Arrivals to Orlando International Airport are facing significant ground delays, averaging 161 minutes, due to staffing issues, according to the FAA National Airspace System Status Page.The delays were expected to begin at 10 p.m. and continue until about 3 a.m. on Friday.The FAA advisory says that all U.S. departures will be affected. We have reached out to the airport for an update on this situation. Track a flight
ORLANDO, Fla. —
Arrivals to Orlando International Airport are facing significant ground delays, averaging 161 minutes, due to staffing issues, according to the FAA National Airspace System Status Page.
The delays were expected to begin at 10 p.m. and continue until about 3 a.m. on Friday.
The FAA advisory says that all U.S. departures will be affected.
We have reached out to the airport for an update on this situation.
A dramatic scene unfolded at the Santa Cruz Wharf over the weekend when a vehicle went off the edge of the pier and into the water, sparking a frantic rescue effort that ended with authorities recovering a body and a dog.
Witnesses reported seeing the vehicle break through the wooden railing at 9:44 a.m. Sunday. When firefighters arrived, they found the damaged section about two-thirds away from the start of the wharf.
Visibility was limited and the surf was high — waves were about 12 feet — making it difficult to immediately find the vehicle, officials said.
After about 10 minutes, the vehicle was spotted resting on its roof in about 30 feet of water, said Santa Cruz Fire Department Battalion Chief Josh Coleman at a news conference Sunday.
“The victim was brought out of a vehicle, upside down, at the bottom of the ocean floor, with significant swelling, in 33 minutes,” Coleman said.
The victim was pronounced dead at a local hospital. A dog was also pulled from the water and survived, officials said.
The emergency response included 13 lifeguards, two jet skis and two boats.
Emergency divers remained in the water for an hour to search the water in case there were any additional passengers in the vehicle, but none were found, authorities said.
Authorities did not provide any detail about a potential cause for the incident or estimate on how fast the vehicle was traveling before it went off the edge of the wharf. The incident remains under investigation by the Santa Cruz Police Department.
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.”
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.
A Portland own goal during second-half stoppage time gave the Orlando Pride the needed tally to notch a 1-0 victory over the visiting Thorns on Friday night.
Marta took a corner kick in the second minute of extra time and her boot went toward the mass of people flocking in front of the net. Portland goalkeeper Mackenzie Arnold was eyeing the ball but teammate Mallie McKenzie tried to clear it and the ball hit off the side of her head and went into the net.
The victory was the second in three matches for Orlando (10-8-6, 36 points), which won for just the second time in their past 12 NWSL matches (2-5-5). The Pride jumped into third place in the standings with the sixth-place Seattle Reign set to play later Friday night.
Arnold made five saves for Portland (9-8-7, 34 points) and kept the match scoreless with a stellar save on a right-footed shot by Orlando’s Ally Watt in the 61st minute. The Thorns are tied for fifth with Seattle, pending the outcome of the latter squad’s match against Bay FC.
Watt put two balls into the net in a three-minute span late in the first half but was flagged for being offsides on both. She was clearly offside on the first attempt but the second one was extremely close as shown by multiple replay angles.
Anna Moorhouse had four saves for Orlando.
Racing Louisville 1, Chicago Stars 1
Bethany Balcer scored in the third minute of second-half stoppage as Louisville earned the tie against visiting Chicago.
Balcer was in position near the net when the pass from Janine Sonis came in her direction. She put her left foot on the ball and knocked it into the upper portion for Racing Louisville (9-9-6, 33 points), who are undefeated over their past three matches (2-0-1).
Jameese Joseph scored for last-place Chicago (2-11-11, 17 points). The Stars are winless in their past five matches (0-2-3).
The match was scoreless in the 85th minute when Ivonne Chacon slid the ball from the left side to the right. Joseph arrived just as the ball neared and she delivered a right-footed shot into the left corner to put Chicago ahead.
Stars goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher made eight saves, including a big stop on Ella Hase’s shot in the fourth minute.
Jordyn Bloomer’s only save for Louisville was a crucial one as she stopped Ally Schlegel’s header in the 54th minute.
Bystander recounts jumping in to help after medical helicopter crashes on Highway 50 in Sacramento
YOU’RE LOOKING AT. SO WE MENTIONED ACTS OF HEROISM TONIGHT. TAKE A LOOK AT THIS VIDEO JUST INTO OUR NEWSROOM. YOU CAN SEE THOSE BYSTANDERS WORKING TO LIFT THAT HELICOPTER OFF OF ONE OF THE VICTIMS. OUR TEAM COVERAGE CONTINUES NOW WITH KCRA 3’S CAROLINA ESTRADA. SHE’S LIVE FOR US ALONG HIGHWAY 50. IT IS REALLY SOMETHING TO SEE THERE. CATALINA. AND YOU HAD A CHANCE TO SPEAK WITH WITNESSES AND SOME OF THOSE BYSTANDERS WHO THEY JUMPED IN TO HELP, AND THEY HAD NO PROBLEM HELPING. NO. GULSTAN DART. THEY ACTUALLY TOLD US AND DESCRIBED THE MOMENTS RIGHT WHEN THEY SAW THAT HELICOPTER COMING TOWARDS THEM. THEY SAY IT WAS TERRIFYING. THEN THEY WERE IN DISBELIEF WHEN THEY SAW IT CRASH IN THE MIDDLE OF HIGHWAY 50, AND THEN THEY DIDN’T DOUBT TO JUMP IN AND HELP WHEN IT WAS NEEDED. WE’LL HEAR FROM THEM IN JUST A SECOND. BUT FIRST, I WANT TO SHOW YOU OUT HERE THE SCENE THAT WE HAVE FROM THIS VANTAGE POINT, WE HAVE SEEN THE SCENE CHANGE A LITTLE BIT, BUT THAT HELICOPTER IS STILL HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF HIGHWAY 50. YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO SEE SOME OF THAT DEBRIS AND ALSO THAT MEDICAL EQUIPMENT THAT’S SURROUNDING IT. SO WE HAVE SEEN AT LEAST 15 INVESTIGATORS, OFFICERS TAKING PICTURES. THEY WERE SCANNING THE SCENE. WE SAW THEM JUST MOVE THE LIGHTS TO THE OTHER SIDE OF THE HELICOPTER. SO IT SEEMS LIKE THEY’RE FOCUSING THEIR INVESTIGATION NOW. ON THE OTHER SIDE. EARLIER TODAY THEY WERE ON THIS SIDE. WE CAN NOW SEE TRAFFIC STARTING TO FLOW. WE’VE SEEN HIGHWAY PATROL OFFICERS GUIDING THESE PEOPLE. YOU CAN SEE THEM DRIVING SLOWLY THERE ON THE SIDE OF THIS CRIME SCENE. SO THAT IS ACTUALLY BECAUSE THEY OPENED THE BARRIERS FROM THE FIX 50 PROJECT, AND THEY’RE ABLE TO LET THOSE VEHICLES THROUGH. AND YOU CAN IMAGINE THE AMOUNT OF PEOPLE THAT WERE AT A STOP HERE WHEN THIS CRASH HAPPENED. THERE WAS ACTUALLY ANOTHER INCIDENT THAT CREATED A BACKUP. WE SPOKE TO A WITNESS WHO WAS WITH HIS WIFE WHEN THEY SAW THAT HELICOPTER COMING STRAIGHT AT THEM. TAKE A LISTEN. IT WAS VIOLENTLY SHAKING. THE HELICOPTER ITSELF. THE LANDING GEAR UNDERNEATH THE HELICOPTER ITSELF WAS SHAKING LIKE RATTLING IN THE AIR. SO I KNEW SOMETHING WAS OFF AS IT WAS APPROACHING VERY LOW, I WAS SCREAMING TO MY WIFE, I GO, THIS THING’S COMING DOWN, IT’S GOING DOWN, IT’S GOING DOWN, IT’S GOING DOWN. SURE ENOUGH, IT HIT HIGHWAY 50 AND AFTER THAT, AFTER THAT, WE SAW LOTS OF SMOKE. IT TOOK QUITE A WHILE FOR THAT ENGINE TO, LIKE, WIND DOWN OR EVENTUALLY JUST SHUT OFF. BUT IN THOSE 2 TO 3 MINUTES, IT WAS THERE WAS A LOT OF SMOKE THAT WAS ENTERING HIGHWAY 50. AND THAT PLUME OF SMOKE IS THE ONE THAT WE SAW IN PICTURES AND VIDEOS. BUT I WANT TO BRING YOU BACK OUT HERE LIVE QUICKLY, BECAUSE WE’RE JUST SEEING THAT TOW TRUCK ARRIVING HERE ON SCENE AS WE’RE LIVE. IT JUST PARKED HERE. WE IMAGINE THEY’RE ABOUT TO REMOVE THIS HELICOPTER. THERE’S A SECOND TOW TRUCK THAT I CAN SEE FROM THIS VANTAGE POINT HERE. CREWS ARE ABOUT TO GET OFF AND THEY’RE ABOUT TO START REMOVING THIS FROM THE MIDDLE OF HIGHWAY 50. THIS IS JUST HAPPENING AS WE’RE HERE LIVE. WE’RE SEEING THE OFFICERS NOW SURROUNDING IT. THEY’RE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT EXACTLY HOW THEY’RE GOING TO DO THIS. BUT WHILE WE SEE WHAT THEY’RE GOING TO DO IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF MINUTES, I WANT YOU TO TAKE A LESSON FROM THIS BYSTANDER WHO SAYS SHE WAS IN HER CAR, STOPPED HERE IN THE MIDDLE OF HIGHWAY 50 WHEN AFTER THAT SMOKE CLEARED, THEY SAW THAT FIRST RESPONDERS NEEDED HELP GETTING SOMEONE WHO WAS PINNED IN THIS HELICOPTER OUT. JUST TAKE A LISTEN TO HER TESTIMONY. IT JUST PLUMMETED OUT OF THE SKY AND IT HIT HARD, OBVIOUSLY, BECAUSE IT WAS FALLING. AND THEN JUST INSTANTANEOUS BLACK SMOKE EVERYWHERE JUST ENGULFED THE WHOLE THING. AS SOON AS I SAW THAT EVERYBODY WAS MOVING, THE TRYING TO PUSH THE HELICOPTER OUT TO GET HELP, THE FIRST RESPONDERS GET TO THE, THE, THE PASSENGER, I JUST RAN OVER AND I GOT IN ONLINE IN, IN THE LINE OF PEOPLE AND WAS JUST HELP PUSHING IT AS MUCH AS I COULD. AND THEN AND THEN WE HELD IT FOR SEVERAL MINUTES SO THE FIRST RESPONDER COULD GET THE PERSON OUT. AND, YOU KNOW, SHE’S STILL TRYING TO PROCESS EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED. I ASKED HER, YOU KNOW, WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU SEE THAT? SHE SAID, THE ONLY THING THAT WAS GOING THROUGH MY MIND WAS TO HELP. AND YOU CAN IMAGINE HOW HEAVY THIS HELICOPTER IS, SINCE THEY HAVE AT LEAST TWO TOW TRUCKS HERE ON SCENE. AND JUST IMAGINING THAT GROUP OF 15 PEOPLE LIFTING THAT HELICOPTER JUST TO HELP SOMEONE IS REALLY JUST INCREDIBLE TO HEAR. WE NOW KNOW THAT THREE PEOPLE ARE IN CRITICAL CONDITION, AND ONE OF THOSE WAS THE ONE THAT THEY HELPED SAVE. AND JUST BACK OUT HERE LIVE, WE CAN START SEEING THOSE PLASTIC BAGS THAT ARE COMING OUT. THEY’RE GOING TO START PICKING UP ALL OF THAT DEBRIS. SOME OF IT THAT MEDICAL EQUIPMENT THAT WE CAN IMAGINE WAS ON THIS HELICOPTER. WE SAW A LOT OF PAPERS. WE CAN SEE THERE’S SOME CREWS STARTING TO PUT THEM IN THOSE WHITE TRASH BAGS HERE. IT WILL PROBABLY TAKE A WHILE FOR THEM TO BE ABLE TO REMOVE ALL OF THIS. WE SEE THAT DOOR FROM THE HELICOPTER CLOSER TO WHERE WE’RE STANDING. SO REMOVAL EFFORTS OF THIS HELICOPTER ARE ABOUT TO START HERE. WE DON’T KNOW HOW LONG THAT’S GOING TO TAKE, BUT THEY ARE LETTING TRAFFIC THROUGH HERE RIGHT NOW. BUT AFTER ALL, YOU KNOW, THERE’S STILL A LOT OF QUESTIONS EDIE GULSTAN DART ABOUT WHAT EXACTLY LED UP TO THIS HELICOPTER CRASHING HERE ON SCENE. BUT WHAT WE REALLY TAKE AWAY AS WELL IS JUST THE HEROISM OF THOSE 15 PEOPLE THAT JUST DECIDED TO MISS THE CHAOS, TO GET OFF AND HELP AND, YOU KNOW, GET THAT PERSON OUT. AND THEY TELL ME THAT REALLY ALL THEY’RE HOPING FOR TONIGHT IS THAT ALL THREE OF THE PEOPLE THAT WERE INSIDE OF THAT HELICOPTER WHEN IT CRASHED MAKE IT. LI
Bystander recounts jumping in to help after medical helicopter crashes on Highway 50 in Sacramento
A medical helicopter crash critically injured three crew members and stopped traffic on Highway 50 in Sacramento on Monday night. Multiple witnesses watched as the helicopter came crashing down on the eastbound lanes of Highway 50 near Stockton Boulevard just after 7 p.m.”It was violently shaking,” said Chad Montgomery. Montgomery was stuck in traffic on Highway 50 with his wife when they saw the crashing helicopter getting closer.”The landing gear under the helicopter itself was just shaking, like rattling in the air,” Montgomery said. “So I knew something was off as it was approaching very low. I was screaming to my wife, I go, ‘This thing’s coming down.’”Montgomery said just after the aircraft came down, smoke immediately poured out.”It took quite a while for that engine to like, wind down or eventually just shut off. But in those two to three minutes, it was—there was a lot of smoke that was entering Highway 50,” he said. The model of the helicopter that crashed was an H130, which is designed to prevent post-crash fires by containing the fuel. Learn more about the helicopter here. Some of those who witnessed the crash also became rescuers.”It just plummeted out of the sky,” said Aimee Braddock, another witness. “It hit hard.”Braddock joined around a dozen others who rushed in to help lift the helicopter off a trapped crew member.”As soon as I saw that everybody was moving to try to push the helicopter out to help the first responders get to the passenger, I just ran over and got in the line of people and was just pushing it as much as I could,” Braddock recounted. “Then we held it for several minutes, so the first responder could get the person out.”Crews later moved construction barriers so the drivers stuck on Highway 50 after the crash could move. Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty shared a post on X thanking the first responders and civilians who jumped in to help.See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
Multiple witnesses watched as the helicopter came crashing down on the eastbound lanes of Highway 50 near Stockton Boulevard just after 7 p.m.
“It was violently shaking,” said Chad Montgomery.
Montgomery was stuck in traffic on Highway 50 with his wife when they saw the crashing helicopter getting closer.
“The landing gear under the helicopter itself was just shaking, like rattling in the air,” Montgomery said. “So I knew something was off as it was approaching very low. I was screaming to my wife, I go, ‘This thing’s coming down.’”
Montgomery said just after the aircraft came down, smoke immediately poured out.
“It took quite a while for that engine to like, wind down or eventually just shut off. But in those two to three minutes, it was—there was a lot of smoke that was entering Highway 50,” he said.
The model of the helicopter that crashed was an H130, which is designed to prevent post-crash fires by containing the fuel. Learn more about the helicopter here.
Some of those who witnessed the crash also became rescuers.
“It just plummeted out of the sky,” said Aimee Braddock, another witness. “It hit hard.”
Braddock joined around a dozen others who rushed in to help lift the helicopter off a trapped crew member.
“As soon as I saw that everybody was moving to try to push the helicopter out to help the first responders get to the passenger, I just ran over and got in the line of people and was just pushing it as much as I could,” Braddock recounted. “Then we held it for several minutes, so the first responder could get the person out.”
Crews later moved construction barriers so the drivers stuck on Highway 50 after the crash could move.
Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty shared a post on X thanking the first responders and civilians who jumped in to help.
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There has been a harrowing helicopter crash on 50 eastbound west of 59th St.
Thank you to our brave first responders (@SacFirePIO) & ~15 bystanders who assisted Sac Fire until more units arrived on scene.
The Hollywood Burbank Airport’s air traffic control tower is temporarily unmanned and flights are being delayed Monday afternoon due to staffing shortages amid the ongoing government shutdown, according to the Federal Aviation Authority.
The FAA anticipates that the airport’s air traffic control tower will be without staff until 10 p.m. Monday, according to spokesperson Kristen Alsop. The tower was without staff starting at 4:15 p.m.
Due to the government shutdown, air traffic controllers are working without pay. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Monday that the FAA was seeing a small uptick in air traffic control workers calling in sick during the shutdown.
As of 5 p.m., outgoing flights at Hollywood Burbank Airport were delayed an average of two hours and 31 minutes due to staffing shortages and runway construction, according to the FAA. At that time, the longest delay reported was three hours and 55 minutes.
Alsop said that staffing shortages were the main issue contributing to the delays.
Although the air control tower is unmanned, Southern California TRACON will control the air traffic in the airport’s airspace, Alsop said. That facility provides air traffic control for arriving and departing flights in the region.
Gov. Gavin Newsom was quick to point blame at President Trump for the staffing challenges.
“Thanks,@realDonaldTrump! Burbank Airport has ZERO air traffic controllers from 4:15pm to 10pm today because of YOUR government shutdown,” he said in a statement on X.
Dozens of cats and one dog died when a fire erupted Sunday morning in an apartment complex in Long Beach.
The Long Beach Fire Department responded to calls of a fire at a three-story apartment building in the 3500 block of Linden Avenue about 7:30 a.m. Firefighters extinguished the flames seven minutes later, Long Beach Fire Capt. Jack Crabtree said. It was not immediately clear how long the fire burned before firefighters were able to tackle it.
In all, 32 cats and one dog succumbed to the fire. The resident of the apartment was not home at the time. She told authorities that the animals did not belong to her and were planned for adoption, Crabtree said.
Residents said that smoke spilled into the apartment building’s hallway. The fire was contained to the single apartment unit, which was significantly damaged. No other occupants were affected.
The exact cause of the fire is still under investigation, Crabtree said.
Long Beach Animal Services, which Crabtree said assisted and handled the animals after the fire was put out, was not available for comment on whether there were other animals inside the unit that were saved.
It was not clear how old the animals were. The city of Long Beach allows no more than four weaned pets at one site, with some exceptions.
Residents in St. Cloud are dealing with traffic delays as the Florida Department of Transportation works to widen the turnpike from Clay Whaley Road to 192 to alleviate congestion.Ollie Abshire, who lives in a mobile home community near the turnpike and Old Canoe Creek, said, “The construction is not bad. It’s the traffic. With construction going on in the streets. There’s quite a bit of traffic.”Abshire noted that traffic is particularly heavy around 6 a.m. and during the 6 p.m. rush hour, causing major delays on surrounding roadways. “I go out on the street. I kind of separate from the morning traffic to the evening traffic. I do my going out in the afternoon, 2 o’clock. The traffic is not too bad,” he said.He explained that it can take up to 10 minutes to exit the community due to traffic backing up in both directions. “If I try to go out of the gate to get out of here, it takes me sometimes 10 minutes to get out because it is backed up in both directions,” Abshire said.The project will replace the Clay Whaley Road interchange down to West Nolte, and FDOT plans to build a wall along the turnpike to reduce noise. “It is definitely going to help with the noise because the turnpike exit is going to be up the road,” Abshire said.Despite the challenges, Abshire remains optimistic. “It’s not bad. You get used to it,” he said.
ST. CLOUD, Fla. —
Residents in St. Cloud are dealing with traffic delays as the Florida Department of Transportation works to widen the turnpike from Clay Whaley Road to 192 to alleviate congestion.
Ollie Abshire, who lives in a mobile home community near the turnpike and Old Canoe Creek, said, “The construction is not bad. It’s the traffic. With construction going on in the streets. There’s quite a bit of traffic.”
Abshire noted that traffic is particularly heavy around 6 a.m. and during the 6 p.m. rush hour, causing major delays on surrounding roadways. “I go out on the street. I kind of separate from the morning traffic to the evening traffic. I do my going out in the afternoon, 2 o’clock. The traffic is not too bad,” he said.
He explained that it can take up to 10 minutes to exit the community due to traffic backing up in both directions. “If I try to go out of the gate to get out of here, it takes me sometimes 10 minutes to get out because it is backed up in both directions,” Abshire said.
The project will replace the Clay Whaley Road interchange down to West Nolte, and FDOT plans to build a wall along the turnpike to reduce noise. “It is definitely going to help with the noise because the turnpike exit is going to be up the road,” Abshire said.
Despite the challenges, Abshire remains optimistic. “It’s not bad. You get used to it,” he said.
Manaka Matsukubo and Brianna Pinto scored in the first 20 minutes and the North Carolina Courage registered their first victory in seven matches, topping Angel City FC 2-1 on Saturday at Cary, N.C.
The Courage (6-7-7, 25 points) have defeated Angel City twice this year by 2-1 scores.
Sveindis Jonsdottir scored in the 88th minute for Angel City (6-9-5, 23 points). It was her first goal in seven matches this year.
Marisa Bova made two saves for North Carolina. Angelina Anderson stopped five shots for Angel City, which has gone back-to-back matches without a point following a four-match points streak.
Matsukubo’s sixth goal came in the sixth minute off an assist from Payton Linnehan, giving her two goals in a four-match stretch. Matsukubo’s shot from the right side went into the left-side of the net.
Pinto posted her third goal of the year, a sequence aided when the ball bounced off an Angel City player before Pinto booted it into the net.
Bay FC 1, Orlando Pride 1
Ally Watt scored in the 70th minute and the Pride managed a home draw but saw their winless streak in league play extended to eight matches.
Racheal Kundananji scored in first-half extra time for Bay FC (4-10-6, 18 points), which halted a four-match losing streak but saw the team’s winless stretch extended to nine matches. Bay goalkeeper Jordan Silkowitz made seven saves.
Pride (8-7-5, 29 points) goalkeeper McKinley Crone made four saves.
Orlando’s goal came on Lizbeth Ovalle’s long delivery to Watt, who converted on a header. Bay FC’s opener came on a header in the box from Kundananji on a stellar lofted pass into the box by Caprice Dydasco.
Food delivery app DoorDash is setting its sights on a new destination to test out flying drone deliveries: San Francisco.
The tech company leased a warehouse in the Mission District last month that will serve as a research and development space to advance its autonomous delivery technology, a June letter sent to San Francisco Zoning Administrator Corey Teague shows.
“This project reflects a broader commitment to reinvesting in San Francisco’s innovation economy and creating pathways for local employment in emerging technologies,” the letter said.
The 34,325-square-foot building at 1960 Folsom St. is roughly two miles away from DoorDash’s headquarters. About 200 people are expected to be employed at the site.
DoorDash confirmed on Wednesday that the company will use the facility to test autonomous delivery technology and support research and development for its robotics and automation arm. The company didn’t immediately answer questions about whether California residents will soon be able to get food delivery via a drone.
Most of the testing would happen inside the warehouse but some of it will also occur outdoors during normal business hours in a gated area. The property includes a big outdoor area with surface parking, the letter said.
DoorDash has been piloting drone deliveries in other states including Texas, Virginia and North Carolina as well as Australia. DoorDash has partnered with aviation companies Wing, a subsidiary of Google’s parent company Alphabet, and Flytrek, an Israeli drone delivery company.
Drone delivery companies have also teamed up with other businesses, including Amazon and Walmart.
The expansion of drone delivery highlights how automation and robotics, powered by artificial intelligence, could reshape the future of work. Companies have been experimenting with drone delivery as a way to get food to customers’ doorsteps within minutes.
DoorDash and Flytrek launched drone delivery in Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas, in June. The drones delivered from restaurants such as Papa Johns and The Brass Tap and could carry up to 6.6 pounds, according to a news release about the partnership.
In the letter sent to Teague, a San Francisco attorney writes she’s reaching out on behalf of a “leading technology company focused on last-mile delivery solutions” to confirm their client is permitted to use the site as “research and development (R&D) space for autonomous delivery technologies.”
Even though the attorney doesn’t name DoorDash in the letter, the building’s lease has been linked to the company.
“The test flights outdoors are anticipated to be up to approximately 150 feet above ground. No more than two drones would be operated at the same time, and no individual flight would exceed 30 minutes in duration,” the letter said.
DoorDash has also been expanding other types of delivery, including a partnership with Coco Robotics in which boxy robots with wheels deliver food throughout Los Angeles and Chicago.
While San Francisco is a leading hub for technology and innovation, city officials have also encountered safety concerns from residents concerned about running into robots as they take up space on sidewalks. In 2017, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted to restrict delivery robots.
Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Transportation in August proposed a new rule that would make it easier for companies to fly drones over longer distances. A DoorDash spokesperson said the company is encouraged by the steps taken “towards making drone delivery a scalable, safe, and reliable option for more communities across the country.”
Video shows a boy walking on the monorail tracks at Hersheypark before being rescued by an adult.Watch the video in the player above.The video, sent to sister station WGAL, shows a panicked crowd trying to direct the child to a nearby roof, where a man is waiting to grab him.The man then hops up on the monorail from the roof of the nearby building, picks up the boy and carries him to safety. The child was reported missing around 5:05 p.m. Saturday after becoming separated from his parents, according to a statement from a spokesperson for Hersheypark. While employees were searching for the boy, he entered a secured area for the monorail and remained there for almost 20 minutes before briefly walking along the track. The monorail was not in operation, and the ride was chained off as the child walked on the tracks, according to the park. The park said a guest quickly noticed the child walking on the tracks and helped the child off the track to safety.
HERSHEY, Pa. —
Video shows a boy walking on the monorail tracks at Hersheypark before being rescued by an adult.
Watch the video in the player above.
The video, sent to sister station WGAL, shows a panicked crowd trying to direct the child to a nearby roof, where a man is waiting to grab him.
The man then hops up on the monorail from the roof of the nearby building, picks up the boy and carries him to safety.
The child was reported missing around 5:05 p.m. Saturday after becoming separated from his parents, according to a statement from a spokesperson for Hersheypark.
While employees were searching for the boy, he entered a secured area for the monorail and remained there for almost 20 minutes before briefly walking along the track.
The monorail was not in operation, and the ride was chained off as the child walked on the tracks, according to the park.
The park said a guest quickly noticed the child walking on the tracks and helped the child off the track to safety.
Ronald Hernandez scored a header in the 24th minute on Saturday to propel visiting Atlanta United to a rare 1-0 victory over Nashville SC.
Atlanta (5-12-11, 26 points) snapped an 11-game winless stretch, picking up three points for the first time since posting a 3-2 win over Orlando City on May 28. Rookie Atlanta goalkeeper Jayden Hibbert made seven saves for Atlanta, which was outshot 21-9 — including a 7-4 margin in shots on goal.
Nashville (15-9-5, 50 points) dropped its fourth game in its last five attempts and was held scoreless for just the second time since May 17. Nashville failed to beat the lowly Atlanta club for the second time this season, following a 1-1 draw on May 3.
Nashville had a pair of chances late to knot the score, as Walker Zimmerman’s header missed in the 80th minute, before Daniel Lovitz’s left-footed attempt two minutes later sailed high.
From there, Teal Bunbury and Sam Surridge’s headers missed in added time, while Jeisson Palacios’s attempt missed in the third minute of added time.
Atlanta struck for the game’s only score in the 24th minute, as Steven Alzate found Hernandez for a header on a free kick, marking Hernandez’s first goal of the season.
Nashville’s Hany Mukhtar’s attempt was saved by Hibbert in the sixth minute of added time in the first half, before Atlanta’s Jamal Thiare had a chance at the other end a minute later, but Joe Willis made the save to hold Nashville’s halftime-deficit to 1-0.
Both sides totaled six shot attempts and two on goal apiece in the opening half.
On a sunny Tuesday in Anaheim in the parking lot of a firefighter training center, a tiny house burst into flames while its neighbor survived.
The fiery display was part of a demonstration showcasing the effectiveness of wildfire defense strategies, and it could serve as a road map for Pacific Palisades and Altadena as the communities begin to rebuild in the wake of the devastating January fires.
The event — co-hosted by the nonprofit research group Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety and the California Building Industry Assn. — pitted two tiny homes, about the size of sheds, against a fire. One was built to typical standards, and the other was built above and beyond, employing a handful of fire-mitigation techniques.
Predictably, the unprotected home met the fate that thousands of structures did during the windy and dry Jan. 7 disaster.
A firefighter lights small ignition points around test houses at an Anaheim site June 10, 2025.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
First, firefighters used drip torches to simulate embers landing around it. Four industrial fans provided the wind, spreading the fire across dry wood mulch onto small shrubs lining the house’s exterior.
Five minutes in, the shrubs crackled as a stack of firewood on the side of the home — a common storage place for properties with wood-burning fireplaces — ignited. Soon, the flames crawled up a tall juniper bush planted on the side of the home, spreading flames onto the exterior wall and roof, shortly before a wood fence burst into flames.
The vinyl rain gutter sagged and melted, its plastic material flapping in the wind like a flag, and the window shattered shortly after, letting the flames enter the interior. Fifteen minutes in, the fire burned from the inside out, roaring through the walls and roof. The home’s tan color burned to black, and smoke billowed hundreds of feet into the sky.
The test house unprepared for wildfires is fully engulfed in flames.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
After twenty minutes, the house was engulfed in an inferno before the frame gave way, collapsing into a smoking heap of charred debris.
The wildfire-prepared home had a perimeter of cement pavers, surrounded by gravel, and no bushes against the house. The mulch blew onto the gravel and burned out. A few hydrangeas were singed five feet from the walls of the house, but the home was unscathed.
“This is a tale of two homes,” said Anne Cope, chief engineer for the insurance institute.
Roy Wright, the company’s chief executive, said the burned home showcased architectural features all too common across properties in wildfire-prone areas: plastic gutters, open eaves and flammable landscaping surrounding the home such as juniper, bamboo or eucalyptus.
“We’re not going to eliminate wildfires, but we can restrict their reach,” Wright said. “The easiest way starts at home.”
The main emphasis was what fire-prevention specialists call Zone 0: the first five feet of defensible space surrounding a structure. To stop a fire in its tracks, firefighters suggest removing all landscaping from the 5-foot perimeter and replacing fire-prone materials such as grass or mulch with cement or brick.
A firefighter watches a house-burning demonstration at an Anaheim site to show the effectiveness of ember-intrusion prevention.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
Pavement and a cleared area next to a houselike structure at an Anaheim site show the effectiveness of what’s called ember-intrusion prevention during a house-burning demonstration.
(Etienne Laurent / For The Times)
In contrast to the one that burned, the fire-protected house featured metal gutters, fiber cement siding, enclosed eaves, a metal fence, metal patio set of a table and chairs and cement pavers. When torched with embers, the fire burned up to the 5-foot perimeter and then halted.
“You can still have plants, just keep them five feet away from your house,” Wright said.
Wright visited Pacific Palisades and Altadena a week after the fires to analyze how they spread so quickly from house to house and found that homes generally burned in clusters, which suggests that houses either helped or hurt others around them.
If a house was a century old and not up to code, it often burned quickly and passed the fire on to its neighbors, he said. But if a house was built with fire-prevention in mind, with defensible space, fire-resistant materials, enclosed eaves and mesh coverings over vents, in some cases, it served as a shield for the houses downwind.
Modern fire-prevention strategies already are being implemented in new master-planned communities in Southern California, where home builders have the hindsight of previous disasters and implement tighter building codes. A recent success story is Orchard Hills, which survived a 2020 blaze unscathed due to meticulous planning and specialized home design.
But L.A.’s housing stock is generally older, and many homes scattered across the region’s hills and mountains are sitting ducks — architecturally vulnerable if a fire sweeps through. That’s why Wright stresses clearing out Zone 0, since it’s the quickest, cheapest way to make sure that if a fire comes to your door, you’re not fueling it.
“We need to do what we can to narrow the path of destruction and give firefighters a chance to beat it down,” Wright said.
Mother’s Day is coming around the corner on Sunday, May 12, which means Chicagoans who haven’t already made plans to celebrate are officially behind the eight ball. A special meal is a straightforward way to make any maternal figure feel appreciated, and fortunately for the procrastination-inclined, it’s not too late to book a reservation. And for good measure, here’s a hot take — screw brunch. Much like florals for spring, brunch on Mother’s Day isn’t exactly groundbreaking, so do right by the woman of the hour and take her to dinner.
Below, find Eater Chicago’s roundup featuring some of the city’s top restaurants with remaining availability during prime hours on Mother’s Day.
A charming walk through Lakeshore East Park makes for a lovely prelude to a Mother’s Day meal at this airy downtown outpost of Chicago’s mini-empire of modern Greek restaurants from the team at Avli Taverna. Its breezy rooftop space comes with stunning views of the city and Navy Pier.
Toast to the guest of honor on Mother’s Day with a glass or bottle from the fun and robust wine selection at this lively South Side spot helmed by veteran Chicago chef Lamar Moore. Families can count on warm, friendly service and a modern American menu with Southern influences.
For a sumptuous Mother’s Day meal, head to this wood grill-powered Mexican restaurant that’s had a resurgence of late thanks to new executive chef Brian Enyart, a veteran of Rick Bayless’ local hospitality empire and owner of Logan Square’s shuttered Dos Urban Cantina. Dishes like a smokey beef ribeye or whole sea bass will go a long way toward transporting mom to Baja, California.
Prime seafood, which arguably deserves a place among the love languages, is the star of the show at Boka Hospitality’s posh sushi palace in West Loop. From fatty bluefin tuna belly and unctuous uni to prized cuts of Japanese wagyu, the menu makes for an opulent spread.
If a Mother’s Day trip to Napa Valley isn’t in the budget, Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises’ sprawling restaurant in Fulton Market is designed to offer a brief foray into West Coast wine country. Snap a shot of the special evening on its sweeping staircase before heading upstairs to dine on its year-round terrace and bar.
A celebrated farm-to-table destination for nearly two decades, One Off Hospitality’s game-changing Fulton Market restaurant remains a local favorite for its bustling atmosphere and penchant for pork.
The wide-open kitchen at chef Avgeria Stapaki’s inventive Mediterranean restaurant in Bucktown provides both dinner and a show for Mother’s Day celebrants as the energetic team whips up unusual spins like avgolemono “ramen.” Tama debuted in early April, so a booking might also make for a good chance to impress family with Chicago hospitality know-how.
An ode to decorated chef Carlos Gaytán’s hometown of Huitzuco, Mexico, this striking spot in River North offers an earthy departure from Chicago’s urban grit. Though the menu offers ample opportunity to fill up on favorites like Guerrero-style cochinita pibil and shrimp aguachile, wise diners will save room for dessert.
900 W Randolph St, Chicago, IL 60607 (312) 733-1975
Late spring winds whipped through Southern California over the weekend and fanned multiple brush fires while also dashing the hopes of music festival-goers in Redondo Beach.
The forecast for Monday and Tuesday promises to bring more strong gusts in smaller pockets of the region. That includes the Interstate 5 corridor near the Grapevine and parts of Santa Barbara, according to the National Weather Service, with projected gusts reaching 40 mph to 50 mph in the evening.
The Antelope Valley is also expected to receive wind gusts up to 30 or 40 mph around the same time, forecasts show.
A storm system brought cooler temperatures and light rain alongside the formidable wind gusts to the region, starting Saturday. While the winds were nothing to sneeze at, the gusts are common in late spring.
“It was a pretty good wind event, but it wasn’t what I would call record-breaking,” meteorologist David Gomberg with the National Weather Service in Oxnard said.
Gusts reached 68 mph at a weather station in the mountains east of the Cajon Pass, 55 mph in Santa Barbara Island and 53 mph in Montecito Hills north of Santa Barbara over a 24-hour period starting Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.
The widespread winds arrived with the weak storm front that passed through the region, Gomberg said.
The timing was unfortunate for fans of My Morning Jacket and Courtney Barnett, whose performances at the BeachLife Festival in Redondo Beach were canceled along with the rest of the event’s third day due to the “serious wind event that put the general public at risk,” organizers said in a Facebook post. Fans were able to attend shows on Friday and Saturday, where Sting and Incubus were among the performers.
“While we take extraordinary measures to keep our fans, staff and artists safe, and while absolutely none of our engineered structures or systems failed, winds quickly reached very dangerous speeds and we put safety first,” organizers said in their post.
The wind did not discriminate with its ruination.
Strong winds toppled a scaffolding four to five stories tall onto a set of power lines in the 1000 block of North St. Andrews Place in Hollywood on Sunday, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. The scaffolding was erected against a building, but was swept out by the wind around 2 p.m., forcing emergency responders to divert traffic and pedestrians away from area.
There were no reported injuries as firefighters responded to the scene, and no one was on the scaffolding during the incident, according to the fire department.
LAFD firefighters also had to respond to a quarter-acre brush fire fanned by persistent winds in North Hollywood shortly before 3 p.m. near the 170 Freeway at Burbank Boulevard. Firefighters were able to contain and put out the fire within 25 minutes, LAFD said.
Roughly 30 minutes later, firefighters responded to reports of a brush fire in the Sepulveda Basin in the 6100 block of North Woodley Avenue. Dry vegetation burned near an archery range, forcing employees and customers to temporarily leave the area; firefighters put out the blaze in about 70 minutes, LAFD said in a news alert. The flames were fanned by wind gusts of 20 mph to 30 mph, according to the fire department.
Starting Wednesday, Southern California will see a light offshore event that will bring north and northeast winds to Los Angeles and Ventura counties.
The winds will bring “very light and breezy conditions,” Gomberg said. Those winds will be coupled with decreased humidity and warmer temperatures, but thanks to the recent rains, vegetation in the region should not become too much of a fire hazard, he said.
Southern Californians are not the only ones who will be battling headwinds. The National Weather Service in Sacramento cautions drivers that gusty winds are expected to kick up starting Tuesday from Vacaville north to Redding, with a high probability for wind gusts to reach 40 mph.
No matter where drivers are heading during strong wind events, Gomberg said, they should be on the lookout for downed branches, fallen power lines and other wind-blown hazards in their general surroundings.
Construction delays led to bumper-to-bumper traffic at Los Angeles International Airport on Sunday morning, with some travelers claiming it took them nearly an hour to get through the congestion.
LAX announced lane closures for construction work on Century Boulevard on Saturday night, but delays kept the lanes closed through Sunday morning.
The construction was to facilitate work for the Automated People Mover, a driver-less transit system designed to alleviate traffic around the airport in preparation for the 2028 Summer Olympic Games.
Around 11 a.m., LAX posted on X (formerly Twitter), “We are anticipating increased traffic congestion at LAX. Guests are encouraged to arrive early, pre-book parking and use Cell Phone Waiting Lots to help with vehicle traffic.”
The account added that the traffic may affect flight times.
At 1 p.m., the X account @FlyLAXstats posted that it was taking drivers roughly 52 minutes to get through the airport’s upper level and 20 minutes to get through the lower level. Earlier in the day, the upper level took as long as 91 minutes to get through.
One X user said people were abandoning their Ubers and walking to the airport. Some travelers posted about the “nightmare” situation on social media.
Evan Kim is not sure what she wants to do when she grows up. She might want to be an elementary school teacher. Or perhaps an Olympic long-distance runner.
She’s working on the running thing.
The 5-foot-tall sixth-grader placed second among all girls and women at the Ventura Marathon in February when she ran the 26.2-mile course in 2 hours 58 minutes, averaging less than 7 minutes per mile. Her goal this year is to run the fastest recorded marathon for a 12-year-old of either gender — she’s only four minutes away. Her trainer (also known as her dad, who goes by MK) says the equation is simple: Just follow the workout plan and the record will be hers.
Evan was in some ways destined for a life of long-distance exercise. Born into a family of athletes in 2012, she was named after Cadel Evans, the cyclist who won the Tour de France the year prior. Her father MK, 49, was a pole vaulter at Duke University and now trains runners. He’s run a 2-hour, 51-minute marathon himself, but his daughter will probably pass him this year when she tries for a 2:48 time at the California International Marathon in December. Her older brother Cole and sister Haven also run marathons.
To be a 12-year-old marathoner, you need a level of grit that many 12-year-olds lack.
Evan Kim, 12, front, runs with family members and a running group to train for marathons on March 10, 2024 in Irvine, California.She ran a 2:58 in the Ventura marathon recently, making her the fastest girl or woman age 1-19 and the second fastest overall.
(Gina Ferazzi/Los Angeles Times)
For example: When Evan Kim was running the Ventura Marathon and trying to hit her goal of 2:58, she developed a foot cramp around Mile 20 that lasted a few miles. She wanted to give up. She wanted to stop running. But she didn’t.
“Suck it up,” she told herself over and over, repeating the mantra to help her complete the marathon and beat all other under-20-year-old female runners by a full hour.
Evan’s goal is to qualify for the 2028 Olympics. To qualify for the 2024 U.S. Olympic team in the women’s marathon, she’d have to run a 2:37 marathon, and that’s a bridge too far, even for someone whose record is as astonishing as Evan’s. Kenyan runner Peres Jepchirchir took home gold in the women’s marathon at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with a time of 2:27:20.
How ridiculous are Evan’s times? Consider this: Only 21% of women finish the marathon in under four hours. Just 1% of women finish in under three. The fastest marathon ever run by a 12-year-old of either gender, according to the Assn. of Road Racing Statisticians, was a 2:54 run by German runner Manuela Zipse in a 1986 race.
What separates Evan from her siblings, MK says, is that Evan started at an earlier age. She is not particularly physically gifted. She doesn’t have more lung capacity than other kids. She just has a reservoir of strength built from years of training seven days a week. When MK’s kids were young, they would all go for walks in the morning and the walks eventually became runs. Cole was 11 at the time. Evan was 6. It started with a mile, then two and kept gradually building until Evan asked for what any 10-year-old might ask their father for: permission to run in a marathon.
OK, maybe not just any 10-year-old.
“I wanted to run because my brother was running,” Evan explained. “It’s fun to compete, and I wanted to race like Cole did.”
Evan is competitive with Cole, who beat her by a minute in the Ventura Marathon. “I’m a little bit jealous,” she acknowledged, but said that she expects to “hopefully” beat him soon.
Evan ran her first marathon at a glacial 3:50 pace — glacial for 12-year-old Evan, that is.
Evan won’t be running in the Los Angeles Marathon on Sunday, though her father and sister will, because she’s still recovering from the Ventura Marathon. She’ll eventually start building up her base again before getting in shape for the California International Marathon in December, where she hopes to break the record for 12-year-olds.
MK is fighting for his daughter to break a barrier in a different, more famous race than the L.A. Marathon. He wants the Boston Marathon to allow his daughter to race in April, even though the minimum age is 18.
So far he has received no responses to his entreaties to have his daughter join what he calls the greatest race on Earth.
“We feel discriminated against since Evan has proven to be more than capable of safely competing in the event by completing four marathons and Boston-qualifying in three of them,” MK said. To qualify for the 2025 Boston event, an 18-year-old woman would need a marathon finish time of 3:30 between September 2023 and September 2024.
MK said that the rule barring younger runners is similar to what women faced before the Boston Marathon went coed in 1972.
The Boston Athletic Assn. did not explain why it has its age requirements.
“Athletes must be 18 years of age on race day to enter the Boston Marathon. This age requirement falls in line with age requirements across all B.A.A. mass-participatory races, where athletes must be 14 years old to run the Boston Half Marathon; 12 for the Boston 10K, and 10 for the Boston 5K,” spokesman Chris Lotsbom said in an email.
Pediatricians say there is not enough information to say definitively whether marathons are safe for kids whose bodies are still growing. There are two major concerns for child marathoners. First, is it physically safe for kids to run marathons? Second, can children mentally handle the physical strain of the race?
A study by the Clinical Journal of Sport Medicine of the Twin Cities Marathon between 1982 and 2007 found that of 310 minors between ages 7 and 17 who finished the race, only four had “medical encounters,” a lower rate than adult finishers. None of the injuries were serious. MK says that Evan has never had any injury.
Dr. Brian Krabak, a sports medicine physician, said that the risks to a child running marathons depend on many factors, but that it can be OK as long as the child is closely monitored and the running lengths are gradually increased.
One other important factor, he said, is that “it’s the child who is motivated to do this and not just the adults around them. That’s a key component overall.”
Although Evan’s marathon finishes have so far flown under the radar, other instances of children running marathons have gone viral and led to online debate about whether kids should be participating and whether they understand what they are doing.
In 2022, 6-year-old Rainier Crawford finished the Flying Pig Marathon in Cincinnati. But when his parents posted a documentary about his run on YouTube, his family became the target of intense scrutiny.
Olympic marathoner Kara Goucher chimed in on the issue on X, formerly Twitter, saying, “A six year old does not understand what embracing misery is. A six year [old] who is ‘struggling physically’ does not realize they have the right to stop and should.”
Evan is undaunted.
As the Kim family took a casual seven-mile run Sunday on trails and bike lines in Irvine, cruising along at a relaxed 9 minutes per mile, people recognized the running family and waved as they passed. MK, a single father, has been operating a daily vlog documenting the family’s running for more than a year.
Evan is candid about her competitiveness and the fact that she did not always like running. The sport, however, has taught her that just because something is difficult does not mean it is bad. Just like running, telling the truth can be hard, doing all her homework can be hard, but she still does those things.
“During the race it feels really bad,” she said, “but after you finish it and you cheer everybody else on and meet each other at the end it feels really nice.”
A tornado touched down in Kings County Saturday afternoon — the second tornado in two days to hit Central California.
The tornado touched down in the south end of Corcoran around 4:37 p.m., said meteorologist Carlos Molina with the National Weather Service’s Hanford office. The tornado moved eastward and than dissipated by the time it got to U.S. Route 99, he said.
The tornado comes less than a day after a funnel cloud briefly touched down in the county of Madera, about 30 minutes north of Fresno. ABC7 reported the tornado touched down near an elementary school, forcing students to shelter in the cafeteria.
“This is the first time I’ve ever actually observed two tornadoes back to back,” said Molina, noting moisture in the area from a winter storm had brought ideal conditions for such an event.
“Usually, for Central California, we normally would get one, possibly two tornadoes across our area between March and April,” he said.
The back-to-back tornadoes come less than a month after two tornadoes touched down within a minute of each other along San Luis Obispo County’s coast.
Officials said at the time they were the first tornadoes to hit San Luis Obispo County since 2004 and the strongest since before 1950 with winds of 95 mph.
Elsewhere in the state, a blizzard pounded the Sierra Nevada on Saturday with gusts of up to 190 mph and almost 2 feet of snow in some places. A 75-mile stretch of Interstate 80 was shut down and ski resorts were force to close amid the dangerous conditions.
A woman spent 15 freezing hours inside a gondola high above the snow-covered slopes of a Lake Tahoe area ski resort, according to local authorities.
Monica Laso was on a snowboarding trip with friends at Heavenly Ski Resort on Thursday when she decided she was too tired to ride back down the mountain, according to KCRA News, which first reported the incident.
So she asked an employee if she could take a gondola back down, boarding at about 4:58 p.m. Two minutes later, the station reported, the ski lift stopped running and she was left alone, cold and without a phone or light.
Laso remained inside the gondola through the night, rubbing her hands and feet to stay warm as the temperature dropped into the low 20s.
Friday morning, a call came in to South Lake Tahoe Fire Rescue at about 8:30 a.m. There was a woman at Heavenly Ski Resort who was suffering from cold exposure, the caller said, according to Sallie Ross, spokesperson for the department. She had been found inside the gondola after workers started the lift up for the day, sending her back down to the base of the mountain.
An engine was dispatched and minutes later firefighters arrived at the resort, Ross said. Laso was treated at the scene and declined to be taken to a hospital.
“They assessed her and she did not choose to be transported,” Ross said in a telephone interview Saturday. “It sounds like she wasn’t injured or anything, but she definitely didn’t have a great night, that’s for sure.”
Laso said in a Spanish-language interview with KCRA that she yelled out whenever a worker passed by below, but that she “felt very frustrated” because they couldn’t hear her. The long, dark night was “very cold,” she said.
A media contact for Heavenly did not immediately return a call seeking comment Saturday evening. KCRA reported that the resort provided a statement saying that it was investigating the incident, which came barely two weeks after one skier was killed and another injured in an avalanche at Palisades Tahoe, a ski resort about 40 miles northwest of Heavenly.
Ross said the fire rescue department had “certainly never responded to anything like this,” describing the incident as “a total anomaly.”
“I don’t know how something like that could have happened. It’s very weird,” she said. “She must have felt some kind of terror, really, knowing she’s there all alone and not knowing if someone was going to find her. That must have really been terrifying for her.”
The airplane was three miles into the sky and still climbing when passengers heard the boom and felt the blast of icy wind. A chunk of the metal membrane separating the 171 passengers and six crew members from the freezing mid-troposphere had unexpectedly “departed the airplane,” as transportation officials clinically put it.
No serious injuries were reported aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282, which made an emergency landing at Portland International Airport in Oregon on Friday night with a door-shaped gap in its side and a cabin full of frightened people.
But transportation officials say the midair blowout could have been calamitous if it had happened a little later in the flight, when the plane was at cruising altitude with passengers unbuckled and walking around.
“We are very, very fortunate here that this didn’t end up in something more tragic,” said Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, the federal agency responsible for investigating transportation accidents.
“I imagine this was a pretty terrifying event,” Homendy said. “We don’t often talk about psychological injury, but I’m sure that occurred here.”
The airliner was a new one, a Boeing 737 Max 9 that went into service late last year. Investigators will try to figure out what caused one of its so-called plug doors — described by some experts as “fake doors” — to be ripped loose in the air above Oregon.
With 178 seats, the plane is not required to have emergency exit doors at the spot, so builders installed sealed panels where the doors otherwise would have stood on each side.
Investigators are searching for the missing plug door, which is believed to have landed near the Cedar Hills neighborhood of Greater Portland. The NTSB is asking anyone who finds it to contact police.
Alaska Airlines said Sunday that all 65 of its Max 9s were grounded, and that it had canceled 170 flights Sunday affecting 25,000 passengers. On Saturday, United Airlines said it had grounded all 79 of its Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft for inspection, and that 270 flights were canceled over the weekend as a result of Friday night’s incident.
Flight 1282 left Portland International Airport just after 5 p.m. Friday, headed to Ontario International in Southern California on an expected two-hour flight. It was traveling about 440 mph , at an altitude of about 16,000 feet, and had been airborne about 10 minutes.
Then passengers heard what some called a boom and some called a pop, as the faux door flew off and exposed bare insulation around it. Some passengers screamed and hurried to put on oxygen masks that had dropped. One passenger told KTLA-Channel 5 that the blowout ripped the shirt completely off a teenage boy.
The blowout ripped the headrests off some seats. There were seven empty seats in the plane, authorities said, and by a stroke of luck the two closest to the hole — 26A and 26B — happened to be empty.
An audio recording between the pilot and an air traffic controller describes what happened next. The pilot calmly explained that the plane had depressurized and needed to return to Portland International.
“We’re now leveling 12,000 and left turn heading 340,” the pilot said. “We do have information zero. We’d like to get lower, if possible …”
“Did you declare an emergency?” asked the air traffic controller. “Or did you just need to return to …”
“Yes, we are emergency. We are depressurized. We do need to return back to … Our fuel is 18,900 pounds and we have 177 passengers on board.”
“Do you need time to burn off some fuel before you land?”
“Negative.”
“Are you ready to approach now?”
The pilot said the plane was about 10 minutes away.
“Roger. Just let me know when you’re ready,” the air traffic controller said.
“We’ll let you know. Alaska 1282.”
“The only information we have is a depressurization issue. … The emergency aircraft will be the next arrival,” the air traffic controller said. “They are on a two-mile final. And you can expect access to the runway.”
Passengers applauded as the plane landed safely, about 13 minutes after the blowout.
