Shut

A MAIN road into a major UK airport is set to shut over the half term – and could spark getaway chaos for thousands of Brits heading on holiday.

The works will take up to 11 days to complete.

An overnight road closure will block a main access route into Leeds Bradford Airport, with works starting next Monday (May 18).

From 7pm to 6am, the route between the Pool Bank and Dyneley Arms junction and Leeds Bradford Airport will be shut, with works set to last until Friday, May 29.

The airport notified travellers of the disruption via social media, and said a sign-posted diversion route will be in place, operating via the A660.

It added that those travelling from North Yorkshire, the North East, and Wetherby may find their journey times up to 30 minutes longer than usual.

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The airport also suggested to factor in additional time when travelling to or from the area, as disruption is to be expected.

Online, travellers reacted with disbelief and frustration over the schedule of the closures.

One said: “Staggering timing as the Friday and the overnight on Saturday is the first day of half term so lots of families will be travelling.”

Others complained that the works in place last week had caused “horrendous” traffic, where “there was no way to get through”.

Leeds Bradford Airport welcomes more than four million passengers a year, with flights from airlines like Jet2, Ryanair, and easyJet.

Last year, it opened a new multi-million pound terminal and aims to serve seven million travellers annually by 2030.

A BELOVED British museum has been forced to shut permanently after the building was deemed unsafe.

The museum is dedicated to preserving over 50 historic trams – an integral part of the town’s transport heritage.

Electrical faults in the building have made Blackpool‘s Tramtown museum uninhabitable to the public, a structural engineer’s survey said.

The former working tram depot dates back over 100 years, becoming a dedicated museum in 2021 following seven years of heritage tours.

The museum had previously been given a £50,000 lifeline from the Government’s Pride in Place Impact Fund to fix the major electrical faults in the building.

Blackpool Council suggested these repairs would allow the museum to reopen for a short term period.

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However, a video from April 28 on the Tramtown YouTube channel revealed the building could not be used, leaving volunteers concerned how they were previously allowed into the building given how unsafe it was.

This unique museum gave a rare insight into the history of Blackpool’s trams and illuminations, welcoming over 500 visitors in its opening week.

Affordably priced at £5 per ticket, or £2.50 for children, the museum included a small, donation-based cafe, built for visitors less than a year before its closure.

Blackpool Council leader Lynn Williams said: “While the work was ongoing fixing the electrics at Tramtown, an independent structural engineer carried out a survey of the building.

“That independent report has come back saying the building is unsafe.

“The only public entrance is unsafe and we can’t gamble with the safety of volunteers and visitors by opening an unsafe building.”

Blackpool council leaders now hope to submit a joint funding bid and steering group to maintain a long-term future for the museum.

“I want to make very clear that this is not the end of heritage trams in Blackpool. The news will double our resolve to set up a joint steering group to create a better future for Tramtown and our historic trams,” Williams continued.

Blackpool Transport’s new managing director, Lea Harrison, said: “Blackpool is as famous for its historic trams as it is for its tower and the Pleasure Beach and we are fully committed to preserving the town’s rich tramway heritage for future generations to enjoy.”

May 1 (UPI) — President Donald Trump on Friday said that his administration had made a “final” bailout offer to Spirit Airlines as reports suggest it is on the verge of shutting down.

Although Trump said his administration is still discussing a $500 million bailout for the beleaguered airline, its investors have not agreed to the government’s proposal and Spirit could shut down as soon as Saturday, The Wall Street Journal and CBS News reported.

Trump has for the past two weeks said the government would try to get involved to save the airline and its 7,500 employees, unveiling last weekend a plan to loan Spirit $500 million under the Defense Production Act and become its main debtor.

The price of jet fuel has doubled since Feb. 28 because of the war in Iran, raising costs for all airlines globally, but Spirit has been working to emerge from bankruptcy for the second time in a year and its financial plan has been completely upended.

“We’re looking at it,” Trump told reporters on Friday, hours after reports of the airline’s demise started to spread.

“If we could do it, we’d do it, but only if it’s a good deal,” he said. “No institution has been able to do it. I said I’d like to save the jobs but we’ll have an announcement sometime today … We gave them a final proposal.”

Spirit told a bankruptcy court on April 23 that its cash was “not going to last for very much longer” and that, without some sort of bailout, it would likely have to cease operations within a matter of days.

The Trump administration’s bailout plan — of which some Republicans and members of Trump’s administration have been critical — would give Spirit the loan it needs in exchange for the government becoming its largest debtor and potentially owning 90% of the airline.

The Fort Lauderdale-based airline told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel that it is “operating as usual,” and travelers at its main hub at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport said that their flights had not been canceled.

Officials at Miami-International Airport also told the Sentinel that they had not been notified by Spirit that it was shutting down.

Spirit is said to have revolutionized air travel as one of the first of several value airlines that has managed to offer flights at rock-bottom prices, but it also has struggled since the COVID-19 pandemic.

The company flew less than half the number of flights in April than it had two years ago — it dropped from roughly 25,000 to 12,000 — and has not turned an annual profit since 2019, The New York Times reported.

Having renegotiated contracts with its employees, shook off engine defects that doomed parts of its fleet and charted a path forward, Spirit was expected to emerge from bankruptcy in better shape sometime this summer.

After the war in Iran launched, affecting oil and gas prices worldwide, the cost of jet fuel doubled and tanked the company’s financial plan.

In the event that Spirit does shut down, United Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways all have said they are preparing to assist the airline’s customers and employees, which includes helping customers to travel in places where they operate routes similar to Spirit, CNBC reported.

Lainey Wilson didn’t seem too worried about the high winds that temporarily shut down Stagecoach on Saturday night.

Headlining the festival’s main stage after an hour-long delay — during which fans were ordered to evacuate Indio’s Empire Polo Club before being allowed back in — Wilson looked out at the crowd in front of her and said of the unplanned break: “I hope y’all sat in your cars and drank some tequila.”

Lainey Wilson performs.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The whoops across the field suggested that might’ve been what happened.

Only the third woman to headline Stagecoach in the past five years, Wilson offered a tight, punchy showcase of the riff-heavy country-rock that’s made her one of Nashville’s biggest stars (after a decade-long come-up in which she’s said she lived in a camper trailer).

“Can’t Sit Still” and “Wildflowers and Wild Horses” were swaggering and Stones-y; “Country’s Cool Again” rode a funky down-home groove. To fill the big stage — it evoked a kind of desert oasis with a glittering horseshoe and a couple of prop cacti — Wilson brought along a horn section and background singers who turned “Dreamcatcher” into a psychedelic roots-soul fantasia.

Not long into the show, Wilson welcomed Little Big Town and Riley Green for an appealingly sloppy rendition — complete with drinks in plastic cups — of Merle Haggard’s “I Think I’ll Just Stay Here and Drink.” Then she let Green, whose scheduled performance was scotched because of the wind, stick around to do his “I Wish Grandpas Never Died.” (Also called off Saturday was Journey’s set on the Mustang stage.)

Wilson’s only other guest was the little girl she ushered onstage and pronounced “cowgirl of the night” during “Things a Man Oughta Know.” After that came the singer’s dreamiest hit, “Somewhere Over Laredo,” and an especially sultry take on “Watermelon Moonshine,” the nostalgia-drunk love song from 2023 that’s probably still her finest moment.

Lainey Wilson performs.

(Allen J. Schaben / Los Angeles Times)

The Dodgers claimed a series victory over the Chicago Cubs with a 6-0 win on Sunday.

Their offensive surge from the previous game carried over into the first inning.

Shohei Ohtani and Teoscar Hernández remained patient against Cubs rotation-leader Shota Imanaga, both drawing walks. Then Andy Pages hit a sacrifice fly, Kyle Tucker doubled and Miguel Rojas drove in two runs, to give the Dodgers (19-9) a 3-0 lead.

Neither team scored for the next four innings.

Dodgers left-hander Justin Wrobleski navigated early command issues, issuing three walks in the first two innings before finding his rhythm to get through six frames without allowing a run. He limited the Cubs (17-11) to four hits.

The Dodgers’ bats came alive again in the sixth. Pages led with a double and Kyle Tucker drew a walk, setting up Dalton Rushing’s RBI single through the right side of the field. Tucker later scored on an errant back-pick attempt by Cubs catcher Carson Kelly.

Kyle Tucker scores for the Dodgers in the fifth inning against the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.

(Ronaldo Bolanos / Los Angeles Times)

The next inning, designated hitter Shohei Ohtani homered for the first time in two weeks, suggesting the end of his short-lived slump.

Dodgers relievers Edgardo Henriquez, Jack Dreyer and Kyle Hurt completed the shutout.

Will Smith sidelined

Dodgers catcher Will Smith was out of the lineup for the second straight game because of lingering back tightness, according to manager Dave Roberts.

“It’s one of those where he could play if needed,” Roberts said. “But we just thought it was smart to give him an extra day.”

Roberts said the Dodgers were not considering putting Smith on the injured list and hoped he would return to the lineup Monday against the Miami Marlins. It helped that backup catcher Rushing entered Sunday batting .400 with seven home runs in just 11 games.

“You weigh out the positives and negatives,” Roberts said. “But Dalton going the way he’s going, it just only seems like downside to push [Smith] now.”

NATIONAL Trust is set to close more than 130 holiday cottages due to falling profits.

The charity said it would cut the properties from its books – with most set to go on the rental market later this year.

The conservation charity owns more than 500 holiday cottages across the UK – but it is planning on closing down 137 of them this year.

It is understood that most of the cottages will be repurposed as homes and put on the rental market later in the year, according to The Telegraph.

The Trust has not yet issued a list of which properties will be closed and when.

But it is thought the remote Bird How, located on a rough farm track in the Lake District’s Eskdale Valley, is among the many properties earmarked to shut.

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Elsewhere in the area, the Trust confirmed to local publication, Cumbria Crack, that it would close six holiday lets in the county.

This comes after the charity experienced a challenging financial period, after it was revealed its investment portfolio had lost millions in recent years.

Membership numbers have also plummeted – declining by 120,000 in the past two years.

Now, it has decided to cull some of its holiday let portfolio to alleviate local housing shortages and “deliver a greater financial return for the organisation”.

A National Trust spokesman confirmed 137 of their cottages would be “repurposed”.

They told The Telegraph: “We have reviewed our holiday accommodation to ensure all holiday cottages are financially sustainable.

“As a result, 137 holiday cottages will be repurposed, with most becoming long‑term rented homes that support local housing needs.”

The decision was “not easy” but was necessary to ensure the Trust could continue its “mission”, they added.