Midwest
'We're the gold standard': GOP lawmaker calls for congressional hearing over DC plane crash
EXCLUSIVE: The top Republican on the House Transportation Committee’s subcommittee on aviation is calling for a congressional hearing into the deadly collision between an American Airlines plane and a military helicopter in Washington, D.C.
“We say we are the gold standard, we just need to continue to maintain that level,” Rep. Troy Nehls, R-Texas, who chairs the subcommittee, told Fox News Digital in an interview.
“I just want to sit down with all of them and, when the [National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB)] does its report – make sure that it’s very accurate, it’s factual, and that they come up with some recommendations – and then we’ll have to see if we need to change direction or change course based upon those recommendations. But we don’t know yet.”
Nehls praised Transportation Committee Chairman Sam Graves, noting his background as a pilot, and said he would be asking the Missouri Republican to convene meetings with the affected parties and those investigating the incident. Nehls suggested potential closed-door meetings to enable more candid discussions but said a public hearing would also be in order.
DC PLANE CRASH INVESTIGATORS TO REVIEW COMMUNICATION BETWEEN 2 AIRCRAFT: SENATOR
Rep. Troy Nehls, aviation subcommittee chair, is monitoring the situation after an American Airlines plane collided with a military helicopter over the Potomac River. (Getty Images)
“We have to find out the reason for the crash and then come up with, you know, recommendations to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” he said. “We don’t need to be sitting on this. I don’t want to hear, ‘It’s going to take 18 months.’ I don’t want to hear that.”
And it appears federal investigators are on that same page.
NTSB officials said they hope to have a preliminary report out in about 30 days.
“I think that would be fair,” Nehls said. “But that shouldn’t stop Congress looking into this and doing what we can to help. I think President Trump… expects it, and he has a right to expect it from us, to make sure that we keep our aviation industry the standard for the world.”
And while he is hoping for quick results, Nehls emphatically cautioned against any early speculation about who or what is to blame for the tragedy.
RECOVERY EFFORTS UNDERWAY AFTER AMERICAN AIRLINES JET, MILITARY HELICOPTER COLLIDE MIDAIR NEAR DC
FBI agents stand near debris after American Eagle Flight 5342 collided with a Black Hawk helicopter while approaching Reagan National Airport in Arlington, Virginia, on Jan. 30, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
“Everybody wants to speculate as to how did this happen, why this happened. Whose fault is that? Is it the helicopter? Was it the airplane?” Nehls said.
“I think that is irresponsible. I think you just need to give it time for the NTSB to investigate, you know, conduct a very thorough investigation.”
Finger-pointing and speculation have already run rampant, however. Some have blamed Congress for authorizing too many new airline contracts at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, which is closer to the U.S. Capitol than the much larger Washington-Dulles International Airport.
Others, primarily on the right, have argued that diversity initiatives by Democratic administrations helped lead to the tragedy.
“I think it’s too early for all of that,” Nehls said when asked about both.
No evidence has come out to support any conclusion or cause of the crash so far.
Crews retrieve wreckage of American Airlines Flight 5342 in the Potomac River. (Leigh Green for Fox News Digital)
Nehls spoke with Fox News Digital the day after a Black Hawk helicopter carrying three service members crashed into a passenger plane heading from Wichita, Kansas, which was moments away from landing at Reagan National Airport.
Both aircraft were seen plummeting into the Potomac River between Washington and neighboring Arlington, Virginia, where the airport is located.
U.S. officials have said there are no survivors, and recovery efforts are still underway.
Fox News Digital reached out to the House Transportation Committee for comment.
American Airlines has said 60 passengers and four crew members were aboard the plane, and the airline encouraged any loved ones looking for information to call the numbers on its site.
Read the full article from Here
CLEVELAND, Ohio (TheOBR.com) Good morning, Cleveland Browns fans!
There are mornings when I sit down at this keyboard, look at the Browns quarterback discourse, and wonder whether I should have gone into a more stable line of work. Such as selling timeshares from inside an office that has been lit on fire. Because here we are in late June, with no pads, no preseason games, no live pass rush, and apparently everyone from television personalities to team-adjacent announcers to webdorks like me has solved the Browns quarterback battle. That’s 90% of the news items out there this morning.
But I don’t care, and look on that endless speculative churning as simply being noise at this point.
One story that matters this morning is Andrew Healy leaving Cleveland for Minnesota, which I wrote about several days ago. He’s joining the Vikings as an assistant general manager.
Let Barry know what you think of the Daily Bloviation! CLICK HERE!
If your first reaction was, “Okay, front-office guy changes jobs, wake me when someone throws a slant,” I get it. Executives mostly become famous when something goes wrong, which is a cruel system, but, hey, I didn’t design the planet. I just live here.
But Healy’s departure is a real loss. Alec Lewis’ Athletic reporting had two quotes that should get your attention. Browns offensive analyst Dom Borsani called Healy “a little bit like a unicorn,” because he combined research background and technical aptitude with a traditional scouting lens and an understanding of coaching schemes. Former Browns senior software developer Zach Zelinsky, now with the Arizona Diamondbacks, called him “probably the smartest guy I’ve worked with in sports.”
That’s not normal praise. That’s not “great teammate, first guy in, last guy out” boilerplate. This is people inside the machine saying the Browns just lost one of the people who helped connect the spreadsheet world to the football world. And that matters because the modern NFL is not analytics versus scouting anymore — or at least it shouldn’t be. The good organizations are the ones where the numbers people understand what the scouts are seeing, the scouts trust that the numbers can challenge their assumptions, and the coaches don’t throw the laptop into Lake Erie.
Healy’s Sloan Sports Analytics bio says that, for the last five years, he “led the integration of data and advanced insights into all parts of football operations.” It also says he started with the Browns in 2016 as Senior Player Personnel Strategist, helping to develop methods for valuing players, making game decisions, and evaluating draft assets. Before that, he created projection systems for Football Outsiders, and before that, he was an economics professor with a Ph.D. from MIT. So, yes, he is smarter than your humble webdork. This is not a high bar, but still.
So, naturally, I was worried about this and did what I always do when I’m looking for common-sense answers: I talked to Lane. He let me know what he “was told all the systems have been in place, with others handling the process. It doesn’t feel like they are overly concerned with his departure. As they have told me previously, you never like to lose assets, but you plan accordingly.”
The Browns still have Andrew Berry. They still have people in the research department. This is not a one-man shop collapsing because the smartest guy took his stapler to Minneapolis. But when you lose Paul DePodesta to the Rockies and Healy to the Vikings in the same general era, you lose institutional memory, decision-making frameworks, and the people who knew why certain models were built the way they were. Don’t expect the loss of the two to indicate much about how the Browns use analytics – it hasn’t fallen out of favor or suddenly joined Maurice Carthon’s playbook in the annals of football history.
This is the type of stuff fans don’t see until two years later, when the draft board feels different, the fourth-down decisions get twitchy, or the team suddenly stops finding value in places it used to find value. Maybe Berry replaces that brainpower cleanly. Maybe the remaining group steps forward. Maybe the Browns are fine. But losing a “unicorn” from a front office is like losing a left guard: nobody talks about it until the pressure starts coming up the middle.
Have a good one! GO BROWNS!
Newswire Bloviation Archive
OBR GOODIES
OBR ARTICLES
- Cleveland Browns News and Rumors June 21, 2026: Fighting for Football Lives
- Rookie Year Expectations For The Cleveland Browns 2026 Draft Picks – Day Two
FROM THE FORUMS
INSIDER DISCUSSION (VIP)
- Cleveland Browns News and Rumors June 21, 2026: Fighting for Football Lives
THE WATERCOOLER
THE LIFT
Positive news from the world of sports and beyond…
Space.com reports that scientists are drawing up a research blueprint to examine whether warming Mars is actually feasible — not because anyone should be selling lakefront property in Olympus Mons by Thursday, but because the work could help humanity understand what sustainable habitats beyond Earth would require. University of Chicago geophysical scientist Edwin Kite told Space.com, “We do not yet know enough to create a biosphere from scratch,” which is both humbling and oddly comforting. We can’t even get everyone to agree on the Browns quarterback depth chart, but sure, let’s keep the option open for Mars.
WRAPPING UP
When not trying to identify the precise moment quarterback analysis becomes interpretive dance, Barry McBride is the Publisher and Founder of the OBR and bloviates this nonsense every morning. You can follow him on Twitter @barrymcbride or write him at barry@theobr.com if you are so compelled.
Let Barry know what you think of the Daily Bloviation! CLICK HERE!
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
CONTACT Barry to sponsor the OBR. We have plans for nearly any budget!
OBR Across the Internet]
OBR on BlueSky
OBR on Threads
OBR on LinkedIN
OBR on Youtube
OBR on Twitch
OBR on Facebook
If you have made it this far, you must subscribe to the OBR. Them’s the rules.
Subscribe to the OBR
Copyright 2026 WOIO via TheOBR.com. All rights reserved.
CHICAGO (WLS) — The Jimmy Awards honoring “theatre kids” is happening on Monday night in New York City!
Jane Nuich from Park Ridge and Logan Arroyo of Tinley Park will represent Illinois. They’ll be competing against over 100 students from across the nation.
ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch
ABC7’s Hosea Sanders has been following their adventure that leads to a Broadway debut.
When asked if they’ve been intimidated about what’s to come, Arroyo said, “Yes, it’s scary. It’s a scary place, especially putting yourself out there on a stage or alone. I want to be an actor, and I will do whatever I can to do that.”
Nuich added, “It’s a huge opportunity to work with industry professionals and with so many other talented young people. And you get to experience so much in New York in that short week. And it’s, I think, such a cool experience rather than a big competition.”
Sanders also Arroyo and Nuich what growing up in the Chicago area has done for their exposure and their goals.
“I think the immediate access to all of the theater that Chicago has to offer has been so incredible to me. As a young student of theater and young performer in theater, I think it’s been so educational to me, and so inspiring to be able to anywhere in Chicago in a quick moment from the suburbs to just see so much theater,” Nuich said. “I think it’s so comforting to know you’re surrounded by so many artists who are just as passionate as you. And I think that going into a career in this, it’s so incredible to be exposed to so many young performers who are so talented and passionate as this age.”
Arroyo added, “I’m so excited to be around people I care about and love this as much as I do.”
When asked what previous Illinois Jimmy winners have told the performs, Nuich said, “It goes by really fast, that a lot will happen, but it’s important to stay grounded and to take it all in and realize what a special experience it is, and you just keep working hard.”
“My big dream is to do what I love and love myself for doing it,” Arroyo said.
Copyright © 2026 WLS-TV. All Rights Reserved.
Watch live newscasts, stream breaking coverage, and catch up on the top stories shaping Louisville, Southern Indiana, and communities across the region.
Subscribe for:
• Louisville breaking news + live updates
• Kentucky and Southern Indiana weather forecasts and severe weather alerts
• Investigations and accountability reporting
• Community stories across Kentuckiana
• Major events, sports, and local explainers
WHAS11 — Louisville news and weather, live and on demand.
🔗 More: https://www.whas11.com
-
Washington, D.C1 minute agoReflecting pool to be drained again as Trump claims five vandalism arrests
-
Cleveland, OH6 minutes agoCleveland Browns News and Rumors June 22, 2026: Not Just Org Chart Noise
-
Austin, TX13 minutes agoBarton Springs Pool to reopen June 23
-
Alabama16 minutes agoPetition calls on State of Alabama to fund fix for Prichard sewer system after spills
-
Alaska21 minutes agoCoast Guard helicopter crashes in southern Alaska
-
Arizona28 minutes agoLit cigarette sparks fire at Arizona wildlife park
-
Arkansas31 minutes agoLatest Peppermint Hippo court filing alleges misconduct by Arkansas officials, asks for liquor license reinstatement
-
California36 minutes agoOne child dead, another hospitalized after dog attack at Central Park in California City
