Flight Attendants Face More Violence And Abuse From Passengers

A flight attendant on a Southwest Airlines plane
over the weekend after allegedly being punched by a passenger who had "repeatedly ignored standard inflight instructions," according to an airline spokesman.

The Port of San Diego Harbor Police Department
Vyvianna Quinonez, 28, with battery causing serious bodily injury in the incident, which was caught on video and later went viral.

The incident sparked widespread outrage, but for flight attendants it was just the latest example of an increase in travelers becoming disorderly and in some cases turning violent against those tasked with enforcing federal and airline rules.

Southwest Airlines said Friday it would delay its return to serving alcohol to passengers "given the recent uptick in industry-wide incidents of passenger disruptions inflight."

"We realize this decision may be disappointing for some Customers, but we feel this is the right decision at this time in the interest of the Safety and comfort of all Customers and Crew onboard," the airline said in an email.

The number of unruly passengers on U.S flights has taken off in 2021, with many more people boarding planes as the pandemic eases.

SEOUL, South Korea — Japan's government extended a state of emergency covering major cities until at least until June 20 — roughly a month before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, which polls show an
number of Japanese do not want to proceed as scheduled.

It's Japan's third state of emergency of the pandemic and the second extension since the current emergency began on April 25. The emergency shortens some businesses' hours, and caps attendance at large events. It covers the capital Tokyo, second city Osaka and seven other prefectures. Less stringent "quasi-emergencies" will be extended to June 20 in five other prefectures.

New coronavirus cases have been declining nationwide since mid-May, but the situation remains highly unpredictable," Prime Minister Yoshihide 
government task force Friday after finalizing a decision that had been requested by several local governments.

The spread in Japan
among developed economies with just 6% of residents having received at least one dose. Partially because Japan had relatively few COVID-19 cases compared to other countries last year, it entered into vaccine purchasing agreements with foreign vaccine-makers
What's more, Japan requires that imported vaccines undergo domestic clinical testing, slowing down the approval process. And it has had several vaccine scares, which have damaged trust between residents and the government.

n spite of all this, the government's insistence that the games will proceed, safely, has only become more adamant.

"I'm aware many people are anxious or worried," Suga told reporters, sticking to the organizers' pledge that athletes would be strictly segregated from Japan's population and countermeasures against the virus would keep both groups safe.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach told a conference on Thursday that athletes should "come with full confidence to Tokyo and get ready," lauding the Japanese capital as "the best-prepared Olympic city ever."

The IOC has asked Olympic athletes to sign waivers absolving the organizers of legal liability for COVID-19-related risks
"But we're what it looks like when we got our own backs / And we're what it looks like when we build it back black / We're what it looks like in a hundred years time / Got the audacity to walk up out these ashes and shine / We're shining"  –"Shining" from Fire In Little Africa
Johnson was blown away. "I'd finished two degrees. Two degrees! And I'd just found out about it, and it was in my backyard," he recalls. "What am I? What is my responsibility as an educator and what am I doing if I don't know this history? It was a wake-up call."
Eight years and a Ph.D. later, Johnson is the Manager of Education and Diversity Outreach at Tulsa's Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan Centers — collectively known as "The American Song Archives." He's also the executive produce
It also naturally fits an academic whose first love was music. Johnson, or "Dr. View," began DJ-ing as an undergraduate at the University of Oklahoma. For a young, black male at a large and overwhelmingly white state school, it was a way to stay connected on campus and formulate his identity. Years later, in pursuing his doctorate degree, Johnson chose to combine his passion for music and scholarship through his dissertation. It took shape as both a written paper and a hip-hop album. In a sense, Fire in Little Africa is an extension of that concept. "Now it's outside the ivory tower and the institution of higher education," Johnson notes. "
Johnson began by contacting local musicians Steph Simon and Dialtone, early innovators in Tulsa's hip-hop scene. "It took some time to help them understand I wasn't there to put myself on a pedestal." Johnson says. "I'm really here to do the work and make this as dope as we can make it."