Wyoming Tribune Eagle

An engineer at Boeing alleges the aircraft company is taking manufacturing shortcuts that could lead to jetliners breaking apart. The engineer, Sam Salehpour, testified before a Senate subcommittee on Wednesday about about Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner. "They are putting out defective airplanes,” he said. Hundreds of Dreamliners are in use by airlines, mostly on international routes. Salehour spoke while another Senate committee held a separate hearing on the safety culture at Boeing. The company has been under multiple investigations and in crisis mode since a door-plug panel blew off a 737 Max jetliner during an Alaska Airlines flight in January. Shares of Boeing stock have lost more than $47 billion in market value.

The Senate has dismissed all impeachment charges against Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, ending the House Republican push to remove the Cabinet secretary from office over his handling of the the U.S.-Mexico border and ending his trial before arguments even began. Senate Democrats argued that the articles were unconstitutional. The first article charged Mayorkas with “willful and systemic refusal to comply” with immigration law. The second article charged Mayorkas with a “breach of trust” for saying the border was secure. The votes were 51-48 and 51-49, both along party lines. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said the House Republicans’ case failed to meet “the high standard of high crimes and misdemeanors.”

Heavy thunderstorms have lashed the United Arab Emirates, dumping the heaviest rain ever recorded in the country in the span of hours as it flooded out portions of major highways and Dubai’s international airport. By the end of Tuesday, more 5.59 inches of rainfall had soaked Dubai over 24 hours. An average year sees 3.73 inches of rain at Dubai International Airport, the world’s busiest for international travel and a hub for the long-haul carrier Emirates. The state-run WAM news agency called the rain “a historic weather event” that surpassed “anything documented since the start of data collection in 1949.”

The sound of a vehicle backfiring spooked a circus elephant while she was getting a pre-show bath in Butte, Montana. The pachyderm broke through a fence and stopped noontime traffic on the city's busiest street before eventually being loaded back into a trailer. Viola is an Asian elephant with the Jordan World Circus and performed Tuesday evening. The elephant escaped just after noon and walked about half a block on the street before turning into a convenience store and casino's parking lot. She plodded around the building with her trainer beside her and then walked across a street onto a lawn where she ate some grass.