By Lauren Girgis and Paige Cornwell Seattle Times staff reporters The Federal Aviation Administration issued a ground stop for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Saturday afternoon because of a security threat on a plane bound for Walla Walla. Around 1 p.m., flights scheduled to arrive at Sea-Tac were circling or being diverted to other airports, according
Stories
Bird watching
Our last post on funding Port Package updates (Three Votes. Three Dollars.) got many more letters than most. The reactions were everything from enthusiasm to sarcasm and in this year of the SAMP we think it’s time for a reality check. We recently picked up a new volunteer. That in itself is unusual these days.
Supreme Court Clarifies NEPA Scope in Light of Loper Bright
By: Steven M. Taber, Esq. In Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado (May 29, 2025), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Surface Transportation Board (STB) complied with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it declined to evaluate environmental impacts from increased oil drilling and refining that could result from a newly approved railway
The summer travel season is ramping up — but many airlines are cutting back
Americans appear to be bracing for economic uncertainty, and the demand for leisure travel is tracking the decline in consumer confidence. Getty Images | Izabela Habur By Joanne Drilling – National Data Reporter, The Business Journals Jun 12, 2025 Listen to this article5 min Story Highlights Airlines trim summer schedules because of economic uncertainty. Spirit, JetBlue, WestJet
Unsubstantiated ‘chemtrail’ conspiracy theories lead to legislation proposed in US statehouses
By SARA CLINE and MELISSA GOLDIN BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — As Louisiana Rep. Kimberly Landry Coates stood before her colleagues in the state’s Legislature she warned that the bill she was presenting might “seem strange” or even crazy. Some lawmakers laughed with disbelief and others listened intently, as Coates described situations that are often noted in
Three votes. Three dollars.
Funding Port Package updates made simple There’s always been confusion about Port Packages (sound insulation): Who pays for it? Who can pay for it? Who is eligible? Who should be eligible? There are a bunch of rules governing all of the above. They may seem complicated. Because they are. But the actual solutions are simple.
Website update: improved reports and maps on the way
We rarely talk about the website. But we wanted to comment on some improvements we’ve started making to one of the most popular features: Noise Reports. Speed Long story, short, we figured out a way to make the reports run very fast! This has been really frustrating. They took forever to run and sometimes just
How to find Sea-Tac’s new security checkpoint and not get lost
By Nicholas Deshais Seattle Times staff reporter Seattle-Tacoma International Airport’s new security checkpoint opened Friday, but travelers can be forgiven for wondering where, exactly, it is. In short, the new Checkpoint 1 is downstairs on the baggage claim level, below a hanging replica of a historic aircraft, the Rutan Voyager, the first to fly around the
U.S. Supreme Court Narrows NEPA Review
Court removes “indirect effects” requirement The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision, on May 29, 2025, narrowing the scope of environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA). In Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County, Colorado, the Court reversed in part the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals’ finding that the Surface Transportation
Paine Field Master Plan Presentation to CAWG
This will never be the second airport We are re-posting this after a Port of Seattle lobbyist’s recent public comments on their support of a ‘second airport‘ which, once again, stirred vain hopes that Paine Field might provide some ‘relief’ to SEA. That is not what anyone in the room was saying. A presentation to








