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The ongoing Department of Homeland Security shutdown is taking its toll on the thousands of Transportation Security Administration employees at airports who have been working without pay.

Approximately 60,000 TSA officers who have gone over a month with partial pay began receiving their first $0 paychecks last week.

Many say they are living in fear, with some taking on extra jobs or even leaving the agency altogether to make ends meet.

And if there is no relief soon, veteran TSA leaders fear that the stress and uncertainty could impact operations for years.

"Who wants to go work in public service in the public sector when you're treated like a yo-yo?" a TSA worker who asked to remain anonymous told ABC News.

The current partial shutdown, now in its second month, comes close to last fall's 43-day federal government shutdown, which paused payments to thousands of TSA workers, who were still required to work their shift.

Video TSA agent on working without pay: No 'fuel to continue coming to work'

Angela Grana, a TSA officer at Durango-La Plata County Airport in Colorado, told ABC News Live on Monday, the first day that TSA workers missed their checks, that the entire situation has been humiliating for her co-workers.

"The stories I get are very demoralizing," Grana, who serves as the state's regional vice president for AFGE TSA Local 1127, said. "To go ahead and do the Uber Eats or any other kind of side job, we have to have extra permission. For now, we can't just do it."

Senate Democrats have vowed to block funding for DHS until reforms are made to Immigration and Customs Enforcement following the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by federal law enforcement.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called on Democrats Monday to join a discharge petition that would fund all DHS agencies except for ICE.

A vote on similar legislation failed earlier in the Senate. Jeffries would need at least four Republicans to sign on with all Democrats for the discharge petition to move forward.

TSA says nearly 10% of its officers called out sick Tuesday

Grana said the stress of making ends meet and keeping the airports safe is getting to a lot of TSA officers. Several airports across the country have begunfood pantriesfor their employees affected by the partial shutdown.

"Let me tell you, for us to be concentrating on our jobs without the hunger pains in our stomachs. It's really difficult to do. We can't get it wrong," Grana said.  "We have to get it right every time. We cannot miss a bag, we cannot miss a threat."

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Jill DeJanovich, a TSA officer at Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas and single mom of four, was one of the nearly 2,700 TSA workerswho called out sickthis week, because of the demands put on her.

DeJanovich, who is the a AFGE Local 1260 Chief Administrative Point of contact in Nevada, said she is frustrated with Congress for not moving forward and ending the quagmire over funding.

"Someone needs to cross the line before Congress goes on break for Easter recess," she said.

While some TSA officers said they had to power on through, for others, like Robert Echeverria, the strain of a second DHS shutdown in five months proved to be too much.

After nine years working at Salt Lake City International Airport a lead TSA officer, Echeverria told ABC News that he left his job after the current shutdown. Echeverria said his family's life savings were depleted after the last shutdown.

"Emotionally, we couldn't go through that strain anymore," he told ABC News.

"It was just really hard for my wife and emotionally to see my kids going through a hard time asking for things, and we wouldn't be able to actually help them out," he added.

A TSA worker who asked not to be named warned that the loss of employees can't easily be fixed.

"Losing seasoned employees is very difficult to replace," the TSA worker said. "New hires take two years to get off probation."

Airports collect donations for TSA staffers during government shutdown

The worker added that the accumulating debt borne by government employees will also affect staffing.

"One of the requirements is that you have a great credit rating. A lot of our officers are not going to have that now," they said.

Joseph Cerletti, a TSA officer at Oakland San Francisco Bay Airport, told ABC News that he struggles to explain to his kids about their financial issues now that his family has to depend solely on his wife's income.

Cerletti relented that he and his coworkers "don't have the upper ground here" when it comes to fighting for their rights.

"It's very hard to find words in the English language to describe how I feel about it, other than speechless," he said. "This is just what I've been describing lately as figuratively an uphill gunfight."

As they painted their nails and curled their eyelashes for the end of Ramadan, family and friends in Sahira and Hadeel's Beauty Salon were not too worried when they heard the faint sound of sirens in the distance.

Instead, the women continued their preparations for Eid, believing there was little chance thatan Iranian missilewould be heading towards the small Palestinian town of Beit Awwa, in the Hebron Hills.

Moments later, the peaceful evening came to an end as shrapnel ripped through the walls of the beauty parlour and blew the door off its hinges.

Sahira, 36, Amal, 29, and Mais, 30, all from the same extended family of the Masalmeh clan, which calls the village home, died instantly as the blast erupted next to the shed housing the salon.

Another of the women, Aseel, 29, died in hospital, with her death announced as the other victims were about to be buried.

As well as preparing to celebrate Eid, which was expected to fall on Thursday or Friday, Aseel and Amal were several months pregnant and looking forward to welcoming their new children later in the year.

The four young women, described as "kind and beautiful", were the first Palestinians to die duringIsrael and Iran's conflict, and are the latest victims to die after Iran launched cluster munitions indiscriminately at towns and cities.

TheIsrael Defense Forces (IDF)said the incident was a "direct hit" from one of the missiles – which are used to scatter dozens of bombs through the sky – but Palestinian officials claimed that the damage was caused by an errant Israeli interceptor.

Cluster munitions have been bypassing Israeli defences in recent weeks with a "shotgun" approach, equivalent to firing "pellets" at Israeli targets. Even if the main warhead is intercepted, the munitions can still sometimes be deployed and can land at locations miles apart.

Ten other people were injured in Wednesday's attack, including a three-year-old girl and Sahira's sister-in-law and business partner Hadeel, 24, who survived with shrapnel injuries to her eyes, stomach and legs.

"We were working as usual," Hadeel, wearing a white hospital bandage over her nose and forehead, told The Telegraph as friends and family consoled her.

"We heard the sirens but didn't pay attention – we didn't think anything would happen or that anything would fall on us."

She said a customer had gone outside and seen "something glowing in the sky, red in colour" but she told her not to worry, believing that it would not land in the town.

"I told her to come back inside so nothing would happen to us," she said. "She stayed scared, standing behind me, while I continued working normally.

"Suddenly, the electricity went out and something struck. I didn't see anything. I opened the door and went outside, and I didn't even realise that I was injured.

"I started screaming and called my aunt and uncle telling them 'Come, save them.' My aunt went in to help the girls and started screaming 'Sahira is dead, Sahira is dead'."

Hadeel spoke after leaving hospital to pay her respects to Sahira and the other women.

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"I haven't completed my treatment, I left to say goodbye to Sahira," she said. "I lost her. I couldn't believe she had been killed. I wanted to see her."

Unlike Israeli towns, Beit Awwa has no alarms or bomb shelters. The only reliable signal of incoming fire is the sound of sirens from the settlement of Negohot, two miles away.

The horror of the tragedy was visible to all on Wednesday as friends gazed in disbelief at the dried pools of blood on the floor. Red stains could be seen spattered on the walls, next to butterfly decorations and drawings of manicured nails and eyelashes.

Brightly coloured lipsticks, varnish, acrylic nails and other beauty products lay strewn across the salon, while curlers and foundation kits were seen scattered outside alongside shrapnel.

On the building's exterior, moon and star fairy lights hung up for Ramadan had been tossed aside by the blast, which hit with such force that shrapnel entered through one wall and out the other.

Witnesses said they ran to save the women only to discover that it was too late when they were met with the sight of severed limbs and a "river of blood" within the salon.

Abedullrazig Almasalmeh, 32, a neighbour, said: "I heard the sound of the blast and then voices. Then I heard screams, crying. People started to run and I found Sahira's mother at the main door. She was crying, and she told me, she told me 'my daughter is dead'.

"I told her, 'don't worry, inshallah, everything will be okay'. The I entered the salon and there was a bloody river, there were lower, upper limbs, organs everywhere. It was horrible."

Palestinians had hoped to stay clear of the conflict, which began last month, but Wednesday's atrocity left them in a situation that they described as "Bein Narain", Arabic for being caught between two fires.

As mourners prepared to carry the bodies, draped in blankets and Palestinian flags, towards a funeral prayer in a school playground, there was a reminder of the danger as a missile warning came through on a handful of phones that receive Israeli alerts.

For weeks, residents had been watching the news, seeing Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and other Israeli citiescome under attackand occasionally hearing missiles flying above. However, until Wednesday, they did not think of themselves as collateral for the Iranian regime.

"When I see the rockets and TV, I wasn't afraid, but when I saw the scene of the women's bodies outside I was shocked," Suhair, a cousin of Sahira, said.

"We see the situation, the war between Iran and Israel. We see the rockets, we hear the rockets many times. But we didn't think that it was going to hit this village, maybe Hebron because it's big, but not here or the salon. Now everyone does not want to leave the house. There are no sirens or shelters. We feel afraid – there is no safety."

The IDF and Iran continued to trade blows on Thursday as Tehran continued to firecluster munitionsand the use of the banned weapons have claimed the lives of at least four Israeli civilians.

Now the residents of Beit Awwa are feeling the same pain as bereaved families on the other side of the Green Line, having been dragged into a war that was nothing to do with them.

"What is our fault?" Hadeel said. "We were in our workplace, earning our living. What do they want from us?".

Photography by Eyal Warshavsky

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A small Arizona community broke the record for highest temperature ever recorded in March in the United States, reaching a scorching 110 degrees on March 19amid an early heat wave in the Southwest.

The temperature reached 110 degrees on March 19 near Martinez Lake, a recreation community in southwestern Arizona, about 45 minutes north of Yuma, the National Weather Servicesaid.

The previous March temperature record was first set in 1954 in Rio Grande, Texas, at 108 degrees. That record was also matched during this heat wave onMarch 18near North Shore, California, according to the weather service.

The news comes as Arizona, California and other Southwestern states have faced an unprecedented early heat wave for multiple days. The heat is the result of a high-pressure system spinning across the West, causing "an expansive dome of unusually hot temperatures," the weather service has said.

The resulting temperatures are unprecedented.

More than 18 million Americans remain under extreme heat warnings the morning of March 20 across Southern California, southern Nevada, and much of Arizona. Millions more were under heat advisories.

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More:Dozens of kids die in hot cars every year. This heat wave raises risk.

Heat wave shatters numerous daily, monthly records

The heat wave that set in earlier this week has already shattered daily high temperature records in cities throughout the Southwest and even some all-time March records.

Temperatures on March 19 in Phoenixsoared to 105 degrees, breaking the record of 97 for the same date in 2017, according to the weather service. With an extreme heat warning in effect for metro Phoenix, temperatures jumped into the three-digit range by around 1 p.m. The high temperature in Phoenix was around 25 degrees above normal. The first 105-degree day of the year, on average, normally occurs on May 22nd, the weather serviceposted on X.

Phoenix doesn't usually reach 100 degrees for the first time in a year until about May 10, though before this year, itsearliest-recorded 100-degree day in a yearwas March 26, 1988.

In the Los Angeles region,daily records dating back decadeshave been broken since the heat wave began. In Downtown Los Angeles on March 17, the high got to 98 degrees, smashing the record of 94 set over a century ago in 1914.

Cities in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado, Oregon, Idaho and Wyoming have brokenall-time March records.

Contributing: Sarah Henry, the Arizona Republic

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic:Arizona town shatters US temperature record for March

Big upsets are arguably one of the most exciting parts ofMarch Madness, despite the pain they might bring youralready-busted bracket. As the NCAA tournament began in earnest on Thursday, the first game of the day, between No. 9 TCU and No. 8 Ohio State, did not disappoint. Shortly after, another Big Ten squad went down as No. 12 High Point stunned No. 5 Wisconsin. By Thursday night, several more upsets had been finalized.

We'll break down all the major losses of the men's tournament below:

No. 9 Saint Louis 102, No. 8 Georgia 77:The Bulldogs never stood a chance here.

Saint Louis, led by star center Robbie Avila, rolled to a blowout win over Georgia on Thursday night. The Billikens led the entire way, and went on an extended 23-0 run through halftime that broke the game wide open. By the time Georgia finally scored again, the Billiken's lead had exploded up to 35 points.

Avila — who has earned some incredibly creative nicknames, including Cream Abdul-Jabbar and Larry Nerd — had 12 points and five rebounds. Dion Brown led the way with 18 points after he went 9-of-10 from the field. The Billikens, who probably should have earned a higher seed than what they got, will now take on No. 1 Michigan on Saturday.

No. 10 Texas A&M 63, No. 7 Saint Mary's 50:The Aggies led the entire way in this one and cruised to a double-digit win without any issue. After opening the contest on a long 9-0 run that kept the Gaels scoreless for the first four minutes, they took an 11-point lead into the break at halftime.

While the second half was much closer, the Gaels simply couldn't narrow that gap. Saint Mary's failed to score in the final 2:30 of the contest as the Aggies simply rode out the 13-point win into the next round.

No. 11 Texas 79, No. 6 BYU 71:Texas was in control of this one just about the entire way.

Texas, after a bit of a back-and-forth early on, surged ahead of AJ Dybantsa and BYU in the second half and held on to grab the eight-point win. That sent the Longhorns, who had to beat NC State in the play-in on Tuesday, into the second round.

Dybantsa had 18 points in the first half alone to keep BYU in it, and Texas coach Sean Miller was very blunt when asked how he could stop them at the break.

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"I don't think we can," hesaid plainly.

The Cougars, after falling down by 17 points in the second half, got back within four points with just under a minute left. But that was as close as they got. The Longhorns held them scoreless the rest of the way to grab the win.

Dybantsa ended up finishing with 35 points and 10 rebounds. He's now the first freshman with at least 30 points in his NCAA tournament debut since Stephen Curry did so with Davidson back in 2007.

No. 11 VCU 82, No. 6 North Carolina 78:Well, North Carolina completely fell apart.

The Tar Heels, who led by as many as 19 points in the second half, let the Rams climb all the way back to force overtime. Then, after both teams went cold in the extra period, it was Terrence Hill who drilled the eventual game-winner. Hill, with about 15 seconds left on the cock, pulled up from the top of the key and drained a step-back 3-pointer.

Though Henri Veesaar reached the free throw line at the other end and had the chance to tie the game again, he missed both of his shots from the stripe. That paved the way for the Rams to secure the upset win, which was the largest first-round comeback victory in NCAA tournament history.

No. 12 High Point 83, No. 5 Wisconsin 82:Not a bad time to make your first two-pointer of the year, Chase Johnston! And so a rough day for the Big Ten continues. High Point made its first NCAA tournament appearance last year, and this year heads to the round of 32 for the first time.

No. 9 TCU 66, No. 8 Ohio State 64:This result might've seemed fated at halftime, when the Horned Frogs held a 15-point lead, but the Buckeyes stormed back in the second half to make the first game of the day everything you'd want to kick off March Madness. TCU's Xavier Edmonds hit a shot at the rim with 4.3 seconds to go, and Ohio State wasn't able to get a good look before time expired.

While it may not have been a true upset, TCU was a 2.5-point underdog and will be moving on to the round of 32 for the first time since 2023.

Follow along throughout the NCAA tournament as we track every single upset.

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran threatened to target recreational and tourist sites worldwide and insisted it was still building missiles. Friday's show of defiance came nearlythree weeks into U.S.-Israeli strikesthat have killed a slew of Tehran's top leaders and hammered its weapons and energy industries.

APTOPIX Iran War

Iran fired on Israel andenergy sites in neighboring Gulf Arab statesas many in the region marked one of the holiest days on the Muslim calendar. Iranians were also marking the Persian New Year, known as Nowruz, a normally festive holiday thatis more subdued this year.

With little information coming out of Iran, it was not clear how much damage its arms, nuclear or energy facilities have sustained since the war began Feb. 28 or even whowas truly in charge of the country. But Iran has showed it is still capable of attacks that are choking off oil supplies and denting the global economy,raising food and fuel pricesfar beyond the Middle East.

The U.S. and Israel have offered shifting rationales for the war, fromhoping to foment an uprisingthat topples Iran's leadership to eliminating itsnuclear and missile programs. There have been no public signs of any such uprising, and it's not clear what capabilities Iran retains or how the war might end.

Iran remains defiant despite weeks of attacks

Iran's top military spokesman warned Friday that "parks, recreational areas and tourist destinations" worldwide won't be safe for Tehran's enemies.

Gen. Abolfazl Shekarchi made the threat as Iran continues to be hit by American and Israeli airstrikes. It renewed concerns that Iran may revert to using militant attacks beyond the Middle East as a pressure tactic in the war.

U.S. and Israeli leaders have said that weeks of strikes have decimated Iran's military. Airstrikes have also killed its supreme leader, the head of its Supreme National Security Council and araft of other top-rankingmilitary and political leaders.

On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed Iran's navy was sunk and its air force in tatters, while adding that its ability to produce ballistic missiles had been taken out. Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard disputed the missile claim on Friday.

"We are producing missiles even during war conditions, which is amazing, and there is no particular problem in stockpiling," spokesman Gen. Ali Mohammad Naeini was quoted as saying in Iran's state-run IRAN newspaper.

Naeini added that Iran had no intention of seeking a quick end to the war. "These people expect the war to continue until the enemy is completely exhausted," he said.

A short time after the statement was released, Iranian state television said Naeini was killed in an airstrike.

The country's new Supreme Leader AyatollahMojtaba Khameneialso released a rare statement, saying Iran's enemies need to have their "security" taken away.

Khamenei hasn't been seen since he succeeded his father, the 86-year-old Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the first day of the war.

A refinery comes under attack in Kuwait and explosions shake Dubai

Iran has stepped up its attacks on energy sites in Gulf Arab states after Israel bombed Iran's massiveSouth Pars offshore natural gas fieldearlier in the week.

Two waves of Iranian drones attacked a Kuwaiti oil refinery early Friday, sparking a fire. The Mina Al-Ahmadi refinery, which can process some 730,000 barrels of oil per day, is one of the largest in the Middle East. It was damaged Thursday in another Iranian attack.

Bahrain said a fire broke out after shrapnel from an intercepted projectile landed on a warehouse, and Saudi Arabia reported shooting down multiple drones targeting its oil-rich Eastern Province.

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Heavy explosions shook Dubai as air defenses intercepted incoming fire over the city, where people were observing Eid al-Fitr, the end of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.

In Iran, meanwhile, many were marking Nowruz even as Israel said it had launched new strikes, and explosions were heard over Tehran. The Persian New Year, which coincides with the spring equinox, is a tradition observed across southwestern Asia that dates back thousands of years.

Loud explosions could also be heard in Jerusalem after the Israeli army warned of incoming Iranian missiles. First responders said they treated two people around 70 years old who were lightly wounded.

In addition to steadily striking Iran, Israelhas regularly hit Lebanon, targeting Iran-backed Hezbollah militants who have been firing rockets and drones into Israel.

On Friday, Israel broadened its attacks to Syria, saying it hit infrastructure there in response to what it described as attacks on the minority Druze population. Syria's state-run SANA news agency did not immediately acknowledge the attack.

More than 1,300 people have been killed in Iran during the war. Israeli strikes in Lebanon have displaced more than 1 million people, according to the Lebanese government, which says more than 1,000 people have been killed. Israel says it has killed more than 500 Hezbollah militants.

In Israel, 15 people have been killed by Iranian missile fire. Four people were also killed in the occupied West Bank by an Iranian missile strike.

At least 13 U.S. military members have been killed.

The war is raising risks to the world economy

Iran's attacks on energy infrastructure in the Gulf combined with itsstranglehold on shippingin theStrait of Hormuz, astrategic waterwaythrough which a fifth of the world's oil and other critical goods are transported, has raised concerns of a global energy crisis.

Brent crude oil, the international standard, has soared during the fighting, and was around $107 in morning trading on Friday, up more than 47% since the start of the war.

Surging fuel prices come at a moment when many world leaders were already struggling to bring down high prices of food and many consumer goods. Asia is gettinghit hardas most of the oil and gas exiting the Strait of Hormuz is transported there.

But the price shocksare reverberating throughout the world economy. Key raw materials — like helium used in making computer chips, and sulfur, a raw material in fertilizer — have been obstructed and could be in short supply soon, raising the prices of goods all the way down the supply chain.

This story has been updated to correct the headline to show the war is nearly three weeks in, not four.

Mednick reported from Jerusalem and Rising from Bangkok. Associated Press writer Giovanna Dell'Orto in Miami contributed.