Two Southwest Airlines flights from Orange County, California, to Phoenix were the subject of security scares Tuesday night — and authorities are investigating whether the incidents are linked.

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Threats halt 2 Southwest flights

The Obama administration’s counterterrorism accomplishments are most apparent in what it has been able to dismantle, including CIA prisons and entire tiers of al-Qaeda’s leadership. But what the administration has assembled, hidden from public view, may be equally consequential. In the space of three years, the administration has built an extensive apparatus for using drones to carry out targeted killings of suspected terrorists and stealth surveillance of other adversaries. The apparatus involves dozens of secret facilities, including two operational hubs on the East Coast, virtual Air Force cockpits in the Southwest and clandestine bases in at least six countries on two continents. Read full article > >

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Under Obama, an emerging global apparatus for drone killing

NAPLES, Fla. — Former House speaker Newt Gingrich attracted huge crowds in Florida this weekend, but he continued to face down accusations from his rivals that he is too soft on immigration to win the Republican presidential nomination. Gingrich, 68, who joined former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney at the top of the field less than two weeks ago, showed no sign of slipping at two appearances along the southwest Florida coast — a conservative enclave and critical battleground in the state’s Jan. 31 primary. Read full article > >

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Gingrich attracts crowds in Florida, as rivals continue attack on immigration stance

GENEVA — The World Health Organization has branded cities in Iran, India, Pakistan and the capital of Mongolia among the worst on the planet for air pollution. The global health body has compiled a list of measurements from some 1,100 cities worldwide. The list released Monday gave the southwest Iranian city of Ahvaz the unfortunate world record for the highest measured level of airborne particles smaller than 10 micrometers. Read full article > >

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WHO: Cities in Iran, South Asia among worst worldwide for pollution

Jamming an ambitious new art festival into the Skyline Hotel , an outpost of mid-century modern cool in Southwest D.C., was never going to be easy. Designed by the Miami architect Morris Lapidus in the early 1960s, the Skyline has small rooms, low ceilings, narrow hallways and conference space better scaled to a philately convention or mahjong tournament than a major art fair. But it has buzz and it’s owned by the Rubell family , who have emerged as major players in the Washington contemporary art scene. Read full article > >

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(E)merge art fair adapts site’s form and function

Name-checks Southwest Airlines, eats Carl’s Jr.

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Mitt Romney Shows Off Regular Tastes

As Julie Butcher Pezzino and Andrew Butcher sat in an oceanside garden in tiny Southwest Harbor, Maine, the Sunday before Labor Day, watching two friends get married, the scene was beautiful, moving and very familiar. Practically everyone from their tight little American University crew was there. And as in their own ceremony, the officiant wasn’t some distant member of the clergy; it was another member of the crew. Read full article > >

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More couples pick friends to preside at weddings

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — An airline official says a Southwest Airlines flight headed for Baltimore was diverted to Nashville after what he described as “suspicious behavior” by a passenger. The flight originated in Albuquerque on Saturday morning and landed in Nashville at about 1:10 p.m. CDT. Southwest Airlines spokesman Chris Mainz told The Associated Press that the passenger’s behavior on the plane wasn’t disruptive, but he declined to elaborate. Read full article > >

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Southwest Airlines flight from New Mexico to Md. diverted to Nashville for security reasons

Taking on the sophistications of an opera like Offenbach’s “Tales of Hoffmann,” even in a concert performance, is an ambitious stretch for any small local company, but taking it on without a stage director is just foolish. Concerts may not involve sets or costumes, but there is some acting expected and, for a cast of singers of mixed experience and ability, acting often can save the show. Case in point, the Riverbend Opera Company, in the middle of a four-performance run of “Tales” in four venues. On Tuesday, in the spare space of St. Augustine’s Episcopal Church on the Southwest waterfront, many of the less-experienced singers were left without the coaching that might have made them credible actors. Read full article > >

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Riverbend Opera takes on ‘The Tales of Hoffmann’

Teams from 18 cities gather for a national tournament for the homeless on the Southwest waterfront. Read full article > >

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Ready to play

The five-foot hole in the roof of a Southwest Airlines 737 this month revived fears of widespread problems in aging passenger jets.

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Scrutiny Lags as Jets Show Effects of Age

2:35 p.m. update: Though much of the area has been catching a break, some heavier showers and storms are entering back in from the west. The severe weather we are watching is currently near Charlottesville, Va. and moving northeast. Additional activity is possible ahead of this line as well in the increasingly unstable aire moving north. The risk of severe weather should grow, especially in the southwest portions of the area over the next hour or two.

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Tornado watch issued, runs until 9 p.m.

Boeing engineers had anticipated the aluminum skin and “lap joints” on certain Boeing 737s would need to be inspected for cracks after roughly 60,000 take-off and landing cycles, but the company drastically altered that estimate in the wake of the fuselage rupture on a Southwest Airlines flight with only 39,000 cycles.

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737s skin, joints wear surprises Boeing

Check your flight status: Southwest Airlines may cancel 300 additional flights on Sunday, having already canceled the same number of departures Saturday. The move, while necessary based on safety fears, will cost the carrier millions. The airline…

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Southwest May Cancel 600 Flights

DALLAS — AirTran Airways shareholders voted Wednesday to sell the discount airline to bigger rival Southwest for $1.4 billion.

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AirTran shareholders approve $1.4 billion sale, Southwest awaits regulatory approval for deal