By TODD RICHMOND

Capt. Ed Enos makes his living as a harbor pilot in Hawaii, clambering aboard arriving ships in the predawn hours and guiding them into port.

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His world revolves around wind speeds, current strength and wave swells. When Enos is bobbing in dangerous waters in the dark, his cellphone is his lifeline: with a few taps he can access the Integrated Ocean Observing System and pull up the data needed to guide what are essentially floating warehouses safely to the dock.

But maybe not for much longer. President Donald Trump wants to eliminate all federal funding for the observing system’s regional operations. Scientists say the cuts could mean the end of efforts to gather real-time data crucial to navigating treacherous harbors, plotting tsunami escape routes and predicting hurricane intensity.

“It’s the last thing you should be shutting down,” Enos said. “There’s no money wasted. Right at a time when we should be getting more money to do more work to benefit the public, they want to turn things off. That’s the wrong strategy at the wrong time for the wrong reasons.”

Monitoring system tracks all things ocean

The IOOS system launched about 20 years ago. It’s made up of 11 regional associations in multiple states and territories, including the Virgin Islands, Alaska, Hawaii, Washington state, Michigan, South Carolina and Southern California.

The regional groups are networks of university researchers, conservation groups, businesses and anyone else gathering or using maritime data. The associations are the Swiss army knife of oceanography, using buoys, submersible drones and radar installations to track water temperature, wind speed, atmospheric pressure, wave speeds, swell heights and current strength.

A map of sensor data as part of the Integrated Ocean Observing System is displayed Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

The networks monitor the Great Lakes, U.S. coastlines, the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump renamed the Gulf of America, the Gulf of Alaska, the Caribbean and the South Pacific and upload member data to public websites in real time.

Maritime community and military rely on system data

Cruise ship, freighter and tanker pilots like Enos, as well as the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard, use the information directly to navigate harbors safely, plot courses around storms and conduct search-and-rescue operations.

The associations’ observations feed into National Weather Service forecasts. The Pacific Northwest association uses tsunami data to post real-time coastal escape routes on a public-facing app. And the Hawaii association not only posts data that is helpful to harbor pilots but tracks hurricane intensity and tiger sharks that have been tagged for research.

The associations also track toxic algal blooms, which can force beach closures and kill fish. The maps help commercial anglers avoid those empty regions. Water temperature data can help identify heat layers within the ocean and, because it’s harder for fish to survive in those layers, knowing hot zones helps anglers target better fishing grounds.

Weather data from the Integrated Ocean Observing System is displayed Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Joshua A. Bickel)

The regional networks are not formal federal agencies but are almost entirely funded through federal grants through the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The current federal budget allocates $43.5 million for the networks. A Republican bill in the House natural resources committee would actually send them more money, $56 million annually, from 2026 through 2030.

Cuts catch network administrators by surprise

A Trump administration memo leaked in April proposes a $2.5 billion cut to the Department of Commerce, which oversees NOAA, in the 2026 federal budget.

Part of the proposal calls for eliminating federal funding for the regional monitoring networks, even though the memo says one of the activities the administration wants the commerce department to focus on is collecting ocean and weather data.

The memo offered no other justifications for the cuts. The proposal stunned network users.

“We’ve worked so hard to build an incredible system and it’s running smoothly, providing data that’s important to the economy. Why would you break it?” said Jack Barth, an Oregon State oceanographer who shares data with the Pacific Northwest association.

“What we’re providing is a window into the ocean and without those measures we frankly won’t know what’s coming at us. It’s like turning off the headlights,” Barth said.

NOAA officials declined to comment on the cuts and potential impacts, saying in an email to The Associated Press that they do not do “speculative interviews.”

Network’s future remains unclear

Nothing is certain. The 2026 federal fiscal year starts Oct. 1. The budget must pass the House, the Senate and get the president’s signature before it can take effect. Lawmakers could decide to fund the regional networks after all.

Network directors are trying not to panic. If the cuts go through, some associations might survive by selling their data or soliciting grants from sources outside the federal government. But the funding hole would be so significant that just keeping the lights on would be an uphill battle, they said.

If the associations fold, other entities might be able to continue gathering data, but there will be gaps. Partnerships developed over years would evaporate and data won’t be available in a single place like now, they said.

“People have come to us because we’ve been steady,” Hawaii regional network director Melissa Iwamoto said. “We’re a known entity, a trusted entity. No one saw this coming, the potential for us not to be here.”

The Associated Press’ climate and environmental coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find the AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

LONDON, Ky. — More severe storms were expected to roll across the central U.S. this week following the weather-related deaths of more than two dozen people and a devastating Kentucky tornado.

The National Weather Service said a “multitude of hazardous weather” would impact the U.S. over the next several days — from thunderstorms and potentially baseball-sized hail on the Plains, to heavy mountain snow in the West and dangerous heat in the South.

Areas at risk of thunderstorms include communities in Kentucky and Missouri that were hit by Friday’s tornadoes.

In London, Kentucky, people whose houses were destroyed scrambled Sunday to put tarps over salvageable items or haul them away for safe storage, said Zach Wilson. His parents’ house was in ruins, their belongings scattered.

“We’re trying the hardest to get anything that looks of value and getting it protected, especially pictures and papers and things like that,” he said.

Here’s the latest on the recent storms, some tornado history and where to look out for the next weather impacts.

Deadly storms claim dozens of lives

At least 19 people were killed and 10 seriously injured in Kentucky, where a tornado on Friday damaged hundreds of homes and tossed vehicles in southeastern Laurel County. 0fficials said the death toll could rise and that three people remained in critical condition Sunday.

Wilson said he raced to his parents’ home in London, Kentucky, after the storm.

“It was dark and still raining but every lightning flash, it was lighting up your nightmares: Everything was gone,” he said. “The thankful thing was me and my brother got here and got them out of where they had barricaded themselves.”

Survey teams were expected on the ground Monday so the state can apply for federal disaster assistance, Gov. Andy Beshear said. Some of the two dozen state roads that had closures could take days to reopen.

In St. Louis, five people died and 38 were injured as the storm system swept through on Friday, according to Mayor Cara Spencer. More than 5,000 homes in the city were affected, she said.

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On Sunday, city inspectors were going through damaged areas to condemn unsafe structures, Spencer said. She asked for people not to sightsee in damaged areas.

A tornado that started in the St. Louis suburb of Clayton traveled at least 8 miles (13 kilometers), had 150-mph (241-kph) winds and had a maximum width of 1 mile (1.6 kilometers), according to the weather service. It touched down in the area of Forest Park, home to the St. Louis Zoo and the site of the 1904 World’s Fair and the Olympic Games that same year.

In Scott County, about 130 miles (209 kilometers) south of St. Louis, a tornado killed two people, injured several others and destroyed multiple homes, Sheriff Derick Wheetley wrote on social media.

The weather system spawned tornadoes in Wisconsin and temporarily enveloped parts of Illinois — including Chicago — in a pall of dust.

Two people were killed in the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C., by falling trees while driving.

The storms hit after the Trump administration cut staffing of weather service offices, with outside experts worrying about how it would affect warnings in disasters such as tornadoes.

A history of tornadoes

The majority of the world’s tornadoes occur in the U.S., which has about 1,200 annually.

Researchers in 2018 found that deadly tornadoes were happening less frequently in the traditional “Tornado Alley” of Oklahoma, Kansas and Texas and more frequently in parts of the more densely populated and tree-filled South.

They can happen any time of day or night, but certain times of the year bring peak “tornado season.” That’s from May into early June for the southern Plains and earlier in the spring on the Gulf Coast.

The deadliest tornado in Kentucky’s history was hundreds of yards wide when it tore through downtown Louisville’s business district in March 1890, collapsing multistory buildings including one with 200 people inside. Seventy-six people were killed.

The last tornado to cause mass fatalities in Kentucky was a December 2021 twister that lasted almost five hours. It traveled some 165 miles (266 kilometers), leaving a path of destruction that included 57 dead and more than 500 injured, according to the weather service. Officials recorded at least 41 tornadoes during that storm, which killed at least 77 people statewide.

On the same day, a deadly tornado struck the St. Louis area, killing six people at an Amazon facility in nearby Illinois.

More storms threaten in coming days

Thunderstorms with potentially damaging winds were forecast for a region stretching from northeast Colorado to central Texas.

And tornadoes will again be a threat particularly from central Kansas to Oklahoma, according to the weather service.

Meanwhile, triple-digit temperatures were forecast for parts of south Texas with the potential to break daily records. The hot, dry air also sets the stage for critical wildfire conditions through early this week in southern New Mexico and West Texas.

Up to a foot of snow was expected in parts of Idaho and western Montana.

Brown reported from Billings, Montana.

The St. Paul area has many successful and interesting businesses worth shining a light on.

The Pioneer Press and the St. Paul Area Chamber of Commerce recently embarked on a new project to do just that: shine a spotlight on local businesses and business people.

The first of our Spotlight on Business items, featuring Urban Growler Brewing, ran in print editions on Sunday, April 13. We thought we’d like to share them with our online readers, too.

Check back for new features.

Urban Growler Brewing

Sunrise Banks

Mastel’s Health Foods

CBS News CEO Wendy McMahon said Monday that she is resigning after four years, the latest fallout at the network as its parent company considers settling a lawsuit with President Donald Trump over a “60 Minutes” with his former political opponent.

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McMahon, who has led both the network news division and news for the CBS-owned stations, said in an email message to staff that “it’s become clear that the company and I do not agree on the path forward. It’s time to move on and for this organization to move forward with new leadership.”

McMahon has made clear she opposes settling with Trump — just like “60 Minutes” executive producer Bill Owens, who quit last month.

Trump has sued CBS, alleging it edited an interview with 2024 Democratic opponent Kamala Harris last fall to benefit her. CBS News has denied that. CBS’ parent company, Paramount Global, is in talks to potentially settle Trump’s lawsuit. At the same time, Paramount Global is seeking administration approval of a merger with Skydance Media.

George Cheeks, co-CEO of Paramount and head of the CBS network, said McMahon’s top deputies, CBS News president Tom Cibrowski and CBS Stations president Jennifer Mitchell, will report directly to him.

McMahon, in her note, said that “the past few months have been challenging.”

“I have spent the last few months shoring up our businesses and making sure the right leaders are in place, and I have no doubt they will continue to set the standard,” she said.

In addition to the tussle with Trump, Paramount’s controlling shareholder, Shari Redstone, has expressed unhappiness over some network coverage of Israel’s war in Gaza, including a “60 Minutes” piece this winter. Paramount began supervising “60 Minutes” stories in new ways, including asking former CBS News President Susan Zirinsky to look over some of its stories before they aired.

That extra layer contributed to Owens’ resignation. One of the show’s correspondents, Scott Pelley, said on the air that “none of us is happy” about the changes.

CBS News is also trying to establish the new anchor team of John Dickerson and Maurice DuBois at its flagship “CBS Evening News” broadcast amid ratings troubles.

In his note to staff members, Cheeks praised McMahon for expanding local news at CBS stations and improving their competitive positions, along with improving the network’s digital offerings.