ICYMI

Alcohol and phones cause problems on airplanes, Ayala announces state attorney-general campaign, Loyd sentenced to death and other news you may have missed last week.

» Hijacking feared on flight to Orlando due to child’s AirDrop prank

A flight between Seattle and Orlando was forced to park on the runway at Orlando International Airport and await a heavily armed cadre of police after a child onboard the plane AirDropped a threat to another passenger. The Alaska Airlines flight was delayed by over an hour after the passenger reported the threat to the flight’s crew. Passengers onboard said police surrounded the flight armed with submachine guns, but eventually sussed out that the threat was not credible. Passenger Ryan Pruitt told the station that the child’s mom was extremely apologetic as they were escorted off the plane.

» UCF student who tracks Elon Musk’s jet has turned his attention toward Russian oligarchs

The University of Central Florida student who made a name for himself by creating Twitter bots that track a jet used by Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos has turned his attention to another stripe of oligarch. After the Russian invasion of Ukraine and subsequent sanctions on Russia, freshman Jack Sweeney started tracking the get-outta-Dodge scramble of oligarchs as well as president Vladimir Putin. He created two accounts — @RUOligarchJets and @Putinjet — to track their comings and goings using publicly available data. Sweeney came to national attention when his Musk-tracking account drew the ire of the billionaire himself. Musk offered Sweeney a lowball amount of $5,000 to delete the account. Sweeney countered, asking for either a Tesla or an internship. Musk never responded.

» Markeith Loyd sentenced to death over murder of Orlando police officer

Convicted double murderer Markeith Loyd was sentenced to death for the killing of Orlando Police Lt. Debra Clayton. The judge followed a jury recommendation from last year when sentencing Loyd to die on Thursday morning. Loyd is already serving a life sentence for the murder of his pregnant ex-girlfriend Sade Dixon in 2017. Loyd killed Clayton as she attempted to apprehend him in a Walmart parking lot in Orlando. The murder led to a massive manhunt and violent arrest which left Loyd permanently blind in one eye, though no officer was ever convicted of wrongdoing.

» Orlando JetBlue pilot fired after allegedly attempting to fly drunk

A JetBlue pilot was removed from the cockpit of an airplane in Buffalo after authorities allege he showed up to work drunk. Orlando-based pilot James Clifton was arrested after a breathalyzer test showed a blood alcohol content level of .17, twice the legal limit for driving and four times the FAA’s limit for pilots, according to authorities with the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority. He was removed from a flight that was heading to Fort Lauderdale on Wednesday morning. Clifton was clocked by a TSA agent, who reported the pilot for appearing drunk. Clifton told police that he drank as many as 10 22-ounce beers the night before. Clifton has been fired from his job at JetBlue. He may also face federal charges.

» Orlando’s Aramis Ayala announces run to be Florida’s attorney general

Aramis Ayala, an Orlando Democrat who was Florida’s first Black state attorney, announced last week she will run for attorney general to try to unseat Republican incumbent Ashley Moody. After her 2016 election as state attorney in the 9th Judicial Circuit, which comprises Orange and Osceola counties, Ayala created a firestorm by saying she would not seek the death penalty. Ayala, 47, locked horns with then-Gov. Rick Scott when she said pointed out racial inequities in death-penalty sentences. Scott removed Ayala from handling capital cases, which he reassigned to Ocala-area State Attorney Brad King. Ayala challenged the decision, but the Florida Supreme Court later backed Scott. She did not seek re-election to the post in 2020. Last week Ayala said she intends to bring her track record as an “attorney for the people” to the Capitol. When asked how she would handle the death penalty as attorney general, Ayala said the issue has lost popularity among Floridians and that “keeping the death penalty alive” costs state taxpayers about $51 million a year.