By Jackie Wattles, CNN

(CNN) — The botched test flight of Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft — a protracted saga that kept two astronauts in space months longer than expected — was a debacle in league with US space shuttle disasters that cost crew members their lives, according to newly revealed findings from a NASA investigation about the ordeal.

While the crewed Starliner mission did not end in tragedy, the myriad issues discovered with the Boeing-built spacecraft “revealed critical vulnerabilities in the Starliner’s propulsion system, NASA’s oversight model, and the broader culture of commercial human spaceflight,” according to a report the agency published Thursday.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman discussed the incident in scathing terms at a news conference Thursday, noting that the Starliner should not have flown with crew on board when it did.

“It’s decision-making and leadership that, if left unchecked, could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight,” Isaacman said.

Officially, the Starliner test flight is now considered a “Type A” mishap — a designation that NASA defines as an incident that results in more than $2 million of damage, the loss of control or destruction of a vehicle, or a loss of life. The Columbia and Challenger Space Shuttle disasters were also classified as “Type A” incidents.

Isaacman said the report and Thursday news conference were geared toward “doing the right thing” and properly investigating the Starliner mission. Initially, NASA had permitted its Commercial Crew Program, which oversees Boeing’s Starliner development, to self-investigate, agency officials said.

Isaacman said that decision was “inconsistent with NASA safety culture.”

“I think setting the record straight, classifying this as a Type A mishap, ensures what happened here with this mission is appropriately recorded and can be referenced for future learning,” Isaacman said. “We’re trying to send a message about what is the right and wrong way to handle situations like this so that they do not reoccur.”

Isaacman, who took NASA’s top job after his Senate confirmation in December, did not say whether any NASA managers would lose their positions over the incident.

Boeing designed and built Starliner, though NASA holds a roughly $4 billion contract with the company to use the spacecraft for ferrying space agency astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Starliner has been under development for more than a decade, and problems with the vehicle’s thrusters also cropped up during uncrewed test flights flown prior to NASA’s inaugural Boeing Crew Flight Test in 2024, which included NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore.

Isaacman said that it’s now clear that the root causes of Starliner’s issues were never found — and still have not been determined.

Previous investigations into Starliner’s issues “often stopped short of the proximate or the direct cause, treated it with a fix, or accepted the issue as an unexplained anomaly,” Isaacman said.

‘Unprofessional conduct’

Starliner ran into problems shortly after embarking on its first crewed mission in June 2024. The astronauts helming the test flight, Wilmore and Williams, expected to fly the spacecraft to the International Space Station and dock for about a week before returning home.

Those plans were quickly dashed, however, when the Starliner spacecraft endured helium leaks and thruster outages en route to the orbiting laboratory. Ultimately, NASA determined the spacecraft was not safe enough t

Below is a press release from Discover Buellton regarding the annual Buellton Wine & Chili Festival taking place next month!

BUELLTON, CA – The Central Coast’s most flavorful celebration returns when the Buellton Wine & Chili Festival takes over Flying Flags RV Resort on Sunday, March 15, 2026, from 12:00-4:30 pm, celebrating the bold flavors and festive fun with this year’s theme, “Uncorking the Heat.” The beloved annual community favorite brings together the best in wine, craft beverages, and mouthwatering chili and salsa showcase right in the heart of Buellton.

Setting the tone for the day is a dynamic lineup of live entertainment, led by Maclovia, an Ojai-based band known for their electrifying mix of Latin rock, psychedelic influences, and emotionally driven sound. Guests can also enjoy performances by Salty Strings, a Santa Barbara string band that blends traditional bluegrass with coastal inspiration, and DJ F.I.U., a veteran DJ with more than 20 years of experience spinning across California and Nevada.

Alongside the music, attendees can explore a wide selection of wine, craft beer, seltzers, ciders, and spirits while sampling unlimited chili and salsa throughout the afternoon. Attendees are also encouraged to watch and take part in the Chili Cook-Off, a friendly competition where local businesses, residents, and bold home cooks go head-to-head for bragging rights and the title of best chili and salsa in the area. Restaurants, nonprofit groups, community members, and those eager to showcase their culinary skills can register at https://buelltonwineandchilifestival.com/.  

With so much to sip, taste, and experience throughout the afternoon, guests can choose from the following ticket options to join the celebration:

• The Hot Chili Ticket ($65): General Admission for guests 21 and over; includes a souvenir wine glass, unlimited wine tasting, craft beer, seltzers, ciders, and spirits, along with unlimited chili and salsa. 
• The Mild Chili Ticket ($25): Available for guests 20 and under; includes unlimited chili and salsa with no alcohol consumption. 
• Children ages 6 and under: Enter for free.
• At-the-Door Tickets: $75 for the Hot Chili Ticket and $35 for the Mild Chili Ticket. (Chili and salsa available while supplies last.) 

For added convenience, the festival offers the Brew Bus, a round-trip shuttle from Santa Barbara, Goleta, Lompoc, and Santa Maria for $30. Shuttle tickets must be purchased in advance, and full pickup and drop-off details are available at https://buelltonwineandchilifestival.com/. Nearby parking will also be available at Pea Soup Andersen’s, with clear signage directing attendees. The festival grounds are a short walk from the designated lot. 

Festivalgoers can make the most of their day at the festival by turning it into a complete weekend getaway. Buellton offers a variety of accommodations to suit every preference, from modern and c

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. (KEYT) - What was expected to be the last round of rain for the current set of storms, did not go quietly.

The morning was filled with downpours, spinouts and rollovers, keeping first responders busy from Gaviota to the south into Ventura County.

Throughout the morning commute there were 911 calls for two rollovers on Highway 101 at Gaviota and west of Refugio.

There were also crashes in the area of Highway 217 in Goleta near UC Santa Barbara.

South Coast creeks have handle the week of rain without overflowing. A check of sometimes troublesome areas in Montecito, Carpinteria and Goleta showed the runoff water was going where it was supposed to en route to the ocean.

The heavy rain about 8:00 a.m. this morning activated some front country waterfalls including along Painted Cave road.

Around noon a vehicle went out of control from Hollister Ave. and hit a concrete support pillar in the Winchester Canyon area.

In Carpinteria the State Beach park area was draining down some large pools of water being visited by migrating and foraging birds. A large tree at the back of the camping sites near the railroad tracks was tipping but not down, causing some concerns.

(More details, video and photos will be added later today.)

The Latest Breaking News, Weather Alerts, Sports and More Anytime On Our Mobile Apps. Keep Up With the Latest Articles by Signing Up for the News Channel 3-12 Newsletter.

The post Another Round of Rain Leads to More Vehicle Crashes and Debris-Filled Beaches appeared first on News Channel 3-12.

SAN FRANCISCO (KEYT) – California's Attorney General is co-leading a coalition of 13 attorneys general in suing the Trump Administration over its selective termination of billions in congressionally-approved energy and infrastructure investments last year.

"In May 2025, DOE [U.S. Department of Energy] issued a policy memorandum ('DOE Memo') announcing that DOE would subject previously funded projects to a nebulous and opaque 'review' process," stated Wednesday's filing in federal court. "The DOE Memo was a pretext. Its true purpose was to give the Administration thin bureaucratic cover to eliminate congressionally established energy and infrastructure programs and rescind their funding, for no other reason than a fundamental disagreement with the programs’ policy underpinnings."

The coalition includes California, Colorado, Washington, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont, Wisconsin stated the suit.

The origin of the federal funding can be found in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act, both passed by Congress and signed into law during the Biden Administration.

"In our constitutional system, only Congress has the power to appropriate funding, and to define if and how federal programs are administered," argued the coalition of attorneys general in its filing this week. "It is the President’s duty, after that legislation is signed by the Executive, to execute those laws. He has no power to undo them, whether piecemeal or in their entirety. Indeed, the President’s authority is at its lowest ebb when he acts in direct contravention of express congressional authority."

Article I, Section 9, clause 7 of the U.S. Constitution details that no money from the national Treasury can be spent unless appropriated by a law passed by Congress and signed by the President.

After President Nixon unilaterally withheld funding appropriated by Congress and previously signed into law, Congress passed the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 which limited the practice into two allowable actions, a 45-day deferral of spending, or rescissions, an official termination of spending.

Both actions require the President to submit a formal justification of deferral or rescission request to Congress.

Wednesday's lawsuit noted that the Trump Administration attempted to convince Congress to rescind all funding, even funding already obligated or assigned to an awardee but, "The bill that Congress ultimately passed did not rescind any significant tranches of IIJA [Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act] program funds; it only rescinded some unobligated funds supporting IRA [Inflation Reduction Act] programs," noted the filing in federal court.

The official announcement of the terminations came the day before the a government shutdown started on Oct. 1, 2025, and was posted on X/Twitter by Russell Vought, the Director of the Office of Management and Budget, who dubbed the grants as the "Green New Scam", a play on the name of a proposed bill that partially inspired the energy grant programs known as the Green New Deal, but was notably scaled down prior to being signed int

Por Jessie Yeung, CNN

Tiene 22 años y estudia física cuántica en Stanford. Es modelo y una de las atletas femeninas con mayores ingresos del mundo, con un ingreso neto de más de 23 millones de dólares el año pasado.

Además, acaba de ganar dos medallas olímpicas más en Milán. Sin embargo, la esquiadora de estilo libre Eileen Gu ha enfrentado más críticas que nunca por su decisión de competir por China en lugar de Estados Unidos, donde nació y creció.

Este no es un territorio nuevo para Gu, uno de los nombres más reconocidos en su deporte. La nativa de San Francisco ha estado rodeada de controversia durante muchos años, con el escrutinio global y la cobertura mediática alcanzando su punto álgido durante su debut en los Juegos Olímpicos de Beijing en 2022.

En ese momento, intentó mantenerse lo más neutral posible, destacando sus vínculos con ambos países como hija de madre china y padre estadounidense.

Esta vez, sin embargo, es diferente.

La retórica en su contra se ha visto amplificada particularmente por las plataformas de derecha, que se nutren del ferviente nacionalismo de “Estados Unidos Primero” impulsado por la administración Trump y la base MAGA del presidente estadounidense.

Gu ya no es la joven de 18 años que en Beijing se convirtió en la campeona olímpica de esquí acrobático más joven de la historia. Es mayor, más lucrativa, más poderosa y, notablemente, más dispuesta a denunciar los abusos que ha sufrido.

“He pasado por mucho en los últimos cuatro años y más”, declaró en una rueda de prensa el 9 de febrero, tras ganar la plata en la competición de esquí acrobático slopestyle.

“He pasado por cosas a los 22 años que no creo que nadie debería tener que afrontar jamás, ya sean amenazas, críticas, odio en línea, ataques físicos… lo que sea, la lista continúa”, añadió.

“Pero me hago más fuerte, ¿verdad? Eso es lo maravilloso de ser joven. Te adaptas, aprendes y te haces más fuerte y mejor”.

Muchos atletas estadounidenses con doble nacionalidad han optado por representar a otros países por diversas razones, ya sean personales, emocionales, financieras o el acceso a mayores oportunidades.

Pero pocos han atraído tanto escrutinio —o comentarios— como Gu en un momento en que Estados Unidos y China se encuentran en una rivalidad geopolítica cada vez más díscola.

Gu anunció por primera vez que se cambiaría para competir por China en 2015, escribiendo entonces que era una “decisión increíblemente difícil”. Añadió que estaba “orgullosa de mi herencia, e igualmente orgullosa de mi educación estadounidense”.

Pero esa decisión molestó a muchos. Los críticos señalaron los numerosos presuntos abusos de derechos humanos por parte de China, incluyendo la represión de los musulmanes uigures en la región occidental china de Xinjiang, algo que Gu no ha abordado públicamente. Otros argumentaron que se había beneficiado de una educación, instalaciones de entrenamiento y entrenadores estadounidenses, pero que no estaba retribuyendo a su país de nacimiento.

Ese debate resurgió durante los Juegos Olímpicos de Invierno, especialmente en podcasts y medios de comunicación conservadores populares. Incluso algunos políticos republicanos, como el senador de Florida, Rick Scott, y el representante de Tennessee, Andy Ogles, han intervenido, acusando a Gu de apoyar a adversarios estadounidenses.

Otra figura similar es el exjugador de la NBA Enes Kanter Freedom, un veterano crítico del Partido Comunista Chino, quien calificó a Gu de “traidora” en una publicación en X el martes.

“Nació en Estados Unidos, creció en Estados Unidos, vive en Estados Unidos y eligió competir contra su propio país por el mayor violador de derechos humanos del planeta, China”, escribió Freedom, acusando a Gu de “desaparecer” cada vez que se menciona el tema de los derechos humanos.

En una entrevista con Fox News, se le