WCDO Radio News

Transportation Security Administration officers at Hancock Airport in Syracuse stopped an unidentified Chenango County man from Sherburne with a loaded handgun at the Airport security checkpoint Monday morning. The a 9mm caliber handgun was loaded with 6 bullets, A TSA officer spotted it on the X-ray machine as the man’s belongings were being screened, Syracuse Police responded and confiscated the weapon. The man told officials that he had placed the gun in his bag when he went hiking and forgot that he had his loaded gun with him, he was not charged.

Frequent fliers will be able to move through several key upstate airports quicker when the Transportation Security Administration begins offering expedited screening in Syracuse, Albany, Buffalo-Niagara, Rochester and Westchester County. Pre-approved passengers that are a part of the program get to use select screening lanes and do not have to remove shoes, belts and can keep laptops in their case. The TSA says 15 million Americans have taken advantage of the program since it launched nearly two years ago. To find out if you're eligible for the program, visit www.tsa.gov.

US Senator Charles Schumer is opposing a plan by the Transportation Security Administration to allow airline passengers to bring small knives on board passenger aircraft.  Schumer said that these items pose an obvious safety threat, along with other items that the TSA is considering to allow on planes, including novelty baseball bats, billiard cues, and hockey sticks. All of the items mentioned have been banned since the September 11th 2001 terrorist attacks.  TSA officials said that pilots and air marshals are trained to provide security should any of these items be used as a weapon.