Category: National News

NEW YORK (AP) — An Air Canada jet carrying more than 70 passengers collided with a fire truck while landing at New York’s LaGuardia Airport late Sunday, killing the pilot and copilot and injuring several others, officials said.

The fire truck was crossing the tarmac after an air traffic controller gave it permission to respond to another plane reporting an odor onboard. Before the collision, an air traffic controller can be heard on airport communications frantically telling the fire truck to stop.

In a transmission nearly 20 minutes later, the controller appears to blame himself. “We were dealing with an emergency earlier,” the controller said. “I messed up.”

About 40 passengers and crew members on the regional jet were taken to hospitals, some with serious injuries. Most were released by Monday morning, authorities said.

The impact crushed the regional jet’s nose, leaving cables and debris dangling from the mangled cockpit. Images from the crash site showed the damaged fire truck flipped onto its side.

The crash shut down LaGuardia — the New York region’s third busiest hub — during what was already a messy time at U.S. airports. Travelers have been facing long security lines due to a government shutdown and the busy spring break travel season.

Air traffic at LaGuardia was being diverted to New Jersey’s Newark Liberty International Airport. Its operations were halted briefly Monday morning after air traffic controllers there evacuated the tower because of a burning smell, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

Pilot and copilot were based out of Canada

The pilot and copilot who died were both based out of Canada, said Kathryn Garcia, executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the airport.

The airport will remain closed until at least early Monday afternoon during the investigation, which is being led by the National Transportation Safety Board.

“Our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and everyone affected,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul posted online.

The fire truck was traveling across the runway to respond to a separate incident aboard a United Airlines flight, whose pilot had reported “an issue with odor,” said Garcia, who deferred additional questions about the sequence of events leading up to the crash to the NTSB.

Two Port Authority employees in the fire truck suffered injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, Garcia said.

There were 72 passengers and four crew members aboard the aircraft, a Jazz Aviation flight operating on behalf of Air Canada, according to a statement from the airline. The flight originated at Montreal-Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport.

Stairways used to evacuate passengers from the aircraft were pushed up to the emergency exits on the jet, a Bombardier CRJ. The impact left the jet with its crumpled nose tilted upward.

Air traffic controller tried to stop vehicle after giving clearance

The air traffic controller tried to warn the vehicle.

“Stop, Truck 1. Stop,” the transmission says. The controller can then be heard frantically diverting an incoming aircraft from landing.

Air traffic controllers are not impacted by the partial government shutdown that has caused long delays at airport security checkpoints in recent days. They have been affected by past shutdowns.

As passengers straggled out of the airport into the dark early Monday, some described having arrived at LaGuardia hours before their flight, hoping to beat the lines.

Arturo Davidson said his Miami-bound flight was on the tarmac Sunday night when fellow passengers saw the collision and its aftermath.

They were soon told there had been an accident and that the airport was closing, he said later Monday, gazing at a departure board filled with cancellations.

“I don’t think we’re going at two,” he said, referring to the time that officials gave as the earliest for reopening LaGuardia.

One of the nation’s busiest airports

LaGuardia was 19th busiest in 2024 out of more than 500 U.S. airports, with over 16.7 million passengers boarding there, according to a 2025 FAA database.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey describes it as “one of the nation’s leading domestic gateways for business and leisure travel” in its 2024 Airport Traffic Report.

LaGuardia is one of 35 major airports across the country equipped with an advanced surface surveillance system that uses radar and data from locator systems on planes to alert controllers to potential conflicts on runways, according to the FAA.

There are three different models of Aircraft Rescue and Firefighting trucks, according to a video put out last year about the unit by the Port Authority.

The Transportation Safety Board of Canada has sent a team of investigators to assist the U.S. officials at LaGuardia.

It’s still too early to tell what went wrong, and investigators from the NTSB will now start collecting facts, interviewing people, downloading recordings and reviewing data from flight recorders, aviation safety expert Jeff Guzzetti said.

“It might be easy enough just to say, ‘Oh, the controller made a mistake.’ But there’s got to be deeper questions,” he said.

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The story has been updated to correct that the Port Authority video on trucks was put out last year, not last month.

 

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are slipping Monday, while oil prices leap on worries that war in the Middle East will slow the global flow of crude and make inflation even worse.

Crude prices jumped 6%, which will likely mean higher prices soon at gasoline pumps. That would hurt not only U.S. households, whose spending makes up the bulk of the U.S. economy, but also businesses with big fuel bills.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.3%, with some of the sharpest losses hitting cruise lines and airlines. It had sunk as much as 1.2% in the morning before trimming its loss.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 199 points, or 0.4%, as of 10:45 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% lower.

Prices climbed for natural gas, meanwhile, which could mean higher heating bills for the remainder of the winter, after a major supplier of liquefied natural gas to Europe said it would stop production because of the war. Gold climbed 2.1% as investors looked for safer things to own and as U.S. officials tried to persuade the world that this war will not last forever.

“This is not Iraq,” U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Monday. “This is not endless.”

Typically, Treasury yields also fall when investors are feeling nervous. But yields instead climbed, in part because higher oil prices will put upward pressure on inflation, which is already worse than what nearly everyone would like. That could tie the Federal Reserve’s hands and keep it from cutting interest rates.

Lower interest rates can boost the economy and job market, while also worsening inflation. Higher rates can do the opposite.

Past military conflicts in the Middle East have not caused long-term drops for markets. For this war to knock down U.S. stocks in a significant and sustained way, the price of oil would perhaps need to jump above $100 per barrel, according to strategists at Morgan Stanley led by Michael Wilson.

Oil prices are still well below there. A barrel of benchmark U.S. crude rose 6.4% to $71.31. Brent crude, the international standard, climbed 7.8% to $78.59 per barrel.

That helped the U.S. stock market pare some of its steep, opening loss. Morgan Stanley says the S&P 500 has climbed an average of 2%, 6% and 8% in the one, six and 12 months following “geopolitical risk events” historically. That’s going back to the Korean War, which began in 1950, and the 1956 Suez crisis.

At the moment, though, fear is still running through markets.

Stocks of airlines were some of Monday’s sharpest losers. Not only do higher oil prices threaten their already big fuel bills, the fighting in the Middle East also closed airports and left travelers stranded.

United Airlines fell 3.2%, and American Airlines lost 4.2%.

Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings fell even more, 9.8%. It needs customers to have plenty of cash to spend after paying for their gasoline bills and other essentials.

The cruise operator also reported weaker revenue for its latest quarter than analysts expected, though its profit was better. Its forecast for profit this upcoming fiscal year was lower than analysts expected.

Hotels, discount retailers and other companies that benefit when customers have more cash in their pocket from lower fuel bills also lagged the market. MGM Resorts fell 3.1%, and Dollar Tree lost 2.5%.

Stocks in the housing industry also struggled as higher Treasury yields could translate into more expensive mortgage rates. Paint company Sherwin-Williams fell 2.9%, and homebuilder D.R. Horton lost 3.9%.

Helping to limit Wall Street’s losses were oil companies, which benefited from the rising prices for crude. Exxon Mobil climbed 0.9%, and Occidental Petroleum rose 2.1%.

Companies that make equipment for the military also strengthened. Lockheed Martin climbed 3.1%, and RTX rallied 4.3%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes fell across much of Europe and Asia. Germany’s DAX lost 2.5%, France’s CAC 40 fell 2.3% and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng dropped 2.1% for some of the world’s larger losses.

Stocks in Shanghai were an outlier and rose 0.5%.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.04% from 3.97% late Friday. A report showing growth for U.S. manufacturing was better than economists expected last month also helped to lift yields.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

 

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA took another crack at fueling its giant moon rocket Thursday after leaks halted the initial dress rehearsal and delayed the first lunar trip by astronauts in more than half a century.

For the second time this month, launch teams began pumping more than 700,000 gallons (2.6 million liters) of supercold fuel into the rocket atop its launch pad.

It’s the most critical and challenging part of the two-day practice countdown. The outcome will determine whether a March launch is possible for the Artemis II moon mission with four astronauts.

During the rehearsal two weeks ago, dangerous amounts of supercold liquid hydrogen escaped from the connections between the pad and the 322-foot (98-meter) Space Launch System rocket. Engineers replaced a pair of seals and a clogged filter in hopes of getting through the repeat test at Kennedy Space Center.

NASA won’t set a launch date for the Artemis II mission until it passes the fueling demonstration. Like last time, the crew — three Americans and one Canadian — watched the test from afar.

The soonest astronauts could soar is March 6. They will become the first people to fly to the moon — making a 10-day out-and-back trip with no stops — since Apollo 17 in 1972. They won’t orbit or land.

NASA has been battling hydrogen fuel leaks ever since the space shuttle era, which provided many of the SLS engines. The first Artemis test flight without anyone on board was grounded for months by leaking hydrogen before finally blasting off in November 2022.

Going years between flights exacerbates the problem, according to NASA’s new administrator Jared Isaacman, a tech entrepreneur who financed his own trips to orbit through SpaceX.

Just two months into the job, Isaacman already is promising to redesign the fuel connections between the rocket and pad before the next Artemis III launch. Still a few years away, that mission will attempt to land two astronauts near the moon’s south pole.

“We will not launch unless we are ready and the safety of our astronauts will remain the highest priority,” he said last week on X.

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The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of Buddhist monks reached Washington, D.C., Tuesday, walking single file across a bridge over the Potomac River to cap a 15-week trek from Texas that has captivated the country. They received an extensive police escort, and drew overflow, admiring crowds at two venues.

The monks in their saffron robes have become fixtures on social media, along with their rescue dog Aloka. After spending Monday night in Arlington, Virginia, they crossed over the Chain Bridge into the District of Columbia shortly after 8 a.m.

They walk to advocate for peace, and their simple message has resonated across the U.S. as a welcome respite from conflict and political division. Thousands gathered along Southern roadsides — often in unusually chilly weather — to watch the monks’ quiet procession that began in late October.

Large crowds greeted them as they began their two-day stay in Washington. The Metropolitan Police Department issued a traffic advisory announcing there would be “rolling road closures” along the monks’ route to ensure safety for them and spectators.

A respectful silence greets the monks

Nearly 3,500 people packed American University’s Bender Arena for the monks’ first public stop in Washington. But no raucous sports cheers greeted them: Spectators remained silent as they walked into the arena, as a sign of respect for the monks and their quest for peace.

“This walk is very meaningful. This walk could change our life. How many of us are willing to walk to bring world peace?” the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s charismatic and soft-spoken leader, told the crowd.

Pannakara entered the arena with Aloka, a celebrity in his own right, who rested on a blanket that organizers had placed on the basketball court.

The trek has had its perils. In November outside Houston, the monks were walking on the side of a highway when their escort vehicle was hit by a truck. Two monks were injured; Venerable Maha Dam Phommasan had his leg amputated.

Phommasan, abbot of a temple in Snellville, Georgia, rejoined the monks near Washington and entered American University’s arena in a wheelchair.

The monks won devotees along the way

Phommasan’s return was moving for Jackson Vaughn, 33, a wheelchair user since 2024. He has been traveling beside the monks for a week, since they came through his hometown of Fredericksburg, Virginia.

“There are many things happening in the world,” said Vaughn, who was among the crowd at the university entrance. “To see people gathering peacefully and setting an example, I think, is a wonderful thing.”

He was grateful to fellow travelers who helped him navigate icy roads.

“I have been on this journey of trying to find my independence,” Vaughn said. “But this really shows how connected we really are.”

The monks stopped at the Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday afternoon and were expected to appear at the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday. As they moved between venues, they were joined by a number of other monks from diverse locations. Police on bicycles and in vehicles provided an escort.

“It is overwhelming for us,” Pannakara said, standing before thousands of people on the steps of the cathedral.

Flanked by dozens of faith leaders across traditions — including Washington Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde who helped host the interfaith reception — Pannakara said he was moved by their shared cause for peace.

“This is the moment I will remember for the rest of my life,” he said. “And I hope you do the same.”

Kristin Williams, 42, brought her two children, ages 8 and 10, to view the procession outside the cathedral.

“I wanted them to not just witness history but witness the power of coming together,” she said. “The movement they’ve been building for the past couple of months has been really powerful to watch grow.”

The trek is a ‘spiritual offering’

Nineteen monks began the 2,300-mile (3,700-kilometer) journey from the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth on Oct. 26, 2025. They came from Theravada Buddhist monasteries around the globe, led by Pannakara, who is vice president of the Fort Worth temple.

The monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies. Millions have followed them online, and crowds have greeted them at numerous venues, from a church in Opelika, Alabama, to City Hall in Richmond, Virginia.

While in the U.S. capital, they plan to submit a request to lawmakers to declare Vesak — Buddha’s birthday — a national holiday. But, Pannakara and others have emphasized that is not the goal of the walk.

Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the temple, said the walk is neither a political movement nor is it focused on advocacy or legislation.

“It’s a spiritual offering, an invitation to live peace through everyday actions, mindful steps and open hearts,” he said. “We believe when peace is cultivated within, it naturally ripples outward into society.”

They walked for 108 days

Peace walks are a cherished tradition in Theravada Buddhism. Pannakara first encountered Aloka, a former stray whose name means “divine light” in Sanskrit, during a 112-day journey across India in 2022.

Some of the monks, including Pannakara, have walked barefoot or in socks for most of the journey to Washington, to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment. As they have pressed on through snow and cold, they’ve at times donned winter boots.

The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha as core to attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection, observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering.

On Tuesday, the monks will complete 108 days of walking. It’s a sacred number in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. It represents spiritual completion, cosmic order and the wholeness of existence.

The monks’ return trip should be less arduous. After an appearance at Maryland’s Capitol, a bus will take them back to Texas, where they expect to arrive in downtown Fort Worth early on Saturday.

From there, the monks will walk together again, traversing 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) to the temple where their trip began.

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Bharath reported from Los Angeles.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

WASHINGTON (AP) — A group of Buddhist monks is set to reach Washington, D.C., on foot Tuesday, capping a trek from Texas that has captivated the country.

The monks in their saffron robes have become fixtures on social media, along with their rescue dog Aloka.

They walk to advocate for peace. That simple message has resonated across the U.S. as a welcome respite from conflict and political divisions. Thousands have gathered along Southern roadsides to watch the monks’ quiet, single-file procession that began in late October.

“My hope is, when this walk ends, the people we met will continue practicing mindfulness and find peace,” said the Venerable Bhikkhu Pannakara, the group’s soft-spoken leader who has taught about mindfulness at stops along the way.

The monks plan to mark the last days of their Walk for Peace with outdoor appearances at Washington National Cathedral on Tuesday and the Lincoln Memorial on Wednesday.

“Their long journey and gentle witness invite us all to deepen our commitment to compassion and the work of peace in our communities,” said Washington Episcopal Bishop Mariann Budde, who will help host an interfaith reception for the monks at the cathedral.

The monks have been surprised to see their message transcend ideologies. Millions have followed them online, and crowds have greeted them at numerous venues, from a church in Opelika, Alabama, to City Hall in Richmond, Virginia.

Mark Duykers, a retired mechanical engineer who practices mindfulness, said he and his wife will drive 550 miles (885 kilometers) from Ann Arbor, Michigan, to Washington to see the monks.

“In these divisive times, we saw entire towns in the Bible Belt coming out for these monks — having no idea of what Buddhism is — but being uplifted and moved by it,” he said. “That’s inspirational.”

Nineteen monks began the 2,300-mile (3,700 kilometer) journey from the Huong Dao Vipassana Bhavana Center in Fort Worth on Oct. 26, 2025. They came from Theravada Buddhist monasteries around the globe, led by Pannakara, who is vice president of the Fort Worth temple.

While in the U.S. capital, they plan to submit a request to lawmakers to declare Vesak — Buddha’s birthday — a national holiday. But, Pannakara and others have emphasized that is not the walk’s goal.

Long Si Dong, a spokesperson for the temple, said the walk is neither a political movement nor is it focused on advocacy or legislation.

“It’s a spiritual offering — an invitation to live peace through everyday actions, mindful steps and open hearts,” he said. “We believe when peace is cultivated within, it naturally ripples outward into society.”

The trek has had its perils, and local law enforcement officers have provided security. In November outside Houston, the monks were walking on the side of a highway when their escort vehicle was hit by a truck. Two monks were injured; one had his leg amputated.

Some of the monks, including Pannakara, have walked barefoot or in socks for most of the journey to feel the ground directly and be present in the moment. As they have pressed on through snow and cold, they’ve at times donned winter boots.

Peace walks are a cherished tradition in Theravada Buddhism. Pannakara first encountered Aloka, an Indian Pariah dog whose name means “divine light” in Sanskrit, during a 112-day journey across India in 2022.

The monks practice and teach Vipassana meditation, an ancient Indian technique taught by the Buddha as core to attaining enlightenment. It focuses on the mind-body connection, observing breath and physical sensations to understand reality, impermanence and suffering.

On Tuesday, the monks will complete 108 days of walking. It’s a sacred number in Buddhism, Hinduism and Jainism. It represents spiritual completion, cosmic order and the wholeness of existence.

The monks’ return trip should be less arduous. After an appearance at Maryland’s Capitol, a bus will take them back to Texas, where they expect to arrive in downtown Fort Worth early on Saturday.

From there, the monks will walk together again, traversing 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) to the temple where their trip began.

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Bharath reported from Los Angeles.

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Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

PUNXSUTAWNEY, Pa. (AP) — Punxsutawney Phil predicted six more weeks of wintry weather Monday, a forecast sure to disappoint many after what’s already been a long, cold season across large parts of the United States.

His annual prediction and announcement that he had seen his shadow was translated by his top hat-wearing handlers in the Punxsutawney Groundhog Club at Gobbler’s Knob in western Pennsylvania.

The news was greeted with a mix of cheers and boos from the tens of thousands who braved temperatures in the single-digits Fahrenheit to await the annual prognostication. The extreme cold kept the crowd bundled up and helped keep people on the main stage dancing.

Usually guests can come up on stage and take pictures of Phil after his prediction, but this year the announcer said it was too cold for that and his handlers were afraid to keep him out too long. Instead, the audience was asked to come to the stage, turn around and “do a selfie.”

In New York, the ceremony for Staten Island Chuck was streamed live but closed to the public because of the cold. Chuck was said to have also predicted six more weeks of winter.

The Punxsutawney club says that when Phil is deemed to have not seen his shadow, that means there will be an early spring. When he does see it, it’s six more weeks of winter. Phil tends to predict a longer winter far more often than an early spring.

The annual ritual goes back more than a century, with ties to ancient farming traditions in Europe. Punxsutawney’s festivities have grown considerably since the 1993 movie “Groundhog Day,” starring Bill Murray.

Other Groundhog Day predictions roll in

Phil isn’t the only animal being consulted for long-term weather forecasts Monday. There are formal and informal Groundhog Day events in many places in the U.S., Canada and beyond.

Michael Venos, who tracks Groundhog Day predictions at countdowntogroundhogday.com, said the early results Monday indicated a split verdict — 25 for winter and 22 for spring.

That’s just the start — Venos expects to tally about 100 events.

Agreeing with Punxsutawney Phil that more winter weather is on the way this year have been Buffalo Bert, a New York groundhog, and groundhog mascot Dover Doug in Pennsylvania. Also in the “more winter” camp were That Dog Named Gidget, a Havanese in New York, and possum Birmingham Jill in Alabama.

In Georgia, General Beauregard Lee waddled outside and tried to get into the hollow part of a log before an announcer proclaimed that he had seen his shadow, prompting groans from the crowd at the Dauset Trails Nature Center southeast of Atlanta.

Those predicting an early spring include groundhogs Buckeye Chuck in Ohio, Fig Newton in North Carolina and Shubenacadie Sam in Nova Scotia, along with Benny the Bass, a fish in Ohio, and Pennsylvania ferret Jessup Giuseppe.

A crowd cheered in Albertville, Alabama, when Sam Mountain Sam, a possum, was said to have predicted an early spring. Sam arrived for his annual forecast carried in a whiskey barrel pulled by a convoy of wagons and horses.

Thousands brave cold weather to see Punxsutawney Phil

Lisa Gibson of Pittsburgh was at her 10th Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney, wearing a lighted hat that resembled the tree stump from which Phil emerged shortly after daybreak.

“Oh man, it just breaks up the doldrums of winter,” said Gibson, accompanied by her husband — dressed up as Elvis Presley — and teenage daughter. “It’s like Halloween and New Year’s Eve all wrapped up into one holiday.”

Groundhog Day falls on Feb. 2, the midpoint between the shortest, darkest day of the year on the winter solstice and the spring equinox. This time of year also figures in the Celtic calendar and the Christian holiday of Candlemas.

Rick Siger, Pennsylvania’s secretary of community and economic development, said the outdoor thermometer in his vehicle read 4 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 15 degrees Celsius) on his way to Gobbler’s Knob.

“I think it’s just fun — folks having a good time,” said Siger, attending his fourth straight Groundhog Day in Punxsutawney. “It brings people together at a challenging time. It is a unifying force that showcases the best of Pennsylvania, the best of Punxsutawney, this area.”

Last year’s announcement was six more weeks of winter, not much of a surprise during the first week of February. His handlers insist Phil’s “groundhogese” of winks, purrs, chatters and nods are being interpreted when they relate the meteorological marmot’s muses about the days ahead.

AccuWeather’s chief long-range weather expert, meteorologist Paul Pastelok, said early Monday some clouds moved into Punxsutawney overnight, bringing flurries he called “microflakes.”

Pastelok said the coming week will remain cold, with below-average temperatures in the eastern United States.

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Scolforo reported from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and McCormack from Concord, New Hampshire. AP reporters Kimberly Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, and Jeff Martin in Georgia contributed.