US flight cancellations accelerate as airlines comply with government shutdown order

U.S. airlines began canceling hundreds of flights Thursday due to the Federal Aviation Administration’s order to reduce traffic at the country’s busiest airports starting Friday because of the government shutdown.

More than 790 planned Friday flights were cut from airline schedules, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks flight disruptions. That number, already four times higher than Thursday's daily total, was likely to keep climbing.

The 40 airports selected by the FAA span more than two dozen states and include hubs such as Atlanta, Dallas, Denver, Los Angeles and Charlotte, North Carolina, according to the agency's order, which was published Thursday evening. In some metropolitan areas, including New York, Houston, Chicago and Washington, multiple airports will be impacted.

The FAA said in the order that the reductions will start Friday at 4% and ramp up to 10% by Nov. 14. They are to be in effect between 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. local time and impact all commercial airlines.

The decision to reduce service at “high-volume” markets is meant to maintain travel safety as air traffic controllers exhibit signs of strain during the shutdown. It also comes as the Trump administration is ramping up pressure on Democrats in Congress to end the shutdown.

___

Federal judge orders Trump administration to fully fund SNAP benefits in November

A federal judge in Rhode Island ordered the Trump administration Thursday to find the money to fully fund SNAP benefits for November, a decision that the administration promptly appealed.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge John J. McConnell Jr. gave President Donald Trump's administration until Friday to make the payments through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, though it's unlikely the 42 million Americans — about 1 in 8, most of them in poverty — will see the money on the debit cards they use for groceries nearly that quickly.

The order was in response to a challenge from cities and nonprofits complaining that the administration was only offering to cover 65% of the maximum benefit, a decision that would have left some recipients getting nothing for this month.

“The defendants failed to consider the practical consequences associated with this decision to only partially fund SNAP,” McConnell said in a ruling from the bench after a brief hearing. “They knew that there would be a long delay in paying partial SNAP payments and failed to consider the harms individuals who rely on those benefits would suffer.”

McConnell was one of two judges who ruled last week that the administration could not skip November’s benefits entirely because of the federal shutdown.

___

Supreme Court lets Trump block transgender and nonbinary people from choosing passport sex markers

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to enforce a policy blocking transgender and nonbinary people from choosing passport sex markers that align with their gender identity.

The decision is Trump’s latest win on the court's emergency docket, and allows the administration to enforce the policy while a lawsuit over it plays out. It halts a lower-court order requiring the government to keep letting people choose male, female or X on their passport to correspond with their gender identity on new or renewed passports. The court’s three liberal justices dissented.

The high court has sided with the government in nearly two dozen short-term orders on a range of policies since the start of Trump's second term, including another case barring transgender people from serving in the military.

In a brief, unsigned order, the conservative-majority court said the policy isn't discriminatory. “Displaying passport holders’ sex at birth no more offends equal protection principles than displaying their country of birth,” it said. “In both cases, the Government is merely attesting to a historical fact without subjecting anyone to differential treatment."

The court’s three liberal justices disagreed, saying in a dissent that those passports make transgender people vulnerable to “increased violence, harassment, and discrimination.”

___

Musk could become history's first trillionaire as Tesla shareholders approve giant pay package

NEW YORK (AP) — The world’s richest man was just handed a chance to become history’s first trillionaire.

Elon Musk won a shareholder vote on Thursday that would give the Tesla CEO stock worth $1 trillion if he hits certain performance targets over the next decade. The vote followed weeks of debate over his management record at the electric car maker and whether anyone deserved such unprecedented pay, drawing heated commentary from small investors to giant pension funds and even the pope.

In the end, more than 75% of voters approved the plan as shareholders gathered in Austin, Texas, for their annual meeting.

“Fantastic group of shareholders," Musk said after the final vote was tallied, adding “Hang on to your Tesla stock.”

The vote is a resounding victory for Musk showing investors still have faith in him as Tesla struggles with plunging sales, market share and profits in no small part due to Musk himself. Car buyers fled the company this year as he has ventured into politics both in the U.S. and Europe, and trafficked in conspiracy theories.

___

Nancy Pelosi won't seek reelection, ending her storied career in the US House

WASHINGTON (AP) — Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi will not seek reelection to the U.S. House, bringing to a close her storied career as not only the first woman in the speaker's office but arguably the most powerful in American politics.

Pelosi, who has represented San Francisco for nearly 40 years, announced her decision Thursday.

“I will not be seeking reelection to Congress,” Pelosi said in a video address to voters.

Pelosi, appearing upbeat and forward-looking as images of her decades of accomplishments filled the frames, said she would finish out her final year in office. And she left those who sent her to Congress with a call to action to carry on the legacy of agenda-setting both in the U.S. and around the world.

“My message to the city I love is this: San Francisco, know your power,” she said. “We have made history. We have made progress. We have always led the way.”

___

Kazakhstan will join the Abraham Accords with Israel in symbolic move to boost the Trump initiative

WASHINGTON (AP) — Kazakhstan is set to join the Abraham Accords between Israel and Arab and Muslim majority countries in a symbolic move aimed at boosting the initiative that was a hallmark of President Donald Trump’s first administration.

The action, announced Thursday, is largely symbolic as Kazakhstan has had diplomatic relations with Israel since 1992 and is much farther geographically from Israel than the other Abraham Accord nations — Bahrain, Morocco, Sudan and the United Arab Emirates.

Those countries agreed to normalize relations with Israel as a result of joining the accords, something Kazakhstan did shortly after gaining independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The move was first confirmed to The Associated Press by three U.S. officials who insisted on anonymity to detail plans that hadn't yet been made public. Hours later, Trump posted on his social media site that he’d had “a great call between Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of Israel, and President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, of Kazakhstan” and that Kazakhstan is the “first Country of my Second Term to join the Abraham Accords, the first of many.”

Trump called Kazakhstan joining “a major step forward in building bridges across the World” and said “more Nations are lining up to embrace Peace and Prosperity through my Abraham Accords.”

___

Trump unveils deal to expand coverage and lower costs on obesity drugs

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump unveiled a deal Thursday with drugmakers Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk to expand coverage and reduce prices for the popular obesity treatments Zepbound and Wegovy.

Known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, the drugs have soared in popularity in recent years, but patient access has been a consistent problem because of their cost — around $500 a month for higher doses — and insurance coverage has been spotty. More than 100 million American adults are obese, according to federal estimates.

Coverage of the drugs for obesity will expand to Medicare patients starting next year, according to the administration, which said some lower prices also will be phased in for patients without coverage. Starting doses of new, pill versions of the treatments also will cost $149 a month if they are approved.

“(It) will save lives, improve the health of millions and millions of Americans,” said Trump, in an Oval Office announcement in which he referred to GLP-1s as a “fat drug.”

Thursday's announcement is the latest attempt by the Trump administration to rein in soaring drug prices in its efforts to address cost-of-living concerns among voters. Pfizer and AstraZeneca recently agreed to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicaid after an executive order in May set a deadline for drugmakers to electively lower prices or face new limits on what the government will pay.

___

A former teacher shot by student, 6, wins $10M jury verdict against ex-assistant principal

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. (AP) — A jury in Virginia awarded $10 million Thursday to a former teacher who was shot by a 6-year-old student, siding with her claims in a lawsuit that an ex-administrator ignored repeated warnings that the child had a gun.

The jury returned its decision against Ebony Parker, a former assistant principal at Richneck Elementary School in Newport News.

Abby Zwerner was shot in January 2023 as she sat at a reading table in her first-grade classroom. She had sought $40 million against Parker in the lawsuit.

Zwerner spent nearly two weeks in the hospital, required six surgeries and does not have the full use of her left hand. A bullet narrowly missed her heart and remains in her chest.

Zwerner did not address reporters outside the courthouse after the decision was announced. One of her attorneys, Diane Toscano, said the verdict sends a message that what happened at the school "was wrong and is not going to be tolerated, that safety has to be the first concern at school. I think it’s a great message.”

___

There are more than 100 autoimmune diseases, and they mostly strike women. Here's what to know

Our immune system has a dark side: It’s supposed to fight off invaders to keep us healthy. But sometimes it turns traitor and attacks our own cells and tissues.

What are called autoimmune diseases can affect just about every part of the body – and tens of millions of people. While most common in women, these diseases can strike anyone, adults or children, and they’re on the rise.

New research is raising the prospect of treatments that might do more than tamp down symptoms. Dozens of clinical trials are testing ways to reprogram an immune system-gone-rogue, with some promising early successes against lupus, myositis and certain other illnesses. Other researchers are hunting ways to at least delay brewing autoimmune diseases, spurred by a drug that can buy some time before people show symptoms of Type 1 diabetes.

“This is probably the most exciting time that we’ve ever had to be in autoimmunity,” said Dr. Amit Saxena, a rheumatologist at NYU Langone Health.

Here are some things to know.

___

Cowboys' Marshawn Kneeland found dead of apparent suicide at 24 after evading officers, police say

Police in a Dallas suburb say 24-year-old Dallas Cowboys defensive end Marshawn Kneeland was found dead of an apparent suicide after evading authorities in his vehicle and fleeing the scene of an accident on foot.

Frisco police said Thursday they are investigating the suicide. They said Kneeland didn't stop for Texas Department of Public Safety troopers over a traffic violation in a chase that was joined by Frisco police on Wednesday night.

Authorities lost sight of the vehicle before locating it crashed minutes later. During the search after Kneeland fled the crash site on foot, officers said they received word that Kneeland might be suicidal.

As authorities were looking for Kneeland, a dispatcher told officers that people who knew him had received a group text from Kneeland “saying goodbye. They’re concerned for his welfare,” according to recordings from Broadcastify, which archives public safety radio feeds.

“We’re talking to the girlfriend. She’s trying to call his agent. But we’re trying to get her to call him first. But she’s saying he is armed and has a history of mental illness. And her quote was, ‘He will end it all,’” another dispatcher told officers.

News from © The Associated Press, 2025