Cicadas delay press plane

Reporters traveling to the United Kingdom for President Biden’s first overseas trip were delayed seven hours after their chartered plane was overrun by cicadas. The Washington, D.C., area is among the many parts of the country that have been swarmed by Brood X cicadas, a large emergence of the loud 17year insects that take to divebombing onto moving vehicles and unsuspecting passersby. There are trillions of them in the Washington, Maryland and Virginia region, said University of Maryland entomologist Paula Shrewsbury.

Even Biden wasn’t spared. The president brushed a cicada from the back of his neck as he chatted with his Air Force greeter after arriving at Joint Base Andrews for Wednesday’s flight.

“Watch out for the cicadas,” Biden told reporters. “I just got one. It just got me.”