Mask or no mask, FAA sticks to tough stance on unruly flyers
Violent and unruly airline passengers will continue to face steep fines and potential criminal charges even as rules mandating face coverings fade away.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration on Wednesday said its zero-tolerance policy against unruly passengers will be made permanent as it attempts to deter bad behavior.
The move came two days after most major U.S. airlines eliminated policies requiring passengers to wear masks, an issue that has contributed to thousands of attacks on airline personnel since the FAA began its crackdown in January 2021.
“Behaving dangerously on a plane will cost you; that’s a promise,” Acting FAA Administrator Billy Nolen said in an emailed statement. The agency can impose fines of as much as $37,000 per violation. The FAA had referred 80 cases for prosecution as of Feb. 16.
—Bloomberg News
California tech billionaire launches Senate campaign to take on Tesla from Congress
WASHINGTON — This tech billionaire wants to take on Tesla — on the way to the United States Senate.
Dan O’Dowd, founder and chief executive officer of Green Hills Software, which builds operating services and programming tools for computer systems, announced his bid for the U.S. Senate on Tuesday.
O’Dowd simultaneously launched a multimillion-dollar national advertising campaign against Tesla’s Full Self-Driving technology. The television advertisement, “Unsafe at Any Speed,” includes videos of Tesla’s self-driving car malfunctioning.
“Elon Musk is pushing Tesla’s defective Full Self-Driving technology, and it’s threatening people across the country. The government continues to allow Tesla to put unregulated, dangerous, and defective software on the street in the hands of 60,000 untrained drivers,” O’Dowd said in an announcement launching his campaign. “This is a public safety threat and Congress must take immediate action.”
While banning the full self-driving technology is his big-ticket issue, he says his main issue is to “make computers safe for humanity.” He is running as a Democrat.
—McClatchy Washington Bureau
SC Supreme Court postpones April execution by firing squad; another one set for May
COLUMBIA, S.C. — The South Carolina Supreme Court has hit pause on the April 29 execution of Richard Moore, who was scheduled to die by firing squad.
Moore, 57, was scheduled to be the first person executed in South Carolina since 2011.
The court said in its temporary stay that it will release a more detailed order with new parameters at a later date. Also on Wednesday, a second man on South Carolina’s death row found out the day he is scheduled die.
The South Carolina Department of Corrections said it received an execution date from the state Supreme Court for Brad Keith Sigmon, a 64-year-old Greenville County man who was sentenced to death for the 2001 killings of his ex-girlfriend’s parents.
Sigmon’s execution date is set for May 13. By law, Sigmon will be asked to choose how he would prefer to die 14 days before his May 13 execution date, or April 29.
Without the option of lethal injection, Sigmon faces two choices: death by a 110-year-old electric chair or death by the state’s newly installed firing squad.
—The State (Columbia, S.C.)
Germany to support Ukraine with artillery ammunition, training
Germany will provide Ukraine with ammunition and training for heavy artillery as Chancellor Olaf Scholz comes under pressure to give more support to the effort to fend off Russian forces.
The training and ammunition are for the PzH 2000, a self-propelled, rapid-fire artillery system, which the Netherlands is sending to Ukraine, according to a senior government official. The training could be provided in Poland or Germany, but not in Ukraine because of ongoing attacks from Russia, said the official, who asked not to be identified because talks between NATO allies and Ukraine are confidential.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who has led calls for heavy weaponry for Ukraine, confirmed Wednesday during a trip to Riga that Germany will help with artillery training and maintenance, but declined to provide further details. A government spokesman declined to comment at a regular news conference when asked about the Bloomberg report.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz has come under intense pressure, including from members of his own ruling coalition, to increase military support to Ukraine by sending heavy weapons such as tanks.
—Bloomberg News
