By MARK KENNEDY

Jason Statham is cosplaying a construction laborer when “A Working Man” begins. He’s making sure the rebar is spaced correctly and the concrete is correctly mixed. But we all know where his real strengths are: Beating up people, ferociously.

Soon enough — faster than this one-time springboard diving champion used to hit the water — Statham will be doing what he does best in an action movie made by millionaires that hopes to tap into blue-collar chic.

Statham plays a sort of hero-laying-low in director and co-writer David Ayer’s latest collab — they previously teamed up on “The Beekeeper” — with the addition of a co-writer who knows a thing or two about lone-wolf underdogs — Sylvester Stallone.

When the 19-year-old daughter of his boss is snatched during a night out with girlfriends in Chicago, they turn to Statham, a former anti-terrorist commando for the UK’s Royal Marines, which at least explains the British accent.

But he can’t help them — he’s given up that old life. “I’m a different person now,” he says. It’s not who I am anymore.” Admittedly, he says this shortly after fighting off a gang messing with one of his workers, attacking them with a bucket of nails. an ax and a bag of gravel.

He’s a widower and a single father saving up money to fight — legally this time — for more custody by sleeping in his Ram truck. His in-laws want to limit his visitation, alleging he suffers from PTSD, a very cynical use by the movie-makers of a popcorn flick with a body count north of a hundred. “I hurt, too,” he tells his daughter.

A visit to an old military buddy — David Harbour, superb — helps change his mind. “God help them,” says Harbour’s character after the decision is made. He knows what’s in store for anyone getting in the way of Statham’s oddly named Levon Cade (scramble the letters and you get “Novel Aced,” go figure).

So begins Statham’s version of “Taken” mixed with a blue-collar version of “John Wick.” Our construction worker-turned-vigilante is reassuring to the family of the missing teen. “I’m gonna bring her home. I promise,” he vows.

We soon plunge into an underworld of Russian mobsters, designer drugs, human trafficking, corrupt cops and a vicious biker gang run by a guy who sits on a throne of motorcycle parts. People are waterboarded, shot, stabbed, smashed with animal skulls, blown up by grenades and burned with hot coffee.

“All of this is for a girl?” asks one incredulous Russian mob boss, who is hogtied and dangled over his own swimming pool as Statham tortures him while munching on some toast he’s made in his fancy kitchen.

Shall we talk about the rich now? The upper-level mobsters wear cravats, bow ties and hold gold-tipped walking sticks. One even wears a cape and uses a cigarette holder, like a sort of Mister Burns from “The Simpsons.” The drug dealers wear buffoonish designer duds, “do business” in restaurant banquets and all have attache cases with stacks of banded money, like it’s still the ’80s. They are all venal, foppish and perverted. The big finale takes place in a tucked-away farm casino with fancy-dressed fat cats.

This is in contrast to Statham, an orange safety vest kind of guy with a soldier’s moral compass. He at one point throws into the air enough $100 bills to buy a Lamborghini. But he’s not doing it the money, even though he needs it. He’s there for the girl.

“A Working Man” fetishizes its blue-collar ethic at a time when extremely wealthy Americans have taken key roles in the second Donald Trump administration and the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, is slicing at government jobs (Veterans are increasingly facing the burden. ) Trump himself donned an orange vest when he cosplayed a garbage man on the campaign trail. Everyone loves the working class these days.

Anyway, we’re not here for a lesson, we’re here for some ultra-violence. “A Working Man” does it well, especially a struggle in the confined space of a moving van. The plot gets a little stretched over two hours — including a ludicrous motorcycle chase scene when enough bullets are fired at Statham as were expended in the Battle of Fallujah — but a bright moment is having the snatched teen (a very good Arianna Rivas, someone to watch) step into her own power.

“A Working Man” is exactly what you expect when you unleash Statham on a noble mission. “You killed your way into this,” he’s told by his buddy. “You’re gonna have to kill your way out of it.” In other words, let Statham work, man.

“A Working Man,” an Amazon MGM Studios release in theaters this Friday, is rated R for “strong violence, language throughout and drug content.” Running time: 116 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

By JOSH FUNK, Associated Press

Someone should have spotted the alarming number of near misses in the skies over the nation’s capital before the fatal midair collision that killed 67 people in January, and reviewing the data now could prevent future crashes, according to the head of the agency investigating the crash.

National Transportation Safety Board Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy emphasized to Congress Wednesday that the Federal Aviation Administration had data going back to 2011 showing that collision alarms were sounding inside cockpits at least once a month because of how close the planes were getting to helicopters. But the FAA didn’t act, she said.

“All this data is being collected by FAA from operators, from others, from voluntary reporting systems. Where is that data going to trend potential accidents and incidents in the future?” Homendy said during a hearing on her agency’s budget. “The next accident is in the data right now. And what are we doing to figure out what that is?”

The Senate is planning another hearing Thursday to delve deeper into what the NTSB has found so far about the Jan. 29 midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C., Ronald Reagan National Airport. Homendy and the leaders of the FAA and Army’s aviation division will all testify.

Both Homendy and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said earlier this month when NTSB first disclosed the shocking statistics that they were angry that the FAA didn’t recognize the dangers before this crash after 85 near misses in the past three years when aircraft flew within a few hundred feet (meters) of each other.

The FAA promptly launched a review of all its data after the NTSB briefing to try to identify any similar safety threats, particularly in eight cities with heavy helicopter traffic. The FAA said Wednesday that analysis continues.

That review — aided by artificial intelligence and machine learning — is focused on airports in Boston, New York, Baltimore-Washington, Detroit, Chicago, Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles and the heavy helicopter traffic off the Gulf Coast. The FAA hasn’t said whether it has found anything yet, but the agency promised it “will have corrective action plans for any risks that are identified.”

In the meantime, the FAA quickly adopted the NTSB’s recommendation to permanently close off a particular helicopter route near Reagan anytime planes are taking off or landing on the airport’s runway 33 that the jetliner was approaching in January when the collision happened. If a helicopter does need to use that route for an urgent reason, no planes will be allowed to take off or land. That should ensure that planes and helicopters are no longer sharing the same airspace near the airport, officials said.

“The FAA will continue to closely support the NTSB-led investigation and take action as necessary to ensure public safety,” the agency said in a statement.

Homendy declined Wednesday to address President Donald Trump’s comments right after the crash suggesting that diversity and inclusion policies at the FAA may have contributed to it because the NTSB investigation isn’t complete. A final report identifying the cause isn’t expected for more than year. Trump also faulted the helicopter for flying too high and later suggested that an “obsolete” air traffic control system was the problem.

New Jersey Democrat Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman said it is important to refute those diversity comments now because nothing has been found so far to support them, and she doesn’t want the public to get the idea that diversity is the problem.

“On the contrary, loyalty and sycophants seems to be the order of the day, and it’s definitely negatively impacting this federal government doing its job,” Watson Coleman said during the hearing.

Federal officials have been raising concerns about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls at airports.

The NTSB previously said the helicopter may have had inaccurate altitude readings in the moments before the crash, and the crew may not have heard key instructions from air traffic controllers. The helicopter was at 278 feet (85 meters) at the time of the collision, which would put it above its 200-foot (61-meter) limit for that location.

The collision was the deadliest plane crash in the U.S. since 2001, when a jet slammed into a New York City neighborhood just after takeoff, killing all 260 people on board and five more on the ground.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — Derek Falvey sat in a conference room at Target Field last September, on the final day of the regular season, and got choked up as he described the frustration, anger, disappointment and embarrassment he had felt over the course of the previous six weeks.

It seemed almost certain for most of the season that the Twins would make the postseason. And then came those fateful six weeks, a stretch of poor play that the Twins vowed to never repeat.

“From this point forward, my job is to figure out how we never let that happen again,” Falvey, now the Twins’ president of baseball and business operations, said at the time.

That kicked off an offseason of changes — though more to the front office and coaching staff than the roster itself — and a whole lot of introspection, all the way around.

Now, with that seemingly well in the past, the Twins are ready to start fresh with a group that has the front office’s confidence. Their quest to return the franchise to October begins Thursday at 3:15 p.m. with Pablo López on the mound against the Cardinals in St. Louis.

“I think the biggest lesson is if we want to get where we want to get, it’s going to be up to us,” López said. “The main thing leading us to believe that is the fact that we are pretty much running the same team back that we did last year. In a way, it’s like, ‘OK, we have the same team. It’s because we know what we can do. The front office knows what we can do. The coaching staff knows what we can do.’ ”

Indeed, the team is almost nearly the same as the one that had a playoff probability that topped 95 percent in early September before falling apart.

Gold Glove winner Carlos Santana left and was replaced at first base by veteran Ty France. Harrison Bader inherits the fourth outfielder role that Manuel Margot last year. Danny Coulombe took over as the left-handed reliever in the bullpen for Caleb Thielbar. Longtime right fielder Max Kepler departed in free agency, as well, his at-bats expected to be filled by internal options Matt Wallner and Trevor Larnach.

The Twins did not make a major move this offseason, in part because of financial constraints. But they could have shifted resources around, traded a well-paid veteran and used that money to make additions. Instead, they chose largely the same group.

“Taking the fact that we were the best team in baseball for two months last year, having pretty much the same guys back … is exciting,” catcher Ryan Jeffers said. “I think we’re really excited about the group we have in here and what we can put together as a unit and knowing how good we can be.”

While there weren’t major roster alterations, the Twins did overhaul the coaching staff, replacing four coaches and bringing in an entirely new hitting crew led by Matt Borgschulte. The Twins faltered offensively down the stretch, a major reason for the collapse — injuries certainly played a contributing role, as well — as part of an all-around inconsistent season.

Within it, they went on a 13-game win streak and a seven-game losing streak. They finished the season by going 12-27 in their last 39 games.

“All we have to do is find the deficiencies that led to what happened in the last 39 games,” López said. “What led to that? Was it injuries? Was it a lack of focus? Was it guys just happy to be up here instead of like, ‘I’m here but I’m adding to this philosophy. I’m adding to this mentality?’ I think we have done a good job identifying those. Experience also is the best teacher you can have.”

Drawing from his own experience, manager Rocco Baldelli, entering his seventh season, made some changes to how he ran things this spring in Fort Myers, Fla. Workouts were more structured spring training and there was a focused effort to get position players more at-bats, in an effort to get them ready earlier.

“They saw tons of pitches. They got to feel their swings out, get some timing and get their legs in shape,” Baldelli said. “I think they’re in a good spot, all of our guys.”

And now, it’s time to show it.

“You look around the room and we have a lot of talent, and it’s like, it’s not really top-heavy or anything,” reliever Brock Stewart said. “Bullpen, starting rotation, defensively, hitting for power, hitting for average, base stealers, we have a really well-rounded team. It’s cool to see.”

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By MARK SHERMAN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Wednesday seemed likely to preserve the $8 billion a year the government spends to subsidize phone and internet services in schools, libraries and rural areas.

The justices heard nearly three hours of arguments in a new test of federal regulatory power, reviewing an appellate ruling that struck down as unconstitutional the Universal Service Fund, the tax that has been added to phone bills for nearly 30 years.

Liberal and conservative justices alike said they were concerned about the potentially devastating consequences of eliminating the fund that has benefited tens of millions of Americans.

The Federal Communications Commission collects the money from telecommunications providers, which pass the cost on to their customers.

A conservative advocacy group, Consumer Research, challenged the practice. The justices had previously denied two appeals from Consumer Research after federal appeals courts upheld the program. But the full 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, among the nation’s most conservative, ruled 9-7 that the method of funding is unconstitutional.

The 5th Circuit held that Congress has given too much authority to the FCC and the agency in turn has ceded too much power to a private entity, or administrator.

Justice Sonia Sotomayor said the FCC subsidies cover only phone and internet services. “It a very real constraint. They are the only two services that have been identified,” Sotomayor said.

Justice Neil Gorsuch seemed most supportive of the challengers, calling the fund “a tax that’s unlike any other tax this court has ever approved.”

The last time the Supreme Court invoked what is known as the nondelegation doctrine to strike down a federal law was in 1935. But several conservative justices have suggested they are open to breathing new life into the legal doctrine.

The conservative-led court also has reined in federal agencies in high-profile rulings in recent years. Last year, the court reversed a 40-year-old case that had been used thousands of times to uphold federal regulations. In 2022, the court ruled Congress has to act with specificity before agencies can address “major questions,” in a ruling that limited the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to combat climate change.

“This is simply not the right case for the court to revamp the nondelegation doctrine,” lawyer Paul Clement told the justices on behalf associations of telecommunications companies.

The Trump administration, which has moved aggressively to curtail administrative agencies in other areas, is defending the FCC program. The appeal was initially filed by the Biden administration.

“Neither Congress’s conferral of authority on the FCC, the FCC’s reliance on advice from the administrator, nor the combination of the two violates the Constitution,” acting Solicitor General Sarah Harris wrote in a Supreme Court brief.

Consumer Research calls the situation a “nightmare scenario” in which Congress has set no limits on how much the FCC can raise to fund the program. “Predictably, the USF tax rate has skyrocketed. It was under 4% in 1998 but now approaches 37%,” lawyers for the group wrote.

They said there is an easy fix: Congress can appropriate money for the program, or at least set a limit on how much can be spent, even in the trillions of dollars.

But several justices said that Congress could satisfy objections by setting an astronomically high figure that provides no real limit. “That sounds like a meaningless exercise,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett said.

But last year, Congress let funding lapse for an internet subsidy program, the Affordable Connectivity Program, and the FCC moved to fill the gap by providing money from the E-rate program, one of several funded by the Universal Service Fund.

Congress created the Universal Service Fund as part of its overhaul of the telecommunications industry in 1996, aimed at promoting competition and eliminating monopolies. The subsidies for rural and low-income areas were meant to ensure that phone and internet services would remain affordable.

A decision is expected by late June.