SAN ANTONIO – It’s been a long time coming, but it appears that San Antonio may finally get a nonstop flight to the nation’s capital.
The US House on Wednesday approved the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) bill, which will create five new roundtrip flights to Reagan National Airport (DCA). The US Senate approved the bill last week.
Once President Joe Biden signs the bill into law, American Airlines will submit an application to the U.S. Department of Transportation to initiate service from SAT to DCA. The awarding of those five flight slots will be made 60 days after the signing of the bill.
“We have been working for more than a decade to give residents of America’s seventh-largest city the same access to our nation’s leaders as nearly every other major city in the country,” San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg said. “I am grateful for the hard work of Senator Cruz and our entire congressional delegation and look forward to Secretary Buttigieg’s approval of America’s application to initiate nonstop service from Military City USA to DCA.”
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A nonstop flight between San Antonio and Reagan National will save the military and its partners more than 500,000 man-hours annually, a news release said. Additionally, San Antonio is home to the largest concentration of intelligence and cybersecurity professionals outside of the national capital region.
Currently, there are no direct flights from SAT to DCA, requiring San Antonio travelers to make connections through other airports or take ground transportation from Dulles International Airport or Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport to Washington, D.C., adding both time and costs to their itineraries. San Antonio has repeatedly been blocked in its efforts to get direct flights from DCA, putting it at a competitive disadvantage, a news release said.
American Airlines’ nonstop service would increase competition for Texas consumers by adding a fourth carrier flying from SAT to a third different airport in the DC/Maryland/Virginia region and providing connectivity to numerous other airports in the Northeast United States via American’s hub at DCA. Based on the number of daily passengers currently traveling each way between the two airports, DCA is one of the largest unserved markets from SAT.
“I am thrilled that the City of San Antonio is now positioned to directly access our nation’s capital with a non-stop flight into Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport,” said US Sen. Ted Cruz, who worked with the chair of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee to get the bill passed. “By working together, we overcame fierce opposition to my bipartisan provision expanding long-haul flights to Reagan National. “I will be pressing the U.S. Department of Transportation to swiftly approve applications for the five long-haul flights that I successfully included in this year’s FAA reauthorization bill and look forward to being on the first direct San Antonio-Reagan National flight later this year.”
A new University of Washington study detected a parasitic tapeworm that can infect domestic dogs and humans in the intestines of one-third of coyotes surveyed in Washington. In this provided photo, a coyote (not part of the study) is pictured in a Seattle park in fall 2025.
Courtesy Samantha Kreling/University of Washington
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Researchers in Washington state have found that about a third of the local coyotes studied have a species of tapeworm. These can be passed to dogs, and in rare instances humans. These parasites are also present in foxes and other canid urban wildlife. Domestic dogs can also contract them, and it can be years before the symptoms of the severe disease they cause are detected, making diagnosis and treatment difficult. In rare instances, dogs can spread the tapeworms to humans. We talk with Yasmine Hentati, the study’s lead author who recently got her doctorate in environmental and forest science from the University of Washington. She shares more about these parasites and the relative risks for people and dogs.
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Cold Spring Harbor played Port Washington in a Nassau boys lacrosse game on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Andrew Ioannou of Cold Spring Harbor shoots against Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Daniel Touhy of Cold Spring Harbor changes direction while looking to evade the Port Washington defense during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Max Eynon of Port Washington makes a save against Cold Spring Harbor during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Matt Kammer of Cold Spring Harbor deflects a shot for a save against Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Colby Koeningsberger of Cold Spring Harbor advances the ball against Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Rex O’Connor of Cold Spring Harbor controls the ball late in the 4th quarter against Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Andrew Ioannou of Cold Spring Harbor runs past Jimmy Gannon of Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Dylan Reilly, left, and Rex O’Connor of Cold Spring Harbor celebrate after a goal during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Dylan Reilly of Cold Spring Harbor rips a shot on goal against Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Colby Koeningsberger #2 of Cold spring harbor looks for an open teammate to pass to against Port Washington during a league 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026
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Andrew Ioannou of Cold Spring Harbor looks to dodge Jimmy Gannon of Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Rex O’Connor, left, and Jake Telesco of Cold Spring Harbor celebrate after a goal against Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Dylan Reilly of Cold Spring Harbor controls the ball against Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Roy Testa of Cold Spring harbor looks for an open teammate against Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Roy Testa of Cold Spring Harbor advances the ball against Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Jake Feinstein of Port Washington puts pressure on Rex O’Connor of Cold Spring Harbor during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Rex O’Connor of Cold Spring Harbor looks to dodge the Port Washington defense during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Harry Eynon of Port Washington comes around the crease against Cold Spring Harbor during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
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Goalie Matt Kammer of Cold Spring Harbor advances the ball after a save against Port Washington during a Nassau League 1B boys lacrosse game at Port Washington on Tuesday, April 14, 2026.
An aviation safety bill seeking to address lessons learned from last year’s midair collision of a jet with an Army helicopter near the nation’s capital is up for a vote Tuesday evening in the House, but key senators and the families of the 67 victims think the bill needs to be strengthened.
The House bill, called the Alert Act, has the backing of key industry groups. The National Transportation Safety Board said recently that the legislation, since amended, now addresses its recommendation to require all aircraft flying around busy airports to have key locator systems that let pilots know more precisely where other aircraft are flying around them.
The NTSB has been recommending the new technology systems since 2008, and Chairwoman Jennifer Homendy has said such a system would have prevented the collision of the American Airlines jet and Army Black Hawk helicopter that sent both aircraft plunging into the icy Potomac River.
Two key House committees unanimously advanced the bill last month. The bill is now being brought up for a full House vote under rules that won’t allow any amendments. But victims’ families said they want to make sure the bill has strict timelines to guarantee the reforms will be completed. And they worry the House bill would allow military flights to continue flying without broadcasting their locations on routine training flights and not just secret missions.
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“January 29, 2025 made clear what is at stake. The 67 lives lost that day should be honored with an improved system that prevents this from happening again,” the main families group said Tuesday in a new statement. “And the flying public should not have to wait longer than necessary for those protections to be in place.”
Sponsored by Republican Sam Graves and Democrat Rick Larens, the legislation needs to secure two thirds of House support to advance to the Senate. Separate legislation called the ROTOR Act that the Senate crafted came up one vote short in the House. Senators Ted Cruz and Maria Cantwell have also said the Alert Act still needs to be improved.
Earlier this year, the NTSB’s Homendy sharply criticized the original version of the bill as a “watered down” measure that wouldn’t do enough to prevent future tragedies. But the board said the revised version would now address the shortcomings their investigation identified and require the Federal Aviation Administration, Transportation Department and the military to take needed actions.
National Transportation Safety Board members at a hearing in late January were deeply troubled over years of ignored warnings about helicopter traffic dangers and other problems, long before the collision.
Everyone aboard the American Airlines jet, flying from Wichita, Kansas, and the helicopter died when the two aircraft collided. It was the deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil since 2001, and the victims included 28 members of the figure skating community.
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A helicopter route in the approach path of a Reagan National Airport runway didn’t ensure enough separation between helicopters and planes landing on the airport’s secondary runway, and the route wasn’t reviewed regularly, the board said. The poor design of that route was a key factor in the crash along with air traffic controllers relying too much on pilots seeing and avoiding other aircraft.
The bill now requires planes to have Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast In systems that can receive data about the locations of other aircraft. Proponents of the use of such systems said they would have alerted the pilots of an American Airlines jet sooner about the impending collision with the Black Hawk helicopter. Most planes already have the complementary ADS-B Out systems that broadcast their locations.
The NTSB cited systemic weaknesses and years of ignored warnings as the main causes of the crash, but Homendy has said that if both the plane and the Black Hawk had been equipped with ADS-B In and the systems had been turned on, the collision would have been prevented. The Army’s policy at the time of the crash mandated that its helicopters fly without that system on to conceal their locations, although the helicopter involved in this crash was on a training flight, not a sensitive mission.
