Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Event/Special
CNN Headlines: Air National Guard F-16 Crashes In Michigan During Training Mission; Murder Trial Begins For Former "American Idol" Contestant; "House of Horrors" Reveals More Evidence, New Questions; Judge Orders 30-Day Notice Before Any Changes To Kennedy Center. Aired 5-5:30a ET
Aired September 18, 2026 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[05:00:29]
BRAD SMITH, CNN ANCHOR: A military F-16 fighter jet crashed in Michigan during a training exercise. Thankfully, the pilot safely ejected. What we're learning about this this morning and a possible cause.
Plus, opening statements begin in the murder trial of former American Idol Caleb Flynn. He is accused of killing his wife. We are following the latest developments, plus the timeline that led up to this case.
And skyrocketing fuel costs. They are forcing several airlines to cut even more flights. How it could impact your ticket prices.
And --
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
SMITH: Wow. A close call as a car crashes through a fence, narrowly missing these just playing in their backyard pool. We've got the full story coming your way.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Brad Smith. This is CNN headline express. Glad that you're with us this morning.
Let's get this started.
A training mission in northern Michigan. It was gone. Apparently wrong on Thursday. Very much so. When an Air National Guard F-16 fighter jet crashed.
Just check out this eyewitness video shared with CNN. You see that large plume of smoke seen near homes in a rural area south of Traverse City. The pilot successfully ejected from the aircraft, thank goodness.
According to officials who say that the cause of the crash is unknown, but one possibility is overheard in this exchange between air traffic control and the crashed plane's wingman.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
OTHER MILITARY PILOT: We have a possible mayday by wingman, I believe may have taken a bird. Alert emergency services.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: So the aircraft is on the ground already then?
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: It appears that they may have lost an engine and ejected, but we do see a lot of black smoke, which we believe is the ejected F-16.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SMITH: One witness describes hearing explosions and an official on the scene told her that it was the fighter jet's ammunition burning up.
Nearby homes and businesses were evacuated over hazmat concerns, according to Michigan state police. But most people were able to return home late last night. The military says it's investigating.
This morning, federal authorities have been notified of an unauthorized drone, which forced flights to briefly stop at Reagan Washington National Airport. According to the FAA, two pilots spotted the drone flying over an active runway. So, flights were halted for about 20 minutes.
Here's air traffic control audio from the incident.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all like a drone or something that went flying by, probably halfway down the runway on final.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I saw a light that I thought might have been a drone to I'm on approach. I'm obviously holding on the runway one five. It was over November taxiway.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Use caution. All aircraft on final report of a drone over the airport. Last reported taxiway November.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: Airport operations workers searched for the drone, but they couldn't find it. The FBI investigates illegal drone activity, and federal charges can land a person in jail for a year and result in fines of up to $100,000 if convicted.
Opening statements are expected today in the murder trial of Caleb Flynn. He's the former "American Idol" contestant accused of killing his wife, Ashley Flynn, inside their Ohio home. Investigators in Ohio say Flynn, who is a former music pastor, fatally shot his wife in their home, then staged the crime scene to make it look like she was killed by an intruder.
Flynn has pleaded not guilty to several charges, including murder, assault and tampering with evidence. The trial is expected to last about two weeks, and jurors could hear testimony from several family members, including the couple's preteen daughters. We take you back to Philadelphia now and the latest developments from
what police are calling a house of horrors. This all started in June with an illegally parked car. After the investigation moved to the drivers home, police found over a million digital files of several missing women.
Here's CNN's Danny Freeman with more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DANNY FREEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The mystery is behind this house in Philadelphia's Olney neighborhood seem never ending. Police say they discovered disturbing images of missing women who appear unconscious or dead in the residence, but no human remains or DNA evidence have been found yet.
KEVIN BETHEL, PHILADELPHIA POLICE COMMISSIONER: We obviously acknowledge the seriousness and disturbing things that were seeing as part of this investigation
FREEMAN (voice-over): The investigation focuses on Raymond Horsch, the deceased father of Eugene Horsch, the son's June arrest for drugs and weapons charges led police to the home in the first place.
[05:05:11]
"The Philadelphia Inquirer" has described the late Horsch as a known drug manufacturer and erotic filmmaker who had published several works of fiction with violent, masochistic themes. Out of thousands of digital photos and videos they've recovered from the house, investigators believe they have identified four still images of missing women, unconscious or dead, and one video of Raymond Horsch strangling a woman with a zip tie.
FRANK VANORE, PHILADELPHIA POLICE DEPUTY COMMISSIONER: Let's remember he was making movies. Some of his movies are there on this digital evidence. So that's the part where, you know, some of this is play acting and some of it we believe could be real, but we're not there yet. We don't want to end our investigation before it even were not even in the middle of it. So there's a lot more to unpack.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Multiple urns in the home have not been connected, though, to any of the missing women and unknown chemicals found at the scene have not been identified, according to police.
VANORE: We need to corroborate what we see. We need to find evidence to prove what we think, and the FBI is here to help us.
FREEMAN (voice-over): The FBI said their teams have reviewed about 30 percent of more than a million pieces of digital evidence so far, and they're not stopping.
WAYNE JACOBS, FBI SPECIAL AGENT IN CHARGE: At the center of this investigation are the victims and the families who deserve answers. Our commitment is to do everything within our capabilities to help determine what happened, identify those who may have been victimized, and pursue justice as fully as the evidence allows.
FREEMAN (voice-over): Eugene Horsch's attorney has told CNN he plans to plead not guilty.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: All right. Thank you, Danny.
We've got new details this morning in the Kennedy Center saga. A judge has ordered the performing arts center to provide at least 30 days' notice before going through with any demolition or new construction plans. The judge is also asking for more information from the Trump administration about the institution's week-long closure.
The center's executive director said the temporary shutdown has to happen for safety reasons, but the Democratic congresswoman, who sued to stop President Trump from adding his name to the facade. Representative Joyce Beatty says that she believes Trump wants to demolish the building.
Hours earlier, an AFP photographer captured Trump aboard Air Force One, looking at a poster with what appeared to be the words "Kennedy Center demolished".
And in a separate effort, groups of architects, civic leaders and preservationists say they will likely file soon for receivership to protect the Kennedy Center. They say they'll ask a judge to place the iconic center under independent control.
And in another court battle over landmarks, the U.S. Institute of Peace is asking a federal appeals court to stop President Trump's plans to carve his name into the front of its headquarters. Trump renamed the institution, which works to resolve conflict after himself last year after he dismantled the agency. Attorneys for the agency say a contractor has already been chosen, and CNN has reached out to the White House for comment.
Anthropic is building the newest version of its popular chatbot, Claude. And here's the catch, Claude is doing most of the work, not humans. Yet even as this happens, the CEO warns, quote, "models accelerating their own development could make it more challenging for humans to understand or control these systems". He says greater transparency is critical to understanding how close A.I. is to building its own successor.
CNN's Elex Michaelson spoke about this with tech expert Chris Mattmann earlier today. And here's a bit of that conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS MATMANN, DATA SCIENTIST & TECHNOLOGY EXPERT: Since May 2026 of this year, Anthropic published a blog. And they said at that point, 80 percent of the code that Anthropic was actually generating for Claude, its own A.I. chatbot, was being generated by Claude itself. That was May, 80th percent. And now, basically, Anthropic is saying most are all of the code that
is being generated for Claude is actually being generated by Claude itself. What does that mean? It means software development. It means all the data to train the model. It means testing and training it.
The last step for humans is this process they call alignment. Alignment is where we teach it human values. We say, hey, here are, you know, do no harm. Here is the Hippocratic Oath. You know, here's what we need to do.
The alignment step is still being done by humans. Everything else up until this point now is being done by A.I.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: This comes as Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei is calling for a slowdown in A.I. development. And on the heels of another shocking warning, this one from OpenAI reporting multiple instances of its models going rogue and even generating their own instructions to ignore developer's messages. We'll continue to keep tabs on the A.I. arms race.
Lots more to come on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS. If you're looking for airline deals this holiday season, you may be out of luck. Why some airlines are cutting the cheap seats.
[05:10:01]
Plus, home buying is down. Mortgage rates are at their highest level since President Trump took office. Later on for you, we have a look at what's causing the spike.
And later, why COVID-19 vaccine shots for kids are delayed by the CDC and FDA. That's all coming your way on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SMITH: Rising jet fuel prices may put a big dent in your holiday travel plans. Several major airlines are now saying that they expect to cut additional flights due to the higher than usual cost of fuel.
Executives from United, American and Southwest Airlines say they plan on getting rid of cheaper and less profitable flights over the next few months.
[05:15:08]
Those are typically early morning or late night flights, which budget travelers tend to prefer. The plan to cut flights comes as the average price for a gallon of jet fuel rose to $4.56, the highest price since early May, according to Argus Research.
As the U.S. faces its worst measles outbreak in decades, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is getting new attention for the place that he chose to give a major speech. Kennedy got a standing ovation at a conference held by Children's Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group that he founded before his presidential run.
In his remarks, he praised President Trump for embracing vaccine skeptics and told the crowd they have, quote, a strong and steadfast friend in the White House.
Here's some of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT F. KENNEDY, JR., HHS SECRETARY: You care about every child who dies from measles. They get headlines. We should care about the children, shouldn't we? I'd ask. You care about children who are dying or suffering or being injured by vaccine injuries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SMITH: As Health and Human Services Secretary Kennedy has overseen some of the biggest changes to vaccine policy in decades. Even so, health experts continue to say that vaccines are safe and effective, with serious side effects considered extremely rare.
Meanwhile, vaccine questions now go beyond the childhood shot schedule. Updated COVID vaccines were approved weeks ago, but the CDC still hasn't made them available through the federal vaccines for children program. The program offers free shots to uninsured and underinsured kids. Health officials say about half of U.S. children qualify.
Still to come on, CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS, a pro-athlete who went viral after soiling herself mid-race, is speaking out. What she's saying about the win.
And President Trump is looking to revamp one of D.C.'s public courses. And the price tag could be as high as $49 million of taxpayer money. That story, and more still to come.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[05:21:44]
SMITH: Two football players at the center of a college fight are now shut out of both the NFL and college football this season. The NFL saying that Zxavian Harris and Dae'Quan Wright are ineligible for the rest of 2026. Both spent time in NFL training camps before being waived, then enrolled at LSU after court rulings opened a path back to college. But the sec has a rule barring former pro players from competing. LSU eventually filed and filled the two roster spots that it had held open. Wright is now considering legal options, according to his agent.
It was the other kind of blow outs that has won college -- well, one athlete rather apologizing and saying that she'll retroactively withdraw and forfeit all the points that she earned for winning the competition, thank goodness.
CNN's Meena Duerson has more on this one. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MEENA DUERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The winner of a Hyrox fitness competition is apologizing over a really (EXPLETIVE DELETED) situation. She continued to compete while covered in diarrhea and is now saying she'll retroactively withdraw from the event and forfeit the points she earned.
Australian Athlete Joanna Wietrzyk was about halfway through her race course in Beijing, China, on September 12th, when she seems to have experienced what looks like fecal incontinence. In photos and videos that went viral from the event, you can see feces streaming down her legs while she continues to compete, doing pieces of the course like burpee broad jumps or weighted lunges.
Hyrox is a hugely popular indoor event where athletes alternate running with exercises using shared equipment. So, her fellow competitors had to pass through the same stations and use the same equipment after her. One spectator told local media there was fecal matter visible on the course. 30 minutes later, causing other runners to slip. People on social media were horrified by how unsanitary the situation was.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame, shame, shame, shame, shame you yourself in a public course and then kept going despite the fact that people were coming behind you and still had to do the same course as you. That's disgusting.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not only is it disgusting, it's also disrespectful to the people that have to clean that up and to your competition.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's wrong. It's a hazard and unfair to everyone.
DUERSON: Some called her selfish for continuing on the course.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A, public health emergency. B, major biohazard, and C, possibly the most selfish thing I've ever seen.
DUERSON: One user even called it a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) tastrophe after she powered through to win the race, she posted a selfie as she was seemingly getting medical attention, writing go hard or go home and a wins a win. She's since deleted the post. Hyrox China said the affected course was disinfected, and all the equipment and carpeting was removed and replaced.
And on Sunday, Hyrox co-founder Moritz Furste put out an apology on social media, saying they should have reacted immediately and have made changes to the rules to prevent this kind of incident from ever happening again.
Athletes, particularly runners, notoriously struggle with their bowels during intense physical activity, but typically they're outside and any shared equipment is the open road. Hyrox has reportedly offered a refund to any competitors who were on the course at the same time, or after the incident.
Some say this episode has permanently damaged the brand's reputation. One user pointed out that a google image search of Hyrox now shows predominantly photos from this incident.
In her apology, Wietrzyk thanked those who stood by her and said she'd be taking some time to recover.
[05:25:03]
She said the incident had taught her a lot of lessons, like life is more than racing and knowing when its right to step away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: Presented without comment. Thank you, Meena.
Straight ahead on CNN headline express. His wife encouraged him to audition for "American Idol". Now the former contestant is on trial for her murder. Details on the case, coming up.
And the never-ending drama with the Kennedy Center takes another turn as Trump presses to get his name on the iconic building. What a judge is now ordering to be done. That story and much more coming on CNN HEADLINE EXPRESS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
