South
Two Southwest flight attendants hurt after jet dives to avoid mid-air collision
WASHINGTON: Two flight attendants on a Southwest Airlines flight departing Burbank, California, were injured on Friday after pilots took evasive action to dodge another aircraft on takeoff, the airline said.
Southwest Flight 1496 sharply descended nearly 500 feet, according to flight tracking websites, marking the second time in a week that a US commercial jet was forced to make abrupt flight maneuvers to avoid a potential mid-air collision.
The incident also appeared to be the fourth involving military aircraft since March.
The airline and the Federal Aviation Administration said the Southwest pilots took action after receiving cockpit alerts of other aircraft traffic being dangerously close. The Southwest Boeing 737 continued on to Las Vegas, where it landed uneventfully.
Flight-tracking service Flightradar24 identified the other aircraft as a Hawker Hunter fighter jet – British-built aircraft – that crossed in front of the Southwest flight.
The planes came within 7.82km of each other laterally and 107m vertically. The US Air Force and Defense Department did not immediately respond to inquiries regarding the military jet’s presence near Burbank.
The FAA was investigating.
Two flight attendants were treated for injuries, the airline said, without providing detail.
No injuries were immediately reported by passengers, according to Southwest. But one passenger told Fox News Digital the sharp descent stirred panic onboard.
“It was terrifying. We really thought we were plummeting to a plane crash,” Caitlin Burdi said in an on-camera interview. After the incident, “the pilot came on (the intercom), and he told us we almost collided with another plane.”
According to a statement from Southwest, the incident began when its crew responded to “two onboard traffic alerts” while taking off from the Hollywood Burbank Airport north of Los Angeles, “requiring them to climb and descend to comply with the alerts.”
Three earlier close calls
In a separate incident one week ago, a SkyWest Airlines jet operating as a Delta Connection flight from Minneapolis reported taking evasive action to avoid a possible collision with a US Air Force bomber during a landing approach over North Dakota on July 18.
The FAA said on Monday it was investigating last Friday’s near-miss incident involving SkyWest Flight 3788, an Embraer ERJ-175 regional jet, which landed safely at Minot, North Dakota.
The Air Force confirmed a B-52 jet bomber assigned to Minot Air Force Base had conducted a ceremonial flyover of the North Dakota State Fair last Friday around the time of the SkyWest incident.
The Air Force said the bomber cockpit crew was in contact with local air traffic control before, during and after the flyover, and that the Minot International Airport control tower “did not advise of the inbound commercial aircraft” as the B-52 was departing the area.
The FAA has said that air traffic services were provided by the Minot air traffic control tower, which is run by a private company and not FAA employees.
The National Transportation Safety Board and FAA are investigating a March 28 close call involving a Delta Airbus A319 jet and a group of Air Force jets near Reagan Washington National Airport. The four Air Force T-38 Talons were heading to nearby Arlington National Cemetery for a flyover at the time.
There has been intense focus on military traffic near civilian airplanes since an Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines regional jet on January 29 near Reagan National, killing 67 people.
In early May, the FAA barred Army helicopter flights around the Pentagon after another near miss.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – We’re experiencing our hottest weather since summer 2025.
The hottest weather of the year is having a major impact on Middle Tennesseans. Temperatures have soared well above average during the afternoon and remained unusually high at night for several days. That’s caused thousands across Middle Tennessee and southern Kentucky to temporarily change the way they go about everyday life. The heat has been so significant that temperatures have actually been in record territory.
For example, this past Sunday, Nashville nearly tied the highest minimum temperature ever for the date — 80° set in 1936. Nashville’s low on Sunday was 79.
As for high temperatures, while it was easily the hottest day of the year on Tuesday, Nashville missed that day’s record by nine degrees.
We’ll be closer on Wednesday, missing it by just six degrees.
There’s an even closer approach in line for Thursday. Our forecast for Nashville is 98°. The record high temperature is 101.
Cooler weather will eventually take over. By early next week, we expect highs to return to more seasonable levels — the low 90s.
For life-saving weather alerts, customized messages on conditions and forecasts, and videos detailing upcoming weather events, download the WSMV 4 First Alert Weather app for iPhone or Android. Have weather pictures or videos? Share them here.
Texas
Phoenix Merchant Partners and Texas Capital Alternative Asset Management Form Strategic Relationship
Phoenix Merchant Partners, an independent alternative asset manager, and Texas Capital Alternative Asset Management (TCAAM), a wholly owned subsidiary of Texas Capital Bancshares, formed a strategic relationship to provide customized capital solutions and direct lending to the core middle market across a diverse range of industries.
The relationship integrates the corporate and investment banking coverage network of Texas Capital with the structuring, underwriting and multi-cycle portfolio management expertise of Phoenix. Capitalizing on this powerful combination, Phoenix will launch its first vehicle, Spurstone Credit, in Q3/26. Structured as a perpetual-life, non-traded closed-end credit fund, Spurstone will be headquartered in Dallas, Texas.
Spurstone has already attracted interest from a group of anchor institutional investors. The vehicle’s investment mandate will focus primarily on delivering senior secured financing solutions to core middle-market businesses with annual revenues between $100 million and $1 billion that are currently underserved in private credit.
“As the only full-service financial services firm headquartered in Texas, we continuously look for ways to serve the needs of companies and their owners, both in Texas and in our industries of focus across the country. Working with Phoenix expands and accelerates our ability to offer proprietary private credit financing solutions to deserving clients. The Phoenix team shares our disciplined approach to asset structuring, capital preservation and portfolio management, as well as our passion for providing exceptional client service and delivering comprehensive solutions,” Daniel Hoverman, head of corporate and investment banking at Texas Capital and president of TCAAM, said.
The vehicle’s strategy is designed to address a critical structural liquidity gap for non-sponsored, family-owned and founder-led mid-market enterprises requiring flexible, non-dilutive senior capital to fund organic growth, strategic acquisitions and balance sheet optimizations.
“Proprietary origination remains the single biggest differentiator in the private credit landscape,” Art Mbanefo, founder and CEO of Phoenix, said. “Working with TCAAM unlocks unparalleled access to high-quality, founder-owned businesses across Texas and other economic centers like California, New York and Illinois. Together, we are bridging the liquidity gap for exceptional middle-market companies.”
Spurstone will be advised by a newly formed, Phoenix-sponsored registered investment adviser, Ryestone Advisors, which is currently applying for registration with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. TCAAM will be a minority economic investor in Spurstone’s investment adviser.
DAMASCUS, Va. (WCYB) — According to leaders with the U.S. Forest Service, the Virginia Creeper Trail is set to reopen at the beginning of March.
They say, the trail could reopen this fall but after speaking with local business owners, a timeline of March would bring in more business. It would also give contractors more time to test the construction to ensure its stability.
On Tuesday, Senator Mark Warner toured the construction with other elected officials, members of the U.S Forest Service and leaders of the Kiewit Corporation.
Shortly after Helene damaged all 18-miles of the upper section of the trail, Warner worked to secure $500 million of federal dollars for the U.S. Forest Service. $240 million of which went into the Creeper rebuild, granting the Kiewit Corporation the contract last year.
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