In The News
Boeing gets Senate scrutiny after scary incidents and whistleblower complaints
Two Senate panels Wednesday will probe what’s gone wrong at Boeing. But Washington’s relationship with the United States’ most important plane manufacturer will be the inevitable subtext. Boeing’s safety practices are facing increasing scrutiny following a series of alarming incidents involving its planes, including a high-profile incident in which a door panel on a 737 MAX jet blew off midair over Oregon — and more whistleblowers coming forward with allegations. Along with obvious questions … Continue Reading
April 17, 2024
Boeing has 'a long way to go' to fix its safety culture
US lawmakers challenged Boeing Co. to expend the necessary time and effort to reset what they called a broken safety culture and criticized the planemaker’s relationship with regulators as overly cozy. Boeing needs to be judged by what it does, not by what it says it’s doing, Senator Tammy Duckworth, an Illinois Democrat, said in her opening remarks at a Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. At a second hearing, Senator Richard Blumenthal said Boeing had made a “bad investment” with what … Continue Reading
April 12, 2024
Clean energy project may be coming to Rockford, turning waste into aviation fuel
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Senator Tammy Duckworth among other local government representatives spoke on a facility that could turn waste into aviation fuel on Friday. “So we are the future energy state for the nation, but that means we’ve got to work together,” said Duckworth. Duckworth spoke to Stateline-area government and local agencies about manufacturing goals and plans for the area, including possible plans of turning waste into aviation fuel through a proposal from California-based … Continue Reading
April 12, 2024
Sen. Tammy Duckworth talks Illinois' manufacturing, aviation and reproductive rights
ROCKFORD (WREX) — Illinois Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth made a trip to Northern Illinois to try to help bring Monarch Energy to the Rockford area. She met with local officials and the company to see how she can help overcome some federal regulations that could be an obstacle to bringing it here. Some of those obstacles include the dates of when a nuclear plant or wind turbines were built in an area. "Illinois has been the leader in wind energy," Sen. Duckworth said. "So it's very unfair … Continue Reading
April 05, 2024
US senator wants probe of ‘undisclosed feature’ of 737 Max cockpit door
US Senator Tammy Duckworth is calling on the Federal Aviation Administration to examine why Alaska Airlines pilots were unaware of a critical feature of the 737 Max 9’s cockpit door ahead of the 5 January depressurisation event on Alaska flight 1282. The Illinois senator, who chairs the senate’s sub-committee on aviation safety, operations and innovation, urged FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker in a 4 April letter to “examine why pilots were not aware that the cockpit door of the 737 Max 9 … Continue Reading
April 04, 2024
Sen. Tammy Duckworth calls for FAA review of Boeing's failure to disclose 737 Max flight deck features to pilots
Senator Tammy Duckworth is urging the Federal Aviation Administration to take a closer look at how it responds to what she says is a pattern by Boeing of failing to disclose flight deck features of the 737 Max to pilots, according to a letter to be sent Thursday and obtained exclusively by CBS News. Duckworth, Democrat of Illinois and chair of the Senate's Aviation Safety, Operations and Innovation Subcommittee, is calling on FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker to investigate why Alaska … Continue Reading
April 01, 2024
Illinois poised to be leader in SAF production
linois is teed up to become an ideal ecosystem for production and use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF). On top of the infrastructure, feedstocks and research facilities available, the Prairie State offers an additional incentive — a $1.50-per-gallon tax credit to purchasers and users of SAF. “That sends a strong signal that (Illinois) wants to see SAF part of the market,” ExxonMobil Senior Vice President Jack Williams said during the inaugural “Leading the Way: Sustainable Aviation Fuel in … Continue Reading
March 27, 2024
Senator Tammy Duckworth Is Demanding Rights for Disabled People
ELLE - Senator Tammy Duckworth still hasn’t seen Barbie. Last summer, she made headlines when she told Politico that a broken elevator prevented her and other wheelchair users from accessing a movie theater, ruining a planned outing with her daughters. That kind of thing happens to her a lot. When she’s home in Chicago, the Democratic senator from Illinois feels like she can’t even ride the L train, because she doesn’t know whether the station she’s traveling to is up-to-date on posting its … Continue Reading
March 26, 2024
Why IVF looks different in the US than in the rest of the world
Earlier this month the Atlantic ran an opinion piece describing the American fertility industry as “strangely undeveloped” from a regulatory perspective. The two authors — a conservative political analyst and an anti-abortion bioethicist — claimed the landscape for assisted reproductive technology has left “parents, children, clinics and practitioners” without basic protections and safety guardrails. Their ominous arguments are part of a much older debate over whether the US fertility … Continue Reading
March 20, 2024
Sen. Duckworth pushes for protection of IVF treatments
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (D-8th) is urging federal lawmakers to pass bipartisan legislation to protect in-vitro fertilization treatment. "It comes about a month after an Alabama Supreme Court ruling briefly halted some procedures in the state. "When Alabama defined a fertilized egg to be a person, and their code defines murder as intentionally causing the death of a person, the intentional disposal of an embryo, even a non-viable one that could cause a … Continue Reading
March 15, 2024
Boeing 737 Max engine issue will take up to a year to fix, company tells lawmakers
Boeing told lawmakers its planned fix for an engine issue on all 737 Max jets will take up to a year, delaying certification of the 737 Max 7 and Max 10 airliners. In written responses to questions from Sen. Tammy Duckworth, chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Safety, obtained exclusively by CBS News, Boeing says it has assembled a team of technical experts to "quickly drive forward a safe and compliant solution" to an issue that could cause the 737 Max engine anti-ice system to … Continue Reading
March 14, 2024
Slain Palestinian American boy honored with Congressional resolution backed by Illinois members
WASHINGTON — Twelve members of Congress from Illinois introduced a resolution to honor Wadee Al-Fayoume, the 6-year-old Palestinian American boy from Plainfield who law enforcement officials said was slain Oct. 14 in an anti-Muslim hate crime. The measure is backed by Illinois Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth and House representatives Jonathan Jackson, Robin Kelly, Delia Ramirez, Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, Mike Quigley, Sean Casten, Raja Krishnamoorthi, Jan Schakowsky, Bill Foster and Lauren … Continue Reading
March 07, 2024
2 Chicago doctors to be guests for State of the Union address
CHICAGO (CBS) - On the exclusive guest list for Thursday night's State of the Union address were two Chicago doctors who do important work in their community. CBS 2 spoke to them before they took their seats to witness history. Their schedules in Chicago have been cleared, but the two Chicago doctors had a busy day in Washington, D.C. "On a typical Thursday, I'd probably be in some meetings and maybe looking at some new research," said Dr. Amanda Adeleye Adeleye and Dr. Lisa Green will be … Continue Reading
March 07, 2024
Sen. Tammy Duckworth says Alabama's new law protecting IVF "does not go far enough"
Birmingham, Alabama — A champagne toast was held Thursday at Alabama Fertility in Birmingham, celebrating the return of in vitro fertilization procedures one day after the Alabama legislature passed legislation to protect IVF services. Nearly half the state's clinics had paused procedures after a controversial ruling by the Alabama Supreme Court last month determined that frozen embryos are considered children. Three embryo transfers were performed at Alabama Fertility on Thursday, just … Continue Reading
March 07, 2024
Democrats invite women affected by abortion and IVF rulings to Biden’s State of the Union
WASHINGTON — Democrats are putting reproductive rights front and center at the State of the Union on Thursday night, inviting guests affected by the Supreme Court’s reversal of federal abortion protections and Alabama’s controversial court ruling on in vitro fertilization last month. Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., will bring with him the nation’s first IVF baby, Elizabeth Carr, who was born in 1981. “I was aware of her story after the Alabama decision,” Kaine told NBC News on Wednesday. “I saw an … Continue Reading
February 29, 2024
Senate Republican blocks bill to protect IVF after Alabama ruling
A Republican senator has blocked legislation that would protect in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies in the wake of an Alabama Supreme Court ruling that frozen embryos are children under state law. Prominent Republican officials and candidates have voiced support for IVF since the Alabama ruling, though Democrats have responded with skepticism, arguing that the GOP paved the way for the ruling with antiabortion policies. The effort by Sen. Tammy Duckworth … Continue Reading
February 29, 2024
The Transportation Department proposes new rules for how airlines handle wheelchairs
WASHINGTON — For people who use wheelchairs, air travel can be a nightmare. There are countless stories of wheelchairs damaged, delayed and even destroyed. Now the Biden administration is trying to change that by proposing new standards for how airlines must accommodate passengers with disabilities. "Transportation is still inaccessible for far too many people, and that's certainly true for aviation," Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a call with reporters. "This is about … Continue Reading
February 29, 2024
Feds propose steep fines when airlines damage wheelchairs
(CNN) — Airlines damaged or lost more than 11,000 passenger wheelchairs last year - and a new federal proposal seeks cut the inconvenience for wheelchair-reliant travelers with six-figure penalties against airlines. The Department of Transportation proposal, unveiled Thursday, would establish new airline passenger rights. Those include the right of immediate notification when a wheelchair is lost or damaged, the right to a loaner and the right to choose how the wheelchair is repaired. It … Continue Reading
February 28, 2024
US Senate Republicans Block Democrats' Bill Assuring Right to IVF
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Democrats on Wednesday failed in an attempt to rush legislation through the U.S. Senate guaranteeing Americans' access to in vitro fertilization and other assisted reproductive technologies, after an Alabama court designated frozen embryos as children. The state Supreme Court ruling on Feb. 16 that frozen embryos should be considered children prompted at least three Alabama providers to halt the IVF procedure that involves combining eggs and sperm in a laboratory dish … Continue Reading
February 28, 2024
Republican blocks Senate Democrats' push to pass IVF protections nationwide
Sen. Tammy Duckworth was blocked by Republicans on Wednesday from unanimously passing legislation to establish a right to access assistive reproductive care like in vitro fertilization -- a push spurred by a recent Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos are children, which has upended IVF in the state. Before attempting to pass the bill, Duckworth gave a passionate speech and shared her own experiences with IVF, through which she conceived her two children. "It made my heart whole, it … Continue Reading
