My name is Lee Hawkins. I've been a journalist for over 25 years. On my new

podcast, What Happened in Alabama, I get answers to some of the hardest questions about how things

came to be for many black Americans and the truth that must come before any reconciliation can

happen. I investigate my family history, my upbringing in

Minnesota and my father's painful nightmares about growing up in Alabama. What happened

in Alabama is a new series confronting the cycles of trauma for myself,

my family, and for many black Americans.

Listen now. When somebody else's pants are all you need. I'm David Brancatia. First, we're into the last day of the holiday scene as the start of the busy summer travel season and it comes at a time of tension between the air travel industry and federal rights. travel consumers but are being hampered by a shortage of air traffic controllers.

Marketplace's Nova Safo has details.

Higher affairs, crowded airports, and mass cancellations and delays have done little to

dampen the appetite for air travel.

Going into the summer months, airlines for America says the industry has increased

flights by about 5.5 percent, but schedules will be expanding even further if not for a shortage of air traffic

controllers.

The FAA has previously found that staffing shortages left some controllers short of sleep and

exhausted.

Earlier this month, Transportation Secretary Pete Budajaj

addressed the issue at a Senate hearing,

saying his department is barely keeping up with attrition

and needs more funding.

Bottom line is, of course, we have to and will maintain a very high standard for what it

takes to become a controller, but we also can and are seeing more people move through

...