Long Beach Airport

Southern California's last major airplane factory, slated to close in two years, could find new life under a bold plan being floated by Boeing Co. to build a new version of the massive C-17 military cargo plane. The proposal, gaining traction among Pentagon planners, calls for transforming the long-haul, strategic transport into a tactical aircraft that could deliver equipment and supplies directly to the battlefield. The upgraded C-17, if approved by the Pentagon, could help keep the sprawling Long Beach production line open for another decade or more, Boeing executives said.

Cab owner Mario Zamora is teetering on a precipice of high fuel prices. Pacing around his shiny yellow taxi at Long Beach Airport, the 38-year-old father of five anxiously eyed the trickle of luggage-lugging travelers exiting the terminal. He was still rattled by the 10-hour shift he put in a few days earlier, when he cleared just $30 after fuel and other expenses. It was his worst day in seven years as a cabby. "I was driving around, trying to get something," he said.

A judge has potentially cleared the way for the expansion of Long Beach Airport. Superior Court Judge Thierry Patrick Colaw said in a ruling Friday that the city did not violate state law when it approved an environmental report for the expansion. The report says the expansion won't affect noise or air quality. The Long Beach Unified School District, which filed the lawsuit in 2006, argued that dozens of schools would be affected by noise and demanded the city pay for soundproofing those campuses.

They stood on a small landing strip for private aircraft at Long Beach Airport. A mother and father, a wife, family and friends. They gathered for the arrival of the body of Army Sgt. David J. Hart, who was killed in combat in Iraq. There were no speeches, no eulogy. Those will come later. On Tuesday afternoon, there was only the quiet, methodical ceremony of a soldier's final homecoming.

A JetBlue Airways plane landed safely at Long Beach Airport on Wednesday after the pilot declared an emergency when a light went on in the cockpit indicating a possible problem in the cargo hold. The Airbus 320, with 145 passengers aboard, touched down about 4 p.m. No one was hurt. The plane had left Oakland International Airport about 2:30 p.m. Airline officials planned to inspect the cargo hold to see whether anything there tripped the indicator light. -- -- Jennifer Oldham

Long Beach Airport was evacuated Thursday morning after security screeners found a "suspicious" device in a piece of luggage that turned out to be a prototype for a new toy, law enforcement officials said. After a two-hour evacuation, passengers were allowed back into the terminal about 11:30 a.m. Officials rescheduled departing flights that had been grounded, airport spokeswoman Sharon Diggs-Jackson said.

Southern California's last major airplane factory got a reprieve Tuesday as Boeing Co. announced it would keep open its Long Beach production line for the C-17 Air Force transport for at least six more months. With no new orders, the sprawling plant next to Long Beach Airport had been scheduled for closure by mid-2009 with the rollout of the last C-17. It would have dealt a major economic blow to the region.

Long Beach Airport's cramped 1940s-era terminal would be modernized and expanded by about 60% under a plan approved by the City Council. The overhaul, which would include adding three gates and two aircraft parking positions, would help the airport accommodate about 4.2 million passengers annually after its anticipated completion in 2011, officials said, up from the 3 million it handles now.

Ramiro Augusto came to John F. Kennedy International Airport on Monday expecting the worst, but breathed easier after learning that his JetBlue flight to Vermont was scheduled to take off on time. "I figured I might get stuck here, but so far so good," the 23-year-old student said. Five days after a stew of operational glitches forced JetBlue Airways Corp.