What's going on with Air Traffic Controllers?

April 20, 2011

Really. It's great.

Good for them.

But if that's the takeaway from Monday's too-close-for-comfort encounter between the White House plane carrying Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden, wife of the Vice President, then I'm missing something big here.

The latest embarrassment for the FAA, a controller was apparently to blame for Mrs. Obama's plane coming within three miles of a military cargo plane, caps a couple of bad weeks for the nation's air traffic controllers. They've been snoozing on the job, watching movies, anything that distracts them from the critical job for which they were hired make sure planes don't crash into each other.

Again, great that the First Lady and Veep get the extra attention. But what about the rest of us?

We'll have the latest on the new regulations, tonight at 11.

We're also taking a closer look at the fascinating trend that's emerged in this recession men have been hit harder than women. Jamie Roth has our story at 11.

And it's no coincidence opposition to nuclear power plant construction is way up since the Japan disaster. A new ABC News/Washington Post poll shows 64 percent now oppose building more nuclear plants in the U.S., while 33 percent support it.

We'll also have any breaking news of the night, plus Meteorologist Jeff Smith (in for Lee Goldberg) with his AccuWeather forecast, and Rob Powers with the night's sports. I hope you can join Sade Baderinwa (in for Liz Cho) and me, tonight at 11.

BILL RITTER

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