Sunday's incident involving a Midwest Airlines jet nearly hitting a Northwest Airlines jet on one of LAX's south runways takes a confusing turn because it was actually a Republic Airlines plane - and crew - flying on behalf of Midwest Airlines. Confusion might have arisen because Republic has recently acquired Midwest. Whoever was at the helm must explain to the FAA why he/she almost crossed a live runway while the Honolulu-bound Northwest plane was taking off. By the way, Republic has been restoring some destinations that Midwest eliminated, including service from Milwaukee. That's where the plane in question was coming in from. (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, Aviation Herald)

*FAA now says that the two jets were 82 feet apart, less than half the separation required by aviation rules. Still nothing in the local media accounts about the plane being operated by Republic.(AP)