April 29, 2019

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Business April 29, 2019

Boeing CEO Defends 737 MAX Jets Against Angry Shareholders

Boeing executives gave an update on their 737 MAX jetliners Monday. The planes have remained grounded since the company’s second crash.



AUDIE CORNISH, HOST:

Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg was in the hot seat today. He defended the 737 Max aircraft at the company’s annual shareholders meeting in Chicago. The 737 Max remains grounded worldwide after crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia killed a total of 346 people. Muilenburg faced tough questions about the plane’s design and whether it was rushed into production. NPR’s Russell Lewis has more.

RUSSELL LEWIS, BYLINE: Normally, a company’s shareholder meeting isn’t filled with tension, anger and frustration. But even before Boeing executives took to the stage today, protesters were outside in a cold, driving rainstorm. They stood, quietly clutching pictures of people who died in last month’s Ethiopian Airlines crash. Among the protesters was Tarek Milleron from California. His 24-year-old niece, Samya Stumo, worked for a global health nonprofit. He’s mad at Boeing.

TAREK MILLERON: They’re not going to get away with this ridiculous notion that they’re super-safety conscious and now they’re going to be ultra-safety conscious. That just doesn’t fly.

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GRANT DIXTON: Good morning. And welcome to the Boeing Company’s 2019 annual meeting of shareholders. My name is Grant Dixton, and I’m the company’s corporate secretary.

LEWIS: At the meeting, Boeing’s CEO, Dennis Muilenburg, opened with a moment of silence and expressed regret for the 346 deaths. In both accidents, a sensor fed erroneous data into the jet’s flight computers. Pilots lost control after takeoff when the nose of each plane pitched down uncontrollably. But Muilenburg is standing by the process to get the system fixed.

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DENNIS MUILENBURG: With a certified software update implemented, the 737 Max will be one of the safest airplanes ever to fly.

LEWIS: As Muilenburg guides the aerospace giant through this crisis, saying Boeing owns the responsibility, there are other questions, including, why was the 737 MAX initially certified as safe, and why wasn’t the plane grounded after the first accident in Indonesia? Muilenburg survived a shareholder vote today that would have split his CEO and chairman roles. But in a testy news conference afterwards, he was asked if he’d thought about resigning.

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MUILENBURG: It’s important that, as a company, we have those clear priorities, that we’re taking the right actions, that we have the right culture. I am strongly vested in that. And my clear intent is to continue to lead on the front of safety and quality and integrity.

LEWIS: Muilenburg also defended Boeing and the 737 Max. He said the plane’s design is not the problem, even though that’s the very thing the company is fixing.

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MUILENBURG: We’ve confirmed that it was designed per our standards, certified per our standards. And we’re confident in that process.

LEWIS: Muilenburg wouldn’t answer if the original design was flawed. He took only a handful of questions and walked out as reporters shouted for him to stay. Boeing is the subject of several congressional investigations, whistleblower complaints and lawsuits filed by family members killed in the accidents. Muilenburg gave no timeline when the 737 Max might be flying again. But whenever that happens, Boeing will need to rebuild the trust of a jittery public and aviation industry, says Dennis stager. He’s a 737 captain for American and a union representative.

DENNIS TAJER: Just like in any relationship repair, you kind of have to go through the past to understand how to get to the future. Sometimes the past is very uncomfortable and painful, but we’re doing that now.

LEWIS: The 737 Max is key to Boeing’s financial future. It is the company’s bestselling plane, with pending orders of 5,000, putting more pressure on Boeing to get the planes fixed and soon. Russell Lewis, NPR News, Chicago.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Health April 29, 2019

Measles Cases In The U.S. Reach Highest Count In 25 Years

Federal health officials released the latest national measles count Monday. Measles has been reported in 22 states.



AILSA CHANG, HOST:

Federal health officials are increasingly alarmed about the spread of measles around the country. They’re urging parents to vaccinate their kids in the face of record-setting outbreaks. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein has the details.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE: At least 704 cases of measles have now been reported in 22 states. And Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar says that’s the most measles in the United States in 25 years.

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ALEX AZAR: We are very concerned about the recent troubling rise in cases of measles, which was declared eliminated from our country in 2000. Vaccine-preventable diseases belong in the history books, not our emergency rooms.

STEIN: Most of the measles cases are from outbreaks in Washington state and New York. The Washington outbreak has subsided. But measles is still spreading in two outbreaks in New York, one in Brooklyn and the other about an hour north of Manhattan. Those are the largest and longest measles outbreaks since the disease was eliminated in 2000. And hundreds of college students have been quarantined because of measles in California. Why is measles back like this?

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AZAR: While most parents are getting their children vaccinated, the vast majority of these cases involve children who have not been vaccinated.

STEIN: And have gotten exposed to measles by people who caught the virus in countries like Ukraine, Israel and the Philippines, where big outbreaks are underway and have brought the highly contagious measles virus into communities with lots of unvaccinated kids. Here’s CDC Director Robert Redfield.

ROBERT REDFIELD: Measles is incredibly contagious. A person who has measles can make other people sick four days before they get a rash. If an infected person enters a room of 10 unvaccinated people, nine of them will get measles.

STEIN: Most will recover. But there’s no way to treat measles, and it can cause severe complications. So far this year, about 3% of people with measles have ended up with pneumonia; 9% have been hospitalized. No one has died. But Health and Human Services Secretary Azar says that could happen.

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AZAR: Most of us have never seen the deadly consequences that vaccine-preventable diseases can have on a child, family or a community, and that’s the way we want to keep it.

STEIN: So federal, state and local health officials are racing to counter misinformation that’s apparently being targeted at some communities about the measles vaccine. Nancy Messonnier directs the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. She says the measles vaccine is highly effective and safe.

NANCY MESSONNIER: We have definitely seen misinformation and myths about vaccines being sent to communities susceptible to that misinformation. And these vulnerable communities are the communities in which we’re seeing these outbreaks right now.

STEIN: Like Orthodox Jewish communities in New York. Messonnier worries that if the outbreaks aren’t brought under control soon, it could have longterm implications for the country.

MESSONNIER: The longer these outbreaks continue, the greater the chance that measles will again get a foothold in the United States.

STEIN: So officials are trying to counter the misinformation, and some lawmakers are calling for the elimination of rules that allow parents to opt out of getting their kids vaccinated. Rob Stein, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF NICK BOX’S “THOUGHTS”)

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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Sports April 29, 2019

London Marathon Takes A Small Step To Go Green

The BBC reports 47,000 plastic water bottles were tossed at last year’s race. This year, organizers gave runners edible water pods. They’re biodegradable because they’re made from seaweed.



DAVID GREENE, HOST:

Good morning. I’m David Greene. Eliud Kipchoge won the London Marathon yesterday for a fourth time. That’s a record, and that is amazing. And in other news, the marathon took a small step to go green. The BBC reports, last year, racers and onlookers tossed 47,000 plastic water bottles. This year, organizers tried to prevent a mess. They gave runners edible water pods. They’re biodegradable because they’re made from seaweed. The startup that makes them says they’re tasteless. It’s MORNING EDITION.

Copyright © 2019 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information.

NPR transcripts are created on a rush deadline by Verb8tm, Inc., an NPR contractor, and produced using a proprietary transcription process developed with NPR. This text may not be in its final form and may be updated or revised in the future. Accuracy and availability may vary. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record.

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