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The FAA lays out a path for Boeing 737 Max 9 to fly again, but new concerns surface

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The FAA lays out a path for Boeing 737 Max 9 to fly again, but new concerns surface

The Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft is seen at Portland International Airport on January 9, 2024 in Oregon. The plane made an emergency landing following a midair fuselage blowout on Jan. 5. None of the 171 passengers and six crew members was seriously injured.

Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images


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Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images


The Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft is seen at Portland International Airport on January 9, 2024 in Oregon. The plane made an emergency landing following a midair fuselage blowout on Jan. 5. None of the 171 passengers and six crew members was seriously injured.

Mathieu Lewis-Rolland/Getty Images

WASHINGTON — The Federal Aviation Administration says Boeing’s grounded 737 Max 9 jets can begin flying again after a “thorough inspection and maintenance process.” But the agency also imposed sweeping jet production restrictions at the company’s factories.

It’s been nearly three weeks since federal regulators took 171 Boeing aircraft out of service after part of the fuselage of an Alaska Airlines jet blew out at 16,000 feet after departing the Portland International Airport.

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“We grounded the Boeing 737-9 MAX within hours of the incident over Portland and made clear this aircraft would not go back into service until it was safe,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement late Wednesday. “The exhaustive, enhanced review our team completed after several weeks of information gathering gives me and the FAA confidence to proceed to the inspection and maintenance phase.”

The FAA’s announcement comes amid growing questions about quality control at the Boeing factory where the 737 was assembled.

An apparent Boeing whistleblower says that mistakes inside the aerospace giant’s plant in Renton, Wash. were likely to blame for the incident. The self-described Boeing employee alleges that four key bolts that are supposed to hold the door in place were never reinstalled after maintenance work before the jet left the factory.

The FAA announcement did not mention those allegations. But the agency has its own concerns about Boeing’s production and manufacturing processes.

“This won’t be back to business as usual for Boeing,” Whitaker said, announcing that the FAA would not grant any requests from Boeing to expand production of the Max aircraft, “until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved.”

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The production cap applies to Max 8 and 9 (which are in use around the world) as well as the upcoming smaller Max 7 and larger Max 10 variants. Critics say Boeing has been rushing production to clear a lengthy backlog of orders following a previous grounding of the Max aircraft following a pair of fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 which killed a total of 346 people. Those crashes were blamed on a faulty flight control system on the new planes.

Boeing declined to comment on the whistleblower allegations, citing an ongoing investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board. Investigators at the NTSB had previously raised the possibility that the bolts on the door plug panel were not properly installed.

Following the FAA’s announcement, Boeing said it would work with regulators and airlines to get the grounded planes back in the air.

“We will continue to cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and follow their direction as we take action to strengthen safety and quality at Boeing,” said a statement from Boeing spokesperson Jessica Kowal. “We will also work closely with our airline customers as they complete the required inspection procedures to safely return their 737-9 airplanes to service.”

United and Alaska Airlines have both been forced to cancel thousands of flights while waiting for this final inspection guidance from regulators and Boeing. On Tuesday, the CEOs of both companies were sharply critical of Boeing in separate interviews.

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In a letter to United employees on Wednesday, chief operating officer Toby Enqvist said the company would begin the process of inspecting its fleet of 79 grounded jets.

“We are preparing aircraft to return to scheduled service beginning on Sunday,” Enqvist said. “We will only return each MAX 9 aircraft to service once this thorough inspection process is complete.”

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Map: 3.7-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes the San Francisco Bay Area

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Map: 3.7-Magnitude Earthquake Shakes the San Francisco Bay Area

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Note: Map shows the area with a shake intensity of 3 or greater, which U.S.G.S. defines as “weak,” though the earthquake may be felt outside the areas shown.  All times on the map are Pacific time. The New York Times

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A minor, 3.7-magnitude earthquake struck in the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday, according to the United States Geological Survey.

The temblor happened at 9:44 a.m. Pacific time about 4 miles southeast of Cloverdale, Calif., data from the agency shows.

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U.S.G.S. data earlier reported that the magnitude was 3.6.

As seismologists review available data, they may revise the earthquake’s reported magnitude. Additional information collected about the earthquake may also prompt U.S.G.S. scientists to update the shake-severity map.

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Aftershocks detected

Subsequent quakes have been reported in the same area. Such temblors are typically aftershocks caused by minor adjustments along the portion of a fault that slipped at the time of the initial earthquake.

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Quakes and aftershocks within 100 miles

Aftershocks can occur days, weeks or even years after the first earthquake. These events can be of equal or larger magnitude to the initial earthquake, and they can continue to affect already damaged locations.

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When quakes and aftershocks occurred

 All times are Pacific time. The New York Times

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Sources: United States Geological Survey (epicenter, aftershocks, shake intensity); LandScan via Oak Ridge National Laboratory (population density) | Notes: Shaking categories are based on the Modified Mercalli Intensity scale. When aftershock data is available, the corresponding maps and charts include earthquakes within 100 miles and seven days of the initial quake. All times above are Pacific time. Shake data is as of Tuesday, June 2 at 12:59 p.m. Eastern. Aftershocks data is as of Tuesday, June 2 at 1:59 p.m. Eastern.

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Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security

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Promoting Advanced Artificial Intelligence Innovation and Security

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered:

Section 1.  Purpose.  The United States continues to lead the world in Artificial Intelligence (AI) because of the enormous talent and innovation of our AI industry, and because we refuse to stifle this innovation with overly burdensome regulation.  My Administration has unleashed tremendous technological growth and economic investment in AI by slashing the bureaucratic constraints that the prior administration placed on America’s AI developers and researchers, and by instead encouraging AI innovation and accelerating responsible AI adoption across government and industry. 

Advanced AI capabilities make our Nation stronger, but also introduce new national security considerations that require coordinated action across executive departments and agencies (agencies), and components.  As these capabilities evolve, my Administration will continue to work closely with industry to ensure that the best and most secure technology is deployed rapidly to confront any and all threats to our country.  We will continue to lead an America First cybersecurity effort that enhances both our national security and our global AI dominance.

It is the policy of the United States to promote AI innovation and security by working collaboratively with the private sector to modernize government and private sector information systems and harden them against external threats; to protect American ingenuity and intellectual property from exploitation and theft by adversaries; and to cultivate America’s advanced AI-enabled capabilities.

Sec. 2.  Upgrading American Systems for Advanced AI.  (a)  Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Committee on National Security Systems shall prioritize the cyber defense of National Security Systems, as defined in 44 U.S.C. 3552(b)(6)(A), by taking appropriate and expeditious action consistent with the purpose of this order.

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(b)  Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of War shall prioritize the cyber defense of Department of War information systems by taking appropriate and expeditious action consistent with the purpose of this order.

(c)  Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of Homeland Security, through the Director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), in consultation with the Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, and the National Cyber Director, shall release Binding Operational Directives and other guidance as appropriate to:

(i)    expedite and prioritize the cyber defense of civilian Federal Government information systems in order to protect our Nation’s vital functions;

(ii)   establish or expand Federal programs and cybersecurity services that enhance AI-enabled defensive tools; and

(iii)  facilitate access to cybersecurity tools and services including, where appropriate, covered frontier models for agencies, State and local authorities, and operators of critical infrastructure such as rural hospitals, community banks, and local utilities.

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(d)  Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury, in consultation with the National Cyber Director, the Secretary of War, through the Director of the National Security Agency (NSA), and the Secretary of Homeland Security, through the Director of CISA, shall form an AI cybersecurity clearinghouse, in voluntary collaboration with the AI industry and operators of critical infrastructure, that coordinates and deconflicts scanning for software vulnerabilities, discovers and validates such vulnerabilities, and coordinates and prioritizes remediation and distribution of vulnerability patches.

(e)  Within 30 days of the date of this order, the Director of OMB, in coordination with the National Cyber Director and the Director of CISA, shall determine whether any Federal grant programs have available and relevant funding that can be directed toward applicants developing advanced AI vulnerability detection.

(f)  Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Director of the Office of Personnel Management shall expand the United States Tech Force Information Cybersecurity Specialist hiring and placement pathways.

Sec. 3.  Secure Frontier Model Deployment.  Within 60 days of the date of this order, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Secretary of War, through the Director of NSA, and the Secretary of Homeland Security, through the Director of CISA, in consultation with the White House Chief of Staff, through the National Cyber Director, the Assistant to the President for Science and Technology (APST), and the Secretary of Commerce, through the Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and in coordination with other agencies, as appropriate, shall:

(a)  develop and maintain a classified benchmarking process to assess the advanced cyber capabilities of AI models and determine the threshold at which an AI model should be designated a “covered frontier model” for the purposes of this order, sharing such assessments with AI developers and researchers as appropriate.  Such a determination shall be made by the Director of NSA, in consultation with the National Cyber Director, the APST, the Director of CISA, and other representatives of the Department of War, as appropriate.

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(b)  design a voluntary framework with AI developers through which developers would be able to:

(i)    engage the Federal Government to determine whether model(s) under development meet the designation of “covered frontier model”;

(ii)   provide the Federal Government with access to covered frontier models, subject to appropriate confidentiality, cybersecurity, insider-risk, and intellectual-property protection, use, and nondisclosure requirements, for a period of up to 30 days before they plan to release such models to other trusted partners; and 

(iii)  collaborate with the Federal Government to select trusted partners that will have early access to covered frontier models to promote secure innovation and strengthen the cybersecurity of critical infrastructure.

(c)  Nothing in this section shall be construed to authorize the creation of a mandatory governmental licensing, preclearance, or permitting requirement for the development, publication, release, or distribution of new AI models, including frontier models.

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Sec. 4.  Protection Against Criminal Actors.  The Attorney General shall prioritize the enforcement of 18 U.S.C. 1028, 18 U.S.C. 1030, 18 U.S.C. 1343, and all other applicable Federal criminal laws against anyone who utilizes AI to illegally access or damage a computer without authorization, or who utilizes AI while engaged in such illegal access to further any other crime.  This includes breaching any public or private information technology system, or employing AI agents to unlawfully access data or information that is subsequently used for a criminal or unlawful purpose.

Sec. 5.  General Provisions.  (a)  Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i)   the authority granted by law to an executive department or agency, or the head thereof; or

(ii)  the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(b)  This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

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(c)  This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person.

(d)  The costs for publication of this order shall be borne by the Department of War.

                             DONALD J. TRUMP

THE WHITE HOUSE,

    June 2, 2026.

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Video: California Prepares for Governor Primary Race

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Video: California Prepares for Governor Primary Race

new video loaded: California Prepares for Governor Primary Race

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California Prepares for Governor Primary Race

On Tuesday, Californians will head to the polls to vote in the state’s primary election for governor and other offices. There are dozens of candidates for governor, but one Republican and a couple of Democrats have risen to the top of the polls.

“The focus of my campaign has been on specific, positive, practical things we can do to help people. Your first 100 grand tax free. It’s ridiculous that we have people making salaries in California that really don’t get you very far. How about a guy who’s actually balanced a budget larger than the budget of the state of California? Xavier Becerra. And so at the end of the day, it helps to have experience. It helps to know how to handle a crisis. And at the end of the day, I better deliver. I’m only working for the people of California. I have no conflicts, and so I can actually work, be completely honest, and do the thing that needs to happen, which is to take on corporate interests who are driving up the cost for Californians who can’t afford to live here anymore.

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On Tuesday, Californians will head to the polls to vote in the state’s primary election for governor and other offices. There are dozens of candidates for governor, but one Republican and a couple of Democrats have risen to the top of the polls.

By Jamie Leventhal

June 1, 2026

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