Good Thursday morning.
Last year, an estimated 22.2 million global and domestic flights took off and landed. This seems like a mind-bogglingly large number to me. But, in fact, it’s considerably less than the projected 40.3 million.
The reason, of course, was the worldwide Covid-19 crisis, which put a signifiant damper on air travel. Until this virus and its many variants and subvariants upended our lives for good, the airline industry was on a steady upward trajectory, posting an annual growth rate of about 3.2 percent.
Instead, things dropped precipitously in the other direction as a result of travel bans and closed borders, with a projected decline of 46.7 percent and billons of dollars worth of losses.
Since the advent of the vaccine and subsequent boosters, the airline industry has rebounded – even though Covid is still very much with us and probably will be in perpetuity. Global air travel may well recover to pre-pandemic levels as early as next year, experts predict.
This has not come without a significant amount of pain, thanks to a combination of labor shortages, rising gas prices, extreme weather events and more. Cancellations, delays, lack of amenities at airports, and lost luggage are now commonplace headaches faced by travelers. In short, the skies are not so very friendly at the moment. (And don’t even get me started about mask rage).
One thing that hasn’t suffered when it comes to flying is safety. Air travel is, by far, the safest mode of transportation, with far fewer accidents than cars, trains, buses, and motorcycles. (To be clear, the fatality rate for private planes is higher than commuter or commercial planes, but most of us aren’t lucky enough to own our own plane, and it’s still far safer than driving).
Of course, plane crashes are usually quite significant in terms of the death count, when they do happen, and they’re covered exhaustively by the media.
Many people – including me – harbor a deep fear of flying, in part due to the horrific images with which we are bombarded when planes so crash. (In addition, I think it’s a lot about loss of control, and also the unnatural feeling of being in a tin can hurtling at top speeds miles in the air).
It is really amazing that there aren’t MORE plane crashes, given how many planes are zooming around in the skies. We have a lot of people to thank for that, including mechanics, pilots, airline attendants, security personnel, and, of course, air traffic controllers.
The first air traffic controller was hired in 1929 by the City of St. Louis. He was a barnstorming pilot named Archie League, and he worked at Lambert Field. He effectively stood on the airfield and waved flags around to prevent planes from crashing into one another when they took off and landed.
Today, more than 14,000 air traffic controllers manage traffic from many of the FAA’s 700 facilities, working more or less 24/7 and 365 days a year.
The early air traffic controllers used blackboards to keep track of the positions reported by pilots in the air. And then they had to employ maps and math to try to determine where everyone was and keep them clear of one another. Radar changed all that, making it possible for planes to come within about 5 km of one another without crashing.
These days, the National Airspace System, created in 1982, is responsible for keeping passengers safe.
Today us National Air Traffic Control Day, established by U.S. Senate Joint Resolution 188 to raise awareness about the NAS and acknowledge the yeoman’s work done by the air traffic control community. President Reagan proclaimed the day on July 6, 1986.
It looks like it’s going to be a good day for flying, with clear mostly sunny skies and temperatures in the low-to-mid-50s.
In the headlines…
An F-16 fighter jet intercepted a small plane last Friday in restricted airspace over Southern California, near a community college where President Biden had just begun speaking.
The incident occurred over Santa Ana, Calif.; the president was at a community college in Irvine, about 12 miles away.
Biden announced a plan to sell off the rest of his release from the nation’s emergency oil reserve by year’s end and begin refilling the stockpile as he tries to dampen high gasoline prices ahead of midterm elections on Nov. 8.
Biden and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm announced two actions aimed at lowering costs amid inflation by targeting domestic battery supply chains – new efforts the administration is rolling out 20 days before the midterm elections
Biden and Vladimir Putin are slated to attend next month’s G-20 summit in Indonesia, setting up the possibility of a high-stakes face off in the midst of an increasingly deadly Moscow invasion of Ukraine. U.S. officials are taking steps to ensure that doesn’t happen.
Biden’s low profile on the campaign trail reflects a low approval rating that makes him unwelcome in some congressional districts and states at a pivotal moment before the midterms.
Infusions of ad spending for GOP candidates and persistent voter anxiety over high inflation have brought new momentum to the Republican Party in House and Senate races, analysts say, just as early voting has begun for the midterm elections in many states.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy is downplaying the prospect of impeaching Biden if Republicans take control of the House next year, throwing cold water on the efforts of some in the GOP who have been clamoring to to do.
U.S. Capitol Police shut down streets around the Supreme Court and Library of Congress yesterday afternoon while investigating a suspicious vehicle — leading to the arrest of two men and a woman.
The Capitol Police arrested a man from Georgia and detained two other people who said they were delivering documents to the Supreme Court.
The country’s largest online source of JFK assassination records is suing Biden and the National Archives to force the federal government to release all remaining documents related to the most mysterious murder of a U.S. president nearly 60 years ago.
The Social Security Administration announced that people will now be allowed to select the sex that best aligns with their gender identity in records, a policy change intended to be more inclusive of transgender Americans.
Prosecutors said a federal grand jury indicted a Pennsylvania man for threatening to kill House Jan. 6, 2021, committee Chairman Bennie Thompson (D-Miss.) in a letter sent to his Capitol office last week.
Former President Donald Trump was questioned under oath in the defamation suit filed by E. Jean Carroll, a magazine columnist who claims he raped her about 25 years ago.
The court has imposed a routine order that would allow Trump and Carroll to keep their depositions confidential throughout the pretrial discovery process. It is not known whether the former president will ask that his deposition be treated as confidential.
Trump’s legal team is weighing whether to allow federal agents to return to Mar-a-Lago, and potentially conduct a supervised search, to satisfy the Justice Department’s demands that all sensitive government documents are returned.
Trump and his political allies understood that their allegations of widespread voter fraud in Georgia were baseless but continued to push the unfounded claims in courts and the public, according to recent federal court filings.
“The emails show that Trump knew that the specific numbers of voter fraud were wrong but continued to tout those numbers, both in court and to the public,” Judge David O. Carter wrote.
A group of Justice Department prosecutors believe there is sufficient evidence to charge Trump with obstruction of justice, but the path to an actual indictment is far from clear.
American comedian and talk show host Jon Stewart slammed the recent spate of “Jew paranoia bull—” after Trump and the rapper Ye both made anti-semitic comments this month.
Former Vice President Mike Pence hinted at his own plans for 2024 as he dodged a question about voting for Trump in the next election. “Well, there might be somebody else I prefer more,” he said with a smile during an appearance at Georgetown University.
Federal officials working on the government response to Covid-19 made well-timed financial trades when the pandemic began—both as the markets plunged and as they rallied—a Wall Street Journal investigation found.
The WHO says Covid-19 still remains a public health emergency, nearly three years after it was first declared as one.
In October 2021, the nation’s pattern of Covid mortality changed, with the rate of death among White Americans sometimes eclipsing other groups.
COVID-19 drove a dramatic increase in the number of women who died from pregnancy or childbirth complications in the U.S. last year, a crisis that has disproportionately claimed Black and Hispanic women as victims, according to a report released yesterday.
The report, released by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan government auditing agency, details maternal mortality disparities during the pandemic and how the coronavirus contributed to overall maternal deaths.
The Food and Drug Administration announced that it has authorized a booster shot for Novavax’s Covid-19 vaccine.
The CDC recommended Novavax’s Covid boosters for adults in the U.S., including for people who received Pfizer, Moderna or Johnson & Johnson’s shots as their primary series.
The CDC took a major step toward ensuring that kids who are uninsured can receive Covid-19 vaccines for free after the federal government shifts its immunization program to the commercial market.
Offices in New York and other big US cities last week filled to their highest levels since the pandemic hit, but occupancy still hasn’t surpassed 50% in most places.
A report published by WalletHub found New York was the state struggling the least when hiring new workers.
New York City gave the two companies tasked with running the Big Apple’s heliports — primarily used by high rollers and well-off tourists — at least $1.4 million in breaks on rent payments during the coronavirus pandemic
Children ages 5 and above are now eligible to receive the bivalent COVID booster shots that are meant to increase protection against variants of COVID-19, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced.
The race for New York governor is far from a done deal, but observers say polls have certainly erred in the past.
As Rep. Lee Zeldin seeks to become governor, his actions on Jan. 6 have come to illustrate what may be his greatest political liability: a well-documented, yearslong alliance with a former president many New Yorkers consider a pariah.
The man accused of attacking Zeldin at a local VFW in July will be released next week, under strict conditions.
New York Attorney General Letitia James, who has championed the controversial cashless bail law that critics say fed a spike in violent and other crimes, said she’s now open to changes to the measures.
Nearly 200 veterans are running for Congress across the country this year, and a dozen of them are in New York.
The vast majority of the votes cast in the Aug. 23 primaries were by New Yorkers age 50 and above, according to data released this week by AARP New York.
State Supreme Court Justice Dianne Freestone could upend new laws that have expanded absentee balloting. “It could be a real mess because people have already voted,” warned Blair Horner of the New York Public Interest Research Group.
Outgoing New York State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen sent a memo to the agency’s workforce yesterday morning thanking them for their “support and friendship” as his abrupt resignation took effect.
Hochul pledged to continue to increase the ranks of the New York State Police as the law enforcement agency inducted 218 new troopers in Albany.
Bob McManus deconstructs Melissa DeRosa’s attack on Hochul for being soft on subway crime.
A government watchdog organization in New York is questioning the power of the governor to use broad executive authority under declared emergencies and in a new report warned against the potential for abuse.
New York is set to spend more than $15 million to expand child care programs at campuses of the State University of New York and City University of New York in order to provide more options to faculty, staff and students.
Democratic Comptroller Tom DiNapoli and his Republican opponent squared off in an exclusive Spectrum News 1 and NY1 debate yesterday, clashing over managing the state’s pension fund and oversight of government spending.
Access to physical and mental health care, free or discounted meal deliveries, caregivers and other forms of support are now easier for LGBTQ seniors in New York state to get.
The first residents of Mayor Eric Adams’ controversial tent city for migrants arrived yesterday morning in a caravan of vehicles and were welcomed with handshakes from a top City Hall official. But there were just two of them.
Emergency Management Commissioner Zach Iscol, whose agency is spearheading the tent project, could be seen shaking hands with the two men before they went through the intake process, which includes being tested for COVID-19.
City Hall staffer Christopher Baugh has been fired after being caught on camera mocking NYPD officers and calling Adams “corrupt,” the mayor’s office announced late yesterday.
A spokesperson for the mayor said Baugh was booted from City Hall for “disparaging first responders.” The mayor’s office called him “a low-level staffer who had no private or special access to the mayor” and said he was not hired by the Adams administration.
Adams appointed Hassan Naveed as the executive director of the New York City Office for the Prevention of Hate Crimes (OPHC). As executive director.
Dozens of Spanish-speaking New Yorkers raised their hand when Adams asked who would be willing to leave their city jobs and the comfort of their lives to support recovery efforts in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Fiona punished the island’s fragile infrastructure.
Dozens of Astoria residents took to City Hall urging rejection of the sweeping Innovation QNS project, saying the development would drive up rents in the neighborhood and force them from their homes.
City Council members and advocates blasted the Department of Education for delaying payments to city-contracted early childhood programs — which are collectively owed millions of dollars in reimbursements.
The battle to win a New York City casino license has heated up in Manhattan, with real estate and gambling giants offering competing proposals for Times Square and Hudson Yards.
During a worsening housing affordability crisis, New York City landlords are keeping tens of thousands of rent-stabilized units off the market — a phenomenon tenant activists call “warehousing.”
Six New York City real estate developers were indicted for collecting more than $1 million in property tax benefits to promote affordable housing while renting units at sky-high prices.
Students at Guilderland High School walked out Tuesday to draw attention to what they describe as a racist school climate that administrators say they have known about for years.
The Town of East Greenbush’s proposed $22.37 million budget for 2023 carries no tax increase over 2022 as the town prepares for a recession next year, according to Supervisor Jack Conway’s budget message.
A new study imagines an $81 million downtown transit project to replace Albany’s decaying Greyhound bus station.
One of the largest utility worker unions in the country is trying to organize 135 wind turbine workers at GE Renewable Energy in Schenectady.
Stephen Curry of the Golden State Warriors offered support to Brittney Griner, the American basketball player serving a prison sentence in Russia, saying he hoped everyone was doing their part to bring her home.
Everyone involved in the negotiations to build a new home for the Buffalo Bills agrees that the final deal will include a plan to provide benefits to the community. But the consensus ends there.
RIP Laura Anglin, an economist who during nearly two decades in New York government served as the state’s budget director and, as the city’s chief operating officer, helped manage the response to the coronavirus pandemic. She died of lung cancer at 57.
