GEOFF BENNETT: The day's other headlines bring us to Capitol Hill, where Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy blamed ongoing aviation problems on the previous administration and years of neglect.

SEAN DUFFY, U.S. Transportation Secretary: The infrastructure didn't rot in the last 100 days.

We didn't have 3,000 controller shortages in the last 100 days.

There was four years that came before.

GEOFF BENNETT: Newark Airport in particular has been plagued by weeks of delays due to equipment outages and air traffic controller shortages.

United Airlines has already opted to cut flights to the airport, which is one of its hubs, and further cuts could be coming.

The FAA today met with major airlines behind closed doors to discuss reducing flights at Newark.

In the lead-up to the meeting, the FAA said the airport is clearly unable to handle the current level of scheduled operations.

A Georgetown University scholar from India was released from a detention center in Texas today.

Dr. Badar Khan Suri told reporters he was extremely thankful to be free.

The postdoctoral fellow was arrested in March amid the Trump administration's crackdown on foreign students.

Earlier, his supporters had gathered outside the courthouse in Virginia where a judge ruled the government had not provided any evidence why he should be held.

The Trump administration had revoked his visa, accusing him of supporting Hamas.

Khan Suri is married to a Palestinian-American.

His lawyers say he was targeted because her father worked with the Hamas-backed government in Gaza before the October 7 attacks.

Khan Suri has not been charged with a crime.

The director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, has fired the top two officials leading the National Intelligence Council.

That's the group that analyzes security threats to the U.S. and provides assessments to the president and other top policymakers.

The firings of Michael Collins and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, came after the group wrote an assessment that contradicted the Trump administration's rationale for deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members.

Gabbard has vowed to go after what she has described as efforts to politicize the intelligence community.

California Governor Gavin Newsom announced a $12 billion budget deficit today.

He says the shortfall is due in part to broader economic uncertainty, including President Trump's tariff rollout.

To make up ground, Newsom has proposed freezing health care benefits for undocumented immigrants living in the state.

Under the plan, adults without legal status would not be eligible for the state's version of Medicaid starting next year.

Those already on the plan would have to pay $100 per month starting in the year 2027.

The changes would not affect children.

Newsom says the shift will save more than $5 billion over the next few years.

The number of overdose deaths in the U.S. dropped last year by the largest amount ever recorded.

According to CDC data out today, 80,000 people died from an overdose in 2024.

That's down 27 percent from the year before.

Experts say increased availability of the overdose reversal drug naloxone, plus expanded addiction treatment services, may have contributed to the decline, though they also point out that the annual overdose deaths are still higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Turning overseas now, a wave of Israeli airstrikes pounded the Gaza Strip overnight and into today.

Health officials there say the attacks killed at least 70 people, including nearly two dozen children.

In Northern Gaza, victims were carried off in ambulances.

A local hospital said it received almost 50 bodies by midday.

One of them was an 8-month-old baby.

Israel had warned it would target Hamas infrastructure in the area, including rocket launchers.

Witnesses say civilians bore the brunt of the attacks.

HATEM SALEH, Jabalia, Gaza, Resident (through translator): Why did they hit them, and, suddenly, without any previous warning?

A child who is a few months old, what is the fault of this child to die in the strikes?

An elderly woman who lives on oxygen, a disabled man, what is their fault?

GEOFF BENNETT: The strikes came after Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned there is, in his words, no way Israel ends the war in Gaza without Hamas being defeated.

He said Israeli forces are days away from a promised escalation in fighting to complete the mission.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend tomorrow's highly anticipated cease-fire talks with Ukraine, even though he himself proposed the idea.

In a late announcement, the Kremlin said their delegation heading to Istanbul includes a presidential aide, plus senior military and intelligence officials, but not Putin himself.

Shortly afterwards, a U.S. official said President Trump will not fly to Turkey for the talks either.

He had until tonight kept the door open.

The U.S. said special envoy Steve Witkoff and Keith Kellogg will join Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who touched down in Turkey this evening.

The last known direct talks between Ukraine and Russia were back in 2022, just one month into the war.

On Wall Street today, stocks ended mixed after an uneasy day of trading.

The Dow Jones industrial average slipped about 90 points on the day.

The Nasdaq added more than 130 points, building on its recent gains.

The S&P 500 just barely ended in positive territory.

And more than 1,000 baristas at dozens of Starbucks stores are striking over a change in the company's dress code.

As of this week, workers in the U.S. and Canada must wear a solid black shirt underneath their signature green aprons and khaki black or blue denim pants.

Previously, employees could pair a range of dark colors and patterned shirts.

It's the latest move by Starbucks to revitalize its brand amid declining sales.

Striking workers say this is not the answer.

WOMAN: Writing messages on cups and implementing drab uniforms will not restore Starbucks' slumping sales or increase customers.

GEOFF BENNETT: For its part, Starbucks said today, the strike was having a limited impact on its 10,000 company-run stores.

Still to come on the "NewsHour": the EPA rolls back rules against so-called forever chemicals in drinking water; the head of the busiest container port in the Western Hemisphere discusses how tariffs are shrinking imports; and a new novel about moral compromise takes inspiration from a filmmaker who worked under the Nazi regime.