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The Federal Aviation Administration is reducing flight capacity by 10% at 40 major airports beginning today. The cuts were prompted by staffing shortages, as air traffic controllers and TSA agents approach six weeks unpaid amid the government shutdown, now the longest ever.
The reductions could affect over 268,000 passengers on roughly 1,800 domestic flights daily and will continue until safety data improves. Controllers, who have missed one paycheck since the shutdown began Oct. 1 and are set to miss another next week, have increasingly been calling off work. Most were already working mandatory six-day workweeks due to chronic staffing shortages. Over 6,200 flights were delayed and 500 were canceled last Friday, marking the single worst day for delays since the shutdown began. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffey attributed roughly 65% of those delays to controller staffing, compared to the usual 5%.
Travelers began receiving cancellation notices yesterday, and several airlines have temporarily eased refund policies. See list of affected airports here. |
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D, CA-11) announced yesterday she will not run for reelection next year. The decision signals the end of Pelosi’s career as one of the most powerful women in American politics.
Pelosi has represented the San Francisco area since 1987. In 2001, she won a competitive race to become the No. 2-ranked Democrat in Congress, and became minority leader the following year. When Democrats won the House in 2006, Pelosi became the country’s first female House speaker. In that capacity, she steered the Affordable Care Act through Congress, which provides health insurance for more than 21 million people and is projected to cost over $3.5T annually by 2034. In 2018, she was reelected as speaker, the first lawmaker since the 1950s to do so.
Pelosi’s retirement is expected to kick off a heated primary race between at least two Democrats: state Sen. Scott Wiener and progressive former tech executive Saikat Chakrabarti. |
Dynasty Diamond Discovered |
The Florentine Diamond, a 137.27-carat yellow gemstone once belonging to the Austro-Hungarian Habsburg imperial family, has resurfaced in a Canadian bank after being thought missing for more than a century. Descendants revealed that Empress Zita secretly safeguarded the jewel, entrusting her two sons with its location and requiring the secret to be kept for 100 years after Emperor Charles I’s death in 1922.
The diamond—long the subject of speculation—has a history tied to European royalty, first documented with Florence’s Medici family in the 17th century before passing to the Habsburgs. It was assumed lost or stolen amid the collapse of the empire around 1918, when Charles I—a nephew of Franz Ferdinand—fled Vienna. Escaping Nazi persecution, the family relocated to Canada during World War II, bringing the diamond with them alongside other family jewels.
The descendants said the diamond will remain in Canada in gratitude for sheltering the exiled family and will be displayed publicly. |
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Sports, Entertainment, & Culture |
> Classic rock band Journey announces farewell tour, beginning with 60 North American shows running late February through early July (More) |
> Dallas Cowboys' Marshawn Kneeland dies of suspected suicide following police chase; 24-year-old defensive end scored Dallas' first touchdown in Monday's game against Arizona Cardinals (More) |
> Lionsgate releases first trailer for Michael Jackson biopic, with late singer played by nephew, Jaafar Jackson (More) | Warner Bros. to revive "Gremlins" franchise with original producer Steven Spielberg and original writer Chris Columbus (More) |
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> Microsoft to form superintelligence team focused on improving medical diagnostics with AI (More) | Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and wife, Dr. Priscilla Chan, shift philanthropy to fund AI advances in medicine (More) |
> Astrophysicists present evidence the universe's expansion is decelerating, challenging Nobel Prize-winning theory of universe expansion at ever-increasing rate (More) |
> Researchers create digital map with nearly 186,000 miles of Roman Empire roads, including over 68,000 previously unknown miles (More) | Explore the roads (More) |
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> US stock markets close down (S&P 500 -1.1%, Dow -0.8%, Nasdaq -1.9%) (More) | Tesla shareholders approve Elon Musk's $1T pay package pending hitting certain milestones over the coming decade; over 75% vote in favor (More) |
> President Donald Trump announces deal with Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk to lower prices on weight-loss drugs for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries as well as directly to consumers via TrumpRx.gov (More) |
> Boeing's criminal case over two 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019, which killed 346 people, dismissed by federal judge at Justice Department's request (More) |
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> Federal judge orders the Trump administration to reinstate full SNAP benefits (More) | Supreme Court reinstates Trump administration policy requiring transgender Americans to mark sex, not gender identity, on passports (More) |
> Sudanese militia Rapid Support Forces agrees to a US-proposed ceasefire; Sudanese military has not responded as of this writing (More) | Kazakhstan will reportedly join the Abraham Accords, a group of Arab and Muslim-majority countries normalizing relations with Israel (More) |
> Typhoon Kalmaegi lands in Vietnam after killing at least 140 people in the Philippines (More) |
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> Biopic Barrage
Stat Significant | Daniel Parris. From Aretha Franklin to Elvis and Bruce Springsteen, musicians have been a recent focus of Hollywood movie studios. Here's what data reveals about the popularity and profitability of musician biopics. (Read) |
> Fishtank Womb
The Guardian | Lucy Tu. As scientists develop artificial wombs for premature babies, grieving parents and bioethicists question what growing a baby outside the body says about how we define life and how far we should go to save it. (Read) |
> The Modern American Utopia
The Rest Is History | Staff. Hundreds of millions of people have been to Disneyland since it opened July 17, 1955. What can Disneyland's creation and continued popularity tell us about American history? (Listen) |
> Demystifying Oracle
Good Work | Staff. Oracle is one of Silicon Valley's oldest companies, and cofounder Larry Ellison is one of the world's richest people. It's a database company at its core. But what does that mean? (Watch) |
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Clickbait: The Collins Dictionary word of the year is "vibe coding."
Historybook: Nobel Prize-winning physicist and chemist Marie Curie born (1867); Jeannette Rankin becomes first woman elected to US Congress (1916); Evangelist Billy Graham born (1918); Former first lady Anna Eleanor Roosevelt dies (1962); Earvin "Magic" Johnson announces HIV-positive diagnosis (1991). |
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