Southwest Airlines:Â Southwest Airlines is operating on a sharply curtailed schedule today and plans to do so for the next few days to help it fully restore service after disruptions during the Christmas holiday. Southwest’s CEO Robert Jordan blamed the problems on the storm that swept across the country, but also admitted that the airline needs to upgrade its scheduling systems and technology. Southwest canceled about 2,600 flights yesterday, accounting for 80% of the flight cancellations in the U.S. The U.S. Department of Transportation plans to investigate the situation at Southwest.
Title 42:Â The U.S. Supreme Court by a five to four vote has ruled that Title 42, put in place during the Trump Administration to restrict immigration to help deal with the Covid pandemic, should remain in place. Conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch sided with liberals Ketanji Brown Jackson, Elena Kagan and Sonia Sotomayor in voting to allow Title 42 to expire.
Presidential vacation:Â President and Mrs. Biden are in St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands where they’re expected to vacation until Jan. 2. Air Force One landed in St. Croix at 11:10 p.m. local time last night.
$640M jackpot: There was no winner of the Mega Millions jackpot drawing last night, and the grand prize has now increased to $640 million. The next drawing is scheduled for Friday night. The odds of winning the jackpot are more than 302 million to one.
Concern for Benedict:Â The Vatican this morning expressed concern for the health of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI, who is 95 years old. Pope Francis asked for prayers for Benedict, who is the first Pope in 600 years to have resigned. A Vatican spokesman said doctors are continually monitoring Benedict’s condition.
Release of Trump’s tax returns:Â A spokesperson for the House Ways and Means Committee says it will make six years of Donald Trump’s tax returns public on Friday. It is expected that they will be made part of the Congressional Record during a House session Friday morning. A report from the Joint Committee on Taxation showed that Trump paid $750 in federal income taxes in 2016 and 2017 and no federal taxes in 2020.
