City Portland, state Oregon Financial News

By David Shepardson, Valerie Insinna and Tim Hepher

Alaska Air Group (NYSE:ALK) grounded its fleet of 65 Boeing (NYSE:BA) 737 Max planes after an incident involving a section of one of the planes ripping off in midair during a flight.

grounded certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 jetliners for safety checks following a cabin panel blowout that forced a new Alaska Airlines jet carrying passengers to make an emergency landing. A piece of fuselage tore off the left side of the jet as it climbed following takeoff from Portland, Oregon, en route to Ontario, California, on Friday, forcing pilots to turn back and land safely with all 171 passengers and six crew on board.

Boeing 737 Max 9 jet in Portland, Oregon, led the Federal Aviation Administration to order some U.S. airlines to stop using some Max 9 planes until they are inspected. The order will affect about 171 planes owned by Alaska, United and other airlines. The episode also raised troubling new questions about the safety of a workhorse aircraft design dogged by years of problems and multiple deadly crashes. No one was seriously injured in Friday's incident. The jetliner returned to the airport shortly after the plane's fuselage broke open in midair, leaving a door-size hole in the side of the aircraft. Within hours of the episode, Alaska Airlines said it would ground all 65 of the Boeing 737 Max 9 aircraft in its fleet until mechanics could carefully inspect each plane. Later on Saturday, the FAA ordered the temporary grounding of planes in some other airlines' fleets. The National Transportation Safety Board also said it was investigating the cause of the incident. Jessica Kowal, a spokesperson for Boeing, said in a statement, «We agree with and fully support the FAA's decision to require immediate inspections of 737-9 airplanes with the same configuration as the affected airplane.» And although the particular technical issue that led to Friday's scare appeared unique, Boeing's 737 Max airliners have perhaps the most worrisome history of any modern jetliner currently in service.

Nicholas Hoch was relaxing with a podcast onboard Alaska Airlines Flight 1282 as it left Portland, Oregon, on Friday night. A few minutes later he was texting his mother and girlfriend to say he loved them and wondering whether he would die. Hoch said he knew something was seriously wrong when the plane lights flickered shortly after takeoff, and a rush of air ripped off his hat. He would later learn the whoosh of wind also tore out some passengers’ earbuds and even ripped the shirt off a teenager’s back.

Boeing 737 MAX 9 aircraft following a cabin panel blowout late Friday that forced a brand-new airplane operated by Alaska Airlines to make an emergency landing. «The FAA is requiring immediate inspections of certain Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes before they can return to flight,» FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said on Saturday. «Safety will continue to drive our decision-making as we assist the NTSB's investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 1282.»

Boeing faces new scrutiny about the safety of its best-selling plane after federal officials announced the temporary grounding of Boeing 737-9 Max planes on Saturday, following a harrowing flight in which an Alaska Airlines jetliner was left with a gaping hole in its side. The Federal Aviation Administration said it was requiring immediate inspections of Max 9 planes operated by U.S. airlines or flown in the United States by foreign carriers.

An Oregon weekly newspaper has had to lay off its entire staff and halt print because its funds were embezzled

Pacific Northwest experienced a record-breaking heat wave that sent the normally temperate region into Death Valley-like extremes that took a heavy toll on trees as well as people. Seattle and Portland, Ore., recorded their hottest-ever temperatures, reaching 108 degrees Fahrenheit (42.2 Celsius) and 116 Fahrenheit (46.6 Celsius), respectively. In British Columbia, the small town of Lytton reached 121 degrees Fahrenheit (49.6 Celsius). What become known as the “heat dome” is estimated to have killed hundreds of people in Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. As this human tragedy unfolded, a lesser-known ecological tragedy was happening, one that scientists warn has grim repercussions for the world’s plants and the many animal species that depend on them. In a matter of a few days, the 2021 heat dome turned many of the green leaves and needles on the region’s trees to orange, red and brown. But, as recent research suggests, tree foliage didn’t simply dry out in the heat.

A pair of rare Nike sneakers donated to an Oregon homeless shelter in Portland sold for nearly $51,000 at auction on Monday

A pair of rare Nike sneakers donated to a homeless shelter in Portland, Oregon, are up for auction and are expected to raise as much as $20,000

An Oregon judge says an ex-Alaska Airlines pilot accused of trying to cut the engines of a passenger flight can be released from jail pending trial

Dogecoin (DOGE) has gained more than 10% over the past day as the cryptocurrency celebrates its tenth anniversary, marking a decade since its inception. 

More cities across the U.S. are cracking down on homeless tent encampments that have grown more visible and become unsafe

Oregon’s largest school district says it has reached a tentative agreement with its teachers union and its roughly 45,000 students will be back in class on Monday after more than three weeks

Economist Stephen Moore discusses negative economic trends in Democrat-run cities and Moody's lowering its outlook on the U.S. credit rating.

In the face of human-caused climate change impacting water access and weather patterns in the Willamette Valley — a region known for hops growing — farmers are using all the new strategies they can get to stay afloat and provide for large and small bre...

Horizon Air captain tells Portland air traffic controllers that an off-duty pilot tried to shut down the jet's engines, but crews managed to get him out of the cockpit. (Photo Credit: Aubrey Gavello/LOCAL NEWS X /TMX) (Audio Credit: LIVE-ATC.NET)

Three passengers have sued Alaska Airlines saying they suffered emotional distress after an off-duty pilot allgedly tried to shut down the engines of a flight from Washington state to San Francisco

New court documents say an off-duty airline pilot who tried to cut the engines on a flight in mid-air told police he had been struggling with depression

Reuters. Joseph David Emerson, 44, an Alaska Airlines pilot, was riding as a standby employee passenger in the cockpit "jump seat" of Sunday's flight from Everett, Washington, to San Francisco, when the airborne altercation occurred, authorities said.