Geoff Bennett:
New York’s Metropolitan Transportation Authority has filed a lawsuit challenging the federal order. The MTA manages the tolls from the program.
The Trump administration is formally designating eight Latin American gangs and cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. They include the MS-13 group from El Salvador, as well as six groups from Mexico that include the notorious Sinaloa cartel. The classification is usually reserved for organizations like al-Qaida or the Islamic State that use violence for political gain. But the Trump administration argues that the international reach of the gangs and their illicit activities warrant the designation.
At least two people are dead after two small single-engine planes collided midair this morning at an Arizona airport. The airport is an uncontrolled field, meaning it does not have an operating air traffic control tower. The NTSB says it’s launched an investigation.
Meantime, the U.S. aviation sector earlier today asked Congress for robust emergency funding for air traffic control technology. Groups representing industry heavyweights like Boeing and several major airlines sent a letter to lawmakers today requesting money to support hiring and new technology. It comes amid a persistent shortage of air traffic controllers, warnings about outdated systems, and a series of recent crashes.
That’s as a new Associated Press poll shows 64 percent of Americans think air travel is very safe or somewhat safe. That’s down from 71 percent last year. The survey was conducted after January’s air collision involving an American Airlines jet in Washington, D.C., but before a Delta plane crashed in Toronto this week.
The polar vortex that’s affected much of the country is fueling a winter storm that’s headed toward the East Coast. Temperatures have been so cold, they have frozen waves along the shores of Lake Michigan. From Montana to the Gulf Coast, nearly 90 million people are under alerts for extreme cold.
This latest winter storm will bring snow and freezing rain across parts of the Tennessee and Ohio Valleys and the mid-Atlantic. The storm has already dumped snow in places like Missouri and in Kentucky, where 14 people died from floods last weekend. Governor Andy Beshear said the snow will only add to that state’s concerns.