The Dictatorship

Spirit Airlines says it’s going out of business and is ending operations immediately

Published

2 months ago

May 2, 2026

Spirit Airlines says it’s going out of business and is ending operations immediately

May. 2, 2026, 10:36 AM EDT

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Spirit Airlines, an impish upstart that shook the industry with its irreverent ads and deep discount fares, announced Saturday that it has gone out of business after 34 years.

The ultra-low cost airline that once operated hundreds of daily flights on its bright yellow planes and employed about 17,000 people said it had “started an orderly wind-down of our operations, effective immediately.”

The airline said all flights have been cancelled and customer service is no longer available.

“We are proud of the impact of our ultra-low-cost model on the industry over the last 34 years and had hoped to serve our guests for many years to come,” the announcement said.

Spirit’s abrupt closure — after a potential bailout from the Trump administration fell through — left thousands of customers in the lurch. The company urged customers with flight tickets not to go to the airport and said it would automatically process refunds for flights but could not reimburse incidental travel costs associated with canceled trips.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said at a news conference Saturday that other airlines have agreed to cap ticket prices for Spirit customers looking to rebook canceled flights for a limited time, including United, Delta, JetBlue and Southwest.

There were “a number of ideas being floated on how the government could step in and be helpful to Spirit Airlines,” Duffy said, but ultimately it was a creditor issue.

He said the Biden administration’s decision to block a merger between Spirit and JetBlue in 2023 was in part to blame for Spirit’s demise. “History has judged the denial of the merger between JetBlue and Spirit through the Biden administration with, I think, a view that it was a massive mistake,” he said.

Duffy also denied that the Iran war, which has sent jet fuel prices skyrocketing and led several international airlines to cut some routes, exacerbated the airline’s woes.

“Spirit was in dire straits long before the war with Iran. Multiple times they had filed for bankruptcy,” Duffy said. “The war was not the impetus.”

Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.

The Dictatorship

TRUMP CARD: WORLD CUP CHEATS FOR USA?

Published

6 hours ago

July 7, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

SEATTLE (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump intervened on behalf of star U.S. forward Folarin Balogun, whose red-card suspension was lifted in a decision that allows him to play in a World Cup match against Belgium on Monday.

A single red card can completely change a World Cup match. Here’s why it’s the most feared punishment in soccer. Produced by Nandini Gupta

Balogun, the American leader with three goals in the tournament, received a red card for stepping awkwardly on the right ankle of Tarik Muharemović of Bosnia-Herzegovina in a 2-0 round of 32 win on Wednesday, triggering an automatic one-game suspension.

FIFA announced Sunday that the suspension had been lifted for the round of 16 match, an extraordinary move that triggered praise from Trump and outrage from Belgium’s team. It appeared to be the first time since 1962 that a red card during a World Cup didn’t result in a suspension.

Trump called FIFA president Gianni Infantino after the game asking FIFA review the red card, according to a person familiar with the call who spoke on condition of anonymity because the person was not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

“Thank you to FIFA for doing what was right, and reversing a great injustice!” Trump said in a statement on social media.

The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA) said it was “astonished,” and Belgium coach Rudi Garcia mocked FIFA’s action.

“I didn’t know that in the offices of FIFA the fifth of July was the first of April in Europe,” Garcia said through a translator in an April Fools’ Day comparison. “The Belgian federation does not defend itself, it does not protect the national team. She defends football in general, she defends her integrity, her ethics. I think it’s the first time in the history of the World Cup that there is this kind of decision.”

Garcia wouldn’t respond when asked about a possible appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport or whether he thought Trump impacted FIFA’s action.

“In order to safeguard the legitimate rights of all participating teams and to protect the fundamental principles of fair play in our sport, both at this FIFA World Cup and at future editions of the tournament, the RBFA is investigating all potential options,” the Belgian federation said in a statement.

American players learned of Balogun’s availability when social media posts started popping up during the 10-minute bus ride Sunday morning from their hotel to training at the University of Washington’s Husky Soccer Stadium, where they were greeted by Dubs II, the university’s Alaskan Malamute.

Balogun’s red card had been one of the World Cup’s most controversial and consequential decisions. Brazilian referee Raphael Claus didn’t initially signal a card but showed Balogun red after a video review.

“If you look at the foul, it was just zero intent at all,” U.S. star Christian Pulisic said. “I felt like there was much worse ones that went on this tournament.”

The U.S. Soccer Federation learned of FIFA’s action in a message sent by FIFA in its portal at 10:31 a.m. EDT.

“The implementation of the match suspension is suspended for a probationary period of one year,” FIFA announced. “If Folarin Balogun commits another infringement of a similar nature and gravity during the probationary period, the suspension shall be revoked and the sanction enforced without prejudice to any additional sanction imposed for the new infringement.”

U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino applauded FIFA’s move.

“We were punished enough against Bosnia-Herzegovina to play with 10 men (for) 30 minutes in a decision that was completely unfair,” he said.

Pochettino, who played for Argentina in the 2002 World Cup, was not surprised Trump decided to call Infantino.

“I came from a culture, Argentina or Europe, that football, soccer is a religion, more than the religion,” he said. “If we go keep going, pushing on, maybe one step more tomorrow you will see that the sport is magic, that the sport is amazing, is so powerful, unite people, unite a country like us.”

England coach Thomas Tuchel wondered whether more decisions going forward could be challenged, whether yellow cards could be overturned for England’s Declan Rice and France’s Michael Olise.

“We can now debate endlessly: I think it’s not a yellow card,” he said. “Where does this end? Where does it stop?”

Balogun’s three goals included a go-ahead strike against Bosnia. He matched Landon Donovan in 2010 for the second-most goals by an American in a World Cup, behind only Bert Patenaude’s four in the initial tournament in 1930.

A 25-year-old who plays for Monaco, Balogun scored 13 Ligue 1 goals last season and has 12 goals in 30 international appearances. He was born in Brooklyn to Nigerian parents who were living in London and in 2023 opted to change his national team affiliation from Englandwhich he had represented at the under-21 level.

“He strikes fear into a lot of defenders,” Richards said.

The host U.S. is seeking to reach the quarterfinals for the first time since 2002. The Americans lost in the round of 16 to Ghana in 2010, Belgium in 2014 and the Netherlands in 2022. They failed to advance from the group stage in 2006 and didn’t qualify for the 2018 tournament.

The USSF didn’t make Balogun available for comment Sunday, but Balogun posted on social media a picture of himself in front of U.S. fans and overlaid with music of Michael Jackson’s pop single “Bad.”

On Friday, Balogun said he thought a yellow card instead of red “would have been fair.”

FIFA said its decision relied on Article 27 of disciplinary committee rules.

“The judicial body may decide to fully or partially suspend the implementation of a disciplinary measure,” the rule states. “By suspending the implementation of the sanction, the judicial body subjects the person sanctioned to a probationary period of one to four years.”

FIFA in November deferred the final two games of a three-match ban for Portugal’s Cristiano Ronaldo for a red card against Ireland in a World Cup qualifier, allowing him to play at the start of the World Cup.

Argentine defender Nicolás Otamendi and Ecuadoran midfielder Moisés Caicedo in April had one-game bans deferred for red cards in qualifiers, also allowing them to be available for World Cup openers.

Brazilian midfielder Garrincha received a red card in the 83rd minute of the 1962 semifinal against host Chile for kicking an opponent but was allowed to play in the final against Czechoslovakia after a lobbying campaign that included support from Chile President Jorge Alessandri. Brazil won the final for its second straight title.

“What about the next red card? What happens then?” Norway coach Ståle Solbakken said. “Is there going to be some committee somewhere that is going to take that card away? It’s a bad, bad, bad, bad, bad decision that will hurt the World Cup.”

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Price reported from Washington, D.C.

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AP Soccer Writer James Robson in Atlanta and AP Sports Writers Andrew Destin in Seattle, Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas, and Stephen Whyno in East Rutherford, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

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See more of AP’s World Cup coverage here

The Dictatorship

How the White House Rose Garden and its plantings have changed over the past century

Published

14 hours ago

July 6, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

How the White House Rose Garden and its plantings have changed over the past century

President Donald Trump’s two makeovers of the White House Rose Garden, including converting its lawn into a patiohave drawn recent attention to one of the nation’s most iconic gardens.

The garden has seen many changes over the years; presidents and first ladies have planted, removed, redesigned and even fully revamped it. Here’s a look at how the Rose Garden and its plantings have evolved.

Ellen Wilson and then Jackie Kennedy make changes

This undated image provided by the Library of Congress shows the original White House rose garden in Washington, designed by George E. Burnap in 1913 and planted in 1914 during the Woodrow Wilson administration. (Library of Congress via AP)

The Rose Garden was established by President Woodrow Wilson’s wife, Ellen Wilson, who worked closely with landscape architect George Burnap, in 1913. It replaced Edith Roosevelt’s Colonial Garden, planted 11 years earlier. Before that, greenhouses occupied the space.

The original Rose Garden remained close to its roots for nearly half a century until 1961, when President John F. Kennedy and first lady Jacqueline Kennedy brought in their friend and Cape Cod, Massachusetts, neighbor, Rachel “Bunny” Mellon, to oversee a redesign.

Mellon, a horticulture expert, worked closely with landscape architect Perry Wheeler and White House Head Gardener Irwin Williams on plans for the new Rose Garden, aiming to create an outdoor room where press conferences, meetings with dignitaries and ceremonies could be held. It was installed the following year.

The space included an expansive central lawn, inspired by the croquet-match passage in Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland,” with magnolia trees planted at each corner. Roses, interplanted with culinary herbs, spring-blooming bulbs, seasonal annuals and young Katherine crabapple trees, flanked the lawn in 12-foot-deep borders.

Since then, the space has hosted many historic events and has become known as a place where presidents deliver important speeches to the American people.

The garden evolves with new plants

Flowers bloom in the rose garden of the White House in Washington on April 19, 1963. (AP Photo/JR)

Mellon’s style favored classic, muted tones, reflected in the roses she selected. But the crabapples turned out to be a misstep. As they matured, they became so large that they shaded the sun-loving roses they were intended to complement.

In 2003, some of those trees were removed to allow sunlight to reach the failing roses. Over the years, various perennials were added and replaced. Dying roses were removed, and the remaining trees continued to grow.

Boxwood shrubs bordering the beds became threatened by boxwood blight disease, and the lawn developed drainage issues that prompted frequent replacements.

The remaining trees’ roots had grown so large that it became difficult to plant annuals in the borders without disturbing them. In addition, as walkway repairs became necessary, portions had been replaced, piecemeal, with various slabs.

A 2020 restoration brings new roses and various upgrades

Marine One, with President Barack Obama aboard, is framed by flowers in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, on April 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

Then in 2020, first lady Melania Trump commissioned two architectural firms, Perry Guillot, Inc., of Southampton, New York, and Oehme van Sweden & Associates of Washington, D.C., to work with the Committee for the Preservation of the White House and the National Park Service to address those concerns and return the garden to its 1962 aesthetic.

They removed and relocated the remaining crabapple trees, and replaced the dwindling plantings with pastel-colored roses, including the white, tall shrubby “White House Rose,” the cream-colored “JFK Rose,” the white hybrid tea rose “Pope John Paul II,” and the “Peace Rose,” a smaller tea rose with a pale yellow center and light pink edges.

The team also upgraded the garden’s infrastructure, adding electricity for TV appearances and uniform, 36-inch-wide limestone walkways to accommodate wheelchair access and comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The shrubs were replaced with blight-resistant NewGen boxwoods.

Pavers replace the grass

President Donald Trump, far right, joins a luncheon on the patio in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington on May 8, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

In 2025, President Trump revamped the space again, this time replacing the central lawn with a white limestone patio. He added solar-powered lighting, tables and umbrellas, and bronze statues of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin and Alexander Hamilton.

He has hosted dinners on the patio, and has called the space the Rose Garden Club.

And on the perimeter, the roses continue to bloom.

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Jessica Damiano writes regular gardening columns for The Associated Press. She publishes the Weekly Dirt Newsletter. Sign up here for weekly gardening tips and advice.

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For more AP gardening stories, go to https://apnews.com/hub/gardening.

The Dictatorship

PHOTOS…

Published

14 hours ago

July 6, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump commemorated the 250th anniversary of America’s independence after storms prompted a roughly two-hour evacuation of the National Mall, with severe weather disrupting celebrations in several East Coast cities. People in cities including Chicago and New York celebrated with fireworks and music.

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This is a photo gallery curated by AP photo editors.