Laptops in the bins, gift cards in the tip box, but shoes stay on. Two airports publicly posted on X this week asking people to donate gas and food gift cards, as well as nonperishable food items, for TSA agents as the partial government shutdown deprived the airport screeners of their first full paycheck.

So…that’s actually illegal. Airports have set up food pantries for workers in previous shutdowns, but the rules around any form of gift are clear. Still, there’s a need:

• TSA agent positions start at roughly $40,000 a year, and most agents live paycheck to paycheck.
• The agency reported that 305 employees left their jobs from the start of the shutdown on Feb. 14 through Monday. There are about 61,000 TSA workers currently employed by the federal government.

Travelers are getting nervous

Multihour security wait times were reported at airports in Houston and New Orleans last weekend, but most major hubs were unaffected. Union reps for TSA agents have warned that staffing shortages could be exacerbated now that paychecks aren’t coming, especially as airlines expect the busiest spring break travel season on record.

What’s causing the gridlock: The Department of Homeland Security, which employs about 260,000 employees, is the last US agency to lock down its budget. Lawmakers are stuck on controversial ICE and Border Patrol funding: Senate Democrats have proposed several changes to the agency, including requiring warrants to be signed by judges before agents can enter private homes without consent. Republicans, meanwhile, say that many of these requirements, especially judicial warrants, are nonstarters.

Is the answer privatization? Since 2004, the TSA screening partnership program has used private security companies to conduct screenings at some airports, like San Francisco International Airport. Fans of the program tout its ability to skirt issues that arise during government shutdowns. But the union representing agents says privatization would jeopardize safety and worker benefits.—MM

Iran’s new leader vowed revenge on the US and Israel. In his first public statement since becoming supreme leader following his father’s assassination, Mojtaba Khamenei said Iran will continue to strike US military bases and Israel, and could look to open new fronts in the war. He also said the Strait of Hormuz—which handles about 20% of the world’s oil—will remain closed. Khamenei has not appeared on video or in public amid reports that he was injured in the same airstrike that killed his father. Meanwhile, Israel launched a new wave of strikes in the Lebanese capital of Beirut as part of its ongoing conflict with the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah. The United Nations said as many as 3.2 million people in Iran have been displaced by the war.—AE

Bipartisan housing affordability legislation passed the Senate. The 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, authored by Republican Sen. Tim Scott and Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren, will now travel to the House of Representatives after an 89–10 vote. The legislation would create grants and pilot programs to spur housing construction and introduce new federal limitations on large institutional investors’ ability to buy up single-family homes. The bill’s fate in the House is uncertain, though, as President Trump reportedly stressed to House Speaker Mike Johnson that his top priority was getting the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act passed.—HVL

Live Nation employees mocked fans in internal Slack chats. In a series of messages from 2022, two Live Nation ticketing directors joked about customers who pay the concert giant’s inflated fees. “These people are so stupid,” one said, bragging that the company was “robbing them blind, baby.” The messages were unsealed as part of the Justice Department’s antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation. Joined by 39 state attorneys general, the DOJ is arguing that the company maintains an illegal monopoly, allowing it to jack up event prices. Live Nation said that the messages do not “reflect our values or how we operate.”—AE

The White House is dusting off the legal scrolls as it seeks to address skyrocketing gas prices caused by the Iran war, which is choking off global oil and fertilizer supplies. The Trump administration said yesterday that it plans to unburden domestic logistics by temporarily axing a century-old maritime law called the Jones Act, which prohibits shipping cargo between US ports on vessels that aren’t US-built, US-flagged, mostly US-owned, and operated by US crews.

Trade at home

The restriction was devised in 1920 to shield US shipbuilders and boat operators from foreign competition. But with most commercial vessels now built abroad and only 92 Jones Act-compliant ships afloat as of 2024, populous places that lack pipelines—like the Northeast —are dependent on imported oil, despite the US producing more than it consumes.

It remains to be seen if de-Jonesing would actually slash gas prices:

• Enabling foreign ships to deliver oil from Texas and Alaska domestically could reduce US reliance on imports amid the global oil supply crunch.
• But JPMorgan estimated in 2022 that removing the rule would shave just 10 cents off the price of gas per gallon, which has already jumped 60 cents this month.

Some experts want Jones junked forever, arguing that it drives up domestic shipping costs for various products, impacting islands like Hawaii and Puerto Rico extra hard. The law’s defenders say repealing it would threaten American sailors’ jobs.

Zoom out: Also yesterday, the Treasury Department temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil that is currently at sea—another attempt to moderate energy prices. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a podcast that it was “unfortunate” that the move would benefit Russia, but that it would last for only a “micro period.”—SK

Alphabet’s latest AI integration partially turns Google’s navigation tool into—surprise, surprise—a chatbot. In pursuit of becoming a one-stop shop for information about outside, Google Maps is rolling out Gemini-powered conversational features and 3D displays, the company said yesterday.

Now, instead of scouring reviews, asking a friend, or surrendering yourself to the thrill of the unknown, you can use Ask Maps for queries like “cafés with short lines where I can charge my phone?” or “recommended stops en route to the Grand Canyon?” To answer, Google said, Maps will tap its reviews from 500+ million contributors:

• Responses are personalized, so you won’t get steakhouse suggestions if Maps knows you’re a vegetarian from past searches, for example.
• For drivers, a new Immersive Navigation mode shows buildings, overpasses, trees, and other surroundings in 3D, using Street View data (similar to an Apple Maps update from 2021). The feature can also point out your destination’s entrance and suggest nearby parking as you approach.

The update, which will come first to users in the US and India, could threaten Yelp and Tripadvisor’s businesses more than Google Maps already has.

Looking ahead…Google is expected to integrate Gemini into even more of its offerings before its annual developer conference in May. The Maps update follows Gmail’s AI overhaul in January.—ML

That sound you’re hearing is every single movie theater executive simultaneously putting their feet up on their desks, interlocking their hands behind their heads, and unleashing a cathartic sigh. Universal Pictures announced it was extending the time that its movies play exclusively in theaters before hitting streaming services:

• Starting immediately, Universal films will show in theaters for a minimum of five weekends—up from the pandemic-era policy of just three weekends.
• In 2027, the studio’s movies will play in theaters for at least seven weekends.

The news is a huge win for the AMCs and Regals of the world, which have practically begged Hollywood studios to leave movies in theaters longer in an age when many consumers prefer to wait for flicks to hit the net.—AE

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