By KERA News & Wire Services
Dallas, TX – Southwest Investigation
A Southwest Airlines jet in which a football-size hole opened in the top of the passenger cabins had troubles in its last inspection in January.
Government records show that the inspection turned up eight cracks in the frame that required repairs.
The hole in the 15-year-old Boeing 737 jet flying from Nashville to Baltimore yesterday depressurized the passenger cabin and forced an emergency landing in Charleston, W.Va. None of the 126 passengers and five crew members were injured.
Dallas-based Southwest said today that it inspected all 181 of its identical Boeing 737-300-series jets overnight before putting them back in the sky.
Southwest said it was unclear what caused the hole, which ripped open just in front of the vertical tail fin as the plane cruised at 30,000 feet.
Unemployment Fund Worries
The state unemployment insurance trust fund will run out of money next week, forcing the Texas Workforce Commission to borrow $643 million from the federal government to cover claims.
State officials also said Tuesday they are overwhelmed by people applying for assistance and that 82,000 unemployed Texans whose benefits ran out will not receive the 13-week extensions they expected. Officials say that once unemployment payments are restored to those needing extensions, they will be retroactive to the date they were cut off.
State Democratic Party Chairman Boyd Richie told The Dallas Morning News that Gov. Rick Perry should have accepted $556 million of federal stimulus funds. Perry said the funds would have been burdensome to small business owners.
Gov. Questions Hutchison Run
U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison's campaign aides are dismissing Gov. Rick Perry's suggestion that she might not run against him in the 2010 Republican primary for governor.
Hutchison has said she plans a challenge and would a formal announcement in August. But Perry told reporters today "it's always a possibility" Hutchison may not run.
Hutchison campaign spokesman Hans Klingler calls Perry's comments "wishful thinking" and renewed the Hutchison's campaign criticism of Perry's record.
Meanwhile, Perry's spokesman rejected Hutchison's suggestion that Perry solicited campaign contributions during the Texas legislative session. Spokesman Mark Miner says that's a lie. The governor isn't permitted to raise campaign money during the 140-day legislative session nor the 20-day veto period. That's from the beginning of the year until June 21. Perry's said he raised $4.2 million in the final nine days of June. Hutchison says she raised $6.7 million the first half of the year.