Air traffic controller shortage, high-profile criminal trials, THC drinks: Catch up on the day’s stories
CNN
CNN’s 5 Things PM brings you the stories you might have missed during your busy day.
👋 Welcome to 5 Things PM! Tonight will be your last chance to see May’s full moon, known as the flower moon to signify the many blossoms of spring. It will rise low in the southeast after sunset and ascend to the highest point in the sky after midnight. Here’s what else you might have missed during your busy day: 1️⃣ Help wanted: The US is grappling with the worst air traffic controller shortage in nearly 30 years as a recent spate of incidents has thrust the high-stress profession into the spotlight. These graduating students just got fast-tracked to enter the job market quicker. 2️⃣ High-profile trials: Karen Read. Harvey Weinstein. Sean “Diddy” Combs. It’s shaping up as a busy summer for prominent criminal proceedings. They’re complex cases that are expected to last for several weeks or possibly months, and more are on the way. 3️⃣ Prison break: “Nobody’s ever escaped from Alcatraz,” President Donald Trump said as he called for the federal penitentiary off the coast of San Francisco to be reopened. Well … actually, three men escaped in 1962. All it took was brains, guts and 50 raincoats. 4️⃣ Beverage boom: Americans are consuming less alcohol, and swooping in to fill the void are THC drinks — which contain the main intoxicating chemical compound found in cannabis. Companies have been able to launch their products with little oversight.
Even after a press conference Thursday morning from the new leader of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown in Minneapolis, Tom Homan, it’s still not clear exactly how much the mission will change in the aftermath of Alex Pretti’s killing.
As the Trump administration prepared late last year for the US military operation to capture Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a handful of officials began studying the US approach to oil resources in Iraq following the 2003 US invasion.
Bipartisan senators blocked a massive spending bill Thursday, as eleventh-hour talks continue to avoid a costly partial government shutdown that looms at the week’s end.
After weeks of nationwide protests, Iran’s Supreme Leader ordered a violent crackdown that left thousands dead. President Trump, who had urged demonstrators to remain in the streets, ultimately did not intervene — a decision that now shapes the narrow set of options before him.
As tensions between the US and Cuba rise to the highest levels since the Cuban Missile Crisis, the mood was grim at a recent staff meeting at the US Embassy in Havana.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar launched a Democratic bid for governor on Thursday, pledging to unify her state and move beyond a deadly battle with the federal government over immigration.
White House Border czar Tom Homan will address the press in Minneapolis after being sent to take the reins on the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in Minnesota. President Donald Trump dispatched Homan following the fatal shooting of two US citizens in Minneapolis. Follow for live updates
Vague descriptions of presidential signing ceremonies, policy meetings and industry executive sit downs — mostly behind closed doors — began peppering President Donald Trump’s public schedule at the end of last year.
Stephen Miller has sought this week to distance himself from the recent fatal shootings in Minneapolis. But Miller has been the architect of Trump’s aggressive deportation push.
President Donald Trump’s sweeping deployment of National Guard troops to several major cities across the United States cost taxpayers approximately $496 million from June through December last year, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office.
President Donald Trump is weighing a major new strike on Iran after preliminary discussions between Washington and Tehran over limiting the country’s nuclear program and ballistic missile production failed to make progress, according to people familiar with the matter.
The White House and Senate leaders are moving closer to a deal to avert a government shutdown but are seeking to resolve final sticking points in eleventh-hour negotiations ahead of Friday’s deadline, according to several sources familiar with the talks.
More than a million fewer people have signed up for Affordable Care Act coverage for 2026, according to federal data released Wednesday. The drop comes after the expiration of the enhanced federal premium subsidies caused monthly payments to skyrocket for many enrollees.