On the version of Hot off the Wire posted Jan. 2 at 6:45 a.m. CT:
TOKYO (AP) — A plane has caught fire on the runway of Tokyo’s Haneda airport after colliding with a Japanese coast guard aircraft, officials said. Local TV showed a large burst of fire erupt from the side of a Japan Airlines plane as it taxied on a runway. The area around the wing then caught fire. NHK TV reported that all occupants of the passenger plane, believed to total 379 people, got out safely. The coast guard said the pilot of its plane evacuated safely. NHK reported that the other five crewmembers were found dead. Haneda is one of the busiest airports in Japan, and many people travel over the New Year holidays.
WAJIMA, Japan (AP) — A series of powerful earthquakes has hit western Japan, leaving at least 48 people dead and damaging thousands of buildings, vehicles and boats. Officials are warning people in some areas on Tuesday to stay away from their homes because of a risk of more strong quakes. Aftershocks continued to shake Ishikawa prefecture and nearby areas a day after a magnitude 7.6 temblor slammed the area on Monday afternoon. Officials say at least 48 people are confirmed dead and 16 seriously injured in Ishikawa. Japan is frequently hit by earthquakes because of its location along the “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines in the Pacific Basin.
ROCHESTER, New York (AP) — Police are investigating after a fiery two-vehicle collision killed two people and injured five others in Rochester, New York, early on New Year’s Day. Officials say a Ford Expedition struck a Mitsubishi Outlander, sending both vehicles through a group of pedestrians in a crosswalk. Investigators say once the flames were doused, firefighters located at least a dozen gasoline cannisters in and around the Expedition. That prompted police to bring in an arson team and alert the FBI. Investigators ask witnesses or anyone with information to reach out to police.
KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukraine’s two largest cities have come under Russian hypersonic ballistic missile attacks. Officials said the Tuesday morning assaults killed at least four people and injured almost 100, as the war approached its two-year milestone and the Kremlin’s forces stepped up their winter bombardment of urban areas. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said four civilians were killed and 92 injured in the capital Kyiv and in northeastern Kharkiv as hypersonic Kinzhal missiles that can fly at 10 times the speed of sound slammed into city blocks. The barrage extended Russia’s escalated attacks on Ukraine in recent days that began on Friday with its largest single assault on Ukraine since the war started, in which at least 41 civilians were killed.
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The family of a mother of eight who was a huge “Star Trek” fan has ensured the final frontier will be her ultimate resting place. Gloria Knowlan died 12 years ago. A small quantity of ashes from her cremated body are to be in one of 250 memorial capsules set to be launched into space later this month. Launch organizers are hoping the rocket carrying the capsules will wind up approximately 330 million kilometers from Earth, roughly past the orbit of Mars. The remains or DNA samples of “Star Trek” creator Gene Roddenberry, and Original Series stars Nichelle Nichols, DeForest Kelley and James Doohan also are expected to make the trip.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chief Justice John Roberts is turning his focus to the promise and shortcomings of artificial intelligence in the federal courts. His annual report makes no mention of Supreme Court ethics or legal controversies involving Donald Trump. Roberts on Sunday described artificial intelligence as the “latest technological frontier" and discussed the pros and cons of computer-generated content in the legal profession. The year-end report was issued just a few days after the latest instance of AI-generated fake legal citations making their way into official court records. Roberts wrote that AI can make it much easier for people without much money to access the courts, but that any use of AI “requires caution and humility.”
WASHINGTON (AP) — In this time of war overseas, more Americans think foreign policy should be a top U.S. priority for 2024. That's according to a new poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, which finds international concerns and immigration rising in importance with the public. Those concerns are still overshadowed by long-standing economic worries. But about 4 in 10 U.S. adults named foreign policy topics in an open-ended question that asked people to share up to five issues for the government to work on next year. That’s about twice as many who mentioned the topic in the AP-NORC poll conducted a year ago.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group is heading home after months of extra duty at sea providing protection for Israel. The Navy announced Monday the Ford and its accompanying warships will be replaced by the amphibious assault ship the USS Bataan and its two accompanying warships, the USS Mesa Verde and the USS Carter Hall. The three vessels had been in the Red Sea and have been transiting toward the Eastern Mediterranean over the last few days. Since it was extended in the Eastern Mediterranean, the Ford and the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier have been part of a two-carrier presence bracketing the Israel-Hamas war, underscoring U.S. concerns the conflict will widen.
WASHINGTON (AP) — Sen. John Fetterman acknowledges having “dark conversations” about harming himself before he hit “the emergency brake” and sought treatment for depression. In an interview with NBC's `"Meet the Press," the Pennsylvania Democrat described his thoughts at that time as, “I can’t be a blueprint for my children. I can’t let them be left alone or not to understand why he would have done that." So he checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last February. Fetterman wondered whether he'd survive politically. He said that “when it got released where I was and where it was going, it was a big story. And so, I had assumed that that would be the end of my career.”
LONDON (AP) — A Colorado mother suspected of killing two of her young children and injuring a third has made an initial court appearance in London. Kimberlee Singler was held after her initial appearance in Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday. She has a Jan. 29 hearing scheduled on whether she should be extradited to the United States to face two counts of first-degree murder and other charges. The 35-year-old disappeared as Colorado police prepared to arrest her in the deaths of her 9-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, who were found slain Dec. 19 in what was reported as a burglary. She disappeared last week and was arrested Saturday in London.
RIVERDALE, Utah (AP) — A foreign exchange student from China who was reported missing last week in Utah has been found. Authorities said the student and his family appear to be victims of a “cyber kidnapping” scheme. The 17-year-old student was reported missing Friday, a day after he was last seen at the home where he had been staying. Police in Riverdale initially said that they believed the student was forcefully abducted. But on Sunday they said the boy had been found safe in a tent about 25 miles away. Police say Kai's family paid an $80,000 ransom after receiving a photograph that made it appear the student was abducted.
SECAUCUS, N.J. (AP) — A New Jersey mayor says buses of migrants bound for New York City have been stopping at the town’s train station in an apparent effort to evade New York's efforts to regulate migrant arrivals. Secaucus Mayor Michael Gonnelli said Sunday that four buses are believed to have arrived starting Saturday at Secaucus Junction and dropped off migrants who then took trains into New York City. He called it a “loophole” around the order by New York Mayor Eric Adams. A message posted on a Jersey City social media account said about 10 buses from Texas and one from Louisiana had arrived at various transit stations throughout the state.
New Year’s Day arrived to cheers from thousands in New York’s Times Square where a sparkling crystal ball descended to start 2024 with hope for some, even as the world’s ongoing conflicts subdued celebrations and raised security concerns across the globe. The march of midnight across time zones included pyrotechnic displays centered on iconic locations including Sydney’s Opera House, the Acropolis in Athens, the world’s tallest building in Dubai and the bamboo-shaped Taipei 101 skyscraper in Taiwan. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have affected this year’s New Year’s Eve celebrations in a myriad of ways. Many cities deployed extra security and some places canceled events altogether.
ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — New York’s minimum-wage workers have more than just the new year to celebrate. A pay bump kicked in Monday as the clock ticked over to 2024. In the first of a series of annual increases slated for the Empire State, the minimum wage increased to $16 in New York City and some of its suburbs, up from $15. In the rest of the state, the new minimum wage is $15, up from $14.20. New York is one of 22 states getting minimum wage increases in the new year. In California, the minimum wage increased to $16, up from $15.50.
It will be Michgan and Washington in the College Football National title game, the Pistons start a new skid and Pacers end the Bucks' home winning streak. Also: We preview the final week of the NFL season and recap this past Sunday's games.
—The Associated Press
About this program
Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.
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