Latest news with #BuffaloNiagaraInternationalAirport
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Yahoo
Buffalo Airport TSA prepares for possible delays as Real ID deadline approaches
CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) — Starting Wednesday, travelers flying out of the Buffalo Niagara International Airport will need to be Real ID-compliant. Transportation Security Administration (TSA) officials said travelers could run into delays and possibly miss flights without a Real ID. TSA officials said having a Real ID has been long overdue and that everyone will need to follow the new requirement. Posters around the airport will be up to remind travelers. Bart Johnson, the federal security director for the TSA in upstate New York, said only 40 percent of New Yorkers already have a Real ID. If travelers show up to the airport and do not have a Real ID or passport, TSA will give them an orange slip and they will be be subject to additional screening. It's unclear what that additional screening will be and how long it could take. Johnson said for security reasons, they won't release that information. 'We're going to be very much involved, we're going to be very careful, very secure and individuals may be selected for additional screening,' Johnson said. 'I'm not going to share what that general screening is because I don't want to make ourselves vulnerable and tip off anyone that may try to take advantage of the situation.' Johnson is asking travelers to be patient on Wednesday while TSA officers do their jobs. Travelers who have a Real ID or passport should have no issues making their flights, he said. A Real ID-compliant license will have either a star or flag on the top right corner of the card. It is still possible to acquire one after May 7. Latest Local News Sarah Minkewicz is an Emmy-nominated reporter and Buffalo native who has been a part of the News 4 team since 2019. Follow Sarah on Twitter @SarahMinkewicz and click here to see more of her work. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to News 4 Buffalo.
Yahoo
30-04-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Drivers compete for 'Best in Snow' at Annual Snowplow Rodeo
CHEEKTOWAGA, N.Y. (WIVB) — There might not be snow on the ground, but that isn't stopping plows from hitting the pavement on Wednesday at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport. The annual Snowplow Rodeo marks the final day of the International Aviation Snow Symposium, bringing drivers from around the world to compete for the title of 'Best in Snow'. The rodeo is more than just a contest, it's a way for snowplow operators to showcase precision, training and safety, giving them a chance to demonstrate the skills they've developed during the weeklong symposium. 'We've got a three-time champion on our hand, and we want to make sure that he keeps that title,' said NFTA Public Information Officer Kelly Khatib. 'Even though it's a lot of fun, it's about safety. We are an award-winning airport when it comes to snow removal and that's something that we're extremely proud of.' The Buffalo-Niagara International Airport has been hosting the Snow Symposium for 50 years. Chris McBride, a landscape supervisor and 2024 snowplow rodeo champion, told WIVB News 4 that dedication is the most important part of the job. 'In the wintertime we basically live here,' McBride said. 'We are committed to being here, and I mean that's the job. That's the main reason we are here is to make sure the place stay open for the traveling public, and your families can fly in and fly out safely.' Drivers go through an obstacle course with various plow backstops during the rodeo. Running over a cone counts as a penalty. Speed and time play a significant part in determining the winner. McBride's strategy for winning? 'Just try my best and hope that I'm the fastest,' he said. 'Get through fast and no penalties.' The rodeo serves as a celebratory end to the snow season, with plow operators from across the country heading home with new skills, sharper instincts and for one driver, the championship belt. Gwyn Napier is a reporter who joined the News 4 team in 2025. See more of her work by clicking here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Yahoo
Buffalo Airport TSA intercepts 2 guns at security checkpoint
BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) — Two men from Williamsville and Grand Island were stopped at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport's security checkpoint last week and this week for allegedly having guns, a TSA spokesperson announced Thursday. Officials said the Grand Island man was stopped on March 21 with a 9mm handgun that was with his carry-on items. The gun was allegedly loaded with 13 bullets, which included one in the chamber. The Williamsville man was stopped on March 26 with a 9mm firearm loaded with nine bullets, officials said. He also allegedly had one bullet in the gun's chamber. TSA workers then notified police, who responded to the security checkpoint and took the weapons. Since both men had a valid New York State pistol permit, they were cited with a notice of violation on a weapons charge. Officials said the men are facing a 'stiff' civil penalty from TSA. A penalty for carrying weapons can be up to $15,000. 'It is difficult for me to understand how two individuals who hold New York State Pistol Permits did not know where their handguns were and as a result they brought them to a checkpoint, jeopardizing innocent people,' said Bart Johnson, TSA's federal security director for airports in Upstate New York. 'The actions of these travelers were irresponsible and reckless, and they will be held accountable. Fortunately, the weapons were detected by our alert officers.' The two guns marked the first guns to be intercepted at the Buffalo Niagara International Airport this year, according to data from the TSA. Last year, four guns were intercepted. Click here for more information from the TSA on how to travel with a firearm. Katie Skoog joined the News 4 team in April 2024. She is a graduate from the University at Buffalo. You can view more of her work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Why Republicans keep blaming disasters on DEI
Search and rescue teams hadn't even finished pulling the bodies out of the Potomac River before Donald Trump began blaming diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs for the disastrous Wednesday night plane crash between a military helicopter and a commercial jet outside Washington that likely killed 67 people. During a rambling press conference Thursday, Trump pushed his theory that air traffic controllers were to blame, then claimed without evidence that the Biden and Obama administrations had lowered aviation hiring standards. He also criticized an effort to hire people with disabilities that existed throughout his entire first term in office. 'I put safety first,' Trump claimed. 'Obama, Biden and the Democrats put policy first, and they put politics at a level that nobody's ever seen because this was the lowest level.' Vice President JD Vance claimed: "If you go to some of the headlines over the past ten years many hundreds of people are suing the government because they would like to be air traffic controllers but were turned away because of the color of their skin. That policy ends under Donald Trump's leadership.' Before Wednesday's collision, there hadn't been a major commercial airline crash on American soil in 16 years, when Colgan Air Flight 3407 crashed during landing near Buffalo Niagara International Airport, killing all 49 people onboard. When pressed about his claim DEI was responsible for the crash, which is under investigation, Trump responded: 'It just could have been.' He added that he reached the conclusion because 'I have common sense.' It was only the most recent disaster for which Trump and his allies have blamed DEI, even though the facts don't support them. As wildfires tore through the hills of Los Angeles this month, those on the right quickly boiled the crisis down to DEI, seemingly because Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is the first woman and second Black person to lead the city., and L.A. fire chief Kristin Crowley, a 22-year fire veteran, is the first woman and openly queer person to lead the department. Trump's billionaire supporter and partner Elon Musk claimed: "They prioritized DEI over saving lives and homes,' sharing screenshots of a four-year-old L.A. Fire Department racial equity plan He then put a finer point on it, writing that 'DEI means people DIE' in response to a video of Crowley talking about using a DEI focus to attract the 'best and brightest' to the force. Experts say a variety of factors caused the devastating fires, from drought conditions, to 100 mph Santa Ana winds, to neighborhoods built in dangerous fire zones, to a city water distribution system that was unable to keep hydrants filled fast enough to match a wildfire-scale blaze descending on a dense urban environment. Part of the reason Crowley has spoken openly about fostering a more inclusive culture at the department is because it faced years of complaints and lawsuits about discrimination under her predecessors, issues which would also seem to get in the way of a focus on fire-fighting. No matter how multi-faceted a crisis, the playbook against DEI has been run again and again. When an extremist plowed his car into revelers and attempted to set off bombs during New Year's Day celebrations in New Orleans, GOP Rep. Dan Meuser told Fox News: 'The priority of the last four years has been DEI, not IEDs [improvised explosive devices] ...You talk to anyone who's willing to speak within these agencies, that's what their focus has been.' When a shipping vessel collided with Baltimore's Key Bridge and brought it tumbling down in March, a Utah gubernatorial candidate blamed 'governors who prioritize diversity," even though the ship at issue allegedly had a record of shoddy maintenance. Meanwhile, online commenters deluged Baltimore Mayor Brandon Scott with racist attacks, accusing him of being a 'DEI mayor.' Mayor Scott and Maryland Governor Wes Moore are both Black and Democrats. 'We've been the bogeyman for them since the first day they brought us to this country, and what they mean by DEI in my opinion is duly elected incumbent,' Scott said in response to the attacks, claiming DEI attacks are a dog whistle for people who 'don't have the courage to say the N-word.' The last four years have witnessed a sea change in how the country and its institutions consider race and identity. The massive racial justice protests after the 2020 murder of George Floyd by police set off a nationwide conversation about anti-Black racism in the U.S. Yet police killings of mostly people of color continued and key police reform largely stalled at a national level. But some courts and the corporate world inspired a brief push to make workplaces more equitable and diverse. That triggered a backlash. In 2023 the Supreme Court, stacked with Trump-appointed justices, struck down affirmative action in higher education. At the same time, Republicans pushed to ban books talking about identity and race, claiming schools at all levels were indoctrinating students with 'critical race theory,' a niche academic concept that seemingly came to stand in on the right for anything mentioning the existence of non-white people or racism. In the corporate world, right-wing activists used viral social media campaigns to push major U.S. companies to drop DEI programs, and name brands like McDonald's, Walmart, and Harley all backed away from such programs. While Trump and his supporters consistently argue that opposing DEI is in fact colorblind, with a focus on fairness and merit, it also can't be ignored how demonizing people of color is a core part of the Trump movement. The president's 2016 campaign began with his claim in Trump Tower that Mexican immigrants were rapists and drug dealers, and the Republican has continued attacking minorities since, branding Black Lives Matter protesters as 'thugs,' claiming during the 2024 debates that Haitian migrants are eating cats, and accusing border-crossers of 'poisoning the blood' of America. The MAGA movement, in other words, doesn't seem to actually want a society that ignores race and identity; they just won't admit admit what they're doing is identity politics too, just from the right instead of the left. The consequences of all this DEI wrangling may seem philosophical, but they are very real and deeply ironic. The perception that California leaders are a bunch of social justice warriors who can't be trusted seems to be feeding into recent Republican threats to impose conditions on disaster aid to the state, which is highly atypical. The new administration has moved to end federal funding for DEI programs across the federal government and organizations supported by its work, impacting thousands across agencies and disciplines. And the White House sets the tone for the rest of the country. When the next disaster rolls around, it'll only be a matter of time before the right hops online and goes viral with claims that DEI is to blame. And the most powerful people in the world, regardless of the facts, will be quick to believe them.
