Flight disruptions follow nationwide ground stop, and SpaceX makes history: Weekend Rundown

Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy declined to apologize for the nationwide ground stop on Friday that stranded hundreds of thousands of travelers across the country following a router issue that derailed air traffic control communications.Instead, the secretary blamed his predecessors for “30 years of a lack of investment,” telling NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that previous presidential administrations did not do enough to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system.“It happened on my watch, but we have to be clear: I am moving at an incredible speed that no one has done at the FAA or in decades, and I’m proud of the work we’re doing, the attention we’re bringing to this issue,” Duffy said.Federal Aviation Administration contractor L3Harris was working on replacing a copper line with a fiber line at a remote site when the work led a router to overwhelm the national FAA telecommunications network, Duffy said Saturday.On “Meet the Press,” the transportation secretary reiterated a call he’s made all weekend for more funding from Congress to modernize the nationwide air traffic control system, which has long been outdated and faced problems.Duffy expects airports and airlines to resume normal operations by the end of the day or early Monday morning.Sen.-elect Scott Colom says investing in the South can help DemocratsScott Colom says he notched his upset victory ‘the Mississippi way’: Full interview11:15Sen.-elect Scott Colom, D-Miss., emphasized on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” that Democrats need to invest more in Southern states like Mississippi, where he flipped a seat blue for the first time in decades.“What we need to do now as a Democratic Party is understand we can’t continue to allow that lack of investment to occur,” he said.Colom’s projected win brings Democrats to a 55-seat majority in the Senate, with Alaska’s Senate race yet to be called.His victory over Sen.

Cindy Hyde-Smith, a Republican, marked a seismi...