Politics
F.A.A. Investigates After Air Force Jets Near Delta Plane Activate Safety Alert
The Federal Aviation Administration is investigating an incident in which four U.S. Air Force jets came close to a Delta Air Lines plane that was taking off from Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington on Friday, prompting air traffic controllers to direct the planes to safe distances.
At about 3:15 p.m., Delta Flight 2983 was cleared to take off as four Air Force T-38 Talon jets were on their way to Arlington National Cemetery for a ceremonial flyover, the F.A.A. said in a statement.
Shortly after takeoff, the Delta flight’s onboard system detected the nearby jets, setting off an alert from the traffic collision avoidance system, according to the F.A.A.
The safety alert system is designed to help pilots prevent midair collisions by instructing one aircraft to climb and the other to descend when they are too close.
Air traffic controllers issued separation instructions to the Delta flight and the military jets, the F.A.A. said.
No one was hurt in the incident. The Delta flight landed safely at its destination in Minneapolis.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our customers and people,” Delta Air Lines said in a statement. “That’s why the flight crew followed procedures to maneuver the aircraft as instructed.”
The Air Force did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This latest incident comes two months after American Airlines Flight 5342 collided with an Army Black Hawk helicopter on a training mission, killing 67 people aboard both aircraft.
Since then, military operations near commercial airports have faced intense scrutiny from Congress and the Trump administration. On Thursday, members of a Senate subcommittee questioned the F.A.A. administrator and the U.S. Army’s director of aviation during an investigative hearing into the January midair collision about the practices that have allowed military aircraft to frequently fly too close to commercial airplanes at National Airport.
Since the fatal collision, the F.A.A. closed the helicopter route involved and ordered that aircraft operating near National Airport broadcast their positions, allowing air traffic controllers to better manage traffic.
The National Transportation Safety Board recently disclosed that between 2021 and 2024, more than 15,000 close calls occurred at the National Airport between commercial airplanes and helicopters.
President Trump declared on Sunday that he would bring “Columbus Day back from the ashes” and reinstate its celebration as a holiday.
“I am hereby reinstating Columbus Day under the same rules, dates, and locations, as it has had for all of the many decades before!” the president said in a post on Truth Social, referring to the federal holiday named for Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer who sailed to the Americas on behalf of Spain more than 500 years ago.
The holiday has long been criticized by those who condemn the explorer for paving the way for European colonialism, which brought catastrophic diseases and led to the decimation of Indigenous populations in America.
But Columbus Day was never canceled as a federal holiday. The second Monday in October is still widely referred to as such in the United States, and for many, it remains an important part of Italian American heritage.
With his declaration, Mr. Trump appeared to be referring to a proclamation issued by former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in 2021. That decree also recognized the day as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, which recognizes the Indigenous communities that have lived in the Americas for thousands of years, and called for it to be celebrated alongside Columbus Day.
“The Democrats did everything possible to destroy Christopher Columbus, his reputation, and all of the Italians that love him so much,” Mr. Trump claimed in his social media post on Sunday.
In 2021, Mr. Biden became the first U.S. president to formally recognize Indigenous Peoples’ Day, vowing to “honor America’s first inhabitants and the Tribal Nations that continue to thrive today.”
But Mr. Biden did not rename the longstanding holiday, which is still officially known as Columbus Day. While several states and dozens of cities recognize it as Indigenous Peoples’ Day, it is not considered a federal holiday, though there have been occasional efforts in Congress to make it one.
Mr. Biden’s 2021 declaration came amid heightened public debate about the erasure of Indigenous people in celebrations of Christopher Columbus, whose landing in North America led to centuries of exploitation and slaughter of Native American populations. At the time, dozens of Christopher Columbus statues were taken down, many in the midst of the Black Lives Matter protests that followed the death of George Floyd in May 2020.
The U.S. military has pummeled over 800 targets since mid-March in a campaign aimed at eliminating Houthi terrorists and restoring freedom of navigation in the Red Sea, according to an update from Central Command.
Since the start of “Operation Rough Rider” on March 15, U.S. forces have executed an “intense and sustained campaign” to dismantle the Iran-backed Houthi terrorist organization’s capabilities, CENTCOM said Monday. The strikes have destroyed critical military infrastructure, including command centers, air defense systems, advanced weapons manufacturing sites and stockpiles of anti-ship missiles and drones.
“These strikes have killed hundreds of Houthi fighters and numerous Houthi leaders, including senior Houthi missile and UAV officials,” the statement read.
The Houthis’ ability to launch attacks on international shipping has taken a major hit. U.S. officials say ballistic missile launches have dropped by 69%, while attacks by one-way suicide drones have fallen by 55% since the operation began.
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A missile is launched from a warship during the U.S.-led coalition operation against Iran-backed Houthi militia, from an undisclosed location, in this handout picture released on Jan. 12, 2024. (US Central Command via X/Handout via Reuters/ File Photo)
The Ras Isa Port – previously a key Houthi fueling hub – was also destroyed, cutting off a vital revenue stream the group used to fund its terror activities.
The update came after concerns over the rapid rate at which the offensive campaign has depleted munitions stockpiles, and congressional officials say the campaign has already cost over $1 billion, the New York Times first reported.
The Houthis have said they will continue to lob projectiles and launch drones toward Western commercial and military ships in the Red Sea in a show of solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza and Hamas.
Houthi supporters rally to show support to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in Sanaa, Yemen, on March 15. (Reuters/Khaled Abdullah)
Sunday’s update was the first after six weeks of bombing on how many targets had been struck.
It did not reveal how many civilians had been killed or the cost of the campaign. The U.S. now has two aircraft carriers in the region and has sent in new fighter, bomber and air defense units.
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“To preserve operational security, we have intentionally limited disclosing details of our ongoing or future operations. We are very deliberate in our operational approach, but will not reveal specifics about what we’ve done or what we will do,” the statement read.
Despite U.S. claims of success, some lawmakers and military analysts have questioned whether the strikes are achieving lasting results. Critics argue that while the campaign has degraded some Houthi capabilities, it has not fully stopped attacks on shipping vessels, U.S. Navy ships, or international maritime traffic.
A crater created by a U.S. airstrike. (Donald Trump/Truth Social)
“We will continue to ratchet up the pressure until the objective is met, which remains the restoration of freedom of navigation and American deterrence in the region,” the statement said.
The Houthi offensive was at the center of a bombshell report on a Signal group of top Trump Cabinet officials who used the chat to discuss details and, in the case of Vice President JD Vance, air complaints about the planned strikes.
“I think we are making a mistake,” Vance wrote in the Signal chat, later published by The Atlantic.
“I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.” The commercial ships being attacked in the Red Sea are largely European.
The Trump administration escalated its showdown with Democrat-led states and cities over immigration enforcement on Monday, announcing that the president will sign executive orders that will “unleash America’s law enforcement to pursue criminals” and direct federal agencies to publish a list of “sanctuary cities” that do not cooperate with immigration agents.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt described the sanctuary city executive order in a morning news briefing as “focused on protecting American communities from criminal aliens.”
The order, she said, will direct the attorney general and secretary of Homeland Security to publish a list of state and local jurisdictions that “obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”
“It’s quite simple,” Leavitt said in the briefing with border czar Tom Homan. “Obey the law, respect the law, and don’t obstruct federal immigration officials and law enforcement officials when they are simply trying to remove public safety threats from our nation’s communities.”
Trump is focusing on immigration — a key platform of his 2024 election campaign — as he approaches his 100th day in office. After the two executive orders are signed, Leavitt said, the president will have signed more than 140 executive orders in three months, a number that she described as “rapidly approaching the total number signed by the Biden administration over the course of four years in office.”
But the administration is already running into legal roadblocks as it seeks to penalize sanctuary cities.
Last week, a federal judge in California barred the Trump administration from denying or conditioning the use of federal funds to San Francisco and more than a dozen other municipalities that limit cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick said that parts of Trump’s executive orders were unconstitutional, and that the defendants are prohibited “from directly or indirectly taking any action to withhold, freeze, or condition federal funds.”
As a blue state with a massive immigrant population, California is a key player in the nation’s immigration showdown.
After Trump’s November election victory, Gov. Gavin Newsom drafted a conceptual plan to help undocumented immigrants under threat of deportation and called a special legislative session to approve $25 million in additional state funds for possible litigation against the Trump administration.
The Los Angeles City Council also backed a “sanctuary city” law that forbids city employees and resources from being involved in federal immigration enforcement. The law would not prevent federal agents from carrying out mass deportations across Los Angeles, but was intended as a sign that City Hall backs the sprawling region’s immigrants.
On Friday, FBI agents arrested Hannah Dugan, a county judge in Milwaukee, accusing her of obstructing an immigration arrest.
Asked if the Trump administration would lock up a federal judge or a Supreme Court justice, Leavitt said: “Anyone who is breaking the law or obstructing federal law enforcement officials from doing their jobs is putting theirselves at risk of being prosecuted. Absolutely.”
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