ReportWire

Tag: california gov. gavin newsom

  • Staffing issues trigger temporary ground stop at LAX

    Nearly four weeks into the federal government shutdown, a staffing shortage at Los Angeles International Airport prompted a temporary ground stop Sunday morning affecting flights at the West Coast’s largest and busiest airport.

    The restriction began around 8:45 a.m., affecting departing flights for Oakland, and was lifted at 10:30 a.m., according to an FAA Air Traffic Control System Command Center advisory.

    The stoppage affected most of Southern California, leaving passengers experiencing flight delays of around 49 minutes, with some waiting up to 87 minutes, according to KTLA.

    Even after the resumption of flights, travelers were instructed to check the status of their flights.

    Since the federal shutdown began Oct. 1, the Federal Aviation Administration has warned of disruption at airports due to staff shortages. Air traffic controllers are required to work unpaid when the federal government shuts down and do not obtain retroactive pay until Congress comes to an agreement on a budget.

    Less than a week into the shutdown, dozens of flights were delayed and 12 flights were canceled as Hollywood Burbank Airport’s air traffic control tower was temporarily unstaffed due to shortages. Outgoing flights were delayed an average of two hours and 31 minutes.

    Airports across the nation have experienced staff shortages at their air traffic control towers this month. On Sunday afternoon, the Federal Aviation Administration’s operations plan listed several major airports experiencing “staffing triggers,” from LAX to Ronald Reagain Washington National Airport in Virginia and Philadelphia International Airport in Pennsylvania.

    U.S. Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy said Sunday the problem is getting worse as more controllers, getting no paychecks, are calling in sick.

    “I’ve been out talking to air traffic controllers and you can see the stress,” Duffy said on Fox News. “These are people that oftentimes live paycheck to paycheck or one controller has a stay-at-home spouse. They’re concerned about gas in the car, they’re concerned about child care and mortgages.”

    On Saturday, 22 airports had staffing shortages, Duffy said.

    “That’s one of the highest that we have seen in the system since the shutdown began,” he said. “And that’s a sign that the controllers are wearing thin.”

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s press office was quick to seize on news of the problems at LAX and goad Duffy.

    “Hell of a job, @SecDuffy,” Newsom’s office posted on X, sharing a news story about the LAX ground stop. “Can’t wait to see what you do with NASA.”

    This is not the first time a federal shutdown has triggered national disruptions to flights.

    In January 2019, a large number of air traffic controllers called in sick in New York City, prompting the Federal Aviation Administration to temporarily halt flights into LaGuardia Airport.

    The chaos at LaGuardia — and subsequent news coverage of airport delays and threats to air safety — swiftly motivated politicians to come to an agreement. But this year, Republicans and Democrats in Washington seem deadlocked and no closer to a deal.

    Stacy Perman

    Source link

  • Newsom-DeSantis debate draws 4.75 million viewers on Fox News

    Newsom-DeSantis debate draws 4.75 million viewers on Fox News

    The Thursday debate between California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Fox News — the talk of the political world this past week — delivered a decent bump in the channel’s ratings.

    Billed as the “The Great Red State vs. Blue State Debate,” the event moderated by Fox News host Sean Hannity averaged 4.75 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.

    The number was more than double the November average for “Hannity,” which was 2.3 million viewers, as the debate pulled in people who do not typically watch his nightly diatribes against liberals and the Biden administration. The figure also accounted for 73% of the viewers watching cable news in the 9 p.m time slot.

    The event faced stiff competition, up against a close, high-scoring “Thursday Night Football” contest between the Dallas Cowboys and Seattle Seahawks streaming on Amazon, and the finale of “The Golden Bachelor” on ABC, the most-watched TV program of the night.

    The highly anticipated match-up staged in a suburb outside Atlanta was unusual for TV news, with DeSantis, a contender for the 2024 Republican nomination for president, facing off against a sitting governor who has repeatedly stated he is not running for national office.

    Newsom, a leading surrogate for the Democratic party, was also entering an arena where the moderator, Hannity, was clearly aligned politically with DeSantis.

    Despite the efforts of Hannity to keep order — he pleaded on and off the air with both participants to not talk over each other — the 90-minute event became chaotic at times, making it difficult for viewers to understand either of them.

    The questions offered up by the conservative host were mostly built around unfavorable comparisons of California to Florida on issues such as crime, handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, homelessness and gasoline prices, and put Newsom on the defense for much of the evening.

    But Newsom entered the showdown with nothing to lose, as he is insistent he will not be Democratic candidate for president in 2024, despite chatter in right-wing circles. He largely used his time to defend the performance of President Biden’s administration while getting exposure in front of a national audience that may not have been familiar with him.

    When Hannity served up a question stating emphatically that Biden was in cognitive decline, Newsom shot back that he will “take Joe Biden at 100 versus Ron DeSantis any day of the week at any age.”

    DeSantis needed the event to ignite his flagging presidential campaign, as he badly trails former President Trump in polls and has fallen behind former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley in some primary states.

    DeSantis used props in his presentation, including a very brown map that depicted the volume of human fecal matter on the streets of San Francisco, where Newsom was once mayor.

    Fox News used clips of the debate on its Friday opinion programs, touting it as a win for DeSantis, who up to now has failed to catch fire with the network’s audience.

    “This was a victory of conservatism over liberalism,” said Kaleigh McEnany, the former Trump White House press secretary who is now a co-host of the Fox News daytime show “Outnumbered.”

    But McEnany said Newsom, whom she described as “sharp,” cannot be written off as a political competitor.

    “Watch out for him, because he’s coming if not in ‘24, in ‘28,” she said.

    Stephen Battaglio

    Source link

  • Opinion: How did California's Gov. Newsom fare against his Florida rival, Gov. DeSantis?

    Opinion: How did California's Gov. Newsom fare against his Florida rival, Gov. DeSantis?

    What the hell was that?

    Ostensibly, Thursday’s debate between California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is not running for president, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is, was supposed to be an exploration of the ideological differences between the two chief executives.

    Opinion Columnist

    Robin Abcarian

    After all, one is the embodiment of progressive, blue-state policies and a high-profile surrogate for President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris. The other represents the younger, less orange face of Planet MAGA, and, as it became clear, can’t pronounce “Kamala” correctly.

    Twenty minutes in, however, I had a headache. There was so much cross-talk and interrupting — by both governors — that it was impossible to hear what they were saying.

    If a third debater had been onstage, they almost certainly would have piped up, “See folks, this is why those two should not be on this debate stage.”

    It was actually pretty funny that Sean Hannity, an unabashed supporter of former President Trump who engineered this overhyped meeting of ideological opposites, positioned himself as the grownup in the room, the guy who wanted to take the temperature down a few notches in order to get his loaded questions answered.

    “Let each other breathe,” pleaded Hannity. “I don’t want to be the hall monitor.” Don’t worry, Sean, you weren’t. He prefaced one of his loaded questions thus: “Joe Biden has experienced significant cognitive decline.”

    DeSantis performed better than I expected against the voluble Newsom, who has two decades of political experience to DeSantis’ one. In three previous Republican debates, DeSantis failed to distinguish himself, appearing almost wimpy next to the verbally muscular former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has overtaken him in polls. (Which probably explains why he agreed to debate Newsom after refusing to for most of the past year.) He landed well-deserved blows about California’s infamous, and well-acknowledged, problems — homelessness, in particular.

    The problem with this spectacle was that too many incompatible things were simultaneously going on: The flailing DeSantis was trying to reestablish himself as a viable GOP alternative in the event that Trump’s felony indictments make him, finally, unpalatable to Republican voters.

    Newsom was trying to raise his national political profile, defend the Biden-Harris record and argue that California is a better place to live than Florida. (Which, of course, it is.)

    Did Newsom have anything to lose? Not really.

    Yes, we all know that California is expensive, and that for the first time in forever, more people are leaving than coming in. Yes, we had lockdowns during the pandemic. This was the gist of DeSantis’ argument that he’s the better governor.

    And yet, as Newsom pointed out, more Floridians have recently moved to California than Californians to Florida.

    “There is one thing that we have in common,” said Newsom. “Neither of us will be the nominee for our party in 2024.”

    Oh snap.

    @robinkabcarian

    Robin Abcarian

    Source link

  • Under attack at his home, he fired his concealed handgun. So why was his gun permit suspended?

    Under attack at his home, he fired his concealed handgun. So why was his gun permit suspended?

    Two armed men in masks charged at Vince Ricci just as he was walking to his front door, one pointing a handgun at his chest. Video shows Ricci dropping his keys and a to-go drink and, in seconds, pulling a handgun from his waist and shooting as the men ran away.

    In interviews and videos, he said he wasn’t just trying to protect himself but also his wife and 5-month-old daughter, who were inside the house. Now the 37-year-old says his concealed weapon permit has been suspended, making him vulnerable and unable to protect his family.

    In short order, Ricci became a poster child for 2nd Amendment advocates and conservative figures. On Friday, he appeared on Fox News‘ “The Ingraham Angle.” On Saturday, he was featured in a video for the National Rifle Assn. in which he criticizes California Democratic elected figures including Los Angeles County Dist. Atty. George Gascón and “leftist gun grabbers.”

    Gascón and California have been common targets of criticism for conservative pundits, with claims of increased crime and violence, even though statistics show violent crime has declined citywide compared with last year.

    One Texas lawmaker suggested, on social media, that Ricci find a real estate agent and move to Texas.

    “They would rather leave me out there to dry and let my family become a statistic,” Ricci said in the NRA video, which has been viewed more than 60,000 times.

    What’s unclear is why Ricci’s concealed carry weapon permit, also known as a CCW, was suspended in the first place.

    According to the LAPD — which stressed on social media that the department had neither issued nor revoked Ricci’s permit — the attempted robbery occurred at about 7:30 p.m. in the 400 block of Plymouth Boulevard.

    That’s when one of two individuals in dark clothing and masks ran toward him as he stood at his front door and pointed a gun. Ricci quickly armed himself and, according to home security video, shot at the fleeing suspect at least six times.

    Ricci was not injured, and police said it was unclear whether the assailants were injured from the gunfire. The two people who jumped over a wall into Ricci’s home, and a third man believed to be a driver, are still at large, according to an LAPD news release of the incident.

    In an emailed statement, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department confirmed that Ricci’s permit, which the department issued, had been suspended but added that the department had been in contact with him and his family about permit protocols.

    “There are avenues for Mr. Ricci to re-apply for his permit,” the statement reads. “The CCW permit may be immediately reinstated as long as the permit holder has also followed all required CCW policies (i.e. proper notifications, use of properly documented weapon, etc.).”

    The statement does not give a specific reason why the permit was suspended, or when, only that “the Sheriff’s Department must follow the DOJ parameters in accordance with the law.”

    “We recognize that this incident was extremely traumatic and startling for the Ricci family, and we hope the individuals responsible for this crime are arrested and held accountable,” the statement from the Sheriff’s Department reads.

    Ricci did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

    In his video for the NRA, Ricci also does not specify a reason, only that, “as a result of that night, the California government has temporarily suspended my ability to conceal carry.”

    On Friday, Ricci was interviewed by Fox News conservative commentator Laura Ingraham but did not answer why the permit was suspended.

    Instead, Colin Noir, a gun rights activist and a prominent and popular commentator for the NRA, stepped in instead.

    “What’s the reason?” Ingraham asked.

    “I mean, I think it’s pretty blatant what the reason is,” Noir said. “California has had a notorious reputation for being anti-gun and being anti- anybody carrying a firearm unless you’re part of the government somehow.”

    Also on Fox News, Ricci was quoted as saying he was told the permit was revoked because of him “yelling” at LAPD officers who were investigating the robbery and shooting three days after it happened.

    Neither the Sheriff’s Department nor an LAPD spokesperson responded to The Times’ questions regarding Ricci’s allegation that the permit was revoked because he yelled or otherwise criticized the investigation.

    In September, Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that added new limitations around carrying firearms in public. For example, according to the bill, people legally carrying a firearm must carry the permit, not impede an officer in their duty, and must display the license and the listed firearm to police “for the purpose of inspecting the firearm.”

    On Fox News, Ricci said he has one handgun, a Glock, registered as his concealed carry weapon, but he never thought he’d have to use it.

    “I acquired it the right way, they granted me the right to carry, now they’re stripping me with the men at large that were looking for me,” he said. “The sheriff’s attempt now at coming after me is petty.”

    Salvador Hernandez

    Source link