Sikorsky UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter, which was reportedly on a training mission. There were no survivors, officials said at a press conference Thursday morning. Recovery efforts continue and a National Safety Transportation Board investigation will follow. Some of the passengers were members of the US Figure Skating community, including athletes, coaches, and family members. Two Russian former skaters, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were aboard, the Washington Post reports. Roads around the airport are closed, and flights at the airport have been halted until 11 AM.  Links to live coverage: Washington Post. Dave Statter. NBC4. WUSA9. ABC7. Fox5. NYT. AP. WTOP.

Here’s a roundup of administration news:

Trump nominees Tulsi Gabbard (ODNI) and Kash Patel (FBI) will go before Senators today. Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. will have a second hearing.

• President Trump has ordered the construction of a mass detention camp for people being deported from the US at Guantánamo Bay. (Washington Post)

Funding freeze latest: The administration rescinded its funding freeze order Wednesday. (NYT) A federal judge had paused the order, which lacked specifics and was not widely vetted. (NYT) The order seemed designed to provoke a court challenge to the 1974  Impoundment Control Act, which prevents the President from withholding funds that Congress has authorized, and which the administration believes is unconstitutional. (HuffPost)

• Three more executive orders yesterday concerned cultural issues around education. (Politico)

• Agriculture Department Inspector General Phyllis Fong was escorted “out of her office on Monday after she refused to comply with her firing by the Trump administration.” (Reuters)

• Meta agreed to pay $25 million to settle a suit brought by President Trump after the social-media giant suspended his accounts following his supporters’ 2021 attack on the US Capitol. (WSJ)

• An old CIA guide to sabotaging fascist regimes written by William “Wild Bill” Donovan has become very popular online. (404 Media)

Hidden Eats, by Ike Allen

Photo by Ike Allen.

Global Bistro

Fairfax University of America, formerly Virginia International University, shut down as an accredited institution last year. But don’t hold that against Global Bistro, the university cafeteria emeritus still serving Syrian cuisine in the shuttered academic building. The thing to get here is chicken or beef shawarma, which is some of the area’s best— Global Bistro is also known as Shawarma Abu Yamen. For the real Levantine experience, skip the pita and opt for shrak, a much thinner, tortilla-like flatbread that’s the most common receptacle for shaved shawarma in Syria and Lebanon. The resulting wrap is simple: shavings of spiced meat, glued into the bread with garlicky toum spread, rich tahini, and briny sliced pickles. It’s enough to make you forget the strange institutional setting. (4401 Village Drive, Fairfax)

Recently on Washingtonian dot com:

• Here’s what some of our Very Best Restaurants are offering for Restaurant Week.

• Did you miss RFK Jr.’s first confirmation hearing? You missed some wild stuff.

• The region’s economy could take a hard hit if Trump’s plans to shrink the federal workforce succeed.

Barnes & Noble returns to downtown, this time in the old Woodies building.

• A wild trip on what appears to be DC’s only Trump tour.

Mark Zuckerberg is reportedly looking for a place in DC.

• Where did OPM’s new email server come from? It’s inspired a lawsuit.

Local news links:

Shaboozey will star in a Nerds commercial during the Super Bowl. (Northern Virginia Magazine)

• A number of underused and obsolete federal office buildings are near the chopping block. (WBJ)

• A woman arrested outside the US Capitol carrying a Molotov cocktail said she was inspired by Luigi Mangione. (WUSA)

• Don’t believe the signs: There are no alligators in Takoma Park. (Bethesda Magazine)

• Maryland legislator wants to free foraging. (WTOP)

• Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin called the widespread bafflement that greeted Trump’s vague funding freeze order a “partisan stunt.” (WUSA)

• The Capitals are at Ottawa tonight at 7, and the Wizards host the Lakers at the same hour.

Did you miss our 100 Very Best Restaurants List? It’s here. If you love your workplace, now’s your chance to nominate it for Washingtonian’s next Great Places to Work contest. Register here to get the ball rolling. 

Senior editor

Andrew Beaujon joined Washingtonian in late 2014. He was previously with the Poynter Institute, TBD.com, and Washington City Paper. He lives in Del Ray.