John Wayne

After five years in the works, officials at John Wayne Airport on Monday opened a new multimillion-dollar terminal. But there was one problem: The baggage-handling system wasn't working. Passengers who arrived at Terminal C were greeted with signs saying they had to check in their luggage next door at Terminal B. Airport staff were also waiting for passengers in the new parking structure, where they informed people of the breakdown. Travelers with carry-on baggage were not affected.

Beginning Monday, passengers at Orange County's John Wayne Airport will find more parking, more elbow room, state-of-the-industry check-in kiosks and an array of works from local artists. They'll also find more places to plug in a laptop and more places to lap up a lunch. It's all part of the biggest upgrade at John Wayne since the airport's Thomas F. Riley Terminal opened in 1990, modernizing a facility that has historically carried more cachet than most regionals because of its landmark noise-abatement work in the '80s and '90s.

Travelers will have more room to stretch out and more spaces to park in when John Wayne Airport officially opens its new Terminal C on Monday. Officials this week previewed the building, which has six additional gates, a 2,000-space parking structure and the latest security and ticketing technology. Originally proposed to meet skyrocketing air travel demand, Terminal C opens amid a tepid market and weak economy. John Wayne operates under its limit of 10.8 million passengers annually, but officials expect traffic to pick back up. Terminal C is the capstone of $543 million in airport expansion and renovations first approved by the Orange County Board of Supervisors in 2004.

Just as the U.S. hotel industry begins to recover from the recession, industry leaders say they are being sabotaged by the Obama administration. The charge centers on a new rule proposed by Obama's Office of Government Ethics that would prohibit most federal employees from accepting free admission to conferences and other gatherings held by businesses or organizations that lobby the government. The American Hotel & Lodging Assn., the trade group that represents the nation's hotels, blasted the proposed rule, saying it is unneeded and would prevent federal employees from mingling with people to learn about trends and problems in the country.

The Transportation Security Administration plans to install full-body scanners to screen passengers at John Wayne Airport in the coming months, federal officials confirmed Tuesday. Scanners are planned for security checkpoints at all three terminals, including the new Terminal C set to open in November. Travelers randomly selected to undergo the body scans can opt to walk through the traditional metal detectors and receive a manual pat-down instead, according to the Daily Pilot. A recent public backlash about the machines' graphic depictions prompted the TSA to alter the images the scanners produce.

When John Wayne Airport 's new terminal opens in November, it will add two commuter terminals, six gates and four new art displays. The works, some of which come from national and local museums, join the 9-foot statue of the namesake actor and might warrant a visit to the Orange County airport -- whether or not you are flying somewhere. "In Plane View" from the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., was on display there a few years back.

Former NBA player Javaris Crittenton , who was suspended from the league for having guns in the Washington Wizards' locker room with teammate Gilbert Arenas , was arrested Monday night in Orange County to face a murder charge in an Atlanta shooting, an FBI spokeswoman said. Crittenton was taken into custody about 8 p.m. at John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana after checking in for a Delta Air Lines flight to Atlanta, spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said. Eimiller said he was arrested without incident by FBI agents with assistance from the Orange County Sheriff's Department.

Rep. Michele Bachmann’s presidential campaign is running its first TV spot in Iowa, one in which the Minnesota conservative portrays herself as a unifying force within the GOP. The brief ad, dubbed “Waterloo,” hits all of the candidate’s favorite themes: that she was born in Iowa, that she’s a mother and a foster parent, a former tax attorney, and a fiscal conservative. Aiming directly for "tea party" voters, Bachmann notes her opposition to the Wall Street bailout and the Democratic stimulus bill.

Michele Bachmann’s gaffe-rich entry into the GOP presidential sweepstakes may be drawing guffaws from some, but the Minnesota congresswoman appears to be having the last laugh as polls show that Republican voters think well of her and that she is a credible candidate moving quickly up the rankings. According to the Suffolk University/7NEWS poll, Bachmann is in second place with 11% of likely New Hampshire voters, a leap of 8 percentage points. FormerMassachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, essentially a favorite son in New Hampshire, drew 36% of the vote, up one point since May. That strong showing in the poll of the voters in the first-of-the nation primary, follows a solid second-place showing in a weekend poll of voters in Iowa, where the first presidential selection contest, the caucus, will be held.

On a day that was intended to showcase her viability as a top-tier presidential candidate, Michele Bachmann spent Monday evening defending her veracity and explaining a gaffe that seemingly had her mixing up American icon John Wayne with a notorious serial killer. Bachmann found a friendly place to deliver her side of the story: Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News Channel. It became the forum where Bachmann and the news channel patched things up after a brief tiff spurred by Fox newsman Chris Wallace's asking Bachmann last weekend if she was a “flake.” Wallace was pushing Bachmann about whether she stretches the truth, an issue that has begun to trail the Minnesota conservative as even she has showed steady improvement in the polls.