(FREE) PAINE IN THE MORNING: 10 things you need to know this Tuesday – October 12, 2021

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Southwest Cancels 1,800 Flights Days After Pilots Fight Vaccine Mandates; Airline Claims ‘Bad Weather’ – Just two days after the Southwest pilots union asked a federal judge to block the company’s vaccine mandate, the airline canceled 1,800 flights this weekend, blaming bad weather.

“Southwest Airlines canceled more than 1,800 flights this weekend, disrupting the travel plans of thousands of customers and stranding flight crews, blaming the meltdown on a combination of bad weather, air traffic control and its own shortage of available staff,” reported CNBC.  – READ MORE

Southwest cancels hundreds more flights, denies sickout – Southwest Airlines canceled several hundred more flights Monday following a weekend of major disruptions that it blamed on bad weather and air traffic control issues. Both the company and its pilots’ union denied reports of a sickout to protest mandatory COVID-19 vaccinations.

Southwest canceled more than 360 flights — 10% of its schedule for the day — on Monday, and more than 800 others were delayed, according to the FlightAware tracking service. – READ MORE

Sydney Begins Easing Lockdown After 106 Days of ‘Blood, Sweat, and No Beers’ – Elated Sydneysiders were emerging from almost four months of “blood, sweat and no beers” early Monday as a long coronavirus lockdown was lifted in Australia’s largest city.

Sydney’s more than five million residents have been subjected to a 106-day lockdown, designed to limit the march of the highly transmissible Delta variant.  – READ MORE

Vaccinated Ohio man’s kidney transplant delayed days before surgery, donor unvaccinated – A vaccinated Ohio man whose kidneys are covered in cysts and experiences debilitating pain had his transplant postponed days before the scheduled surgery due to his donor being unvaccinated against the coronavirus, his wife said Sunday.

Mike Ganim, 52, was due to undergo the life-saving surgery on Wednesday until the Cleveland Clinic delayed it over new safety protocols regarding COVID-19 vaccinations, Ganim’s wife, Debi, told WOIO-TV. While her husband is vaccinated against the virus, Debi Ganim said his donor, Sue George, chose not to be – and the hospital says that presents a risk. – READ MORE

Wyoming teenager arrested after refusing to wear mask on school grounds, family says – A 16-year-old girl in Wyoming was arrested Thursday at her school after she refused to wear a mask on school grounds, she and her father said.

Grace Smith, a junior at Laramie High School, told state Sen. Anthony Bouchard, R-Cheyenne, in an interview posted online, that police placed her in handcuffs for trespassing after she was suspended for not following the school’s mask mandate and refused to leave school grounds. – READ MORE

Staggering Number Of US Troops Remain Unvaccinated As Deadlines Approach – With vaccination deadlines fast approaching, hundreds of thousands of US service members remain either unvaccinated or partially vaccinated against Covid-19, according to the Washington Post.

The Navy has been most compliant with President Biden’s July edict that the nation’s 2.1 million troops take the jab. According to the report, 98% of active duty seamen have gotten at least one shot, while 90% are fully vaccinated. That’s in stark contrast to the Marines, where just 72% are fully vaccinated. Meanwhile, over 60,000 Air Force personnel have just three weeks to meet the DoD’s Nov. 2 deadline. – READ MORE

Biden To Provide Aid To Afghanistan After Taliban Announces It Won’t Work With U.S. To Fight ISIS: Reports – The Biden administration has allegedly agreed to provide humanitarian aid to Afghanistan as conditions in the country worsen under Taliban-rule.

“The U.S. has agreed to provide humanitarian aid to a desperately poor Afghanistan on the brink of an economic disaster, while refusing to give political recognition to the country’s new Taliban rulers,” The Associated Press reported. “The statement came at the end of the first direct talks between the former foes since the chaotic withdrawal of U.S. troops at the end of August.” – READ MORE

Kraft Heinz Warns Shoppers ‘Get Used To Paying More For Food’ – Global food prices are at fresh decade highs leading to even higher grocery bills for the working poor, and the supply chain chaos plus the emerging energy crisis are making things worse.

Food producers, such as Kraft Heinz Company, have struggled with shortages, supply chain woes, labor issues, higher energy costs, and rising ag commodity prices, all of which support higher food inflation. – READ MORE

With Ports Clogged, Some Retailers Are Looking for Alternative Supply Chains –With ports clogged and supply chains snarled in advance of the holiday shopping season, some major U.S. retailers are taking unprecedented steps to get goods onto store shelves. That includes chartering their own cargo ships to import goods.

The Wall Street Journal reports that Walmart, Target, Costco, and Home Depot are among the major retailers to adopt the “if you want something done right, do it yourself” approach to importing goods. Worker shortages and COVID-19 protocols have slowed trans-Pacific shipping considerably—it now takes about 80 days to transport items from Asia to the U.S., about twice as long as it did before the pandemic, the Journal reports. – READ MORE

Report — Supply Chain Crunch: ‘There Will Definitely Be Weeping Children This Holiday Season’ – Jammed supply chains are already beginning to threaten the possibility that holiday shoppers will fulfill their wishlist, financial experts say.

Co-head of AlixPartners’ retail consulting practice, Joel Bines, told the Financial Times that retailers will have difficulty securing the “most in-demand” items this year for consumers to purchase for their families at Christmas. – READ MORE