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JetBlue and Spirit stock price change

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The Department of Justice filed an antitrust lawsuit on Tuesday to block JetBlue's planned $3.8 billion takeover of Spirit Airlines, alleging the merger of low-cost airline rivals would increase ticket prices and lessen options for travelers.

Why it matters: Critics of the deal — which would make JetBlue the fifth-largest domestic airline — have argued that it's against the public interest and would harm competition.

It also comes at a time when scrutiny of the airline industry has intensified, as delays, cancellations and soaring ticket prices frustrate travelers, who are expected to hit the skies in droves this year.

What they're saying: "[T]his merger would be particularly harmful for travelers who rely on what are known as 'ultra-low-cost carriers' in order to fly," Attorney General Merrick Garland said.

"Those include working and middle-class Americans who travel for personal, as opposed to business, reasons and who must pay their own way," he added.

The big picture: JetBlue launched what is effectively a hostile takeover bid for Spirit Airlines in May 2022 and urged Spirit's shareholders to rebuff an earlier deal to merge with Frontier Airlines.

Spirit's shareholders approved the merger with JetBlue in October 2022 after the Frontier deal fell apart.

JetBlue's takeover bid includes a $400 million break-up fee that would be paid to Spirit shareholders if the deal is ultimately blocked by regulators.

Massachusetts, New York and the District of Columbia joined the DOJ's lawsuit.

Our thought bubble, via Axios Pro Rata author Dan Primack: This shouldn't be too much of a shock, given skyrocketing air travel costs and the fact that JetBlue already is the subject of a DOJ suit seeking to stop its alliance with American Airlines.

The companies had offered certain concessions to gain antitrust approval, including the divestiture of Spirit operations at airports in Newark and Boston.

Investors have been expecting this deal to fail. JetBlue's $33.50 per share bid represents a 105% premium to where Spirit shares closed trading on Monday.

Go deeper: FAA doesn't have to mandate airplane seat size, spacing, court rules

Editor's note: This article has been updated with quotes from Attorney General Merrick Garland.

JetBlue-Spirit merger lawsuit

FAA doesn't have to mandate airplane seat size, spacing, court rules

DOJ files lawsuit to block JetBlue's Spirit takeover

The merger would make JetBlue the fifth-largest domestic airline.

Airlines

Transportation

After a record economic expansion, the coronavirus pandemic sent the U.S. economy into a recession as unemployment soared to staggering heights. The country now faces urgent questions about how much stimulus is needed for reeling consumers and businesses, and what a recovery might look like.

Economy & Business

Whats Next

Axios What's Next

In an attempt to reverse the socioeconomic harm of planning decisions made decades ago, the federal government is doling out $1 billion over five years to remove highways that divide communities.

Yes, but: That's a modest sum compared to the billions the government is pumping into new highway expansion projects that critics fear will repeat the same mistakes.

Why it matters: Highways and rail lines are supposed to help people get to where they want to go. Yet infrastructure can also be a barrier that divides neighborhoods and cuts residents off from economic opportunity. 

Communities of color often bear the brunt of the consequences.

Reconnecting neighborhoods by turning highways into boulevards, putting parks over acres of asphalt, or adding more bridges, tunnels, and trails can address some of these inequities and strengthen communities. 

Driving the news: The Biden administration recently announced the first round of funding under the "Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program," established under the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law.

The Transportation Department has awarded $185 million in grants for projects in 45 cities.

Demand was high: the agency received 435 applications seeking a total of more than $2 billion. 

Details: Buffalo, New York, is getting the largest award: a $55.6 million grant to build a cap and tunnel over a 1960s-era six-lane expressway, which segregated Black residents from the rest of the city.

Some 600 homes were demolished to make way for the highway, which cut off residents' access to necessities like banks and grocery stores. 

It also led to high unemployment and increased health problems, per DOT. 

Oak Park, Michigan, a Detroit suburb, is receiving $21.7 million to reconstruct a crumbling plaza over I-696, a trenched highway that bisects the city's Orthodox Jewish community.

Boston is getting $2 million to begin planning a park over the Massachusetts Turnpike (I-90) in Chinatown, considered the state's most polluted neighborhood.

St. Paul, Minnesota, received a $2 million grant to study the environmental and traffic impact of a proposed five-block "land bridge" to reconnect the city's majority Black Rondo neighborhood, as Axios' Torey Van Oot reports.

Tampa is getting a $5.3 million grant to lower an interchange ramp to street level in order to eliminate the barrier between downtown and the city's riverfront and to make the streets safer for walking and biking. 

A full list of awarded projects can be found here. 

What they're saying: The program "is a critical step toward reinvesting in access to opportunity and healing the deep wounds inflicted by flawed transportation policies that, for decades, divided instead of connected Americans to each other," Corinne Kisner, executive director of the National Association of City Transportation Officials, said in a statement.

Backstory: The U.S. Interstate System, created under President Eisenhower in 1956, was touted as "the greatest public works project in history."

Routes were chosen where land costs were the lowest, or political resistance weakest — which usually meant cutting through low-income and minority neighborhoods.

An estimated 1 million people and businesses were displaced to make room for the highways, according to DOT.

Some neighborhoods were completely razed. Those left behind were often isolated — physically, socially, and economically.

Reality check: New infrastructure projects still threaten communities today, critics say.

Mike McGinn, executive director of the pro-pedestrian group America Walks, praised Biden's grant program — but added that "we also must acknowledge that the program is modest compared to the flood of state and federal money still allocated for highways that divide and damage communities."

The group points to multi-billion-dollar highway widening projects or proposals in cities such as Houston, Austin, Milwaukee, Salt Lake City, and Jersey City, among others.

Most would demolish residential homes, businesses, and even churches to make room for the expanded highways. 

The bottom line: Cities are still being built around cars, not people.

The $1 billion push to remove highways dividing communities

Highways can divide neighborhoods and cut residents off from economic opportunity.

Photo illustration of a highway, car traffic, money, suburbia and two Black boys hugging each other. 

Photo illustration: Shoshana Gordon/Axios. Photos: Heilman/ClassicStock, H. Armstrong Roberts/ClassicStock, Charles E. Rotkin/Corbis/VCG, Stan Grossfeld/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

Infrastructure

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg told CNN Sunday he "failed to anticipate the political fallout from the toxic train derailment" in Ohio, as he pushed back on Republican criticisms of his response to the incident.

Why it matters: The 41-year-old faces a House Republican investigation over the Biden administration's response to the Norfolk Southern train derailment and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has pressed President Biden to seek Buttigieg's resignation over the matter, per Axios' Andrew Solender.

What he's saying: Buttigieg said in his CNN interview that although it wouldn't have made a major difference in the aftermath of the incident and no other transportation secretary had visited a derailment site, it would've likely helped residents if he had gone to East Palestine sooner than Feb. 23.

"Sometimes people need policy work, and sometimes people need performative work," he told CNN's Edward-Isaac Dovere. "And to get to this level, you’ve got to be ready to serve up both."

Yes, but: Buttigieg rejected criticisms he's received from former President Trump and other Republicans about his handling of the matter.

"It's really rich to see some of these folks — the former president, these Fox hosts – who are literally lifelong card-carrying members of the East Coast elite, whose top economic policy priority has always been tax cuts for the wealthy, and who wouldn’t know their way around a T.J. Maxx if their life depended on it, to be presenting themselves as if they genuinely care about the forgotten middle of the country," Buttigieg said.

"You think Tucker Carlson knows the difference between a T.J. Maxx and a Kohl’s?"

Worth noting: Buttigieg said claims that he only visited the Ohio crash site because Trump had done so one day earlier were "bulls**t" as he was "already going to go" to East Palestine.

He said of Trump that it's "somewhat maddening to see someone who did a lot to try to gut not just rail safety regulations, but the EPA, which is the number one thing standing between that community and a total loss of accountability for Norfolk Southern, and then show up giving out bottled water and campaign swag?"

Another Norfolk Southern train derails in Ohio, no hazardous materials aboard

Ohio derailment prompts calls to investigate federal oversight of trains

Ohio crews release toxic chemicals from derailed train

East Palestine's record of devastating derailments

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Buttigieg hits back at Trump, GOP critics on Ohio train derailment response

The transportation secretary told CNN it would've likely helped East Palestine residents if he'd visited sooner.

Pete Buttigieg, US transportation secretary, center right, speaks during a news conference near the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, US, on Thursday, Feb. 23.

Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg during a news conference near the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 23. Photo: Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Pete Buttigieg

President Biden has made the COVID-19 crisis and a post-Trump return to national unity and traditional democratic ideals his top priorities. From vaccinations to stimulus to schools, Biden is seeking bipartisan compromise while showing a willingness to use executive authority and bare Democratic majorities in the U.S. House and Senate to implement his policies. Republican leaders are navigating deep party divisions over if and how to move beyond former President Trump.

Politics & Policy

Ominous forecasts about the impact of climate change serve as the backdrop for the world — led by U.S. lawmakers and companies — to debate big action on the problem, which could upend energy systems and our way of life.

Energy & Environment

A former White House official was killed after an airplane fought to withstand severe turbulence over New England on Friday, according to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).

The big picture: The rare passenger death follows several other incidents in which turbulence caused injuries aboard flights in recent months.

The latest:  Dana Hyde, 55, was identified as the passenger who died. Hyde was flying with her husband and one of her sons on a plane owned by broadband consulting firm Conexon, the Washington Post reports.

Hyde served as a White House special assistant in the Clinton administration. She later became a senior adviser at the State Department under President Obama and took on the role of associate director of the White House Office of Management and Budget.

The NTSB said Monday that investigators are now looking into a "reported trim issue that occurred prior to the inflight upset," referring to adjustments made to an airplane’s control surfaces to keep it stable and level in the air.

Driving the news: Five people — three passengers and two crew — were aboard the Bombardier executive jet that was forced to divert to Bradley International Airport in Connecticut while en route to Leesburg, Virginia, from Keene, New Hampshire.

The turbulence resulted in fatal injuries to one of the passengers, the NTSB said Saturday.

It's unclear what damage the plane sustained and whether the victim was following safety protocols like wearing a seatbelt.

What to watch: The NTSB has launched a probe into the incident and expects to release a preliminary report in two to three weeks, NTSB spokesperson Sarah Taylor Sulick said in a statement.

Investigators have "removed the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder and are continuing to gather information from the flight crew, operator and passengers about the circumstances of the event," Sulick added.

Our thought bubble, via Axios' Andrew Freedman: The incident occurred as severe weather knocked out power to nearly one million people across several states on Friday. 

A powerful storm over the Midwest set all-time low-pressure records in some areas, and a related winter storm moved into New England with snow, ice, rain and strong winds.

Worth noting: The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) describes turbulence as "air movement created by atmospheric pressure, jet streams, air around mountains, cold or warm weather fronts or thunderstorms."

A 2021 NTSB report found that turbulence accounted for 37% of all accidents on larger commercial airplanes between 2009 and 2018.

Compared to crew members, passengers are typically less likely to suffer serious turbulence-related injuries, per data collected by the FAA.

2009 recorded serious injuries — including those that require hospitalization for more than 48 hours — among 10 passengers, but between 2010 and 2021, that number didn't exceed three.

Don't forget: Thirty-six people were injured in December after a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Phoenix to Honolulu encountered severe turbulence. Several unrestrained people and objects were sent careening around the cabin, Honolulu Emergency Services said at the time.

Just earlier this week, a Lufthansa flight traveling from Texas to Germany experienced similar turbulence over Tennessee. Seven people were injured and taken to local hospitals.

Editor's note: This story has been updated to add the name of the passenger killed on the flight. 

Ex-White House official killed after plane encounters severe turbulence

The National Transportation Safety Board has launched an investigation into the incident.

A Bombardier Challenger 300 is parked on a tarmac. Photo: aviation-images.com/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Aircraft

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Thursday ordered freight train operator Norfolk Southern to test for toxic pollutants that could have been released as a result of the company's decision to burn vinyl chloride from cargo on its derailed train in East Palestine, Ohio.

Why it matters: Norfolk Southern had at the time said that burning the cargo was necessary to prevent the threat of explosions from the hazardous materials in the train, but has since faced heightened scrutiny over the move and its possible impacts on the surrounding community and environment.

The EPA said that monitoring for indicator chemicals at the site suggests the probability of dioxin contamination is "low," but made the decision to mandate testing out of an "abundance of caution.”

Details: The EPA's order — made almost a month after the train derailed — mandates testing for dioxins, which the agency considers "persistent organic pollutants" because they take a long time to break down once released into the environment.

Dioxins are highly toxic and cancerous. They can damage the immune system and interfere with hormones, developmental processes and reproductive health. 

Dioxins typically form during the burning of fuel and waste and can remain in soil for decades, contaminating plants and crops used in the food chain.

The possible accumulation of dioxins in East Palestine due to the train derailment could as a result pose long-term risks, a concern community members have raised.

Worth noting: The order comes ahead of a meeting in East Palestine on Thursday night, where Norfolk Southern representatives are expected to be grilled by community members and local officials.

The company backed out of a similar town hall last month, citing unspecified concerns for their employees' safety.

The big picture: The EPA has mandated that Norfolk Southern clean up the contamination from the site of the derailment. 

Go deeper: East Palestine's record of devastating derailments

derailed train's cargo in East Palestine, Ohio

EPA orders Norfolk Southern to test for dioxins in Ohio train derailment

Dioxins can cause cancer, damage the immune system and lead to problems with developmental processes and reproductive health.

Photo of a worker operating a tractor to remove and dispose of wreckage from the derailed train

Work crews and contractors remove and dispose of wreckage from the site of the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio on Feb. 20. Photo: Matthew Hatcher/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

Officials in Texas and Michigan are raising concerns about the water and soil transported from the East Palestine train derailment into their jurisdictions.

Why it matters: Their comments come as East Palestine residents report diagnoses of bronchitis and other conditions which they attribute to the crash. The freight train was carrying hazardous materials, including the carcinogenic gas vinyl chloride, when it derailed on Feb. 3 and forced the company to release and burn the contents of several cars.

What they're saying: "I and my team learned yesterday that firefighting water from East Palestine was going to be sent to Deer Park, which is one of the 34 cities in Harris County, for disposal," Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said at a press conference Thursday.

"I learned about this not from a regulatory agency, not from the company, but from a member of the press, and that's unacceptable," Hidalgo noted, adding that she only learned Thursday that the water actually began arriving a week ago.

"There are many things we don't know that we should know."

Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-Mich.) similarly said in a statement Friday that "[w]e were not given a heads up" about the transportation of contaminated soil from East Palestine to U.S. Ecology Wayne Disposal, Inc. in Belleville, Michigan.

"We are making inquiries of EPA, DOT, Norfolk Southern, U.S. Ecology, the state of Ohio, and all others involved to understand what is being shipped, whether these are approved storage facilities, the implications of this decision, and how we ensure the safety of all Michigan residents."

Officials in Wayne County, where the U.S. ecology facility is located, said they're still not sure how the waste is being transported, per local ABC News affiliate WXYZ.

"1.8 million people are being sandbagged," Wayne County Executive Warren Evans noted at a press conference Friday. "Vinyl chloride is a serious carcinogen and something we should have heard about sooner. 

"The landfill taking the deep well injections is a facility cited many times and shut down in the past," Evans added. "Any of us that live and breathe are at risk."

The big picture: The crash has drawn ire and demands for accountability from both sides of the aisle.

A preliminary report released this week by the National Transportation Safety Board found that a wheel bearing, which connects the wheel to its axis, overheated on a hopper car toward the front of the train and resulted in the crash.

"This was 100% preventable," NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy said during a press conference Thursday.

Worth noting: Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, who has faced accusations of not doing enough in response to the wreck, visited the site of the train derailment on Thursday.

diagnoses of bronchitis and other conditions

Transport of East Palestine soil, water to other states prompts backlash

Photo of water getting filtered out of a creek

An EPA contractor walks past an aeration system and tree covered in ice on Feb. 24, 2023 in East Palestine, Ohio. Photo: Michael Swensen via Getty Images

trains

The crew of the Norfolk Southern train that derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, attempted to stop it after receiving a "critical" alert about an overheating wheel bearing just before the crash, an investigation found.

Why it matters: The preliminary findings from the National Transportation Safety Board's (NTSB) investigation released Thursday came as residents push for answers from officials over the potential health dangers of exposure to the toxic chemicals released in the wake of the crash.

The report was released Thursday as Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg was visiting the site of the crash.

The latest: NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said during a press conference after the report's release that the board will hold a rare investigative field hearing in East Palestine this spring.

The goal of the hearing will be to inform the public, collect factual information from witnesses, discuss possible solutions and "build consensus for change," Homendy said.

 As the crew slowed the train to inspect cars for a hot axle, an automatic emergency brake application initiated, which may indicate the train experienced a separation during deceleration.

Before starting to slow down, the crew received a critical audible alarm message indicating the temperature of a railcar wheel bearing was greater than 200°F above the ambient temperature at the time.

"After the train stopped, the crew observed fire and smoke and notified the Cleveland East dispatcher of a possible derailment," the report reads.

Thirty-eight railcars were involved in the derailment, including 11 tank cars carrying hazardous materials that ignited after the wreck and damaged an additional 12 non-derailed railcars.

First responders mitigated the fire from the initial wreck on Feb. 5, but five tank cars carrying 115,580 gallons of vinyl chloride concerned authorities because the temperature inside one tank car was rising, suggesting the chemical was undergoing a polymerization reaction and could explode.

Because of the explosion risk, first responders vented and burned vinyl chloride — a colorless but hazardous and carcinogenic gas — in the five cars after expanding an evacuation zone around the crash site, according to the NTSB.

The train was travelling around 47 miles per hour at the time of the derailment, roughly 3 mph below the maximum authorized speed of 50 mph.

"This was 100 percent preventable," Homendy said during the press conference. "We call things accidents, there is no accident. Every single event that we investigate is preventable."

Homendy said the NTSB had no role in the decision to vent and burn the chemicals. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine previously said he authorized the operation, which occurred after residents of the town were evacuated.

The NTSB said surveillance video from a local residence showed a wheel bearing on the first railcar that derailed "in the final stage of overheat failure moments before the derailment."

That wheel bearing and other equipment have been collected as evidence by the NTSB for its ongoing investigation, it said.

Homendy said the NTSB will investigate how Norfolk Southern uses wayside defect detectors (that caused the alert) on its railways, how its crews are alarmed and respond to defect alerts and its maintenance and inspection procedures for railcars.

The big picture: Norfolk Southern executives in an earnings call presentation on Jan. 23 — just weeks before the East Palestine derailment — said the rate of accidents on its railways had increased in each of the last four years.

The Environmental Protection Agency ordered the company on Tuesday to clean up contamination from the crash under a plan approved by the agency.

The Department of Transportation on Tuesday also called for multiple measures to increase rail safety and hold rail operators responsible for violating safety regulations.

Go deeper: Ohio derailment prompts calls to investigate federal oversight of trains

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional details and background.

Ohio train derailment tied to overheated wheel bearing, report finds

The Feb. 3 derailment included 11 tank cars carrying at least five different types of chemicals.

The site of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 15.

The site of the train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, on Feb. 15. Photo: NTSB/Handout via Xinhua

Ohio

The Biden administration said Thursday that it will hold rail operator Norfolk Southern accountable for the derailment of a 150-car freight train in East Palestine, Ohio — a day after the town's mayor said he heard from the White House for the first time this week.

Driving the news: The comments — made by White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre at a briefing on Thursday — come almost two weeks after the Norfolk Southern train, which was pulling at least five tanker cars containing a hazardous gas, crashed and forced the company to vent and burn carcinogenic chemicals from train cars.

The derailment forced hundreds of people to evacuate and caused alarm about toxic fumes and water contamination from spilled materials.

Several federal lawmakers have since pushed for answers about government oversight of the freight train system, while Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has countered that the solution lies with Congress.

What they're saying: "The health and safety of the community is our top priority," Jean-Pierre said.

When asked why the Biden administration had not reached out earlier, Jean-Pierre noted that the Environmental Protection Agency has been on the ground since Feb. 4 and that President Biden has spoken with Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) to offer federal assistance.

DeWine said earlier Thursday he had requested assistance from the Department of Health and Human Services, the Health and Emergency Response Team and the CDC.

"Multiple federal agencies have been on the ground working ... to get to the bottom of what caused the derailment, monitoring air quality, collecting soil samples, testing surface and ground water for any contaminants," Jean-Pierre said.

"We understand the residents are concerned as they should be ... and we're going to try to figure out an answer," she added. "We're going to hold Norfolk Southern accountable."

"Our message to folks in Ohio in that area is to listen to your state and local officials."

The big picture: What led to the crash is still unclear, but a mechanical issue with an axle of one of the 150 cars is believed to be the cause of the derailment of at least 50 of the cars. 

Norfolk Southern faces at least four class action lawsuits that allege negligence over the crash.

Railroad worker unions, several of which rejected a Biden-brokered labor deal last year, had previously made it clear that employees were fed up with being overworked and that rail companies had cut down the workforce too excessively in a bid to save costs.

The National Transportation Safety Board, backed by the Department of Transportation, is leading an investigation into the derailment.

White House: Norfolk Southern will be held accountable for Ohio train derailment

"We understand the residents are concerned as they should be ... and we're going to try to figure out an answer."

Aerial photo of the site of the derailed freight train, showing smoke billowing from a pile of collapsed train cars

The site of a derailed freight train in East Palestine, Ohio. Image: U.S. National Transportation Safety Board/Handout via Xinhua

White House

As emergency crews continue to clean up the site where a train carrying hazardous materials derailed in East Palestine, Ohio, several lawmakers are pushing for answers about government oversight of the freight train system.

The 150-car Norfolk Southern train was hauling at least five tanker cars containing the hazardous gas vinyl chloride.

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