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Tyron Smith set to retire with Cowboys after final season with Jets

Tyron Smith is set to retire with the Dallas Cowboys after the perennial Pro Bowl left tackle spent his final season with the New York Jets, a person with knowledge of Smith’s plans said Tuesday.

The Cowboys set a Wednesday announcement from Smith without providing any details. A person who spoke with The Associated Press on condition of anonymity said the 34-year-old intended to sign a ceremonial one-day contract in order to retire with the franchise that drafted him in the first round 14 years ago.

The selection of Smith at No. 9 overall triggered a rebuilding of the Dallas offensive line, which was among the best in the NFL within a few years of that move.

Smith’s retirement comes a little more than a month after right guard Zack Martin made the same announcement following an 11-season career spent entirely with the Cowboys. Martin and Smith were teammates for 10 years.

Smith was the first of three offensive linemen drafted in the first round by Dallas in a four-year span. Center Travis Frederick was a late first-round pick in 2013, followed by Martin a year later. Frederick retired following the 2019 season.

Smith played right tackle when he debuted as a 20-year-old rookie out of Southern California. He switched to quarterback Tony Romo’s blind side in 2012 and ended up as an eight-time Pro Bowler at left tackle. Smith was a two-time All-Pro, first with Romo in 2014, then in Dak Prescott’s rookie season in 2016.

After missing just one game in his first five seasons, Smith began to have issues with injuries and missed at least three games in each of his final nine years. That included a pair of seasons with the Cowboys in which Smith was limited to a total of six games.

Smith made 161 starts over 13 seasons with the Cowboys before making 10 starts for the Jets last season.

Dallas had seven winning seasons and six playoff appearances during Smith’s tenure, but couldn’t get past the divisional round. The Cowboys have gone 29 seasons without reaching an NFC championship game since winning the franchise’s fifth Super Bowl title.

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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl

Signs of rodent activity found at Gene Hackman’s property

(SANTA DE, NM) -- Signs of rodent activity were found at Gene Hackman's New Mexico property after the actor's wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a rare disease transmitted through rodents, according to a report.

Arakawa, 65, died at their Santa Fe home in February from hantavirus pulmonary syndrome -- a disease spread through rodent urine, droppings or saliva, officials said.

Signs of dead rodents and rodent feces were discovered in their attached garage, detached garage, two casitas and a storage shed, according to a New Mexico Department of Health homesite environmental report. A rodent nest was found in a detached garage, the report said.

In a vehicle, officials found a live rodent, rodent feces and a nest, according to the report.

Live traps had been set out around the home, the report said.

The main house was clean with no signs of rodent activity, the report noted.

The inspection was completed one week after the bodies of Hackman, 95, and Arakawa were found inside their house during a Feb. 26 welfare check.

At first, authorities didn't know what caused their deaths.

Officials later announced that Hackman died of cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease. He likely died around Feb. 18, about one week after Arakawa died from HPS on about Feb. 12, officials said.

Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome at first causes flu-like symptoms and can later cause trouble breathing, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Those who contract HPS after being exposed to rodent excrement often feel ill for roughly three to six days, Dr. Heather Jarrell, chief medical investigator for New Mexico's Office of the Medical Investigator, told reporters.

"Then they can transition to that pulmonary phase, where they have fluid in their lungs and around their lungs," she said. "And at that point, a person can die very quickly, within 24 to 48 hours, roughly speaking, without medical treatment."

Hackman was likely home with his deceased wife for one week before he died, Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza said at a press briefing in March.

Who will win the Stanley Cup? The season, odds, math and probability collide on picking a favorite

Everybody’s got a hunch this time of year, a thought about the so-called Presidents’ Trophy “curse” or maybe a dark horse Stanley Cup pick.

Only one team of the 16 in the NHL playoffs gets to be champion, and even before the first round begins Saturday, there is rampant disagreement on who the favorite actually is.

Winnipeg and Washington were the top teams in the league all season, finishing atop the West and East, respectively, to earn home-ice advantage.. Florida is the defending champion looking for a third consecutive trip to the final. Dallas is the oddsmakers’ top selection, while some metrics favor Carolina.

What played out on the ice has collided with math, odds and probability in the debate over who will hoist the trophy in June.

“As great as the season has been for Winnipeg and Washington, I think most people would agree that there’s not one team out there that really kind of screams, ‘Oh, this is the team that should win the Stanley Cup this year,’” said Andy MacNeil, a hockey handicapper and host of The Puck Portfolio on Daily Faceoff. “It’s just one of those years where even the Toronto Maple Leafs could finally go all the way and get to a Stanley Cup Final because the Eastern Conference, just like the Western Conference, I think is wide open right now.”
The sports books

BetMGM Sportsbook, which provides odds for The Associated Press, gives the Stars the edge at 13-2 early this week despite six straight losses down the stretch, blowing a chance to catch the Jets for first in the Central Division much less the West or Presidents’ Trophy. The Panthers are next at 7-1, Colorado at 8-1, Edmonton 17-2, the Hurricanes 9-1, Washington 19-2, Vegas 10-1 and Tampa Bay and Winnipeg each 11-1.

Dallas and Florida have been betting favorites since making big moves at the trade deadline. Matthew Rasp, BetMGM’s senior sports trader setting the opening odds for hockey, thinks the Stars adding Mikko Rantanen to an already stacked roster makes them the most formidable contender.

“The goaltending is strong for Dallas there (and) they’ve got the veterans there,” Rasp said. “Even though they’ve kind of floundered here a bit of late — they’ve had some bad losses that have gotten a lot of publicity — we still feel good about their goal differential and their team construct from top to bottom here.”
What the stats say

The analytics disagree.

The Stars’ odds equate to roughly a 13.3% chance of winning the Cup. According to the hockey prediction site MoneyPuck’s data from 100,000 simulations, they’re sixth at 8.1%.

As of last week, MoneyPuck had the Hurricanes with the highest odds. As of Monday, it was the Jets. On Tuesday, the Panthers held the top spot at 11.2%.

“It does look at recent play, but it does fluctuate some,” said Peter Tanner, the data scientist who has run the site for nearly a decade.

MoneyPuck’s formula involves a combination of scoring chances, expected goals, goaltending and some other factors that look at recent success and even how some players and teams come up bigger in clutch moments. That’s one way of trying to quantify a sport filled with inherent randomness.

“When I was a kid, I always thought the team that won the Cup was like the best team,” Tanner said. “Now I think they’re probably a pretty good team that got lucky.”
The intangibles

The NHL and Major League Baseball are the least likely major sports leagues to see the best regular-season team win a championship, followed by the NFL and the NBA, which is the most likely.

There are so many intangibles in play in hockey — player injuries, matchups across four forward lines, a goaltender on a dark horse team who gets rolling and shuts down more talented opponents.

“I also think there’s just so much more parity now than, say, 20 years ago, so that kind of factors in,” Tanner said, adding MoneyPuck’s highest-odds team has won the Cup just once since he started running the site.

With no team with shorter odds than 6-1 and plenty of uncertainty on paths through the playoffs, Rasp said most of the money is coming in on longshots, like St. Louis at 45-1, and Montreal at 80-1, even though neither team had clinched a spot going into games Tuesday.

“We’ve seen it before in the past that these teams that have been playing meaningful hockey for the last month, they can catch fire,” Rasp said. “We’ve seen 8 seeds take out 1 seeds, and the teams that have taken the foot off the gas a little bit here, they can get caught in the first round playing against a team that’s been playing playoff hockey for the last month or two.”
So who wins the Cup?

Rasp thinks the Cup champion will come out of the West this year, given the high-profile talent on that side of the bracket. Dallas and Colorado — two of the top three favorites according to BetMGM — play each other in first round, meaning one of the Central powerhouses will be out by round two — along with anyone who bet on the series loser.

“I would say that a lot of operators are probably happy to see one of those two teams get knocked out in the early rounds,” said MacNeil, who likes Los Angeles to knock off the Oilers and potentially make a run. There’s value in the Kings at 20-1 or even the Maple Leafs at 12-1 under 2019 Cup-winning coach Craig Berube, trying to end the franchise’s and Canada’s lengthy drought.

Winnipeg has the NHL’s top goaltender this season in Connor Hellebuyck, and the Lightning won back to back in 2020 and ‘21 with Andrei Vasilevskiy in net. Tanner said having an elite goalie in his simulation only increases the odds of winning by up to 3% in the Jets’ case, but a hot goalie can often make the difference.

“Sometimes I think about it like the goalie is just getting lucky, but some call that ‘hot,’ as well,” Tanner said. “It’s tricky. The hardest thing to predict in hockey is goalies.”

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AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/nhl

Former Cal running back Jaydn Ott transfers to Oklahoma

Former California running back Jaydn Ott is transferring to Oklahoma, providing a big boost to the Sooners offense.

The Sooners announced Tuesday that Ott has signed with the program. The spring transfer window opens on Wednesday but Ott was able to commit earlier because he is a graduate transfer.

Ott was severely limited last season after injuring his ankle in the season opener and was held to 385 yards on 116 carries with four TD runs and an average of only 3.3 yards per carry.

But Ott was one of the most dynamic runners in college football the previous two seasons when healthy and will be a key piece of Oklahoma’s offense following a down season in 2024.

The Sooners went 6-7 last season and were just 2-6 in conference play in their first season in the SEC, finishing second to last in scoring in conference games with 16.5 points per game. Oklahoma’s 3.14 yards per carry ranked last in the SEC in conference games.

Oklahoma coach Brent Venables already added former Washington State quarterback John Mateer as a transfer in December.

Ott ran for 897 yards and scored 11 TDs as a freshman at Cal in 2022 and led the Pac-12 in rushing with 1,315 yards and scored 14 total touchdowns in 2023. Ott averaged 5.32 yards per carry in those two seasons.

Cal has lost two of its most important offensive players to the transfer portal this offseason with quarterback Fernando Mendoza transferring to Indiana in the winter. The departure of Ott leaves Jaivian Thomas as the No. 1 back for the Golden Bears. Thomas led the team last season with 626 yards rushing and seven TDs.

The Sooners also announced they added former Stanford offensive lineman as a transfer. Jake Maikkula started 11 games for the Cardinal last season.

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US puts $8M bounty for arrest of Mexican drug cartel leaders charged with trafficking fentanyl

The Justice Department on Tuesday unsealed drug trafficking charges against the two leaders of the Mexican drug cartel La Nueva Familia Michoacana Organization (LNFM) and offered up to $8 million for information leading to their arrest.

Brothers Johnny Hurtado Olascoaga and Jose Alfredo Hurtado Olascoaga, are "responsible for the cartel's resurgence" over the past decade, according to a DOJ official.

"These brothers were charged by a federal grand jury in the Northern District of Georgia with various crimes related to the manufacture, distribution and importation of massive quantities of heroin, cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the United States," Michael Herskowitz, chief of the Narcotics Section at the U.S. Attorney's office in Atlanta, said at a press conference Tuesday.

The Treasury Department also sanctioned the brothers, and the State Department has offered $3 and $5 million rewards for information leading to their arrest. The men are currently in Mexico, officials said.

"It is our hope that these multimillion dollar rewards will encourage people to come forward with what they know about their Olascoaga brothers, both here in the United States and in cities and towns in Mexico, who are most impacted by the cartels violence," Herskowitz said.

DEA Atlanta Acting Special Agent in Charge Jae Chong told reporters that the foreign terrorist organization designation that the Trump administration has leveled against the cartels has "allowed law enforcement to apply enhanced counterterrorism authorities to drug cartel operations, something we believe that will have a greater impact in the fight to protect our communities."

"In 24 hours, DEA and our partners have seized over 100 pounds of fentanyl, $320,000 of suspected drug proceeds, guns, and made 22 arrests, 11 of which are illegal criminals," Chong said.

The fentanyl they seized was enough to kill 3.5 million people, according to Chong.

In a separate indictment, the Justice Department also charged seven individuals with allegedly funneling the proceeds of the cartel's activity through a business in Georgia.

Agents "analyzed the money service businesses transactions and determined that the cash was wired to Mexico, but was transferred in small increments, as did not raise suspicion by federal regulators during an approximate period of two months, these individuals allegedly laundered over $1 million in drug proceeds smuggled to Mexico," Herskowitz said.

Scoreboard roundup — 4/15/25

(NEW YORK) -- Here are the scores from Tuesday’s sports events:

NATIONAL BASKETBALL ASSOCIATION
Hawks 95, Magic 120
Grizzlies 116, Warriors 121

NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE
Devils 5, Bruins 4
Maple Leafs 4, Sabres 0
Blackhawks 4, Senators 3
Blue Jackets 3, Flyers 0
Panthers 1, Lightning 5
Capitals 3, Islanders 1
Utah Hockey Club 1, Blues 6
Ducks 2, Wild 3
Golden Knights 4, Flames 5
Kings 6, Kraken 5

MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
Diamondbacks 10, Marlins 4
Mariners 4, Reds 8
Nationals 3, Pirates 0
Giants 4, Phillies 6
Red Sox 7, Rays 4
Guardians 6, Orioles 3
Royals 2, Yankees 4
Braves 3, Blue Jays 6
Tigers 0, Brewers 5
Mets 3, Twins 6
Athletics 12, White Sox 3
Astros 2, Cardinals 0
Angels 0, Rangers 4
Cubs 2, Padres 1
Rockies 2, Dodgers 6

Man’s dogs fatally maul woman, suspect arrested

(HOUSTON) -- A Texas man was arrested after his dogs fatally attacked his neighbor, with a history of disturbing others, according to the Houston Police Department.

Marshall Garrett, 38, was arrested on Tuesday and charged with three counts of criminal negligent failure to secure his dogs after his three Staffordshire mixes fatally mauled 65-year-old Harriette Phillips, according to court documents filed on April 9.

The attack occurred on March 23 in Houston, when Phillips was walking toward the left side of her backyard, and it "appeared that the defendant's dogs had broken through her fence," the court records said.

Phillips' home security cameras reviewed by police show her "scanning her backyard looking for something" and hitting her fence with a hammer. Then, the dogs "returned through the broken fence and attacked her." She began screaming for help and attempted to use her hammer as a form of defense, the court records said.

She fell to the ground, and the dogs began "mauling her head, neck area, arms/elbows and other parts of her body until the complainant was unable to move anymore or screamed for help," the court records said.

Garrett did not witness the attacks but "realized what occurred afterward and called 911," court documents said.

On the same day as this attack, another neighbor texted Garrett that he saw the dogs in Phillips' yard, to which he replied: "Oh lord, I'm about to get it resolved," the court records said.

In that same month, the dogs also nipped the finger of another neighbor when she was trying to fix a hole in her fence, the court records said.

All three dogs were euthanized after the attack, the court records said.

Garrett already has an established criminal record prior to this incident, as he and a female suspect, Latrecia Washington, were charged with murder last year when they fatally assaulted a man outside a Family Dollar store, according to court records.

On Oct. 29, Garrett approached 69-year-old Alton Martin from behind and punched him in the back of the head, according to court records.

The altercation appears to have stemmed from a dispute over whether jewelry Martin had sold to Washington was authentic or fake. Martin died from his injuries, court records said.

Garrett was arrested for this crime and was previously released on bond, according to court records. As of Tuesday, Garrett is back in police custody.

Robbery plot leads to 2 arrested for capital murder

SMITH COUNTY — A woman has been arrested in connection to a Saturday morning murder in Smith County after investigators uncovered text messages allegedly revealing she helped plan a robbery leading to the victim’s death.

According to our news partner KETK, the Smith County Sheriff’s Office received a 911 call around 2 a.m. on Saturday after a person reported seeing a man lying on the side of the road in Flint. Further information revealed the man had been shot. When officials arrived, they found James Michael LittleJohn unresponsive and he was transported to a local hospital where he later died from his injuries. An affidavit obtained from the sheriff’s office revealed the victim was sitting in the front passenger seat with Ashley Kate Joiner as the driver. A second suspect, John Floyd McDaniel, 55, was in the back passenger seat.

“While she was operating the vehicle…she witnessed McDaniel grab the victim from the back and attempt to rob Littlejohn with a handgun,” documents show. “Joiner stated she heard McDaniel tell [Littlejohn], ‘Don’t move, or I’ll shoot you, give me your phone.’”

After LittleJohn took out a knife to defend himself, McDaniel shot him one time, according to the affidavit. Continue reading Robbery plot leads to 2 arrested for capital murder

Lufkin man arrested after holding family members hostage

LUFKIN – According to our news partner KETK, a Lufkin man was arrested following a Monday night stand-off outside his home that lasted several hours. Lufkin officers arrived at the home after receiving a call at 10 p.m. from a witness who claimed that Flint Thompson, 46, had locked his family members inside a room and would not let them out, according to the police department.

Once at the home, patrol officers called for members of the SWAT team and crisis negotiators to help remove the family from the home. Eventually, officials stated, the family was removed except for Thompson.

After hours of requesting Thompson to surrender peacefully, officers obtained an arrest warrant and search warrant, allowing SWAT to enter the home and take him into custody. He was charged with unlawful restraint.

American missionary rescued after alleged abduction in South Africa, police say

(LONDON and PRETORIA) -- An American missionary who was allegedly kidnapped at gunpoint during a church service in South Africa last Thursday evening was rescued in "a high-intensity shootout" several days later, South African police said Wednesday.

Three unidentified suspects were killed during Tuesday's operation, which was led by the South African Police Service's elite Hawks unit, according to a statement from spokesman Lt. Col. Avele Fumba.

Investigators discovered that the abducted U.S. citizen, believed to be a pastor at a church in the South African port city of Gqeberha, was being held at a safe house there, Fumba said. As officers approached the house on Tuesday, suspects inside a vehicle opened fire on law enforcement and attempted to flee the scene, Fumba said, "leading to a high-intensity shootout in which three unidentified suspects were fatally wounded."

"The victim was found inside the same vehicle from which the suspects had launched their attack," Fumba added. "Miraculously unharmed, he was immediately assessed by medical personnel and is currently in an excellent condition."

Police have not yet identified the rescued American by name. The investigation remains ongoing, according to Fumba.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

‘Very unusual and disconcerting’: New videos show accused stowaway boarding Delta flight from New York to Paris

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

(NEW YORK) -- For the first time, newly released security footage shows the moment an alleged stowaway sneaked onto a transatlantic flight just before last Thanksgiving in a stunning breach of security.

Svetlana Dali is accused of boarding an overnight Delta flight from John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York City on Nov. 26 and traveling to Paris-Charles de Gaulle Airport in France without having a ticket.

Dali can be seen in a video obtained by ABC News walking up to gate B38 at Terminal 4 while other passengers have their boarding passes and passports checked. After gate attendants assisted a separate group of customers and ushered them toward the jet bridge, Dali followed immediately behind, the video shows.

Wearing a gray hoodie and carrying both a green backpack and a black bag, Dali appeared to blend in with the crowd, passing by the gate attendants and walking toward the flight.

"This was very unusual and disconcerting," Richard Frankel, a former FBI special agent in charge of investigations at JFK who is now an ABC News contributor, said after reviewing the video. "She just basically gloms onto the back of that group and goes in as if she's part of a group."

"Delta agents, who were busy helping ticketed passengers board, did not stop her or ask her to present a boarding pass before she boarded the plane," an FBI complaint said, adding that Dali later stated "she knew her conduct was illegal."

Dali later pleaded not guilty to a federal stowaway charge.

"Our review affirms that Delta's security infrastructure, as part of our Safety Management System framework, is sound and that deviation from standard procedures is the root cause of this event," a Delta spokesperson told ABC News. "As nothing is of greater importance than safety and security, we will continue to work closely with our regulators, law enforcement and other relevant stakeholders."

A separate closed-circuit video from earlier that evening shows Dali going through the TSA screening machine at Terminal 4 and being patted down by a TSA agent.

"I think she planned it, but it's also luck of the draw," Frankel said. "I think she had her game plan and … her game plan really worked."

Dali, a Russian citizen and U.S. permanent resident who most recently lived in Philadelphia, was ultimately spotted by Delta employees before the plane landed in France, according to the FBI complaint. The complaint stated that Dali was unable to provide a boarding pass and that once the plane landed, French law enforcement would not allow her to pass the customs area.

Officials attempted to send Dali back to the United States on another flight shortly after, ABC News previously reported, but Dali was removed from the plane after insisting against her return.

She was eventually brought back to New York to face charges. After being released, Dali allegedly cut off her ankle monitor and traveled to Buffalo, where she tried to cross over the Peace Bridge into Canada.

Dali's public defender declined to comment.

The surveillance videos were released in response to a request ABC News filed in December with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which runs the airports in the New York metropolitan area.

The FBI's complaint against Dali stated that there is also surveillance footage of Dali "bypassing TSA officials" at JFK. The FBI alleges that Dali had been turned away by a TSA official the night of the flight for not having a boarding pass, but was eventually able to make it through the TSA area "without a boarding pass by entering through a special lane for airline employees masked by a large Air Europa flight crew."

Footage of Dali in that area was not released by the Port Authority. The agency told ABC News that releasing additional video footage "could jeopardize the security of the buildings or facilities or the persons therein," adding that "providing multiple camera angles of a facility or incident could allow for inferences to be made as to vulnerabilities or blind spots in surveillance cameras."

In a statement to ABC News, TSA spokesperson Lisa Farbstein said that a review of the incident has been conducted.

"As a result of our review, additional security measures are now in place," Farbstein said. "TSA's security measures are always evolving to ensure this type of incident does not happen again."

Dali is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. She is due back in federal court on April 22.

‘The Wedding Banquet’ reimagines a ’90s queer classic

The new movie The Wedding Banquet may share a name with Ang Lee’s queer romantic comedy from the 1990s, but director Andrew Ahn says it isn’t a direct remake.

“I think the term that we’ve landed on is ‘reimagining,’” Ahn tells ABC Audio.

The original The Wedding Banquet tells the story of a gay man who stages an elaborate wedding to a woman in an effort to fool his traditional Taiwanese parents. Ahn says he wanted to preserve Lee’s “themes and storytelling philosophy,” while updating it all for a modern, queer audience.

“We were given the freedom to really create our own characters independently of that original film. And I think that it really helped make this version its own beautiful thing,” says star Kelly Marie Tran.

Academy Award nominee Lily Gladstone plays Tran’s partner and says she was drawn to the project because it was a departure from her recent dramatic roles.

“I feel like when you’re doing comedy, when you’re doing ensemble, when you have a ball to keep in the air, that’s where you see the work happen, that’s where you get to see character happen,” Gladstone says.

Saturday Night Live’s Bowen Yang similarly found himself playing against type, but the comedian says he felt at ease.

“Everyone here on this cast has been so patient with me. Andrew [Ahn] is obviously so nurturing as a director,” says Yang.

Ahn says the original The Wedding Banquet was the first gay film he ever saw. He hopes the new version can provide comfort to the queer community in an uncertain time.

“I think that there’s a lot being done to dismantle queer family, [which] is very scary. I wish that we were in better times,” says Ahn. “My hope is that this film can offer audiences a sense of safety, a sense of celebration and a sense of community.”

The Wedding Banquet hits theaters Friday.

Dozens of student pilots sue United Airlines and its flight school

CHICAGO (AP) – Dozens of former student pilots who say they racked up tens of thousands of dollars in debt for tuition are suing United Airlines and its flight school in the Arizona desert, saying it didn’t have enough teachers or aircraft to properly train and graduate its students.

The federal lawsuit accuses United and the school, United Aviate Academy, of falsely promoting a well-equipped, intensive training program that would put students on a path to becoming commercial pilots after a year. In reality, the students said in an amended complaint filed last week, their flight time was limited due to the staffing shortages and frequent staff turnover. In some cases, students were teaching other students, according to the lawsuit.

Some of the students said they ultimately left the program when it became clear they would not finish training after a year. But many of them alleged in the lawsuit that they were wrongly expelled from the school for “taking too long to advance” through the program.

Around the time of the pandemic, United purchased the pilot school in the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear to address a critical problem facing the industry: not enough pilots. Airlines have complained about the shortage for years, but they made it worse during the COVID-19 outbreak by encouraging pilots to take early retirement when air travel collapsed in 2020.

In a statement, Chicago-based United said it couldn’t comment on specific allegations, citing the ongoing lawsuit, but it defended its pilot school.

“We have the highest confidence in the rigorous curriculum and flight training program provided at United Aviate Academy and are proud of the school’s hundreds of graduates,” the statement said.

The lawsuit claims the school had an enrollment cap of 325 students “to ensure sufficient resources.” Instead, according to the complaint, there were more than 380 students enrolled in the program in March 2024.

Within months, the school’s accrediting body issued a warning letter to the flight school, in part because of its enrollment numbers, according to the lawsuit.

Around this time, the lawsuit claims that United Aviate Academy began expelling students from the program “in order to comply with the enrollment cap.”

By August of that year, the school was placed on probation by the Accrediting Commission of Career Schools and Colleges, according to the lawsuit. The school voluntarily withdrew its accreditation in January.

United told The Associated Press that it “is exploring an alternative accreditation that better meets the needs of the flight school.”

Richard Levy, a retired captain who flew for a major international airline for 41 years and who now works as a flight instructor in Texas, said a one-year program is in line with industry training standards. He said students who want to fly commercial jets will typically train for about a year for certain certifications, then go on to work for a regional airline and log additional flying time — up to 1,500 hours — before they can fly for a major airline.

What’s important, Levy said, is that students are flying frequently and following a structured, uniform program during their training.

But the lawsuit says that at one point there were roughly 20 aircraft for the hundreds of students enrolled in United’s flight school. One student said he was able to fly just once or twice over several months and was repeatedly reassigned instructors. He was eventually expelled for “taking too long to advance” through his courses, the lawsuit alleges.

Another expelled student said she had a different instructor during each of her first four flights. During her eighth flight, she said, her instructor was a fellow student of the program.

“It was students teaching students,” the lawsuit says. It also alleges that students were sometimes evaluated by instructors who were not pilots themselves.

Levy said he’s “never heard of” non-pilots evaluating student pilots.

Most of the students suing said they took out loans with the expectation that they were attending a one-year program that would lead to “gainful employment.” Many of them had to relocate to Arizona to attend the program.

One student sold his home, according to the lawsuit. Another left his job of 21 years to “pursue his dream” of becoming a pilot while his husband stayed behind at their home in Texas.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Phoenix on behalf of 29 former students from states across the country, including Florida, Texas, California, Colorado, Nevada and Connecticut.

Judge throws out rule that would have capped credit card late fees

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas judge on Tuesday threw out a federal rule that would have capped credit card late fees after officials with President Donald Trump’s administration and a coalition of major banking groups agreed that the rule was illegal.

The ruling by U.S. District Judge Mark Pittman in Fort Worth came a day after the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and a collection of major industry groups that had filed a lawsuit last year to stop the rule announced they had come to an agreement to throw out the rule. The groups that sued included the American Bankers Association, the Consumer Bankers Association, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

The banks and other groups had alleged the new rule — proposed last year under the administration of President Joe Biden — violated the Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure or CARD Act of 2009, which was enacted to protect consumers from unfair practices by credit card companies. The groups claimed the new rule did not allow credit card issuers “to charge fees that sufficiently account for deterrence or consumer conduct, including with respect to repeat violations.”

“The parties agree that, in the Late Fee Rule, the Bureau violated the CARD Act by failing to allow card issuers to ‘charge penalty fees reasonable and proportional to violations,’” attorneys with the CFPB wrote in a joint motion on Monday with the banking groups to vacate the rule.

The banks have been pushing hard to stop the late fee rule, due to the potential billions of dollars the banks would lose in revenue. The CFPB estimated when it issued the proposal last year that banks brought in roughly $14 billion in credit card late fees a year.

“This is a win for consumers and common sense. If the CFPB’s rule had gone into effect, it would have resulted in more late payments, lower credit scores, higher interest rates and reduced credit access for those who need it most. It would have also penalized the millions of Americans who pay their credit card bills on time and reduced important incentives for consumers to manage their finances,” the banking groups and others said in a joint statement on Tuesday.

Even if the lawsuit had gone forward, the banking groups had a good chance of winning as Pittman in a December ruling had said they would have likely prevailed as he found that the new rule violated the CARD Act by not allowing credit card issuers to charge penalty fees that are reasonable and proportional to violations.

The CFPB has been in turmoil since the Trump administration earlier this year began dismantling it, targeting it for mass firings and dropping various enforcement actions against companies like Capital One and Rocket Homes. A federal judge last month issued a preliminary injunction that temporarily stopped the agency’s demise.

The CFPB was created in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis to protect consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices by a wide range of financial institutions and businesses.

Border deployment vehicle accident kills two service members, third in critical condition

WASHINGTON (AP) — Two service members deployed to the U.S. Southern border were killed and a third is in serious condition after a vehicle accident near Santa Teresa, New Mexico, the military announced late Tuesday.

The region where the accident took place is just over the state line and west of Fort Bliss, a major Army installation in West Texas that has played a critical role in dispatching military deportation flights and served as a touchpoint for thousands of soldiers and pieces of equipment now deployed along the border.

The troops are deployed there in support of President Donald Trump’s executive order to secure the U.S.-Mexico border.

A defense official speaking on the condition of anonymity to provide additional details not yet made public said the accident occurred in a civilian vehicle, but no civilians were harmed in the incident.

The incident did not involve any of the scores of Stryker vehicles the Pentagon has sent down to the border to perform patrols, the official said.

The accident occurred around 8:50 a.m. MDT Tuesday; the names of the deceased will not be released until the next of kin are notified.