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In the news today: Conspiracies, espionage and an enemies list made appearances on a wild day of confirmation hearings; families mourn 67 killed in American Airlines jet and Army helicopter collision; and the FDA approves a new non-opioid painkiller. Also, how mushers and sled dogs delivered a lifesaving serum 100 years ago.

Tulsi Gabbard at her confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, Thursday. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

POLITICS

Conspiracies, espionage, an enemies list: Takeaways from a wild day of confirmation hearings

Conspiracy theories about vaccines. Secret meetings with dictators. An enemies list. President Donald Trump’ s most controversial Cabinet nominees — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard and Kash Patel — flooded the zone Thursday in back-to-back-to-back confirmation hearings that were like nothing the Senate has seen in modern memory. Read more.

Key points:

• Gabbard is seen as the most endangered of Trump’s picks, potentially lacking the votes even from Trump’s party for confirmation for director of National Intelligence. But her hearing before the Senate Intelligence Committee offered a roadmap toward confirmation.
  
  

• What skeptical Democratic senators have been driving at is whether Kennedy is trustworthy — if he holds fast to his past views or has shifted to new ones — echoing concerns raised by his cousin Caroline Kennedy that he is a charismatic “predator” hungry for power.
  
  

• Patel emerged as perhaps the most combative nominee in a testy hearing as the nominee to lead the FBI. Confronted with his own past words, writings and public comments, Patel protested repeatedly that his views were being taken out of context as “unfair” smears.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Senate confirms Doug Burgum as interior secretary after Trump tasked him to boost drilling

   

• Trump says tariffs on Canada and Mexico coming Saturday
  
  

• US aid agency is in upheaval during foreign assistance freeze and staff departures
  
  

• Air Force deportation flight skirts Mexican airspace to Guatemala as military’s border role grows
  
  

• Panama’s president says there will be no negotiation about ownership of canal
  
  

• Judge extends court-monitoring agreement for children in Customs and Border Protection custody

   

• Some hospitals pause gender-affirming care to evaluate Trump’s executive order
  
  

• US cybersecurity agency’s future role in elections remains murky under the Trump administration

   

• FBI wrestles with a spike in sexual misconduct claims and male-dominated culture

   

• A US appeals court says banning gun sales to young adults under 21 is unconstitutional
  
  

• Conservative Wisconsin Supreme Court justice steps aside in pivotal union rights case
  
  

• FACT FOCUS: No evidence that $50 million was designated by the US to buy condoms for Hamas

   

• ‘Remarkably poor judgment': Wall Street Journal takes a critical eye to start of Trump’s 2nd term

   

• The DNC’s outgoing chair says Democrats should have stuck with Joe Biden in 2024

U.S. NEWS

Teen figure skaters and their coaches, group of hunters and students among victims of air crash

The victims of a crash between an American Airlines jet and an Army helicopter included teen figure skaters returning from a national meet with their mothers and coaches, an Ohio college student coming from her grandfather’s funeral, two Chinese nationals and a group of hunters headed back from a guided trip in Kansas. Read more.

Recent updates:

• They were among 60 travelers and four crew members on board the commercial flight late Wednesday when it collided with the Black Hawk helicopter, which was carrying three soldiers. Officials say there were no survivors. As the search for remains continued Thursday, communities grieved.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• Midair collision kills 67 people in the deadliest US air disaster in almost a quarter century
  
  
• Trump was challenged after blaming DEI for the DC plane crash. Here’s what he said
  
  
• Pilots have long worried about DC’s complex airspace contributing to a catastrophe

HEALTH

FDA approves painkiller designed to eliminate the risk of addiction associated with opioids

Federal officials on Thursday approved a new type of pain pill designed to eliminate the risks of addiction and overdose associated with opioid medications like Vicodin and OxyContin. Read more.

Why this matters:

• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it approved Vertex Pharmaceuticals’ Journavx for short-term pain that often follows surgery or injuries. It’s the first new pharmaceutical approach to treating pain in more than 20 years, offering an alternative to both opioids and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen.
  
  

• The new drug, however, will carry a list price of $15.50 per pill, making it many times more expensive than comparable opioids, which are often available as generics for $1 or less.

RELATED COVERAGE ➤

• The tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas is alarming. It’s not the biggest in US history though, CDC says
  
  
• Who funds the World Health Organization? A list of its biggest donors
  
  
• Hospital nurse in Uganda dies in country’s first Ebola outbreak in 2 years

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IN OTHER NEWS

READ

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South China Sea dispute: Philippine president offers a deal to China: Stop sea aggression and I’ll return missiles to US

Russell Brand: BBC apologizes to staff who felt they were unable to raise concerns about comedian

Dick Button: Olympic great and voice of skating dies at 95

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Today in History: In 1945, Pvt. Eddie Slovik became the first U.S. soldier since the Civil War to be executed for desertion

WATCH

Wildfire benefit: Music’s biggest stars come out for FireAid

‘Unfortunately, I got sick’: Patti Smith apologizes for canceling show after collapsing onstage

Conservation win: India doubled its tiger population in a decade, study finds

A CHANGE OF PACE

In this 1925 photo, Gunnar Kaasen poses with his original dog team which he drove through a blinding blizzard to deliver life-saving serum to Nome, Alaska. (AP Photo)

Mushers and dogs braved a horrific Alaska winter to deliver lifesaving serum 100 years ago
The Alaska Gold Rush town of Nome was hundreds of miles from anywhere, cut off by the frozen sea and unrelenting blizzards, and under siege from a contagious disease known as the “strangling angel” for the way it suffocated children. Now, 100 years later, Nome is remembering its saviors — the sled dogs and mushers who raced for more than five days to deliver life-saving serum and free the community from the grip of diphtheria.

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