Could the Texas home of SpaceX become city of ‘Starbase’?

Voters are deciding if the South Texas home of Elon Musk’s rocket company SpaceX will become an official city known as Starbase. Approval of the new city and name is all but certain as most of the people eligible to vote are employees of SpaceX or otherwise connected to the company. Local officials generally support the company for its jobs and investment in the area. But the idea of creating an official company town has drawn critics who worry it will expand Musk’s personal control over the area with authority to close a popular beach and park for launches.

At the close of early voting on Tuesday, about 200 had already cast ballots, according to Cameron County election records.

United Airlines cuts 35 daily flights at Newark airport, citing shortage of air traffic controllers

Passengers with flights to or from Newark Liberty International Airport are encountering long delays and cancellations due to an air traffic controller shortage and equipment failures. The busy airport outside New York City has experienced disruptions all week. Faulting the Federal Aviation Administration’s alleged failure to address “long-simmering” challenges, United Airlines cut 35 daily flights from its Newark schedule starting Saturday. United CEO Scott Kirby said the flight delays, cancellations and diversions the equipment problems caused in recent days were compounded when more than one-fifth of Newark’s traffic controllers “walked off the job.” The FAA said arriving flights were delayed by nearly two hours and departures by an average of 45 minutes on Saturday.

— Boston Herald Wire Services