West
From floppy disks to flight delays: Top lawmaker warns US air system is due for a reboot
A leading lawmaker from the nation’s most interconnected air travel state warned that outdated technology – like “floppy disks” – and ongoing air traffic control (ATC) crises at key hubs are compounding the need to overhaul the U.S. air travel system.
Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, who also sits on the Aviation subcommittee on the Senate Commerce and Transportation Committee, spoke to Fox News Digital exclusively on Wednesday as the crisis mounted, most recently in the Philadelphia ATC sector; specifically at Newark-Liberty International Airport.
The Last Frontier has the least miles of roads per capita and hundreds of communities where air travel is the only relatively realistic or reliable mode.
Sullivan said that it is not only in his state’s interest to see such an overhaul, but that – just as the Philadelphia sector has seen issues as of late – the Anchorage air traffic control hub itself controls individual flight patterns almost anywhere between Chicago and Tokyo.
ALASKA SENATOR LITERALLY TEARS UP BIDEN’S ENERGY ORDERS, BOOSTS WH EFFORTS TO LEVERAGE ARCTIC LNG ASIA TRADE
Bering Air crash, left, Sen. Sullivan, center, EWR, right (NTSB, Getty, Getty)
“We help the entire country when people are traveling from the Lower 48 over to Asia,” he said.
“What we need to do is we need to preemptively address challenges before they become tragedies,” said Sullivan, who spoke out similarly at a commerce hearing with NTSB and FAA officials earlier this year.
He also cited a February passenger airliner crash in his own state, when a plane went down on Norton Sound’s sea ice after leaving Unalakleet for Nome, killing 10.
“What happens, unfortunately, is too often tragedy is what inspires and motivates reform,” he said, adding that the Department of Transportation should and likely will, under Secretary Sean Duffy, pivot to “predict[ing] and preempt[ing].”
On a recent tour of the Anchorage center, he spoke to FAA workers and saw how they, like other sectors, rely on 20th-century floppy disks and “strips of paper that are like post-it notes.”
AK CAN BE ‘CURE TO THE NATION’S ILLS’ WITH HELP FROM TRUMP ADMIN: GOV DUNLEAVY
Crash of Bering Air 208B near Unalakleet, Alaska. (NTSB)
“What we don’t want, unfortunately – it’s happened – is have a big crash and tragedy as the thing that inspires change,” he said, placing the blame most recently on the Biden administration, in part, for appearing to prioritize diversity over substantive reforms at USDOT.
“I watched this: Hiring people for the FAA in terms of air traffic controllers is competitive. It requires real schooling. It requires high performance. And the Biden team came in, and I guess in the name of diversity… they started taking people off the street literally with no background in any of this. We’ve got to get back to the rigorous FAA standards,” he said.
He said he spoke with Duffy on Tuesday and predicted “a really big comprehensive reform program” in the weeks and months to come.
Newark Airport in New Jersey (Getty)
“We have the safest aviation system in the world, but that doesn’t happen through magic. That happens through diligence, through upgrading our technology.”
While not directly addressing the situation in Newark, Sullivan praised the Trump administration’s “outstanding” response to the Unalakleet crash and predicted the Department of Transportation would handle the Newark-Liberty incident in a similarly effective manner.
Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has defended his tenure, writing on X that “we put safety first, drove down close calls, grew [ATC] and had zero commercial airline fatalities out of millions of flights on our watch.”
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Presidio Heights is proving to be a center of gravity as luxury housing supply in San Francisco vanishes and the city’s well-to-do scramble to claim their slice of the artificial intelligence industry’s nerve center.
On the same day last week, the city recorded two home sales in the wealthy neighborhood for $9.2 million and $10 million.
The first reflected the fortunes being created by the AI industry. Venture capitalist Kenneth Wallace and his wife, Moriah Lewis, sold their five-bed, 4,755-square-foot home at 3875 Clay Street for $9.2 million. Josh McAdam of Sotheby’s International Realty represented the seller. The property last sold for $6.8 million in 2021.
The buyer initially kept their name hidden behind a Delaware-incorporated LLC named after the property’s address. However, according to public loan documents, the LLC is managed by Daniel Berrios and Kimberly Tan, a couple in their early 30s who graduated from Stanford into the San Francisco tech sector. Berrios works on special projects at OpenAI, and Tan is an investing partner with blue chip venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz. Wells Fargo Bank provided a $5.4 million loan for the purchase.
Ten blocks east, sellers Herbert and Shwu-Ling Wei sold their six-bed, 5,000 square-foot home at 2881 Jackson Street for $10 million. Kyle Vineyard, a CPA with Realize Tax Advisors, is the trustee of the buyer, RKLA Trust. It is unclear whether Vineyard’s involvement is purely professional or if he’s connected to the trust.
The home last sold in 2014 for $6.8 million.
Presidio Heights, the neighborhood that runs along Presidio Park at San Francisco’s north end, has experienced a hot streak during the first half of 2026. Earlier this month, two mansions in the area sold for a combined $32 million, marking the fourth and fifth sales this year to eclipse $10 million. There were seven sales above that benchmark in Presidio Heights in all of 2025, according to Zillow data.
San Francisco, where the median home sale fetches $2.2 million, is dealing with its own version of champagne problems: a mansion shortage. The AI boom has attracted a wave of high-paid employees, apparently leaving the city with more millionaires than mansions. Steep capital gains taxes have made some mansion owners hesitant to let go of their property. Others are holding out for the expected spike in luxury home demand following Anthropic and OpenAI’s initial public offerings of stock, which are expected to come later this year.
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Denver, CO
Denver Transplant Games sets Guinness World Record for most living donors, recipients in one place at one time
DENVER — The biennial Transplant Games wrapped up in Denver this week, bringing hundreds of organ donors and recipients together to compete in everything from cycling and swimming to darts and trivia at venues all over the city.
In fact, the games set a Guinness World Record for most living donors and recipients in one place at one time, with 966 gathering at the Colorado Convention Center.
PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Transplant Games bringing competition, life-saving message to Denver
Angela Laino, who used to live in Boulder, came back to Colorado to compete in the games. She donated a kidney to a stranger in January before running in the 5K event.
“I’m what they call a non-directed living kidney donor, which means that I don’t know who my recipient was,” she explained. “So I just said, ‘Whoever needs my kidney, I’m sure they’ll find the best match for it.’”
- Watch the full story in the video player below.
Transplant Games in Denver sets Guinness World Record
Laino said she was inspired by her job, working “on and off” as a dialysis social worker for 17 years.
“I really saw the challenges that my patients faced,” she said. “I saw what they had to go through to get on the [transplant] wait list… I know what transplant means for people. I’ve seen it firsthand. And to be able to see them come out here, compete, they’re doing basketball, they’re doing badminton, they’re swimming, they’re cycling, they’re running. They are living their full lives, and that’s really what transplant can do for people.”
Denver7
Laino said the games unite the community and show off its resilience.
“When you go through the transplant process, sometimes you feel alone, you feel like you’re the only one going through this,” Laino said. “And then you come to an event like this and you literally see thousands of people. You see recipients, living donors, donor families coming together for the same cause. It’s really inspiring, because it really helps to get the word out, spread awareness about the organ shortage, and it shows people what recipients and donors can do after they have the surgery.”
Dr. Michael O’Shea — a nephrologist, a doctor who cares for kidney disease patients and the kidneys in general — agrees. But he said more needs to be down to support patients and spread the word about the need for organ donations.
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The National Kidney Foundation estimates 37 million Americans have Chronic Kidney Disease, which occurs when kidneys cannot filter the blood properly, leading to serious health issues. Because symptoms can be minimal in early stages of the disease, many patients don’t realize they have it.
“I think education about kidney transplant, both on the patient side as well as on the potential donor side, could be markedly ramped up and improved,” Dr. O’Shea said. “It’s struggles with communication between transplant centers, patients, and community nephrologists. No one’s fault. It’s just a very complicated delivery system.”
In the case of kidneys, people can become diseased donors — who register to donate in the case of their sudden death — or living donors, who donate one kidney will relying on the other. Dr. O’Shea said both are critical to meet nationwide demand for life-saving transplants, though the living donations tend to have a longer lifespan — around roughly 20 years — for recipients.
“A number of folks get transplanted every year off this list,” O’Shea explained. “It is also true that a greater number of folks get added to the list every year.”
To register to become a deceased donor, Coloradans can visit their local Department of Motor Vehicles office or visit registerme.org.
O’Shea said those considering living donations face an “exceedingly small” medical risk for end-stage kidney disease, but should consult with their doctor about the decision.
Even as the games leave Denver, a reminder will stick around through the summer. Denver Parks and Recreation, the Downtown Denver Partnership and DaVita have partnered to set up a basketball court in Skyline Park near Arapahoe and 17th Streets, in order to keep the spirit of the games alive and honor the resilience of organ donors, recipients and their families.
Denver7 | Your Voice: Get in touch with Ryan Fish
Denver7’s Ryan Fish covers stories that have an impact in all of Colorado’s communities, but specializes in covering artificial intelligence, technology, aviation and space. If you’d like to get in touch with Ryan, fill out the form below to send him an email.
SEATTLE — Seattle police are investigating a shooting that left a 17-year-old boy injured early Thursday morning in the High Point neighborhood.
At about 12:48 a.m., dispatchers received multiple reports of rapid gunfire near Sylvan Way Southwest and Southwest Morgan Street.
Officers arrived and found a 17-year-old boy suffering from a gunshot wound to the hip area. Medics transported the teen to Harborview Medical Center in serious but stable condition.
Before officers located the victim, they found a car that had crashed and become disabled near Sylvan Way Southwest and Delridge Way Southwest. Police said multiple suspects were seen running from the vehicle through a nearby Home Depot parking lot.
Officers cordoned off the area and searched for the suspects with assistance from the K-9 Unit, but were unable to locate them. Police recovered the vehicle and impounded it for processing.
During the incident, gunfire struck at least three vehicles and two buildings. No other injuries were reported.
Officers processed multiple nearby scenes and recovered evidence before clearing the area. Detectives with the Gun Violence Reduction Unit will lead the investigation.
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