The state of air travel, political ads on social media and the future of spotted owls

On this version of Hot off the Wire:

Each Saturday Hot off the Wire looks at a variety of stories in business, science, health and more. This week’s headlines include:

• Air travel is getting worse. That’s what passengers are telling the government.
• Political ads on social media rife with misinformation and scams, new research finds.
• Target will stop accepting personal checks next week. Are the days of the payment method numbered?
• The U.S. will pay Moderna $176 million to develop an mRNA pandemic flu vaccine.
• The FDA approves a second Alzheimer’s drug that can modestly slow disease.
• A rare voice box transplant helped a cancer patient speak again, part of a pioneering study.
• An Arizona museum tells the stories of ancient animals through their fossilized poop.
• Mount Everest’s highest camp is littered with frozen garbage, and cleanup is likely to take years.
• One way to get real-life legal experience: A free trip to the Paris Olympics.
• Ukrainian high jumper keeps her eye on the raised bar, but her mind is fixed on the war.
• To save spotted owls, officials plan to kill hundreds of thousands of another owl species.
• China’s landfills brim with textile waste as fast fashion reigns and recycling takes a back seat.
• House keys carry symbolic weight for Gaza families repeatedly displaced by war.
• Land routes across Africa are twice as deadly for migrants as Mediterranean voyages, UN estimates.

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.