Airport Chaos: Deadly LaGuardia Crash & ICE Agents Take On TSA Shortage
Plus: March Madness bracket busters & 'SNL' debuts across the pond
Good evening,
The first weekend of March Madness saw some major upsets — with no perfect brackets left in the men’s tournament (out of tens of millions) and only a few hundred still intact on the women’s side as the competition heads into its second week. But don’t feel disappointed. Nobody has ever achieved a perfect March Madness bracket.
BUZZER BEATERS: There were several “buzzer beaters” on Sunday.
Alvaro Folgueiras scored a 3-pointer with 2 seconds left in the game on Sunday. The move gave No. 9 seed Iowa a 73–72 upset win over No. 1 Florida, the defending national champions. It will mark the Hawkeyes’ first Sweet 16 appearance since 1999.
Dylan Darling’s layup with about 4 seconds left in the game earned the St. John’s Red Storm a 67-65 win over the Kansas Jayhawks Sunday.
CLOSE-TALKING COACH: The University of Maryland women’s basketball coach Brenda Frese went viral after her nose-to-nose interaction with guard Oluchi Okananwa on Sunday.
Mo News Team
🚨 ONE IMPORTANT THING
Air Traffic Controller Admits He ‘Messed Up’ After Collision At LaGuardia Kills Two Pilots
An air traffic control (ATC) dispatcher was heard on audio saying he “messed up” after a deadly collision between a plane and a fire truck at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday night after touching down.
The crash killed a young pilot and co-pilot, while the two Port Authority employees in the fire truck suffered non-life-threatening injuries and are expected to be released today and tomorrow from the hospital.
Moments before impact, and after a controller had cleared the fire truck to cross the runway, a dispatcher can be heard urgently shouting, “Stop, stop, stop!”
“These were two young men at the start of their career, so it’s an absolute tragedy that we’re sitting here with their loss,” Bryan Bedford, the F.A.A. administrator, said Monday afternoon.
WHAT WE KNOW: The fire truck was crossing the runway to respond to a United Airlines flight that had reported a suspicious "plastic burning smell.” The plane was carrying 72 passengers and four crew members from Montreal, Canada.
Around 40 passengers and crew members were taken to local hospitals, some with serious injuries. More than 30 have since been released from treatment, authorities said Monday.
WHAT WE HEARD: An investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board is now underway. However, air traffic control audio from before and after the crash suggests the air traffic controller may be to blame.
“That wasn’t good to watch," a pilot for Frontier Airlines said after the crash to a controller. “Yeah, I know. I was here. I tried to reach out to my staff, and we were dealing with an emergency earlier, and I messed up,” an air traffic controller replied.
AN ALREADY STRAINED SYSTEMFollowing the crash, all flights at LaGuardia were canceled until Monday at 2PM EST. They have since resumed using a single runway so far. LaGuardia’s temporary closure added to massive delays at airports in the New York City-area and across the country due to the five-week long partial government shutdown. Air traffic controllers are being paid during the shutdown, because they are under the Department of Transportation, unlike TSA agents who help with airport security.
There have been more than 600 flight cancellations into or out of LaGuardia on Monday, according to FlightAware.
LaGuardia is one of the top 20 busiest airports in the U.S., handling 16.7 million passengers in 2024.
In a separate incident, Newark Airport — another major NYC airport — also experienced a ground stop on Monday morning after its air traffic control tower was evacuated because of a burning smell coming from an elevator, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Flights resumed about an hour later.
CONTROLLER SHORTAGES: While the ongoing government shutdown has not directly impacted controllers, the system is already under strain due to a significant staffing shortage. However, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said “LaGuardia is a very well-staffed airport,” and that 33 of the 37 air traffic controller positions there are staffed.
🚨 ONE THING WE’RE WATCHING
ICE Agents Sent To U.S. Airports To Help TSA With Long Lines
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were deployed to 14 U.S. airports on Monday, as the partial government shutdown entered day 37 and continued to strain TSA staffing.
BY THE NUMBERS: TSA officers have gone without pay since the shutdown began in mid-February, and absentee rates are rising. On Sunday, more than 11.75% of TSA officers nationwide — over 3,450 workers — called out, the highest rate since the shutdown began more than five weeks ago.
More than a third of officers called out at airports in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Houston, and Baltimore.
Airports where ICE agents have been sent include Hartsfield-Jackson in Atlanta, multiple airports in New York, as well as New Orleans, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Phoenix, and Fort Myers, Florida, according to officials and reports.
ICE AGENTS ≠ TSA AGENTSWhite House border czar Tom Homan said Sunday that ICE agents would help with patrolling airport entrances and exits, not the actual screening because they lack the specific training needed. Police in some cities have also been helping with the crowds.
In New York, and at many of the airports where ICE agents were sent, passengers were still experiencing long lines. Mo News community members traveling through several of the airports on Monday said they mainly saw agents standing around.
An official who spoke to the New York Times said that the ICE agents were not expected to make immigration arrests as part of helping the understaffed TSA teams.
BUT ARE THEY?
Video posted online shows a woman being detained at San Francisco International Airport on Sunday night. Officials say that incident was part of a separate deportation operation and not connected to the TSA support plan. In a statement, DHS said officers arrested two people from a family that “has an outstanding final order of removal from an immigration judge since 2019.” DHS said one of the arrestees tried to flee and resisted officers while being escorted to the international terminal for processing to Guatemala.
SFO is not among the airports where ICE agents are being sent to help with TSA operations. The airport is one of about 20 in the U.S. that uses private security screening instead of TSA personnel.
However, Homan told CNN on Sunday that agents routinely enforce immigration law at airports nationwide.
MASK OFF
Immigration agents have worn masks in recent months while deployed to various U.S. cities for deportation efforts as a way to conceal their identities for safety reasons. The practice is something that Democratic lawmakers have pushed to end during negotiations over the partial government shutdown.
President Trump said Monday that he ordered ICE officers not to wear masks as he did not see it as "appropriate” for their jobs at airports.
TSA ISSUES ENDING SOON?
Trump reportedly rejected a proposal from Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fund DHS without ICE — a plan supported by Democrats that would have reopened TSA operations and eased airport chaos. He is demanding Republicans don’t compromise until they force through the SAVE Act—a voter ID law that currently doesn’t have the votes to pass.
⏳ THE SPEED READ
🚨NATION
Supreme Court’s conservative majority seems skeptical of counting mail-in ballots that arrive after election day (MO NEWS)
Trump heads to Elvis Presley’s Graceland in Memphis, a detour during Iran war and airport turmoil (AP)
Trump places statue of Christopher Columbus near the White House (NBC)
More than 230 rescued amid Hawaii flooding, thousands without power (CBS)
Rubio to testify in trial of former roommate accused of secretly lobbying for Venezuela (WASHINGTON POST)
🇮🇷 IRAN WAR
Trump lays out deal to end Iran war after talks (MO NEWS)
Netanyahu says Trump sees opportunity for deal with Iran (THE HILL)
Markets surge after Trump says Iran resolution is near (AXIOS)
Israeli minister calls for evacuation of southern Lebanon (REUTERS)
Iranian missile strikes injure 180 in Israel, officials say, puncturing air defenses and shocking the public (NBC)
🌎 AROUND THE WORLD
Sudan drone attack on key hospital killed 64 people during Eid, WHO says (GUARDIAN)
Jewish charity ambulances set on fire and UK police probe it as antisemitic attack (AP)
At least 1 dead, 77 injured as Colombian military plane carrying more than 100 personnel crashes on takeoff (CNN)
Emmanuel Grégoire elected Paris mayor, succeeding fellow left-winger Anne Hidalgo (FRANCE 24)
📱BUSINESS, SCIENCE & TECH
Pfizer Lyme Disease vaccine shows 70% efficacy in late-stage study (MO NEWS)
DoorDash rolls out emergency gas relief as prices squeeze drivers (FOX)
Bipartisan Senate bill would ban sports betting on online prediction markets (GUARDIAN)
Trump admin dumps Biden-era wind projects for billion-dollar investment in US oil (FOX)
🎬 SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
Box Office: Ryan Gosling’s ‘Project Hail Mary’ scores biggest debut of year with $80.5 million, sets Amazon MGM record (VARIETY)
Chappell Roan addresses security guard’s encounter with 11-year-old fan that left child ‘in tears’ (NBC)
Seattle Seahawks’ Jaxon Smith-Njigba agrees to record extension (ESPN)
Valerie Perrine, ‘Superman’ actress and ‘Lenny’ Oscar nominee, dies at 82 (HOLLYWOOD REPORTER)
ICYMI FROM THE 📲
In case you missed it… Live from London, it’s Saturday Night! 🇬🇧
“Saturday Night Live UK” debuted this weekend, with former SNL head writer Tina Fey traveling across the pond to host the series premiere.
The cold open focused on a sheepish U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer working up the courage to make a phone call to President Trump.
Trump reposted the sketch to his Truth Social account without comment.
The first-ever international SNL spinoff was watched on TV channel Sky One by over 220,000 people.