By FATIMA HUSSEIN, Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Social Security Administration said Tuesday that it is investigating the root cause of website outages that have affected the “my Social Security” portal where recipients access their benefits.

Notably, individuals who receive Supplemental Security Income, including disabled seniors and low-income adults and children, have reported receiving a notice that said they were “not receiving benefits.” The agency said that notice was a mistake.

Roughly 7.4 million seniors, adults and children receive SSI benefits, according to an internal 2023 report. It is unclear how many people received the mistaken message on their portal.

In a statement, the agency acknowledged “a couple of recent incidents” that affected Social Security and said they are under investigation. The agency said that during the brief disruptions, which averaged about 20 minutes each, the Social Security Administration’s website remained operational, though some people may have had an issue signing in to their “my Social Security” account.

The website has crashed several times over the past few weeks. They come as the Social Security Administration, under the leadership of acting Commissioner Leland Dudek, conducts a major overhaul of operations in an effort to clamp down on alleged fraud, which President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency claim is widespread.

The changes include mass employee layoffs and staff reductions, new limits on recipients’ phone line access and the closure of offices around the country. They have sparked furor among lawmakers, advocacy groups and program recipients, who say the Trump administration is placing unnecessary barriers in front of an already vulnerable population.

Most recently, the agency partially backtracked on a plan that would require all new and existing beneficiaries to travel to a Social Security field office to verify their identity.

The Social Security Administration said in March that people applying for Social Security Disability Insurance, Medicare, or Supplemental Security Income who are not able to use agency’s online portal can complete their claim over the phone instead of in person. Other SSA applicants will still be required to verify their identities at a field office. The changes begin April 14.

Additionally, a lawsuit challenging DOGE access is ongoing in federal court. On March 20, Maryland federal judge Ellen Lipton Hollander issued an order blocking DOGE access from Social Security’s troves of data and said the DOGE team “is essentially engaged in a fishing expedition at SSA, in search of a fraud epidemic, based on little more than suspicion.”

Roughly 72.5 million people, including retirees and children, receive Social Security benefits.

My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell announced Monday night that he is considering a run for Minnesota governor, saying “nobody wants Tim Walz.”

Lindell teased the bid during a Monday evening, March 31, broadcast on LindellTV. The Mankato native is the founder of My Pillow and a public supporter of President Donald Trump. In recent years, Lindell has made headlines for claiming that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Trump.

“I’m going to tell you right now, I’m considering running for governor in the state of Minnesota, because right now we have a voice that could be big …” Lindell said during the broadcast Monday. “I live here in Minnesota. Everywhere I go, nobody wants Tim Walz. They don’t … You would not want Walz, you would want anything but him. You know, that’s what I’m hearing all over the state of Minnesota.”

Gov. Walz’s office said on Feb. 26 that he’s mulling a third term as governor. The last Minnesota governor who served three terms was Democrat Rudy Perpich, who left office in 1991. Perpich’s terms were not consecutive.

There have not been any official bids announced for the 2026 Minnesota governor race. Minnesota Sen. Zach Duckworth, R-Lakeville, teased a bid for governor on X on Feb. 15.

“For those asking about the U.S. Senate Seat — I’m flattered & would love nothing more than to serve my country at a higher level, but I have four amazing reasons to stay close to home in Minnesota,” Duckworth wrote. “Someone told me the Governor’s residence has enough bedrooms for four kids though.”

Attorney General Keith Ellison endorsed Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan for U.S. Senate on Monday, ruling out a 2026 Senate bid from him but leaving him on the list of potential gubernatorial candidates.

Candidates who ran for statewide seats in 2022 and could enter the governor race — but have not confirmed their intentions — are former Republican state senator and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Scott Jenson, 2022 Republican candidate for attorney general Jim Schultz and 2022 Republican gubernatorial candidate Kendall Qualls.

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Classic rock station KQRS is suggesting a format change is set to debut at 6 a.m. Thursday.

“We’re under construction,” reads a yellow and black graphic the station posted on social media. Last week, KQRS took all its DJs off the air and began running promo spots that say “92 KQRS Morning Show” host Steve Gorman will be back. Last month, the station laid off longtime morning co-host Brian Zepp.

Tuesday morning, the station started playing local rock band Soul Asylum’s 1992 hit “Somebody to Shove” on repeat.

A spokesperson for the station’s owner, Atlanta-based Cumulus Media, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

First launched in 1948, the station adopted a classic rock format in the ’70s. By the ’90s, KQRS was the most-listened-to station in the metro, fueled by the popularity of Tom Barnard as the main host of the “Morning Show.” Even Howard Stern, who entered the market in 1997, couldn’t beat Barnard’s ratings and departed after two years.

Those rating had dropped by the end of 2022, when Barnard announced he was leaving the station. The following month, KQRS hired Gorman as his replacement. A Michigan native who grew up in Maryland and Kentucky, Gorman rose to fame as the drummer for the Black Crowes. In 2011, he moved into sports radio. Eight years later, he launched the syndicated “Steve Gorman Rocks!” radio show, which KQRS was running from 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. weeknights when they hired him.

“I understand what KQ is and has been,” Gorman told the Pioneer Press at the time. “I’ve been aware of it since the first time I came to Minneapolis on the Black Crowes tour in 1990. I love the city and it’s a great station. I was thrilled to get the call, it’s as close to a no brainer as I’ve ever had. … I have a lot of friends in Minneapolis, and the love people have for the area is something I’ve been hearing about for 30 years.”

On social media, some listeners have theorized that KQRS may shift from ’70s and ’80s mainstream rock to ’90s and beyond alternative rock, pointing to an increase of Green Day and Nirvana songs among warhorses like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd.

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USA Cycling junior cyclist Magnus White of Boulder (Ethan Glading / Courtesy of USA Cycling)

The trial of a driver accused of hitting and killing a 17-year-old cyclist in Colorado two years ago began Monday afternoon with opening statements from lawyers and emotional testimony from the victim’s father.

Yeva Smilianska, 24, is accused of reckless vehicular homicide in the death of Boulder, Colorado, cyclist Magnus White, a rising star who had been scheduled to race on the U.S. national team. He was fatally struck on Colo. 119, also known as the Diagonal Highway, in 2023.

If found guilty, Smilianska faces between two and six years in prison. Smilianska is currently free on bond. She is set for a five-day jury trial this week.

On Monday afternoon, the left side of the courtroom in Boulder District Court was packed shoulder to shoulder by family members and friends of White. The seats on the right side of the courtroom were sparse and mainly occupied by media.

Following opening statements, Michael White, the father of Magnus, took the stand as the first witness in the case. He spoke through tears about his son and the day he was killed.

“When Magnus was born, the doctors said he was the perfect mix of his mother and I,” Michael White said. “He took the best of both of us. He was the kind of kid who was never bored; always wanted to be active, doing something.”

Michael White said Magnus loved to drive his Subaru and loved skiing, was very close with his brother despite a 6-year age gap, and had a 4.2 GPA. The father said he was the first to take his son for a bike ride on the Diagonal, five years prior to his death.

“I told him it was safe to ride because it has a 10-foot shoulder… ‘As long as you stay all the way right, you’ll be fine,’” Michael White said.

The father then described seeing his son for the first time after the crash.

“When I saw him, he still had his cycling clothes on. He had dirt over the right side of his face. His head was really swollen. There was white fluid coming out of his ears. And there was just so much blood coming out of his mouth and everywhere,” Michael White said. “I had to turn away.”

Throughout his testimony, Michael White paused to drink water and wipe away tears. Above him, photos of his son were displayed on a TV monitor.

Prior to Michael White’s testimony, Deputy District Attorney Trish Mittelstadt addressed 14 members of the jury and told them about some of the evidence they will likely hear this week.

Mittelstadt said Smilianska made the decision to hit Magnus and that her decision to stay up into the early hours of the morning led her to doze off behind the wheel.

“She took this step. She made this decision. That is why we are here today. That is why Magnus is dead,” Mittelstadt said.

Mittelstadt showed the jury a series of photos of Magnus as well as pictures of the scene following the crash. Mittelstadt said that Smilianska took a substantial risk by driving and that despite witnesses saying she swerved into the shoulder multiple times, she did not stop the car.

“The defendant drove straight into Magnus White — killing him,” Mittelstadt said. “She took no steps to stop… no steps to avoid hitting Magnus. She did not even know she struck him, despite what her window looked like.”

Mittelstadt continued, “This is not a case where she clipped his handlebars. This is a case where the defendant made a choice; a choice to get behind the wheel when she knew she was tired, knew she was falling asleep.”

Defense attorney Timur Kishinevsky told the jury that he would ask them to find Smilianska guilty of careless vehicular homicide, not reckless.

“This is a horrific tragedy, there’s no other way to describe it,” Kishinevsky said. “…The defendant does not dispute that she struck Mr. White, ultimately causing him to perish.”

Kishinevsky said there is no evidence that Smilianska drove an excessive speed, was intoxicated, was tailgating or weaving between lanes, or engaging in road rage. The defense lawyer also added that Smilianska was extremely emotional after she realized the extent of the injuries to Magnus.

Kishinevsky had no cross-examination for Michael White but said he was sorry for White’s loss.

Deputy District Attorney Trish Mittelstadt gives her opening remarks while showing a photo of the inside of the defendant’s car at the scene of the accident that took the life of Magnus White during the trail of Yeva Smilianska inside the courtroom at Boulder County Courthouse in Boulder, Colorado, on March 31, 2025. (Photo by Helen H. Richardson/The Denver Post)

Magnus White was riding his Trek Model Emonda SL 7 bike southbound on Colo. 119 at 12:33 p.m. July 29, 2023, when he was hit by Smilianska, who was driving a Toyota Matrix that had crossed from the righthand lane into the shoulder, according to Colorado State Patrol Trooper Gabriel Moltrer.

Magnus was thrown from his bike and was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Smilianska was the only person in her car at the time of the crash.

Stephen Redfearn, who was Boulder’s deputy police chief at the time and is now the police chief, was first on the scene and later told investigators he briefly spoke with Smilianska and reported no sign of intoxication.

Investigators said in an arrest affidavit that “based on the totality of circumstances, it appears most likely that Smilianska was asleep at the time of the crash.”

Smilianska received “very little sleep” the night before, when she reportedly stayed up until about 6 a.m. at a friend’s house in Longmont, according to the affidavit. The morning of White’s death, Smilianska texted a witness 20 minutes prior to the crash that she was falling asleep.

Witnesses told police that they observed Smilianska veer out of the lane and onto the right shoulder multiple times before hitting Magnus.

Smilianska told police the car had a steering malfunction, and she did not fall asleep, according to the affidavit. Smilianska said the crash was not her fault, but that she was a participant, according to police. She also stated that she felt “physically great” but “emotionally tired” the morning of the crash, police said. Smilianska told police that she did not see White prior to the incident and felt “fuzzy” during the crash.

But a Colorado State Patrol investigation determined that there wasn’t a steering malfunction in Smilianska’s car, and there was no evidence that she braked while driving toward White.

Smilianska has no criminal record. The affidavit also indicated Smilianska’s license was canceled after the crash due to “a failure of her re-examination.”

The Boulder County Coroner’s Office determined that Magnus White died from blunt force head trauma as a result of the crash, and the manner of death was ruled to be an accident, according to the affidavit.

Magnus’s parents founded a nonprofit in their son’s honor called the “The White Line.” It was founded “to preserve, honor, and use the legacy of U.S. National Team Member and U.S. National Champion Magnus White to inspire cyclists globally, to support their development, to raise awareness of bicycle and automobile safety and create change for safer cycling environments,” according to a news release.

In May 2025, Magnus’s parents filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Smilianska. According to court documents, the civil action is stayed, pending the conclusion of Smilianska’s criminal matter.