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Trump rally shooting casts shadow over Canadian political scene
The shadow of violence in the United States will be hanging over Canada's political scene this week in the wake of an attempted assassination on former president Donald Trump.
The Fourth of July holiday weekend is jamming U.S. airports with their biggest crowds since the pandemic began in 2020.
About 2.49 million passengers went through security checkpoints at U.S. airports Friday, surpassing the previous pandemic-era record of 2.46 million reached earlier in the week, according to figures released Saturday by the Transportation Security Administration.
The escalating numbers show leisure travellers aren't being deterred from flying by rising fares, the ongoing spread of COVID-19 or worries about recurring flight delays and cancellations.
Friday's passenger volume marked a 13 per cent increase from July 1 last year, which fell on the Thursday before Fourth of July. This year's number of passengers going through U.S. airports also eclipsed the 2.35 million screened at security checkpoints on the Friday before the Fourth of July in 2019, but that was nearly a week ahead of Independence Day.
In a more telling sign of how close U.S. air travel is reverting to pre-pandemic conditions, an average of 2.33 million passengers have passed through security checkpoints at domestic airports during the seven days ending July 1. That was close to the seven-day average of roughly 2.38 million passengers during the same 2019 period, according to the TSA.
But airlines have struggled to keep up with the surging demand amid staffing shortages and an assortment of other issues that have resulted in recurring waves of exasperating flight delays and cancellations that have been transforming some vacations into nightmarish ordeals.
Many airlines, including Delta, Southwest and JetBlue, have responded to the challenge by curtailing their summer schedules in an effort to reduce the inconveniences -- and backlash -- caused by flight delays and cancellations They are using larger planes on average to carry more passengers while they scramble to hire and train more pilots.
The headaches continued Friday, although they weren't as bad as they have been at other times in recent months. There were more than 6,800 flight delays and another 587 flight cancellations affecting U.S. airports Friday, according to the tracking site FlightAware. More than 2,200 delays and more than 540 flight cancellations had been recorded as of late Saturday morning.
Besides the flight delays and cancellations, travellers also have had to pay higher prices for tickets driven up by soaring fuel costs and other inflationary factors, as well as navigate around the health risks posed by continuing COVID-19 infections.
The travel bug is also congesting highways, even with the national average price for gasoline hovering around US$5 per gallon -- and above US$6 per gallon in California and all its popular tourist attractions. AAA predicts that nearly 48 million people will travel at least 50 miles or more from home over the weekend, slightly fewer than in 2019.
The shadow of violence in the United States will be hanging over Canada's political scene this week in the wake of an attempted assassination on former president Donald Trump.
The FBI identified 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pa., as the suspect in Saturday's attempted assassination of former U.S. president Donald Trump at a campaign rally.
The University of British Columbia is investigating a now-deleted social media post from one of its faculty members that appeared to be wishing an assassination attempt on Donald Trump had been successful.
For some airline passengers, flying can be a daunting and stressful journey. For others, it's a welcome experience to see the world from hundreds of feet high. CTVNews.ca spoke with a Canadian flight attendant to find out what he wouldn't advise passengers to do before and during flights.
King Charles III is preparing to visit Australia and Samoa in October, an itinerary that will span 12 time zones and test the monarch’s stamina as he recovers from cancer treatment.
The LCBO has reversed its plan to open select stores on Friday as retail workers continue to strike across the province, according to a statement from the Crown corporation on Sunday.
A volunteer human chain was walking the water’s edge in Port Stanley, Ont. Sunday in search of a boy went missing in Lake Erie. Around 2:30 p.m. OPP and Central Elgin Fire were dispatched to the main beach after a 14 year old entered the water and did not resurface.
Argentina won its second straight Copa America championship, overcoming Lionel Messi’s second-half leg injury to beat Colombia 1-0.
An apparent assassination attempt has many questioning how a shooting that wounded former U.S. president Donald Trump was even possible.
A rare ammonite fossil – about 75 million years old - has been discovered in eastern Saskatchewan.
Seven-year-old goalie Hudson Hardill is an unlikely Calgary Flames fan, being that he lives in Peterborough, Ont., and his dad Chris is a Toronto Maple Leafs fan.
A WestJet employee's chance encounter on a recent flight spiced up her life in a big way.
A Kelowna, B.C., man says he's always liked gnomes because they have a 'bit of mystery' to them. And he recently got a taste of that whimsy when his garden gnomes disappeared, and came back to him in a peculiar fashion.
After more than 50 years, Toronto's iconic 'Leslieville dollhouse' will soon have a new owner.
One man is bringing a blast from the past to a Winnipeg community.
Some say a photograph is simply a memory frozen in time – and a high school graduation photo taken in Churchill, Man. takes that adage to a completely new level.
A rising track and field star overcame a big hurdle in his dream to represent Canada at the Olympics.
Would-be homebuyers who backed out of a deal to purchase a B.C. property in a hot real estate market have been ordered to pay the seller the difference between what they offered and what he was able to sell the home for when the market cooled.