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United Airlines ground stop lifted; flight delays persist in multiple cities, including Chicago

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A United Airlines ground stop has been lifted at multiple airports across the country. The ground stop impacted major hubs like Chicago O’Hare International Airport for hours, causing long waits and extensive delays for passengers arriving and departing. 

United said a “technology issue” prompted them to request the ground stop and hold departures at about 5:12 p.m. CT. They released a statement around 9 p.m. CT saying that issue had been resolved and they were working to get flights moving again. 

“We are working with customers to get them to their destinations after a technology disruption on Wednesday evening. The underlying technology issue has been resolved, and, while we expect residual delays, our team is working to restore our normal operations,” the statement read. 

The ground stops also impacted major United hubs in Denver, Houston, San Francisco and Newark.

Flights already in the air were able to continue to to their destinations and United Express’ regional flights were not affected, but were delayed going into some of airports due to a rippling traffic jam effect. 

The Federal Aviation Administration released a statement on the issue, writing, “We’re aware United experienced a technology issue disrupting their operations. Some delays may continue as they work through the recovery process. We’ve offered full support to help address their flight backlog and remain in close contact with United.”

Video taken by a passenger at O’Hare shows a line of United planes stopped on the tarmac that have recently landed, waiting because no gates are available.

United also sent a text message to passengers saying in part, “Due to a technology outage, we are temporarily holding some Untied flights at their departure airports to manage gate availability at destination airports. This may result in delays throughout the evening as we work to resolve the situation.”

CBS News has learned that United is treating this as a preventable delay, which means they will pay for customer expenses like hotels when applicable, and that the outage is not related to concerns about cybersecurity in the airline industry. 

Secretary of Transportation Sean Duffy wrote on X that he had “been briefed by United CEO Scott Kirby on their company’s internal tech outage” and said the issue was specific to United and “not related to the broader air traffic control system.”

Chicago O’Hare Airport was reporting departure delays averaging two hours as of 9:10 p.m. 

The ground stops only affected United flights. 

contributed to this report.



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Romania becomes second Nato country to detect Russian drones in airspace

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Romania says a Russian drone has breached its airspace – the second Nato country to report such an incursion.

Romanian fighter jets were in the air monitoring a Russian attack in Ukraine on Saturday and were able to track the drone near Ukraine’s southern border, the defence ministry said in a statement.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the incursion could not be a mistake – it was “an obvious expansion of the war by Russia”. Moscow has not commented on the Romanian claims.

On Wednesday, Poland said it had shot down at least three Russian drones which had entered its airspace.

In its statement, Romania’s defence ministry said it detected the Russian drone when two F-16 jets were monitoring they country’s border with Ukraine, after “Russian air attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure on the Danube”.

The drone was detected 20km (12.4 miles) south-west of the village of Chilia Veche, before disappearing from the radar.

But it did not fly over populated areas or pose imminent danger, the ministry said.

Poland also responded to concerns over Russian drones on Saturday.

“Preventative operations of aviation – Polish and allied – have begun in our airspace,” Prime Minister Donald Tusk said in a post on X.

“Ground-based air defence systems have reached the highest state of readiness.”

Earlier this week Russia’s defence ministry said there had been “no plans” to target facilities on Polish soil.

Belarus, a close Russian ally, said the drones which entered Polish airspace on Wednesday were an accident, after their navigation systems were jammed.

On Sunday, the Czech Republic announced it had sent a special operations helicopter unit to Poland.

The unit consists of three Mi-171S helicopters, each one capable of transporting up to 24 personnel and featuring full combat equipment.

The move is in response to Russian’s incursion into Nato’s eastern flank, the Czech Defence Minister Jana Cernochova said.

In response to the latest drone incursion, President Zelensky said the Russian military “knows exactly where their drones are headed and how long they can operate in the air”.

He has consistently asked Western countries to tighten sanctions on Moscow.

US President Donald Trump also weighed in on airspace breach earlier this week, saying he was “ready” to impose tougher sanctions on Russia, but only if Nato countries met certain conditions, such as stopping buying Russian oil.

Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 and has been making slow progress in the battlefield.

Trump has been leading efforts to end the war, but Russia has intensified attacks on Ukraine since President Vladimir Putin returned from a summit with Trump in Alaska last month.



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Utah campus concealed carry permit under fresh scrutiny after Kirk shooting | Utah

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As authorities at the federal and state levels parse the details of the fatal shooting of far-right activist Charlie Kirk at a university in Utah, a recently passed state bill that allows people with concealed-carry permits to carry firearms on college campuses has drawn fresh scrutiny.

Utah has allowed for permitless open and concealed carry of weapons since 2021. But before the passage of HB 128, firearms had to be concealed when carried on college campuses. The law allowed people with the proper permit to carry them openly.

When the law passed in August, university staff voiced concerns about what carrying could mean for classroom emergencies that might require students to act as armed responders and their presence in laboratories where harmful and potent chemicals were stored.

While it’s unclear whether the suspected shooter, 22-year-old Tyler Robinson, was legally allowed to own the hunting rifle used in the shooting, or have one on a university campus, the proximity between the bill’s passing and the shooting has pushed the law into headlines across the US.

The bill did not come in a vacuum, but added to Utah’s already second amendment-friendly legislative landscape. The state doesn’t have extreme risk protection orders (Erpo), known as red-flag laws, which allow people like police officers and family members to petition a judge to have someone’s firearms temporarily taken away. It is one of 29 states that allows people to carry concealed firearms without a permit. It has a law aiming to get guns out of the hands of people in crisis, but requires people to flag themselves in the federal background check system.

When Utah lawmakers have addressed campus safety, their efforts have typically centered on K-12 schools, where there’s a greater expectation and need for campuses to be largely closed to the public.

There, in lieu of policies restricting gun access and training requirements for prospective concealed-carry permit applicants, the state has leaned into legislation meant to make it harder for shooters to enter and move freely around schools – for example, by adding doors with automatic locks, surveillance cameras and fencing. This approach, known as school hardening, is to deter shooters from entering schools and responding quickly to stop them and secure students.

For example, HB 119, which passed last year, incentivizes K-12 teachers to get training so they can keep a firearm in their classroom. HB 84, a sweeping piece of legislation passed in 2024, requires classrooms to have panic devices and schools to have at least one armed person – be it a school resource officer or security guard – on campus daily.

Advocates of Utah’s gun laws have argued that making sure guns are easily accessible can serve as a deterrent, whether to would-be home invaders, carjackers or shooters hoping to take advantage of “soft targets” like malls, campuses and grocery stores, and allow for armed responses if some start shooting.

“We sort of take the view here that the second amendment is very broad and a permit to carry a concealed weapon is just one obstacle in being able to exercise that right. There’s a mentality that there should be as few obstacles as possible,” said Johnny Richardson, a Utah-based attorney and former editor at the Utah Law Review.

“In effect, there’s a belief that gun control laws will impede access to those who are already law-abiding and put them at an unfair disadvantage to those who aren’t,” he continued.

While permitless carrying may have some effect on deterring offences like robberies, it is inadequate in the face of grievance and politically driven violence, said Brandon del Pozo, an assistant professor of medicine and health policy at Brown University.

“The deterrence effect of concealed carry only applies to rational actors. And you get to a point in political extremism where you’re not dealing with rational people,” he said.

Before he went to Brown, del Pozo spent 19 years in the New York police department, and four years as the chief of police for Burlington, Vermont, where, like in Utah, permits to carry and licenses to sell firearms are not required. Del Pozo says that the circulation of guns was on his mind while planning safety for rallies and the annual city marathon, which attracts thousands of people. Through these experiences, he’s found that cities and states where many residents are armed in public can fail to account for the large presence of concealed guns and to plan to provide an accompanying level of screening.

“In places like Utah where there’s going to be a lot of guns in circulation, you have to decide when you’re going to carve out spaces where people are screened for guns,” he added.

“And if you’re a small police department, it’s hard to secure something outdoors. But if you’re coming to a provocative political rally, you need to be screened.”

In a press conference following the shooting, Utah Valley campus police chief Jeff Long told reporters that there had been six officers assigned to the Charlie Kirk event, which drew a crowd of about 3,000 people. His department coordinated with Kirk’s personal security detail, he said.

Students who attended the event noted that there were no metal detectors or staff members checking attendees’ bags, according to the Associated Press.



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Fulfill Your NFL Sunday Ticket Fix Without a Big Bill Thanks to This App

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Deal or no deal, streaming live sports takes some maneuvering just to keep up. Now that NFL season has started, you may be thinking of YouTube TV’s NFL Sunday Ticket as an option to stream football. It’s not cheap, though. Whether you pay for it in installments, get it as a perk through Verizon or have a student discount, you’re still shelling out money. But for NFL fans, there’s a way to watch Sunday Ticket without spending money on a subscription. The catch? You’ll have to leave the house. 

DirecTV has an app called Sports Bar Finder that helps you locate bars and restaurants around the US that offer 15 TV sports packages, including NFL Sunday Ticket. It’s available via web browser and operates using your location or by inputting a postal code. 

If you’re unsure about paying $276 for a new Sunday Ticket plan or up to $480 as a returning customer looking to resurrect your subscription for the 2025 season, then this could be an alternative. I tried out Sports Bar Finder (and called a few establishments to confirm they’ll carry the package this season) and have provided a walkthrough on how it works. 

How to use Sports Bar Finder for NFL Sunday Ticket

The Sports Bar Finder app used to be available for Android and iOS devices, but it’s now only accessible via a web browser.

  1. Navigate to Sports Bar Finder, where you’ll be prompted to type in a bar name, share your location or enter a postal ZIP code.
  2. The list will populate with area restaurants and bars, giving you the option to filter the results by sports package. Select NFL Sunday Ticket from the list. You can also skip this step and just look for the Sunday Ticket badge under each establishment’s information. 
  3. directv bar finder sorting for nfl sunday ticket

    Screenshot by Kourtnee Jackson/CNET
  4. You can choose from the main list of bars shown in the results or click Featured to see the app’s highlighted locations. 
  5. Click on View Additional Bar Details. Each bar and restaurant provides the address, hours and available sports TV packages at that location. However, whether you’re in your own neighborhood or visiting another city from out of town, we suggest you call ahead to verify that games will be broadcast. 
  6. Tapping the heart icon will save a location to your Favorites section, so you can easily track some of your favorite places to watch Sunday Ticket or other sports offerings such as Big Ten, Friday Night Baseball or Thursday Night Football.

To tailor the results even more, you can filter by amenities (e.g., Wi-Fi or good for groups) or rating. The app pulls ratings from Yelp reviews. 

Want more NFL and sports-related coverage? Check out CNET’s pieces on streaming services like Fox One, game-day watch information and NBA news.





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