NATIONAL
May 16, 2013 | By Richard A. Serrano, Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - Two "known or suspected" terrorists who cooperated with the government and were placed in the Witness Security Program later were able to board airplanes and quietly vanish, the Justice Department's inspector general concluded in a report that was highly critical of how the government handles some of its most dangerous witnesses. Administration officials said Thursday that the pair left the country years ago and had since been located. But the office of the inspector general found that federal officials, primarily at the U.S. Marshals Service, which runs the program, had not been doing enough to monitor and handle the former terrorists.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
April 29, 2013 | By Andrew Blankstein and Robert J. Lopez, Los Angeles Times
One pilot died after two small planes collided Monday afternoon over Ventura County, sending one plummeting into a mountainside and forcing the other to land on a golf course. Both planes were Cessna single-engine aircraft. At least one had departed from Santa Monica Airport before crashing about 2 p.m. in the Santa Monica Mountains, according to preliminary information from the Federal Aviation Administration. The other, which had three people on board, belly landed at the Westlake Golf Course.
OPINION
April 25, 2013
Re "Change allowing knives on planes is delayed," Business, April 23 On many airlines, metal knives are given to premium passengers during meal service. Back when I was traveling on business, those knives were stainless steel, with three-inch blades and serrated cutting edges. They were potentially more deadly than my Swiss Army pocketknife. I once had two-inch gaming darts confiscated at an airport. Then I got on the plane and was issued a knife for my meal. Talk about the death of common sense in this country.
BUSINESS
April 23, 2013 | By Hugo Martín, Los Angeles Times
It looks as if you won't get to bring that pocket knife on your next flight after all. The Transportation Security Administration has delayed a policy change that would have allowed passengers to carry small folding knives onto planes. In a letter Monday to employees, TSA chief John Pistole said he decided to maintain, at least temporarily, a post-9/11 ban on knives after meeting with an aviation security panel. The policy change allowing knives had been scheduled to take effect Thursday.
BUSINESS
April 22, 2013 | By Hugo Martín, Los Angeles Times
Nearly a week after a computer glitch grounded hundreds of its planes, American Airlines has yet to disclose the exact cause of the problem that frustrated passengers stuck in crowded terminals across the country. American's chief executive, Tom Horton, would say in a video apology only that "we had a software issue that impacted both our primary and backup systems. " But as airline computer systems become more interactive and complicated, computer experts warn that outages may become more common if airlines do not regularly test and maintain their systems.
NEWS
April 22, 2013 | By Mary Forgione, Los Angeles Times Daily Deals and Travel Blogger
You won't be taking your Swiss Army knife onto the plane with you on Thursday after all. In a surprise delay, John Pistole, head of the Transportation Security Administration, said a change that would allow passengers to carry on small knives and some other formerly banned items (hockey sticks, golf clubs) had been delayed. The rule change was to have gone into effect on Thursday. A TSA spokesperson on Monday wrote in an email: "In order to accommodate further input from the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC)