It’s a busy morning for Steve and Janet! Steve’s working from his home studio today. Brendan has a suggestion for the garage sale! A plan to bring burritos from Pasadena to Chicago is destined to fail, Steve explains. Plus your emails!
Tag Archives: security
How you can avoid ‘fake news’ on Facebook
John and Ray share Facebook’s new attempt to help user security with a new notification system.
Future of Chicago’s aviation security force uncertain
CHICAGO (AP) — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel says the dragging of a dentist off a United Airlines flight by airport security officers show they shouldn’t be allowed to carry guns.
Emanuel on Monday made his first comment about Dr. David Dao being dragged from a United flight in Chicago because he refused to give up his seat to crew members.
Cellphone video of the incident sparked widespread outrage. Emanuel called what happened to Dao “totally, all-around unacceptable.”
The mayor praised Aviation Commissioner Ginger Evans for placing three aviation security officers on paid administrative leave.
Emanuel said the question of arming aviation officers arose in recent years. He said his administration is opposed to that, adding it’s pretty clear that is wrong.
Emanuel declined to say whether he thinks the force that patrols O’Hare and Midway International airports should be disbanded.
Copyright 2017 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Durbin Asks Airlines to Suspend Baggage Fees
By Bill Cameron, WLS-AM 890 News
(CHICAGO) While the TSA works to hire more people to help with the long screening lines that have hampered at O’Hare and Midway Airports, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) is working on a plan to help shrink lines.
Durbin says he’s arranged for Homeland Security to add 58 screeners and four more teams of bomb-sniffing dogs, but it’s going to take several weeks.
He’s also calling on the airlines to help speed up the lines by suspending baggage fees so that more passengers will check their baggage. He says the airlines can afford it.
“They’re making money and lets be honest about it, taking off on a plane that’s half empty because people are still standing, waiting to go through TSA, isn’t very profitable for an airline,” Durbin said. “It keeps their passengers unhappy and uncertain about future travel plans. So if the airlines will join us and forego a little bit of their profitability for a few months here, we can start to get this system working here.”
So help is on the way, but it’s gonna take a while.
Waiver from fed ID law expiring, but Illinois licenses still good to fly
(CHICAGO) Although Illinois’ exemption from a federal ID law is expiring in just weeks, residents will still be able to get through airports with an Illinois drivers license, according to the state.
The department notified Illinois late Tuesday that its request for an extension of the federal “Real ID” requirements would be denied, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting. The state had been granted two one-year extensions.
Illinois Secretary of State spokesman Dave Druker said he doesn’t expect any major changes for Illinois residents for another 18 to 24 months. That might include additional security at airports, and changes in documents accepted at the Illinois Secretary of State’s office.
“People will be able to get on an airplane next summer with an Illinois drivers license,” Druker said. “They may have to go through some extra measures of security. We don’t know what that might be. It might be another line. It might be people asking them questions.”
The Department of Homeland Security will give the public at least 120 days notice before any changes are made that might affect travel planning.
Missouri, New Mexico and Washington also were notified this week about their extension being denied, although lawmakers in New Mexico have been told the state might get another extension. Illinois’ extension formally expires on Jan. 10.
Passed by Congress in 2005, the Real ID Act enacted the 9/11 Commission’s recommendation that the federal government set national standards for issuing IDs and driver’s licenses.
Illinois complies with about four-fifths of the federal law, Druker said, but the state needs another $50 to $60 million to meet the rest of the guidelines. One requirement includes issuing just one form of identification, an ID or a driver’s license, but not both. Another requires the state to take a resident’s picture first, not last, when getting an ID or license. It also seeks more-frequent expiration dates after age 65 in order to update pictures and information as a security measure.
There will not be any sort of physical change to the Illinois driver’s license, Druker says. The state’s enactment of the Real ID program consists solely of security and protocol changes.
“You have to make updates and improvements at every step, but it’s not like what a national license would look like,” Druker said.
Procedures for issuing Illinois drivers licenses do not fully comply with federal law. | AP file photo
Navy Pier boosts security after Friday brawl
(Chicago) Navy Pier has boosted security after a pregnant female was hospitalized and five people were arrested during a wild Friday night fracas at the popular tourist destination, the Sun-Times is reporting.
“We had a significant number of unruly teens who came to the pier and unfortunately ruined it for some of the other people who were having a great time,” Navy Pier spokesman Nick Shields said Monday of the disturbance at 7:45 p.m. Friday.
Police and witnesses have said anywhere from 30 to 100 brawling youths stormed through the pier’s Winter WonderFest, which is billed as a family-friendly event.
With the new security measures in place, anyone under 18 needs to be accompanied by a parent or guardian, Shields said. Anyone 18 or older must show a photo ID when purchasing tickets to enter the 170,000-square-foot playground, which features rides, giant slides and an indoor skating rink.
Shields also said additional security guards will be working at the 14th annual event, which runs through Jan. 11. He declined to discuss specifics of the updated security plan.
This is not the first time mobs of teenagers have wreaked havoc in tourist-friendly areas of downtown. Beat cops have taken to call such events “wildings.”
And two other similar disturbances broke out over the weekend, though one was at a mall the southwest suburb of Chicago Ridge. There, a large group of young shoppers rampaged through the mall on Saturday night. One witness described it as a “riot.”
Then, early Sunday, a group of younger-looking people fought inside River North’s iconic Rock ‘n’ Roll McDonald’s, bashing themselves and restaurant décor with chairs.
The fight was captured on video and posted to YouTube, though police said no arrests had been made as of Monday night.
–Sun-Times
© Copyright 2014 Sun-Times Media, LLC
