Good Monday afternoon. Investigators have found the missing piece blown off an Alaska Airlines plane in an Oregon backyard, a new storm is on the move after the weekend’s winter blast, and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is under fire for keeping his hospitalization secret for days. Here is what’s in our Nightly Rundown. |
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Missing piece torn from Alaska Airlines plane recovered after midair emergency |
The NTSB has just released photos of the 63-pound door plug that blew off an Alaska Airlines flight over Oregon at 16,000 feet on Friday, after officials said it was recovered from a teacher’s backyard near Portland. The terrifying midair emergency led the FAA to order some Boeing 737 Max 9 planes, the model involved in the incident, to be grounded and inspected before flying again. The FAA said that airlines can begin inspections on the grounded planes today. Alaska Airlines and United Airlines have canceled hundreds of flights today, following the order from the FAA. The depressurization from the fuselage breach ripped the co-pilot’s headset off and the captain also lost part of her headset, Jennifer Homendy, chair of the National Transportation Safety Board, said Sunday. Damage was found along 12 of the plane’s seat rows, according to Homendy. Both seats in row 26 were missing their headrests, and one was missing a seat back, she said. The plane made an emergency landing in Portland, and none of the more than 170 passengers or six crew members was seriously injured, officials said. Two cell phones, apparently belonging to passengers, were later discovered on the ground. |
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New storm on the move after first major winter blast of 2024 |
Al Roker is tracking a large and dangerous new system expected to impact at least half the country today and tomorrow, on the heels of the major storm that swept across the country and slammed the Northeast with snow over the weekend. The new storm will bring wind gusts as high as 60 to 70 mph and create “ferocious blizzard conditions” with whiteouts in the central and southern Plains today, before pushing into the Midwest, the National Weather Service said. Severe thunderstorms capable of producing strong wind gusts and tornadoes are also expected across the Gulf Coast this afternoon into early Tuesday morning, the NWS said. On the eastern side of the system, widespread downpours are expected to drench locations from Florida to Maine tomorrow into Wednesday, causing significant flooding, forecasters say. A flood watch has been issued for Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York City, Hartford and Boston through Wednesday. |
Biden will not fire Austin over undisclosed hospitalization, White House says |
President Joe Biden is not considering firing Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin after he failed to disclose for days that he had been hospitalized with a mystery condition, the White House said today. “There is no plan for anything other than for Secretary Austin to stay in the job,” John Kirby, the National Security Council spokesman, told reporters on Air Force One. Former President Donald Trump and a number of other Republicans have called for Austin to resign or be fired for keeping his hospitalization secret. Austin “underwent an elective medical procedure” on Dec. 22 and went home the next day, but returned on Jan. 1 after "experiencing severe pain,” Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder, the Pentagon press secretary, said in a statement Sunday. The Pentagon waited three days to inform the White House of Austin’s condition, including that he had spent four days in the ICU, a U.S. official confirmed to NBC News. Austin’s hospitalization was not disclosed to the public for four days. Austin remains hospitalized. Over the weekend, he issued a statement saying he understood “the media concerns about transparency and I recognize I could have done a better job ensuring the public was appropriately informed. I commit to doing better.” “But this is important to say: this was my medical procedure, and I take full responsibility for my decisions about disclosure,” he added. |
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Israel says it has begun scaling back war in Gaza, report says |
Israel has begun shifting to a new, scaled-down phase of the war against Hamas in Gaza, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman told The New York Times. “The war shifted a stage,” the spokesman told the Times in an interview. “But the transition will be with no ceremony,” he added. “It’s not about dramatic announcements.” The news comes ahead of Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Israel. For weeks, the U.S. has been urging Israel to scale back its assault on Gaza. Israel has also been exchanging fire over the border with Lebanon with the militant group Hezbollah. In southern Lebanon today, an Israeli strike killed a top Hezbollah commander, the Iran-backed group said in a statement. There was no immediate comment from Israel. |
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Watch us this evening at 6:30 p.m. ET / 5:30 p.m. CT on NBC, or check your local NBC station listing. After the broadcast, access Nightly News video on NBCNightlyNews.com or the NBC News app. |
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