Morning Brief: Montana Shooting Kills Four, National Transportation Safety Board Releases Causes of Mid-Air DC Collision

· Guy D. McCardle

SWAT teams in Anaconda, Montana gear up outside an armored vehicle as the manhunt intensifies for Michael Paul Brown, a fugitive ex-soldier suspected in a deadly bar shooting that left four dead. Image Credit: KTLA

A tragic mass shooting unfolded Friday morning at The Owl Bar in Anaconda, Montana, leaving four people dead and the community on edge. The suspect, 45-year-old Michael Paul Brown, a former U.S. soldier who lived next door to the bar, is still on the run. Authorities have warned the public that he’s armed, dangerous, and should not be approached under any circumstances.

The attack occurred around 10:30 a.m. local time. Witnesses say Brown walked into the bar and gunned down the bartender and three patrons before fleeing in a stolen white 2007 Ford F-150 pickup. SWAT teams later swept his nearby residence but found it empty. The manhunt has since shifted to the heavily wooded areas west of Anaconda, with a particular focus near the Stumptown neighborhood.

Law enforcement agencies are pulling out all the stops—deploying helicopters, drones, and search teams. Residents have been instructed to stay indoors, lock their doors, and report anything suspicious. Bar owner David Gwerder, who wasn’t present during the shooting, said Brown was familiar to everyone at The Owl Bar and that there hadn’t been any known disputes with the victims.

Montana Governor Greg Gianforte and other state officials have issued statements of condolence, noting the rarity of mass shootings in the state and urging citizens to stay alert. As of now, the motive remains unclear, and the hunt for Michael Paul Brown continues.

 

NTSB Hearing Uncovers Deep Failures Behind Deadly Midair Collision in D.C.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) just dropped a heavy dose of accountability following the tragic January 29, 2025, midair collision over Washington, D.C., that claimed 67 lives. A U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet near Reagan National Airport, and the hearing made one thing painfully clear—this wasn’t a freak accident. It was the end result of overlapping failures across tech, leadership, and basic communication.

One of the biggest red flags was the Black Hawk’s faulty barometric altimeter. It gave the crew bad altitude readings—off by as much as 130 feet. That might not sound like much, but in crowded, regulated airspace over a city, it’s the kind of mistake that turns deadly fast. The pilots thought they were higher and safer than they really were, straying outside the narrow corridor designated for helicopters along the Potomac River.

Then came the radio problems. Right when air traffic control tried to warn the Black Hawk about the oncoming jet, two transmissions overlapped—one from the helicopter, one from the controller. The warning got garbled and never reached the crew. Worse still, ATC never alerted the passenger jet about the helicopter at all, a clear lapse in basic aviation protocol that an FAA official admitted should’ve never happened.

Things don’t look better on the commercial side either. Turns out many airline pilots flying out of Reagan weren’t even aware that helicopters use that corridor. Out of several pilots interviewed, only one knew it existed. That kind of ignorance in such a tight, complex airspace is a recipe for disaster.

The NTSB also pointed to deeper rot in the system. After the crash, the FAA reassigned or removed much of its local air traffic leadership. Investigators believe this gutted institutional knowledge and hurt efforts to fix the problems. Equipment shortfalls added to the mess—specifically, the lack of mandatory use of ADS-B In tech, which could have given both crews a real-time heads-up about nearby traffic. NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy pushed hard for broader adoption of that technology going forward.

This wasn’t just one bad day or a fluke mistake. Experts from the FAA and the Army echoed the same grim truth: this collision was the product of years of complacency, outdated systems, and poor coordination. The full crash timeline is still being pieced together—hampered, ironically, by the lack of timestamps on some Black Hawk data—but the overall picture is already damning.

Bottom line: this tragedy didn’t have to happen. And if the right lessons aren’t learned fast, it could happen again.

 

Trump Shifts Tone on Gaza, Focuses on Humanitarian Aid Over Blind Support

Donald Trump has recently shifted gears on Gaza, moving away from his usual hardline, pro-Israel stance toward a more visible push for humanitarian aid. While he’s still pointing the finger squarely at Hamas for the suffering, Trump is now publicly acknowledging what the world’s been seeing for months—people in Gaza are starving, and it’s no longer something he can brush aside. During recent appearances, he openly contradicted Israeli denials of starvation in the region, saying the footage of hungry children is real and promising that the U.S. would “be even more involved” in getting them food and supplies.

His administration is now pledging to speed up the flow of aid, even if that means cutting through red tape or bypassing Israeli checkpoints. So far, only about $3 million worth of U.S. aid has actually made it into Gaza, a figure that falls well short of Trump’s public claims. To change that, he’s dispatching envoys and floating plans to set up food centers and support hubs directly inside the territory.

The bigger surprise? Trump seems willing to put some pressure on Israel to make all this happen. Despite maintaining a close relationship with Prime Minister Netanyahu, the administration has signaled it wants stronger humanitarian corridors and quicker access for relief operations. That’s a real shift from the full-throated, unconditional backing Israel has traditionally gotten from Trump.

To push things forward, Trump’s special envoy for Gaza is scheduled to visit the region and meet with both Israeli and international officials to help grease the wheels. It’s a more hands-on approach than we’ve seen before, and it suggests the political optics of ignoring a humanitarian disaster are finally catching up with the administration.

Still, don’t mistake this pivot for a wholesale policy change. Trump hasn’t budged on the two-state solution, and he continues to hammer Hamas and Palestinian leadership for creating the crisis in the first place. But the tone has clearly changed. Now it’s less about defending every Israeli move and more about getting food into Gaza fast—even if that means ruffling a few feathers in Tel Aviv.

 

South Africa’s Bold New Tactic: Radioactive Rhino Horns to Stop Poaching

In a move that sounds straight out of a spy thriller, scientists in South Africa are fighting rhino poaching by injecting radioactive material directly into the horns of live rhinos. It’s called the Rhisotope Project, and it’s being led by the University of the Witwatersrand with help from nuclear experts and conservationists. The goal? Make rhino horns both trackable and toxic—without harming the animals.

Here’s how it works: the radioactive isotopes used are totally safe for the rhinos, thanks to thorough testing and sedation during the injection process. But once in the horn, those tiny amounts of radioactive material become a nightmare for traffickers. Airport scanners, border patrol equipment, and shipping port detectors can all pick up the radioactive signature—yes, even inside a packed cargo container. That makes it a whole lot easier to catch poachers and smugglers before the horns ever hit the black market.

There’s another bonus. The radioactive material also poisons the horn in a way that makes it dangerous for humans to ingest, gutting its appeal in places where powdered horn is still falsely marketed as a miracle cure. That’s a double whammy: harder to smuggle and less desirable to buy.

South Africa is ground zero in the rhino poaching war, home to around 16,000 rhinos—more than anywhere else on Earth. Yet the country loses about 500 rhinos a year to illegal hunting. Previous efforts like poisoning horns or cutting them off haven’t done the trick. But this new approach may finally turn the tide.

So far, five rhinos have received the radioactive treatment in the current phase of the project, with another 20 having been part of trials last year. Conservationists are now urging private game parks and national reserves to get on board. It’s a high-tech, no-nonsense strategy that could make poaching a far riskier—and far less profitable—game.