Nationwide ground stop disrupts US flights

Airlines across the United States worked to recover Saturday from the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years. The shutdown lasted more than four hours and canceled thousands of flights. Trump administration officials said new technology being added to the nation’s air traffic control system overloaded antiquated equipment. This failure caused intermittent communications and radar gaps.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said planes began taking flight and landing Saturday. However, he noted that the effects could be felt for days. Hundreds of thousands of passengers were stranded during the disruption. The flight stoppage also spread ripple effects around the world. Professional and college sports teams scrambled to find alternate transportation options.

In Alaska, voters elected Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins as governor. He is the first Democrat to win the office since 1998. Kreiss-Tomkins defeated three Republican opponents in the general election. One of the Republican candidates had the endorsement of President Donald Trump. His victory means Democrats will now control the governor's office in 30 states.

Kreiss-Tomkins, often referred to as JKT, completed a political comeback three years after leaving the state House. He traveled throughout the state to build his coalition. His campaign focused on affordability and the full funding of public schools. He also called for all oil and gas producers to pay corporate income tax.

Alaska voters also rejected a ballot measure that sought to repeal the state’s open primaries and ranked choice voting system. The measure was decided as part of the Nov. 3 election. This marks the second time in two years that voters have rejected attempts to overturn the system and revert to partisan primaries. The new voting system was narrowly adopted in 2020 and used for the first time in 2022.

President Donald Trump has issued mixed signals regarding the path ahead in the Iran war since Republicans were trounced in last week's midterm elections. In exchanges with reporters and social media posts, he backed away from carrying out additional strikes. At the same time, he also backed away from the prospect of additional talks with Iranian negotiators. The president acknowledged on the day after the midterms that the war and the resulting global economic tumult were partly to blame for the party's electoral losses.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the United States raised the possibility of a new security framework for Europe. He warned that Moscow could use such discussions to weaken NATO and reshape the continent’s borders. Zelenskyy stated, “In my view, this can be dangerous,” referring to the new framework. His comments were embargoed until Saturday. Ukrainian forces also struck a major Russian oil facility supporting Moscow’s war effort, according to Ukraine's General Staff.