Cody Laweryson, a right-hander who made five relief appearances for the Twins in September, was claimed off waivers Thursday by the Los Angeles Angels.

Laweryson, 27, pitched a total of 7⅔ innings. He gave up one earned run, didn’t walk a batter and struck out seven. He was a 14th round pick by Minnesota in the 2019 amateur draft.

In 34 combined relief appearances for Class AA Wichita and AAA St. Paul last season, he was 2-4 with a 2.86 earned-run average with 35 strikeouts and 42 hits in 43 innings.

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By STEPHEN GROVES, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate was voting Thursday on legislation that would check President Donald Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela, as Democrats pressed Congress to take a stronger role in Trump’s high-stakes campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

Lawmakers, including top Republicans, have demanded that the Trump administration provide them with more information on the U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean. But Thursday’s vote, which would essentially forestall an attack on Venezuelan soil by first requiring congressional authorization, was a significant test of GOP senators’ willingness to allow the Trump administration to continue its buildup of naval forces in the region.

“We’re tired of Congress abdicating this most solemn power to a president,” said Sen. Tim Kaine, the Virginia Democrat who introduced the resolution.

While the legislation has virtually no chance of being enacted, in part because it would need to be signed by Trump himself, it still allowed senators to go on the record with their concerns about the president’s public threats against Venezuela. U.S. naval forces are building an unusually large force, including its most advanced aircraft carrier, in the Caribbean Sea, leading many to the conclusion that Trump’s intentions go beyond just intercepting cocaine-running boats.

“It’s really an open secret that this is much more about potential regime change,” said Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who also pushed the resolution. “If that’s where the administration is headed, if that’s what we’re risking — involvement in a war — then Congress needs to be heard on this.”

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The push for congressional oversight

As the Trump administration has reconfigured U.S. priorities overseas, there has been a growing sense of frustration among lawmakers, including some Republicans, who are concerned about recent moves made by the Pentagon.

At a hearing in the Senate Armed Services Committee earlier Thursday, Sen. Roger Wicker, the Republican chair, said that many senators have “serious concerns about the Pentagon’s policy office” and that Congress was not being consulted on recent actions like putting a pause on Ukraine security assistance, reducing the number of U.S. troops in Romania and the formulation of the National Defense Strategy.

GOP senators have directed their ire at the Department of Defense’s policy office, which is led by Elbridge Colby, an official who has advocated for the U.S. to step down its involvement in international alliances.

“It just seems like there’s this pigpen-like mess coming out of the policy shop,” said Sen. Tom Cotton, an Arkansas Republican who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, during another armed services hearing earlier this week.

As pushback has mounted on Capitol Hill, the Trump administration has stepped up its briefings on the campaign in the Caribbean, including sending both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to a classified briefing Wednesday for congressional leaders on the strikes against vessels. The officials gave details on the intelligence that is used to target the boats and allowed senators to review the legal rationale for the attacks, but did not discuss whether they would launch an attack directly against Venezuela, according to lawmakers in the meeting.

Still, Democrats, joined by Republican Sen. Rand Paul, have pushed into the unease among Republicans by forcing a vote on the potential for an attack on Venezuela under the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which was intended to reassert congressional power over the declaration of war.

A previous war powers vote pertaining to the strikes against boats in international waters failed last month on a 48-51 vote, but Kaine said he was hoping to peel off more Republicans with a resolution that only pertains to attacks on Venezuela.

Some Republicans are uneasy with Caribbean campaign

Republican leadership was pressing Thursday to make sure the legislation failed, and many GOP senators have expressed support for Trump’s campaign, which has killed at least 66 people in 16 known strikes.

Sen. Lindsey Graham, a South Carolina Republican who is a Trump ally, argued in a floor speech that the War Powers Act gave lawmakers too much power over military decisions and that Congress has other means to check the president’s decisions.

“I like the idea that our commander-in-chief is telling narco-terrorist organizations you’re not only a foreign terrorist organization, but when you engage in threats to our country — a boat headed to America full of drugs — we’re going to take you out,” Graham said.

But there were still several senators carefully considering their vote. Just hours before the vote, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said she had carefully read over the Trump administration’s secret legal opinion on the strikes, but had not reached a decision.

“It remains a difficult decision,” she said.

Sen. Thom Tillis, a North Carolina Republican, said he would vote against the resolution, but added that he has had his doubts about the campaign. He pointed out that it was expensive to change the deployment location for an aircraft carrier and questioned whether those funds could be better used at the U.S.-Mexico border to stop fentanyl trafficking.

Tillis said that if the campaign continues for several months more, “then we have to have a real discussion about whether or not we’re engaging in some sort of hybrid war.”

Still, Kaine acknowledged that there was also some risk in forcing the vote because it could give a tacit greenlight to Trump to launch an outright attack.

“Congress has got to just stand up and be counted — or not,” he said.

By LINDSAY WHITEHURST, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed President Donald Trump’s administration to enforce a policy blocking transgender and nonbinary people from choosing passport sex markers that align with their gender identity.

The decision by the conservative-majority court is Trump’s latest win on the high court’s emergency docket, and it means his administration can enforce the policy while a lawsuit over it plays out. It halts a lower-court order requiring the government to keep letting people choose male, female or X on their passport to line up with their gender identity on new or renewed passports. The court’s three liberal-leaning justices dissented from the unsigned order.

The State Department changed its passport rules after Trump, a Republican, handed down an executive order in January declaring the United States would “recognize two sexes, male and female,” based on birth certificates and “biological classification.”

Transgender actor Hunter Schafer, for example, said in February that her new passport had been issued with a male gender marker, even though she’s marked female on her driver’s license and passport for years.

The plaintiffs argue that passports limited to the sex listed on a birth certificate can spark harassment or even violence for transgender people.

“By classifying people based on sex assigned at birth and exclusively issuing sex markers on passports based on that sex classification, the State Department deprives plaintiffs of a usable identification document and the ability to travel safely,” attorneys wrote in court documents.

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Sex markers began appearing on passports in the mid-1970s and the federal government started allowing them to be changed with medical documentation in the early 1990s, the plaintiffs said in court documents. A 2021 change under President Joe Biden, a Democrat, removed documentation requirements and allowed nonbinary people to choose an X gender marker after years of litigation.

A judge blocked the Trump administration policy in June after a lawsuit from nonbinary and transgender people, some of whom said they were afraid to submit applications. An appeals court left the judge’s order in place.

Solicitor General D. John Sauer then turned to the Supreme Court, pointing to its recent ruling upholding a ban on transition-related health care for transgender minors. He also argued Congress gave the president control over passports, which overlap with his authority over foreign affairs.

“It is hard to imagine a system less conducive to accurate identification than one in which anyone can refuse to identify his or her sex and withhold relevant identifying information for any reason, or can rely on a mutable sense of self-identification,” Sauer wrote in court documents.

By RIO YAMAT, Associated Press

Travelers can expect to see fewer flights to many major U.S. cities starting Friday morning, when the Federal Aviation Administration said it would reduce traffic across 40 airports to ease the load on the nation’s air traffic controllers.

The head of the FAA said the move was unprecedented but necessary to keep air travel safe as traffic controllers, who are federal employees, show increasing signs of stress and fatigue while working unpaid during the longest government shutdown on record.

Most of them worked six days a week and put in mandatory overtime even before the shutdown, but they have been doing so without paychecks as lawmakers fail to agree on a way to reopen the government.

Airports in New York, Los Angeles and Chicago, along with hubs across the U.S., are among the 40 that will see flights cut, according to a list distributed to the airlines and obtained by The Associated Press.

Here is what to know about the cutbacks and what to do if your trip is delayed or canceled:

Will I hear from my airline?

Passengers should start to get notified about cancellations on Thursday. Airlines say they will try to minimize the impact on their customers, some of whom will see weekend travel plans disrupted with little notice.

United Airlines said it would focus the cuts on smaller regional routes that use smaller planes.

United, Delta Air Lines and American Airlines said they would offer refunds to passengers who opt not to fly, even if they purchased tickets that aren’t normally refundable.

A board showing arrivals and departures of flights is displayed at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Is my airport on the list?

The affected airports cover more than two dozen states across the country. The include the nation’s busiest airport, Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport in Georgia, as well as the main airports in Anchorage, Boston, Denver, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Miami, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Boston, and Anchorage.

In some metropolitan areas, including New York, Houston, Chicago and Washington, multiple airports will be impacted.

Check before going to the airport

It is better to be stuck at home or in a hotel than to be stranded in an airport terminal, so use the airline’s app or flight websites to make sure that your flight is still on before heading to the airport. This FAA site can be checked to see if there are widespread delays at your airport.

My flight was canceled. Now what?

If you are already at the airport, it is time to find another flight. Get in line to speak to a customer service representative, and call or go online to connect to the airline’s reservations staff. It can also help to reach out on X because airlines might respond quickly there.

The good news is that early November is not a peak travel time, so travelers stand a better chance of getting seats on other planes. But the busy holiday season is just weeks away, and passengers might have to wait days for a seat on a new flight.

A passenger walks through security at Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport, Thursday, Nov. 6, 2025, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Darron Cummings)

Consider other travel options

Now might be the time to consider if it makes sense to travel by train, car or bus instead.

Kyle Potter, executive editor of Thrifty Traveler, said the shutdown is different from when a single airline is having problems and travelers can just pick another carrier. Shortages of air traffic controllers can create problems for entire airports and multiple airlines at once.

“As these problems expand and spread, the longer the shutdown drags on, it’s unlikely that there will be one airline running on time if the rest of the them are failing,” Potter said.

Can I get compensation?

U.S. airlines are not required to pay additional cash compensation or to cover lodging and meals for passengers who are stranded, even if a flight cancellation or a severe delay is the airline’s fault.

The Biden administration had proposed a rule that would have changed that and required airlines to pay passengers for delays and cancellations in more circumstances, with compensation proposed between about $200 and as high as $775. But the Trump administration scrapped that last month, and the airlines praised him for doing so.

But the U.S. Department of Transportation has a site that lets consumers see the commitments that each carrier makes for refunds and covering other expenses when flights are canceled or significantly delayed.

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Other tips

Be nice. Airline agents are likely helping other frustrated travelers, too, and yelling won’t make them more willing to help. Remember, the cancellations aren’t their fault.

Travel insurance also might help if you bought a policy when you booked or used a travel credit card that offers that product, but Potter said you shouldn’t assume you will be covered even if you have insurance. Check the fine print to see if you are covered in situations like this when a shortage of workers causes flight disruptions.

If many flights are canceled, airline agents will soon be overwhelmed by requests. If you’re traveling in a group with someone who has a higher status in the airline’s loyalty program, call using their frequent flyer number. You may get quicker service.

You also can try calling your airline’s international support number, which is usually listed online and may have shorter wait times.