2nd jobs, longer hours, pushed to the brink: TSA workers detail mounting stress as DHS shutdown continues
Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents screen travelers at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia, US, on Monday, Jan. 26, 2026. (Photographer: Valerie Plesch/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown is taking its toll on the thousands of Transportation Security Administration employees at airports who have been working without pay.
Approximately 60,000 TSA officers who have gone over a month with partial pay began receiving their first $0 paychecks last week.
Many say they are living in fear, with some taking on extra jobs or even leaving the agency altogether to make ends meet.
And if there is no relief soon, veteran TSA leaders fear that the stress and uncertainty could impact operations for years
“Who wants to go work in public service in the public sector when you’re treated like a yo-yo?” a TSA worker who asked to remain anonymous told ABC News.
The current partial shutdown, now in its second month, comes close to last fall’s 43-day federal government shutdown, which paused payments to thousands of TSA workers, who were still required to work their shift.
Angela Grana, a TSA officer at Durango-La Plata County Airport in Colorado, told ABC News Live on Monday, the first day that TSA workers missed their checks, that the entire situation has been humiliating for her co-workers.
“The stories I get are very demoralizing,” Grana, who serves as the state’s regional vice president for AFGE TSA Local 1127, said. “To go ahead and do the Uber Eats or any other kind of side job, we have to have extra permission. For now, we can’t just do it.” Senate Democrats have vowed to block funding for DHS until reforms are made to Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal law enforcement.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on Democrats Monday to join a discharge petition that would fund all DHS agencies except for ICE.
A vote on similar legislation failed earlier in the Senate. Jeffries would need at least four Republicans to sign on with all Democrats for the discharge petition to move forward.
Grana said the stress of making ends meet and keeping the airports safe is getting to a lot of TSA officers. Several airports across the country have begun food pantries for their employees affected by the partial shutdown.
“Let me tell you, for us to be concentrating on our jobs without the hunger pains in our stomachs. It’s really difficult to do. We can’t get it wrong,” Grana said. “We have to get it right every time. We cannot miss a bag, we cannot miss a threat.”
Jill DeJanovich, a TSA officer at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and single mom of four, was one of the nearly 2,700 TSA workers who called out sick this week, because of the demands put on her.
DeJanovich, who is the a AFGE Local 1260 Chief Administrative Point of contact in Nevada, said she is frustrated with Congress for not moving forward and ending the quagmire over funding.
“Someone needs to cross the line before Congress goes on break for Easter recess,” she said.
While some TSA officers said they had to power on through, for others, like Robert Echeverria, the strain of a second DHS shutdown in five months proved to be too much.
After nine years working at Salt Lake City International Airport a lead TSA officer, Echeverria told ABC News that he left his job after the current shutdown. Echeverria said his family’s life savings were depleted after the last shutdown.
“Emotionally, we couldn’t go through that strain anymore,” he told ABC News.
“It was just really hard for my wife and emotionally to see my kids going through a hard time asking for things, and we wouldn’t be able to actually help them out,” he added.
A TSA worker who asked not to be named warned that the loss of employees can’t easily be fixed.
“Losing seasoned employees is very difficult to replace,” the TSA worker said. “New hires take two years to get off probation.”
The worker added that the accumulating debt borne by government employees will also affect staffing.
“One of the requirements is that you have a great credit rating. A lot of our officers are not going to have that now,” they said.
Joseph Cerletti, a TSA officer at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, told ABC News that he struggles to explain to his kids about their financial issues now that his family has to depend solely on his wife’s income.
Cerletti relented that he and his coworkers “don’t have the upper ground here” when it comes to fighting for their rights.
“It’s very hard to find words in the English language to describe how I feel about it, other than speechless,” he said. “This is just what I’ve been describing lately as figuratively an uphill gunfight.”
Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) signage at a grocery store in Dorchester, Massachusetts, US, on Monday, Nov. 3, 2025. The US government shutdown became painfully real for tens of millions Americans over the weekend as it hit the one-month mark with food aid disrupted, cuts to child care kicking in, and health insurance premiums spiking. Photographer: Mel Musto/Bloomberg via Getty Images
(MASSACHUSETTS) — Two Massachusetts men trafficked nearly $7 million worth of benefits intended for people who cannot afford food, federal prosecutors in Boston said Wednesday.
Antonio Bonheur, 74, of Mattapan, and Saul Alisme, 21, of Hyde Park, were arrested Wednesday morning and charged with one count of food stamp fraud in a scheme that U.S. Attorney Leah Foley said “turned a program to feed families into a multimillion dollar criminal enterprise.”
Assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, became a focal point during the most recent government shutdown. According to federal prosecutors, the defendants operated small retail stores that, despite their limited size, inventory and food offerings, exhibited extraordinarily high SNAP redemption volumes far in excess of what could reasonably be supported by legitimate sales.
One store’s monthly SNAP redemptions exceeded $100,000 and, at times, even $500,000, prosecutors said. By comparison, a full-service supermarket in Boston typically redeems $82,000 per month in SNAP benefits.
Investigators went undercover, discovering that the defendants had personally exchanged SNAP benefits for cash. Both stores were also allegedly observed selling liquor in exchange for SNAP benefits.
“This is taxpayer money meant to keep people from going hungry. These defendants decided to take it for themselves,” Foley said.
Khaled Fouad (L) and Mimi Laine (R) embrace as they inspect a family member’s property that was destroyed by Eaton Fire on January 09, 2025 in Altadena, California. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Devastating wildfires, flooding and extreme heat events took place over the past year, several resulting in mass fatalities, with experts linking some of the worst events to human-amplified climate change.
These are the biggest weather stories of the year:
Los Angeles wildfires
Multiple wildfires that sparked in Los Angeles at the beginning of the year spread quickly and burned for weeks, destroying more than 16,000 structures and killing dozens of people.
Fueled by severe drought conditions and Santa Ana winds, the Palisades and Eaton fires both erupted on Jan. 7, eventually spreading more than 37,000 acres over the course of 24 days.
At one point, five wildfires — including the Hurst, Woodley and Lidia fires — were burning through Ventura and Los Angeles counties, according to officials.
Hydroclimate whiplash — the rapid shift between wet and dry conditions — likely contributed to the severity of the wildfires burning in Southern California.
In recent years, parts of the state shifted from a major drought to an extended period of above-average precipitation that allowed for abundant vegetation growth. After that, a stretch of intense, record-breaking heat dried out much of that vegetation and provided ample fuel for large and fast-growing wildfires.
Once the fires were sparked, an exceptionally strong mountain wave wind event, with northerly 80 to 100 mph gusts, spread the fires rapidly through densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles.
Among the neighborhoods heavily impacted were the Pacific Palisades, Topanga, Malibu and Altadena.
Celebrities including Billy Crystal, Paris Hilton, Mandy Moore and Eugene Levy were among the residents who lost their homes in the wildfires.
While wildfires are a natural and necessary part of Earth’s cycle, climate change and other more direct human influences have increased their likelihood, research shows.
Texas floods
Extreme flooding that occurred this year in a region in Texas known as “Flash Flood Alley” quickly turned to tragedy when it inundated a popular campground site.
In the early morning hours of July 3, torrential rains turned the Guadalupe River in Kerr County into a raging wall of water, causing the river to rise 26 feet in less than an hour. In some spots, rainfall rates of 2 to 4 inches per hour were measured.
Campsites along the river were filled with campers for the 4th of July weekend, including Camp Mystic, one of the hardest-hit sites.
The flash flooding killed more than 130 people, 36 of whom were children, according to officials.
Texas Hill Country is often colloquially referred to as “Flash Flood Alley” because the weather and landscape in the south-central Texas region have a tendency to produce rapid flood events, according to the Texas Water Resources Institute (TWRI). The “alley” stretches from Dallas to San Antonio and encompasses the Colorado and Guadalupe River basins.
The region’s steep terrain, shallow soil and repeated high rainfall events make it one of the most flood-prone regions in the country.
Drought also played a role in the severity of the event. Severe to exceptional drought conditions were prevalent for much of south-central Texas when the downpours came, making areas more susceptible to flash flooding because the soil could not absorb rainfall as efficiently.
Climate change is likely to make extreme weather events, like the flash flooding in Texas, occur more intensely and frequently, climate scientists told ABC News in July in the aftermath of the floods.
Deadly tornado outbreak in the South
Tornado outbreaks in Kentucky, Missouri and Virginia in mid-May killed at least 28 people, according to officials.
Strong supercell storms spurred tornado activity, tearing roofs off homes and causing several buildings to collapse.
In Missouri, St. Louis was particularly hard hit when an EF-3 tornado with 140 mph winds ripped through neighborhoods.
The first EF-5 tornado in the U.S. in over a decade also occurred this year.
On June 20, a monster tornado with peak winds topping 210 mph hit Enderlin, North Dakota, tipping several fully-loaded grain hopper cars and lofting tanker cars, including one empty tanker car that was tossed more than 475 feet, according to the National Weather Service.
There was also extensive tree damage throughout the entire Maple River valley, with only stubs of large branches or large trunks remaining and debarking with a “sandpapering” effect prevalent, officials said.
While the EF-5 tornado mostly struck a rural area, three people died as a result, according to the NWS.
No hurricanes made landfall in the US
The 2025 Atlantic hurricane season proved to be consequential, even though no hurricanes made landfall in the U.S for the first time since 2015.
Three Category 5 hurricanes formed during this past hurricane season, the second-most on record in the Atlantic basin. The only other season with more Category 5 storms was in 2005, when there were four Category 5 storms.
A combination of favorable conditions and a bit of luck helped the U.S. avoid a landfalling hurricane.
Prevailing winds and weather patterns steered storms away from the coast, and many variables aligned at the right times, keeping hurricanes from making landfall. Persistent dry air and other unfavorable atmospheric conditions hindered storm development during a historically busy timeframe.
Many of the storms that did form followed a similar path, curving away from the U.S. coastline and toward Bermuda. An unusually persistent upper-level trough, or area of lower pressure, sat over the Eastern U.S. throughout much of the season, bringing seasonably mild temperatures by late summer. The recurring trough frequently pushed the jet stream south, helping curve storms northward parallel to the East Coast and then out to sea, following the prevailing west to east wind pattern.
The trough also weakened the western side of the Bermuda High; the dominant high-pressure system located over the Atlantic Ocean that usually helps steer weather systems. When the Bermuda High is strong, storms are pushed farther west toward the East Coast and the Gulf. However, when it is weaker, they tend to turn northward earlier. This season, the weakened Bermuda High, combined with a dip in the jet stream, deflected storms away from land.
The Fujiwhara effect, a rare occurrence in the Atlantic basin, also helped keep Hurricanes Imelda and Humberto away from the U.S. as they were churning through the Western Atlantic at the same time. The Fujiwhara effect occurs when two tropical cyclones within several hundred miles of each other begin to interact and rotate around a common midpoint
Although no hurricanes made landfall in the U.S. in 2025, Hurricane Melissa became one of the most powerful hurricanes on record to make landfall in the Atlantic basin, ranking with Hurricane Dorian (2019) and the “Labor Day” hurricane (1935) for the strongest sustained winds at landfall.
Human-amplified climate change is expected to influence tropical activity in the coming decades. While the total number of tropical cyclones is expected to remain steady or even decrease slightly, the storms that do form are likely to be more intense, according to climate scientists.
Global warming has led to substantial ocean warming, which fuels hurricane intensification. More than 90% of the excess heat trapped by greenhouse gases has been absorbed by the oceans, creating conditions that favor rapid intensification and stronger peak winds. As a result, more storms are reaching major hurricane strength compared to past decades, the latest research shows.
The changing climate is also amplifying the indirect effects of tropical systems that remain well offshore, making coastal areas more vulnerable. Sea level rise and more intense storms increase the risks of flooding, erosion, and shoreline change, according to the federal government’s Fifth National Climate Assessment.
Record heat in Europe
Major heat waves across southern Europe over the summer pushed temperatures passed triple digits in many major cities.
Severe heat waves were recorded in Italy, Greece, Spain and Portugal at the end of June and beginning of July.
The heat was so severe that outdoor work activities were banned in several regions in Italy. On July 1, the Eiffel Tower in Paris was closed as temperatures topped 101 degrees Fahrenheit.
In Portugal, where two-thirds of the country was on alert for high heat and wildfires, temperatures reached 107 degrees Fahrenheit. Similar temperatures were recorded in Seville, Spain.
In Athens, a large wildfire broke out and was fueled by strong winds, forcing evacuations and road closures near the ancient Temple of Poseidon.
Multiple fatalities occurred, and tourists were advised by local governments to alter their plans as a result of the heat.
Climate scientists warn that extreme heat will become more commonplace across southern Europe as a result of global warming.
Europe is fastest-warming continent on planet, heating up twice as much as the global average since the 1980s, according to a 2023 report by Copernicus, European Union’s climate change service, and the World Meteorological Organization.
There is high confidence in the connection between human-amplified climate change and extreme heat events, research has shown. The attribution of climate change to extreme heat has the strongest connection and highest confidence compared to all other weather events.
ABC News’ Weather and Climate Unit contributed to this report.
Ali Staking talks about how she and her family reacted to Eric Richins’ sudden death and Kouri Richins’ subsequent murder trial. (ABC News)
(NEW YORK) — After Kouri Richins was charged with murder for fatally poisoning her husband with fentanyl, a friend of the Utah mother of three had a difficult time reconciling that.
In an exclusive interview with “20/20,” Ali Staking said she and her children were “devastated” about the sudden 2022 death of 39-year-old Eric Richins.
“I said, along the way, ‘Sometimes it looks like Kouri might have done it,'” Staking recalled saying to her children. “Then my kids would say, ‘Well, did she?’ And I’d say ‘I don’t think so. But, you know, it sometimes looks like it.'”
A Summit County jury ultimately found 35-year-old Kouri Richins guilty of aggravated murder on Monday, after prosecutors argued during the three-week trial that she killed her husband for financial gain by giving him a lethal dose of fentanyl in a cocktail.
Eric Richins was found dead in bed on March 4, 2022. An autopsy determined that he died from fentanyl intoxication, and the level of fentanyl in his blood was approximately five times the lethal dosage, according to the charging document. The medical examiner determined the fentanyl was “illicit fentanyl,” not medical grade, according to the charging document.
Kouri Richins, who self-published a children’s book on grief following her husband’s death, was arrested in May 2023 following a lengthy investigation.
The charges alleged that she spiked his drink with a lethal dose of fentanyl that she purchased illicitly, and that she also gave her husband a sandwich laced with fentanyl on Valentine’s Day two weeks before his death in an initial, failed attempt to kill him.
Prosecutors argued that Kouri Richins wanted a “fresh start” and to leave her husband, but didn’t want to leave his money. They said she was in “financial desperation” due to her house flipping business’ debts and needed a significant influx of cash immediately.
According to prosecutors, she believed she would have financially benefited from her husband’s death — without realizing that his assets were in a trust overseen by one of his sisters.
A jury found her guilty of all five counts, including aggravated murder and attempted aggravated murder, after about three hours of deliberations on Monday. She was also found guilty of insurance fraud for taking out a $100,000 insurance policy on her husband’s life with his forged signature and also for submitting a claim following his death.
Kouri Richins, who had pleaded not guilty and asserted her innocence from jail, did not testify during the trial and the defense called no witnesses. Her sentencing has been scheduled for May 13. She faces 25 years to life in prison.
Staking, who testified during the trial, said she was “very surprised that there was no defense.”
ABC News contributor Brian Buckmire suggested this was a reflection of the defense’s confidence.
“They may believe the prosecution didn’t make out their case, that having any witness on the stand wouldn’t make sense because they’ve already won their case,” he told “20/20.”
Staking said it was “surreal” learning that Eric Richins had died, describing him as a “dedicated dad” and a “goofy cowboy dude who loved to dance.”
“He had so much more life to live and he wanted so much for his boys,” she said. “I’m gonna remember just how much he loved them.”
Kouri Richins also faces more than two dozen charges in a separate case filed last year, including allegations that she committed mortgage fraud in 2021. The charging document alleges she submitted falsified bank statements in support of mortgage loan applications for her realty business, committed money laundering and issued bad checks.
The charges in the case also allege she murdered her husband for financial gain as she “stood on the precipice of total financial collapse.”
She has not yet entered a plea to those charges.
Staking said she wants Eric Richins to be remembered as a “loving dad.”
“I believe Eric is with his kids all the time every day,” she said. “I don’t think there’s anywhere else he’d wanna be.”
