New York
Plane makes emergency landing on NYC highway
NEW YORK – A small plane made an emergency landing Saturday on an interstate highway in New York City, startling drivers but touching down safely with no serious injuries to anyone aboard, officials said.
The aircraft, a Piper PA-28, set down at around 3:20 p.m. on the northbound side of the Major Deegan Expressway in the Bronx, in an area where the highway passes through Van Cortlandt Park.
MSNBC host makes on-air apology to Romney family
An MSNBC host Saturday offered an on-air apology for comments made last weekend on her show about a picture of Mitt Romney’s family that featured his adopted, black grandson.
Melissa Harris-Perry said last week’s year-in-review program, a “look back in laughter” that featured a panel of comedians, went in the wrong direction when it came to comments about a picture of the 2012 Republican presidential nominee; his wife, Ann; and their grandchildren. All but infant grandson Kieran are white.
Harris-Perry apologized to the Romney family in a statement earlier this week.
Given her own family history, Harris-Perry today said she intended to say “positive and celebratory” things, but that is not how the segment transpired. One guest sang, “One of these things just isn’t the same,” while another said the photo “sums up the diversity of the Republican Party.” Harris suggested a marriage between Kieran and the infant daughter of Kanye West and Kim Kardashian.
Texas
Barbara Bush leaves hospital; was treated for pneumonia
HOUSTON – Former first lady Barbara Bush praised the staff of a Texas hospital where she spent nearly a week being treated for pneumonia before going home Saturday.
Jim McGrath, a spokesman for President George H.W. Bush and his wife, says doctors at Houston Methodist Hospital decided Saturday morning to allow Barbara Bush to go home. The 88-year-old Bush family matriarch had been hospitalized since Dec. 30.
The nation’s longest-married presidential first couple will celebrate their 69th wedding anniversary Monday.
Washington
Local labor influence takes hit in Boeing contract
SEATTLE – Under pressure from regional leaders, machinists in Washington state took a late-night vote that defied their local union bosses by narrowly approving a new labor contract that secures a coveted plane project for the Seattle area but moves workers away from pensions.
The tight count exposed deep rifts in the once-powerful union but with plenty of states lining up to give Boeing exactly what it wanted to get work on the 777x, the aerospace giant had a tremendous advantage.
The company, the state’s governor and national union leaders all hailed the contract as a vital boost to the region’s economy, but to some observers, the vote dealt a blow to local union influence.
“It shows that even a strong local is vulnerable and has a limited defensibility to slow the tide of concessions that has been going on across the country,” Leon Grunberg said, a sociology professor at the University of Puget Sound who co-authored a book, Turbulence: Boeing and the State of American Workers.
He added Saturday, “This is happening with a company that’s doing very well financially.”
Associated Press and USA Today
