By KATE PAYNE, Associated Press/Report for America

A Christian missionary father and his daughter were killed when a small plane bound for a hurricane relief mission in Jamaica crashed in a South Florida neighborhood.

Christian ministry organization Ignite the Fire identified the two victims of the Monday morning crash as the group’s founder, Alexander Wurm, 53, and his daughter Serena Wurm, 22.

The pair were bringing humanitarian aid to Jamaica, according to the organization, when the Beechcraft King Air plane they were flying in crashed into a pond in a residential area of the Fort Lauderdale suburb of Coral Springs, narrowly missing homes. As of Tuesday morning, investigators had not reported any other victims.

Ignite the Fire is “dedicated to empowering youth through missions and evangelism across the Caribbean,” according to the organization’s website. A statement on the group’s social media described the Wurm family as passionate about humanitarian work and their Christian faith.

“Together, their final journey embodied selflessness and courage, reminding us of the power of service and love,” the statement reads, adding, “Rest in peace, Alexander and Serena — your light endures in all whose lives you changed.”

The turboprop plane went down shortly after taking off from Fort Lauderdale Executive Airport at approximately 10:14 a.m. on Monday, authorities said, with police and fire rescue responding to the crash site just five minutes later.

According to Federal Aviation Administration records, the plane was manufactured in 1976 and its registered owner is listed as International Air Services, a company that markets itself as specializing in providing trust agreements to non-U.S. citizens that enable them to register their aircraft with the FAA. A person who answered the company’s phone Monday afternoon declined to answer questions from a reporter, stating “no comment” and ending the phone call.

Posts by Alexander Wurm on social media in recent days suggested the evangelist had recently acquired the plane to further his missionary work across the Caribbean, describing the aircraft as “an older King Air with brand new engines,” and “perfect” to ferry his organization’s deliveries of generators, batteries and building materials to Jamaica.

“I’ve been a pilot since 2005 and I felt that the Ignite ministry should have a missions airplane if it wanted to effectively bless the Caribbean!” Wurm wrote in a social media post on Nov. 2.

Related Articles

Wall Street holds relatively steady in mixed trading even as Nvidia gets back to falling

ByHeart recalls all baby formula sold nationwide as infant botulism outbreak grows

Everyday volunteers are providing stopgap services during the shutdown in a show of community power

US Catholic bishops will elect a new leader and contend with Trump’s immigration tactics

Air travelers face frustration as FAA’s further drop in flights takes effect

“Perfect for the mission to bring relief goods into Montego Bay and the plane is ready just in time!” he added.

Photos and videos on social media show Wurm posing for a picture in the plane’s cockpit and unloading boxes of supplies from the packed aircraft with teams of volunteers.

The flight tracking website FlightAware shows the plane made four other trips to or from Jamaica in the past week, traveling between George Town in the Cayman Islands and Montego Bay and Negril in Jamaica, before landing in Fort Lauderdale on Friday.

Broward County, where the plane took off from and where the crash occurred, is home to a vibrant Caribbean American community that sprang into action to collect relief supplies following Hurricane Melissa, which left a path of destruction in the Caribbean.

A powerful Category 5 storm, Hurricane Melissa made landfall in Jamaica on Oct. 28 and tied for the strongest landfalling Atlantic hurricane in history. The storm also caused devastation in Cuba, Haiti and the Dominican Republic and prompted relief organizations to mobilize.

Kate Payne is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are drifting in mixed trading on Tuesday, a slowdown after swinging from their first losing week in four to Monday’s roar back.

Related Articles

Christian missionary father and daughter died when plane bound for Jamaica crashed in Florida

ByHeart recalls all baby formula sold nationwide as infant botulism outbreak grows

Everyday volunteers are providing stopgap services during the shutdown in a show of community power

US Catholic bishops will elect a new leader and contend with Trump’s immigration tactics

Air travelers face frustration as FAA’s further drop in flights takes effect

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 78 points, or 0.2%, as of 9:35 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.4% lower. All three are still near their all-time highs, but they’ve been shaky recently.

Much of the focus was on Nvidia and other winners of the artificial-intelligence frenzy, as usual. Their sensational growth has been a major reason the U.S. stock market has set records despite a slowing job market and still-high inflation. But their prices have shot so high that critics say they look too expensive and are reminiscent of the 2000 dot-com bubble that ultimately burst nearly halved the S&P 500.

Nvidia sank 2.1% after SoftBank, a Japanese technology giant that had been a major investor, said it had sold its entire stake last month for $5.83 billion in the AI chip company. SoftBank is not giving up on AI. It’s still focusing on OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT.

Because Nvidia is the largest company on Wall Street by value, it was the heaviest single weight dragging the S&P 500 lower. Oftentimes, it alone can dictate the movement of S&P 500 index funds, which sit at the heart of many 401(k) accounts. A day earlier, Nvidia’s rally of nearly 6% was the biggest reason the S&P 500 nearly erased all its loss from last week.

CoreWeave, whose cloud platform helps customers running artificial-intelligence workloads, fell 11.8% even though it reported a smaller loss for the latest quarter than analysts expected. Its revenue also topped expectations, and financial analysts praised its momentum. But investors seemed to focus instead on supply-chain issues that are delaying a data center and pushing some of its revenue further into the future.

On the winning side of Wall Street, BigBear.ai jumped 16.9% after reporting better results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said it would buy AskSage a generative AI platform built for national-security agencies and other highly regulated areas, for $250 million.

Outside of AI, Paramount Skydance climbed 9.4%, even as the entertainment giant fell short of Wall Street’s revenue and profit targets. It was the company’s first earnings report since Skydance closed its acquisition of Paramount in early August, and investors were apparently encouraged that it raised its 2026 cost-cutting goal to $3 billion from the previous $2 billion.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose in Europe following a mixed finish in Asia.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 slipped 0.1% even though SoftBank climbed 2%. Besides the sale of its Nvidia stake, the tech giant also reported a much better profit than analysts expected.

The U.S. bond market is closed for the Veterans Day holiday.

AP Business Writers Chan Ho-Him and Matt Ott contributed.

By TIFFANY STANLEY, Associated Press

The United States’ Catholic bishops will elect their next president and vice president on Tuesday in Baltimore. The vote acts as a barometer for the bishops’ priorities, hinging on whether they choose an outspoken culture warrior as their next leader.

Related Articles

Air travelers face frustration as FAA’s further drop in flights takes effect

Today in History: November 11, ‘Typhoid Mary’ dies

Trump pardons man who took brief detour as he ran up and down Wyoming’s Grand Teton in record time

Government shutdown will have lasting effects on National Guard, advocates say

Trump asks Supreme Court to throw out E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million verdict

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops as a whole was often at odds with the approach of Pope Francis. His successor, Pope Leo XIV, is continuing a similar pastoral emphasis on marginalized people, poverty and the environment.

Half the 10 candidates on the ballot come from the conservative wing of the conference. The difference is more in style than substance. Most U.S. Catholic bishops are reliably conservative on social issues, but some place more emphasis on opposing abortion and LGBTQ+ rights.

“The slate of 10 candidates perfectly reflects the dynamics of the American hierarchy in that it’s split down the middle,” said David Gibson, director of Fordham University’s Center on Religion and Culture.

There is no clear front-runner. The candidates were nominated by their fellow bishops, and the winner will succeed outgoing leader, Military Services Archbishop Timothy Broglio, for a three-year term. The current vice president, Archbishop William Lori of Baltimore, is too close to the mandatory retirement age of 75 to assume the top post.

Among conservatives up for leadership, Oklahoma City Archbishop Paul Coakley is seen as a strong contender, having already been elected in 2022 to serve as secretary, the No. 3 conference official.

Coakley serves as adviser to the Napa Institute, an association for conservative Catholic powerbrokers. In 2018, he publicly supported an ardent critic of Pope Francis, Italian Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who was later excommunicated for schism.

A well-known name on the ballot is Bishop Robert Barron of Minnesota’s Winona-Rochester diocese, whose popular Word on Fire ministry has made him a Catholic media star. He serves on President Donald Trump’s Religious Liberty Commission, along with another candidate, Bishop Kevin Rhoades of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana.

Some Catholic insiders are hoping for a leader who could help unify U.S. bishops and work well with the Vatican. They point to contenders like Archbishop Charles Thompson of Indianapolis and Bishop Daniel Flores of Brownsville, Texas.

Parishioners pray during a Sunday Mass at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart Catholic church in Washington, Oct. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis Andres Henao)

As Latinos, Flores and another candidate, Archbishop Nelson Perez of Philadelphia, represent a growing segment of the U.S. Catholic Church. Flores has also been the U.S. bishops’ leader in the Vatican’s synod process to modernize the church.

“Certainly, the two names that get talked about the most are Flores and Coakley,” said Steven Millies, a professor of public theology at the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago.

Flores has an “ideologically unusual perspective,” according to Millies. From his diocese along the U.S.-Mexico border, he is traditional on sexual ethics and outspoken in defending migrants.

The bishops plan to discuss immigration during the meeting. On many issues, they appear as divided and polarized as their country, but on immigration, even the most conservative Catholic leaders stand on the side of migrants.

The question is how strongly the whole body plans to speak about the Trump administration’s harsh immigration tactics.

Fear of immigration enforcement has suppressed Mass attendance at some parishes. Local clerics are fighting to administer sacraments to detained immigrants. U.S. Catholic bishops have already shuttered their longstanding refugee resettlement program after the Trump administration halted federal funding for resettlement aid.

Pope Leo recently called for “deep reflection” in the United States about the treatment of migrants held in detention, saying that “many people who have lived for years and years and years, never causing problems, have been deeply affected by what is going on right now.”

Associated Press religion coverage receives support through the AP’s collaboration with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

By RIO YAMAT and JOSH FUNK, Associated Press

Air travelers could face more frustration as busy U.S. airports need to meet a higher Federal Aviation Administration target for reducing flights Tuesday after already canceling thousands to scale back demands on the nation’s aviation system during the government shutdown.

The arrivals board shows a cancelled flight from New York at Indianapolis International Airport in Indianapolis, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy)

The FAA ordered domestic airlines last week to drop 4% of their flights at 40 major U.S. airports, saying absences and signs of stress among traffic controllers made it imperative to act in the name of public safety. After already canceling more than 7,900 since Friday, the goal for cutting flights is set to rise to 6% on Tuesday and again to 10% on Friday.

More than 1,100 flights were canceled Tuesday, according to FlightAware, a website that tracks air travel disruptions. It was unclear exactly how many additional flights would need to be canceled for the day.

The average cancellation rate over the last few days already exceeded the FAA’s requirement, according to aviation analytics company Cirium. The FAA also expanded its flight restrictions Monday, barring business jets and many private flights from using a dozen airports already under commercial flight limits.

However, controller shortages continued to lead to flight delays, including one of about five hours for arriving flights Monday evening at Chicago O’Hare International Airport, where wintry weather added to staffing-related disruptions earlier in the day. The FAA warned that staffing at over a dozen towers and control centers could delay planes departing for Phoenix, San Diego, the New York area and Houston, among other cities.

Freezing weather in parts of the country on Tuesday could cause further delays and cancellations.

An air traffic control tower is seen at O’Hare International Airport, Monday, Nov. 10, 2025, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

The Senate passed legislation Monday to reopen the government, but the bill still needs to clear the House and final passage could be days away. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy made clear last week that flight cuts will remain until the FAA sees staffing levels stabilize at its air traffic control facilities.

Many planes also aren’t where they’re supposed to be, which could slow the airlines’ return to normal operations even after the FAA lifts the order, said Mike Taylor, who leads research on airports and airlines at J.D. Power.

Todd Walker said he missed his mom’s 80th birthday when his flight was canceled over the weekend.

“All of this has real negative consequences for millions of Americans, and it’s 100% unnecessary and avoidable,” he said.

The FAA had come under criticism after its original order only applied to a very small subsection of private planes. But some want to see even more done.

Related Articles

Today in History: November 11, ‘Typhoid Mary’ dies

Trump pardons man who took brief detour as he ran up and down Wyoming’s Grand Teton in record time

Government shutdown will have lasting effects on National Guard, advocates say

Trump asks Supreme Court to throw out E. Jean Carroll’s $5 million verdict

After mistaken deportation, US asks judge to let it send Kilmar Abrego Garcia to Liberia

Patriotic Millionaires, a group of wealthy Americans pushing for more progressive taxes, is calling for all private jets to be grounded during the shutdown.

“Rich people are taking their joyrides while average Americans don’t make it to grandma’s bedside in time,” said Erica Payne, its founder and president.

She added that none of its members that still fly private have reported cancellations or delays since the FAA’s order took effect.

Tuesday marks the second missed payday for controllers. Some have started calling out of work, citing stress and the need to take on second jobs.

It’s unclear how quickly controllers might be paid once the shutdown ends — it took more than two months to receive full back pay after the 35-day shutdown that ended in 2019, said Nick Daniels, president of the National Air Traffic Controllers Association.

President Donald Trump took to social media on Monday to pressure controllers to “get back to work, NOW!!!” He called for a $10,000 bonus for those who’ve stayed on the job and suggested docking pay for those who haven’t.

Daniels said the shutdown has made controllers’ demanding jobs even more stressful, leading to fatigue and increased risks. He said the number who are retiring or quitting is “growing” by the day.

Yamat reported from Las Vegas and Funk from Omaha, Nebraska. Associated Press writers Christopher L. Keller in Albuquerque, New Mexico; Ken Sweet, Wyatte Grantham-Philips and Michael R. Sisak in New York; Stephen Groves and Kevin Freking in Washington; John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed to this report.