Delta Plane Flips on Landing in Toronto

What's Happening

Transportation

Delta Plane Flips on Landing in Toronto

What's going on: At least 18 people were injured after a Delta Air Lines flight crashed and overturned on the runway at Toronto Pearson International Airport. A passenger described people “hanging like bats” inside the plane after the crash. All 80 people on the flight from Minneapolis, 76 passengers and 4 crew, survived. “The second that the wheels hit the ground, then everything happened,” one passenger told The New York Times. Another told CNN the plane hit the ground hard, skidded sideways, and flipped upside down. Passengers then yelled and scrambled to evacuate. A harrowing video captured the chaos as people climbed out of the plane onto the tarmac. Officials at the scene provided few details on the cause of the crash, which is under investigation.

What it means: An aviation safety expert told the Associated Press that crashes like the one in Toronto are “very rare,” especially given that the aircraft involved is a well-established model designed to handle rough weather. US officials said the US National Transportation Safety Board is assisting Canadian authorities with the investigation. This is the latest in a string of alarming aviation incidents across North America this past month, including a jetliner and Army helicopter collision near DC, a medical transport plane crash in Philadelphia, and a small plane crash in Alaska. Monday's incident adds to existing concerns about the Federal Aviation Administration's response to safety issues and ongoing staffing shortages in air traffic control.

Related: Despite Four Crashes in Four Weeks, Trump Fires Hundreds of FAA Employees (The Guardian)

Politics

DOGE Wants Your Digits (and By Digits, We Mean Tax Data)

What's going on: Your tax data could be going to the dogs  — er, the DOGE. Yes, the Elon Musk-run Department of Government Efficiency is expected to request and be granted access to an IRS system containing sensitive taxpayer financial information, according to The Washington Post. This means DOGE could look at personal information like your taxpayer ID, retirement account info, and even details on in-process adoptions. Social Security Administration Acting Commissioner Michelle King resigned because of DOGE’s access requests for sensitive government records, according to media reports. Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) warned on X that the move was an “illegal and blatant power grab,” adding: “This is a five-alarm warning.”

What it means: Because the IRS’s systems are largely considered old-school and even antiquated (many were built via computer programming language from the 1960s), the argument for handing the data over to DOGE has to do with its mandate to modernize government technology. But, as The Washington Post points out, it’s “highly unusual” for a political appointee to have access to such sensitive personal information — or even programs that handle it. Plus, critics warn that the more people who have access to this data, the higher the risk of it falling into the wrong hands — a fair warning, especially considering DOGE can’t even keep its own website safeguarded from programming vulnerabilities. All this comes as about 150 million taxpayers get ready for Tax Day on April 15. We know, perfect timing.

Related: Reports: Elon Musk Is Sleeping on the Floor, Whispering “Cuts” (Vanity Fair)

Business

The Scammer Obsession Is Costing Real Female Talent

What's going on: Elizabeth Holmes may be behind bars, but her shadow still looms over women founders. Nearly two years into her prison sentence for defrauding investors, women entrepreneurs in health tech say they’re facing heightened skepticism from funders who use Holmes as a cautionary tale. Some founders reported dismissive jokes, direct comparisons to Holmes, and even rejections based on physical resemblance. One founder told Inc. that after delays in launching her product, an investor asked if they “need to be worried about an Elizabeth Holmes situation.” To secure funding, women entrepreneurs are seemingly having to go the extra mile to build trust, including explaining how their business practices are a world apart from Holmes's.

What it means: Holmes’s fraud didn’t just shake Silicon Valley, it added an extra layer of distrust for women entrepreneurs in biotech at a time when they already face systemic bias and underrepresentation. A recent analysis found that women-only founded startups received just 2% of venture capital funding in 2023. Now, the legacy of fraud could make securing funding even harder. This trust deficit has serious implications for women’s health, a field that’s historically under-researched and lacks female decision-makers. But for one founder, the silver lining is that women’s resilience — “being scrappy as hell” — gives them a unique edge in building successful businesses.

Related: Why People Are Obsessed With Female Scammers (Glamour)

Your Political Briefing

The week in political chaos.

Rocking the boat: European leaders are up in arms over Vice President JD Vance's recent speech in Munich.

Meeting abroad: Secretary of State Marco Rubio is expected to meet with a Russian delegation today to discuss ending the war in Ukraine. It’s the first time top US and Russian officials have met since President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine in 2022.

Freckleface flagged: Actress Julianne Moore says she is “stunned” as her book lands on the military’s purge list.

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Extra Credit

Read

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Black Cake, comes another equally engrossing multigenerational family tale. At the heart of Charmaine Wilkerson’s latest novel, Good Dirt, is Ebby Freeman, the daughter of one of the few Black families in a wealthy, coastal Connecticut town, who’s haunted by childhood tragedy: Her brother was killed in an unsolved home invasion, and a treasured family heirloom from an enslaved ancestor was shattered. Nearly 20 years later, Ebby is thrust back into the spotlight when her rich, white fiancé abruptly leaves her on their wedding day. She flees to France, where she begins to unravel her family history in a story that “masterfully weaves” together “threads of love, loss, and legacy.”

Game Time

Start your Tuesday off right with Typeshift, a fun new game that challenges you to create words from a set number of letters. Warning: It’s very addicting. Start playing.