Good morning! The weekend edition is 770 words, a 3-minute read.

What’s on tap: 

• French treasure find

• Farmers turned heroes

• Six-pound phone case

First-time reader? Sign up here!

Today’s Big Story

FAA Begins Flight Cuts

• The FAA ordered flight cancellations at 40 high-traffic airports on Friday as air traffic controller shortages worsened during the government shutdown. The agency mandated a 4% reduction in operations on Friday, escalating to 10% by Nov. 14. By Friday evening, over 3,500 flights were delayed and 100 were canceled.

• FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said the unprecedented move addresses "fatigue" plaguing controllers working without pay for two months. A ground stop was issued at San Francisco International Airport due to staffing. Newark and Reagan National airports experienced delays averaging over four hours. (See full list of Airports affected by cuts)

• Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said reducing capacity aims to prevent worse delays and cancellations by limiting pressure on controllers. He also warned that cuts could go up to 20% if the shutdown doesn’t end soon, and even if it does end, controllers won't return to work immediately.

Saturday’s Quick Hits

• SNAP benefits started arriving on Friday after a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to fully fund food stamps during the shutdown. Some states worked overnight to reload cards, but recipients saw mixed results—some got full benefits, others received only partial payments, and many still have zero balances. The administration is appealing the ruling and has asked the Supreme Court to block it. (More)

• James Watson, who co-discovered DNA's double helix structure in 1953 at age twenty-four, died at ninety-seven. The breakthrough with Francis Crick won the Nobel Prize and revolutionized medicine, forensics, and genetics. But Watson's legacy was tarnished by racist remarks claiming Black people were less intelligent than whites. When he refused to recant in 2019, Cold Spring Harbor Lab stripped his honorary titles. (More)

• Ukrainian forces rescued a soldier trapped behind enemy lines for thirty-three days using a casket-shaped robot. After six failed rescue attempts, the armored MAUL drone drove forty miles through minefields to reach him. He climbed into the capsule and survived a Russian drone attack on the return trip. The robot completed the mission despite hitting a landmine that damaged a wheel. (More)

• Rep. Elise Stefanik launched her campaign for New York governor, attacking Democrat Kathy Hochul over the state’s affordability crisis and linking her to NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Her video blames Hochul for high taxes and costs. Stefanik, a Trump ally, enters as the GOP’s top contender but faces tough odds in deep-blue New York. (More)

• China activated its largest aircraft carrier, the Fujian, challenging US naval power in the Pacific. It's China's first fully homemade carrier with an electromagnetic launch system that handles heavier aircraft, matching America's newest technology. Leader Xi Jinping led the ceremony as part of his push for a "world-class" military by 2049. The US operates eleven carriers compared to China's three. (More)

• Kendrick Lamar leads the 2026 Grammy nominations with nine, including Album of the Year for GNX. Lady Gaga got seven while Bad Bunny earned six. If Lamar wins the top album prize, GNX would be the first rap album to do so since Outkast in 2003. Breakout Leon Thomas scored six nominations for his album Mutt, while Clipse earned their first nods in twenty-two years. (More)

• A French man found gold bars and coins worth $800,000 while digging a pool in his yard. He reported the discovery to authorities, and they allowed him to keep it since it wasn't from an archaeological site. Police traced the gold's serial numbers and confirmed it was legally bought and melted down fifteen to twenty years ago at a nearby refinery. (More)

Weekly Dose of Positive

• Two California farmers spotted smoke on a school bus before the driver did, helped evacuate 20 students, and watched it burn minutes later at a safe distance. (More)

• The Maldives became the first country to completely stop HIV, syphilis, and hepatitis B from passing to babies by screening all pregnant women and vaccinating newborns immediately. (More)

• DoorDash will deliver one million free meals through food banks and waive fees for thousands of grocery orders to help communities hurt by federal funding cuts. (More)

• A nonprofit removed 300,000 landmines and bombs from Sri Lanka’s civil war, allowing 280,000 people to return home and freeing up land larger than Manhattan for farming and living. (More)

Extra Credit

Ranking the cities Americans are moving to.

Starbucks launched its 2025 holiday cup designs.

The Louvre’s video surveillance system password was reportedly “Louvre."

Six-pound steel smartphone case aims to reduce phone usage.