5 taken to North Carolina hospital after flight from Miami hits turbulence, airline says
MORRISVILLE, N.C. (AP) — Five people were taken to a North Carolina hospital after a flight from Miami hit turbulence Sunday night, officials said.
Fire and rescue crews responded to the flight after it arrived at Raleigh-Durham International Airport around 11:30 p.m. and brought five people to a hospital, the airport said in a statement on Monday.
The fasten seat belt sign was on when American Airlines Flight 1286 from Miami International Airport to Raleigh-Durham encountered unexpected turbulence and the flight landed safely, the airline said in a statement. Three flight attendants and two passengers were hospitalized for further evaluation and have since been released, the airline said.
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The Hill
6 hours ago
- The Hill
Township mechanics in South Africa unite to turbocharge their small businesses
BRAKPAN, South Africa (AP) — Themba Maseko quickly wipes oil and grease off his hands with a rag as he breaks away from repairing one car to assist another customer who needs parts for a low-riding BMW 325is that he's pulled up in, exhausts booming. As soon as Maseko returns beneath the hood of the first vehicle to continue his work, yet another man arrives desperately wanting his car to be looked at. 'It gets hectic,' said the 39-year-old mechanic, sweat plastering his face. The father of three runs a small motor repair shop in the township of Tsakane, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) east of South Africa's biggest city of Johannesburg. His hopes for his business to succeed when it's up against established urban car service and repair centers have been boosted by a new initiative started at the end of last year. Maseko has joined with other mechanics from townships to form a cooperative. Together, they now have combined purchasing power to ensure they can source official car spares and equipment for their shops and don't get cut out of the market. The Motor Spares Collective means they can place orders to an online spares shop through WhatsApp and authentic parts are usually delivered to them in 24 hours. That avoids what Maseko says is his biggest challenge: spending hours away from his garage queuing for parts, sometimes to find there aren't any in stock because they've been bought up by larger chains. As one busy day at his shop showed, the customers are lining up for Maseko's services, he just needs the parts. 'Now with the collective it's much easier. I don't have to go stand in queue and waste time,' said Maseko, who changed career from an electrician to a full-time mechanic in 2008. 'Plus, it's at a cheaper price.' The Motor Spares Collective is one initiative designed to unlock the potential of small township businesses in South Africa, which the government has identified as key to driving growth and creating jobs in areas where unemployment and poverty are high. Various studies indicate that more than 21 million people in South Africa live in townships on the edge of major cities or towns — a third of the population — and they have a combined spending power of billions of dollars and generally prefer local businesses. South Africa has over 700,000 registered small businesses. In the townships these include hair salons, taverns, car repair shops, laundromats and others sometimes operating out of people's homes. According to a report by financial services group Lesaka, South Africa's informal sector generates an estimated $33 billion in revenue, or more than 6% of GDP. 'People don't respect the trade in the townships,' said Sharief Bartus, another member of the motor spares collective. For a $10 monthly membership fee for the first year, Maseko and the others get more than just access to car parts and tools for their garages. The collective also offers skills development opportunities, help with business registration and financing. 'The more members we get, the more discounts we get, the more work we have,' said Dorian Slimmerts, another mechanic in the collective who is operating not far from Maseko. Township mechanics offering a local option for car owners have long battled on the fringes of the country's commercial auto manufacturing and repair sector. A regulation change in 2020 also made a big difference. New 'right to repair' rules in South Africa mean car owners can now have their vehicles serviced by registered independent mechanics and not lose their warranties. That's opened the door a little more for township mechanics. Car maintenance is especially needed in South Africa, where there are around 12 million automobiles on the road and people are keeping their cars longer. The demand for affordable pre-owned cars has outpaced new cars since the COVID-19 pandemic. Time is the critical element for township mechanics, though. Their businesses see lots of walk-in clients, prices are often negotiated and customers expect quick service — or they will look elsewhere. 'All the mechanic sells is time,' said Amanda Gcabashe, managing director of UBU Investment Holdings, an economic advisory company that helped set up the cooperative. 'And that's why we came with this to say, how do we make sure that we then solve that pain point by making spares easily accessible?' She said that as well as the business help, the collective is also looking to offer life insurance packages and other social safety net services for its mechanics. Bulelani Balabala, the founder of the Township Entrepreneurs Alliance, said cooperatives were a powerful way to harness the potential of small businesses serving millions of people in townships. 'It's a market that can't be ignored,' he said. ___ For more on Africa and development: The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
Yahoo
14 hours ago
- Yahoo
Multiple people transported to hospital after flight hits turbulence, airline says
Five people were transported to a hospital after an American Airlines flight encountered "unexpected turbulence," the airline said. American Airlines Flight 1286 was traveling from Miami International Airport to Raleigh-Durham International Airport in North Carolina on Sunday when the Airbus A321 hit turbulence. The seat belt sign was on at the time, the airline said. MORE: What causes turbulence, and how can it pose a danger to air travel? An expert explains The flight landed safely at the Raleigh-Durham airport around 10:50 p.m. "after the crew reported possible injuries to cabin crew and passengers due to turbulence," the Federal Aviation Administration said. Three flight attendants and two customers were transported to a local hospital for observation, according to the airline, which did not release any details on the extent of their injuries. They have since been released, the airline said Monday. "We thank our crew members for their professionalism and our customers for their understanding," American Airlines said in a statement. The FAA is investigating.
San Francisco Chronicle
18 hours ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
NASCAR set for summer stretch March Madness style. Will new tournament end summer schedule malaise?
LONG POND, Pa. (AP) — It's time to bust out the brackets, pick an upset or two, and follow winners on the road — a journey over city streets, concrete and bricks — to the final four and beyond. Totally awesome, baby? Forget all the upset specials in March. NASCAR will find out soon enough if its attempt to snap out of a mid-summer malaise with its first in-season tournament is a success with drivers and fans as it strives to boost engagement and build buzz in the staid regular season. The concept has already juiced enthusiasm in NASCAR to levels not seen since the halcyon days when Donnie Allison and Cale Yarborough duked it out in the 1979 Daytona 500. 'To be really honest with you,' 2020 NASCAR champion Chase Elliott said, 'I have not paid any attention to it.' Maybe a look at the matchup will get NASCAR's most popular driver pumped! Elliott is seeded fifth against No. 28 seed Austin Dillon in the first round of the head-to-head showdown in the race-within-the-race set for this weekend at the track better known as Atlanta Motor Speedway. Here's a refresher for Elliott and any other sports fan who missed out on the specifics of NASCAR joining the in-season tournament party, much like attempts in the NBA, NHL, and, of course, throughout the world in soccer. NASCAR is set to start the engines on a five-race, bracket-style tournament called the In-Season Challenge in the midst of the summer slate, which comes with a $1 million prize to the winner. The final 32-driver field was set by results of the last three races at Michigan, Mexico City and Pocono. The drivers are paired in head-to-head matchups based on seeding, with the winners advancing to the next round in a bracket format that mirrors the NCAA basketball tournaments. Buoyed by a win at Michigan and a runner-up finish at Pocono, Denny Hamlin earned the top seed. He'll square off — race off? — against No. 32 seed Ty Dillon. Pocono winner Chase Briscoe is the No. 2 seed and is pitted against No. 31 seed Noah Gragson. Chris Buescher is third, Christopher Bell fourth and Elliott fifth, among notable names. The format is single elimination with the field cut to 16 at the street race in Chicago, eight at Sonoma, four on the lone concrete track in the series at Dover and the final two over the yard of bricks at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Challenge is part of NASCAR's media rights deal that includes TNT, and the Atlanta-based cable network will broadcast all five races in the tournament, starting with the 400-miler in Atlanta. Aside from a shrug from Elliott and a few others, drivers are intrigued by the idea of increasing the stakes in each race beyond a playoff berth, trophy and the winner's purse. 'I love it. I think it's great,' three-time Cup champion Joey Logano said. 'I think it's placed perfectly where it is in the season. This is kind of that moment where the newness is worn off. We're into the rhythm, we're racing every week. It's starting to start a little bit of, who's going to be in the playoffs, who's not, the cutoff line all those types of things. But it's not really the main story quite yet.' Stories are what sell, of course, and the sizzle in Pocono over the weekend had little to do with which drivers or teams are the ones to beat for the 2025 championship. Rather, it was whether two pedestrian drivers were going to fight, the end of Amazon Prime's run of wildly-popular telecasts and Hall of Fame driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.'s win in his first race as a crew chief. 'This really spices up the mid-part of the season,' Logano said. So does placing a few bucks on No. 11 to win. But as of Monday afternoon, most sports gambling sites did not offer odds on specific matchups headed into Atlanta. NASCAR is offering $1 million to a winning fan with a perfect bracket in its fantasy game. There are some quirks to the bracket: Shane van Gisbergen won the Cup race in Mexico City and is not in the field while series points leader William Byron is only a No. 9 seed. The tournament boasts matchups in the first-round of past Cup champions (Kyle Busch-Brad Keselowski), former teammates (Briscoe-Gragson), and even best friends (Bubba Wallace-Daniel Suarez). The idea for the challenge was largely championed by Hamlin, a three-time Daytona 500 champion who floated the idea of a mid-season tournament on his 'Actions Detrimental" podcast. When NASCAR bought into the idea and announced the creation of the tournament last year, Hamlin called the tournament on social media 'such a win for our sport and drivers.' He jokingly added, 'I will collect my 1M royalty next season.' Hamlin's on deck and clearly a favorite to win it all, with three wins this year for Joe Gibbs Racing and the top seed. (And let's not haggle over who gets credit in court.) 'I'm a sports guy, so I'm going to be engaged with it," Hamlin said. "I'll know who I will have to beat next week. I've told the team, we are going to try and do what we can. We are going to be up against it because we are going to tracks that aren't very favorable to me. But we are going to try to do our best to beat that one car for the next four to five weeks.' NASCAR will present the tournament winner at Indianapolis with a ring, jackets, trophy and — oh yeah, a million bucks. That's enough cash to get anyone's attention — even Elliott's. 'I don't know what you get. You get anything,' Elliott asked. 'Oh, a million dollars to the winner? Then yeah, we want to win.'
