Screener

It wasn't the neon-green comb tucked in a loose-leaf notebook that caught the eye of a TSA screener at BWI Monday morning — it was what the comb concealed: a knife with a 4-inch blade. Pamela Whitfield, 31, of Hampton, Va., was charged with carrying an unauthorized weapon through airport security, a misdemeanor, after an X-ray machine operator noticed an "unusual image," said Kawika Riley, a Transportation Security Administration spokesman. The comb was lying along the binder's spine among some papers and a folder.

It wasn't the neon-green comb tucked in a loose-leaf notebook that caught the eye of a TSA screener at BWI Monday morning — it was what the comb concealed: a knife with a 4-inch blade. Pamela Whitfield, 31, of Hampton, Va., was charged with carrying an unauthorized weapon through airport security, a misdemeanor, after an X-ray machine operator noticed an "unusual image," said Kawika Riley, a Transportation Security Administration spokesman. The comb was lying along the binder's spine among some papers and a folder.

A security screener at Baltimore-Washington International Airport was arrested on charges including telephone misuse after he was accused of reporting a false emergency yesterday from a phone for the deaf at Pier E. Andre Markell Jeffries, 19, of the 300 block of New Jersey Ave., Glen Burnie, also was charged with providing false information to Maryland Transportation Authority Police in the incident. He was released on his own recognizance by a District Court commissioner. At 11:52 a.m., police received word through an AT&T text-telephone system operator that someone at the airport needed emergency help.

First off, as serious fans of"Mad Men"probably already know, creator Matthew Weiner sent a letter to critics with the screener for the season 5 opener, essentially asking them not to talk or write about anything of consequence in the two-hour opener that airs March 25. I have a simple reply to that: In today's media climate, don't send a screener out if you don't want its contents discussed. Don't be a hypocrite and try to cut it both ways: Getting pre-air-date publicity from reviewers, but sanctimoniously asking them in the name of fan enjoyment not to say anything important about what they saw on the tape.

A baggage screener at Baltimore-Washington International Airport has been arrested and charged with impersonating a police officer after security officials discovered him wearing his wife's Baltimore County police badge. William Darnell Jackson Jr., 36, of the 500 block of Molly Court in Edgewood, was also charged with making false statements during questioning by officials about 9:50 p.m. Wednesday in the airport's international terminal, Pier E. Airport officials are trying to determine Jackson's motives.

A baggage screener at Baltimore-Washington International Airport is being treated at a local hospital after her arm got jammed in a baggage belt. The arm of the woman, an employee of the Transportation Security Administration, was caught in the baggage belt about 8:30 a.m., said Chris Rhatigan, an agency spokeswoman. Paramedics freed the woman and took her to Anne Arundel Medical Center. A preliminary report showed that the woman sustained at least one broken bone in her arm, she said.

For the second time in two days, police shut down a pier at Baltimore-Washington International Airport after a security breach at one of its checkpoints. The incident occurred at Pier C, which Delta Airlines controls, at 6 a.m., and the pier reopened about 9 a.m., BWI officials said. More than 2,000 passengers were rescreened and 17 flights delayed. Airport officials said they did not know any details about the security breach, and officials at Delta Airlines would not elaborate. On Tuesday, Pier D, which U.S. Airways operates, was shut down for two hours after a security screener noticed a suspicious image on an X-ray scanner.

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Federal authorities are investigating how security officers at Baltimore-Washington International Airport failed yesterday to stop a knife-carrying passenger from disappearing into a crowd, prompting the evacuation of a pier and the delay of 35 flights. About 5:20 a.m., a baggage screener saw the image of a knife on an X-ray machine at the entrance to Pier D. But before the screener could call for a hand search of the bag, a passenger picked it up and walked away from the checkpoint and into the pier.

First off, as serious fans of"Mad Men"probably already know, creator Matthew Weiner sent a letter to critics with the screener for the season 5 opener, essentially asking them not to talk or write about anything of consequence in the two-hour opener that airs March 25. I have a simple reply to that: In today's media climate, don't send a screener out if you don't want its contents discussed. Don't be a hypocrite and try to cut it both ways: Getting pre-air-date publicity from reviewers, but sanctimoniously asking them in the name of fan enjoyment not to say anything important about what they saw on the tape.

Sylvia Kackle slowly stepped down from the shuttle bus and reached for her red walker. She moved through the Linthicum movie house past the ticket booth and concession stand, but needed help climbing the steps. The 85-year-old woman didn't wait in lines or wade through crowds. Her screening skipped movie previews, concession advertisements and the reminder for moviegoers to turn off their cell phones. Kackle was among 90 senior citizens who attended an exclusive showing of Hair- spray -- the debut of Silver Screenings, a program designed for seniors to see a first-run movie before noon, before the Hoyt Cinema opened to the public, without even negotiating the concession stand.

Simone Brown has a checklist of horrors like so many other Hurricane Katrina victims: She slept in a sweltering shelter clutching her purse and her children, waded through toxic muck to check on her house and subsisted for days on Pop-tarts, Vienna sausages and prayer. But this New Orleans native can claim one more thing precious few others can in the aftermath of the nation's worst natural disaster. She got paid. Brown is a screener for the U.S. Transportation Security Administration.

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WASHINGTON - Air travelers are waiting longer and longer at security checkpoints in numerous airports, and airlines and congressional leaders are warning of possible gridlock this summer as air travel reaches record highs in some cities. Concerns are mounting as the Transportation Security Administration, created after the Sept. 11 attacks to protect airports, has struggled to hire security screeners and left some airports understaffed. Last year, the TSA cut 14,000 screener positions to reduce its screener work force to 45,000, a level set by Congress and criticized by aviation and airport officials as inadequate.

A baggage screener at Baltimore-Washington International Airport is being treated at a local hospital after her arm got jammed in a baggage belt. The arm of the woman, an employee of the Transportation Security Administration, was caught in the baggage belt about 8:30 a.m., said Chris Rhatigan, an agency spokeswoman. Paramedics freed the woman and took her to Anne Arundel Medical Center. A preliminary report showed that the woman sustained at least one broken bone in her arm, she said.

Federal authorities are investigating how security officers at Baltimore-Washington International Airport failed yesterday to stop a knife-carrying passenger from disappearing into a crowd, prompting the evacuation of a pier and the delay of 35 flights. About 5:20 a.m., a baggage screener saw the image of a knife on an X-ray machine at the entrance to Pier D. But before the screener could call for a hand search of the bag, a passenger picked it up and walked away from the checkpoint and into the pier.

I was at BWI the other day, checking the "Arrivals" monitor at Concourse C for my wife's flight from New York, when the woman next to me said something about box cutters. I turned to look at her. She was about 70 and wore gray slacks and a black sweater decorated with orange pumpkins, and I wondered if I could take her. Some of these seniors, they can fool you. Sure, they look frail. Then you try wrestling them to the floor and shouting "She's got a box cutter!" and it turns out they know tai-chi or karate and make you look silly.

Baltimore-Washington International Airport is working to address a shortage of federal screeners that could inconvenience passengers during the busy spring travel period if it is not eliminated soon, state transportation officials said yesterday. "We're looking to increase in the range of 10 to 15 percent," Paul J. Wiedefeld, executive director of the Maryland Aviation Administration, said yesterday. Wiedefeld was interviewed after he and other transportation and homeland security officials briefed members of Maryland's congressional delegation on the progress of the airport's latest security initiatives.

WASHINGTON - A top federal aviation official warned yesterday of longer lines at airports this holiday season, saying there will be more passengers. Industry experts agreed that lines could be longer but note a reduction in the number of security screeners at passenger checkpoints. Stephen J. McHale, the Transportation Security Administration's deputy administrator, told a Senate hearing he was "concerned about increasing passenger flow this holiday season. We could see longer lines this year than last year at airports."