Commission still trying to preserve affordable lodging along California coast
In California, as more and more hotels are being built along the shoreline, the state is struggling to maintain affordable lodging with an ocean view.
The sticking point remains the same: The overall proposal fails to offer strong enough guarantees that there will be lower-cost accommodations once the eastern part of Harbor Island is built out with new, possibly upscale hotels, the commission staff asserts. It is recommending denial.
The planned hotels have had a ripple effect far beyond San Diego’s bayfront. The project has spurred the commission to reassess a well-intentioned policy that has yet to produce a significant volume of lodging options for middle-class families and individuals who can’t afford to stay in an ocean-view resort where nightly rates can top out at $600.
“The ability for all populations of all economic levels to have access to the coast is as threatened as many of our most troubled species for reasons that we only have one coast, and it’s easy in a market economy to sell it to the highest bidder,” commission Chairman Steve Kinsey said during a December workshop on the issue.
Secret FAA study: Air controller schedules lead to chronic fatigue
The impetus for the study was a recommendation by the National Transportation Safety Board to the FAA and the National Air Traffic Controllers Association to revise controller schedules to provide rest periods that are long enough “to obtain sufficient restorative sleep.”
The study found that nearly 2 in 10 controllers had committed significant errors in the previous year — such as bringing planes too close together — and over half attributed the errors to fatigue. A third of controllers said they perceived fatigue to be a “high” or “extreme” safety risk. Greater than 6 in 10 controllers indicated that in the previous year they had fallen asleep or experienced a lapse of attention while driving to or from midnight shifts, which typically begin about 10 p.m. and end around 6 a.m.
Flight grounded after both pilots fail alcohol test
An AirBaltic flight carrying 109 holidaymakers was grounded on Saturday after four of the five crew members failed alcohol tests.
According to the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, police were tipped off prior to departure by a passenger who suspected the crew had been drinking.
Police carried out checks and discovered both the captain and first officer, as well as two of the three flight attendants, were over the drink-fly limit.
