Airports to offer
security lane for kin, travel newbies
Associated Press Nov 10, 08 6:32 PM CST
(Newser)
-
Airports will allow families to line up in more leisurely security lanes for the coming holiday season, the AP reports. The checkpoints, which have proven popular in tests at 48 US airports, allow slow-moving families to stick together and less seasoned travelers to avoid scrambling for standard Transportation Security Administration procedure.
More »
'Canine Walter Reed' will treat pooches wounded in combat
Associated Press Oct 22, 08 12:15 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
If GI Rover gets injured in Iraq, chances are he'll end up at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, where the "Walter Reed of the veterinary world" has just opened. The base has long been training pups for service in all branches of the military, but its old animal hospital couldn't keep up with demand, the AP reports.
More »
X-ray technology that can spot bomb materials may be ready by year's end
Wall Street Journal Oct 2, 08 2:31 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
The oft-frustrating 3-ounces-in-a-baggie restriction on carrying liquids through airport security could be gone within a year, the Wall Street Journal reports. After testing out X-ray technology that detects bomb-making fluids, the Transportation Security Administration’s only remaining step is making sure the software works. “It’s not ready yet, but we are highly confident it will be effective,” the TSA head says.
More »
As ledger exceeds 1M records, ACLU calls
it 'unfair,' feds call it 'effective'
Reuters Jul 14, 08 5:53 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Washington's terror suspect list has topped the 1-million milestone, Reuters reports. That adds up to 400,000 people, including duplicates, about 50,000 of whom are tagged with “no-fly” status. The American Civil Liberties Union slammed the list as poorly managed and too long to be effective. The ACLU has a convincing ally, the AP notes: a former Justice official with the same name as a terror suspect.
More »
TSA is on board with a few different models
New York Times Jul 1, 08 4:10 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Eagerly awaited "checkpoint friendly" luggage is at last in the pipeline, and travelers will be able to clear airport security without removing laptops from their bags by September or October, the New York Times reports. The TSA-approved bags allow security personnel to see computers on X-ray machines through either protective sleeves or fold-down sections in bigger cases.
More »
TSA will likely let laptops stay in (some) cases
USA Today May 22, 08 5:05 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
In a few months, travelers likely will be able to take their laptops through airport security without removing them from their cases—if they buy special new cases, that is. The Transportation Security Administration will probably begin accepting new forms of carrying cases that allow unobstructed x-ray views of the laptop inside, the agency told USA Today .
More »
Dennis Farina faces weapons charge
E! Online May 12, 08 5:08 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Former Law & Order star Dennis Farina was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport yesterday for carrying a concealed, loaded and unregistered .22 caliber handgun, reports E! Online. Farina, 64, had been planning to fly to his hometown of Chicago. The actor, who has played cops and criminals in several movie and TV dramas, was charged with a felony and released on $35,000 bail.
More »
'Total body imaging' devices look under clothes for weapons
Los Angeles Times Apr 18, 08 9:59 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
New technology will allow screeners at Los Angeles International Airport to scan passengers with a device that effectively looks beneath their clothes, the LA Times reports. The “whole body imaging” machines are drawing mixed reviews—a TSA spokesman praised the "brand-new security tool," but an ACLU rep compared a scan to a “high-tech strip-search.”
More »
Fellow Orlando fliers not at risk: authorities
Orlando Sentinel Apr 2, 08 2:50 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
A Jamaican national was arrested after checking a bag at Orlando International Airport that contained the makings of pipe bombs, the Orlando Sentinel reports. The FBI detained Kevin Brown, 32, after a TSA “behavior specialist” spotted him during check-in yesterday. He was charged with attempting to carry an explosive device onto an aircraft; a federal judge denied him bail at a hearing today.
More »
Airport security will settle for 'visual inspection,' not removal
CNN Mar 29, 08 6:23 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
Airport security guards who forced a woman to remove her nipple rings with pliers were following procedures, according to the TSA—but they agree it's time for some new procedures, CNN reports. Pierced passengers pulled over for inspection will in future be told they have the option of showing the piercing to a guard instead of removing it.
More »
She demands apology, threatens lawsuit
Associated Press Mar 28, 08 10:04 AM CDT
(Newser)
-
A Texas woman is calling for an apology after airport security in Lubbock forced her to pull out her nipple piercings with a pair of pliers before boarding her plane, the AP reports. When her chest set off the security wand, Mandi Hamlin offered to show a female guard her unremovable piercings in private, but male guards insisted they be removed. She said she could hear them snickering as she did so.
More »
Discharge is first incident since passage of new law
Associated Press Mar 25, 08 1:15 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
A pilot’s gun went off in the cockpit of a US Airways plane just as it was landing in North Carolina this weekend, the AP reports. It was the first time a gun was discharged inside a plane since pilots were armed in the wake of 9/11. Though no one was hurt in the incident, the plane has been taken out of service.
More »
Many airlines are transitioning to using cell phones instead
New York Times Mar 19, 08 1:38 PM CDT
(Newser)
-
Airlines are working on transitioning their electronic check-in systems to allow passengers to use their cell phones as boarding passes. Continenal is the first to test the system, in which a scannable bar code is displayed on the phone's screen, and the passenger never has to deal with a paper boarding pass. “We definitely see this as the wave of the future,” a TSA spokesman told the New York Times .
More »
Security stepped up on nation's rail system
Associated Press Feb 19, 08 5:33 AM CST
(Newser)
-
Amtrak is stepping up security, with random screening of carry-on bags and security teams packing machine guns and leading bomb-sniffing dogs patrolling platforms and trains, reports AP. The new system, beginning this week, echoes stricter security procedures at the nation's airports. Amtrak insists there should be no additional departure delays .
More »