By JOSH FUNK

The Trump administration on Thursday announced an ambitious three-year plan to replace the United State’s aging air traffic control system.

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Officials did not provide an exact cost estimate but said it would require billions of dollars to put in place. They said a $12.5 billion budget proposal that a House committee drafted last week represents a solid “down payment” on the plan, which was developed after the deadly midair collision over Washington, D.C., in January.

Here are some of the key numbers of improvements in the plan:

Thousands of internet connections

The plan calls for installing 4,600 high-speed network connections for data and communications across the air traffic control system at airports and radar control centers and other facilities across the country.

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said there is a desperate need to upgrade the Federal Aviation Administration’s communications network because part of it still operates on outdated copper wires.

Some of the shortcomings of the current system have been on display at the Newark, New Jersey, airport over the past two weeks. The air traffic control center in Philadelphia that directs planes in and out of Newark lost its radar signal for between 30 and 90 seconds on April 28, meaning air traffic controllers couldn’t tell where planes were temporarily.

The FAA subsequently slowed down traffic at the Newark airport, which forced airlines to cancel or delay hundreds of flights, leaving travelers stranded. It appears that the source of the problem was a breakdown in the lines carrying radar data from a facility in New York to the air traffic controllers in Philadelphia.

The FAA is already working on replacing those lines with fiber optic ones and training more controllers to improve the situation in Newark.

Duffy said that fiber optic lines will be the priority in the upgrades nationwide, but in some cases the government may look at satellite or cellular technology. Duffy said he is “agnostic” about whether Elon Musk’s Starlink or any other company should get the contracts and will let the bidding process play out.

Hundreds of new radar systems

The plan calls for replacing 618 radar systems countrywide.

Duffy said many of the existing radar systems at airports date back to the 1980s or even 1970s, so they need to be replaced.

When repairs are needed, some of the antiquated components can be hard to find, so Duffy said the government sometimes resorts to buying parts on eBay to maintain its systems.

6 new control centers

The plan proposes creating six new air traffic control centers, a significant number since one hasn’t been built since the 1960s. Duffy said the goal would be to consolidate hard-to-staff facilities whenever possible.

15 new towers

The FAA would build 15 new towers combined with Terminal Radar Approach Control facilities at airports across the country.

25,000 radios

The FAA relies on aging radio equipment to allow air traffic controllers to talk to pilots. Some of those radios are more than 30 years old.

Newer digital equipment should be more reliable and offer more clarity than the old radios, as well as make the system more secure.

Broad support

The plan to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system has drawn support from 55 groups across the aviation industry. The new Modern Skies Coalition includes major unions, trade groups, airplane manufacturers and other associations.

Representatives of those groups attended the plan’s announcement Thursday.

200 new ground location systems

Only about 44 of the most complex airports currently have high-tech systems installed to help controllers keep track of where planes are on the ground.

Two hundred more airports would get these systems, allowing controllers to accurately track planes’ positions instead of just using binoculars from the tower window.

But even after these upgrades, 200 more airports would remain without these ground systems that help keep taxiing planes from running into each other.

Following the announcement of Pope Leo XIV, born Robert Prevost in Chicago, as the new head of the Catholic Church, local Catholic leaders expressed joy and support — and a bit of surprise about his Midwestern roots.

“I never thought I would see an American pope,” Bernard Hebda, the archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, said in a news conference Thursday. “How exciting is that?”

Hebda said he and Prevost had previously corresponded by mail but had never met in person. Most of the letters they shared, Hebda said, were archdiocese status updates during the time Prevost oversaw the Dicastery for Bishops, the church body that’s in charge of selecting new bishops and is involved in managing relations between dioceses and the Vatican.

Kevin Kenney, an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese, graduated from the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago a few years after Prevost did, but the two men never met there, he said.

Kenney became a bishop in 2024, during Prevost’s time leading the Dicastery, so it’s likely that Prevost was the one who, upon the body’s recommendation, brought Kenney’s name to Pope Francis for papal approval.

“I am surprised that the Cardinals elected an American but overwhelmed with joy,” Kenney wrote in an email Thursday. “I am sure he had a big role in my becoming bishop so I look forward to meeting him someday.”

Bishop Robert Barron of the Diocese of Winona–Rochester, also from Chicago, traveled to Rome to witness the new pope’s first appearance. In a video posted to his Facebook page Thursday evening, he noted that he and Prevost had met a couple times at church synods over the years.

“He’s a quietly competent person,” Barron said in the video. “Not a flashy personality; a man of great intelligence, prayerfulness, obviously.”

Chris Mulcahey, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Catholic Conference, said he’s not aware of personal connections to Prevost among other bishops around the state.

The new pope’s Midwestern upbringing could help him connect to American Catholics in ways that are distinct from previous popes, Hebda said.

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“To have a pope, for example, who understands Catholic schools or the struggles parents go through to make sure our kids can get a good education,” Hebda said. “Just recognizing the experiences he’s had that would be very similar to Catholics in our archdiocese. Somebody who has the same experience of the American church and the way in which our church is so multicultural.”

It is unknown whether Prevost has ever visited Minnesota. To date, no sitting pope has ever visited the state. Before becoming Pope Pius XII, then-Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli briefly stopped in St. Paul on a national tour in 1936.

The new pope, who spent much of his career as a pastor and later bishop in Peru, is a White Sox fan, his brother told a local TV station in Chicago.

By MICHAEL KUNZELMAN

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he is naming Fox News host Jeanine Pirro, a former county prosecutor and elected judge, to be the top federal prosecutor for the nation’s capital after abandoning his first pick for the job.

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Pirro, who joined Fox News in 2006, co-hosts the network’s show “The Five” on weekday evenings. She was elected as a judge in New York’s Westchester County Court in 1990 before serving three terms as the county’s elected district attorney.

Trump tapped Pirro to at least temporarily lead the nation’s largest U.S. Attorney’s office after pulling his nomination of conservative activist Ed Martin Jr. for the position. Trump withdrew Martin from consideration after a key Republican senator said he could not support Martin for the job due to his defense of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

“He’s a terrific person, and he wasn’t getting the support from people that I thought,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday. He later added: “But we have somebody else that will be great.”

Broadcaster Jeanine Pirro attends the Paley Center for Media’s 2024 Paley Honors at Cipriani 42nd Street on Thursday, June 13, 2024, in New York. (Photo by Andy Kropa/Invision/AP)

Pirro is the latest in a string of Trump appointments coming from Fox News — a list that includes Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who co-hosted “Fox & Friends Weekend.”

Martin has served as acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia since Trump’s first week in office. But his hopes of keeping the job faded amid questions about his qualifications and background. Martin had never served as a prosecutor or tried a case before taking office in January.

The Frost might have dodged a bullet on Thursday when the PWHL declined to levy supplemental discipline on Britta Curl-Salemme after her hit on Renata Fast in Wednesday’s 3-2 playoff-opening loss at Toronto.

Moments after cutting the Sceptre’s lead to 3-1 in the second period, Curl-Salemme was skating out of her own zone when she raised an elbow and appeared to catch Fast in the jaw.

Fast went down in a heap and, after a video review, Curl-Salemme was assessed a 5-minute major and game misconduct, ending her night.

In a video conference call on Thursday, Toronto coach Troy Ryan said two medical reports cleared Fast to play in Game 2. As for potential additional discipline, Ryan said, “I think it’s best to probably leave it in the hands of the people that make those decisions.”

“I just know we’re trying to get those high hits, or any contact to the head, out of the game,” Ryan added.

In her first season out of Wisconsin — where she scored 86 goals in four seasons — Curl-Salemme has been fined and suspended twice for rough play, once in January and again in March.

Teammate Kelly Pannek said it has been difficult for players in the second-year PWHL to get accustomed to what is allowed in a league that promised to allow more physical play than has been usual in women’s hockey.

“I think everyone’s trying to learn and adjust to the rule book,” she said. “Players, officials, staff, whatever it is.”

The Frost raced into the playoffs on the strength of road victories in their last two regular-season games. They won the PWHL’s inaugural Walter Cup last year after a similar trajectory, earning the last postseason spot, then rallying from a pair of two-game deficits to beat Toronto and Boston in five-game series to win the championship.

Second-year coach Ken Klee defended Curl-Salemme.

“She’s not a malicious person,” Klee said. “It was a quick play, and it’s just one of those things that’s going to happen.”

As of 6:30 p.m. EDT, the league office in Toronto had not released any news on the play, a good sign for the Frost as they try to rally in the playoffs again. Curl-Salemme was tied with Sophie Jaques for second on the team with nine goals in 28 games behind Kendall Coyne-Schofield’s 12.

“I think that’s something we figured out last year, especially in the playoffs, was how to get back to our game and ultimately stick with that,” Pannek said.

Game time was set for 6 p.m. Friday. The game will be televised by Fan Duel Sports North.

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