Transcript
A (0:00)
Hey there, it's Shemitha. I've got a quick request for you. If Apple News Today is an essential part of your morning routine, follow the show in Apple Podcasts. And if you have another 30 seconds, leave us a rating and a review too. It helps other people find our show and it helps us know what you like about it. Thanks. Good morning. It's Wednesday, October 8th. I'm Shamit Sebastu. This is Apple News Today. On today's show, the Supreme Court weighs a ban on so called conversion therapy, an important FDA approval that went under the radar, and the man who went hiking and missed his Nobel Prize call. But first, the government shutdown is beginning to take its toll on the nation's airports. Right now, air traffic controllers are deemed essential so they have to keep showing up for work. But there are still problems emerg emerging.
B (1:04)
All 11,000 of them are still working without pay in the government shutdown and some are now calling out sick during a time when they're not getting paid.
A (1:17)
That's Pete Montine, a CNN correspondent covering aviation and transportation. He reported with his colleagues that on Monday night, 12 FAA facilities across the country had staffing shortages. At Burbank Airport in California, the control tower was entirely shut down for a brief period of time, which meant that it function like a small airport typically does without control towers. That led to delays.
B (1:41)
It sort of switches over from kind of like a stoplight or maybe a crossing guard to a four way stop and so pilots sort of have to self announce on a common radio frequency. Some call it like sort of like a chat line and sort of see and avoid one another.
A (1:56)
Last night, the FAA reported staffing related delays in Boston, Houston, Chicago and Las Vegas, among others. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said that the number of air traffic controllers calling out sick has increased in the days since the shutdown started. And a union representing the workers has said that they have encouraged staff to keep working. But even a small absence in an already strained system can lead to challenges. During the last major shutdown, there was a marginal increase in sick leave at two highly trafficked facilities in Virginia and Florida.
B (2:31)
Frankly, pretty small numbers caused the FAA to implement flight delays, some of the biggest pieces of airspace in the country. And it wasn't really all that long after that, lawmakers struck a deal and ended the shutdown.
A (2:45)
President Trump signed a temporary funding measure in January of 2019 that brought the longest shutdown in U.S. history to an end. Montine told us there doesn't appear to be a collective effort to call out sick in some kind of protest right now and that difficult individual decisions get made during shutdown.