TSA

Rapper Freddie Gibbs tweeted a picture of the note with bags of marijuana.

Your morning transportation speed-read:

The Federal Aviation Administration is charging $150 for flight data on pilots' iPads.

A Transportation Security Administration employee was included in a child sex sting in Orlando, Fla.

New rail cars for Washington's MetroRail will be five months behind schedule.

A study found that hybrid cars are safer in accidents than non-hybrid automobiles.

The Transportation Security Administration's known-traveler program is being expanded to Las Vegas' McCarran International Airport, the agency said Wednesday.

The program, known as Pre-Check, allows passengers to volunteer information to the agency in exchange for the possibility of receiving expedited screening. TSA has been testing the program at airports in Dallas, Tex., Miami, Detroit, Boston and Atlanta.

The agency said Wednesday it would extend the ability to sign up for Pre-Check, which is part of its move to a "risk-based" security system, to passengers flying out of Las Vegas.

“I am encouraged by the positive passenger feedback and early results from this risk-based security initiative, and look forward to working with our airline and airport partners as we continue expanding and testing this concept,” TSA Administrator John Pistole said in a statement. 

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The Transportation Security Administration should create a passenger advocate at airport security checkpoints to address allegations of inappropriate screenings, New York Sen. Charles Schumer (D) is arguing.

Schumer's proposal follows reports of three elderly women alleging they were strip-searched before flights at New York City's John F. Kennedy International Airport. The agency has defended the searches as following proper procedure, but Schumer said an impartial arbiter is necessary.

"While the safety and security of our flights must be a top priority, we need to make sure that flying does not become a fear-inducing, degrading, and potentially humiliating experience,” Schumer said in a statement.

Two lawmakers on the House Homeland Security Committee announced Thursday they were forming a "transportation security caucus."

Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) and Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.) said Thursday the new caucus galvanizes lawmakers who are "dedicated to issues related to the security of aviation, passenger rail, freight rail, pipelines, buses, public transit systems, commercial trucking and other transportation systems in the U.S."

Both lawmakers argued such a caucus was much-needed.

"More than 10 years after 9/11, the threat of a terrorist attack on our transportation systems is still very real, and there remains much work to be done to secure this vital sector," King, who is chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said in statement. 

Long-time Transportation Security Administration critic Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.) wants to check the controversial agency's book-keeping.

Broun, who has accused the TSA of being too focused on being "political correct," wrote a letter to TSA Administrator John Pistole saying he would like to take a look at the agency's financial records.

"As you know, TSA has more than 65,000 employees and has spent nearly $57 billion since its creation in 2001 following the 9/11 terrorist attacks," he wrote to Pistole.

The Transportation Security Administration says a passenger at Newark, N.J.'s Liberty International Airport was caught trying to disguise a knife as a belt buckle.

The passenger, who was flying to California, had the buckle on a belt that was packed into carry-on luggage in the loops of a pair of pants, the agency said. The item was discovered Dec. 4, TSA said.

TSA spokesman Kawika Riley said the passenger surrendered the knife to airport security officials after police were called and was then cleared to fly.

“Passengers are advised to remove their belts at the checkpoint, and if there’s a knife in your belt buckle, please, please leave it at home,” said Riley said in a statement.

The Transportation Security Administration said it recently discovered multiple grenades in a passenger's bag at Newark, N.J.'s Liberty International Airport.

The grenades, which were discovered last Saturday, were not live, TSA said, and operations at the New Jersey airport were not affected. The agency said the items were confiscated from the passenger, who was flying to Belgium.

TSA said the grenade incident served as a reminder that passengers should check their bags for things that are on the agency's prohibited items list, which includes hand grenades and other types of explosives like dynamite, fireworks and flares.

"As a reminder, passengers can review the prohibited items list on the TSA homepage or they can download the free MyTSA application from the TSA homepage at www.tsa.gov to be able to have the prohibited items list on their SmartPhone or iPad," a TSA spokesman said in an email.  

Lenore Zimmerman, 85, accused the TSA last week of forcing her to strip as part of her pat-down.

A passenger at Norfolk International Airport was stopped by the Transportation Security Administration because her purse had designs that looked like guns, according to reports.

Vanessa Gibbs, 17, of Jacksonville, Fla., told a TV station in her hometown that she missed her flight from Norfolk because TSA agents stopped her for carrying the purse, which she said was "camouflage."

"It's my style. It has an old Western gun on it," Gibbs said in the interview with the TV station, WJXT.