--:-- Georgia Howe: Welcome to Morning Wire, I'm Georgia Howe.
--:-- John Bickley: And I'm John Bickley, Editor-in-Chief of the Daily Wire. It's Friday, January 31st.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Why shop at Burlington? Maybe it's the deals that are new each time you drop by. Maybe it's the brand names you'll be shocked Burlington has in store. Or maybe it's the quality of the items, the amazing selection, and the newest trends.
--:-- John Bickley: If you like to save, but also like to stay in style, Burlington is your answer. And the question you'll be asking yourself is, why go anywhere else? Burlington. Deals. Brands. Wow.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Whether you're a startup founder navigating your first audit, or a seasoned professional scaling your GRC program, proving your commitment to security has never been more critical or more complex.
--:-- John Bickley: Businesses use Vonta to establish trust by automating compliance needs across frameworks like SOC 2 and ISO 7.001, centralized security workflows, and proactively manage vendor risk.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A new IDC white paper found that Vonta customers achieve $535,000 per year in benefits, and the platform pays for itself in just three months.
--:-- John Bickley: Get $1,000 off Vonta at vonta.com slash morningwire.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Investigators continue to piece together a troubling sequence of errors that led to the deadly collision between an Army Blackhawk helicopter and a passenger jet.
--:-- John Bickley: Early findings suggest the helicopter was flying at least 100 feet higher than it should have and a half mile off course when it collided with the jet.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Compounding the danger, the air traffic controller on duty was handling both helicopter and airplane traffic simultaneously.
--:-- John Bickley: That's a workload typically shared by two controllers.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Near misses at Reagan have been an escalating concern. In April, a commercial pilot warned that a military helicopter came dangerously close to his jet while landing,
--:-- John Bickley: saying, quote, I cannot imagine what business is so pressing that these helicopters are allowed to cross the path of airliners carrying hundreds of people.
--:-- Georgia Howe: A decade earlier another pilot wrote that helicopter crossings near the runway posed an unacceptable risk to passenger aircraft.
--:-- John Bickley: Despite years of warnings, congestion at Reagan has only increased.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Boston University will shut down the Center for Anti-Racist Research, founded by Ibram Kendi.
--:-- John Bickley: Kendi's Boston Center received millions of dollars in funding, but faced scrutiny over financial mismanagement and limited output, leading to staff layoffs.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The center failed to deliver on its promises with little published research and key initiatives left stagnant.
--:-- John Bickley: Kendi, who has profited significantly from so-called anti-racist speaking engagements, will open a new institute at Howard University that will focus on global racial issues, technology and climate change.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Mexico is scrambling to accept migrants deported by the Trump administration from the U.S.
--:-- John Bickley: Daily Wire reporter Tim Pierce has the story.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Officials in Mexico are scrambling to set up shelters and support systems for the 4,000 deportees returning from the U.S.
--:-- Georgia Howe: President Claudia Scheinbaum is pledging financial aid to help them return home.
--:-- John Bickley: At the same time, Mexico is hosting hundreds of thousands of non-Mexican migrants who are seeking asylum in the U.S. after the Trump administration ended the CBP1 app,
--:-- Tim Pierce: which was used to schedule asylum appointments.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Now those migrants are no longer allowed to enter the U.S. before their asylum case is heard.
--:-- John Bickley: Mexican officials say they plan to send non-Mexican nationals back to their home countries.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Illegal border crossings into the U.S. have dropped sharply since Trump took office.
--:-- Georgia Howe: White House Press Secretary Caroline Levitt says Trump would certainly back legislation from Congress to bar trans procedures on minors and investigate doctors who performed these surgeries.
--:-- Caroline Levitt: We know that President Trump has taken a bunch of steps to protect children from irreversible transgender procedures.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Is he interested in backing congressional legislation on this point?
--:-- Caroline Levitt: Well the president has already taken a very strong stance on this issue this week with the signing of his executive order, a few executive orders in this space.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Certainly the president would support Congress's efforts, as he has already made that very clear this week.
--:-- Tim Pierce: President Trump won a big legal victory over Meta.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo has the settlement details.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Meta Platforms has agreed to pay Trump $25 million for suspending his Facebook account following the January 6th riot back in 2021.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Most of the settlement, $22 million worth, will go toward Trump's presidential library, while the rest of the money will cover legal fees and other plaintiffs.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: The deal comes after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago in November, seeking to repair ties with the incoming president.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The lawsuit was one of several Trump filed against social media companies with mixed success.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Senator Elizabeth Warren criticized the settlement, calling it a bribe.
--:-- Georgia Howe: U.S. economic growth slowed in the final months of 2024, with GDP rising at a 2.3 percent annual rate.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Daily Wire deputy managing editor Tim Rice has the numbers.
--:-- Tim Rice: GDP came in below the 3.1 percent forecast, meaning the economy is slowing down.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Despite high prices, consumers are still spending at a strong pace, which helps support the economy.
--:-- Tim Rice: Inflation has dropped from its 2022 peak, but remains a worry for many households and economists.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The Federal Reserve is taking a cautious approach, signaling that interest rate cuts are unlikely in the near future, a position Trump has criticized.
--:-- Tim Rice: Meanwhile, new home sales rose in December, increasing 3.6 percent from the previous month, despite mortgage rates remaining at a whopping 7 percent.
--:-- Georgia Howe: School choice is now the law of the land in Tennessee.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Daily Wire investigative reporter Maraid Elordi has details on the new law.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: Tennessee lawmakers have passed a million school voucher program which is seen as a major win for Governor Bill Lee.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The bill expands school choice statewide, clearing the Senate 20-13 and the House 54-44, despite bipartisan opposition.
--:-- Maraid Elordi: The program will offer 20,000 taxpayer-funded scholarships for private and public school students with some income-based requirements.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Supporters say it gives parents more options when educating their kids.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The bill now heads to Lee's desk, where he is expected to sign it into law.
--:-- Georgia Howe: The NFL reported a 17% drop in concussions during the 2024 season.
--:-- Tim Pierce: That's the lowest since tracking began nine years ago.
--:-- Georgia Howe: League officials credit safer equipment, stricter rule enforcement, and a stronger culture of concussion awareness.
--:-- Tim Pierce: The NFL's chief medical officer credits advanced helmets designed to reduce head injuries and increased self-reporting of concussions.
--:-- Georgia Howe: League officials say they'll keep working to eliminate dangerous hits from the game.
--:-- Tim Pierce: And the Recording Academy will hand out awards this weekend.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Music's biggest stars will take the stage Sunday for the Grammy Awards at Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Beyonce leads this year's nominations with 11, making her the most nominated artist in Grammy history.
--:-- Georgia Howe: Trevor Noah returns as host, and the show will feature performances from Taylor Swift, host Malone, and Billie Eilish.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Fans can watch the show live on CBS or stream it on Paramount+.
--:-- Georgia Howe: All right, those are your drive home updates this afternoon.
--:-- Tim Pierce: To learn more about these stories, go to dailywire.com.
--:-- Georgia Howe: And in case you missed it this morning, we covered some important stories, including the recovery operation in the Potomac and the contentious confirmation hearings.
--:-- Tim Pierce: Thanks for tuning in.
--:-- Georgia Howe: We'll be back tomorrow morning with another full edition of Morning Wire.
