Today is Tuesday, April 1, the 91st day of 2025. There are 274 days left in the year. This is April Fool’s Day.
Today in history:
On April 1, 1945, American forces launched the amphibious invasion of Okinawa during World War II. (U.S. forces succeeded in capturing the Japanese island on June 22 after a battle in which more than 240,000 died, including as many as 150,000 Okinawan civilians.)
Also on this date:
In 1924, Adolf Hitler was sentenced to five years in prison for his role in the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. (Hitler would serve just nine months of the sentence, during which time he completed the first volume of “Mein Kampf.”)
In 1946, a magnitude 8.6 earthquake centered near Alaska’s Aleutian Islands triggered a tsunami that pounded the Hawaiian Islands with waves up to 55 feet (17 meters) tall, killing 159.
In 1970, President Richard M. Nixon signed a measure banning cigarette advertising on radio and television beginning in January 1971.
In 1976, Apple Computer was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Wozniak and Ronald Wayne.
In 1984, singer Marvin Gaye was shot and killed by his father after Gaye intervened in an argument between his parents at their home.
In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country in the world to legalize same-sex marriage.
In 2003, American troops raided a hospital in Nasiriyah (nah-sih-REE’-uh), Iraq, and rescued Army Pfc. Jessica Lynch, who had been held prisoner since her unit was ambushed on March 23.
Today’s Birthdays:
Actor Ali MacGraw is 86.
Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito is 75.
Actor Annette O’Toole is 73.
Filmmaker Barry Sonnenfeld is 72.
Singer Susan Boyle is 64.
Hockey Hall of Famer Scott Stevens is 61.
Rapper-actor Method Man is 54.
Political commentator Rachel Maddow is 52.
Actor David Oyelowo is 49.
Comedian-actor Taran Killam is 43.
Actor Asa Butterfield is 28.
Landing craft with U.S. infantrymen aboard heading into beach on April 1, 1945, during the invasion of Okinawa against Japanese forces. (AP Photo)
Today is Wednesday, March 26, the 85th day of 2025. There are 280 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On March 26, 2018, a toxicology report obtained by The Associated Press revealed that the late pop superstar Prince had levels of fentanyl in his body that multiple experts described as “exceedingly high.”
Also on this date:
In 1812, an earthquake devastated Caracas, Venezuela, causing as many as 30,000 deaths. (The U.S. Congress later approved $50,000 in food aid to be sent to Venezuela — the first example of American disaster assistance abroad.)
In 1917, the Seattle Metropolitans became the first American ice hockey team to win the Stanley Cup, defeating the Montreal Canadiens 9-1 to win the championship series, three games to one.
In 1979, a peace treaty was signed by Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat and witnessed by President Jimmy Carter at the White House.
In 1992, a judge in Indianapolis sentenced former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson to six years in prison on rape charges. (Tyson would ultimately serve less than three years of the sentence.)
In 1997, the bodies of 39 members of the Heaven’s Gate religious cult who took their own lives were found inside a rented mansion in Rancho Santa Fe, California.
In 2013, Italy’s top criminal court overturned the acquittal of American Amanda Knox in the grisly murder of British roommate Meredith Kercher and ordered Knox to stand trial again. (Although convicted in absentia, Knox was exonerated by the Italian Supreme Court in 2015.)
In 2021, Dominion Voting Systems filed a $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News, saying the cable news giant falsely claimed that the voting company rigged the 2020 election. (Fox would eventually agree to pay Dominion $787.5 million in one of the largest defamation settlements in U.S. history.)
In 2024, Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed after being struck by a container ship, killing six maintenance workers on the bridge. (Maryland officials have announced plans to replace the bridge by late 2028.)
Today’s Birthdays:
Basketball Hall of Famer Wayne Embry is 88.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is 85.
Author Erica Jong is 83.
Journalist Bob Woodward is 82.
Singer Diana Ross is 81.
Rock singer Steven Tyler (Aerosmith) is 77.
Actor-comedian Vicki Lawrence is 76.
Actor-comedian Martin Short is 75.
Country singer Ronnie McDowell is 75.
Country singer Charly McClain is 69.
TV personality Leeza Gibbons is 68.
Football Hall of Famer Marcus Allen is 65.
Actor Jennifer Grey is 65.
Basketball Hall of Famer John Stockton is 63.
Actor Michael Imperioli is 59.
Country singer Kenny Chesney is 57.
Actor Leslie Mann is 53.
Google co-founder Larry Page is 52.
Rapper Juvenile is 50.
Actor Keira Knightley is 40.
Actor-comedian Ramy Youssef is 34.
2016 AP YEAR END PHOTOS – Flowers lie on a T-shirt signed by fans of singer Prince at a makeshift memorial place created outside the Apollo Theater in New York on April 22, 2016. The pop star died at the age of 57. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki, File)
LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of passengers faced flight cancellations at Europe’s busiest travel hub after a fire knocked out power to London’s Heathrow Airport, forcing it to close for the day.
At least 1,350 flights to and from Heathrow were affected, including several from U.S. cities that were canceled, flight tracking service FlightRadar 24 said.
Here’s the latest:
___
United Airlines offers travel waiver to Heathrow customers
United Airlines says that it is offering a travel waiver to its customers while Heathrow is closed so that they can switch to eligible flights to Amsterdam, Brussels, Paris or Edinburgh. The airline said that all flights scheduled to arrive at Heathrow on Friday are canceled due to the closure.
Eurostar adding trains to help travelers
Eurostar says it is adding two additional trains between London and Paris to accommodate passengers stranded by Heathrow’s shutdown.
The high-speed train that goes beneath the English Channel said it was increasing capacity by 882 passengers per train on Friday.
Heathrow says it doesn’t know when power will be restored
Heathrow Airport says it doesn’t know when power will be restored and expects disruption to last for days after an electrical substation fire nearby.
The airport said in a statement it does not have “clarity on when power may be reliably restored.”
It said it expects “significant disruption over the coming days and passengers should not travel to the airport under any circumstances until the airport reopens.”
Heathrow earlier said the airport is not expected to reopen until Saturday.
Analysts say Heathrow closure raises worrying questions
While the cause of the fire that shut down Heathrow Airport is still unclear, analysts say the incident raises concerns about the U.K.’s ability to withstand attacks or natural disasters that damage critical infrastructure such as communications and power networks.
It’s particularly worrisome given recent comments by Britain’s security services that Russia is conducting a reckless campaign of sabotage across Europe, said Alan Mendoza, the executive director of the Henry Jackson Society, a London-based think tank focused on security and democracy in Europe.
“The U.K.’s critical national infrastructure is not sufficiently hardened for anywhere near the level it would need to be at to give us confidence this won’t happen again,” Mendoza said.
“I mean, if one fire can shut down Heathrow’s primary systems and then apparently the backup systems as well, it tells you something’s badly wrong with our system of management of such disasters,” he added.
European airline shares fall on main indexes
The Heathrow disruption weighed on shares of European airlines, which posted declines that outpaced the fall in broader main stock indexes on Friday.
Shares of International Airlines Group, which owns British Airways, were down 1.4% after falling as much as 3% in early trading. Shares of Lufthansa, which operates Germany’s biggest carrier as well as Austrian Airlines, Brussels Airlines and others, fell 1.3%. Air France-KLM, which operates the main carriers in France the Netherlands, slid 1.3%.
German leisure and tourism company TUI, which owns five airlines including one that serves the British market, slid 1.8%. Other European airlines that don’t operate at Heathrow were also dragged down by the negative sentiment. Wizz Air shares declined 1.4%, easyJet was down 0.7% and Ryanair dipped 0.8.
UK prime minister calls for rigorous investigation into fire
The British government says “clearly there are questions to answer” about how a single fire could shut down Europe’s busiest airport.
A spokesperson for Prime Minister Keir Starmer said there must be a rigorous investigation to make sure “this scale of disruption does not happen again.”
Tom Wells said the most pressing task is to extinguish the fire, which is still burning on Friday. He said that “at the moment the priority is to deal with the incident in hand.”
He said “it’s very premature” to speculate on the cause of the blaze.
US flight operations normal as Delta issues waiver for Heathrow passengers
Flight operations remained normal in the United States on Friday despite the Heathrow fire, according to the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration.
Delta Airlines has issued a travel waiver through Sunday for customers who need to rebook their flights due to the Heathrow fire, a spokesperson said in a statement.
The company canceled 10 flights scheduled to depart from Heathrow on Friday.
No indication of foul play in London blaze, police say
Police say there is so far no indication of foul play in blaze that shut Heathrow but counterterror detectives leading the investigation into its cause.
The Metropolitan Police force says that is because of the location of the electrical substation fire and its impact on critical national infrastructure.
The force says counterterrorism command has “specialist resources and capabilities” that can help find the cause quickly.
Starmer thanks emergency services tackling blaze
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says he is receiving regular updates on the fire that has shut down Heathrow Airport, as he thanked the emergency services tacking the blaze.
Starmer posted on X: “I know the situation in Heathrow is causing distress and disruption, especially for those traveling or without power in their homes. I’m receiving regular updates and I’m in close contact with partners on the ground. Thanks to our emergency workers for keeping people safe.”
The Heathrow closure is drawing comparisons to the 2010 Icelandic volcano eruption that closed much of European airspace for five days out of fears volcanic ash could damage jet engines.
The eruption of the volcano Eyjafjallajokull (ay-yah-FYAH’-lah-yer-kuhl), after two centuries of silence, spewed an ash cloud that closed Europe’s airspace and grounded millions of travelers. Iceland was briefly infamous as the country that stopped the world.
Scandinavian Airlines cancels 12 round-trip London flights
Scandinavian Airlines has canceled all 12 of its flights to and from London Heathrow on Friday.
“We are closely monitoring the situation and remain in continuous dialogue with Heathrow. Naturally, we hope for a swift resolution,” the company said in a statement.
Known as SAS, it’s considered the national airline of Denmark, Norway, and Sweden.
Hopes dashed for family seeking to travel home to Texas
At Heathrow’s Terminal 5, a family of five traveling to Dallas had shown up in the hopes their flight home — still listed as delayed — would take off.
But when Andrea Sri brought her brother, sister-in-law and their three children to the airport, they were told by police that there would be no flight.
“It was a waste of time. Very confusing,” said Sri, who lives in London. “We tried to get in touch with British Airways, but they don’t open their telephone line until 8 a.m.”
Other London-area airports could reroute stranded travelers
Heathrow is one of the world’s biggest airports, but there are five others in the wider London area as well.
Travelers might be able to rebook through the remaining five airports — City, Gatwick, Luton, Stansted and Southend — in the aftermath of Heathrow’s closure.
However, they aren’t all easy to reach from Heathrow. While City is in inner London, and buses link Heathrow with Gatwick, the others are further out. Southend is about a 78-mile drive from Heathrow, around the congested M25 orbital highway and then out to the eastern coast of England.
Witnesses describe fireball and loud explosion from substation blaze
LONDON — Residents in west London have described hearing a large explosion, followed by a fireball and clouds of smoke, when a blaze ripped through an electrical substation near Heathrow Airport.
Matthew Muirhead, who was working a night shift, said that at about 11:30 p.m. Thursday he saw smoke rising over trees, then “a bright flash of white and all the lights in town went out.”
Delivery driver Adeel Anwar said the heat and billowing smoke from the blaze were “absolutely apocalyptic.” He told Sky News that as he drove past the substation “I just felt the heat … I tried to just get out of the area as quick as possible.”
Firefighters brought the blaze under control after seven hours and were still working to douse the flames on Friday. No injuries were reported.
Electricity supplier National Grid said power was restored to 62,000 customers by Friday morning, with 4,900 still without electricity.
Air India suspends Heathrow flights, with one turning around in midair
NEW DELHI — All Air India flights to Heathrow were suspended until Friday midnight, the carrier said in a statement, adding that it will “update about resumption of operations as soon as we have more information.”
The airline also said one of its flights had to return midair to Mumbai and another was diverted to Frankfurt. The company didn’t specify how many flights were affected in total.
Some passengers at New Delhi’s Indira Gandhi International Airport said they had been informed of cancellations, while others said they were still waiting for the airline to provide them with alternate flights.
“As soon I went inside to get my boarding pass, they (airline staff) told us that the flight has been canceled and there is no flight for next two, three days,” passenger Vikas Swarup said.
Emma Fulton, who was in India’s Jaipur city for a wedding, said she received a text message en route to the airport.
“We had a text message about 20 mins before we arrived here, but we were already on the road,” she said.
9 flights through Dubai canceled after Heathrow closure
DUBAI — Eight outbound flights from Dubai International Airport to Heathrow, and one inbound from London to Dubai, were canceled Friday, according to Dubai Airports.
Travelers were told to contact their airlines for rebooking options.
What should travelers do?
Any travelers impacted by the Heathrow closure should contact their airline.
If a phone call doesn’t go through, travelers can also try contacting the airline on social media. Several airlines were responding to passengers’ posts on social platform X on Friday. A representative for British Airways, for example, was telling customers on X to send a direct message to the airline’s account so they could assist in rebooking.
For customers who are seeking a refund or other compensation, a European Union regulation known as EU261 could apply. Because the United Kingdom is no longer part of the EU, however, not every flight will be covered under EU261. The regulation covers flights within the EU, as well as flights departing from the EU to a non-EU country.
London flights from Barcelona and Madrid canceled
Spanish airport operator Aena said on Friday morning that 20 flights to and from Madrid and Barcelona had been canceled due to the Heathrow power outage. A total of 54 flights headed to or departing from Spanish airports were affected.
In a post on X, the state-controlled commercial airport operator advised travelers to contact airlines for more information about disrupted flights.
‘An incredibly long day’ for travelers
GLASGOW — Lawrence Hayes was three-quarters of the way to London from John F. Kennedy International in New York when Virgin Atlantic announced they were being diverted to Glasgow.
“It was a red-eye flight and I’d already had a full day, so I don’t even know how long I’ve been up for,” Hayes told the BBC as he was getting off the plane in Scotland. “Luckily I managed to get hold of my wife and she’s kindly booked me a train ticket to get back to Euston (railway station in London), but it’s going to be an incredibly long day.”
Ryanair adds ‘rescue flights’ between Dublin and London Stansted
DUBLIN — Ryanair has added eight “rescue flights” between Dublin and Stansted, another London airport, on Friday and Saturday to help travelers impacted by the fire at Heathrow, the budget airline announced.
Ryanair does not operate at Heathrow.
Four of the flights will occur Friday afternoon, and the remaining on Saturday morning.
Lufthansa Group cancels flights to and from Heathrow
BERLIN — All flights by Lufthansa Group to and from Heathrow were canceled on Friday.
The company didn’t specify how many flights were affected in total, but said in an emailed statement that “passengers affected by the flight cancellations have been rebooked on other flights and informed about it.”
Lufthansa Group includes Germany’s biggest airline, Lufthansa, as well as Austrian Airlines, Swiss, Brussels Airlines and others.
No evidence that substation fire was suspicious, UK officials say
LONDON — British officials working to determine the cause of an electrical substation fire that shut Heathrow Airport have not yet found evidence it’s suspicious.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband says “it’s too early to say” what caused the huge blaze, but there’s “no suggestion” of foul play.
London’s Metropolitan Police say the fire brigade is leading the investigation, suggesting it’s not thought to be criminal.
Flights from Tokyo diverted or turned around
TOKYO — The closure of Heathrow forced two Japanese flights that had already departed to return to Tokyo and a third to change its destination, airline officials said.
Japan Airlines said one of its two Heathrow-bound flights Friday returned to Tokyo’s Haneda international airport, and another one diverted to the Finnish capital, Helsinki. A third flight out of Tokyo, operated by All Nippon Airways, another major Japanese carrier, also returned to Haneda.
Airline officials advised passengers to check the latest flight information for Saturday.
Birdsong replaces aircraft noise for Heathrow neighbors
The noise from Europe’s busiest airport is a constant bugbear for those who live nearby, but has temporarily fallen silent.
“Basically living near Heathrow is noisy. There are planes every 90 seconds or so, plus the constant hum of traffic, but you get used to it, to the point of no longer noticing,” said James Henderson, who has lived next to Heathrow for over 20 years.
“Today is different. You can hear the birds singing.”
Qantas diverts Heathrow flights to Paris
Australian airline Qantas diverted its Singapore-London and Perth-London flights to Paris on Friday and then bused the travelers to London, a spokesperson said.
Customers will be contacted directly if their flight is impacted.
Aviation expert compares impact to 9/11 or Icelandic volcano
LONDON — Aviation consultant John Strickland says it will take several days for global airline travel to recover from a daylong closure of Heathrow Airport.
He said: “We’re talking about several days’ worth of disruption to get the planes recovered and start using them again to move planned and disrupted passengers.”
Strickland compared the disruption to “a contained version of 9/11 or, to an extent, the Icelandic volcanic eruption” that shut European airspace in 2010.
“I remembered seeing on those occasions – particularly more so on 9/11 – it happened so quick and then U.S. airspace was closed, they were turning back aircraft and holding planes. That’s the parallel I would make.
“Heathrow being such a busy airport and full, there’s no kind of wriggle room for getting out of these kind of things.”
Heathrow closure has widespread impact on air travel
The closure of Heathrow rippled through global aviation. The long-haul carrier Emirates in Dubai, which has London as one of its top destinations, canceled six round-trip flights to Heathrow on Friday alone.
Etihad in neighboring Abu Dhabi canceled two round-trip flights, while one flight diverted to Frankfurt, Germany. Qatar Airways said at least seven scheduled flights were “impacted,” with its staff working with passengers.
Blaze that shut down Heathrow is unprecedented, UK government minister says
A British government minister says a “catastrophic” fire knocked out a backup generator as well as the electrical substation that supplies power to Heathrow Airport.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband told the BBC that the blaze is “unprecedented.”
He said it’s too early to know the cause but that lessons will have to be learned about “protection and the resilience that is in place for major institutions like Heathrow.”
Flights from Hong Kong rerouted to Amsterdam, airline says
Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific Airways rerouted two overnight flights to Amsterdam and canceled at least two daytime flights to Heathrow, according to the flight status page on its website.
Fire that closed Heathrow is now under control but not out
The London Fire Brigade says the electrical substation blaze closed Heathrow Airport is under control.
The fire caused a widespread power outage, affecting thousands of homes, local businesses, and disrupting thousands of flights.
LFB Assistant Commissioner Pat Goulbourne says the fire was under control just after 8 a.m.
“This was a very visible and significant incident, and our firefighters worked tirelessly in challenging conditions to bring the fire under control as swiftly as possible,” he said. “Thanks to their efforts and a coordinated multi-agency response, we successfully contained the fire and prevented further spread.”
Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports
Heathrow is one of the world’s busiest airports for international travel. It had its busiest January on record earlier this year, with more than 6.3 million passengers, up more than 5% for the same period last year. January also was the 11th month in a row it averaged over 200,000 passengers a day, with the airport citing trans-Atlantic travel as a key contributor.
Heathrow normally opens for flights at 6 a.m. due to nighttime flying restrictions. It said the closure would last until 11:59 p.m. Friday.
The U.K. government earlier this year approved building a third runway at the airport to boost the economy and connectivity to the world.
Flights turn around as airport closes
Seven United Airlines flights returned to their origin or diverted to other airports and its flights Friday to Heathrow were canceled, the airline said.
The FlightAware website showed more cancellations including two from John F. Kennedy International in New York, a Delta Airlines flight and an American Airlines flight.
Other jets were diverted to Gatwick Airport outside London, Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris and Ireland’s Shannon Airport, tracking services showed.
National Rail canceled all trains to and from the airport.
Fire cuts off power to Heathrow and thousands of homes
Flames soared into the sky when a transformer at an electrical substation caught fire in west London late Thursday night. The fire continued to smolder after daybreak.
Scottish and Southern Electricity Networks said in a post on X the power outage affected more than 16,300 homes. About 150 people were evacuated.The cause of the fire is yet to be determined.
A passenger stands in front of a flight information screen showing cancelled flights destined for the Heathrow Airport in London, at the Indira Gandhi International Airport, in New Delhi, India, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Shonal Ganguly)
More than 1,300 flights were canceled and hundreds of thousands of journeys were disrupted following the blaze at an electrical substation, whose cause is under investigation.
Here is a look at some past incidents:
July 2024: Faulty software causes chaos
A faulty software update sent to millions of Microsoft customers by cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike caused technological havoc worldwide. Airlines lost access to their booking systems, thousands of flights were canceled and tens of thousands were delayed, leading to long lines at airports in the U.S., Europe, Asia and Latin America.
August 2023: UK air traffic control problems
A glitch at Britain’s National Air Traffic Services in August 2023 meant flight plans had to be processed manually, rather than automatically. Hundreds of flights were delayed or canceled at the height of the summer holidays. The NATS system had already suffered several software-related failures in the years after it opened in 2002.
March 2020: COVID-19 pandemic
As a new coronavirus spread around the globe in early 2020, the world’s airports shut down. Many governments closed national borders and imposed travel restrictions. By April, the number of flights around the world had fallen by 80%. When air travel resumed, it was with masks, mandatory coronavirus tests and other measures that made flying more onerous and expensive. It wasn’t until 2024 that global passenger numbers reached 2019 levels again.
December 2018: Gatwick drone sightings
More than 140,000 travelers were stranded or delayed after dozens of drone sightings shut down London Gatwick, south of the U.K. capital and Britain’s second-busiest airport, for parts of three consecutive days before Christmas. A monthslong police investigation failed to identify the culprits or determine how many of the sightings were real.
May 2017: British Airways IT glitch
A computer failure at a British Airways data center forced the airline to cancel all flights from Heathrow and Gatwick on a holiday weekend. The airline blamed a power-supply issue for the incident which affected some 75,000 travelers.
August 2016: Delta outage
Delta Air Lines planes around the world were grounded when an electrical component failed and led to a shutdown of the transformer that provides power to the carrier’s data center. Delta said that it canceled more than 2,000 flights and lost $100 million in revenue as a result of the outage.
April 2010: Iceland’s volcano
People around the world learned how to pronounce the name of Iceland’s tongue-twisting Eyjafjallajökull volcano (ay-yah-FYAH-lah-yer-kuhl) after it roared to life, sending plumes of ash and dust into the atmosphere. Airspace over northern Europe was shut for several days and airlines canceled flights between Europe and North America because of concerns the ash could damage jet engines. More than 100,000 flights were canceled, stranding millions of passengers, at an estimated cost of $3 billion.
September 2001: 9/11
U.S. airspace was closed to commercial flights on Sept. 11, 2011 after hijackers crashed planes into the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon and a field in Pennsylvania. Thousands of planes were grounded and flights in the air heading for the U.S. were diverted to Canada and Mexico. Flights began to resume two days later, but air travel was forever altered, with passengers facing more rigorous security, more intrusive scrutiny and longer lines.
Traveller Lauren Clark, left, and Shahin Jade Ali wait at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport after a fire at Heathrow Airport in London forced its closure, leading to numerous flight cancellations, in Mumbai, India, Friday, March 21, 2025. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade)
Here’s a look at what’s happening and its impact on air travel.
What happened?
A fire at an electrical substation in west London, about 2 miles (3 kilometers) from the airport, knocked out power to Heathrow Airport just before midnight on Thursday.
The “significant power outage” forced officials to shut the airport until 11:59 p.m. on Friday “to maintain the safety of our passengers and colleagues.”
The London Fire Brigade said 10 fire engines and 70 firefighters responded to a fire at the substation that was reported at 11:23 p.m. on Thursday. The fire has been contained but firefighters will remain at the scene throughout Friday, the fire brigade said.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband said the “catastrophic” fire appeared to have knocked out a backup generator as well as the electrical substation that supplies power to Heathrow Airport.
National Grid, which maintains energy infrastructure in Britain, said the fire damaged equipment at the substation and crews are working to restore power supplies as quickly as possible. Power had been restored to 62,000 customers by 6 a.m. local time, but 4,900 were still without electricity.
What caused the fire?
The cause is still under investigation, and officials said there was “no suggestion” of foul play.
But the Metropolitan Police said counterterror detectives were leading the investigation into its cause because of the fire’s impact on critical national infrastructure.
“We don’t know the cause of this fire. It’s obviously an unprecedented event,” Miliband said, adding that the fire and subsequent shutdown of Heathrow raises questions about the resilience of the country’s key infrastructure.
How was Heathrow affected?
The disruption disrupted travel plans of the roughly 200,000 people who were expected to travel through Heathrow on Friday. Heathrow advised passengers not to travel to the airport and to contact their airlines to rebook flights.
With all take offs and landings canceled, the first impact was on dozens of long-haul flights from North America and Asia that were in the air when the airport was shutdown. Some were forced to turn around, while others were diverted to airports around the U.K. and Europe.
Heathrow-bound aircraft have landed at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam; Shannon Airport in western Ireland; Glasgow, Scotland; Manchester, England; Charles de Gaulle in Paris; Lyon, France; and Frankfurt, Germany, among others.
The impact on short-haul flights was delayed until Friday morning because flight operations at Heathrow are severely limited between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. every day to minimize overnight noise in surrounding communities. Even so, thousands of people will be unable to travel to and from airports around Europe and the U.K. on Friday.
Some 4,000 tons of cargo have also been stranded by the closure, according to Anita Mendiratta, an aviation consultant.
How long will the disruptions last?
Even if the airport reopens on Saturday, the disruptions are expected to last for days as airlines move stranded aircraft and flight crews back into position and work to accommodate passengers whose flights were canceled.
Mendiratta estimated that it would take two to four days to clear all the backlogs.
“This is an extreme situation where the entire aviation ecosystem is impacted,” Mendiratta said.
“There will be two things that will be happening as a priority number one shall we say. First is airport operations and understanding, from an electrical system point of view, what has been impacted, if anything,” she added. “Did anything short out, for instance? What needs to be reactivated? And then how do you literally turn the airport back on again? Passenger and cargo.
“On top of that, there’s the issue of actually managing the human component of it. You have passengers that are impacted, crew are impacted and operations — so being able to re-mobilize everything.”
How big is Heathrow?
Heathrow was Europe’s busiest airport last year, with 83.6 million passengers traveling through the airport. Its closure will have far-reaching impacts because it is a major hub for connecting flights to cities throughout Britain and around the world, as well as for travel to London.
Does London have other airports?
Yes. Five other air hubs in southeastern England identify themselves as London airports, but they are much smaller than Heathrow. Gatwick, Britain’s second-biggest airport, handled 43.2 million passengers last year. It is in the town of Crawley, 28 miles south of London.
This image taken from video shows firefighters working to secure the area of a fire at the North Hyde electrical substation, which caught fire Thursday night and lead to a closure of Heathrow Airport in London, Friday, March 21, 2025. (Sky News via AP)
Today is Thursday, March 20, the 79th day of 2025. There are 286 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On March 20, 1995, in Tokyo, packages containing the deadly chemical sarin were opened on five separate subway trains in a domestic terror attack by members of the Aum Shinrikyo cult, causing 14 deaths and injuring more than 1,000.
Also on this date:
In 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte returned to Paris after escaping his exile on Elba, beginning his “Hundred Days” rule.
In 1852, Harriet Beecher Stowe’s influential novel about slavery, “Uncle Tom’s Cabin,” was first published in book form after being serialized in the abolitionist newspaper The National Era; it would become the best-selling novel of the 19th century.
In 1854, the Republican Party of the United States was founded by opponents of slavery at a schoolhouse in Ripon, Wisconsin.
In 1976, kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst was convicted of armed robbery for her part in a San Francisco bank holdup carried out by the Symbionese Liberation Army. (Hearst was sentenced to seven years in prison; she was released after serving 22 months and was pardoned in 2001 by President Bill Clinton.)
In 1987, azidothymidine (AZT) became the first medication approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat HIV/AIDS.
In 1996, a jury in Los Angeles convicted Erik and Lyle Menendez of first-degree murder in the shotgun slayings of their wealthy parents. (They were sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.)
In 2014, President Barack Obama ordered economic sanctions against nearly two dozen members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle and a major bank that provided them support, raising the stakes in an East-West showdown over Ukraine.
In 2018, in a phone call to Vladimir Putin, President Donald Trump offered congratulations on Putin’s re-election victory; a senior official said Trump had been warned in briefing materials that he should not congratulate Putin.
Today’s Birthdays:
Actor Hal Linden is 94.
Basketball Hall of Fame coach Pat Riley is 80.
Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr is 77.
Guitarist Jimmie Vaughan is 74.
Film director Spike Lee is 68.
Actor Holly Hunter is 67.
Model-entrepreneur Kathy Ireland is 62.
Actor David Thewlis is 62.
Actor Michael Rapaport is 55.
MMA commentator and former champion Daniel Cormier is 46.
Actor-singer Christy Carlson Romano is 41.
Tennis player Sloane Stephens is 32.
FILE – In this March 20, 1995 file photo, subway passengers affected by sarin gas planted in central Tokyo subways are carried into St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo. Even three years after the Aum Shinri Kyo cult’s terrorist attack, in which 12 people were killed and thousands were injured, many victims continue to suffer – both physically and mentally. (AP Photo/Chikumo Chiaki, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department is resisting a federal judge’s demand for more information about flights that took deportees to to El Salvador, arguing on Wednesday that the court should end its “continued intrusions” into the authority of the executive branch.
It’s the latest development in a showdown between the Trump administration and the judge who temporarily blocked deportations under an 18th century wartime declaration. President Donald Trump has called for the judge’s impeachment as the Republican escalates his conflict with a judiciary after a series of court setbacks over his executive actions.
U.S. District Judge Jeb Boasberg, who was nominated to the federal bench by Democratic President Barack Obama, had ordered the Trump administration to answer several questions under seal, where the information would not be publicly exposed. There were questions about the planes’ takeoff and landing times, and the number of people deported under Trump’s proclamation.
In court papers filed hours before the deadline to respond Wednesday, the Justice Department said the judge’s questions are “grave encroachments on core aspects of absolute and unreviewable Executive Branch authority relating to national security, foreign relations and foreign policy.” The department said it was considering invoking the “state secrets privilege” to allow the government to withhold some of the information sought by the court.
“The underlying premise of these orders … is that the Judicial Branch is superior to the Executive Branch, particularly on non-legal matters involving foreign affairs and national security. The Government disagrees,” Justice Department lawyers wrote. “The two branches are co-equal, and the Court’s continued intrusions into the prerogatives of the Executive Branch, especially on a non-legal and factually irrelevant matter, should end.”
Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, which has only been used three times before in U.S. history, all during congressionally declared wars. and claimed there was an invasion by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Boasberg ordered the administration not to deport, through that 1798 law, anyone in its custody.
Told there were planes in the air headed to El Salvador, Boasberg said Saturday evening that he and the government needed to move fast. “You shall inform your clients of this immediately, and that any plane containing these folks that is going to take off or is in the air needs to be returned to the United States,” Boasberg told the government’s lawyer.
Hours later, El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, said the deportees had arrived in his country. “Oopsie…too late” he said in a social media post, above an article referencing Boasberg’s order.
The administration contends that a judge lacks the authority to tell the president whether he can determine the country is being invaded under the act, or how to defend it.
Boasberg’s new order for answers came after the administration provided limited information in response to a sharp questioning from the judge at a Monday hearing.
The administration said in a filing Tuesday that two planes took off before Boasberg’s order went into effect, and a third plane that took off after the ruling came down did not include anyone deported under the law. The administration declined, however, to provide estimates about the number of people subject to the proclamation.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters during a Monday briefing that about 261 people were deported, including 137 under the law.
FILE – A mega-prison known as Detention Center Against Terrorism (CECOT) stands in Tecoluca, El Salvador, March 5, 2023. (AP Photo/Salvador Melendez, File)
Today is Tuesday, March 18, the 77th day of 2025. There are 288 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On March 18, 1990, two thieves posing as police officers subdued security guards at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum of Art in Boston and stole 13 works of art valued at over $500 million in the biggest art heist in history.
Also on this date:
In 1922, Mohandas K. Gandhi was sentenced in India to six years’ imprisonment for civil disobedience. (He was released after serving two years.)
In 1925, nearly 700 people died when the Tri-State Tornado struck southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and southwestern Indiana; it remains the deadliest single tornado in U.S. history.
In 1937, in America’s worst school disaster, nearly 300 people — most of them children — were killed in a natural gas explosion at the New London Consolidated School in Rusk County, Texas.
In 1942, President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an executive order authorizing the War Relocation Authority, which forced Japanese-Americans into internment camps during World War II.
In 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Gideon v. Wainwright, ruled unanimously that state courts were required to provide legal counsel to criminal defendants who could not afford to hire an attorney on their own.
In 1965, the first spacewalk took place as Soviet cosmonaut Alexei Leonov went outside his Voskhod 2 capsule, secured by a tether.
In 2018, a self-driving Uber SUV struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in the first death involving a fully autonomous test vehicle.
Today’s Birthdays:
Composer John Kander is 98.
Actor Brad Dourif is 75.
Jazz musician Bill Frisell is 74.
Filmmaker Luc Besson is 66.
TV personality Mike Rowe is 63.
Singer-actor Vanessa L. Williams is 62.
Olympic speed skating gold medalist Bonnie Blair is 61.
Rapper-actor Queen Latifah is 55.
Actor-comedian Dane Cook is 53.
Singer Adam Levine (Maroon 5) is 46.
Actor Lily Collins is 36.
FILE – This Monday, March 18, 2013, file copy photo of a poster provided by the FBI, shows a likeness of the stolen Vermeer painting, “The Concert,” that was stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in 1990. The museum says it’s doing the best it can with tours and lectures to help visitors appreciate the 13 paintings that were stolen. (AP Photo/FBI)
Today is Sunday, March 16, the 75th day of 2025. There are 290 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On March 16, 1968, during the Vietnam War, U.S. Army soldiers hunting for Viet Cong fighters and sympathizers killed as many as 500 unarmed villagers in two hamlets of Son My village, in what became known as the My Lai massacre.
Also on this date:
In 1802, President Thomas Jefferson signed a measure authorizing the establishment of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York.
In 1935, Adolf Hitler broke the military terms set by the Treaty of Versailles by ordering the rearming of Germany and resuming military conscription.
In 1968, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy of New York announced his candidacy for the Democratic presidential nomination.
In 1972, in a nationally broadcast address, President Richard Nixon called for a moratorium on court-ordered school busing to achieve racial desegregation.
In 1984, William Buckley, the CIA station chief in Beirut, was kidnapped by Hezbollah militants; he would be tortured by his captors and killed in 1985.
In 1985, Associated Press correspondent Terry Anderson was kidnapped in Beirut by Hezbollah militants; he would spend nearly seven years in captivity before being freed in December 1991.
In 1994, figure skater Tonya Harding pleaded guilty in Portland, Oregon, to conspiracy to hinder prosecution for covering up an attack on rival Nancy Kerrigan, avoiding jail but drawing a $100,000 fine and three years of probation.
In 2016, President Barack Obama nominated Merrick Garland to take the seat of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, who had died the previous month. Republicans who controlled the Senate would stick to their pledge to leave the seat empty until after the presidential election; they confirmed Trump nominee Neil Gorsuch in April 2017.
In 2020, global stocks plunged amid coronavirus concerns, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 2,997 points (12.9%), the largest point drop and second-largest single-day percentage decline in history.
Today’s Birthdays:
Business executive Sanford Weill is 92.
Actor Erik Estrada is 76.
Football Hall of Famer Joe DeLamielleure is 74.
Actor Isabelle Huppert is 72.
Rock musician Nancy Wilson (Heart) is 71.
Golf Hall of Famer Hollis Stacy is 71.
Football Hall of Famer Ozzie Newsome is 69.
Rapper-actor Flavor Flav is 66.
Folk musician Patty Griffin is 61.
Actor Lauren Graham is 58.
Actor Judah Friedlander is 56.
Actor Alan Tudyk is 54.
Actor Alexandra Daddario is 39.
R&B singer Jhené Aiko is 37.
Rock musician Wolfgang Van Halen is 34.
NBA center Joel Embiid is 31.
MLB first baseman Vladimir Guerrero Jr. is 26.
The Vietnamese flag flies over the village of Mai Lai 19 November 1969, where some 600 villagers were allegedly massacred by U.S Americal Division troops 16 March 1968. The U.S Army Criminal Investigation Division is probing the incident. AFP PHOTO DAVID LAMB (Photo credit should read DAVID LAMB/AFP via Getty Images)
The Long Island brush fires that startled communities across Suffolk County over the weekend were likely caused by a person attempting to cook s’mores in their backyard, officials said Monday.
One person was using cardboard while attempting to make s’mores in the backyard of a Center Moriches home, Suffolk County Police Commissioner Kevin Catalina said Monday.
The person struggled to create a flame for the toasted marshmallow dessert due to the winds but accidentally set their backyard on fire, Catalina said at a press conference. Firefighters doused the flames at the home by around 10:30 a.m.
However, embers from the initial blaze were blown southeast by strong winds out of the northwest, sparking the fires that eventually sent smoke soaring into the sky, Catalina said. The first 911 calls about the larger brush fires came in just before 1 p.m.
Firefighters respond to a brush fire in Suffolk County in New York’s Long Island on Saturday, March 8, 2025. (Steve Pfost/Newsday via AP)
“All of those fires are in a direct line with the strong northwest wind that was blowing that day,” Catalina said. “We feel very, very strongly that this is an accidental fire.”
By Monday morning, all visible flames had been extinguished and smoke-eaters were taking preventative measures to stop new fires from sparking. Conditions on Long Island are expected to remain dry throughout the week.
This image from video provided by Andrew Tallon shows smoke from fires on Long Island Saturday seen from Southampton, N.Y. (Andrew Tallon via AP)
Two firefighters were injured battling the flames but released from the hospital by Sunday afternoon. Two commercial buildings were damaged, but no residential structures were harmed.
OMAHA, Neb. — Looking forward to more evening sunlight thanks to daylight saving time this weekend?
Many in the golf industry like the time change, too, and they are pushing to make that annual switch permanent.
The move is intended to encourage more evening golf and to stave off efforts to establish permanent standard time, which would leave less time for an evening on the links. And it is those late afternoon players who tend to buy food and drinks in the clubhouse.
“We would lose 100 tee times a day if daylight saving time goes away,” said Connor Farrell, general manager of Stone Creek Golf Course in Omaha, Nebraska. “Switching to permanent standard time would cost us $500,000 a year.”
Golf played a big role in daylight savings time
Golf has deep roots in the history of daylight saving time, which begins for most states at 2 a.m. Sunday when clocks “spring forward” by one hour. Some credit goes to William Willett, a British builder and avid golfer who in 1905 published a pamphlet advocating for moving clocks ahead in April and returning them back to their regular settings in September. The U.S. adopted a version of that during World War I and again in World War II.
Congress passed the Uniform Time Act in 1966 that set up the biannual time change, and lobbying efforts by the golf industry are largely credited for Congress expanding daylight saving time by a month in the mid-1980s.
Lawmakers try to make standard time permanent
But for as long as it has been around, the constant clock adjusting has drawn the ire of Americans weary of losing an hour of sleep in the spring only to be faced with the early onset of darkness in the fall. That exhaustion has led to hundreds of bills introduced in nearly every state over the years to halt the practice.
The National Conference of State Legislatures reports that in the last six years, 20 states have passed measures calling for a switch to year-round daylight saving time, many at the cajoling of golf industry lobbyists. But while states could switch to permanent standard time — as Arizona and Hawaii have done — Congress would need to change the law to allow permanent daylight saving time.
That hindrance — along with arguments that permanent standard time would improve sleep quality and foster safer morning commutes — has seen more states consider opting out of daylight saving time. Lawmakers in more than a dozen states have introduced bills this year to make standard time permanent.
Nebraska is among several states considering competing bills to make either standard time or daylight saving time permanent. That drew Joe Kohout, a lobbyist for the Nebraska Golf Alliance, to testify in favor of year-round daylight saving time.
Late afternoon golf leagues account for up to 40% of the annual revenue of some Nebraska courses, Kohout said, while a majority of golf instructors reported that nearly 50% of their lessons are taught after 4 p.m.
Under permanent standard time, “Nebraska’s golf courses will lose revenue, be forced to raise prices, and in some cases could be driven out of business,” he said.
The Utah Golf Association is also fighting a bill to make standard time permanent.
“The argument that changing clocks twice a year is an inconvenience does not outweigh the year-round benefits of having more usable daylight hours in the evenings,” it posted on social media.
In Indiana, golf course owner Linda Rogers succeeded in lobbying the Legislature to institute daylight saving time in 2006. Now a state senator, Rogers is fighting an effort to return to permanent standard time.
“Daylight savings time allows someone that, you know, worked until 5 o’clock to come out and still play at least nine holes,” she said. “And it’s not just golf. There are so many outdoor activities that people want to be outside for and enjoy later in the summertime.”
Golf course owners like the status quo
The National Golf Course Owners Association, which has about 4,000 members, recently polled stakeholders on the matter. The vast majority favored either permanent daylight saving time or the status quo of changing the clocks, said CEO Jay Karen. Only about 6% backed a change to permanent standard time.
“If standard time was to be made permanent, thousands of courses would be harmed by that,” Karen said.
Even so, Karen’s group is not advocating for a change to permanent daylight saving because it could hurt hundreds of courses that cater to early morning golfers, he said. Those include courses in retirement communities, vacation resorts where late tee times interfere with dinner plans and Sun Belt courses where extreme late-day heat sees golfers favoring early tee times.
“We feel like status quo is no harm, no foul,” Karen said.
Republican Iowa state Rep. John Wills introduced a bill this year to make the change to permanent daylight savings. But he has been under pressure to amend the bill to permanent standard time.
Wills was considering it until he heard arguments on how that change could affect golf.
’“I think I might push back in the future and say, you know, the golf industry needs this,” he said.
A golfer shields away the sun after hitting a drive at the Columbus Park golf course in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood on Aug. 17, 2023. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
While deployed in Kosovo in May 2024, U.S. Army Reserve physical therapy assistant Elvia Azuara saw many stray cats running around one of the bases — including a sweet little black and white female kitty, known mostly as Fent.
Azuara noticed her one day during lunch and she fed fries to Fent. Soon, this became a regular bonding activity for them. “I guess she knew my routine,” Azuara said in an interview with Stacker. “Whenever I was there, she would just pop up out of nowhere and she would wait for her fries.”
But four months later, in October, Azuara got word that her deployment was ending — and she was devastated to leave the kitty, especially as winter approached. And that’s where Paws of War’s “War Torn Pups & Cats” program stepped in.
Drazen Zigic // Shutterstock
Ollie profiled the work of the U.S. nonprofit, which reunites military personnel with the animals they bonded with while serving overseas. Founded by Robert Misseri in 2014, Paws of War has helped rescue over 5,000 dogs and cats for nearly 1,000 veterans. The organization filled an increasing need for officers in the Air Force, Marines, Army, Coast Guard, and Army Reserves who served overseas, bonded with a dog or a cat, and didn’t want to leave them behind in an uncertain situation.
The organization serves a dual purpose by reuniting service members grappling with the aftermath of war with animals needing care. And for veterans suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, their furry companions not only bring joy but also help them heal.
“We have troops all over the world and the sacrifices that those people make is pretty great,” said Paws of War volunteer Gary Baumann, who volunteers with the “War Torn Pups & Cats” program. “We feel like asking them to leave these animals behind is a sacrifice they shouldn’t have to make,” he told Stacker.
Jaromir Chalabala // Shutterstock
High costs but high rewards
Azuara heard about the program from service members who had previously been deployed at the base. After she bonded with Fent, she submitted her application to bring the kitty home to the U.S.
“I was a little skeptical at the beginning, to be honest, because I was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know why would they do it for free,’” she said, “but I don’t lose anything by just checking it out.”
The “War Torn Pups & Cats” program costs nothing for service members—donors primarily fund it. In 2023, Paws of War raised over $4 million from contributions and grants.
After a soldier like Azuara applies, Paws of War volunteers and staff members all around the world team up to work on the logistics, exploring how possible it is to bring the pet to the United States. Dogs and cats need to see a qualified veterinarian for documentation and rabies vaccines before traveling internationally, but sometimes that vet is located hours away. The care can also vary in cost, depending on local currency and pricing.
“Recently we had a dog in Africa and we’ve done a few from bases there,” Baumann said. “It literally takes a donkey cart, a boat, couple cars and then, usually a motorcycle, something that can go through a little bit of brush to get these the dogs or cats to the city where we can get them to a vet and start processing them.”
The most expensive part of the process is transporting animals to the U.S. It often involves flying them in a plane as cargo, which can cost around $4,000 or more. The pet also must enter the country at a government-authorized airport.
For instance, cats from other countries can enter the U.S. through several airports, but the CDC only allows dogs from high-risk rabies countries to enter through six, including John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City and Los Angeles International Airport.
For the “War Torn” program, the expense is worth it for the organization, its soldiers, and the animals. Dogs and cats are believed to be capable of more complex emotions than most people realize and their reunions with the officers they bonded with may mean just as much to them as it does to the human.
For Azuara, the bond was as strong as ever. Three weeks after she put in her application, the program contacted her in November 2024 with good news: Fent was ready to travel to the U.S. and live with her.
The cat flew from Kosovo and entered the U.S. through JFK airport, eventually making it to Azuara’s home in Austin, Texas. Their reunion at the airport meant a lot to Azuara, who worried the kitty might forget her or not get along with her two dogs. But Fent — who Azuara renamed Frenzy — adjusted to her new home right away. Frenzy doesn’t get to eat fries anymore, but enjoys her proper cat food.
Now, Azuara is training to join the Travis County EMS. Having Frenzy, a major part of her overseas experience, in Texas has helped her readjust to the U.S.
“She’s definitely one of my huge grounding tools, when I was over there,” Azuara said. “When the situations were really stressful, she was something that would brighten up my day. And when I came back it’s really hard to transition and acclimate back into civilian life, but having her, it was kind of like having a little piece of where I was and a little reminder that, hey, it’s going to be okay.”
Story editing by Alizah Salario. Additional editing by Elisa Huang. Copy editing by Kristen Wegrzyn. Photo selection by Lacy Kerrick.
This story originally appeared on Ollie and was produced and distributed in partnership with Stacker Studio.
The cost of child care now exceeds the price of college tuition in 38 states and the District of Columbia, according to a new analysis conducted by the Economic Policy Institute.
The left-leaning think tank, based in Washington, D.C., used 2023 federal and nonprofit data to compare the monthly cost of infant child care to that of tuition at public colleges.
The tally increased five states since the pandemic began. EPI’s last analysis relied on 2020 data, which showed child care costs outstripped college costs in 33 states and Washington, D.C., said EPI spokesperson Nick Kauzlarich.
The organization released a state-by-state guide on Wednesday showing the escalating cost of child care. Average costs range from $521 per month in Mississippi to as much as $1,893 per month in Washington, D.C., for households with one 4-year-old child, EPI found.
The analysis also found child care costs have exceeded rent prices in 17 states and the District of Columbia.
EPI leaders said child care is unaffordable for working families across the country, but especially for low-wage workers, including those who provide child care.
“This isn’t inevitable — it is a policy choice,” Katherine deCourcy, EPI research assistant, said in a news release. “Federal and state policymakers can and should act to make child care more affordable, and ensure that child care workers can afford the same quality of care for their own children.”
The organization highlighted New Mexico as a case study on the growing challenge facing families.
There, the average annual cost of infant care exceeds $14,000 — or nearly $1,200 a month, the group said. Care for a four-year-old costs nearly $10,000 per year — or over $800 a month.
While experts often consider housing as a family’s single largest expense, EPI found New Mexico’s annual infant care costs outpace rent by over 10%. Child care is out of reach for about 90% of New Mexico residents, according to the federal government’s definition of affordability, which is no more than 7% of a family’s income.
Advocates often call for universal preschool programs as a way to provide quality, free child care. EPI noted a 2022 constitutional amendment approved by New Mexico voters guaranteeing a right to early childhood education. That created an annual fund of about $150 million to help subsidize early childhood programs.
“New Mexico’s investments mark an important step toward affordable child care, but investments like this are needed across the country,” EPI argued in a Wednesday blog post.
Child care worker Marci Then helps her daughter, Mila, 4, put away toys to get ready for circle time at the Little Learners Academy in Smithfield, R.I. A new study highlights the high cost of child care. (TNS)
A Los Angeles County grand jury indictment unsealed Monday revealed 30 Probation Department employees, ranging from detention service officers to at least one supervisor, have been charged with allowing — and even encouraging — 69 fights, including “gladiator”-style fight clubs involving multiple youth, at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall.
The indictment stems from a California Department of Justice investigation that began after a video was leaked depicting one of the “gladiator fights.” The charges include 69 counts of child abuse, one count of conspiracy to commit a crime and one count of battery. The fights, which occurred from June to December 2023, involved 143 victims ranging in age from 12 to 18, according to the DOJ.
The indictment asks for harsher punishments because the victims were “particularly vulnerable” and the accused took advantage of “a position of trust or confidence to commit the offense.”
A recording of the first-known incident in December 2023, obtained by the Los Angeles Times, showed multiple youth attacking a 17-year-old, one at a time, as each entered a dayroom at Los Padrinos. At least four officers stood by during the assaults, while two others halfheartedly attempted to break it up. Some could be seen laughing and even shaking hands with the attackers.
As investigators uncovered more fights, they found “striking similarities” between the leaked footage and other incidents, according to California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who said the officers “looked more like referees or audience members at a prize fight, not adults charged with the care or supervision of young people.”
“Officers at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall have a duty to ensure the safety and well-being of those under their care. Instead, the officers charged today did just the opposite — overseeing ‘gladiator fights’ when they should have intervened,” Bonta said in a statement. “The indictment — and the filing of criminal charges — is an important step toward holding these officers accountable and addressing shortfalls at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall.
“Let today’s charges be a warning for all those who abuse their power: the California Department of Justice is watching, and we will hold you accountable.”
Bonta alleged officers engaged in a criminal conspiracy by setting up the fights in advance.
“We believe this was planned, it was intended, there was a desire on the part of the juvenile probation officers for these fights to occur,” he said during a news conference. “They often wanted them to happen at the beginning of the day, at a certain time, a certain place.”
Last year, after the first footage became public, Probation Chief Guillermo Viera Rosa placed 14 officers on leave and referred the incident to the Department of Justice to investigate. In a statement, probation officials applauded the indictment and indicated that all of the officers named have been placed on unpaid leave.
“Accountability is a cornerstone of our mission, and we have zero tolerance for misconduct of any peace officers, especially those dealing with young people in our system,” the statement reads. “While these incidents are deeply troubling, we believe this marks an important step toward rebuilding trust and reinforcing our commitment to the meaningful changes we are proposing in our juvenile facilities.”
The indictment alleges two officers in particular, Shawn Smyles and Taneha Brooks, allowed up to nine combatants to engage in fights that occurred at least five times over the six-month period. The pair allegedly told new officers about fights in advance and warned them “not to say anything, write down anything and just watch when youth fights occurred,” the indictment states.
In December 2023, Smyles, Brooks and another officer, Nancy Sostre, allowed one youth to participate in “eight one-on-one fights” that led to him sustaining a broken nose, according to the indictment. Smyles allegedly told the youth involved to “refuse treatment” from the facility’s nurses.
That month, Smyles gave a “briefing” to new detention service officers and told them the fights were “how they operated and controlled the youths and the unit,” the court filing states.
Smyles also is accused of a misdemeanor count of battery for a willful and unlawful use of force against a youth in October 2023.
The series of fights described in the indictment mention only Smyles, Brooks and Sostre by name. It is unclear how the other 27 employees were involved.
All 30 defendants appeared in court Monday afternoon for arraignment. Eight, however, had their arraignments rescheduled because they did not have legal representation. None of those who appeared was required to post bail.
Attorney Tom Yu, who is representing Ramses Patron, a director at Los Padrinos, accused Bonta of bringing the charges for political gain and to further efforts to shut down Los Padrinos. Patron served as a supervisor at the Downey detention center in the same way a watch commander oversees shifts at a police department, Yu said. The director was not present for any of the fights, he said.
“I’m deeply concerned about the overreach of this prosecution,” Yu said following the hearing.
State regulators have been attempting to shut down Los Padrinos for months. The facility was declared “unsuitable” due to a severe staffing shortage and ordered to close by the Board of State and Community Corrections last year, but the probation department refused to comply once the deadline hit.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Miguel Espinoza has been weighing what should happen to Los Padrinos since December. Espinoza, who expressed concerns about creating more chaos if he forces Los Padrinos to close, has delayed a decision three times so far. The question of Los Padrinos’ future, raised in a juvenile murder case, will come before Espinoza again in April.
The Board of Supervisors declared a “local emergency” in December and maintained that emptying Los Padrinos would put communities in “extreme peril.” Viera Rosa, the probation chief, unveiled his “global plan” for the county’s juvenile facilities in February, but the proposal, pitched during a Board of Supervisors’ meeting, was met with sharp criticism.
In a statement, Supervisor Janice Hahn pointed to the indictments as “further proof that the culture in our probation department needs to change dramatically.”
“The young people in Los Padrinos are not only in our custody, they are in our care,” she said. “It is unacceptable that probation officers who were entrusted with this responsibility would use their power to abuse these kids.”
Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall in Downey, pictured here in May 2023.
(Photo by Dean Musgrove, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Eleven of the sick children at William Floyd Middle School in Moriches were taken to a local hospital, while one was released into their parents’ custody, according to the school.
“We are grateful to our first responders for their quick response, thankful that the students will be treated and hopeful that they will recover quickly,” read a message on the school’s website.
No criminal charges will be filed in the incident, police said. Any discipline will be handled at the school level, and no further information was released.
How the middle school student obtained the THC gummies to hand out to their fellow students was not explained by William Floyd Middle School or Suffolk County police.
Two months later, two elementary school siblings, a 9-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl, were hospitalized in Port Reading after they consumed cannabis gummies.
William Floyd Middle School in Moriches. (Google Maps)
Today is Tuesday, March 4, the 63rd day of 2025. There are 302 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On March 4, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for a second term of office. With the end of the Civil War in sight, and just six weeks before his assassination, Lincoln declared:
“With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the fight as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan — to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”
Also on this date:
In 1789, the Constitution of the United States went into effect as the first Federal Congress met in New York.
In 1801, Thomas Jefferson became the first president to be inaugurated in Washington, D.C.
In 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt was inaugurated for his first term as president; he was the last U.S. president to be inaugurated on this date. In his inaugural speech, Roosevelt stated, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
In 1966, John Lennon of The Beatles was quoted in the London Evening Standard as saying, “We’re more popular than Jesus now,” a comment that caused an angry backlash in the United States.
In 1987, President Ronald Reagan addressed the nation on the Iran-Contra affair, acknowledging that his overtures to Iran had “deteriorated” into an arms-for-hostages deal.
In 1998, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that workplace sexual harassment laws are applicable when the offender and victim are of the same sex.
In 2015, the Justice Department cleared Darren Wilson, a white former Ferguson, Missouri, police officer, in the fatal shooting of Michael Brown, a Black 18-year-old, but also issued a scathing report calling for sweeping changes in city law enforcement practices, which it called discriminatory and unconstitutional.
In 2017, President Donald Trump wrote a series of Twitter posts accusing former President Barack Obama of tapping his telephones during the 2016 election; an Obama spokesman declared that the assertion was “simply false.”
Today’s birthdays:
Film director Adrian Lyne is 84.
Author James Ellroy is 77.
Musician-producer Emilio Estefan is 72.
Actor Catherine O’Hara is 71.
Actor Mykelti (MY’-kul-tee) Williamson is 68.
Actor Patricia Heaton is 67.
Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., is 67.
Actor Steven Weber is 64.
Rock musician Jason Newsted is 62.
Author Khaled Hosseini is 60.
Author Dav Pilkey is 59.
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., is 57.
NBA forward Draymond Green is 35.
This photograph of a painting shows the second inauguration of Abraham Lincoln as he takes the oath of office as the 16th president of the United States in front of the U.S. Capitol in Washington March 4, 1865. The oath is administered by Chief Justice Salmon P. Chase, a former rival of Lincoln and the former Secretary of the Treasury. (AP Photo)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Chip giant Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. plans to invest $100 billion in the United States, President Donald Trump said Monday, on top of $65 billion in investments the company had previously announced.
TSMC, the world’s biggest semiconductor manufacturer, produces chips for companies including Apple, Intel and Nvidia. The company had already begun constructing three plants in Arizona after the Biden administration offered billions in subsidies. Its first factory in Arizona has started mass production of its 4-nanometer chips.
Trump, who appeared with TSMC’s chief executive officer C. C. Wei at the White House, called it a “tremendous move” and “a matter of economic security.”
“Semiconductors are the backbone of the 21st century economy. And really, without the semiconductors, there is no economy,” the president said. “Powering everything from AI to automobiles to advanced manufacturing, we must be able to build the chips and semiconductors that we need right here in American factories with Americans skill and American labor.”
Wei said the investment will be for three more chip manufacturing plants, along with two packaging facilities, in Arizona.
The $165 billion investment “is going to create thousands of high-paying jobs,” Wei said.
Former President Joe Biden in 2022 signed a sweeping $280 billion law, the CHIPS and Science Act, to try to reinvigorate chip manufacturing in the U.S., especially after the COVID-19 pandemic.
During the pandemic, chip factories, especially those overseas making the majority of processors, shut down. It had a ripple effect that led to wider problems, such as automobile factory assembly lines shutting down and fueled inflation.
Trump has criticized the law and taken a different approach, instead threatening to impose high tariffs on imported chips to bring chip manufacturing back to the U.S.
Trump also has said companies like TSMC do not need federal tax incentives.
When asked if the new investment could minimize impact on the U.S. should China either isolate or seize Taiwan, Trump said he couldn’t say “minimize” because “that would be a catastrophic event obviously.”
Taiwan is an island that broke away from mainland China in 1949 following a civil war. Beijing claims sovereignty over the island and has ratcheted up military and diplomatic pressure on its leaders.
“It will at least give us a position where we have, in this very, very important business, we would have a very big part of it in the United States,” Trump said of the chip manufacturing.
He did not say if the investment would provide security for the self-governed island that Beijing considers to be part of Chinese territory.
Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, the island’s de-facto embassy in the United States, said investments by Taiwanese businesses in the U.S. have exceeded 40% of the island’s total foreign investments and that the Taiwanese government is “glad” to see Taiwanese businesses to expand investments in the U.S. and to deep cooperation on supply chain between the two sides.
“It also brings the economic and trade relations closer,” the office said.
Trump has hosted multiple business leaders at the White House since he took office in January to tout a series of investments that aim to demonstrate his leadership is a boon for the U.S. economy. He’s also pointed to the tariff threats as prodding the investments.
“It’s the incentive we’ve created. Or the negative incentive,” Trump said.
In January, he appeared with the heads of OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank at the White House as they announced plans for a new partnership to invest up to $500 billion for infrastructure tied to artificial intelligence. He also announced in January a $20 billion investment by DAMAC Properties in the United Arab Emirates to build data centers tied to AI.
Last week, after Apple CEO Tim Cook met with Trump at the White House, the company announced plans to invest more than $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, including plans for a new server factory in Texas. Trump said after their meeting that Cook promised him Apple’s manufacturing would shift from Mexico to the U.S.
“I don’t have time to do all of these announcements,” Trump joked Monday as he listed some of the other investments.
The Wall Street Journal first reported the planned announcement Monday.
Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report. Price reported from New York.
President Donald Trump walks before talking with reporters before boarding Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Today is Monday, March 3, the 62nd day of 2025. There are 303 days left in the year.
Today in history:
On March 3, 1991, motorist Rodney King was severely beaten by Los Angeles police officers after a high-speed chase; amateur video that captured the scene aired on local news that evening, sparking public outrage.
Also on this date:
In 1849, Congress established the U.S. Department of the Interior.
In 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the act creating the National Academy of Sciences.
In 1931, President Herbert Hoover signed a bill making “The Star-Spangled Banner” the national anthem of the United States.
In 1943, in London’s East End, 173 people died in a crush of bodies at the Bethnal Green Tube station, which was being used as a wartime air raid shelter.
In 1945, Allied troops fully secured the Philippine capital of Manila from Japanese forces during World War II after a monthlong battle that destroyed much of the city.
In 1969, Apollo 9 blasted off from Cape Kennedy on a mission to test NASA’s lunar module.
In 2022, OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma reached a nationwide settlement over its role in the opioid crisis, with the Sackler family members who own the company boosting their cash contribution to as much as $6 billion in a deal intended to staunch a flood of lawsuits.
Today’s birthdays:
Filmmaker George Miller is 80.
Singer Jennifer Warnes is 78.
Author Ron Chernow is 76.
Football Hall of Famer Randy Gradishar is 73.
Musician Robyn Hitchcock is 72.
Actor Miranda Richardson is 67.
Radio personality Ira Glass is 66.
Olympic track and field gold medalist Jackie Joyner-Kersee is 63.
Rapper-actor Tone Loc is 59.
Hockey Hall of Famer Brian Leetch is 57.
Actor Julie Bowen is 55.
Actor David Faustino is 51.
Actor Jessica Biel is 43.
Singer Camila Cabello is 28.
NBA forward Jayson Tatum is 27.
FILE – This file photo of Rodney King was taken three days after his videotaped beating in Los Angeles on March 6, 1991. The photo is one of three introduced into evidence by the prosecution in the trial of four LAPD officers in a Simi Valley, California Courtroom, March 24, 1992. The acquittal of four police officers in the videotaped beating of King sparked rioting that spread across the city and into neighboring suburbs. Cars were demolished and homes and businesses were burned. Before order was restored, 55 people were dead, 2,300 injured and more than 1,500 buildings were damaged or destroyed. (AP Photo/Pool,File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mikey Madison won the best actress Oscar on Sunday for “Anora,” a role that catapulted the 25-year-old into a burgeoning film career after achieving initial success on television.
The Brooklyn-set comedy-drama had received six nominations.
Madison had been best known for playing a sullen teenager in the FX comedy series “Better Things,” which ended in 2022. She also appeared in the hit movies “Once Upon a Time … in Hollywood” and the fifth installment of the horror franchise “Scream.”
Those jobs attracted the attention of director-writer Sean Baker, who penned the title role in “Anora” for Madison. She studied Russian and did her own stunts in the film, in addition to learning to pole dance to play an exotic dancer who marries the son of a Russian oligarch.
The film debuted to critical acclaim at Cannes last year, winning the Palme d’Or. It has gained momentum ever since, with its box-office success easily outearning its $6 million budget.
Hollywood veteran Demi Moore of “The Substance” had been the Oscar front-runner, having won over Madison at the Golden Globes and SAG Awards. However, Madison beat out Moore for the BAFTA two days before Oscar voting ended, as well as at last weekend’s Independent Spirit Awards.
She was born Mikaela Madison Rosberg in Los Angeles, one of five children of psychologist parents. Her mother signed her up for an acting class in her mid-teens after Madison had trained in competitive horseback riding, which she found lonely compared to the collaborative nature of acting.
In addition to Moore, the other nominees were Cynthia Erivo for “Wicked,” Karla Sofía Gascón for “Emilia Pérez” and Fernanda Torres for “I’m Still Here.”
Mikey Madison arrives at the Oscars on Sunday, March 2, 2025, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP)
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