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Southwest Airlines resumes operations after 'data connection issues' snarl flights nationwide

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:12 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Southwest Airlines has blamed "data connection issues resulting from a firewall failure" for interrupting the carrier's nationwide operations on Tuesday morning.Operations have since resumed, the airline said."Early this morning, a vendor-supplied firewall went down and connection to some operational data was unexpectedly lost. Southwest Teams worked quickly to minimize flight disruptions," a representative for Southwest wrote, in part, in a statement shared with Nexstar."We ask that travelers use Southwest.com to check flight status or visit a Southwest Airlines Customer Service Agent at the airport for assistance with travel needs."Southwest's statements came hours after customers complained of delays, claiming to have been told of a "nationwide grounding" of Southwest's aircraft.A representative for Southwest Airlines responded to the initial complaints, blaming “intermittent technology issues” for interrupting flights.“As a result of the intermittent technology issue...

Littlest intruder: Toddler crawls through White House fence

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:12 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — A toddler on Tuesday earned the title of one of the tiniest White House intruders after he squeezed through the metal fencing on the north side of the executive mansion.U.S. Secret Service Uniformed Division officers, who are responsible for security at the White House, walked across the North Lawn to retrieve the tot and reunite him with his parents on Pennsylvania Avenue. Access to the complex was briefly restricted while officers conducted the reunification. Officers briefly questioned the parents before allowing them to continue on their way.It may be the first successful intrusion onto the complex since the White House fence was doubled in height to roughly 13 feet (3.96 meters) in recent years after a series of security breaches. While taller, the new fence has an additional inch of space between pickets, for a total of 5½ inches (12.7 centimeters) between posts.Older children have sometimes become stuck in the iconic barrier, which has also been the scene of...

ADHD medication abuse in schools is a ‘wake-up call’

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:12 GMT

(CNN) — At some middle and high schools in the United States, 1 in 4 teens report they’ve abused prescription stimulants for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder during the year prior, a new study found.“This is the first national study to look at the nonmedical use of prescription stimulants by students in middle and high school, and we found a tremendous, wide range of misuse,” said lead author Sean Esteban McCabe, director of the Center for the Study of Drugs, Alcohol, Smoking and Health at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.“In some schools, there was little to no misuse of stimulants, while in other schools more than 25% of students had used stimulants in nonmedical ways,” said McCabe, who is also a professor of nursing at the University of Michigan School of Nursing. “This study is a major wake-up call.”Nonmedical uses of stimulants can include taking more than a normal dose to get high, or taking the medication with alc...

Alec Baldwin to resume ‘Rust’ production this week

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:12 GMT

(CNN) — Filming of the movie “Rust” will resume this week.On Tuesday, a spokesperson for Rust Movie Productions told CNN that principal photography of “Rust” is set to resume Thursday at Yellowstone Film Ranch in Montana.Production on the western starring Alec Baldwin came to a halt in 2021, when cinematographer Halyna Hutchins was fatally shot when a prop gun Baldwin was holding fired a live round of ammunition during rehearsal.Director Joel Souza was also shot and injured.Matthew Hutchins, Hutchins’ widower, and Baldwin announced they had reached an undisclosed settlement in October, following a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the actor and the film’s production companies, its producers and other key members of the crew.The movie is to be completed as part of the agreement, with Matthew Hutchins serving as an executive producer.Baldwin and Souza will also return to finish the project, according to Rust Movie Productions.It was announc...

EU legislators strike deal on €43B chips plan

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:12 GMT

BRUSSELS — The European Union’s plan to boost microchips production in the bloc got the green light on Tuesday, the Swedish Council presidency confirmed. Negotiating teams from the European Parliament, the Swedish Council presidency, and the Commission agreed on the Chips Act, a range of measures meant to bring the EU’s share of the global semiconductor value chain to 20 percent by 2030 (it currently stands at 9 percent). The package entails loosening rules to allow more government subsidies for advanced chip facilities, an EU microchips research and development (R&D) budget and tools to monitor potential supply shortages. The deal, which was struck weeks earlier than expected, paves the way for a subsidy splurge that should enable the bloc to catch up with other major chips hubs like the United States, South Korea, Taiwan and China. The plan was pulled together in the wake of coronavirus-era shortages, but over the past year, tensions between China and Taiwan have u...

FAA lifts nationwide ground stop for Southwest Airlines flights after equipment issues

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:12 GMT

(CNN) — The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday morning lifted a nationwide ground stop for Southwest Airlines flights after earlier issuing the order, citing “equipment issues.”There is still a hold on flights into Dallas Love Field Airport, the FAA says. There still may be other residual flight delays as a result of the pause.“Southwest Airlines requested the FAA pause the airline’s departures,” the agency told CNN in a statement.Southwest reported technology issues Tuesday morning and said it would “hopefully be resuming our operation as soon as possible.”The flight tracking website FlightAware said nearly 2,500 of the airline’s flights — about 30% of its schedule — were delayed Tuesday, far ahead of any US carrier.Southwest called the problem “intermittent technology issues” in a social media post to customers. Several have taken to social media to complain about delayed flights.“We apolog...

Bills GM: Damar Hamlin medically cleared to resume playing

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:12 GMT

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. (AP) — Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been cleared to resume playing and is attending the team’s voluntary workout program some four months after going into cardiac arrest and having to be resuscitated on the field during a game at Cincinnati, general manager Brandon Beane said Tuesday.“He is fully cleared to resume activity,” Beane said, with the clearance coming from the team after the player met with a third and final specialist on Friday.Beane said all three specialists were in agreement that Hamlin can resume playing without any fear of setbacks or complications. While the Bills had their own doctor sit in on Hamlin’s meetings with specialists, Beane said the team is following the lead of the specialists.Hamlin has experienced what doctors are calling a remarkable recovery since collapsing on the field after making what appeared to be a routine tackle in the first quarter of a Jan. 2 game against the Bengals, which was suspended and eventually canceled...

Bills’ Damar Hamlin ‘cleared’ and ‘working out’ to make NFL return

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:12 GMT

Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin has been “cleared” physically by specialists to make his NFL return and is already “working out” with the team, GM Brandon Beane said Tuesday morning.“Damar is prepared to come back and play,” Beane told reporters at his pre-draft press conference. “He’s fully cleared, he’s here, and he is of the mindset, he’s in a great headspace to come back and make his return.”Bills trainers and Cincinnati doctors saved Hamlin’s life when he went into cardiac arrest on Jan. 2 during a game between the Bills and Bengals that was ultimately canceled.Beane was at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center with Hamlin and his family when the worst was still a possibility. He marveled at the progress Hamlin has made since then.“Such a great kid, such a great family,” Beane said. “It’s exciting to go from a guy who was fighting for his life to who is now, his story hasn...

Alleged Brighton storage unit killer held without bail

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:12 GMT

The man prosecutors say is behind the two men found in plastic storage containers in a Brighton storage unit is being held without bail as the pieces of his case are put together.Leonid Volkov, 37, of Medford, appeared in Somerville District Court Tuesday morning, shackled and wearing the same Jurassic Park t-shirt that appeared in his booking photo from his Saturday arrest. He was charged with one count of murder and one count of larceny from a building, to which he pleaded not guilty.The Middlesex District Attorney’s office on Friday issued the photos of Pavel Vekshin 28, and Kiryl Schukin, 37, in an attempt to get the public’s help in locating the Medford married couple who coworkers and friends told police they hadn’t heard from since March 30.The next day, the bodies of the two men were located in a Brighton storage unit. Schukin’s body, prosecutor Ceara Mahoney said Tuesday, was dismembered with different pieces scattered between three different containers. Vekshin’s body was ...

Jury seated to hear case about Fox’s false election claims

Published Thu, 20 Feb 2025 11:57:12 GMT

By DAVID BAUDER, RANDALL CHASE and GEOFF MULVIHILL (Associated Press)WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — A jury was seated Tuesday to hear a voting machine company’s $1.6 billion defamation lawsuit against Fox News in a trial that will test First Amendment protections and expose the network’s role in spreading the lie of a stolen 2020 presidential election.Jury selection came a day after the judge granted a one-day delay that offered time to see if the two sides could work out a settlement.Denver-based Dominion Voting Systems aims to hold Fox accountable for airing false allegations of election fraud that continue to roil U.S. politics.Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis gave no explanation for the brief delay. But he suggested the companies try to mediate their dispute, according to a person close to Fox who was not authorized to speak publicly about the lawsuit’s status and spoke on the condition of anonymity.The case will put under scrutiny the libel standard tha...