Stunning Texas flood video, TSA's shoe drop, NASA on Netflix: The week in review
- - - Stunning Texas flood video, TSA's shoe drop, NASA on Netflix: The week in review
USA TODAYJuly 12, 2025 at 4:02 AM
The shoe drops at TSA checkpoints
Good news for shoe-stingy travelers: Effective immediately, you no longer need to remove your footwear at airport TSA checkpoints. “We’ve gone back and looked at our security processes,” Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced, and determined that the shoe removal policy was no longer an effective screening tool and that the TSA is confident in its existing technology. (Some travelers, she added, may still be asked to take off their shoes if additional screening is needed.) The removal policy had been around since 2006 after a passenger tried to conceal a bomb in his shoe in December 2001.
Epstein didn't have a ‘client list,’ FBI says
Case closed, the government says: There’s no evidence sex offender Jeffrey Epstein kept a “client list,” nor was he murdered in prison, the Justice Department and the FBI concluded in a memo. The announcement didn‘t sit well in conservative circles, which had long expected Attorney General Pam Bondi to unveil something huge, especially after she seemed to suggest in an interview in February that a client list was “sitting on my desk right now.” Despite rampant conspiracy theories, the FBI has concluded Epstein died after he hanged himself in federal prison on Aug. 10, 2019, the memo said, just as New York authorities initially determined.
MAGA cries foul: Conservatives turn on Bondi, Trump administration over Epstein files
New Barbie dresses for diabetes
Who says a glucose monitor can’t be chic? Barbie is launching a doll with Type 1 diabetes, complete with blood sugar meter and insulin pump, for its Fashionistas line in a partnership with the diabetes research organization Breakthrough T1D. The new Barbie “marks an important step in our commitment to inclusivity and representation,” Mattel’s Krista Berger said in a news release. The doll, available now at a suggested retail price of $10.99, also comes with a mini-phone with tracking app, blue polka dot top and matching skirt (symbols of diabetes awareness), and a pastel blue purse to carry essentials like diabetes supplies and snacks.
And it’s liftoff for NASA and Netflix
Netflix is joining NASA in reaching for the stars. The streaming giant and the space agency announced that live space coverage now offered on NASA+, formerly NASA TV, such as rocket launches and spacewalks, will also be coming to Netflix soon this summer, alongside other popular series. (In May, NASA+ similarly arrived on Amazon Prime without requiring a subscription; Netflix, however, will require a subscription.) As for SpaceX, the big dog in the modern space race, it has its own online coverage; its launches are on NASA+ only when NASA is a mission partner.
Hot dog contest ends with an upchuck
Yes, there’s an ugly underbelly to the annual July Fourth Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest. The thrill of victory went to Joey Chestnut (again, with 70½ dogs and buns) and Miki Sudo (the women’s champ at 33 dogs), but the agony of defeat landed on Madison Barone, who was disqualified because judges found she “experienced urges contrary to swallowing” before the contest was officially over. She later confirmed to USA TODAY Sports that, indeed, “everything came up.” No elaboration necessary, said contest announcer George Shea: “We never utter other words. It is like saying Voldemort.” − Compiled and written by Robert Abitbol, USA TODAY copy chief
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stunning flood video, TSA's shoe drop, NASA on Netflix: Week in review
Source: AOL General News
