cnn's pete munteen report.or went to new height to serve of alaska, but she's grounded for now. >> reporter: alaska state senator laura winebold was a frequent flier of alaska and the carrier says confrontations hike this one at the juno airport became too frequent. >> reporter: alaska airlines said she is suspended for flying for her continued refusal to comply with the federal mandate to wear a mask while traveling, a ban that she says in a new radio interview she learned of via email. she claims she has had a mask exemption and did not specify what it is. >> completely blew me away they wouldn't get my side of the story and inyou'd a politics. >> reporter: in february she was admonished by the state's republican governor for spreading lies about the coronavirus and now she will have a problem just getting to work. alaska airlines is the only carrier that flies from her home district near anchorage to the state capitol. now she will drive up dread of miles into canada and take a five-hour ferry, a journey she

we will begin with cnn's pete munteen on these new travel numbers. you get a sense of the numbers moving beyond the pandemic. the travel data is showing one thing, it's going up? >> reporter: that's right, jim. you know, these numbers are huge for the pandemic. the tsa says it's screened 1.54 million people in airports yesterday. 1.4 million saturday. 1.58 million on friday. that is the pandemic record and this all means about 6 million people have flown since thursday. now these new numbers are ten times greater than where we were the low point of the pandemic about a year ago. still about two-thirds of where we were back before the pandemic struck in 2019. so there is still a long way to go. travellers tell us they feel empowered to get out right now, in spite of what health experts are saying, just to wait a little bit. here's what travelers are telling us. >> i feel because people are struggling hiding away at home. we get tired of playing, oh, whatever, they're like, oh, yeah, we can go out now, it's a lot easier with the vaccine. >> reporter: n

cnn's pete munteen is outside the university hospital where one. officers was taking following the incident. pete, tell us more. >> jake, what a sad moment here. just a few moments ago when it appeared that had a procession for that fallen officer left g.w. hospital here and went southbound on 23rd street. if you're familiar with washington, we're not too far away from dupont circle. police car after police car, police on motorcycles, secret service, capitol police, metropolitan washington police, all a part of that procession as it left here. a really sad moment. almost not a dry eye here. there were hospital employees lined up on the paddock here just outside of the emergency room, and it did appear that this spot also maybe became a bit of this part of crime investigation. there was a capitol police car in the front bay here in front of the emergency room where mpd detectives were taking photos. they were inspecting it. they were trying to make sure there was something clearly going on there. we're not able to say for certain exactly what just ye

boris sanchez and pete munteen are here with the latest and another tragic day at the capitol just months after another officer was killed there. what are you learning about officer william evans who died yesterday? >> yes, fred. officer evans was known as billy and 18-year member of the force and well known to lawmakers and staff and members of the press as well. he was revered as all-around good guy and father as well. some of those closest to officer evans shared the grief with cnn and this is some of what they said. >> it is, you know, incredibly sad and just surreal, you know, to know that billy died, you know, serving our country, and doing something that he loved so much. above all, he just loved life and he loved being a dad, and he loved to be a part of the u.s. capitol police. >> it is surreal to know that i just literally talked to him and shared a laugh a couple of days ago and now he is gone. it is shock ever since and it is fighting back tears all afternoon and trying to make sense of it all and knowing that there is none to be had. >> and of course, fred, as you have noted,

start coverage with cnn's pete munteen. this is a big deal, a lot of americans, especially as more americans get vaccinated, looking for government guidance, what is safe and what is not safe for me to do? >> reporter: well the cdc is telling people who are fully vaccinated they can travel with low risk to themselves but there is a big asterisk here, john, they're telling those travelers they can travel, but they should still avoid travel if they can. it is a huge shift, though, something that was notably absent from the most recent cdc guidance on what vaccinated people can do. this says that domestic travelers do not need to get tested before and after their trip, do not need to kwquaranti before and after their trip. international travelers still need to show proof of a negative coronavirus test to their airline before they come back to the u.s. still a lot of caution from the cdc, it's simply telling people if they are going to travel to be smart about it. they still need to wear federally mandated masks on board planes