Month: April 2025

On Thursday, the House adopted a revised budget blueprint for President Trump’s agenda after Republican leaders and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., muscled conservative holdouts who had threatened to sink the measure. Johnson told reporters after the vote: “It’s a good day in the House. I told you not to doubt us. We’re really grateful to have had the big victory on the floor just now. It was a big one, a very important one.”

The resolution passed in a slim 216-214 vote, with just two Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Victoria Spartz, R-Ind. — joining all Democrats in opposition.  Trump had endorsed the budget plan, which the Senate adopted last weekend on a narrow 51-48 vote.

Shortly before the vote, Johnson appeared alongside Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., at a joint news conference. Johnson said “our two chambers are directly aligned and committed to finding at least $1.5 trillion in savings for the American people. Our first big, beautiful reconciliation package here involves a number of commitments, and one of those is that we are committed to finding at least $1.5 trillion in savings for the American people while also preserving our essential programs.”

Thune added that the Senate is “aligned with the House in terms of what their budget resolution outlined in terms of savings. We have got to do something to get the country on a more sustainable fiscal path, and that entails us taking a hard scrub of our government figuring out where we can find those savings. The speaker’s talked about one and a half trillion dollars. We have a lot of United States senators who believe that is a minimum, and we’re certainly going to do everything we can to be as aggressive as possible to see that we are serious about the matter.”

Approving the budget plan in both chambers allows Congress to bypass the 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation in the Senate and pass Mr. Trump’s agenda (that would open the door to implementing his border security, defense, energy priorities and extending expiring tax cuts) with a simple majority. Republican leaders in the House worked to unite their divided party behind the budget plan this week before Congress leaves town for a two-week recess.

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Story updated: An executive of the European technology company Siemens, as well as his wife and young children, were identified as those on board the tourist helicopter that plunged into New York City’s Hudson River on Thursday, leaving no survivors.

Law enforcement sources told ABC News that Agustin Escobar, his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their children — aged 4, 5 and 11 years old — have been identified as victims in the crash along with the pilot, aged 36.

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Six people, including three children, were killed after a tour helicopter crashed into the Hudson River between Manhattan and the New Jersey waterfront on Thursday afternoon. The helicopter was carrying the pilot and five passengers when it crashed into the river at about 3:15 p.m. EDT (per ABC News).

The New York Post reported that witnesses saw the Bell 206 chopper “split in half” before it went down near Pier 40 on West Houston Street and West Street around 3:15 p.m., per the New York City Fire Department

Mayor Eric Adams later said at a press conference that all six were pronounced dead, adding that “our hearts go out to the family and those on board.”  NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told reporters that divers with NYPD and FDNY recovered all the victims who were on board the helicopter; four people were pronounced dead at the scene, and two others were taken to the hospital, where they “succumbed to their injuries.” Tisch said that the helicopter lost control shortly after turning at the George Washington Bridge to move along the New Jersey shoreline.

Local NY affiliate WNBC shared that reports of the downed aircraft near the West Side Highway and Spring Street came in shortly after 3 p.m. Thursday. Three law enforcement sources say the helicopter is believed to have been a tour charter flying along the Hudson at the time of the crash.

According to the communications team at the Spanish Foreign Ministry, the Spanish Consulate of New York City is in touch with authorities to gather and confirm information and identification of the people involved in the helicopter crash. In addition, authorities in Spain are aware of the crash as well.

The FAA and National Transportation Safety Board says the crash remains under investigation.

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Authorities confirmed on Wednesday that four teenagers are in custody following a shooting during an illegal gun sale and robbery in northeastern Virginia on Tuesday evening that left three people dead and three others injured.

The Spotsylvania Sheriff’s Office received calls about a shooting just outside of Fredericksburg, in the area of Olde Greenwich Drive and Lafayette Boulevard around 5:30 p.m. on Tuesday evening. Deputies responded to find multiple people shot at the town house complex following what they now believe was an “illegal gun sale/robbery,” according to a news release. The three people killed were two 18-year-old men, identified as Spotsylvania County residents Chase Feaster and Alonzo Goffney; and one 20-year-old man who was not publicly identified.

The four suspects — two 16-year-olds, a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old — were arrested and charged with “malicious wounding and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony unlawful assembly” on Wednesday morning.  Three of the suspects are being held without bail; one 16-year-old suspect suffered a gunshot wound and is in the hospital, but will be incarcerated upon his release.

The Spotsylvania County Sheriff’s Office sharing in a social media post: “All suspects are in custody and there is no threat to public safety … We commend our detectives on bringing this tragedy to a closure,” the sheriff’s office said. “We want to thank our partnership with the Fredericksburg Police Department and the Virginia State Police for their assistance during the investigation.”

Fredericksburg City Public Schools announced on its website that schools would “operate on a two-hour delay” Wednesday “in light of the profound impact this incident has had on members of our school community. This delay will allow us the necessary time to prepare our buildings and staff to welcome students with the care and support they may need during this difficult time.”

Spotsylvania County Public Schools also operated on a two-hour delay Wednesday, saying it would allow staff to have support in place to help students and staff who may have been impacted. The support included additional deputies and presence from the sheriff’s office at each of the high schools.

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The White House confirmed that more than $1 billion in federal funding for Cornell University and  $790 million for Northwestern University have been frozen while the government investigates alleged civil rights violations at both schools.

A Trump administration official said “the money was frozen in connection with several ongoing, credible, and concerning Title VI investigations,” referring to a federal statute that prohibits discrimination in programs and activities that receive federal funding. The New York Times was first to report the freeze on funding for the universities.

In a statement, Cornell said it had received more than 75 stop work orders earlier Tuesday from the Defense Department related to research “profoundly significant to American national defense, cybersecurity, and health” but that it had not otherwise received any information confirming $1 billion in frozen grants.  A statement from Michael I. Kotlikoff, the university president, read: “We are actively seeking information from federal officials to learn more about the basis for these decisions,” adding it has “worked diligently to create an environment where all individuals and viewpoints are protected and respected.”

Northwestern University president Michael Schill said in an email to his community that it had not been notified by the federal government of the cuts (according to the campus newspaper The Daily Northwestern.).  Schill said that “federal funds that Northwestern receives drive innovative and life-saving research, like the recent development by Northwestern researchers of the world’s smallest pacemaker, and research fueling the fight against Alzheimer’s disease. This type of research is now at jeopardy. The University has fully cooperated with investigations by both the Department of Education and Congress.”

On March 14, the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, announced it had opened Title VI investigations into 45 universities, emphasizing it has “reiterated” the schools’ “civil rights obligations to end the use of racial preferences and stereotypes in education programs and activities.”

This new freeze is the latest in a series of federal funding attacks against the Ivy League, but Northwestern would be the first institution to face a funding cut outside of that group. The Trump administration has already frozen funding at Brown University, Columbia University, Harvard University, University of Pennsylvania and Princeton University. Yale University and Dartmouth College are the only two Ivies that have yet to receive a similar notice.

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