Hillicon Valley — Southwest’s tech issues to be in spotlight at hearing

Southwest Airways’ chief working officer will testify subsequent week earlier than a Senate panel to debate current technical points that triggered the airline to delay and cancel 1000’s of flights.

In the meantime, we’ll check out find out how to anticipate layoffs and what do about it.  

That is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you should find out about tech and cyber information from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Ship tricks to The Hill’s Rebecca Klar and Ines Kagubare. Subscribe right here.

Southwest exec to testify on mass cancellation chaos

The chief working officer of Southwest Airways is scheduled to testify subsequent week earlier than the Senate Commerce, Transportation and Area Committee after the airline struggled with technical issues that triggered it to delay and cancel 1000’s of flights in December.

Southwest COO Andrew Watterson will seem on Thursday for the listening to titled “Strengthening Airline Operations and Client Protections,” which is meant to research the causes and results of current “air journey disruptions” and impacts on the general public, in line with an outline of the listening to. 

The outline notes Southwest’s “operational meltdown” that “stranded” tens of millions of individuals through the holidays.  

The committee, chaired by Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), will obtain suggestions from its witnesses and resolve what actions ought to be taken to enhance protections for airline passengers and construct extra resilient airline operations. 

Learn extra right here. 

GOP blasts Biden over ‘spy’ balloon

Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), the chairman of the Home Oversight and Accountability Committee, blasted President Biden over the high-altitude balloon from China that’s touring throughout the continental United States, saying it ought to have been shot down earlier than it reached U.S. territory and speculating it might have “bioweapons.”

Comer informed Fox Information’s Harris Faulkner in an interview on Friday that he’s involved that the federal authorities “clearly” doesn’t know what’s within the balloon.  

“Is it bioweapons in that balloon? Did that balloon take off from Wuhan?” Comer stated, referring to the Chinese language metropolis the place the COVID-19 virus was first found. “We don’t know something about that balloon.”  

He stated China is “clearly taking part in video games” with the U.S., and the balloon shouldn’t have been allowed to cross into the airspace of the continental U.S. 

Noticed in Kansas: Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kan.) stated Friday afternoon that the balloon has been seen over northeast Kansas.

Marshall tweeted that his employees is involved with legislation enforcement officers concerning the balloon.  

“I condemn any makes an attempt the Chinese language make to spy on People,” he stated.

“President Biden should defend the sovereignty of the U.S. whether or not it’s our airspace or the southern border.” 

Learn extra right here.

Senators press Ticketmaster

A bipartisan pair of senators additional pressed the chief of Reside Nation Leisure on Friday to reply questions concerning the ticketing firm’s dominance of the trade following testimony he gave earlier than the Senate Judiciary Committee final week.

Sens. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah), the chair and rating member of the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Competitors Coverage, Antitrust, and Client Rights, despatched a letter to Reside Nation Leisure President and Chief Monetary Officer Joe Berchtold to request he reply to a sequence of questions by Feb. 15.  

“Because the listening to demonstrated, there’s a sturdy bipartisan consensus about taking steps to enhance the best way America’s ticketing trade capabilities,” the senators wrote. “We should be sure that we have now competitors available in the market to drive down costs, encourage corporations to innovate, and provides shoppers alternative.” 

Learn extra right here. 

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Roseanne Barr eyes cancel tradition rebound with new comedy particular 

Notable hyperlinks from across the internet:   

How ChatGPT Kicked Off an A.I. Arms Race (The New York Occasions / Kevin Roose) 

The AI increase is right here, and so are the lawsuits (Vox / Peter Kafka) 

Why Twitter customers are upset concerning the platform’s newest change (CNN / AJ Willingham) 

☄️ Lighter click on: The view of meteorites on Mars

That’s it for at this time, thanks for studying. Take a look at The Hill’s Know-how and Cybersecurity pages for the newest information and protection. We’ll see you subsequent week.