By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press Transportation Writer

Three days of investigative hearings on the deadly midair collision over Washington in January begin Wednesday and aim to reveal new insights into what caused the crash between a passenger plane and an Army helicopter that killed 67 people.

The National Transportation Safety Board will question witnesses and investigators about how the actions of the Federal Aviation Administration and its air traffic controllers and the Army may have contributed to the nation’s deadliest plane crash since November 2001. It’s likely too early for the board to identify the cause of the crash.

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The American Airlines plane from Wichita, Kansas collided with a Black Hawk helicopter while coming into land at Ronald Reagan National Airport and was the first in a string of crashes and near misses this year that have alarmed officials and the travelling public, despite statistics that still show flying remains the safest form of transportation.

Investigations have already shown the FAA failed to recognize a troubling history of 85 near misses around Reagan airport in the years before the collision, and that the Army’s helicopters routinely flew around the nation’s capitol with a key piece of locating equipment, known as ADS-B Out, turned off.

Aviation attorney Bob Clifford, who is working to file one of the first lawsuits against the government next month, said he hopes NTSB will look beyond the immediate factors that caused this crash to highlight the bigger ongoing concerns in the crowded Washington airspace.

“In this particular instance, there’s a much broader picture. And that is the known problems that were being ignored about an unsafe environment for the commercial aircraft to be navigating with the military aviation helicopters in the area,” Clifford said.

Even though the final NTSB report won’t be released until sometime next year, U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz isn’t waiting to propose changes. He introduced legislation Tuesday that would require all aircraft operators to use both forms of ADS-B, or Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast, the technology to broadcast aircraft location data to other planes and air traffic controllers. Most aircraft today are equipped with ADS-B Out equipment but the airlines would have to add the more comprehensive ADS-B In technology to their planes.

“There cannot be a double standard in aviation safety,” Cruz said. “We should not tolerate special exceptions for military training flights, operating in congested air space.”

The legislation would revoke an exemption on ADS-B transmission requests for Department of Defense aircrafts. It also would require the FAA to evaluate helicopter routes near airports and require the Army Inspector General to review the Army’s aviation safety practices.

NTSB Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy said her agency has been recommending that move for decades after several other crashes.

“In 2008, we sent a letter to FAA stating the board believes that the equipage of aircraft with ADS-B In capability will provide — and I want to stress this — an immediate and substantial contribution to safety, especially during operations in and around airports,” she said.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that while he’d like to discuss “a few tweaks,” the legislation is “the right approach.” He also suggested that the previous administration “was asleep at the wheel” amid dozens of near-misses in the airspace around Washington’s airspace.

“In the past, people became complacent — leaders became complacent” Duffy said.

Homendy said the hearings over the next few days will be a “fact-finding proceeding.” In addition, the NTSB will also post thousands of pages of evidence from the crash investigation online Wednesday morning.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said that he expects “we’re going to have some very uncomfortable conversations over the next two and a half days” but that “they need to be had in the clear light of day – and simply put the best interest of the traveling public ahead of any of our personal interests, perhaps.”

The hearings in Washington will involve NTSB board members, investigators and witnesses for organizations involved in the crash. Panels will focus on military helicopter routes in the Washington area, collision avoidance technology and training for air traffic controllers at Ronald Reagan National Airport, among other subjects.

Federal officials have also raised concerns over the nation’s outdated. and understaffed air traffic control system. During January’s mid-air crash above Washington, one controller was handing both commercial airline and helicopter traffic at the busy airport.

Duffy has announced a multi-billion-dollar plan to overhaul the system controllers use that relies on old technology like floppy disks.

Associated Press writers Leah Askarinam, Ben Finley and Rio Yamat contributed to this story.

One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Russia’s Far East early Wednesday, causing tsunami waves to wash ashore in Japan and Alaska and calls for people around the Pacific to be on alert or move to higher ground.

The 8.8 magnitude temblor set off warnings in Hawaii, North and Central America and Pacific islands south toward New Zealand, with officials warning that the potential tsunami danger may last for more than a day.

This shows an empty beach in Shirahama, Wakayama prefecture, western Japan Wednesday, July 30, 2025 after beachgoers evacuated as a powerful earthquake in Russia’s Far East prompted tsunami alert in parts of Japan. (Kyodo News via AP)

Here’s a glance at some of the most powerful earthquakes recorded previously, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

1. Biobío, Chile

A 9.5 magnitude earthquake struck in a central region of Chile in 1960. Known as the Valdivia earthquake or Great Chilean earthquake, the largest ever recorded temblor resulted in more than 1,600 deaths in the country and beyond, most of which were caused by resulting large tsunami. Thousands of people were injured.

2. Alaska

In 1964, a 9.2 magnitude earthquake jolted the Alaska’s Prince William Sound, lasting for almost 5 minutes. More than 130 people were killed in the largest recorded earthquake in the U.S. and subsequent tsunami. There were huge landslides and towering waves that caused severe flooding. The event was followed by thousands of aftershocks for weeks after the initial quake.

3. Sumatra, Indonesia

A 9.1 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami devastated Southeast and South Asia and East Africa in 2004, killing 230,000 people. Indonesia alone recorded more than 167,000 deaths as entire communities were wiped out.

In this Dec. 27, 2004 file photo, debris litter the front lawn of Baiturrahman Grand Mosque after gigantic waves swept in Banda Aceh, Aceh province, Indonesia. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim, File)

4. Tohoku, Japan

A magnitude 9.1 earthquake struck off the coast of northeastern Japan in 2011, triggering a towering tsunami that smashed into the Fukushima nuclear plant. It knocked out power and cooling systems and triggered meltdowns in three reactors. More than 18,000 people were killed in the quake and tsunami, some of whom have never been recovered.

5. Kamchatka, Russia

In 1952, a magnitude 9.0 quake caused significant damage but no reported deaths despite a tsunami that hit Hawaii with 9.1-meter (30-foot) waves.

6. Biobío, Chile

A massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake hit central Chile in 2010, shaking the capital for a minute and half and setting off a tsunami. More than 500 people were killed in the disaster.

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7. Esmeraldas, Ecuador

In 1906, an 8.8 magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami killed about 1,500 people. Its effects were felt for miles along the Central American coast and as far as San Francisco and Japan.

8. Alaska

In 1965, a magnitude 8.7 quake struck Alaska’s Rat Islands, causing an 11-meter (35-foot) -high tsunami. There was some relatively minor damage, including cracks in buildings and an asphalt runway.

9. Tibet

At least 780 people were killed when a magnitude 8.6 earthquake struck in 1950. Dozens of villages were destroyed, including at least one that slid into a river. There were also major landslides that jammed the Subansiri River in India. When the water eventually broke through, it resulted in a deadly 7-meter (23-foot) wave.

10. Sumatra, Indonesia

In 2012, a powerful 8.6 magnitude earthquake struck off the west coast of northern Sumatra in Indonesia. Though the quake caused little damage, it increased pressure on a fault that was the source of the devastating 2004 tsunami.

By RIO YAMAT and JIM MUSTIAN, Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The man who stormed a Manhattan office tower with a gun, killing four people before killing himself, worked in the surveillance department of a Las Vegas casino, part of an industry built on watching for threats before they unfold.

Shane Tamura, 27, didn’t show up to work his usual shift Sunday at the Horseshoe Las Vegas. Instead, authorities say, he got in his car and drove across the country to carry out a mass shooting inside the skyscraper that houses the National Football League’s headquarters. A fifth person, an NFL employee, was wounded in the Monday attack.

CORRECTS TO NEVADA DEPT. OF MOTOR VEHICLES This undated image provided by Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles shows Shane Tamura. (Nevada Dept. of Motor Vehicles via AP)

As investigators work to uncover a motive, questions are being raised about how a man with a documented history of mental health problems — and a recent arrest for erratic behavior at another casino — ended up working in one of the most security-sensitive jobs in Las Vegas.

Caesars Entertainment, which owns the Horseshoe, confirmed Tamura’s employment but has yet to disclose the nature of his role or whether he was authorized to carry a weapon. A spokesperson didn’t respond to emails asking whether Tamura’s job required him to hold a valid work card from the state Private Investigator’s Licensing Board, which is needed to work as a private security officer in Nevada.

State licensing records show Tamura previously held a state-issued license as a private security officer, though it had expired in December.

While he held that license, Tamura was arrested at a casino in suburban Las Vegas. A report on the September 2023 arrest says he was asked to leave after he became agitated with casino security and employees who asked him for his ID, and he was arrested on a misdemeanor trespassing charge. Prosecutors later dismissed the case.

Tamura left a note saying he had CTE

Tamura had a history of mental illness, police said without giving details. Authorities have not provided more specific information about Tamura’s psychiatric history but are investigating claims he included in a handwritten note he left behind, in which he said he had chronic traumatic encephalopathy, or CTE, a degenerative brain disease linked to repeated head trauma.

Officials said he had intended to target the offices of the NFL, which he accused of hiding the dangers of brain injuries linked to contact sports, but he took the wrong elevator.

A general view shows 345 Park Ave, a scene of Monday’s deadly shooting, Tuesday, July 29, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

Tamura’s family members did not respond to messages seeking comment. No one answered a knock at the door of his family’s Las Vegas home on Monday.

Tamura didn’t play professional football but was a standout running back during his high school years in Southern California, where he was born, according to local news accounts at the time, including one that described his abilities as “lightning in a bottle.”

One of his former coaches, Walter Roby, said he did not remember Tamura sustaining any head injuries in his playing days. He recalled an ankle injury, “but that was the extent of it.”

“He was a quiet dude, soft spoken, humble and led by his work ethic more than anything else,” Roby told The Associated Press. “His actions on the field were dynamic.”

Former classmates and neighbors say he didn’t stand out

Some of Tamura’s former classmates seemed stunned by the shooting, and several said they had lost contact with him.

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But numerous others who say they were in Tamura’s grade at Golden Valley High School, which has over 2,000 students, weren’t familiar with him. Some of Tamura’s neighbors in Las Vegas also said they didn’t recognize him after seeing his photo shared in news reports about the shooting.

“They were so unremarkable, or maybe they were never home when I was home,” neighbor Wendy Malnak said about Tamura and his family.

Malnak, whose house is diagonal across from Tamura’s, has lived in the neighborhood since 2022. She said many of the residents on what she described as a quiet street keep in touch regularly and look out for each other, and yet none of them seemed to notice Tamura or his family before police officers showed up Monday night and surrounded their house.

Authorities work to piece together Tamura’s steps

Las Vegas police said Tuesday they were “supporting the NYPD with their investigation” but have not released details about the police activity Monday at Tamura’s home. Two groups of New York City detectives were on their way to Las Vegas to conduct interviews and search the home, New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said.

Authorities said they were also questioning an associate of Tamura who bought a component of the AR-15-style assault rifle used in the attack. Tisch said Tamura had “assembled” the weapon and used his concealed carry permit to purchase another firearm, a revolver, last month.

“This is part of a larger effort to trace Mr. Tamura’s steps from Las Vegas to New York City,” she said.

Mustian reported from New York. Associated Press journalist Safiyah Riddle contributed from Montgomery, Alabama.

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

The Justice Department says in support of its request to unseal grand jury transcripts of proceedings that led to the sex trafficking indictments of New York financier and sex abuser Jeffrey Epstein and British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell that they include the testimony of just two law enforcement witnesses.

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In a filing late Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, officials describe the grand jury witnesses in a memorandum in response to a call from judges presiding over both cases to provide more details about their request earlier this month. Judges would have to approve any request to unseal records.

Grand jury transcripts are rarely released by courts, unless they need to be disclosed in connection with a judicial proceeding. The papers filed Tuesday cite a 1997 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that said judges have wide discretion and public interest alone can justify releasing grand jury information.

The Epstein grand jury heard only from an FBI agent when it met in June and July of 2019, while the Maxwell grand jury heard from the same FBI agent and a New York Police Department detective when it met in June and July of 2020 and in March of 2021, according to the submission.

The memorandum was signed by Jay Clayton, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, and included the names of Attorney General Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche.

The request to unseal the transcripts came after the Justice Department enraged parts of President Donald Trump’s base of supporters when it announced in early July it wouldn’t be making public any more Epstein files. The decision not to make additional materials public shocked some Trump supporters because members of his administration had hyped the expected release and stoked conspiracies around the well-connected financier.

FILE – This photo provided by the New York State Sex Offender Registry shows Jeffrey Epstein, March 28, 2017. (New York State Sex Offender Registry via AP, File)

Epstein took his own life in a federal jail in August 2019, weeks after his arrest on sex trafficking charges, officials say, but his case has generated endless attention and conspiracy theories because of his and Maxwell’s links to famous people, such as royals, presidents and billionaires, including Trump.

Maxwell is serving a 20-year prison sentence after her December 2021 conviction on sex trafficking charges that accused her of luring teenage girls to be sexually abused by Epstein. Last week, she sat for 1 1/2 days of interviews with Justice Department officials in Florida, answering questions “about 100 different people,” her attorney said. Maxwell was being interviewed because of Trump’s directive to gather and release any credible evidence about others who may have committed crimes, the deputy attorney general said.

FILE – Ghislaine Maxwell, daughter of late British publisher Robert Maxwell, reads a statement expressing her family’s gratitude to Spanish authorities after recovery of his body, Nov. 7, 1991, in Tenerife, Spain. (AP Photo/Dominique Mollard, File)

Trump has denied prior knowledge of Epstein’s crimes and claimed he had cut off their relationship long ago. But he faces ongoing questions about the Epstein case, overshadowing his administration’s achievements. When reporters last week pressed the Republican president about possibly pardoning Maxwell, he deflected, emphasizing his administration’s successes.

After the request to unseal grand jury records, two former prosecutors in Manhattan told The Associated Press the transcripts would be relatively short and contain only the testimony of law enforcement witnesses talking about evidence that tracks information in the indictments.

In its filing Tuesday, the Justice Department further dampened expectations the grand jury transcripts would contain new revelations when it said “certain aspects and subject matters” contained in them became public during Maxwell’s trial.

The memorandum said many of the victims whose accounts relating to Epstein and Maxwell came up in grand jury testimony testified at trial consistent with what was described by the FBI agent and the NYPD detective and some information was made public through civil litigation.

The government said no Epstein or Maxwell family members have come forward to express an interest in the request to unseal the grand jury transcripts, although Maxwell has indicated she will file a position with the court.

The memorandum says the request to unseal the transcripts is “consistent with increasing calls for additional disclosures in this matter.”

“There is undoubtedly a clearly expressed interest from the public in Jeffrey Epstein’s and Ghislaine Maxwell’s crimes,” it says. “Beyond that, there is abundant public interest in the investigative work conducted by the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation into those crimes.”

Under a 2008 non-prosecution agreement, Epstein pleaded guilty in Florida to state charges of soliciting and procuring a minor for prostitution. That allowed him to avert a possible life sentence, instead serving 13 months in a work release program. He was required to make payments to victims and register as a sex offender.

Epstein was later charged by federal prosecutors in Manhattan for nearly identical allegations in 2019.