(NEW YORK) — Nationwide flight disruption stretched into Sunday following cancellations or delays to thousands of flights on Saturday, as the Federal Aviation Administration limited capacity at 40 major U.S. airports amid the longest government shutdown in American history.
As of 5:30 a.m. ET on Sunday, more than 1,100 flights were cancelled across the country according to the FlightAware website, as the FAA grappled with sustained staffing issues in air traffic controller towers and centers.
Saturday saw 1,521 flights canceled nationwide and more than 6,400 flights delayed.
Saturday’s figures surpassed those from Friday, when 1,024 flights were cancelled. Since Friday, more than 3,700 flights have been cancelled.
Major disruption was expected to continue through Sunday. As of Saturday night, there were over 40 air traffic control staffing triggers at facilities across the country.
The FAA decided not to cut any international flights as it would be a violation of international agreements with the countries, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an interview on ABC News Live on Friday.
(WASHINGTON) — Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Sunday that there is no formal proposal from the White House to defund the Affordable Care Act and instead send money directly to Americans, despite a social media post from President Donald Trump on Saturday promoting such a plan.
“The president has also come forward with a new proposal overnight, saying it’s time, instead, to do away with Obamacare and said to have the money go directly to the people. Do you have a formal proposal to do that?” ABC News’ “This Week” anchor George Stephanopoulos.
“We don’t have a formal proposal,” Bessent said.
But pressed by Stephanopoulos about whether such a plan would be proposed to the Senate, Bessent said that the administration was not proposing it “right now.”
Bessent also hedged when asked about Trump’s push to end the Senate’s filibuster.
“Is the best way to end the shutdown right now to end the filibuster?” Stephanopolous asked.
“The best way is for five Democratic senators to come across the aisle,” Bessent said.
(NEW YORK) — There is a paragraph on page 22 of the Trump administration’s appeal of a federal judge’s requirement that it make full November SNAP payments that has to be seen to be believed.
The opening sentence asserts that “the district court’s order threatens significant and irreparable harm to the government which outweighs any claimed injury to plaintiffs.”
In plain English, the Justice Department is telling the court that it would hurt the federal government more to comply with a judge’s order requiring full food stamp payments than it would hurt millions of low-income Americans to potentially starve.
Let’s simplify this further: the government is arguing that once the money is spent, it can’t be unspent (and that would be horrible). But the hungry can’t eat tomorrow (and that’s not as bad). That is the contention.
In a 40-page filing to the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals, the administration insisted that being forced to spend money Congress has already appropriated is a graver injury than the hunger and disruption that would follow from withholding it. Friday night, the administration filed a nearly identical emergency stay request with the Supreme Court, and Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson issued a temporary pause that will remain in effect until the circuit court issues a judgment on the matter.
At stake is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—SNAP—which provides monthly benefits to roughly 42 million Americans. During the ongoing government shutdown, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) planned to fund only part of the November payments, prompting lawsuits from cities, religious groups, and nonprofits that argued that the administration was flouting its legal obligation to deliver full benefits.
Twice, a Rhode Island federal judge, John J. McConnell Jr., agreed, ordering the government to draw on existing accounts to cover the gap. Twice, the administration appealed, contending that the judiciary had usurped Congress’s spending power by directing the executive branch to find the money.
The Justice Department’s latest emergency filing makes that claim in even starker terms. It asserts that McConnell’s injunction “makes a mockery of the separation of powers” and that there is “no lawful basis” for forcing the USDA “to somehow find $4 billion in the metaphorical couch cushions.” It also warns that by compelling compliance, the court has “thrust the Judiciary into the ongoing shutdown negotiations,” implying that judicial enforcement of basic statutory duties somehow exacerbates the fiscal standoff.
But what makes the filing remarkable is not just its tone—it’s the value judgment embedded in it. Traditionally, when courts decide whether to grant emergency relief, there is a calculus: the courts consider which outcome would cause greater damage, keeping the challenged policy on hold or letting it take effect? Here, the “policy” in question is the administration’s refusal to fully fund SNAP despite having ample reserves.
The Justice Department argues that the “irreparable harm” lies in being required to obey the court order and spend the money. By that logic, the government’s institutional discomfort outweighs the hunger of millions of families, seniors, veterans and children whose grocery money hangs in the balance.
Whether in disputes over public health, environmental regulation, or economic relief, the Trump administration’s lawyers have often equated executive prerogative with public interest—as though what benefits the administration necessarily benefits the nation. In this case, that conflation leads to the extraordinary claim that “the government” suffers greater harm by feeding people than by letting them go hungry.
The administration’s insistence that it “cannot” find the funds also rings hollow. By its own admission, the USDA controls multiple accounts with more than enough money to sustain SNAP for the month—including a $5 billion emergency reserve created by Congress specifically for that purpose. It has already drawn on similar pools of money to protect other nutrition programs from shutdown disruptions. The problem, in other words, is not fiscal incapacity but political choice.
The Justice Department’s appeal thus functions as both legal brief and ideological statement. It asks the courts to privilege administrative convenience over human need.
If that argument succeeds, the precedent would reach far beyond SNAP. It would signal that any time a court orders the government to meet a statutory duty—to pay benefits, deliver services, or enforce protections—the executive may claim “irreparable harm” merely because it prefers not to act. That is not separation of powers; it is the substitution of political preference for law.
Judge McConnell, for his part, put the matter bluntly: “This should never happen in America.” He was referring to the spectacle of a federal government choosing to let its citizens go hungry while pleading poverty amid abundant reserves.
The Justice Department’s legal arguments transform that spectacle into doctrine.
James Sample is an ABC News legal contributor and a constitutional law professor at Hofstra University. The views expressed in this story do not necessarily reflect those of ABC News or The Walt Disney Company.
(NEW YORK) — Americans in parts of the Midwest to northern New England could see their first snow of the season early next week due to an arctic blast.
The very warm Great Lakes combined with arctic air will kickstart the lake-effect snow season late this weekend into the new workweek, but this will not be historic snowfall by any measure.
A Winter Storm Watch is in effect for Chicago and South Bend, Indiana, from late Sunday night through Monday afternoon for potentially heavy lake-effect snow. Snow rates exceeding 2 inches per hour, event snow totals up to 6 inches and over 35 mph wind gusts are possible.
While this snow will be very localized and most areas are not expected to see accumulating snow, this combination will likely produce slick and hazardous driving conditions during the morning commute and afternoon on Monday.
Winter Weather Advisories are currently in effect in parts of the Upper Peninsula and northern Wisconsin until Monday afternoon for lake-effect snow bringing between 2 to 5 of total snow and up to 8 inches in localized areas.
By Monday into Tuesday, the first lake-effect snow event will begin to set up in the eastern Great Lakes from Erie to Buffalo and possibly Syracuse.
Some areas off the lakes could see a few inches of snow, but it’s still too soon to know exactly how much will fall and where. Also, reiterating that this will not be historic lake-effect snow by any measure.
The interior Northeast from Appalachia to Pittsburgh up to northern New England could also see its first snow late Monday through Tuesday.
This snow will not stick around for long, as warming temperatures next week will quickly melt any snow that sticks to the ground with this quick blast of arctic air.
(CHARLESTON, S.C.) — The body of a missing College of Charleston student has been recovered over one week after he went missing, police said, and investigators have determined he died by suicide.
Owen Kinney, a 19-year-old from New Jersey, was found dead in the water near Patriots Point around 8:45 a.m. on Saturday, the Charleston Police Department said.
The teen was last seen by friends around 2 a.m. on Oct. 31 in an area near the college, police said. Detectives confirmed he walked alone onto the Ravenel Bridge pedestrian walkway shortly after 3 a.m., and his phone’s last recorded location was there around that time, police said.
Investigators determined Kinney died by suicide after going on the Ravenel Bridge pedestrian walkway at 3:49 a.m., police said.
“I would like to thank everyone who took part in the effort to get Owen back to his family,” Charleston Police Chief Chito Walker said in a statement on Saturday. “We hope this recovery brings some measure of closure to a family experiencing unimaginable loss.”
Police said earlier this week that they had concluded the teenager died by suicide and that the missing persons case was shifting to a recovery effort.
“There are no words that can ease the pain of losing someone so young and so full of promise,” College of Charleston President Andrew T. Hsu said in a statement on Saturday.
“Now is the time to surround his family with love, to support the friends and classmates who are grieving and to remind each other that no one in our campus family carries this weight alone,” Hsu said. “We have encouraged students who have been impacted to seek support through the Counseling Center, and faculty and staff may contact AllOne Health. These resources are free, confidential and available to all College of Charleston affiliates.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with thoughts of suicide — free, confidential help is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Call or text the national lifeline at 988.
(TAMPA, Fla.) — At least four are dead and 11 others were injured when a driver lost control of a vehicle while moving at a high speed, crashing into a business and hitting more than a dozen people in Tampa, Florida, police said.
The vehicle involved in the deadly crash has been previously observed street racing in Tampa, according to police.
There victims died at the scene and a fourth victim died at the hospital. One victim is in critical condition and eight others are in stable condition, being treated at other hospitals, police said. Two others were treated for minor injuries at the scene, police said.
Silas Sampson, 22, was detained at the scene of the crash, according to police.
The suspect was allegedly “driving recklessly” on I-275 before exiting the interstate at “a high rate of speed,” police said.
Air Service was monitoring the vehicle around 12:45 a.m. Police pursuing the car attempted an “unsuccessful PIT maneuver,” but the driver continued speeding. Shortly after, the driver crashed into the business, police said.
“What happened this morning was a senseless tragedy, our hearts are with the loved ones of the victims and all those who were impacted,” Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in a statement.
“Reckless driving put innocent lives in danger. The Tampa Police Department and the Florida Highway Patrol are committed to seeking justice for the victims and their families,” Bercaw said.
(NEW YORK) — The Trump administration has moved to dissolve the ban on Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s removal so that it can proceed with his deportation to Liberia.
In a series of filings overnight, government attorneys said that the Salvadoran native’s claim of fear of torture or persecution in the African nation was denied after he was interviewed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services last week.
The attorneys for the Department of Justice argued that the preliminary injunction blocking Abrego Garcia’s removal to Liberia should be dissolved because the government received assurances from the government of the West African country that he will not be persecuted or tortured.
The government also said that Abrego Garcia’s lawsuit to stop his removal is improper because he is a member of a separate class action lawsuit in Massachusetts regarding third-country removals. In that case, the Supreme Court allowed the Trump administration to proceed with third-country removals.
“Even if the merits were properly presented here, Petitioner’s claims fail,” the DOJ said. “The Constitution does not entitle Petitioner to process beyond what the political branches have chosen to afford.”
Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland with his wife and children, was deported in March to El Salvador’s CECOT mega-prison — despite a 2019 court order barring his deportation to that country due to fear of persecution.
He was brought back to the U.S. in June to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
The DOJ called Abrego Garcia a member of MS-13 and said his removal is “in the public interest.”
On Friday, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys asked U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to block his removal to Liberia until an immigration judge reviews the denial of his reasonable fear claim by USCIS.
“The Government insists that the unreasoned determination of a single immigration officer—who concluded that Abrego Garcia failed to establish that it is “more likely than not” that he will be persecuted or tortured in Liberia— satisfies due process,” his attorneys said. “It does not.”
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys also said that the government has “cycled through” four third-country destinations—Uganda, Eswatini, Ghana, and now Liberia—without providing “the notice, opportunity to be heard and individualized assessment that due process requires.”
They argued that the government has disregarded their client’s “statutory designation” of Costa Rica, despite the country’s previous assurances that it would accept him and give him refugee or resident status.
Abrego Garcia is currently being held in a detention facility in Pennsylvania.
(NEW YORK) — More than 700 flights nationwide have been canceled Saturday as the Federal Aviation Administration continues limiting flight capacity at 40 major U.S. airports amid the government shutdown.
As of 6 a.m. ET on Saturday, 754 flights have already been canceled nationwide and the total could eclipse Friday’s toll of 1,024 cancellations.
However, despite more than 1,000 flights being canceled on Friday, major delays at airports across the country continue to persist due to staffing issues in air traffic controller towers and centers.
If the government shutdown continues, more air travel reductions could be on the way, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in an interview on ABC News Live on Friday.
“My hope is that this government shutdown will end soon and we can get back in the business of letting Americans travel,” Duffy said in the interview.
It is possible the Department of Transportation may ask airlines to cancel more than 10% of their flights if controllers keep calling out in higher numbers, Duffy told ABC News.
Duffy said the FAA has asked private jets to avoid flying at the 40 airports impacted by the flight reductions, though they are currently not prohibited from flying there. He said private jet companies have been cooperative and are choosing alternate airports to help alleviate the pressure at those airports.
The cancellations are the latest — and perhaps biggest — disruption to air travel since the government shutdown began more than a month ago.
The FAA decided not to cut any international flights as it would be a violation of international agreements with the countries, according to Duffy.
“We have international agreements that we abide by, and because of those international agreements, I’m not going to impact those international flights. And because if I do, what will happen is we have other countries that are waiting to have a breach of those contracts from the US so they can cut down American flights, and then that would have a very long lasting impact on our ability to to to send travelers from the U.S. to those partners that have the agreements,” Duffy said.
(NEW YORK) — Mars is a cold, dry, desert-like planet. But billions of years ago, scientific evidence suggests that it had a thick atmosphere, which kept it warm enough to support flowing water on its surface. So, what happened to the Red Planet, and could it happen to Earth?
“From everything we know about the history of Mars through robotic exploration, it had very similar chemistry [to Earth]. It had very similar periods of time and development. It had that thicker atmosphere, had standing water, fresh water. All the things that Earth had,” said Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the Planetary Society.
“So, what went wrong? Why don’t we see Mars as a rich planet now? That’s exactly the kind of thing that helps us put Earth in context and hopefully makes us appreciate Earth a little bit better as an outcome of that,” he added.
Dreier says one of the reasons Mars no longer has a dense and protective atmosphere is that the planet lacks the same kind of magnetic field that keeps Earth safe from the sun’s highly charged particles.
To better understand how solar wind energy interacts with Mars’ atmosphere and magnetic environment, and how that might have altered the planet’s surface, NASA and the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory are sending twin orbiters to the Red Planet.
The ESCAPADE mission, short for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, is the first dual-satellite mission to another planet. Two identical spacecraft will orbit in formation to provide a first-of-its-kind 3D view of Mars’ magnetosphere and upper atmosphere.
A unique route to the Red Planet
Scheduled to lift off on Sunday at 2:45 p.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center in Florida aboard a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, the two probes will take a unique path to Mars. Instead of the traditional route used by previous Mars missions, UC Berkley says the ESCAPADE will first travel to a Lagrange point, an area in space where the pull of Earth’s and the sun’s gravity is balanced. The two craft will loop around it for about a year and then slingshot back toward Earth on their way to Mars.
This flexible route could pave the way for future Mars missions by allowing for launch schedules spread over many months, which is essential if humans are to send fleets of spacecraft to Mars.
Sunday’s launch is only the second flight of the New Glenn rocket, a much more powerful rocket than the company’s New Shepard, which it uses for its regular space tourist missions to the edge of space. New Glenn is more than 320 feet tall, partially reusable and capable of delivering payloads to low, medium and geosynchronous orbits.
Unlocking the magnetic mysteries of Mars
NASA says the two identical Mars probes, which are nicknamed Gold and Blue after UC Berkeley’s school colors, “will reveal the planet’s real-time response to space weather and how the Martian magnetosphere changes over time.”
The two probes are about the size of a mini-fridge and weigh nearly 250 pounds.
Once they arrive at Mars in 2027, “The twin probes are designed to complement each other and unlock a more complete, real-time picture of how the Martian atmosphere blows off into space,” according to an analysis of the mission by the Planetary Society.
Dreier says that understanding what happened and is happening to Mars could help scientists better protect our own climate and atmosphere from current and future solar threats.
“The interaction between the sun’s particles and the atmosphere of Mars is thought to be one of the driving reasons that Mars no longer has a dense and protective atmosphere itself on the planet. So, understanding that relationship helps us understand the history and processes that have stripped away Mars’s atmosphere over time,” Dreier explained.
Safeguarding future astronauts from solar threats
The mission’s principal investigator, Robert Lillis of the Space Sciences Laboratory, emphasized that mapping Mars’ magnetic fields and how they respond to space weather is also critical for safeguarding future astronauts who may visit the planet. Solar storms and background cosmic radiation could pose significant risks to settlers, and lessons from this mission could help NASA protect human crews who may eventually spend time there.
“We will be making the space weather measurements we need to understand the system well enough to forecast solar storms whose radiation could harm astronauts on the surface of Mars or in orbit,” Lillis said in a press statement.
Dreier says the ESCAPADE mission is building on the science collected by MAVEN, another probe that has been studying the planet’s atmosphere since 2014. He notes that the mission is costing significantly less than previous scientific missions to space.
A mission on a budget
“This is a very, very, very low-cost mission for these types of science missions. This is roughly $70 to $80 million,” said Dreier. “It’s one of these smallest mission classes that NASA has, and as a consequence of that, it’s a very limited and focused set of scientific priorities, and it’s almost itself demonstrating the feasibility of doing missions like this.”
Dreier points out that NASA is facing the prospect of significant budget cuts and the decommissioning of a number of spacecraft, including MAVEN. He says wiping out the space agency’s science missions could have detrimental long-term consequences.
“It was actually looking at planets like Mars and also looking at planets like Venus that made scientists on Earth realize our climate and our planet is not this fixed, unchanging sphere. Things can go really, really, really wrong over the course of long periods of time,” said Dreier.
“Understanding that we weren’t owed an atmosphere, that we aren’t owed this protection from our magnetic field, puts this into context that the life and the habitat that we have here on Earth is actually very rare, but it’s also relies on and is protected by a number of these external factors that we are really just beginning to understand over the last generation or two,” he added.
