🟩 Year of Wordle | Wednesday, December 28, 2022
| | | | | | | Presented By BlackRock | | | | Axios PM | | By Mike Allen · Dec 28, 2022 | | Happy Wednesday afternoon, if you're not stuck in an airport. - Today's PM — edited by Kate Nocera — is 491 words, a 2-min. read. Thanks to Kathie Bozanich for the copy edit.
🇨🇳 Breaking: The U.S. will require travelers from China to show a negative COVID test before taking off, because of the country's surge in cases. Go deeper. | | | | | | 1 big thing: Southwest saw it coming |  | | | Southwest crew and passengers search for bags today at William P. Hobby Airport in Houston. Photo: Brandon Bell/Getty Images | | | | Memos to Southwest Airlines employees over the past week show how the carrier's operational disaster unfolded, Bloomberg reports. On Dec. 21, Southwest declared a "state of operational emergency" at Denver's airport due to employee absences, Bloomberg reports. - On Dec. 23, chief operating officer Andrew Watterson said 90% of the airline's routes were affected by the weather, but he was optimistic.
- Southwest verified the authenticity of the messages to Bloomberg.
By Dec. 25, Southwest was scrambling to make hundreds of crew assignments manually, Watterson wrote: "Our current systems are overmatched in situations of this scale." - Southwest CEO Bob Jordan told employees on Christmas: "Part of what we're suffering is a lack of tools."
- Pointing to the need for a new crew-scheduling system, he added: "We need to be able to produce solutions faster. We need to be able to communicate with each other where it doesn't involve a phone call."
👀 What we're watching: Rival airlines — including American, Delta and United — are capping fares in some cities to help stranded Southwest passengers, The Wall Street Journal reports. |     | | | | | | 2. 🔒 4 years in Russian jail |  | | | Paul Whelan. Photo: Krill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images | | | | The U.S. will "not stop, we will not relent, we will not cease" until Paul Whelan returns home, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said in a statement today marking the four-year anniversary of the American businessman's detention in Russia. - Secretary of State Tony Blinken called Whelan's detention "unacceptable" and "unfathomable."
U.S. officials had hoped to include Whelan as part of the prisoner swap that freed WNBA star Brittney Griner this month but Russia refused, AP reports. - "How do you mark such an awful milestone when there is no resolution in sight?" Whelan's brother, David, asked in a statement.
| | | | | | | | A message from BlackRock | | Invested in the future of retirees | | |  | | | | All across the country, people are working hard to build a better future. So, we are hard at work, helping them achieve financial freedom. At BlackRock, we are proud to manage the retirement plan assets of over 35 million Americans. Learn more. | | | | | | 3. Catch up quick |  | | | National Guard members check on residents in Buffalo today. Photo: Jeffrey T. Barnes/AP | | | - The National Guard began "door-to-door wellness checks" in areas that lost power in Buffalo, New York, as the death toll continues to rise. Go deeper.
- Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) announced today he has a "serious but curable form of cancer." Raskin's statement.
| | | | | | | | 4. 🟩 1 fun thing: Year of Wordle |  | | | Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios | | | | In a year of cultural, generational and tech divides, Wordle helped bring the world together. After growing slowly at first, the puzzle's player count skyrocketed last December and January, Axios' Peter Allen Clark writes. "Wordle became this lightweight way to check in with your friends and family and tell them that you loved them, without using big heavy words like 'I love you,'" the game's creator, Josh Wardle, said at a conference. | | | | | | | | A message from BlackRock | | What's behind sinking confidence around retirement investing? | | |  | | | | Inflation and COVID-19 have taken a toll on people's ability to invest for retirement. BlackRock's 2022 Read on Retirement research explores how various generations are approaching life after work. Learn about BlackRock's commitment to providing retirement income solutions for Americans. | | |  | | Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it. | | | | | | Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters.
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