House and Senate negotiate bill to help FAA add more air traffic controllers

(AP) — Congressional negotiators are agreeing to help the Federal Aviation Administration hire more air traffic controllers and safety inspectors. House and Senate leaders said Monday they have agreed on a $105 billion bill governing the Federal Aviation Administration for the next five years. They say the bill will increase the number of air traffic controllers and require the FAA to use new technology designed to prevent collisions between planes on the ground. The agreement in Congress comes after several highly publicized close calls at the nation’s airports. The bill drops a House provision that would have raised the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots to 67; it’ll stay at 65.

Supreme Court rejects Musk appeal over tweets that must be approved by Tesla

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from Elon Musk over a settlement with securities regulators that requires him to get approval in advance of some tweets that relate to Tesla, the electric vehicle company he leads. The justices did not comment Monday in leaving in place lower-court rulings against Musk, who complained that the requirement amounts to “prior restraint” on his speech in violation of the First Amendment. The case stems from tweets Musk posted in 2018 in which he claimed he had secured funding to take Tesla private. The tweets caused the company’s share price to jump and led to a temporary halt in trading.

Iraq repatriates nearly 700 more citizens linked to the Islamic State group

WASHINGTON (AP) — Medical device maker Philips will pay $1.1 billion to settle personal injury lawsuits in the U.S. over its defective sleep apnea machines. The announcement Monday is another step toward resolving one of the biggest medical device recalls in history, which has dragged on for nearly three years. Earlier this month the company reached a settlement with the U.S. government over the devices. The Dutch manufacturer did not admit any fault in the latest agreement. Philips has recalled more than 5 million of the machines since 2021 because their internal foam can break down over time and be inhaled by users.

West Virginia and NC’s transgender care coverage policies discriminate, judges rule

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A federal appeals court has ruled that West Virginia and North Carolina’s refusal to cover certain health care for transgender people with government-sponsored insurance is discriminatory. The Richmond-based 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 8-6 in the case involving coverage of gender-affirming care by North Carolina’s state employee health plan and the coverage of gender-affirming surgery by West Virginia Medicaid. Both states appealed separate lower court rulings that found the denial of gender-affirming care to be discriminatory and unconstitutional. Two panels of three Fourth Circuit judges heard arguments in both cases earlier this year before deciding to intertwine the two cases and see them presented before the full court of 15.