5 things to know for May 15: Trump trial, Israel, Bus crash, Tariffs, Canadian wildfires

A shortage of air traffic controllers in the US has long plagued the aviation industry, often resulting in flight delays and cancellations. Despite a surge in hiring last year, new data from the FAA shows air traffic control stations nationwide are still about 3,000 controllers short.

A shortage of air traffic controllers in the US has long plagued the aviation industry, often resulting in flight delays and cancellations. Despite a surge in hiring last year, new data from the FAA shows air traffic control stations nationwide are still about 3,000 controllers short. Here’s what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day. Former President Donald Trump’s ex-attorney and fixer Michael Cohen continued his fiery testimony Tuesday in Trump’s criminal hush money trial. Cohen detailed the hush money scheme involving adult film actress Stormy Daniels before the 2016 election and walked the jury through the $130,000 he says he paid at Trump’s direction — all of which Trump denies. Meanwhile, Tuesday saw the biggest group of Republican politicians appearing outside the Manhattan courthouse to show their support for the former president. The list included House Speaker Mike Johnson, Trump’s onetime presidential-rival-turned-VP-hopeful North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, Florida Reps. Byron Donalds and Cory Mills, and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy. The Biden administration on Tuesday began the process to move ahead with a new $1 billion weapons deal for Israel. The potential arms sale comes as the administration has paused the shipment of 2,000-pound bombs and 500-pound bombs to Israel, citing opposition to the weapons being used in the densely populated areas of Rafah — where more than 1 million people are sheltering. The move, however, signals the Biden administration will continue to make sure that Israel has the military capacity to defend itself, indicating that longer-term weapons deals are not going to be halted at this time. Eight farm workers are dead and 45 others were injured in a bus crash in north-central Florida on Tuesday. The bus carrying “approximately 53 farm workers” and a pickup truck sideswiped each other about 15 miles west of Ocala, the Florida Highway Patrol said in a statement. The driver of the pickup truck has been charged with eight counts of “Driving Under the Influence — manslaughter,” local officials said. In a news conference Tuesday evening, Juan Sabines, the Mexican consul in Orlando, said the victims were all from Mexico and were in the US on temporary agricultural worker visas. President Joe Biden is increasing tariffs on $18 billion in Chinese imports across a handful of sectors deemed strategic to national security — an attempt to cripple Beijing’s development of critical technologies and instead prioritize US production. The increases will apply to imported steel and aluminum, legacy semiconductors, electric vehicles, battery components, critical minerals, solar cells, cranes and medical products. The new tariff rates will take place over the next two years. This follows other recent attempts by Washington to limit Chinese companies’ influence on US consumers and national security, especially ahead of the presidential election in November.