'Keep your shoes on': U.S. airport security ends unpopular security measure
The U.S. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) is easing off the policy requiring travellers to take their shoes off for separate scanning while going through the airport security.
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Kristi Noem, Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (which oversees the TSA) made a formal announcement about the move during a press conference at Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington on Tuesday evening.
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She said that as of today, the TSA will 'no longer require…every single person' to remove their shoes when going through security checkpoints. She said this is an 'immediate nationwide rollout' of passengers being able to keep their shoes on.
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The aim of this policy shift, said Noem, is 'to improve the travel experience' while continuing to 'keep travellers safe.' She referred to several comments the administration has received expressing displeasure over the 'no-shoes' policy. And listed several marquee events that the U.S. will soon be hosting, as reasons for doing so, including the Olympics in Los Angeles, World Cup soccer matches, and events geared toward celebrating the 250th anniversary of America's independence.
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Noem says security technology has evolved significantly since the shoes-off policy was implemented almost 20 years ago. She said the TSA has 'evaluated the technology at every airport … It's been honed and it's been hardened.'
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She expressed confidence in the multi-layer security now in place, which involves different types of screening individuals, including the relatively new 'Real ID,' which encompasses any type of federally recognized identification. Meanwhile, she says the department is looking at even more advanced technology, for example, machines that would result in not having to interact with airport security officers.
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Meanwhile, it should be noted that any passenger who triggers the alarm in the scanner or magnetometer, will still be required by the TSA to take their shoes off for additional screening.
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So far, reports airwaysmag.com, the changes have been noticed in Baltimore/Washington (BWI), Fort Lauderdale (FLL), Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky (CVG), Portland (PDX), Philadelphia (PHL), and Piedmont Triad (GSO) in North Carolina. It says passengers at Los Angeles (LAX) and New York's LaGuardia (LGA) have also shared stories about being waved through while keeping their shoes on.
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Toronto Sun
11 hours ago
- Toronto Sun
RapidTO: Transit commuter's dream or 'absolute nightmare?'
The red bus lanes are coming in time for the World Cup, but some people on Bathurst St. aren't pleased — and there's still a lot to be figured out. A dedicated red bus lane is seen on Eglinton Ave. E. at Bellamy Rd. N. in Scarborough on Wednesday August 6, 2025. The concept is coming to Bathurst and Dufferin Sts. as part of city hall's RapidTO initiative. Photo by Jack Boland/Toronto Sun After years of planning, two downtown-area bus-only lanes got the green light, triggering outrage among those affected by the new rapid-transit lines on Bathurst and Dufferin Sts. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account In July, city council approved plans to set up transit-only lanes on Bathurst and Dufferin Sts., south of Bloor St, – and quickly. Mayor Olivia Chow wants these lanes, which are to be painted red, done in time for the FIFA World Cup in June 2026, and later to be expanded north. The RapidTO idea isn't new, it just took years to get out of the planning stage. However, Bathurst wasn't initially picked as a RapidTO priority – and now that it's suddenly in the fast lane, some people are howling. 'Public consultation was an outright disgrace, if they want to even consider it that,' said Paul Macchiusi, whose pot shop, Minerva Cannabis, is on Bathurst, near Dupont. 'There was a lack of transparency, a lack of collaboration.' Macchiusi also lives in the area, and his group, Protect Bathurst, spoke out against RapidTO. South of his business, the streetcar lanes will soon be marked red, street parking will vanish and a single lane of vehicle traffic will stop every time someone gets on or off transit. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'It's gonna be an absolute nightmare,' he said. Paul Macchiusi, local resident and owner of Minerva Cannabis on Bathurst St., is part of a group that wants the city and TTC to pause a rapid transit plan for the street. Photo by Stephanie Macchiusi / Handout The ward's councillor, Dianne Saxe, might not call it a nightmare, but she knows it will be disruptive. She said Bathurst is overdue for change. 'The fundamental point about RapidTO is we have streets that were built for a city of maybe 500,000,' Saxe told the Toronto Sun . 'That's not the city we have. There's nowhere to put bigger streets, nor would it be good for our city.' That means Torontonians will have to get used to fewer trips by car, Saxe said. In her University-Rosedale ward, most people don't own a car, she said – which is a good reason why streetcars and buses on Bathurst should get through their routes faster. Recommended Video The city has a few tools to clear the way: remove the parked cars, remove the cars blocking an intersection trying to turn left, and give transit its own lane. That's RapidTO. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'Those are the only things we got. There is no magic wand to make the bus go faster when there's a car in front,' Saxe said. But the RapidTO worries don't end there. The red bus lane concept, which already exists in the city in Scarborough, allows bikes to use the lane. But bikes aren't being encouraged on Bathurst south of Bloor, an area Saxe said would be rough for cyclists. At July's council meeting, Jacquelyn Hayward, transportation services planning director, said RapidTO could push drivers away from Bathurst and Dufferin to Spadina, Jane or Keele – but that last street exists south of Bloor as Parkside Dr., perhaps Toronto's most notorious problem street for planners, typified by the drama over its speed camera. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The city is projecting improved transit speeds and ridership, but those are just predictions. For some, the greater unknown is what the changes will do to traffic. 'RapidTO,' Councillor Stephen Holyday scoffed during July's meeting. 'It should be CongestionTO! I think it's rubbish, and a lot of other people do, as well.' Toronto city councillor Dianne Saxe of University-Rosedale speaks to reporters outside of the mayor's office front doors about the budget and upcoming election on Thursday February 16, 2023. Jack Boland/Toronto Sun/Postmedia Network Then there is the accelerated timeline, done to get the red paint down in time for the World Cup next June. 'Quite frankly, it's bulls—,' Macchiusi said. 'Who in their right mind is coming to FIFA, spending $2,500 minimum on a single ticket, and then staying up at Eglinton and Bathurst, expecting to take transit down to the game? 'It's so far-fetched. It's just another excuse.' Saxe said she gets this response. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. 'The World Cup is a big event,' she said, 'but we have lots of big events, and we have lots of big events that come every year. What the World Cup did was give us a kick in the rear, to look again at plans that had been stalled for years.' In what was the 'nicest part of this horrible experience,' Macchiusi said, the RapidTO fight planted the seeds for a BIA in his neighbourhood. He intends to speak at the Toronto and East York community council meeting in September when Saxe and her colleagues discuss more ways to speed up the Bathurst bus route. Saxe said she'll do even more community consultations on those ideas once they've been fleshed out. There's a rough plan to remove parking only on one side north of Bloor, to address an unusual problem with northbound traffic in the afternoons. She also wants to hike parking rates on Bathurst from $3 an hour, which she said is 'way too low.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. But Macchiusi is stuck with the sense that substandard consultation 'is just an ongoing trend, I guess in this city, but especially in this ward with Dianne.' The dedicated red lanes in Scarborough, as with most under RapidTO, are for TTC buses, school buses, Wheel-Trans and bikes. Eglinton Ave. E. at Bellamy Rd. N. on Wednesday August 6, 2025. Photo by Jack Boland/Toronto Sun City hall has admitted things aren't perfect. 'The consultation process for RapidTO Bathurst and RapidTO Dufferin was certainly more accelerated than we would typically undertake for this kind of a project,' Jacquelyn Hayward, of the transportation division, said at July's meeting after a question from Councillor Jamaal Myers. Bafflingly, Myers asked Hayward soon after: 'So, this has been consulted to death. Is that a fair statement?' Macchiusi said it fell on his group to tell an arena and rec centre near Bathurst and Dupont about the changes. Saxe said the city spent months on consultation and heard from 'hundreds and hundreds of people,' but of those two institutions, she admitted, she 'didn't specifically ask them their opinion.' 'I am well aware of their parking concerns,' she said. 'Again, we need people … to switch. They can't all drive. More people need to take the bus, and that's only possible if we make the bus better.' And as for those who feel City Hall just doesn't listen these days? 'The people who don't want change tend to say, 'I wasn't consulted enough,'' Saxe said. jholmes@ Read More Toronto & GTA Money News Columnists Canada Toronto Blue Jays
CTV News
3 days ago
- CTV News
‘Ridiculous': How Washington residents view the new troops in town
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Winnipeg Free Press
4 days ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Los Angeles school year begins amid fears over immigration enforcement
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