SAN DIEGO — Security wait times at San Diego International Airport have eased after chaotic scenes earlier this week, but travelers should still plan for variability as staffing shortages linked to the ongoing partial federal government shutdown continue to affect operations.

The airport issued a travel advisory urging passengers to arrive at least 2.5 hours before domestic flight departures to account for possible longer checkpoint waits. Officials noted that checkpoint times and flight schedules depend on federal partners, including the Transportation Security Administration, amid the shutdown.

On Monday, March 23, 2026, lines at Terminal 1 stretched outside the building to the curb, with some travelers reporting waits of up to 90 minutes or more during peak morning hours. Regular security lines extended significantly, and TSA PreCheck lanes faced delays or closures at times. Even expedited options like CLEAR experienced backups.

By Tuesday, March 24, conditions improved noticeably. A reporter timed a mid-morning passage through Terminal 1 security at about 23 minutes around 10:30 a.m. Terminal 2 also saw shorter lines, with some passengers clearing security with minimal or no wait after early morning rushes subsided. Airport staff had added rope lines as a precaution, but queues remained contained inside the terminals.

Historical and average data show typical TSA wait times at San Diego International (SAN) range from 15 to 30 minutes under normal conditions. Peak periods — early mornings from 5 a.m. to 9 a.m., midday around noon, and evenings from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. — often see longer delays. Recent hourly averages included higher waits in the 5-8 a.m. window, sometimes exceeding 20-26 minutes, while mid-morning slots dropped to under 10-15 minutes.

### Current Conditions and Traveler Reports
As of late March 2026, real-time trackers reported fluctuating waits, with some midday periods showing averages as low as 7-11 minutes and others climbing higher during rushes. Live monitors at checkpoints have displayed short waits of 5 minutes or less at quieter times, but staffing issues have made predictions difficult.

Travelers shared mixed experiences on social media and in reports. Some described Monday morning chaos with lines snaking across bridges and sidewalks, while others noted that lines moved steadily despite their length. Wheelchair assistance or expedited lanes helped reduce times for certain passengers. By mid-week, many reported manageable experiences if arriving early.

The airport operates two main terminals. Terminal 1 serves several airlines with multiple checkpoints, while Terminal 2 handles others, including international flights. Some checkpoints may open or close based on volume and staffing. Passengers should check specific gate areas upon arrival.

### Factors Contributing to Delays
The partial government shutdown has led to TSA agents calling in sick or being absent due to lack of pay, creating nationwide ripple effects. San Diego, while not the worst hit, experienced noticeable impacts during peak travel periods. No ICE agents were reported at the airport in recent days, but broader federal operational constraints played a role.

Additional pressures include typical spring travel volume, business commuters, and leisure travelers heading to or from Southern California destinations. Enhanced security measures can also add time, particularly for those without expedited screening.

San Diego International Airport, one of the busiest in California, handles millions of passengers annually. Its single-runway layout and terminal design can amplify congestion when security backs up, affecting bag drop, ticketing and gate access.

### Tips for Smoother Travel Through SAN Security
Airport officials and TSA recommend several strategies to minimize delays:

– Arrive early: Plan for at least 2.5 hours before departure, especially for morning flights or during reported high-volume periods.
– Use the MyTSA app: Download the official app for real-time wait time reports from fellow travelers and historical data for your specific travel day and time.
– Enroll in TSA PreCheck or CLEAR+: Eligible travelers can keep shoes, belts and light jackets on, and leave laptops and liquids in bags. Add your Known Traveler Number to reservations. CLEAR+ offers biometric fast-track screening.
– Prepare your bag: Follow the 3-1-1 liquids rule and pack efficiently to speed screening.
– Check flight status and airport alerts: Visit flySAN.com or the SAN app before heading to the airport.
– Consider off-peak times: Mid-morning or later afternoon slots often see shorter lines compared with early mornings or evenings.

TSA PreCheck is available in both terminals, though lane availability can vary. CLEAR is offered at select checkpoints.

### Broader Context for San Diego Travelers
San Diego International Airport continues major terminal redevelopment projects aimed at improving passenger flow long-term, but current construction can influence movement through certain areas. The airport serves as a key gateway for tourism, business and military-related travel in the region.

Nationwide, TSA operations face challenges during the shutdown, with some airports reporting more severe delays. San Diego officials have emphasized appreciation for TSA and FAA staff working to maintain safety and reliability.

Travelers with disabilities, families or those needing assistance should contact their airline or the airport in advance for support services that can expedite parts of the process.

### Outlook and Recommendations
Wait times are expected to remain unpredictable in the near term until staffing stabilizes. The airport continues to monitor conditions and may adjust advisories as needed.

Frequent flyers and those with tight connections should build in extra buffer time. For international departures, arriving 3 hours early is often prudent.

Experts advise checking multiple sources for the latest information, including the official SAN website, MyTSA app and third-party trackers like AirlineAirport.com. Conditions can change rapidly based on flight schedules, weather or sudden staffing shifts.

While recent improvements provide some relief after Monday’s disruptions, caution remains the best approach. San Diego travelers who plan ahead and use available expedited options are more likely to navigate security smoothly and enjoy a stress-free start to their journey.

*Information reflects reports and data as of March 26, 2026. Wait times fluctuate; always verify current conditions via official sources before traveling. This article is for informational purposes only.*

BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned in his annual chairman’s letter that wealth inequality could worsen if more people don’t participate in financial markets to reap the benefits of investing.

Fink said that the vast majority of wealth has flowed to people who own assets, as opposed to those who earned most of their income from working, and warned that artificial intelligence (AI) could exacerbate that trend.

“Since 1989, a dollar in the U.S. stock market has grown more than 15 times the value of a dollar tied to median wages. Now AI threatens to repeat that pattern at an even larger scale – concentrating wealth among the companies and investors positioned to capture it,” Fink wrote.

He said that at the corporate level, the companies that have the “data, infrastructure, and capital to deploy AI at scale are positioned to benefit disproportionately.”

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BlackRock CEO Larry Fink. (Victor J. Blue/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“That is not unusual, and none of this is inherently problematic. Market leadership has always shifted with technological change,” Fink said. “The broader question is who participates in the gains. When market capitalization rises but ownership remains narrow, prosperity can feel increasingly distant to those on the outside.”

He noted that it’s unclear how the deployment of AI will impact the labor force, particularly for entry-level white-collar workers.

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Fink added that, historically, automation has boosted productivity and, over time, broadened the range of work available even as certain roles were displaced – though he cautioned that “new roles take time to emerge, and workers don’t always move seamlessly from old ones to new ones.”

“One thing is clear: AI will create significant economic value. Ensuring that participation in that growth expands alongside it is both the challenge and the opportunity,” he wrote.

Fink went on to discuss ways to broaden participation in financial markets to expand access to the market to a larger segment of Americans.

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BlackRock CEO Larry Fink said expanding market participation is key to addressing inequality. (Angus Mordant/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

He said that the newly created Trump Accounts could be a “very significant step” in encouraging young people to put their money in the market.

Trump Accounts are savings accounts given to newborns and seeded with money from the government and philanthropic benefactors as well as parental contributions that are invested in a broad index of U.S. stocks. They may also be created for people under the age of 18, and are held in custody by a parent or guardian until the child turns 18.

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Fink said market-based approaches like that could also be used for programs like Social Security to stabilize the safety net program, which is approaching insolvency in under a decade.

“If this were merely a contracting impasse, DoW would presumably have just stopped using Claude,” Judge Lin wrote, referencing the Department of War, a secondary name for the Department of Defense. “The challenged actions, however, far exceed the scope of what could reasonably address such a national security interest.”

To get a sense of where the pain may end, many equity traders look to a type of technical analysis credited with identifying the bottoms of big market declines, including two major routs since 2020. The bad news for bulls: It signals a long way down before the index finds major support.

It’s known as the 50% Fibonacci retracement level, a tool that chart watchers use to find potential entry points based on an 800-year-old mathematical principle. In this case, it represents a decline that would erase half of the S&P 500’s gains from last April’s low to its most recent record in January. It sits at 5,980 – or some 9% below Wednesday’s close.

“When you get a clear change in trend, there’s just certain levels that investors look at to kind of come back in, especially shorter-term traders,” said Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak + Co. “And that 50% retracement is one that people follow very closely.”

Technical analysis is just one tool to gauge stock-market trends and potential inflection points, and it’s far from a magic crystal ball. The S&P 500 briefly fell below 6,500 last week and it’s trading below its 200-day moving average, a trend line many hoped would act as support to halt the decline. Its failure to do so has pushed technical analysts to search for other potential levels where the bottom may be.

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“It’s easy to see from a technical perspective that the worst isn’t over yet,” said Doug Peta, US investment strategist at BCA Research. “Until the Strait of Hormuz is open and crude oil, LNG, refined products and derivatives are moving through it at a normalised rate, there’s likely to be upward pressure on inflation and downward pressure on global growth.”
Should the S&P 500 extend losses this week, it would likely move toward 6,200, Maley said in a recent note to clients. The next potential support after that would come in at 5,980, which marks not only the 50% Fibonacci retracement but also the gauge’s mid-June low. The Fibonacci sequence, which was named after Italian mathematician Leonardo Pisano, known as Fibonacci, came in handy during the market turmoil trigged by President Donald Trump’s so-called Liberation Day tariff announcements last year. The S&P 500 found support at 4,982.77, a level that corresponded with the midpoint of a rally spanning three years from 2022.

Similarly, the 2022 bear market found its trough near the 50% retracement of the rally between March 2020 and early January 2022.

To Jonathan Krinsky, chief market technician at BTIG LLC, signs of stock-market weakness were present well before the conflict in the Middle East erupted. Issues with software and private credit had already taken their toll. In terms of how effective the 50% retracement level is when calling a bottom, Krinsky explains that it’s just “one piece of the puzzle.” Maley agrees, noting that there needs to be other influences on the market in order for it to be effective.

A resolution to the war in Iran and an end to the ensuing spike in energy prices would be one obvious catalyst to help the market rebound. Stocks rallied on Wednesday as traders weighed the viability of US-Iran ceasefire talks, with the S&P 500 closing up 0.5%. Still, uncertainty about the longer-term trajectory of US stocks remains.

“The war and what’s happening in it is a specific issue,” said Kim Forrest, chief investment officer at Bokeh Capital Partners. “What is the Fed going to do about interest rates given all the extremely changeable views people have on markets? And then there’s the price of oil, which fluctuates wildly. Pick your topic and you can own it.”

Los Angeles County voted in favor of an analysis into the proposed merger between Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery and its impact on the entertainment industry.

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved the motion Tuesday to have the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO) conduct a “comprehensive economic impact analysis” on the direct and indirect impact the merger could have on employment in the county.

“Entertainment is more than what we watch on a screen—it’s part of who we are as Angelenos and a cornerstone of our economy. Thousands of families rely on this industry for their livelihoods, and we must protect their jobs and our signature industry,” Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath said in a statement.

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The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors released a motion to analyze a potential merger on Tuesday. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

She continued, “As the proposed merger moves forward, we need a clear understanding of its impacts on jobs, competition, and the future of storytelling. Today, we took action to support workers, strengthen our local economy, and keep Los Angeles at the center of the global entertainment industry.”

According to Horvath, who proposed the motion, the DEO will “develop workforce strategies, including job training and placement programs, to support and retain entertainment industry workers” and report back to the Los Angeles board in 60 days with a final report due in 120 days.

Los Angeles County Counsel will then submit a final report to the Department of Justice regarding potential antitrust issues.

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Paramount successfully launched a bid against Netflix to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery in February. (AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images)

Actress Jane Fonda, who heads the Committee for the First Amendment, supported the motion for “fighting” for the entertainment industry.

“Los Angeles runs on the creativity and hard work of the people behind our entertainment industry. As this acquisition moves forward, we need to make sure workers and storytellers aren’t left behind. I’m grateful to Supervisor Lindsey Horvath for fighting for our industry and for the people who power it every day,” Fonda said.

Fox News Digital reached out to Paramount for a comment.

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Critics have expressed concerns regarding Paramount CEO David Ellison potentially taking over Warner Bros. Discovery. (Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for CinemaCon)

Paramount won the ongoing bidding war to purchase Warner Bros. Discovery in February, though the merger has not yet been finalized.

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Critics of the bid have expressed concerns that the consolidation of two legacy studios under one company could lead to mass layoffs in the entertainment industry. Others have expressed fears over Paramount CEO David Ellison, who has a friendly relationship with President Donald Trump, having control over CNN.

More than 10 million grill brushes are being recalled nationwide after reports that metal bristles can break off and end up in food.

The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced the recall Thursday for several Nexgrill metal wire brushes sold at Home Depot stores and online between 2015 and 2026. 

“Small metal wire bristles can detach from the brushes and stick to the grill or food, posing an ingestion hazard and risk of serious internal injuries that could require surgery,” the CPSC said. 

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Nexgrill has received at least 68 reports of bristles coming loose.  (Consumer Product Safety Commission)

Nexgrill has received at least 68 reports of bristles coming loose. 

Five people reported swallowing the metal pieces and needed medical treatment to remove them from the throat or digestive tract, according to the CPSC.

The recall includes multiple models of brushes with black plastic or wood handles measuring about 18 to 21 inches long. 

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The recall includes multiple models of brushes with black plastic or wood handles measuring about 18 to 21 inches long.  (Consumer Product Safety Commission)

Model numbers were listed on the packaging, and each product is labeled “Nexgrill.”

The recall covers the following models:

• 19-Inch Grill Brush (Model 530-0024), sold 2015–2016
• Grill Cleaning Brush with Scraper (Model 530-0024G), sold 2022–2026
• Long Handle Grill Brush (Model 530-0034), sold 2015–2026
• Grill Brush and Scraper (Model 530-0039), sold 2015–2026
• Grill Brush with Scrub Pad (Model 530-0041), sold 2015–2026
• Wood Handle Grill Brush (Model 530-0042), sold 2015–2021

The brushes typically retail for $5 to $15.

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Consumers are urged to stop using the brushes immediately. (Consumer Product Safety Commission)

Consumers are urged to stop using the brushes immediately. Nexgrill is offering refunds in the form of gift cards.

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The recalled brushes were manufactured in China and imported by Nexgrill Industries, based in California.

Nexgrill could not be immediately reached by FOX Business for comment.