News Wrap: NASCAR’s Greg Biffle and family among 7 killed in North Carolina plane crash

Amna Nawaz:

In the day's other headlines: Police in North Carolina say retired NASCAR driver Greg Biffle and his family were among seven people killed when their private jet crashed this morning outside of Charlotte.

Officials say the Cessna C550 had tried to land shortly after taking off from a regional airport used by several NASCAR teams and Fortune 500 companies. Eyewitness video captured the fiery crash and a large plume of smoke. The NTSB and FAA are investigating.

The "News Hour" spoke to Biffle last year, when he used his own flying experience to deliver supplies to communities hit by Hurricane Helene.

Greg Biffle, Former NASCAR Driver:

For me, it's people helping people. Our motto in this country is, we don't leave an American behind. And I had the opportunity in front of me to help more people and bring awareness. I would expect someone to do that for me. That's why I want to do that for these folks.

Amna Nawaz:

Biffle won more than 50 races across NASCAR's three circuits, including 19 at the Cup Series level. He was 55 years old.

The U.S. government has admitted to liability in January's deadly air collision in Washington, D.C. In its official response to a lawsuit from one of the victims' families, the Justice Department said — quote — "The accident could have been avoided" if the helicopter pilot — quote — "had maintained visual separation by seeing and avoiding the airliner."

Sixty-seven people were killed when an Army Black Hawk helicopter crashed into an American Airlines plane as it was coming in for a landing. Today's filing opens the door for families to seek damages in the deaths of their loved ones.

The White House announced today that Washington, D.C.'s leading performing arts center will bear the president's name and be known as the Trump-Kennedy Center.

President Donald Trump:

I was surprised by it. I was honored by it.

Amna Nawaz:

This afternoon, Mr. Trump spoke about his reaction to the renaming. He handpicked the board and is himself chairman. Members of the Kennedy family fired back.

Maria Shriver, who's the niece of John F. Kennedy, wrote — quote — "It's beyond wild that he would think adding his name in front of President Kennedy's name is acceptable. It is not."

And House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said the board has no authority to rename the center without legislative action.

The Democratic National Committee says it won't issue its report on the party's poor showing in last year's elections. DNC Chair Ken Martin says that dwelling on the past would be a — quote — "distraction," adding that Democrats are — quote — "already putting our learnings into motion. We're winning again, even in places that haven't gone blue in decades."

The decision comes after Democrats have enjoyed a string of recent wins in special elections and off-year statewide votes. It also spares top figures like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris from further scrutiny of their failed campaigns.

New York has a new archbishop after Pope Leo tapped 58-year-old Bishop Ronald Hicks to serve the areas more than two million Catholics. Like Leo, Hicks is from the Chicago area. He will replace the retiring Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who recently confirmed a $300 million plan to compensate victims of sexual abuse.

Today, the outgoing Dolan introduced Hicks at a press conference, where he pledged continued — quote — "accountability, transparency and healing."

Bishop Ronald Hicks, Archbishop-Designate of New York: As a church, we can never rest in our efforts to prevent abuse, to protect children and to care for survivors.

Amna Nawaz:

Hicks is widely seen as a moderate whose style is similar to that of the pope's. He largely avoids political matters, though last month he endorsed a condemnation from his fellow bishops of the Trump administration's immigration raids.

The Islamic State group today praised last weekend's attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Australia's Bondi Beach in which 15 people were killed. The group called the killings a — quote — "source of pride," but did not claim responsibility.

This comes as the youngest victim, a 10-year-old girl named Matilda, was laid to rest. At a vigil today, mourners sang the Australian folk tune that shares her name in tribute to her and all the victims of Sunday shooting. Elsewhere, a funeral was held for the oldest victim, 87-year-old Alex Kleytman, a Holocaust survivor who died shielding his wife from gunfire.

In corporate news, TikTok has signed a deal to sell its U.S. unit, meaning it can continue operating in this country. That's according to a memo seen by the AP and others. It says that Oracle, Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based MGX would together control about 45 percent of the new entity.

The sale would end years of efforts to force the company's Chinese parent, ByteDance, to divest its U.S. business over national security concerns. The deal is expected to close in January.

Meanwhile, the parent company of President Trump's TRUTH Social platform says it's merging with a privately held fusion power company. They say the combined company will be valued at more than $6 billion and will aim to provide the electricity needed to power artificial intelligence.

Trump Media shares jumped more than 40 percent on the news, but they're still down sharply on the year.

Elsewhere on Wall Street, stocks ended higher after that encouraging inflation data. The Dow Jones industrial leverage posted a modest gain of about 65 points. The Nasdaq jumped more than 300 points. The S&P 500 also ended higher on the day.

And journalist Peter Arnett has died. A high school dropout from New Zealand, Arnett covered more than a dozen wars over a four-decade career. In 1966, he won the Pulitzer Prize for his reporting on the Vietnam War. Later, he was one of the few Western journalists to stay behind after the fall of Saigon in 1975.

Arnett spoke to the "News Hour" about his decision to stay while revisiting the country in 2015.

Peter Arnett, Journalist:

The reason I stayed behind is that I'd been there at the beginning, say, 1962, and I'd covered it throughout those intervening years. So I felt that I just had to stay behind to see what would happen to Saigon when the communists arrived.

Amna Nawaz:

Arnett went on to join CNN, where he won acclaim for his live updates from Baghdad during the 1991 Gulf War.

But his career was not without controversy. He left CNN in 1999 after a flawed report on a Vietnam War atrocity that apparently never happened. And NBC later fired him after he said on Iraqi state TV that the U.S.-led war plan was failing. He eventually retired from reporting in 2014.

Arnett's family says he'd been suffering from prostate cancer. Peter Arnett was 91 years old.