NTSB calls for ending risky helicopter route near Reagan national airport

WASHINGTON — The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday issued “urgent recommendations” that the Federal Aviation Administration prohibit helicopters from using the route an Army Blackhawk was taking when it collided with a passenger plane near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in January.

The recommendations, issued along with the NTSB’s preliminary report, are among the first findings of an ongoing investigation at the board and the FAA. The crash killed all 60 passengers and four crew members on the plane, as well as three soldiers operating the helicopter.

The preliminary report attributed a congested airspace and risky helicopter routes surrounding the airport as a probable cause. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said the investigation revealed that some routes provide only 75 feet of clearance between those aircraft and commercial planes.

“Seventy-five feet is very close, that is far too close of proximity,” Homendy said at a news briefing. “We have stated it’s an intolerable risk to aviation safety, and we have called on (the Transportation Department and Federal Aviation Administration) to take action.”

—CQ-Roll Call

Army Corps drops plan for expansion of Lake Michigan dump after opposition from Illinois EPA and community advocates

After yearslong litigation from residents and activists, and following recent opposition from the state of Illinois, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers announced Tuesday it was dropping a plan to expand a toxic waste dump on the Southeast Side of Chicago.

Over the next two decades, the proposed 25-foot vertical expansion along the Lake Michigan shoreline would have taken in an additional 1 million cubic yards of contaminated sediment dredged from the Calumet River — the Corps’ solution to the disposal site’s now-full 45 acres.

“This is very good news and a victory for Chicagoans and all of us who care about protecting healthy communities and Lake Michigan,” said Howard Learner, executive director of the Environmental Law and Policy Center and lead attorney for community groups in litigation against the Army Corps.

After denying the Army Corps all of the state water quality permits needed to proceed, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency sent a letter saying the proposal was contrary to some environmental regulations, including an Illinois law that prohibits the construction of new landfills or the expansion of existing landfills in Cook County.

—Chicago Tribune

95 coffins, countless wounds: Lebanon grapples with Hezbollah's 'victory' over Israel

AITAROUN, Lebanon — The procession of coffins was heard long before it came into view, a chorus of ambulance sirens drowning out the crowd assembled at the main square of this devastated village.

"Arise, Aitaroun! This is the time of martyrs, and blood, and victory," said an announcer, as four flatbed trucks rumbled to the square bearing 95 coffins. The dead were villagers killed or who died during the war between the militant group Hezbollah and Israel last year. They had been buried elsewhere while Aitaroun remained in Israeli hands.

The Israeli withdrawal early last month spurred what amounted to a homecoming, first for Aitaroun's living, who returned in the thousands the morning soldiers left; and now, on this Friday in February, its dead.

In its myth-making and propaganda, Hezbollah portrays the war as a victory, a greater and more significant triumph than when it repulsed the Israeli military during the last major engagement between the two sides in 2006. But the militant group now has to contend with an aftermath that for many Lebanese, including some Hezbollah partisans, looks very much like defeat.

—Los Angeles Times

Ukraine launches record 337 drones at Russia before US talks

Russia said its air defenses downed 337 Ukrainian drones overnight, including dozens targeting Moscow, in what seems to be the largest attack on its territory of the three-year-long war.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said it downed 91 unmanned aerial vehicles over the capital region alone. There were also attacks in nine other regions including 126 drones downed in the Kursk region that borders Ukraine, according to a statement by the ministry posted on Telegram.

The attack included 74 drones targeting Moscow, the city’s mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said in a series of Telegram posts. Initial estimates show that one person was killed and nine were injured in the assault, Moscow Region Governor Andrey Vorobyev said on Telegram.

Temporary restrictions were imposed on flights into and out of Moscow’s four main airports, the Interfax news service reported, citing the Russian aviation authority.

—Bloomberg News