Editor’s note: “Behind the News” is the product of Sun staff assisted by the Sun’s AI lab, which includes a variety of tools such as Anthropic’s Claude, Perplexity AI, Google Gemini and ChatGPT.

The U.S. government shutdown has entered its second month, creating mounting disruptions for air travelers nationwide as thousands of air traffic controllers work without pay and staffing shortages strain airport operations [7].

The crisis deepens

Nearly 13,000 air traffic controllers missed their first full paychecks Oct. 28 [7], adding financial stress to an already overworked workforce. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy warned that “almost every controller can’t make it without two paychecks” [8], and predicted “mass chaos” with widespread flight delays and cancellations if the shutdown con

See Full Page