By JUSTIN SPIKE, Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — An unprecedented blackout across Spain and Portugal upended the lives of millions across the Iberian Peninsula, a stark reminder of modern society’s reliance on electricity, and how quickly life can descend into chaos when the grid goes down.

Power was nearly completely restored across the region on Tuesday, but the cause of the previous day’s blackout remains unclear. For those affected, the experience will likely leave a lasting impression and raise questions on how to respond if another crisis emerges.

While such widespread failures of power grids are rare, having a plan for how to react to such an event — and how to prepare ahead of time — can make a major difference in staying safe and managing the disruption if the lights go out.

What should I do if the power goes down?

A general power outage affects everyone whether they are at home, at work or on the move. As in Spain and Portugal, electric trains, trolleys and subway systems can stop in their tracks and strand passengers, while traffic lights can go down turning roads into a snarl of gridlock.

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No matter where you are when the power goes down, your first priority should be to remain calm and tend to your most immediate needs like food, water and shelter, and develop a plan for how you can get to a safe place and connect with your loved ones.

According to the American Red Cross, unnecessary travel, especially by car, should be avoided during a power outage. Without traffic lights, roads may become congested or hazardous, increasing the risk of becoming stranded.

If you are at home, exercise caution when using candles or gas lanterns for light because of the risk of fire and noxious gases like carbon monoxide. Use battery-powered lanterns or flashlights if available, but conserve batteries to extend their working life.

Turn off any unnccesary electronics, and unplug appliances such as ovens or stoves that were in use when the power went out. If the power comes back on, surges can damage equipment and appliances can be hazardous if allowed to run unattended.

If the outage lasts for more than a few hours, you’ll want to ensure the food you have on hand doesn’t spoil. According to emergency guidelines published by the Estonian government, refrigerators and freezers should be opened only briefly to preserve the cold. Use perishable food from the fridge first, followed by items in the freezer, then nonperishables.

How do I prepare my home for a power outage?

Preparedness, “be it psychological or real preparedness in case of crisis,” is a key factor in successfully managing disruptive events, Argo Kerb from the Estonian Rescue Board, a government agency, told The Associated Press.

As concerns grow around the world over instability stemming from armed conflict, political discord and climate change, many governments are prioritizing crisis preparedness among their populations.

Passengers react as they wait for news of train departures, at Sants train station in Barcelona, Spain, Tuesday, April 29, 2025. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

In March, the European Union urged all 450 million residents of the 27-nation bloc to stockpile food, water and other essentials to last at least 72 hours as war, cyberattacks, climate change and disease increase the chances of a crisis.

According to Kerb: “Preparedness is a shared responsibility. It’s a shared responsibility in a family, in a country, but it’s also a shared responsibility in Europe and the world.”

While long-lasting power outages such as the one in Spain and Portugal are relatively uncommon, having a few basic supplies on hand can make a substantial difference in how safely and comfortably they can be endured.

The EU recommends food, water, flashlights, ID papers, medicine and shortwave radios as things to have at home. Matches or lighters, chargers and a power bank for your devices are also recommended.

In a sign of how critical access to information can be in an emergency, battery-powered radios flew off the shelves in Spain and Portugal as internet and cellphone services went down. Keeping a supply of batteries, and a battery powered or hand-crank radio, will help keep you connected to vital information when internet and television services are down.

People queue for petrol in Lisbon, Tuesday, April 29, 2025, the day after a nationwide power outage that shut down gas stations, trains and subways. (AP Photo/Armando Franca)

If you’re caught without these items during a crisis, you’ll need to buy them, but outages can leave electronic payments unavailable. You’ll want to make sure you keep a reasonable quantity of cash on hand.

As European commissioner for crisis management Hadja Lahbib said in a recent video urging preparedness: “In the middle of a crisis, cash is king, and your credit card might just be a piece of plastic.”

In a brochure provided to every household in Sweden, “In Case of Crisis or War,” the Swedish government says each person will need at least three liters (nearly a gallon) of water per day for drinking and cooking, which should be stored at home in bottles or other containers.

It also recommends keeping extra warm bedding like sleeping bags and blankets on hand in case services are interrupted during cold weather.

If you have a portable generator, strictly follow its instructions and never run it indoors or in enclosed spaces as it produces lethal carbon monoxide gas. Plug the devices you want to power directly into the generator, and never attempt to wire it to your home’s electrical system.

Emma Burrows contributed to this report from London.

By DAVID A. LIEB, MARGERY A. BECK and BECKY BOHRER, Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Voters in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska were asked last year whether they wanted to require employers to provide paid sick leave to their workers. They overwhelmingly said yes.

Now some lawmakers in each of those states are trying to roll back the benefits, citing concerns from businesses about costs.

The efforts mark the latest attempt by legislators to alter laws backed by the voters they represent. In February, for example, Michigan enacted revisions to a paid sick leave law initiated by voters seven years ago, delaying the date when small businesses must comply and allowing a longer period before new employees are eligible.

Though some voters are outraged, some lawmakers contend that citizen activists who crafted the initiatives overlooked the realities of running a business.

Restaurant owner Tim Hart, who employs about two dozen workers at his steakhouse in Hannibal, Missouri, said the paid sick leave requirement imposes a double financial hit because he must pay one person to stay home and another to fill the shift.

“When this goes into effect, we very likely won’t survive,” said Hart, who has urged the state Senate to halt the law.

The paid sick leave laws are set to kick in Thursday in Missouri, July 1 in Alaska and Oct. 1 in Nebraska.

McDonald’s restaurant worker Richard Eiker is among those who stand to benefit. He signed a petition putting the initiative on the Missouri ballot and traveled recently from Kansas City to the state Capitol to lobby lawmakers to let the law stand.

In 40 years on the job, Eiker has never received paid sick leave — not even when he was struggling with a kidney stone.

“I just took some pain medication and just went into work anyway and just worked past the pain,” Eiker said. “It would have been nice to have stayed home.”

Lower-wage workers are less likely to get paid sick leave

Federal law requires many employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave for personal or family medical issues. But there is no federal mandate to pay for sick days.

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Nonetheless, 79% of private-sector employees received paid sick leave last year, according to the Department of Labor. Part-time workers were significantly less likely to receive the benefit than their full-time counterparts. And just 58% of employees in the bottom quarter of income earners received paid sick leave, compared with 94% in the top quartile.

Though still discretionary for many employers, the number of states mandating paid sick leave has grown significantly since Connecticut enacted the first such law in 2012. Last year’s ballot measures raised the total to 18 states and the District of Columbia. Three additional states require paid leave for any reason, without specifying sickness.

Many paid sick leave laws, including the ones in Alaska, Missouri and Nebraska, apply to any employer with at least one worker. But some states exempt the smallest businesses, with cutoffs ranging from five to 25 employees. The number of annual paid sick days also varies.

Missouri lawmaker wants it to be ‘less onerous’ for employers

On Tuesday the state Supreme Court upheld Missouri’s paid sick leave law against a challenge from business groups. But efforts to revise it continue.

In March, Republican House members passed legislation to repeal the paid sick leave requirement. That was then blocked by minority-party Democrats in the Senate. So Republicans are pushing an alternative that would delay the law until later this year, exempt smaller businesses and take away workers’ ability to sue over alleged violations.

The intent is to “just make it a little less onerous on employers,” said Republican state Sen. Mike Bernskoetter, a small business owner who is backing the bill.

But many workers already have it tough, Democratic lawmakers said.

“When there’s people living paycheck to paycheck, just missing a little bit of work can really put them behind,” Democratic state Sen. Patty Lewis said.

Nebraska senator warns of ‘huge overstep’ by colleagues

Legislation pushed by Republican lawmakers in Nebraska state would carve out exceptions from paid sick leave for 14- and-15-year-old employees, temporary and seasonal agricultural workers and businesses with 10 or fewer employees.

The legislation also would strip workers of the ability to sue employers who retaliate against them for using paid sick leave.

Supporters of the revisions say they aim to protect small businesses from higher costs. Opponents say they are essentially gutting the law.

“We’re talking about just whole swaths of the ballot language being stricken by this,” state Sen. John Cavanaugh said during recent debate. “That is a huge overstep by this Legislature to say that we know better than the people who voted for this.”

Alaska labor leader foresees ‘long battle’ over voters’ wishes

A bill by state Rep. Justin Ruffridge would exempt seasonal workers and businesses with fewer than 50 employees from the sick leave requirement. That could exclude many catering to Alaska’s summer tourists.

Ruffridge, a member of the House’s Republican minority, said small business owners should be able to choose whether to spend money on sick leave benefits or other measures to grow their businesses.

Joelle Hall, president of the Alaska AFL-CIO, which supported the ballot measure, doubts Ruffridge’s bill will gain traction in the final weeks of this year’s session.

But, she said, “I believe this is the beginning of a long battle to protect the voters’ wishes from the wills and the whims of the businesspeople who don’t want to pay sick days.”

Beck reported from Lincoln, Nebraska, and Bohrer from Juneau, Alaska.

Today is Wednesday, April 30, the 120th day of 2025. There are 245 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On April 30, 1993, top-ranked women’s tennis player Monica Seles was stabbed in the back during a match in Hamburg, Germany, by a man who described himself as a fan of second-ranked German player Steffi Graf. (The man was convicted of causing grievous bodily injury, but was given only a two-year suspended sentence.)

Also on this date:

In 1789, George Washington took the oath of office at Federal Hall in New York as the first president of the United States.

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In 1803, the United States completed its purchase of the 828,000 square mile Louisiana Territory from France for 60 million francs, the equivalent of about $15 million; the acquisition roughly doubled the size of the United States.

In 1900, engineer John Luther “Casey” Jones of the Illinois Central Railroad died in a train wreck near Vaughan, Mississippi, staying at the controls to slow his passenger train before it struck a stalled train near an approaching station; Jones was the only fatality of the accident.

In 1945, as Soviet troops approached his Berlin bunker, Adolf Hitler took his own life, as did Eva Braun, whom Hitler married the previous day.

In 1973, as the Watergate scandal deepened, President Richard Nixon announced the resignations of top aides H.R. Haldeman and John Ehrlichman, Attorney General Richard G. Kleindienst and White House counsel John Dean (though Dean was actually fired by Nixon).

In 1975, the Vietnam War ended as the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon fell to Communist forces.

In 1993, the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) announced that the World Wide Web, which was invented at CERN four years earlier by Tim Berners-Lee, was free for anyone to use, and released its source code to the public domain.

Today’s Birthdays:

UN Secretary-General António Guterres is 76.
Filmmaker Jane Campion is 71.
Filmmaker Lars von Trier is 69.
Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas is 64.
Actor Johnny Galecki is 50.
Actor Sam Heughan is 45.
Actor Kunal Nayyar is 44.
Rapper Lloyd Banks is 43.
Actor Kirsten Dunst is 43.
Basketball Hall of Famer Seimone Augustus is 41.
Actor Gal Gadot is 40.
Actor Dianna Agron is 39.
Actor Ana de Armas is 37.
Rapper-producer Travis Scott is 34.

LAS VEGAS — The Minnesota Wild got to the playoffs a few weeks ago with their backs against the wall and no margin for error. Maybe that same level of desperation will keep them in the playoffs after an emotional punch to the gut on Tuesday has them facing elimination.

Brett Howden scored in overtime for the Vegas Golden Knights for a 3-2, overtime win in a game where Minnesota never led, lost its starting goalie to an illness and still looked to have won the game with barely a minute left in regulation. After all of that drama, the Wild’s loss gives Vegas a 3-2 lead in the best-of-seven series.

Howden caught a pass from behind the net and beat Marc-Andre Fleury with a quick shot to close out a game where the home team never trailed.

Game 6 will be played Thursday evening in St. Paul at 6:30 p.m. CT.

“I think our guys are obviously disappointed that we lost the game, but I think there’s a lot of belief,” Wild coach John Hynes said. “You can see the conviction with (which) we play. The last two games could have gone either way. It happened to go their way, but we’ve got another one coming from that. So, all those little things that come out of this game, we’ll be ready for a battle again, and we’ll just have to turn the tides and get one.”

Minnesota Wild left wing Matt Boldy (12) reacts after scoring the tying goal against the Vegas Golden Knights during the third period of Game 5 of a first-round NHL hockey playoff series Tuesday, April 29, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

Kirill Kaprizov and Matt Boldy maintained their goal-per-game playoff pace, scoring in the first and third periods, respectively, for the Wild, who made a furious push but could not get to three. Minnesota got 23 saves from starter Filip Gustavsson before he was was lifted after 40 minutes due to illness. Fleury played the third period and overtime for Minnesota, finishing with six saves, but gave up the Vegas game-winner.

Adin Hill had 20 saves for Vegas. For the third consecutive trip to the postseason, Minnesota will face elimination in six games after leading the series 2-1.

Minnesota thought the game was won late in regulation only to have an apparent go-ahead goal overturned. Ryan Hartman fired a backhander with 75 seconds left that the Vegas goalie stopped, only to have the rebound carom off Hartman’s leg and in. After video review the officials declared it a good goal, but Vegas then challenged for offside, and reviews showed that Gustav Nyquist had crossed the blue line about an inch ahead of the puck, so the goal came off the board.

“Thought we had the go-ahead goal there, but we brought the game back to where we wanted. We had a chance in OT,” Hartman said. “Obviously, we would have liked if that one counted, but we had a chance on the road in OT to win. But we’re coming back to Minnesota and we need a win at home.”

Nyquist was not made available for interviews by the team following the game.

Minnesota got the game’s first power play, which turned out to be good for both teams. Vegas struck first on a shorthanded rush when William Karlsson was left with a yawning net to hit for his first goal of the playoffs.

Vegas fans were still cheering the early lead 13 seconds later when Kaprizov erased it, taking a cross-ice pass from Mats Zuccarello and firing a low shot that Hill could not stop. It was Kaprizov’s fifth goal of the playoffs, and a return to form after he was held scoreless in Game 4.

Kirill Kaprizov #97 and Ryan Hartman #38 of the Minnesota Wild celebrate after Kaprizov’s power play goal during the first period in Game Five of the First Round of the 2025 Stanley Cup Playoffs against the Vegas Golden Knights at T-Mobile Arena on April 29, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Knights answered later in the first when a blast from the blue line by Mark Stone beat Gustavsson low. Karlsson was at the top of the crease when the shot came in and may have made contact with the goalie before the shot arrived. It was enough for Hynes to use a coaches challenge.

When officials ruled it was a good goal, the ensuing delay of game penalty, served by Zuccarello, gave Vegas its first power play of the game. The Wild held them off long enough for Zuccarello to leave the penalty box and come in alone on Hill, but the goalie stuffed the breakaway to maintain the Knights’ one-goal lead after 20 minutes.

The middle frame was just seven seconds old when Boldy was tripped entering the offensive zone, giving the Wild their second power play of the night, but they put nothing on the scoreboard. It was the same for the Knights, who had back-to-back power plays midway through the second period but were thwarted by the Wild’s improving penalty killers — most notably some deft pad work by Gustavsson.

But Gustavsson had been feeling ill all day and was not able to play in after the second intermission.

The third period drama began before the puck was dropped, as Vegas fans saw Fleury coming into the game and chanted the name of the player who backstopped the Golden Knights run to the 2018 Stanley Cup Final. Minnesota did not allow a shot through to the net for nearly 14 minutes, then Boldy took a long lead pass from Joel Eriksson Ek and cut across the goalmouth with Hill leaning the wrong way to knot the score at 2-2.

“It would’ve been perfect with a win,” Fleury said after the game of his unexpected appearance in Vegas.

It was the first time Fleury had played since the Wild’s regular-season finale, when he played in overtime versus Anaheim after Minnesota had clinched a playoff berth.

“This thing is far from over,” Wild defenseman Brock Faber said. “Like I said, they’ve still got to beat us. We’re going to be ready for a war on Thursday.”

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