FIRST ON FOX: A House GOP lawmaker is unveiling new legislation aimed at easing airport chaos that’s hitting travelers across the country during the ongoing partial government shutdown.

Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., introduced a bill on Monday to ensure Transportation Security Administration (TSA) workers are paid during shutdowns by creating a Transportation Security Trust Fund to help operations and personnel wherever needed.

It would be funded by the Aviation Passenger Security Fee, also called the 9/11 passenger security fee in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. It’s a small cost collected by airlines — $5.60 for a one-way trip and up to $11.20 for a round-trip — for flights that originate in the U.S. and is meant to go toward passenger security.

Langworthy’s proposal comes days after TSA agents missed their first full paychecks of the shutdown, which has now gone on roughly a month with no end in sight.

‘YOU CAN CRY ABOUT IT’: TEMPERS FLARE IN SENATE AS DHS SHUTDOWN DEBATE ERUPTS, STALEMATE DIGS DEEPER

TSA agents scan luggage at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Arlington, Va. (Valerie Plesch/Getty Images)

While they are entitled to back pay when the shutdown is over, the lack of a consistent paycheck and uncertainty over its duration has forced scores of TSA agents to call out sick and look for other ways to earn income to pay bills and feed their families.

Travelers in places like Louisiana and Texas have been asked to arrive hours early for flights to accommodate longer wait times for security.

Delays have also been exacerbated by bad weather in parts of the country, including up and down the East Coast.

HOMELAND SECURITY REACTIVATES MAJOR GLOBAL ENTRY PROGRAM FOR TRAVELERS AMID SHUTDOWN

Rep. Nick Langworthy, R-N.Y., during a news conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, Oct. 30, 2025. (Eric Lee/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“This is now the third time in just six months that TSA agents have been forced to work without receiving a paycheck,” Langworthy told Fox News Digital. “Morale and recruitment are taking a profound hit, and we’ve already lost more than 300 agents, putting the agency’s mission at grave risk.”

He said his bill “will help ensure that our hardworking agents get paid, and that we retain the vigilant, professional workforce necessary to protect the traveling public.”

“Doing nothing is a national security crisis waiting to happen,” Langworthy warned.

Democrats walked away from bipartisan funding negotiations earlier this year after Congress passed federal budgets for all aspects of the federal government except for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

Democratic leaders are protesting the Trump administration’s handling of illegal immigration and withholding support from any spending bill that funds Trump’s crackdown, turning down multiple compromise offers for guardrails from the White House.

DHS oversees a wide variety of federal agencies, including the TSA, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the U.S. Secret Service, and others.

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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., announced Monday that Democrats would try to force a vote on funding all of DHS except for immigration-related agencies — likely a nonstarter for Republicans.

The standoff has seen new significance as more and more TSA agents are forced to choose between working without pay and finding second jobs to make ends meet. Concerns have also been exacerbated by the U.S. and Israel’s operation in Iran, which has raised the national security threat level within the country.

Two schools in Cardiff have been closed after weapons threats were made online.

South Wales Police said it received a live chat making threats to harm people at Llanishen High School and Eastern High School around 8.30pm on Sunday.

The information said an individual had the intention to attend the schools in possession of weapons, the force added.

“At this stage, the information is being actively investigated to assess the credibility and determine the origin of the threat,” the force said in a statement.

It said the decision to close both schools was made after discussions between the police and Cardiff Council.

“This joint decision was not taken lightly but was made with the safety of pupils, staff, and the wider school communities in mind,” the force said.

It also said there was “no evidence” of anyone attending either school posing a threat.

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There will be an increased police presence in the area while the investigation continues.

“We understand this is causing concern for parents and the community,” the statement said.

“It is important that we fully assess the information and ensure appropriate safeguarding measures are in place.”

A Kentucky woman is dead after she was dragged under a float and crushed in front of crowds of revelers during a local St. Patrick’s Day parade over the weekend. 

The incident unfolded at the 53rd annual parade in Louisville, when authorities were called to an area near Bardstown Road and Grinstead Drive just before 4 p.m. on Saturday, March 14, over reports of a woman being struck by a vehicle, according to WLKY. 

A preliminary investigation conducted by authorities reportedly revealed the woman, identified as 50-year-old Joan Pannuti, was walking next to a float when her foot became caught, causing her to fall to the ground and get stuck under the vehicle. 

MULTIPLE PEOPLE, INCLUDING PREGNANT WOMAN, STRUCK BY ALLEGED DRUNK DRIVER AT NAVAJO NATION CHRISTMAS PARADE

Scenes along the St. Patrick’s Day Parade route on Bardstown Road in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, March 14, 2026.  (Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

The float immediately stopped and Pannuti was administered first aid before being transported to a local hospital, where she died from her injuries.

Video obtained by WDRB showed the moments immediately after Pannuti was dragged under the float as it was being towed by a silver truck clad in four-leaf clovers. 

Good Samaritans were seen rushing to Pannuti’s aid as the group waited for law enforcement to arrive. 

MAN STABBED, OFFICER ASSAULTED AS FIGHT BREAKS OUT AFTER MLK DAY PARADE IN LOS ANGELES

Scenes along the St. Patrick’s Day Parade route on Bardstown Road in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, March 14, 2026.  (Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

“I seen the EMS attending to somebody… I saw somebody on the stretcher, not thinking it was something very serious,” food vendor David Gnamba told WAVE.

“It does break my heart because that’s a person that lost their life,” Gnamba added. “This is not news that we want to hear – as human beings, as vendors, as people, as partygoers.”

The parade’s organizers, the Hibernian Cultural and Charitable Association, reportedly released a statement expressing their organization is “deeply saddened by the tragic accident.” 

DRIVER OF U-HAUL TRUCK THAT ENTERED IRAN PROTEST CROWD SPEAKS OUT: ‘ALL I WANT IS PEACE’

Scenes along the St. Patrick’s Day Parade route on Bardstown Road in Louisville, Kentucky, on Saturday, March 14, 2026.  (Michael Clevenger/Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images)

Additionally, Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg called for prayers for the victim and her loved ones in a social media post.

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“I am so sorry to hear about the tragic accident that took a woman’s life at today’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade,” Greenberg said. “Please join Rachel and me in keeping her family and friends in your prayers. May her memory be a blessing.” 

The Louisville Metro Police Department did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

Astronomers have spotted a molten alien planet orbiting a star in our neighbourhood of the Milky Way galaxy that has a surface not unlike a vision of hell. 

The planet, named L 98-59 d, is covered with magma and has a noxious and fiercely hot sulfur-rich atmosphere.

It has a diameter more than 60% greater than that of the Earth, though its density is only about ‌40% in comparison.

The planet orbits a star dimmer and slighter than the sun located around 34 light-years from Earth in the constellation Volans.

A light-year is the distance light travels in a year, 5.9 trillion miles (9.5 trillion km).

“The planet lacks distinct structure within its magma ocean, so there is no crust, upper mantle and lower mantle. The magma ocean is a single deep, mushy layer,” said Harrison Nicholls, a postdoctoral ​researcher at the University of Cambridge Institute of Astronomy.

Mr Nicholls is the lead author of the research published on Monday in the journal Nature Astronomy.

Small crystals of solid rock may be ​trapped within the turbulent fluid magma that makes up the mantle, Mr Nicholls added.

The planet’s metallic core appears to be relatively small, with the magma ocean ⁠comprising 70-90% of the planetary interior radius – reaching a depth of between 2,775 and 3,565 miles (4,465-5,740 km).

Its thick atmosphere is primarily made up of hydrogen, but has a very high sulfur content. ​

Around 10% of the atmosphere is the toxic gas hydrogen sulfide, giving off the odour of rotten eggs.

The atmosphere has created a runaway greenhouse effect, trapping heat from the star, ​that keeps the planet’s surface hot enough to remain molten.

“Your nose can smell hydrogen sulfide at concentrations of something like one part per billion, so this would be overwhelmingly stinky. But you wouldn’t survive long enough in this hot atmosphere to notice,” said planetary scientist and study co-author Raymond Pierrehumbert of the University of Oxford and Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The atmosphere’s composition suggests a high sulfur content in the planetary ​interior, according to the researchers.

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The planet was discovered in 2019, then was observed by the James Webb Space Telescope in 2024, and by ground-based telescopes in ‌2025.

The ⁠researchers used advanced computer simulations to reconstruct its history, spanning nearly five billion years, making it somewhat older than Earth, which is estimated to be 4.54 billion years old.

The planet orbits a common form of star called a red dwarf.

The star’s mass is just under 30% that of the sun, and its luminosity around 1% that of the sun.

L 98-59 d is the third of five planets known to orbit this star.

More than 6,100 planets beyond our solar system, called exoplanets, have been discovered since the 1990s.

But this planet’s unique combination of a ​magma ocean, and a sulfur-laden atmosphere, puts it ​in a class by itself – for now.

“This planet’s surface is in excess of 1,500 degrees Celsius (2,732 degrees Fahrenheit), so it would not harbour life as we know it,” Mr Nicholls added.

A 22-year-old Christian influencer says more young Americans are rediscovering faith as frustration with “fake stuff” and social media culture drives a search for deeper meaning.

“We’re tired of fake stuff. We’re tired of fluff,” Bryce Crawford said Monday on “Fox & Friends.”

“We’re fed fluff through our phones, through desires, through whatever we think is going to satisfy. Every human being is on a quest for love, and we try to fill that void with different things, and I think people are naturally understanding, ‘Wait, this thing isn’t working anymore. This isn’t going how I thought it was going to go,’ so ultimately, people don’t just want a truth, they want the truth and that would be Jesus.”

Crawford is helping trailblaze a faith revival among young adults by spreading the gospel in the streets and to millions of followers on his social media accounts.

‘THE CHOSEN’ FANS REVEAL WHY THE JESUS SERIES IS REWRITING HOLLYWOOD RULES

Bryce Crawford speaks to a crowd while wearing an “I Love Jesus” shirt in this undated screengrab taken from a YouTube video. (Courtesy: Bryce Crawford/YouTube)

After growing up in a Christian household, he fully committed to Christ and found peace in Jesus’ word after battling anxiety and depression as a teen.

“When I was 17, I planned on making an irrevocable decision with my life because I thought that was the only way to get the pain to go away,” he said.

“And the night I was going to make an irrevocable decision, Jesus supernaturally encountered me, and I prayed a prayer. I said, ‘Jesus, if you’re real, take away my anxiety and depression,’ and I haven’t had it since that day.”

CATHOLICVOTE LAUNCHES ‘ZEALE’ APP TARGETING GEN Z AMERICANS WITH FAITH AND NEWS CONTENT

Bryce Crawford appears on a flyer for his “I Love Jesus” tour in this photo. (Fox & Friends/Screengrab)

That was over five years ago, he shared, and that moment placed his “foot in the door” to give his life to Christ.

Crawford is also leading the charge with his “I Love Jesus” tour – traveling from state to state, city to city, to help spread the gospel and give people a space to unify behind a Christian message.

He said helping others welcome the gospel as he did starts with being “intentional” in asking questions.

“[People are] not a statistic. I’m not going out there to treat them like a stat to go home and brag about. They’re a human being that’s made in the image of God,” he said.

“So we want to be intentional and ask questions. But we ask the tough questions, too: Do you have a faith? What do you think happens when we die? Do you believe in Jesus? [What are] your thoughts on Him? Everyone has a perspective of Jesus. It’s just, do we believe that he is God? And if he is God, then he’s worthy of our lives and worship.”

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Crawford said the Christian resurgence among fellow Gen Zers stems from people “waking up to the truth” and realizing that Christ is the “only thing that can satisfy” them.

“We’ve lived for so many different things, different people, relationships, substances, different vices, and it doesn’t fulfill us,” he said.

“So people understand that we need something eternal and perfect that can sustain that, and Jesus is alive and active, and He is doing that in people’s hearts who are hungry and ready to receive Him.”