FAA orders grounding of some Boeing 737 Max 9 jets after midair incident
The Federal Aviation Administration on Saturday ordered U.S. airlines to stop using some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes until they are inspected, less than a day after one of those planes lost a chunk of its body in midair, terrifying passengers before the jet safely returned to ground. Those aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 described an unnerving experience during the 20 minutes of the flight, which was destined for Ontario, California, but returned to Portland International Airport in Oregon on Friday night. As yellow oxygen masks dangled above their heads, a powerful wind tore through a gaping hole. No one aboard the plane was seriously injured.
Transgender candidate in Ohio
is disqualified
for not disclosing
birth name
A transgender woman was disqualified from a race for the Ohio House of Representatives after she did not include her previous name in election materials, raising the prospect that transgender candidates would face similar barriers elsewhere. Vanessa Joy, a real estate photographer running as a Democrat in Ohio’s 50th District, was informed in a letter from the Stark County Board of Elections on Tuesday that she had been disqualified from the state House race. The board cited a state law that requires a person running for office to list on the candidacy petition any name changes within five years of an election, and it gave Joy until Friday to appeal.
Colorado River
states are racing to agree on cuts before year’s end
The states that rely on the Colorado River, which is shrinking because of climate change and overuse, are rushing to agree on a long-term deal to share the dwindling resource by the end of 2024. They worry that a change in administrations after the election could set back talks. Negotiators seek an agreement that would prepare for extraordinary cuts in the amount of river water that can be tapped. The Colorado provides drinking water to 40 million people in seven states, 30 tribes and Mexico, as well as irrigation for some of America’s most productive farmland. But the amount of water flowing in the Colorado has declined over time.
Biden to deliver State of the Union address on March 7
President Joe Biden will deliver his third State of the Union address March 7, an opportunity to detail his vision of the nation amid a presidential campaign that the White House has described as a test of democracy. In a letter Saturday morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson officially invited Biden to deliver the constitutionally mandated speech to a joint session of Congress during “this moment of great challenge for our country.” March is unusually late for a State of the Union address, typically broadcast nationwide. Biden’s last one fell on Feb. 7.
After the Capitol attack, Companies pledged to rethink political giving.
Did they?
After a violent mob stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, many businesses and trade groups condemned the attack and pledged to review and shift their approach to political giving, including by halting donations to candidates who voted against certifying the 2020 presidential election. But the business community has not exerted the huge financial pressure on election-denying candidates and groups that the initial flood of condemnations and pledges in 2021 may have suggested, according to data. Political watchdog Accountable.US found that overall donations from Fortune 500 companies and about 700 trade associations to election objectors in Congress decreased only about 10% in the 2022 election cycle compared with 2020.
U.S. News makes money from some of its biggest critics: colleges
Jonathan Henry, a vice president at the University of Maine at Augusta, hopes an email will arrive this month. But he is sort of dreading it. The message, if it comes, will tell him U.S. News &World Report has again ranked his university’s online programs among the nation’s best. History suggests the email will also prod the university toward paying U.S. News, through a licensing agent, thousands of dollars for the right to advertise its rankings. Dozens of law and medical schools vow not to supply data to the publisher, saying rankings sometimes unduly influence the priorities of universities. But data shows that colleges feed the rankings industry.
Hezbollah fires rockets at Israel
in response to
killing in Beirut
Lebanese militia Hezbollah fired a volley of rockets toward a military base in Israel on Saturday, in what the group said was an initial response to the assassination of a senior Hamas commander in Lebanon this past week. Hezbollah said that the strikes had caused casualties, but the Israeli military said no one was hurt. The Israeli military said that roughly 40 rockets had been fired from Lebanon toward Mount Meron, an area housing a military radar station. The military said that it had responded by striking a militant group in Lebanon that had been involved in the rocket fire, without specifying its identity.
Ukraine’s Patriot defenses at work: Shuddering booms, lives saved
Radar picked up the Russian ballistic missile streaking in Kyiv’s direction at several times the speed of sound. It was early on Dec. 11, and, with no time to sound air-raid alarms in the country’s capital, Ukrainian forces fired several U.S.-supplied Patriot missiles as the battle in the sky commenced, a Ukrainian major said. He and his team tracked incoming missiles as the Patriot’s algorithms calculated their speed, altitude and intended course. One after another, the Russian missiles were knocked down. Since “ballistic missiles cause the most casualties, I think the number of lives saved during the war is in the thousands,” the major said.
As Gaza losses mount under strikes, dignified burials are another casualty
For four days, Kareem Sabawi’s body lay wrapped in a blanket in an empty apartment as his family sheltered nearby. He was killed during Israeli bombardment near his family home in the Gaza Strip, his father and mother said, and in the days that followed, it was too dangerous to step outside and lay their 10-year-old child to rest. Traditionally, Palestinians honor their dead with public funeral processions and mourning tents erected on streets for three days to receive those who want to offer condolences. But the war has made those traditions impossible to uphold. Instead, the dead have been buried in mass graves, hospital courtyards and backyard gardens.
Russian attacks kill 11 civilians near eastern front, Ukraine says
Ukrainian officials said Saturday that Russian missile strikes on a city and a village close to the eastern front line had killed at least 11 people, including five children, and wounded 10. Vadym Filashkin, governor of the Ukrainian-controlled areas of the Donetsk region, said the Russian military hit the area with a barrage of missiles Saturday evening, smashing private houses and trapping residents under the rubble. The Russian government did not immediately comment on the reports. The Saturday strike, which could not be independently confirmed, was reported as Russia and Ukraine have been locked in an escalating cycle of air assaults in recent days.
A president’s son is in Indonesia’s election picture. Is it democracy or dynasty?
Not long ago, the eldest son of President Joko Widodo of Indonesia was running businesses. Now he is the symbol of a budding political dynasty and the beneficiary of family maneuvering. With the help of a high court ruling led by his uncle, the president’s son, Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 36, has emerged as the leading candidate for vice president in next month’s national elections. If his ticket wins, he would become Indonesia’s youngest vice president ever. The moves have rattled critics, who warn that Joko is moving to undermine democratic overhauls adopted after decades of dictatorship and that helped Joko himself win the presidency in 2014.
After Niger coup, U.S. scrambles to keep a vital air ase
U.S. Air Base 201 stands near a remote city in Niger. Most of the drones that once monitored jihadi activities in African countries are grounded. Most Americans posted at the $110 million base, near the city, Agadez, Niger, sit idle. After a military coup in Niger in July, the United States and its European partners halted cooperation with the country, which is one of the biggest recipients of security assistance in Africa. The U.S. now must figure out how to resume operations at Air Base 201 — the top military asset in a region emerging as a global center of terrorist activity.
By wire sources
