A Report Maps California's Parallel Benefit System California's welfare system is already enormous, and a new report says it has built a separate track for illegal immigrants. City Journal fellow Christopher Rufo, working with Kenneth Schrupp and Austen Hufford, describes the arrangement as a “shadow welfare system.” The report says the benefits can include health care, rental assistance, college grants, tax credits, low-cost car insurance, and smartphones paid for by taxpayers. Researchers visited four California welfare offices and said employees told them illegal immigrants can receive benefits or accept them on behalf of their children. The report places total subsidies for illegal immigrants at $11 billion during the previous fiscal year. That is a broad program estimate, not a claim that every recipient collects every benefit. Still, the spreadsheet is doing plenty of talking. The Benefits Can Follow Children The report's most eye-catching example involves a household with two illegal-immigrant parents, two children born in the United States, and one grandparent living in the country illegally. According to the report, that family could receive $100,000 in welfare per year. The claimed mechanism is simple: benefits may be available for eligible children even when a parent does not qualify. A Los…

A Medical Flight Disappeared Over the Atlantic A Canadian-registered Gulfstream G-100 air ambulance left LF Wade International Airport in Bermuda around 12:40 a.m. Saturday, bound for Boston. Four Canadians and two Bermudians were aboard, and ABC News reported that no Americans were on the flight. The aircraft descended 10,000 feet before communication with the Federal Aviation Administration was lost. Reports placed the final loss of contact shortly after 1:20 a.m. or around 2 a.m., depending on the account. The FAA issued a search-and-rescue alert, and the U.S. Coast Guard began looking in waters off Massachusetts. The Radio Traffic Shows a Troubled Exchange Audio obtained by ABC News captures a controller trying to understand the pilots. “You’re coming in blind. Is that what you said?” the controller asked. The controller then said, “You’re coming in a little weak so I didn’t hear what your response was, if you were declaring an emergency or not.” The pilots were asked to repeat messages, including their altitude, several times. ABC News reported that the air ambulance was in contact with New York controllers when it declared an emergency. When the flight stopped responding, the controller asked a nearby Ethiopian Airlines jet to try to…