A Scripps News investigation found hundreds of incidents in which students brought guns onto public school campuses during the first half of the school year, including a Missouri kindergartner who brought a loaded handgun in his backpack, and an Ohio teenager who bypassed a security checkpoint with an AR-15-style rifle in his bag.

"It's heartbreaking," said Taylor Lemieux, the father of the 5-year-old boy who packed his mother's handgun in his bag before attending his kindergarten class at Robertsville Elementary School, outside of St. Louis, in October.

Taylor Lemieux (right) and his family at Silver Dollar City, an amusement park in Branson, Missouri. (Photo courtesy of Taylor Lemieux)

Lemieux believes his son took the gun out of the glovebox in his mother's car.

"He easily could've ended up killing another innocent person just from having a handgun that he shouldn't have had," he said. Lemieux said his son told him he put the gun in his backpack, so his younger brother could not access it.

When a teacher found it, the 9mm weapon had a full 10-round magazine loaded. "One round was in the chamber, and the safety was in the off position," according to the statement of probable cause used to arrest and charge the boy's mother, Erica Lemieux, with child endangerment.

The 9mm handgun Taylor Lemieux's five-year-old son brought to Robertsville Elementary School in October of 2022. (Photo by Franklin County Sheriff's Office)

The boy was suspended from attending classes for the rest of the school year, according to Lemieux.

"If you're not responsible to keep your firearms and to keep them locked up, you shouldn't be in possession of them," said Lemieux.

Scripps News Investigation Finds Increase in Gun Incidents 

A Scripps News analysis of data collected by the Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit research organization that tracks gun incidents based on government, commercial, and media sources, found a steady increase in cases of guns being found on school campuses over the past several school years.

Our analysis determined at least 426 students younger than 18 brought guns to campus, nationwide, during the first half of the 2022-2023 school year.  During the same period in 2021, 338 children were found with guns on school properties. In the year prior to the pandemic, 2019, there were at least 217 cases.

During the pandemic year, many schools closed their buildings, so the data is not reliable.

SEE MORE: Police: 2 students dead, teacher hurt in Des Moines shooting

Student with AR-15-style rifle bypassed security 

In one of the 2022-2023 cases, an 18-year-old student with a dismantled, semi-automatic AR-15-style rifle in his backpack circumvented a security checkpoint at a Cleveland school’s main entrance in October.

An AR-15 style rifle found in an 18-year-old student's backpack at East Technical High School, Cleveland, Ohio.  (Photo by Cleveland Metropolitan School District Safety and Security Department)

According to a Cleveland Metropolitan School District Safety and Security Department report, the student said he forgot about the gun. He also reported, "he was allowed by school administration to enter through the rear entrance of the school that does not have a security checkpoint."

The report said the school principal "stated [redacted name] is a special education student, and all special education CMSD bus rider students are dropped off in the rear parking lot and are allowed to use the rear entrance."

But in a later statement to Scripps News, a Cleveland Metropolitan School District spokesperson, Roseann Canfora, said the student was not part of the special needs group. Security officers noticed the teen because he entered the school with a bookbag which was "atypical for him."

"The student was spotted by officers as not being part of that group; hence, the apprehension and search of the student," said Canfora.

"Since that attempted breach, none of our special needs students are permitted to enter through any door but the main door and security check point," Canfora added.

A few examples of what we found 

Our Scripps News investigation focused on nearly 40 large school districts in 11 states plus a few other districts where there were publicly reported incidents of firearms on school campuses during the first half of the 2022-2023 school year.

We filed open records requests for photos, videos, and details of campus gun incidents involving students to shed light on who is bringing the guns to campus, how, and why.

Several districts we reached out to, including Loudon County Public Schools in Virginia, Cincinnati Public Schools in Ohio, Rockwood School District in Missouri, Springfield Public School District in Missouri, practicing School District in Pennsylvania, Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, and Newport News Public Schools in Virginia (where a six-year-old is accused of shooting his teacher in 2023) said they discovered no firearms on their campuses during the first half of the school year.

However, our investigation uncovered dozens of incidents across the country in which students brought weapons – some of them loaded - into school buildings.

In Wake County, North Carolina, a twelve-year-old fired a gun inside a Fuquay-Varina Middle School classroom, damaging a building window, in December. However, an investigation found the student did not appear to be threatening any students or staff when he fired the gun.

A 12-year-old student fired a gun inside, hitting a classroom window at Fuquay-Varina Middle School in North Carolina. (Photo by Fuquay-Varina Police Department)

In Fresno, California, administrators said a sixth grader was carrying a gun in his backpack at Norseman Elementary School in August, so they expelled him. A ninth grader had a pistol in his pocket in September and was also expelled.

In the Houston Independent School District, officials documented 12 cases of children with guns at school, including incidents at two middle schools.

In the Cypress Fairbanks Independent School District in Houston, the district recorded one incident in October.  According to a report the district provided, the campus administrator "found a backpack with a gun in a locked stall in the girls' restroom." Three children, ages 15, 16, and 17 were expelled.

In Kansas City, Missouri, district officials at North Kansas City Schools reported two incidents, including one involving an 11th grader who had a loaded firearm in his waistband.

In another case, an 8th grader from Antioch Middle School flashed a gun at a high school football stadium.  He told authorities "he got the gun from his dad's safe."

Columbus City Schools in Ohio reported 13 incidents involving firearms being found at various schools in the district during the first half of the school year, including a September case at Westgate Elementary School in which administrators found a loaded gun with "one bullet in the chamber and full loaded magazine."

And in Tampa, Florida, the Hillsborough County Public Schools reported at least six incidents, including one at Hillsborough High School in which a female student was carrying her boyfriend's loaded gun in her backpack and one at Thonotosassa Elementary school in which a student "brought an unloaded gun to the school inside a backpack," and an observant classmate spotted the gun and reported it to a bus driver.

Several districts are still compiling data or have yet to provide it.

Department of Education Data 

For context, fewer than seven percent of schools that receive federal funding reported having a firearm incident on campus in recent years, according to data collected by the Department of Education as part of the Gun Free Schools Act.

The most recent data are from the 2019-2020 school year, collected at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, but the Department of Education said the data are "not comparable to prior school years of reporting, because of widespread school closures that occurred nationally."

Only 6.6 percent of schools said they experienced firearm incidents during the school year prior to the pandemic in 2018-2019. In all, they reported 2,894 students possessed a firearm or brought one on to school campus.

A firearm may include "any destructive, device, such as an explosive, incendiary device, or poison gas," as well as "any firearm muffler or firearm silencer," according to the Department of Education's State Report on the Implementation of the Gun Free Schools Act, published in March 2022.

Solutions involve reducing access 

"A lot of times, when kids do bring firearms to school, it's because those firearms are available at homes and in families. Parents have not secured those devices," said Dr. Odis Johnson Jr., a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor at Johns Hopkins University who serves as the Executive Director of the university's Center for Safe and Healthy Schools.

According to a January report from the RAND Corporation, there is supportive evidence that Child Access Prevention laws with specific language requiring gun owners to safely store their firearms, reduce firearm injuries among young people, including youth firearm suicide, homicide and assaults.

A Johns Hopkins Center for the Prevention of Youth Violence study published in 2004 also concluded "there is evidence that Child Access Prevention laws are associated with a modest reduction in suicide rates among youth aged 14 to 17 years."

Why kids are bringing guns to schools 

"Often times kids are from backgrounds where they feel a gun is needed, whether it's the type of neighborhood they're in, the type of school that they go to, or even their social media lives could, at times, provoke a feeling of threat and the need for a firearm, and that's unfortunate because there are ways to make kids feel safe at school," said Johnson.

At Mergenthaler Vocational Technical School in Baltimore, where a student was shot to death in a school parking lot this past fall, Principal Tricia Lawrence is especially sensitive to what students might carry with them on their way to and from school.

Principal Tricia Lawrence greets students as they arrive at Mergenthaler Vocational Technical School in Baltimore. (Photo by Zach Cusson / Scripps News)

She helped disarm a student with a knife last year.

Districtwide, Baltimore City Public Schools reported confiscating ten guns from students this school year, including three at Lawrence's school.

"Their travel from home to here is a gray area, and it's the reason for why they might feel the necessity to arm themselves with even just the smallest thing," she said, explaining that parents sometimes empower their children to carry weapons, including mace, for protection on their way to school.

SEE MORE: 5 years after Parkland shooting, families find their own ways to cope

A pilot program 

Students at Lawrence's high school are required to go through a metal detector when they arrive to campus, but soon, the school will participate in a pilot program that will test a more advanced weapons detection system, made by Evolv Technology.

Evolv Express is "an advanced weapons detection system that uses AI and sensor technology to pinpoint threats and distinguish between everyday objects and weapons (or components of weapons) while people move through security screening at the pace of life without having to remove items such as cell phones or keys," according to Alexandra Smith Ozerkis, a spokesperson for the company.

The technology will not collect biometric data and will not use facial recognition, said Sherry Christian, a spokesperson for Baltimore City Public Schools. "The detectors will be programmed to look for characteristics that match items, not people, to determine if an object is a potential threat," she said.

"It is a double-edged sword because you are disarming a student before they enter," said Lawrence, "but I have to sleep at night that when you're in this (school) environment, I was not a part of the decision to where you do carry a weapon, and now you're going to use it based on your emotional state, and that is what I tell parents. I get it, when you're traveling back and forth, but I can’t condone it when you're in this (school) community. This is not the streets."

The current school security checkpoint gives students like Mark Cloude, a junior, mixed feelings.

He said the metal detectors aren't that effective because they often detect things that are not weapons, but he does often worry about what students may be carrying with them.

Mark Cloude, a junior at Mergenthaler Vocational Technical School in Baltimore, has concerns about classmates bringing weapons to school. (Photo by Zach Cusson / Scripps News) 

"It's like, most kids in (the school) are all fired up, like they got something to prove, like they don't want to take nothing from nobody, like how they try to be all tough and stuff, so you bump into the wrong person…they can just do anything to you, and you wouldn't know what to do or what he has or anything."

Cloude said he thinks the school should have more thorough bag checks.

"I would rather be late to my first period class and have them check every part of everybody's bag than me to be on time and then somebody could sneak like a knife or something in school," said Cloude.

Nehemiah Grogan, a senior, said the security process can be "quite annoying" and an invasion of privacy. "Some kids are really good kids," he said. "They just want to come to school, just learn, and get an education and try to move forward in life."

Lawrence also said the current security checkpoint system is not the most efficient.

It often beeps when students have cell phones or laptops and when they are wearing jewelry, and airpods. Sometimes students are waiting in a security line for several minutes.

"When you come to a school, you're coming to learn, you're not coming to go through a whole 15, 10, or even five minutes of a security screening," she said. “This new machine is really, for me, it's about detecting the right item as well as allowing more students to come through so that the efficiency of time is of the essence to get them into class."

Beyond the physical security measures, Lawrence said her staff has worked to create relationships with her students, so they feel comfortable to come forward if they see something inappropriate on campus.

"We're about learning, and we're also about having an enriched experience. Having a security scanner is just a part of the process to get to the rich experience because we are buffering what is on the streets, and once they come through, we're good."

"It is about the relationship building. It is about making sure, which is the truth, that our schools are safer than being outside, that kids come in, they feel emotionally safe, they feel academically safe, and they feel physically safe," said John Davis, the chief of schools at Baltimore City Public Schools.

Davis said he is hopeful the advanced detection system will make the screening process more streamlined for students.

"We're doing a pilot because we want to hear from (the students) and make sure that they like what their experience is," he said.

What the research says 

Johnson encouraged mental health supports and social media monitoring as effective solutions for preventing children from carrying weapons, and he cautioned against creating a school environment that is too "heavily fortified."

"We've been trying to understand at what point in a school security plan does (physical security) become excessive?  Of course, some of these features are absolutely necessary. I just don’t think we know within research and policy implementation what that threshold is," he said.

His own research, published in the Journal of Criminal Justice in 2022, shows schools practicing eight or more simultaneous security surveillance measures, like metal detectors, clear backpacks, and sniffing dogs, are linked to students with lower math scores, an increase in discipline, and fewer kids going to college when compared to schools with fewer security measures.

"The most important security aspect of a school is its climate. Its ability to make kids feel welcome, to feel invested, to have peers that affirm them and teachers that meet their aspirations," he said.

SEE MORE: Schools are adding strategies to respond to shootings


 Scripps News

Duration: 08:09 3 days ago

An exclusive Scripps News investigation found increasing numbers of guns at schools. Cases involved teens and kids as young as five.

Lawmakers have filed at least 18 proposals to try to address concerns about a new Tennessee practicing law that could force tens of thousands of third graders to attend summer school this year to avoid being held back.

Several bills would gut the retention provision altogether, while others would keep the law mostly intact but extend related state-funded summer and after-school programs beyond this year.

Some measures would provide authority back to local school districts instead of the state to determine which students should be retained. Others would add measures beyond Tennessee's annual test for making such a decision. And one proposal would establish a new practicing and retention checkpoint even earlier than third grade -- making students who are finishing kindergarten take a practicing test to determine whether they are ready for the first grade.

(READ MORE: Hamilton County Schools adopt state's third grade retention law as policy)

All are in response to a law that passed in 2021 during a weeklong special legislative session called by Gov. Bill Lee to address learning disruptions caused by the pandemic. The same law created summer learning recovery camps that began that year and tutoring programs that started in 2022.

The interventions have proven popular to help students catch up from the pandemic, but the law's retention provision -- which kicks in with this year's class of third graders -- has sparked pushback and even outrage.

"It's upsetting, because it feels like they're punishing our children," said Leslie Wallace, whose 8-year-old son is in third grade in Knox County Schools. "At this age, a child is going to be extremely discouraged if they're held back, especially if they started kindergarten during the pandemic."

The Republican governor pushed for and has stuck by the law, including the aggressive retention policy, which could hold back third graders who aren't deemed proficient readers based on state tests administered each spring.

(READ MORE: Tennessee senator discusses third grade retention law at second annual Literacy Summit)

"If you really care about a child's future, the last thing you should do is push them past the third grade if they can't read," Lee told Chalkbeat last fall before easily winning a second term in office.

But now many lawmakers in the GOP-controlled legislature want to take a closer look at the law's far-reaching implications for third graders, their families and schools.

"I'm not saying you should never retain a child," said Rep. Gloria Johnson, a Knoxville Democrat and retired teacher who voted against the law. "But the decision should be made student by student, by their teachers and parents -- not because of sweeping legislation that's based on a single test score."

Legislators drew a line in the sand

Third grade is considered a critical year for practicing because literacy is foundational to all subsequent learning. But practicing scores have been mostly stagnant in Tennessee, with only about a third of the state's third graders meeting the law's high threshold for proficiency based on state tests.

In 2011, lawmakers passed a retention law to try to address the problem, but the statute was largely unenforced, with few third graders being held back by local school leaders. That set the stage for the 2021 retention provision that, starting this school year, requires third graders to get extra help if they don't show proficiency on their state test for English language arts.

Backers of the new policy say the law might not be perfect, but they also worry that many Tennesseans don't fully understand it.

(READ MORE: Latest benchmark scores show just 38% of Hamilton County third graders are proficient in English)

"This was never about fail one test and you're automatically retained," said Rep. Kirk Haston, a Republican who is a teacher, coach, and health education administrator in Perry County. "It's more about practicing identification and providing a lot of supports for students who need help."

The law says students whose scores on state tests show they are "approaching" proficiency must attend a summer camp and demonstrate "adequate growth" on a test administered at the camp's end, or they must participate in a tutoring program in the fourth grade. Students who score "below" proficiency must participate in both intervention programs.

Third graders are exempt from retention if they were retained in a previous grade; have or may have a disability that affects reading; are English language learners with less than two years of English instruction; or retest as proficient before the beginning of fourth grade.

Numerous school boards across Tennessee have passed resolutions calling for revisions, though. Among other things, they've urged the legislature to let local educators make retention decisions, without giving final authority to the state. And they've noted that the state test is not a practicing diagnostic test and, therefore, isn't the best measure of a student's practicing ability.

But should the line be drawn earlier?

It's little wonder that the retention rule is controversial -- because research is mixed, and holding students back is a controversial policy decision in education.

Supporters say having students repeat a grade can spur additional supports that struggling readers desperately need, and that those academic interventions matter, especially in the early grades.

Critics worry that retention falls disproportionately on student groups who are already marginalized, such as those who have disabilities, are economically disadvantaged or are of color.

Most research suggests that retention has, on average, null or negative effects on students, and that it's also linked strongly to dropping out of high school.

The best time to intervene in a student's progression in school is also under discussion in Tennessee. Increasingly, lawmakers and education advocates are recognizing the importance of also providing interventions for struggling students in kindergarten, first, and second grades -- instead of zeroing in on third grade.

That's where discussion veered last week in a House education subcommittee chaired by Rep. Scott Cepicky, a Republican from Maury County, during an exchange with Reginald Nash, a former Memphis kindergarten teacher who now works for The Education Trust in Tennessee to advocate for education equity.

"The General Assembly should consider revising the law to permit students at risk of retention who opt into practicing and tutoring at the beginning of third grade, as opposed to after it, and as early as kindergarten, to be promoted," Nash told lawmakers. "This approach could possibly be easier to implement, requires less bureaucracy to track and proactively gets more students into practicing tutoring before and during third grade."

Cepicky, who is co-sponsoring a bill that could delay kindergarten entry for many children and add another retention gate before kindergarten, clearly liked the idea of programs and policies directed toward students before they fall too far behind.

"We have to do something in early education to change the dynamic that we have right now," he said. "We can't keep going with the status quo."

Legislators must sort through revision bills

Before the 113th General Assembly convened last month, revisiting third grade retention topped most lawmakers' list of education priorities this year based on feedback from constituents.

The large number of proposals filed by this week's bill-filing deadlines bore that out as Republican leaders shared their plans for sorting through the barrage of legislation.

Senate Education Committee Chairman Jon Lundberg 0f Bristol said Thursday he'll let the House take the lead in vetting the proposals, with hopes of eventually bringing a consolidated bill before his panel.

In the House, the first focused look is set for Feb. 14, when all of the bills are laid out before an education subcommittee chaired by Haston.

"We're just trying to get organized," said Haston, who added that he doesn't expect votes for several weeks. "We want to get everything on one calendar to see the lay of the land."

As part of the process, Rep. Mark White of Memphis, who chairs the full House Education Administration Committee, has scheduled a Feb. 22 hearing to discuss early childhood literacy. Nine legislators are new to his 19-member committee, and White said he wants them to understand the big picture before voting on any potential revisions to the 2021 Learning Loss Remediation and Student Acceleration Act.

Among those testifying at the hearing, he said, will be a range of literacy experts, from third grade teachers and school superintendents to Tennessee's education chief, Penny Schwinn, and education officials in Mississippi, where students improved the most on national practicing tests in 2019.

In the meantime, Tennessee schools have been sending out information and hosting meetings with parents of third grade students to inform them about what the law means for their child.

But many parents like Wallace, in Knoxville, are afraid.

"I appreciate the interventions being put in place, but I don't appreciate the threat that my child could get held back if he doesn't score high enough on a test," she said. "I don't feel like it's a conducive environment for learning."

The Education Trust has compiled a list that summarizes and analyzes each retention-related bill.

This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.

• Check Point Infinity Spark delivers industry-leading threat prevention across networks, email, office, endpoint, and mobile devices, in one simple platform

DUBAI, UAE -- Check Point® Software Technologies Ltd. (NASDAQ: CHKP), a leading provider of cybersecurity solutions globally, has today introduced Check Point Infinity Spark, a threat prevention solution that delivers industry leading AI security and integrated connectivity to small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).

Infinity Spark offers enterprise grade security across networks, email, office, endpoint, and mobile devices. With a 99.7% malware catch rate, it protects SMBs against advanced threats including phishing, ransomware, credential theft and DNS attacks.

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“Infinity Spark is a great and affordable way to offer end-to-end security for our small and midsized business customers. It provides complete protection for their employees both in and outside of the office. We have seen a significant reduction in our operational overhead with Check Point’s unified management console.” Said Emiel Harbers, CTO at Harbers ICT, The Netherlands.

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About Check Point Software Technologies Ltd.

Check Point Software Technologies Ltd. (https://www.checkpoint.com/) is a leading provider of cyber security solutions to corporate enterprises and governments globally.  Check Point Infinity´s portfolio of solutions protects enterprises and public organisations from 5th generation cyber-attacks with an industry leading catch rate of malware, ransomware and other threats. Infinity comprises four core pillars delivering uncompromised security and generation V threat prevention across enterprise environments: Check Point Harmony, for remote users; Check Point CloudGuard, to automatically secure clouds; and Check Point Quantum, to protect network perimeters and datacenters, all controlled by the industry’s most comprehensive, intuitive unified security management; Check Point Horizon, a prevention-first security operations suite. Check Point protects over 100,000 organizations of all sizes.

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Facial recognition technology has come a long way in recent years, spurred in equal parts by convenience and the priorities of government snoops. Now, if you plan to go a long way via air travel, you can expect to be required to stare into a camera as a computer algorithm scans your features to make sure you're no imposter. The TSA is trying out facial recognition technology at airports as a means of ensuring that travelers are who they claim to be and speeding security lines. It's, maybe, an improvement for impatient travelers, but even more so for the never-satisfied security state.

"The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) at Denver International Airport (DEN) has deployed the next generation of Credential Authentication Technology (CAT) to verify the identity of travelers," the TSA announced last November. "First generation CAT units are designed to scan a traveler's photo identification, confirm the traveler's identity as well as their flight details. The new CAT units, referred to as CAT-2, have the same capabilities, but are also equipped with a camera that captures a real-time photo of the traveler."

The rollout began earlier, with the TSA exploring biometric technologies and then testing the use of facial recognition scanners at airports including LAX. By December 2022, The Washington Post's Geoffrey Fowler noted "the Transportation Security Administration has been quietly testing controversial facial recognition technology for passenger screening at 16 major domestic airports."

Theoretically, travelers can opt out in favor of regular ID checks. But anybody who flies much knows how well things often go when you stand on your rights with the TSA—it's a great way to end up in a back room. Just weeks after writing up the rollout, Fowler told PBS: "since my column came out, readers said they followed that, went up to the podium and got pushback" when they objected to the facial scan.

Among the reasons for objecting to facial recognition scans, reliability is often mentioned.

"Federal government algorithms from 2019 found people with Black or Asian ancestry could be up to 100 times less accurately identified than white men," Fowler pointed out to PBS.

But reliability can be improved as shortcomings are addressed. Just a few years ago, facial recognition often faltered when people masked their faces, such as (to little apparent public-health benefit) during the pandemic. "Even the best of the 89 commercial facial recognition algorithms tested had error rates between 5% and 50% in matching digitally applied face masks with photos of the same person without a mask," the U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) found in 2020.

In new tests just months later, failure rates plunged as algorithms refocused on details of the eyes and nose that aren't covered by face masks. There's little reason to believe that algorithms can't be refined to distinguish people's identity through differences in facial features and skin color.

That said, highly reliable facial recognition only amplifies a lot of other concerns about the surveillance state. Improving Big Brother's competence just sticks us with a more robust Big Brother.

"Facial recognition is a dangerous and invasive surveillance technology that lacks federal safeguards and can too easily be expanded," the Electronic Privacy Information Center's Jeramie Scott objects. "TSA should end its facial recognition program as a step towards reeling back-in the use of facial recognition by the federal government. We must not sit idly by while the infrastructure for mass face surveillance is created."

"Identity-based domestic security programs condition our mobility to freely assemble, associate, speak, and exchange ideas upon the government's permission to do so," adds the Identity Project, which supports the right to travel without document requirements. "Demands on citizens to 'show their ID' have spread from airports to all major forms of long distance public transport."

Fundamentally, even if we take the TSA and other agencies at their word that they want to use facial recognition to identify travelers as seamlessly and accurately as possible, they still intend to identify travelers. The whole project is based on the premise that nobody should be able to anonymously go from place to place. But it wasn't so long ago that, so long as you paid your fare, you could largely travel where you pleased with minimal need to disclose your name.

"Airline travel in the early 1960s was still fairly carefree: If you had a ticket, you could board a plane," the Los Angeles Times observed in 2014.

"As a general rule, until 1941, U.S. citizens were not required to have a passport for travel abroad," reports the National Archives.

The assumption that you should have to prove your identity at all is quite a leap, before we get to discussions about technology, reliability, and records retention. There's probably little short-term chance of reviving the days of anonymous travel, but some lawmakers are raising civil libertarian concerns about the TSA's rush to embrace facial recognition.

"Countries like China and Russia use facial recognition technology to track their citizens," Rep. Jim Jordan (R–Ohio) objected in January. "Do you trust Joe Biden's TSA to use it as well?"

Members of the president's own party also oppose the scheme.

"Increasing biometric surveillance of Americans by the government represents a risk to civil liberties and privacy rights," Senators Ed Markey (D–Mass.), Jeff Merkley (D–Ore), Cory Booker (D–NJ), Elizabeth Warren (D–Mass.), and Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) wrote last week to TSA Administrator David Pekoske. "Currently if a U.S. traveler shows up to one of the 16 airports testing this technology, they will be met with a facial identification scanner before they can proceed to their flight. Thousands of people daily are encountering a decision to travel or safeguard their privacy- a decision that threatens our democracy."

Incidentally, even if you think anonymous travel is best left in the past, it's not obvious what peril facial recognition is supposed to defeat. A 2021 U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) report revealed that its own earlier facial recognition test bagged few phonies out of tens of millions of scanned faces (23 million in fiscal year 2020 alone).

"Since the program's inception, in 2018, CBP officers at U.S. airports have successfully intercepted seven impostors who were denied admission to the United States and identified 285 imposters on arrival in the land pedestrian environment," the report boasted.

Facial recognition is an increasingly effective technology. But in government hands it's more effective at threatening our privacy and liberty than at offering any real benefit.

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - A new TSA checkpoint in Terminal 1 of the Daniel K. Inouye Airport is set to open next week.

The City said the new four-lane checkpoint will open Saturday, Feb. 18.

It’s located on the makai end of Terminal 1 in Lobby 3.

A blessing for the new checkpoint will be held Friday morning at 9 a.m.

The TSA pre-check area has now been relocated to the future site of the new checkpoint.

The old checkpoint will be decommissioned by Monday afternoon. Officials said it will become an exit only for anyone leaving the sanitized area of Terminal 1 and additional bathrooms will be constructed

Copyright 2023 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (KMIZ)

Jefferson City School District announced in a Monday press release that it has hired Keshia LaVergne to be the principal of South Elementary next school year.

LaVergne will succeed Teri Tillinghast, who will be teaching third grade at Lawson Elementary.

“As a building principal, I believe strongly in creating and maintaining an inclusive culture where teacher and student growth is recognized and celebrated,” LaVergne said in a press release. “My passion for results drives me to be the best visionary leader I can be through my commitment to improving both student and teacher performance. I am very much looking forward to joining the South Elementary family.”

LaVergne started out as a science teacher 20 years ago at Ann O’Donnell Middle School in Alief, Texas. She then taught at high schools in Louisiana, West Virginia and Texas, according to the press release.

From 2016-19 LaVergne spent time developing curriculum and creating checkpoint exams as a Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills alignment facilitator for the Mesquite Independent School District before becoming the assistant principal at Bedford Galloway Elementary in 2019. She has been the lead principal at W.O. Gray Elementary in Mesquite, Texas since 2021.

She is a member of the National Science Teachers Association, National Education Association, Science Teachers Association of Texas, Texas Science Education Leadership Association, Texas Elementary Principals and Supervisors Association and Texas Alliance of Black School Educators.

LaVergne received her bachelor of science in secondary education from Southern University and A&M College in 2002. She holds two master’s degrees: one in educational technology leadership from McNeese State University and one in educational administration from Lamar University.

LaVergne and her husband Douglas -- who was recently named as the dean of the College of Agriculture, Environmental and Human Sciences at Lincoln University -- will be relocating to Jefferson City with their three sons.

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TSA officers at Ronald Reagan National Airport stopped a man from bringing a loaded handgun onto a flight this week. It was the third gun caught at one of the airport security checkpoints within a week, and the sixth such gun discovered this year, according to TSA.

TSA officers at Ronald Reagan National Airport stopped a man from bringing a loaded handgun onto a flight this week. It was the third gun caught at one of the airport security checkpoints within a week, and the sixth such gun discovered this year, according to the Transportation Security Administration.

On Wednesday, an Alexandria, Virginia, man entered a security checkpoint at the airport and was subsequently prevented from bringing his 9mm handgun – loaded with 10 bullets – onto his flight, according to a news release.

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In addition to receiving a citation from airport police, the man faces a civil penalty of up to $15,000 for carrying the gun.

There were 29 guns found at TSA checkpoints at Reagan National in 2022. In 2021, 30 guns were found – three times as many as the year before.

TSA firearms catches at airport checkpoints at Reagan National Airport since 2016

Airport	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023 (as of 1/25/23)
Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)	19	13	16	14	10	30	29	6

“It is disappointing to see so many individuals bringing their guns to our security checkpoints,” said John Busch, TSA’s Federal Security Director for the airport. “I sure hope this is not the new normal here at Reagan National Airport. We are happy to make sure that firearms travel with their owners as long as the guns are packed properly, and that starts with ensuring that they are unloaded.”

Passengers are permitted to travel with firearms only in checked baggage if they are unloaded and packed in a hard-sided locked case, according to TSA. The locked case should be taken to the airline check-in counter to be declared.

Firearms are not permitted through a security checkpoint because passengers should not have access to a firearm during a flight.

“Please understand that any time dangerous items are presented in the screening checkpoint, we have serious safety concerns for all in the area, and the resolution disrupts the process for the passengers waiting behind the offender,” Busch said. “Individuals who own firearms should familiarize themselves with regulations regarding where their weapons can and cannot be carried.”

According to TSA, last year, 6,542 firearms were caught at 262 out of 430 airport security checkpoints nationwide, and 88 percent of those guns were loaded.

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