By DAVE COLLINS

Authorities on Monday identified two pilots who died after their helicopters collided midair in southern New Jersey.

Kenneth Kirsch, 65, and Michael Greenberg, 71, were friends who both lived in New Jersey and would often have breakfast together at a cafe near the crash site in Hammonton, about 35 miles southeast of Philadelphia.

Hammonton Police Chief Kevin Friel said in a statement that Kirsch, of Carney’s Point, was pronounced dead at an area hospital after being flown there, while Greenberg, of Sewell, died at the crash site.

“Statements from witnesses had the two helicopters flying close together just before the crash,” he said. “The crash site was approximately a mile and a half from the airport in a farm field.”

Authorities look over the scene after two helicopters crashed in Hammonton, N.J., on Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. (WPVI-TV/6ABC via AP)

Investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board were at the site Monday, authorities said.

Friel said rescuers responded to a report of an aviation crash at about 11:25 a.m. Sunday. Video from the scene shows a helicopter spinning rapidly to the ground. Police and fire crews subsequently extinguished flames that engulfed one of the helicopters.

The Federal Aviation Administration described the crash as a midair collision between an Enstrom F-28A helicopter and Enstrom 280C helicopter over Hammonton Municipal Airport. Only the pilots were on board each aircraft.

Sal Silipino, owner of a cafe near the crash site, said the pilots were regulars at the restaurant and would often have breakfast together. He said he and other customers watched the helicopters take off before one began spiraling downward, followed by the other.

“It was shocking,” he said. “I’m still shaking after that happened.”

Hammonton resident Dan Dameshek told NBC10 that he was leaving a gym when he heard a loud snap and saw two helicopters spinning out of control.

“Immediately, the first helicopter went from right side up to upside down and started rapidly spinning, falling out of the air,” Dameshek told the TV station. “And then it looked like the second helicopter was OK for a second, and then it sounded like another snap or something … and then that helicopter started rapidly spinning out of the air.”

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Hammonton is a town of about 15,000 people located in Atlantic County in the southern part of New Jersey. The town has a history of agriculture and is located near the Pine Barrens, a forested wilderness area that covers more than 1 million acres.

Investigators will likely first look to review any communications between the two pilots and whether they were able to see each other, said Alan Diehl, a former crash investigator for the FAA and NTSB.

“Virtually all midair collisions are a failure to what they call ‘see and avoid,’” Diehl said. “Clearly they’ll be looking at the out-of-cockpit views of the two aircraft and seeing if one pilot was approaching from the blind side.”

Although it was mostly cloudy at the time of the crash, winds were light and visibility was good, according to the weather forecasting company AccuWeather.

By SIMINA MISTREANU, Associated Press

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AP) — It is a soulful folk song, filled with feeling and history: A love-stricken young man tells God about his hopes and dreams of happiness. Generations of Uyghurs, the Turkic ethnic minority in China’s Xinjiang region, have played it at parties and weddings.

But today, if they download it, play it or share it online, they risk ending up in prison.

“Besh pede,” a popular Uyghur folk ballad, is among dozens of Uyghur-language songs that have been deemed “problematic” by Xinjiang authorities, according to a recording of a meeting held by police and other local officials in the historic city of Kashgar last October. The recording was shared exclusively with The Associated Press by the Norway-based nonprofit Uyghur Hjelp.

During the meeting, authorities warned residents that those who listened to banned songs, stored them on devices or shared them on social media could face prison. Attendees were also instructed to avoid phrases like “As-salamu alaykum,” the greeting common among Muslims, and to replace the popular farewell phrase “Allahqa amanet,” which means “May God keep you safe,” with “May the Communist Party protect you.”

The policy has been corroborated by interviews with former Xinjiang residents, whose family members, friends and acquaintances have been detained for playing and sharing Uyghur music. AP has also obtained rare access to the court verdict of a Uyghur music producer sentenced last year to three years in prison for uploading to his cloud account songs deemed sensitive.

How a single song fits into a broad crackdown

The renewed crackdown on cultural expression in Xinjiang, classified as an “autonomous region” but tightly controlled by the central government, suggests a continuation of the past decade’s repressive policies. They have culminated in the extrajudicial detention, between 2017 and 2019, of at least 1 million Uyghurs and other ethnic minorities in China such as Kazakhs, Kyrgyz and Huis, rights activists and foreign governments say.

In 2022, the United Nations accused China of rights violations it said might amount to crimes against humanity in Xinjiang, where Beijing also faces allegations of forced labor, forced sterilizations and family separations as part of a broader assimilation campaign.

The Chinese government maintains its policies in Xinjiang rooted out terrorism and religious extremism after sporadic bouts of violence rocked the region in previous decades. Beijing doubled down on that narrative in particular after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks brought antiterror policies into the accepted global mainstream.

“The Chinese government has cracked down on violent terrorist crimes and eradicated the breeding ground for religious extremism in accordance with the law, resolutely safeguarding Xinjiang’s development and stability,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

It added that “anti-China forces” have “maliciously hyped up issues related to Xinjiang,” including by “linking audio and video recordings of Xinjiang departments cracking down on the propaganda of violent terrorism and religious extremism in accordance with the law to specific regions, ethnicities, and religions.”

Reached by phone, a Xinjiang government official wouldn’t confirm whether a faxed request for comment had arrived and did not pick up subsequent calls from AP.

A sign of continued repression in Xinjiang

After facing international backlash and sanctions over the alleged arbitrary internment of ethnic minorities, Beijing in late 2019 claimed the detention camps were closed and life had returned to normal in the region. China now aims to refashion Xinjiang into a destination for tourism.

Although many of the more glaring signs of repression such as internment camps and frequent traffic checkpoints appear to have been decommissioned, the list of banned songs indicates repression in Xinjiang continues, albeit more subtly, said Rian Thum, a senior lecturer in East Asian history at the University of Manchester.

Other, less conspicuous forms of control include the expansion of boarding schools, where middle-schoolers are educated while separated from their families and learn almost exclusively in Mandarin Chinese, and random checks of phones for sensitive material are common.

Chinese authorities, Thum said, seem to be normalizing a policy for long-term control in Xinjiang.

“I’m not at all surprised to hear these accounts of people either being threatened with detention or being detained or imprisoned for listening to the wrong music,” he said. “It’s the kind of thing that hasn’t stopped.”

Seven categories of ‘problematic’ songs

During the Kashgar meeting, authorities played a prerecorded message warning residents against listening to, downloading and sharing seven categories of so-called problematic songs.

They range from traditional folk ballads such as “Besh pede” to newer tunes that emerged from the Uyghur diaspora. “Besh pede” was flagged for its religious content, though the song hardly incites religious extremism, said Rachel Harris, a professor of ethnomusicology at SOAS University of London.

Religion is referenced in the context of romantic tropes, with exhortations such as “Oh, God, I love you!” said Harris, who focuses on Uyghur culture.

“That’s very clearly the problem with it,” she said.

Targeting religious expression has been a cornerstone of China’s crackdown. The Communist Party is suspicious of any community organizing, especially as it pertains to religions. Over the past decade, residents have been detained for praying, fasting and storing religious books; mosques have been repurposed or stripped of their authentic role.

Music “became part of my upbringing, and removing that is like removing the soul,” said Rahima Mahmut, a Uyghur singer and activist in London who performs songs with religious connotations abroad.

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Even songs once featured on state TV have been banned. “As-salamu alaykum,” a pop tune that starts with the Islamic greeting recited in the style of a call to prayer, was performed on the talent show “The Voice of the Silk Road,” a spinoff of “The Voice,” on state-run Xinjiang Television.

The performance aired in 2016, the year China started amping up its campaign of repression against Uyghurs. Now, the tune is prohibited for “forcing people to believe in religion.”

Another category of problematic songs: those “inciting terrorism, extremism and smearing the Chinese Communist Party’s rule of Xinjiang.” Among the tunes listed is “Yanarim Yoq,” a song based on the poem “No Road Back Home” by the imprisoned Uyghur poet Abduqadir Jalalidin. The sorrowful song, evoking entrapment and hopelessness, has spread across the diaspora in recent years; one of its most popular renditions is performed by the Turkish artists Kilich and Yenilmes.

“Atilar,” or “Forefathers,” by the famed Uyghur musician Abdurehim Heyit, is also accused of inciting terrorism and extremism. The nationalistic song was likely flagged for describing the Uyghur forefathers as martyrs ready for battle, Harris said.

Heyit, like many other Uyghur cultural elites, was detained at the height of China’s campaign in Xinjiang. Many remain in detention.

In fact, a common denominator across the banned songs is that many were written or performed by imprisoned Uyghur musicians, said Elise Anderson, a nonresident senior fellow at the New Lines Institute who specializes in Uyghur issues.

Anderson isn’t certain that every artist associated with a banned song has been detained, but “at least a number of them have,” she said. “I think just by association with those individuals, those songs are going to be seen as — you know — dangerous, sensitive.”

Three years in prison for uploading songs

Authorities at the Kashgar meeting said those found with the songs would be “heavily prosecuted” but did not specify punishment — something that gives authorities flexibility in enforcement. The prerecorded message gave the example of several people who had served 10 days in detention for being found with the banned songs.

For Uyghur music producer Yashar Xiaohelaiti, punishment has been much more severe.

The 27-year-old was detained in 2023 in Bole, a city in Xinjiang, on charges of promoting extremism. According to his verdict, Xiaohelaiti wrote and produced 42 “problematic” songs, which he uploaded to his account on NetEase Cloud Music, a Chinese streaming service. He was also convicted of downloading eight “problematic” e-books, according to the document. He received three years in prison and a 3,000 yuan ($420) fine.

Two Uyghurs interviewed by AP said they brushed up against the songs ban themselves. A man who asked that his name not be revealed, fearing repercussions, said he was called into the police station and his phone searched after he commented on the social media post of another Uyghur living abroad. While at the police station, he said he spoke to others who had been summoned specifically for storing or sharing certain Uyghur songs.

Separately, a former official from Xinjiang said a family friend was sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for playing traditional Uyghur instruments and singing Uyghur songs. Several family members and friends who watched the performance were also sentenced, she said. AP could not independently verify the interviewees’ claims.

In a separate incident, the official said two teenagers were detained after sharing Uyghur songs online.

“Because they sent each other a Uyghur song on WeChat, they were arrested,” the former cadre said, referring to the teens. “I remember it very clearly. At the time we were saying, ‘What song were they listening to?’ How could they be arrested for listening to a song?’”

AP journalist Dake Kang in Beijing contributed to this story.

Ask any newly elected official, and they will tell you that the first few days on the job feel like drinking from a fire hose. But as the new mayor of St. Paul, Kaohly Her won’t have the luxury of a slow acclimation.

If I had one piece of advice for her first 100 days, it would be this: Get to the bottom of how the city currently is using — and in the minds of many overstressed taxpayers, abusing — the economic development tool known as Tax Increment Financing (TIF).

TIF is, in theory, a noble tool. It is designed to spur growth in “blighted” areas that developers would otherwise ignore. Landmark Towers, in downtown, was recently approved for TIF financing in 2023. How was this considered blighted? The city provides a financial “boost” to a developer and then pays it off by capturing the additional future property taxes generated by that specific project for decades.

The golden rule of TIF is the “but for” test: A project should receive public help only if development would not occur but for the city’s assistance.

Unfortunately, the St. Paul City Council just turned this principle on its head. In mid-December, they approved a TIF district for a new development at 845 Grand Avenue — the corner of Victoria and Grand. If you asked any resident to point to “blight” in St. Paul, they wouldn’t point to the heart of Grand Avenue. Yet, the city approved $2.95 million in TIF assistance, a move that, with interest and other costs, will ultimately divert millions more in total tax revenue away from our general fund over the next 26 years.

We are essentially subsidizing work in an affluent neighborhood where market-rate development partners should not be hard to find. By approving this deal, St. Paul has hung a “Handouts Available” sign at one of the most commercially desirable intersections in the state. If a developer can’t make a market-rate apartment building work at Victoria and Grand without millions in taxpayer help, then the city’s economic climate is in far worse shape than we’ve been led to believe.

This isn’t just about one building; it’s about a pattern of fiscal opacity. The watchdog group In$ight St. Paul estimates that nearly 8 percent of the city’s property is currently subject to TIF diversion. That is a massive chunk of our tax base that isn’t helping to pay for snow plowing, police, or parks.

Worse yet, the City Council is making these decisions in the dark.

Historically, the council received an annual report from staff during the budget process detailing exactly how TIF was impacting the city’s bottom line. The council hasn’t actually received that once-standard report since 2016. We are basically flying a $700 million “budget-sized” airplane with a piece of electrical tape covering one of the key gauges on the instrument panel.

Before the first new TIF request reaches her desk, we encourage Mayor Her to get a full grasp on the city’s current TIF addiction. We need to make sure that the city is working with the latest data when it crafts its annual budget, and that starts with resuming the annual report to the council and public on TIF. The taxpayers deserve a clear picture of how much future revenue we are signing away annually with this tool.

St. Paul taxpayers are already feeling uneasy with the trajectory of the city’s property tax levy.  We don’t feel that we should have to remind our leaders that unnecessary handouts to developers just make that situation worse.

This financial addiction began long before Mayor Her or the current city administration was around. It can’t be fixed overnight, and I’m confident from Mayor Her’s experience that she can see the way.

Kaohly Her’s campaign provided the city with a great deal of excitement and optimism for the future.  Hopefully she can give a nod to the hard-working people of St. Paul that she has heard our concerns and plans to be an effective steward of the public purse.  We have plenty of projects in this city that truly deserve her attention. Seeking to subsidize already prime real estate is not one of them.

John Mannillo is a member of the In$ight Saint Paul steering committee and president of the Lowertown Future Fund, Inc.

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By DEEPTI HAJELA

NEW YORK (AP) — It’s that time — December’s waning days, when we prepare to turn the calendar page. Many Americans take stock, review goals accomplished and unmet, ponder hopes and plans. How’s our health? What’s up with our money? What about the country? Will the coming year look like the departing one year, or be something entirely different?

Are we ready?

It can be an overwhelming period. So The Associated Press reached out to professionals with varying expertises — home organization, risk management, personal training, personal finance, and political science — to talk about their perspectives on changes and transitions.

And for something a little different, we gave each interviewee a chance to ask a question of one of the others.

So let’s talk endings and beginnings.

The change expert: Milestones stir emotions

Transitions are professional organizer Laura Olivares’ working life. As co-founder of Silver Solutions, she works with senior adults and their families to help make sure they’re in safe environments, whether that means decluttering a lifetime of possessions, downsizing to another home, or helping families clear a house after a loved one’s passing.

She offers this: Changes, even exciting ones, can unearth sadness or grief over places, things and people left behind. Acknowledging those feelings can help smooth the move from one chapter to another.

“When you let go of something that was meaningful to you, it deserves a moment,” she says. “Whatever that moment is, could be a second, could just be an acknowledgement of it. Or maybe you set it on the on the mantle and you think about it for a while and when you’re ready to let it go, you let it go.”

NEXT QUESTION: Certified personal trainer Keri Harvey asked: “What small weekly habits can I build that will help me stay organized during the year?” Olivares’ tips: In December, do a brain dump of thoughts, ideas, and goals. Then, before Jan. 1, schedule out tasks that move those priorities forward over the course of 2026. Olivares suggests three tasks on each of three days, so nine tasks per week.

The actuary: Planning is important — but sometimes fickle

Probably no group of people think more about the future than actuaries. Using data, statistics and probabilities, they devise models on how probable it is that certain events happen, and what it could cost to recover from them. Their work is vital to organizations like insurance companies.

Listen to R. Dale Hall talk, though, and he sounds almost … philosophical. He’s managing director of research at the Society of Actuaries. Asked how the general public could think about a new year, he readily brings up strategies like mapping out risk scenarios and how to respond.

There’s a balance to be struck, he says: We can’t control or predict everything and must accept the possibility of something unexpected. And the past isn’t always a perfect guide; just because something happened doesn’t mean it must again.

“It’s the nature of taking risk, right? That yeah, there are going to be uncontrollable things,” Hall says. “There are ways to maybe diversify those risks or mitigate those risks, but no one has that perfect crystal ball that’s going to see three, six, nine, 12 months into the future.”

NEXT QUESTION: From personal finance educator Dana Miranda: “Thinking about the variables we consider when making decisions or plans, how might the juxtaposition of the holiday season with the new year affect the way people are evaluating their finances and setting goals at the beginning of each year? … What do you recommend they do to ensure the holiday experience doesn’t skew financial goal-setting?”

Hall’s advice: Keep ’em separate. He recommends people enjoy the holidays and hold off on financial goals until January.

The personal finance authority: Be intentional about money

In her work as a financial writer and a personal finance educator, Miranda encourages people to make conscious choices around their spending and saving, and understand that there’s no absolute rule.

Miranda, author of “You Don’t Need a Budget,” says details are key. What works for one person may not work for another. And it’s something Americans should consider as another year of goals and resolutions approaches. Insisting that the same technique works for everybody can leave people feeling stuck, Miranda says.

“We tend to be not good at talking about the nuances and that leaves people with, ‘Here’s the one right rule. It’s not possible for me to achieve that perfection, so I’m just going to feel ashamed of every move that I make that is not moving toward that perfect goal.’”

NEXT QUESTION: From Jeanne Theoharis, a political science professor, who asked how Miranda gets people to look beyond the micro and consider the larger system of capitalism. “How does she also get people to think about more collective solutions—like union organizing, pressing City Council or Congress for changes?”

Miranda is quick to make it clear she’s not an organizer but says she tries to evoke larger systemic issues when discussing personal finance. “The way that I try to move that needle just a little bit is to always bring in that political aspect to whatever conversation we’re having … to make the systemic and the cultural impact visible.”

The trainer: Make goals attainable

When it comes to changes and new years, one of the most popular areas is fitness, the subject of many a (failed) resolution. Personal trainer Harvey, of Form Fitness Brooklyn, says you can make positive, lasting change in fitness (and generally) with one philosophy: Start small and build.

“We want to be mindful of making sure that we’re not asking too much or trying to overcompensate for what we feel like we left behind this past year or what we feel like we left on the table this past year,” she says. “It’s very reasonable to try and have the goal of getting to the gym twice a week, maybe three times a week, and then building from there instead of saying ‘Jan. 1, I’m starting, I’m gonna be at the gym five days a week, two hours a day.’ That’s not realistic and it’s not kind to ourselves.”

NEXT QUESTION: From Hall: “What advice do you have for me to transition to an even more robust workout schedule in 2026 without falling into the risk of injuring myself by doing too much too soon?”

Harvey emphasized warming up and having a mobility routine, and making the goal attainable by making it fun. “Find things that you actually enjoy doing and try and fit those in as well so that the idea of starting something new or adding to it isn’t one that comes with a negative like, ‘Oh, I don’t want to have to do this,’ where you’re dragging yourself into it.”

The historian: Learn from your past

It’s not just as individuals that we think about transitions. Nations and cultures have them, too.

We can learn from them if we look at our history honestly and not through the guise of trying to hide the ugly parts, says Theoharis, professor of political science and history at Brooklyn College and the City University of New York Graduate Center.

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She points to the story of Rosa Parks, remembered as the catalyst of the Montgomery bus boycotts 70 years ago. But when Parks chose to resist, she didn’t know what her arrest would mean or what the outcome would be. Theoharis sees a lesson there for people looking to make change in today’s world and even individuals wanting to evolve.

“A number of us would be willing to do something brave if we knew that it would work,” Theoharis says. “And we might even be willing to have some consequences. But part of what looking at the actual history of Rosa Parks or the actual history of the Montgomery bus boycott is in fact you have to make these stands with no sense that they will work.”

NEXT (AND LAST) QUESTION: From Olivares, who wanted Theoharis’ thoughts on today’s civil rights battles. Theoharis referenced voting rights, which have been eroded in recent years. At the same time, remembrances of the turmoil during the Civil Rights years have become glossed over by a mythology of America overcoming its injustices.

There’s a lesson there about what it takes to make real change for individuals, too, Theoharis says: It’s difficult to move forward if you’re not honestly addressing what’s come before. “Part of how we’ve gotten here is by that … lack of reckoning with ourselves, lack of reckoning with where we are, lack of reckoning with history.”