Searchers combing the waters between Borneo and Sumatra may have found the wreckage of an Air Asia flight that disappeared off of radar screens abruptly early Sunday morning. Prior to losing contact with Air Traffic Control in Indonesia, Air Asia flight QZ8501 took off from Surabaya on the island of Java enroute to Singapore.
While over the Karimata Strait, the crew requested clearance to change altitude from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet to avoid storm clouds. Permission was denied by Indonesian controllers due to already heavy traffic in the area. Less than 45 minutes into its flight, the Airbus A320 disappeared from screens with 162 people on board and no distress signal sent.
The A320 used by the Kuala Lumpur-based airline was reportedly purchased new from Airbus in 2008, According to the passenger manifest, all but 7 of QZ8501's passengers and crew were from Indonesia. Other nationalities on board included South Korea, Malaysia, the UK, Singapore and France.
Air Asia was started in 1993 and is widely considered to be southeast Asia's first viable budget airline.
An Algerian airliner flying between Burkina Faso and Algeria crashed over a remote stretch of the Sahara desert on Thursday, killing all 118 on board.
At least 54 of those passengers were from France. French President Francois Hollande declared three days of mourning as soldiers from Mali and the UN have been combing the wreckage for human remains. However, conditions on the ground- even under the best of circumstance- are pretty grim. The nearest town from the crash site is Gao, which has been fought over by the Malian government, Tuareg rebels, Al-Qaeda-affiliated terrorists and the French Foreign Legion over the last 24 months. Both the remote location of the crash site and the fact that the nearest population center is in an unstable war zone have slowed down transportation and communications considerably.
With Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 being shot down by a surface to air missile the week before, the downing of Air Algerie Flight 5017 led to concerns that terrorism could've played a role in the downing of the aircraft. However, Algeria has ruled out terrorism in the crash and AFP has reported that the pilots had asked to turn back shortly before the crash.
The Aircraft- a McDonnel-Douglas MD80- actually belonged to Spain's Swiftair and was leased to Air Algiere earlier this year.
After the Ukrainian 'Maidan' uprising ousted Kremlin allied president Viktor Yanukovych earlier this year, Russia responded by annexing the strategically important Crimea peninsula- part of the Ukraine, but home to a number of strategic Russian naval facilities. After a hastily put together 'referendum' in which Moscow claimed the populace of the Crimea wanted to become part of Russia, masked fighters claiming to be pro-Russian separatists began seizing public buildings in key cities in the eastern Ukraine. However, it's widely believed these 'separatists' are acting on direct orders from the Kremlin. In May, shortly after candy tycoon Petro Poroshenko won a special election called after Yanukovych fled the country, the Ukrainian military launched a series of counterattacks culminating in a raid on Donetsk's international airport in late May that killed dozens of pro-Russian separatists who were using the buildings as headquarters.
It appears to capture the chaotic moments after the plane was shot down — and the realization that it was a passenger plane rather than a Ukrainian transport plane, which had been targeted in recent days by the Russia-backed separatists.
"We have just shot down a plane," says a man the SBU identified as Igor Bezler, a Russian military intelligence officer and leading commander of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic.
That call came just 20 minutes after the crash and was placed to a person identified by Ukraine’s SBU as a colonel in the main intelligence department of the general headquarters of the armed forces of the Russian Federation Vasili Geranin, according to Ukraine security officials.
But in a second tape released by the agency, two men identified as "The Greek" and "Major" discuss the debris field and the fact the the plane was a civilian aircraft.
“It’s 100 percent a passenger [civilian] aircraft,” Major is recorded as saying, as he admitted to seeing no weapons on site. “Absolutely nothing. Civilian items, medicinal stuff, towels, toilet paper.”
The Boeing 777 was flying from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it was shot down by what U.S. intelligence sources confirm was a surface-to-air missile near the village of Chornukhine, Luhansk Oblast, some 30 miles inside the the border with Russia.
The second conversation, if verified as authentic, could dispel Russian separatist claims that it was the Ukrainian military that shot the plane down. According to the transpcript:
Major: "These are Chernukhin folks who shot down the plane. From the Chernukhin check point. Those cossacks who are based in Chernukhino."
Grek: "Yes, Major."
Major: "The plane fell apart in the air. In the area of Petropavlovskaya mine. The first '200' [code word for dead person]. We have found the first '200.' A Civilian."
Greek: "Well, what do you have there?"
Major: "In short, it was 100 percent a passenger [civilian] aircraft."
Greek: "Are many people there?"
Major: "Holy [expletive]! The debris fell right into the yards [of homes]."
In a third intercepted conversation released by the SBU — which the agency says took place about 40 minutes after insurgents seemed to realize they had shot down a civilian plane — Cossack commander Nikolay Kozitsin tells an unidentified separatist that the fact the Malaysia Airlines plane was flying over the combat zone likely meant it was carrying spies.
"That means they were carrying spies," Kozitsin allegedly says. "They shouldn’t be [expletive] flying. There is a war going on."
A Boeing 777 carrying passengers from Kuala Lumpur to Bejing vanished while flying off the southern tip of Vietnam and has triggered a frantic search effort in international waters to find any trace of the aircraft. Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 was last detected by Vietnamese air traffic controllers some 125 nautical miles southwest off the coast of southernmost Ca Mau province.
The plane was a Boeing 777-200- the average age of such aircraft in Malaysia's fleet is just over 14 years. Both Malaysia Airlines and the Boeing have a pretty good safety record- the only fatal accident involving a 777 was in July 2013 at San Francisco International Airport when an Asiana flight crash-landed and three people were killed. Malaysia Airlines hasn't had a fatal accident since a 1995 plane crash in the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah where 34 people were killed after a Fokker 50 crashed on approach.
Malaysia’s director general of civil aviation told a news conference Saturday night that authorities had reviewed closed-circuit TV footage of passengers and their luggage and hadn’t seen anything of concern. But Prime Minister Najib Razak cautioned that it was "too early" to come to any conclusions, and other officials said nothing was being ruled out of consideration at this point.
One passenger was traveling with a stolen Austrian passport, Austria's Foreign Ministry said Saturday. A 30-year-old Austrian whose name was on the passenger list for the flight wasn't on board. His passport was stolen in Thailand in 2012, a ministry spokesman said, confirming a report in German newspaper Die Welt.
Another passenger on the list, Italian Luigi Maraldi, was also not on the plane, Italy's Foreign Ministry said Saturday. Mr. Maraldi's passport was stolen in Thailand a year and a half ago, his father said.
Malaysia Airlines had no confirmation from Malaysian authorities that stolen passports were used to board the flight, said Ignatius Ong, a member of the airline's crisis-management team. One European security official said it wasn't uncommon for passengers to board flights using stolen passports.
On late Saturday afternoon, the Vietnamese Air Force reported that an oil slick between six and nine miles long had been spotted off the southern coast. While there was no independent confirmation that the slick was that of flight MH370, it is consistent with an airliner crashing at sea. Malaysian civil aviation officials said that there was no distress signal or other signs of trouble from the flight, leading them to believe that whatever had happened to flight MH370 was quick and catastrophic.
The USS Pinckney and a P3-C Orion aircraft have also been searching for signs of the aircraft and naval assets from Singapore, Philippines and China have also been deployed.
UPDATE 3/9- According to a Malaysia Airlines spokesperson, the tickets for the two unidentified people travelling on the stolen EU passports had consecutive numbers, indicating the tickets were booked together. The tickets were also paid for using Thai Baht and booked through the China Southern Airlines website. The Italian passport was reported stolen in the Thai city of Phuket last year. China Southern [NYSE: ZNH] is a code-share partner with Malaysia Airlines, among others.
At least two people were killed Saturday afternoon when an Asiana 777 crashed on a runway at San Francisco International Airport. Eyewitnesses report that Seoul-San Francisco flight 214 was swaying back and forth and kicking up dust while attempting to land. The Boeing's tail also broke off during the crash landing before coming to a stop. Most of the flight's passengers were able to evacuate by way of the emergency chutes before the fuselage was consumed by fire.
I just crash landed at SFO. Tail ripped off. Most everyone seems fine. I'm ok. Surreal... (at @flySFO) [pic] — https://t.co/E6Ur1XEfa4
— David Eun (@Eunner) July 6, 2013
Samsung executive David Eun was one of the surviving passengers and tweeted pictures of the wreckage from up close as first responders were closing in. The two fatalities were found outside of the plane and identified as Chinese nationals. It isn't known right away whether or not they were killed on the plane and somebody carried the bodies out or if they evacuated on their own but succumbed to their injuries outside the aircraft.
Boeing's 777 is considered fairly safe, although there have been a number of other lesser incidents involving the model that was introduced in 1994. In January 2008, a British Airways flight crash-landed just short of the runway at Heathrow International airport, injuring 47 of the 136 passengers. There were also two known incidents of fires while the planes were on the ground- a 2001 fire at Denver international airport when the plane was being refueled by a ground crew and a 2011 cabin fire at Cairo international airport.
Those killed in the crash have been identified as Lt. Col. Paul K. Mikeal, 42, of Mooresville, Maj. Joseph M. McCormick, 36, of Belmont, Maj. Ryan S. David, 35, of Boone, and Senior Master Sgt. Robert S. Cannon, 50. Two other crew members were seriously injured in the crash, but military officials have declined to identify them. The aircraft was from the North Carolina Air National Guard's Charlotte-based 145th Airlift Wing.
The crash prompted the grounding of six other MAFFs-equipped C-130 Hercules aircraft deployed to combat wildfires throughout the Western United States, although they were cleared to take off again by Tuesday afternoon.
With the crash and subsequent grounding of the MAFFS-euipped C-130s [Modular Airborne Firefighting System], there were less than a dozen fixed wing aircraft available to combat wildfires that have been sparked in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Daktoa, Utah, Airzona, New Mexico and Nevada. The nation's already-dwindling firefighting aircraft fleet was down to just 9 fixed wing aircraft after a deadly plane crash near the Nevada-Utah in June killed two crew members, a P2V tanker made a crash landing at a northern Nevada airport and another P2V was taken out of commission after large cracks were discovered in the airframe.
Meanwhile, in Colorado, evacuation orders were lifted for some parts of the city as fire officials said the devestating Waldo Canyon fire was around 70% contained. The fire, which began in a national forest about 11 days ago, destroyed about 350 homes in the Colorado Springs area and is the costliest wildfire in the history of Colorado.
Authorities have so far not even said whether they believe the blaze is human or naturally caused. But a string of fires set by an apparent serial arsonist in neighboring Teller County have caused rumors to swirl that the Waldo Canyon Fire could be the work of the same individual.
On Wednesday, El Paso County Sheriff's spokesman Jeff Kramer said, despite the rumors, there is no person of interest. Investigators are taking tips from anyone who may know what happened in Waldo Canyon.
As firefighters braved triple-digit temperatures in Colorado's Front Range an out of control wildfire encroaching on western neighborhoods of Colorado Springs, CO and the campus of the US Air Force Academy has been deemed too dangerous to fully assess the damage so far.
The wildfire doubled in size overnight to about 24 square miles, and has so far forced mandatory evacuations for more than 32,000 residents, Colorado Springs emergency management director Brett Waters said. The fire burned about 10 acres of land along the southwest boundary of the academy's 28-square-mile boundary, but no injuries or damage to academy structures have been reported.
Steve Cox, an aide to Mayor Steve Bach, said Wednesday morning that the blaze has consumed dozens of houses elsewhere. A more precise figure wasn't available because of the intensity of the fire.
Heavy smoke and ash billowed from the mountain foothills west of the city. Bright yellow and orange flames flared in the night, often signaling another home lost to the Waldo Canyon Fire, which is the No. 1 priority for the nation's firefighters.
On Wednesday morning, the Waldo Canyon fire- the second biggest to strike Colorado in a decade- was estimated at only 5% containment. The fire started on June 23rd in an area about 10 miles northwest of Colorado Springs. Since then, firefighters have been hampered by high temperatures and the remote terrain which the Waldo Canyon started out in.
Included among the 32,000 evacuees in the mandatory evacuation order are personnel from the United States Air Force Academy. As of Wednesday morning, there was no word on whether or not an incoming class of 1,045 cadets would report as scheduled on Thursday.
The Waldo Canyon fire is one of a half dozen wildfires burning throughout Colorado this summer, with others scorching mountains and forests to the west of Boulder and Ft Collins, CO. Earlier this month, the High Park fire burned down nearly 200 homes and was responsible for the death of a 62 year old woman. The High Park fire was reportedly sparked by a lightning strike on June 9 and officials reported it was at 65% containment on Wednesday morning.
While legislation authorizing the updating or adding to the nation's fleet of firefighting aircraft has enjoyed bipartisan support from lawmakers in recent years- particularly those representing Western states- Washington has been slow to act.
Ealier this month, President Obama signed a bill rushed through the House and Senate that would hasten the addition of seven additional aerial tankers to the US Airborne firefighting inventory. However, these aircraft aren't expected to be ready for delivery until another two months.
To at least temporarily bridge the gap, a number of National Guard C-130s have been specially fitted to drop water or fire retardant and a trio of CV-580 twin engine air tankers loaned from Canada's Interagency Forest Fire Centre have been pressed into service or are on standby. The National Guard C-130s are severely restricted due to byzantine regulations regarding the ability for fight fire from the air.
Oregon-based Evergreen Aviation boasts an aerial tanker that uses a Boeing 747 platform and claims is can hold more than 20,000 gallons of water or fire retardant. Evergreen's 747 Supertanker had previously been deployed to fight wildfires in California, Arizona and Israel in recent years.
More than two years after attempting to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner in midair at Christmastime with explosives sewn into his underwear, Nigerian student Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was sentenced to four life sentences at the federal courthouse in Detroit on Thursday.
"The defendant has never expressed doubt or regret or remorse about his mission," U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds told the 25-year-old Nigerian student-turned-al-Qaida-operative during a 90-minute hearing in Detroit. "To the contrary, he sees that mission as divinely inspired and a continuing mission."
"I believe the defendant poses a significant ongoing threat to the safety of American citizens everywhere," Edmunds added, saying she couldn't control his motivations, but could control his opportunity to carry them out.
Abdulmutallab remained defiant. "The mujahideen are proud to kill in the name of God, and this is exactly what God told us to do in the Koran," he told Edmunds. "The situation of one who believes in Allah is always good ... it's always a win-win situation."
He laid into the U.S. government for oppressing Muslims worldwide and federal prosecutors in Detroit for misrepresenting the facts of the case "to achieve their evil goals."
He also insisted that Osama bin Laden and Anwar al-Awlaki, who sent him on the mission, are still alive. Both al-Qaida leaders were killed last year by U.S. forces.
Against [standby defense lawyer Anthony] Chambers' advice, Abdulmutallab pleaded guilty on the second day of trial last October to all counts, including conspiring to commit an act of terrorism, use of a weapon of mass destruction and carrying a firearm or destructive device during a crime of violence.
Abdulmutallab received the bomb, as well as training, from AQAP before travelling from Nigeria to Amsterdam.
There he boarded Northwest Airlines Flight 253 to Detroit, which was carrying 279 passengers and 11 crew members.
The bomb was not picked up in security checks at airports in Lagos and Amsterdam.
On board, the bomb failed to detonate completely and passengers had to put out the fire.
Abdulmutallab's father, Alhaji Umaru Mutallab, an influential banker who is well connected in Nigerian politics, said he had approached the US embassy officials and Nigerian authorities in 2009 to warn them about his son.
Abdulmutallab was already on a US watch list, but not a no-fly list.
Mora had been described as Calderon's 'right-hand man' who favored the President's strategy of ongoing confrontation with the various cartels and considered a key member of Calderon's security team.
The helicopter was reportedly enroute to a meeting of prosecutors in Morelos when it went down. It's departure had been delayed by foggy weather and low visibility was reported around the crash site after takeoff, leading many to believe that this might've been an accident despite the significance of the passenger on board.
Mora is the third high-ranking public official in nearly six years to have been killed in an air crash. In November 2008, Secretary of the Interior Juan Camilo Mouriño and 13 other people were killed when his Learjet crashed into rush-hour traffic on approach to Mexico City's Benito Juarez International Airport. In September 2005, Public Security Secretary Ramon Martin Huerta was killed in a helicopter crash south of Mexico City as well.
CHICAGO: According to a 63-page filing by federal prosecutors this month, fugitive billionaire Sinaloa Cartel chief Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman allegedly laid out plans to launch a series of high profile assaults using military-grade weapons against American media, commercial and diplomatic interests in Mexico City.
At his mountaintop lair in Mexico, Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman, the head of the world’s biggest narcotics cartel, told a Chicago drug trafficker he wanted dozens of military-grade assault weapons to stage an attack in Mexico City in retaliation against U.S. authorities who were messing with their drug business, federal prosecutors said Thursday.
“This government is letting [American law enforcement] do whatever they want,” said one of Guzman’s lieutenants, Ismael Zambada-Garcia, according to a cooperator in the case, Margarito Flores. “It will be good to send [them] a message.”
“They are f**king us everywhere,” Guzman allegedly said of the government during a meeting on the mountaintop compound. “Let it be a government building, it doesn’t matter whose. An embassy or a consulate, a media outlet or television station [attack a Mexican or U.S. government or media building in Mexico City].”
Although Guzman remains at large, the claims surfaced in the 'Santaigo Proffer', a filing that reportedly offers the most detailed look at the inner workings of the Sinaloa cartel.
The filing also lists a pair of Chicago-area brothers as witnesses for the government against Guzman and other top-ranking members of the Sinaloa organization. The newly-filed papers by the prosecution also claim they have a recording of Vincente Zambada-Niebla asking about details on procuring explosives and heavy-caliber weaponry to mount an attack against the Mexican government or American interests in Mexico nearly three years ago.
“Twin, you know guys coming back from the war. Find somebody who can give you big powerful weapons, American s**t.... We don’t need that small s**t, I want to blow up some buildings. We got a lot of grenades, we got a lot of .50 calibers, we’re tired of AKs,” Zambada-Niebla allegedly said. “You’re good with me. You want to be really good with me, get me my s**t, my guns. F**k the money, f**k the drugs, I want to blow s**t up. I want some bazookas, some grenade launchers.”
The recording reportedly dates back to November 29, 2008.
The slayings bear an uncanny resemblance to a September 2011 incident in which gunmen in Veracruz dumped more than 30 bodies from trucks in the middle of rush hour traffic. The dead in Veracruz were reportedly identified as being affiliated with Los Zetas. Shortly after the bodies were found, a group of masked men calling themselves Los Matazetas (the Zeta killers) took credit for the Veracruz slayings.
According to investigators in Guadalajara, many of the 26 bodies found on Friday were between the ages of 25-35 and killed by asphyxiation or blunt force trauma less than 24 hours prior to their discovery- although there were reports that some of the bodies had sustained gunshot wounds. Authorities have since released the identities of 14 of the dead in Guadalajara- So far only two of them are confirmed to have any sort of criminal record. Among the dead were a baker, a truck driver, a soft drink vendor and a dental technician.
The Grisly find comes two days after sixteen charred bodies, some of them handcuffed or wearing bulletproof vests, were discovered in the back of two burned-out trucks in the city of Culiacan- the capital of 'El Chapo' Guzman's home state of Sinaloa.
HOUSTON: A civilian truck driver was killed and an undercover police officer in Harris County, TX was wounded after driving into an ambush that was described as a 'Zetas-style attack'.
The incident occurred in Texas' Harris County, where parts of Houston are located, when the secret operative disguised as a truck driver delivering a 300 pound package of marijuana was driving through the northwest part of the county to a rendezvous point. Out of nowhere three sport-utility vehicles carrying alleged Zetas drug cartel gunmen cut off the 18-wheeler truck and opened fire on the cab, killing the driver. As the gunmen opened fire on the truck, law enforcement officials descended on the scene in an effort to apprehend the shooters. "Officers engaged in gunfire with the suspects. That exchange resulted in the undercover officer being shot in the leg and the death of the occupant in the 18-wheeler," a press release from Harris County Sheriffs Office stated.
So far four suspects, all believed to be Mexican, have been arrested and charged with murder.
While the men - Eric De Luna, 23; Fernando Tavera, 19; Ricardo RamÃrez, 35 and Rolando Resendiz, 34 – have all allegedly admitted to an affiliation with the violent Mexico-based Zetas cartel, U.S. authorities are still puzzled as to why the group would authorize such a brazen attack on U.S. soil for 300 pounds of marijuana.
"If it was a straight assassination, there were points in this controlled delivery where he would have just been a sitting duck," a law-enforcement source speaking on the condition of anonymity told the Chronicle. "Pretty brazen to kill a man over 300 pounds of grass.”
In Mexico, low level sicarrios (gunmen) for the Zetas are known to travel in convoys of SUV's while brandishing weapons and wearing bulletproof vests.
The shootout reportedly began shortly after noon but details were not immediately available. Residents on the U.S. side reported seeing members of the U.S. Border Patrol and Starr County Sheriff’s Office securing the area near the border.
Border Patrol spokeswoman Rosalinda Huey said agents had been tracking a suspected drug load near La Rosita and pushed it back to Mexico.
Border Patrol alerted Mexican authorities of the suspected load and then found an injured Mexican national on the U.S. side of the Rio Grande, Huey said. Emergency crews rushed the man to an area hospital. His condition remains unknown.
The man, a suspected cartel gunman, had been shot by Mexican authorities, a separate U.S. law enforcement official said.
The official confirmed a group of as many as 15 gunmen had crossed the Rio Grande, though it remained unclear whether they were Mexican soldiers or cartel gunmen.
The November 9th incident comes after assurances from the government that the border with Mexico is the safest its ever been in decades and that concerns about spillover violnce are greatly exaggerated.
Juan Gabriesl Orozco Favela is accused of masterminding the Knights Templar smuggling network and participating in the torture and murder of as many as 21 people. The Knights Templar began as an offshoot of the moribund La Familia Michoacana cartel in the last year.
Also in Michoacan, reporters and federal officials are looking into reports of voter intimidation and harassment during local elections. The charges come after a Mexican TV network aired an audio tape that was reportedly of a local underboss for La Familia making threatening phone calls to would-be voters.
"A family member will be killed of whoever votes for the PRD," Horacio Morales Baca, the No. 3 leader of La Familia, a once-strong Michoacan gang, is heard saying on the recording. If anyone protests, he added, "their houses will be burned down with their families inside."
Baca also claimed that the Knights Templar put US$2 million in the campaign coffers of the governor's candidate for the Democratic Revolutionary Party.
ARIZONA: Details leaked from a sealed federal grand jury indictment show that smugglers armed with AK-47s were 'stalking' US Border Patrol agents shortly before the shootout that led to the death of US Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry in December 2010.
Five illegal immigrants armed with at least two AK-47 semi-automatic assault rifles were hunting for U.S. Border Patrol agents near a desert watering hole known as Mesquite Seep just north of the Arizona-Mexico border when a firefight erupted and one U.S. agent was killed, records show.
A now-sealed federal grand jury indictment in the death of Border Patrol agent Brian A. Terry says the Mexican nationals were “patrolling” the rugged desert area of Peck Canyon at about 11:15 p.m. on Dec. 14 with the intent to “intentionally and forcibly assault” Border Patrol agents.
At least two of the smuggler's guns recovered on the scene were obtained through the ATF's inafmous 'Fast & Furious' gunwalking program.
[Task Force Director Neil] Haws said that for the past two years the major Mexican drug cartel operating in San Juan County has been the Juarez cartel, but recently the Sinaloa and Michoacan cartels have gained ground.
"What's happening here is reflective of what's occurring in Mexico," said Haws, adding that Region II is concentrating its investigative efforts on individuals three or four levels above the drug addicts, or those who are directly connected to the cartels.
Going deeper into how the cartels operate in Bloomfield, Haws said that four to five males are usually sent by the Mexican cartel to Bloomfield to live, and they spend 80 percent of their time in and around the city.
The cartel members bring their families with them to try to fit into the community and to be less noticeable, and do not deal directly with drug addicts, which makes them difficult to detect.
"These cartel members recruit local gang members to sell drugs to lower-level dealers, who then sell the drugs to the addicts," said Haws.
Region II agents rely on background checks and surveillance to identify cartel members, and watch for signs like tattoos and the collection of religious artifacts like shrines.
Recently, the Sinaloa cartel has added Albuquerque as a stepping stone for its drug distribution in New Mexico, and much of the drugs coming into San Juan County are coming from Phoenix, passing through Albuquerque and then being transported into San Juan County via Highway 550. Drugs continue to be transported to the area from Mexico after going through California.
Albuquerque is seeing more "enforcers," or cartel members who resort to kidnappings and violence on order of the cartel leaders in Mexico, Haws said.
While some of the drugs reaching the county stay in the area and are sold to local drug addicts, much of the drugs are further distributed to other states such as Colorado, Utah, Missouri and the Dakotas.
"We are definitely a distribution hub here," said Haws.
Addressing why our area makes a good distribution hub, Haws said that the cartel members find it easy to import the drugs via wide-open New Mexico roads and reservation lands, and storage of drugs is also relatively easy here.
Obtaining fake documentation is also easy to obtain in this area, despite Bloomfield taking away the ability of illegal aliens to obtain driver's licenses.
While Region II has seen a slight increase in the use and distribution of heroin, Haws says methamphetamine remains the drug of choice in San Juan County, and that 98 percent of the drug cases Region II works on involve meth.
What is changing, he said, is the purity of the meth coming into the county.
"The purity here in San Juan County amazes the rest of the state," he said.
"We're seeing 94-98 percent purity here, and one recent sample sent to the DEA lab was 100 percent pure. The DEA didn't even know this level of purity was possible."
One of the challenges for local cartel members is getting the drug money back to Mexico. Bulk cash smuggling is one way to do this, but a relatively recent trend is to utilize money remitters such as Western Union and local businesses.
"The cartels know how to stay under the radar, and they'll repeatedly wire $999 back to Mexico to avoid reporting requirements. Since no reporting is required for this amount, the transfers are hard to detect."
Statewide, there has been a noticable uptick in kidnapping, assault and extortion, although the perpetrators attempt to single out ilegal aliens, confident that they would be reluctant to go to the authorities.
Investigators were scrambling to determine what caused a powerful World War II vintage racing plane traveling at up to 400 mph to plunge toward spectators at the fabled Reno air races late Friday afternoon, leaving a shattered trail of twisted debris and broken bodies.
At least three people were confirmed dead, including the pilot, and more than 50 were injured, about 15 of them critically. Because of the number and the extent of the injuries, the death toll could rise, officials said.
"I did have an opportunity to visit the site, and it is horrific," Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said after the nation's premier aviation race turned swiftly into a disaster scene for onlookers seated near the path of the deep-throated planes hurtling 400 feet overhead.
"As I saw the plane coming directly at us, I dove," said Nick Sorrentino, 19, an audio technician who was standing just below the stands when the plane hit. "It was mass chaos. People running. People on the ground. Body parts all over the ground."
The National Championship Air Races in Reno feature some of the fastest racing planes in the world traveling at breakneck speed around pylons on a course suspended above Reno-Stead Airport, about 15 miles north of the city.
Danger is an expected part of the program for pilots — 19 others have died in the races since 1964. But Friday's accident was the first to involve spectators, race president Mike Houghton said.
The pilot was identified as 74 year old Jimmy Leeward, a veteran stunt pilot who appeared in movies and ran the Florida-based Leeward Air Ranch. Eyewitness accounts said that the plane attempted to steer away from the VIP grandstand section at the last minute, possible indicating some sort of mechanical failure.
As disappointing as the first week of September was for Boston fans, the last 24 hours seemed to have offset that nicely.
Ordinarily, a record setting performance by Tom Brady in the regular season opener against an AFC East opponent on Monday Night Football would get top billing, but not after Tuesday night in Fenway.
With the Red Sox winning all of two games for the month of September, Tim Wakefield's Groundhog Day-esque quest for career win #200 seemed like an afterthought. After the 3 game sweep in Florida by the Rays over the weekend to give them new life in the Wild Card race, what Boston needed was somebody to stop the bleeding.
Drafted as a first baseman in 1988 by the Pittsburgh Pirates, Wakefield developed his knuckleball while with the Salem Buccaneers of the Carolina League. He was called up to Pittsburgh in 1992 and even won Games 3 and 6 of the 1992 NLCS (both starts against Billerica, MA native Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves).
He struggled the following season and was released by Pittsburgh in 1995 during the player's strike. The Red Sox picked him up a few days later and he saw service in Pawtucket and then Boston, filling in for an ailing Roger Clemens.
On July 24, 2011, Time Wakefield recorded career win #199 against the Seattle Mariners. Thanks to an unfortunate series of lackluster starts on his part or the bullpen imploding in close games, the knuckleballer was stuck at #199 for more than 7 weeks. This could've been almost comical if it weren't for the fact that the Red Sox were already swooning in pivotal series against the Yankees, Rangers, Blue Jays and Rays- the latter completing a 3-game sweep of Boston on Sunday, September 11.
After an off night Monday, Wakefield got the start against the Blue Jays at Fenway on Tuesday night. In the early going, Wakefield would give up the Red Sox lead thanks to a 3-run homer off the bat of Jays catcher JP Arencibia in the 2nd and a 2-run homer to Jose Bautista in the 3rd.
With the Jays leading 5-4 in the bottom of the 4th, the Red Sox would take the lead on back to bac solo homers from Jacoby Ellsbury and Dustin Pedroia. Unlike last week's game against the Blue Jays, this would hold up with Wakefield getting out of a two-on and nobody out jam in the 5th and having a 1-2-3 bottom of the 6th as the Red Sox would continue adding to their lead in the 6th, thanks to a leadoff double from Carl Carwford and a 3-run blast from Dustin Pedroia to make it a 10-5 game.
From there, the Red Sox bats would continue to break the game wide open, giving Wakefield plenty of run support for his 6 innings of work. Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury made fairly convincing arguments about their inclusion in the AL Most Valuable Player balloting, with Pedroia going 4-5 with 5 RBI and two homers while Ellsbury would go 4-5 with 3 RBI and a solo homer. The Sox would go on to win by an 18-6 final, at long last giving Wakefield career win #200.
This sets a matchup between Ricky Romero (14-10; 3.01 ERA) and John Lackey (12-12; 6.30 ERA) for Wednesday afternoon's game. First pitch will be at 1:35 PM Eastern time at Fenway.
Boston's recent skid has meant that not only have the Yankees started to pull away, but that the Tampa Bay Rays and Los Angeles Angels still have a shot at the Wild Card. While the Yankees had a rough go of it in Southern California dropping two out of three to the Angels, the Bronx Bombers would go on to take the first two games against the Mariners at SafeCo, including closer Mariano Riviera notching career save #600 on Tuesday night. Meanwhile, in Baltimore, the O's rallied against the Tampa to win by a 4-2 margin. So currently, there's 4 games separating the Red Sox and Yankees in the AL East while there Rays are 4 games out from Boston's Wild Card berth. To make things a little more interesting, the Angels are a game and a half behind Tampa for the Wild Card standings and three games behind Texas in the AL West standings.
OTHER SOX NEWS: Just as Kevin Youkilis was coming back form the DL with bursitis and a sports hernia, David Ortiz say out Tuesday's game after experiencing back spasms.
Relief pitcher Bobby Jenks has been diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism on Tuesday and is out for the season.
Josh Beckett pitched a side session on Monday and is expected to start Friday night's game against the Tampa Bay Rays at Fenway. Beckett had missed his last start with a sprained right ankle.
PAWTUCKET RED SOX: After winning a division title to close out their regular season, the PawSox were swept from the International League playoffs by the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs, dropping the deciding Game 3 by a 3-1 final.
OTHER MLB NEWS: Former Indians, Red Sox and Dodgers slugger Manny Ramirez was released from a Florida jail after posting $2500 bond on Tuesday. Ramirez faces domestic abuse and battery charges
NFL: What a game! If you thought Thursday night's opener between New Orleans and Green Bay was something, apparently they saved the best offensive performance for last.
On Monday Night, QBs Tom Brady and Chad Henne decided to dwarf the combined total of more than 700 yards between Brees and Rogers.
Miami got the ball rolling with a nice sustained drive for a TD on their opening possession to take the early 7-0 lead. Miami led the NFL in scoring percentage on their opening drive last season, so apparently some of that carries into this season as well.
Brady would respond on the following drive, marching New England down the field, including a 46 yard completion to WR Matthew Slater and capping the drive with a short Ben Jarvus Green-Ellis TD run to tie things up at 7-7. The Pats would take a 14-7 lead into halftime (Gostkowski missed a FG attempt from mid field right before the end of the half).
Miami managed to tie the game up after a Brady lateral attempt was tipped and picked off by Miami DT Jared Odrick at mid field and run back 39 yards, giving the Dolphins 1st and goal from inside the New England 10. Miami managed to tie the game at 14-14 on a short pass from Henne to WR Brian Hartline.
Going with the no-huddle offense, New England got the ball back and Brady found Deion Branch for some quick pickups before pulling ahead for good on a short pass to Wes Welker to make it a 21-14 game.
The Dolphins would start on their own 11 on their next possession, but move the ball down into the New England red zone and settle for a Dan Carpenter FG to cut into the New England lead and make it 21-17.
Brady would find Aaron Hernandez twice on the next possession, once for a 30 yard pickup into Miami's red zone and once for the TD to make it 28-17 (Gostkowski would add to the lead with a chip shot field goal to make it 31-17 early in the 4th).
Late in the 4th, Miami would put together a drive that started on their own 12 yard line and move down the field, only to sputter on 4th and goal at the New England one yard line. What happens next is pretty much the dagger for Miami (not to mention pretty awesome!).
Welker's 4th quarter TD run ties and NFL-long record for 99 yards and iced the game for New England. Tom Brady went 32-48 with 517 yards and 4 TDs (plus the one interception). The Dolphin's Chad Henne went 30-49 with 416 yards and 2 TDs in the losing effort. The Pats win this one by a 38-24 final.
Interestingly, Buffalo won their season opener against Kansas City and despite trailing most of the night, the Jets were able to pull off the win in their home opener against Dallas, making Miami the only Winless team in the division.
The Patriots will next play their home opener will take place on Sunday at 4:15 PM against the San Diego Chargers.
ICE HOCKEY: Alexander Galimov, the last surviving Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey player on board the ill-fated charter flight that crashed last week has died from his injuries. Galimov, a Yaroslavl native, had burns over 80% of his body when he was moved to Moscow for treatment. Flight Crew member Alexander Sizov, who was also airlifted to Moscow, is the sole survivor of the crash.
BOSTON BRUINS: Forward Marc Savard will get his name on the Stanley Cup after all. Bruins GM Peter Chiarelli made the announcement at a charity golf tournament on Monday.
Under NHL rules, in order for a player to get their name on the cup a player must play 41 regular games or one game in the Stanley Cup final. However, Savard played in only 25 games due to post-concussion syndrome. However, a 1994 provision in the rule allows the team to petition the NHL to add a the name of an otherwise ineligible player to the Cup. The Bruins petition on behalf of Savard was approved.
A hit from Colorado's Matt Hunwick on a January 22nd game resulted in Savard's 2nd concussion in 10 months.
The Boston Bruins and NY Islanders played a pair of rookie games this week with the Bruins winning Game 1 by an 8-5 final, but getting blown out of the rink by a final of 7-1 on Tuesday night.
Also worth noting that auditions for the Bruins Ice Girls continued into this week- this round was invitation only.
NCAA FOOTBALL: Offensive Coordinator Kevin Rogers is taking a leave of absence form the team due to health reasons, leaving tight-ends coach Dave Brock to fill in on an interim basis, according to BC football head coach Frank Spaziani.
The news comes just days after the Eagles lost starting cornerback CJ Jones, who would be undergoing surgery after being injured on the opening series of Saturday's 30-3 loss to Central Florida.
The winless BC Eagles will next play the Duke Blue Devils (also winless) at Chestnut Hill this Saturday at 12:30 PM ET.
Over the Big East, UConn lost a close one to the Vanderbilt Commodores, with Vandy coming from behind late to win by a 24-21 final. The 1-1 Huskies will next play the undefeated Iowa State Cyclones at E. Hartford. Kickoff is at 8:00 PM ET.
RUSSIA: Officials probing the plane crash site along the banks of the Volga river in Yaroslavl Russia have recovered the flight data recorder from the downed Yak-42 aircraft that was carrying members of the team Lokomotiv Yaroslavl hockey team of Russia's KHL.
The team was enroute to the Belorussian capital of Minsk for their season opener against Minsk Dinamo when the plane went down on Wednesday. Russian investigators from the Moscow-based Interstate Aviation Committee have recovered the black box, but caution that the device had gotten wet after being submerged after the crash. Even with the damaged black box, officals said they had been able to recover some data.
So far it is known that the plane's engines were running at the time of impact and that the crash took place on a clear day. The runway at Yaroslavl's Tunoshna airport was about three times longer than necessary for a Yak-42 to reach takeoff speeds, but investigators are looking at insufficient takeoff speed as one of the factors. Early reports claimed that the doomed flight was overloaded and struggling to reach altitude shortly after takeoff before clipping a nearby communications antennae.
Officials allowed Tunoshna airport to reopen on Thursday, but planes were prohibited from purchasing local fuel as investigators haven't ruled out the possibility that low-grade fuel led to the crash.
In Minsk, a requiem mass was held on Thursday at the arena where the KHL season opener was slated to take place.
The deceased include the following:
Lokomotiv Players and Personnel: Vitaly Anikeyenko Yury Bakhvalov Aleksandr Belyayev Mikhail Balandin Aleksandr Vasyunov Josef Vasicek Aleksandr Vyukhin Robert Dietrich Pavol Demitra Andrei Zimin Marat Kalimulin Aleksandr Karpovtsev Aleksandr Kalyanin Andrei Kiryukhin Nikita Klyukin Igor Korolyov Nikolai Krivonosov Yevgeny Kunnov Vyacheslav Kuznetsov Stefan Liv Jan Marek Brad McCrimmon Sergey Ostapchuk Vladimir Piskunov Karel Rachunek Evgeny Sidorov Karlis Skrastins Ruslan Saley Pavel Snurnitsyn Daniil Sobchenko Ivan Tkachenko Pavel Trakhanov Igor Urychev Gennady Churilov Maksim Shuvalov Artyom Yarchuk
Flight Crew Andrey Solontsev Igor Zhevelov Sergei Zhuravlev Vladimir Matyushkin Yelena Sarmatova Nadezhda Maksumova Yelena Shavina
There are two survivors of the plane crash include player Alexander Galimov and flight engineer Alexander Sizov. Both of them were airlifted to Moscow for further treatment, with Galimov sustaining burns on more than 80% of his body.
The KHL plans on resuming play on Tuesday, September 13. Officials from the Lokomotiv Yaroslavl organization say they intend to rebuild after Wednesday's tragedy and claimed to have already received calls from former players offering to come back and skate for the club once again. The KHL will fund the roster for Lokomotiv under the league's current option.
RED SOX: The Red Sox continued to limp through September, dropping the final two games of their 4-game series in Toronto.
Tim Wakefield's quixotic quest for elusive win #200 continues as the bullpen squandered an 8-5 lead on Wednesday night, with Toronto coming back in the 8th inning to score 5 runs before going on to win by a 11-10 final.
On Thursday, Andrew Miller allowed 5 earned runs and 8 hits and two walks in 5 innings of work against the Blue Jays. Toronto's Ricky Romero went 6 and ⅔ innings giving up 5 hits, 3 earned runs and three walks, striking out 7 for the win.
So far, the Red Sox have only won two games in the month of September and now 3B Kevin Youkilis was not posted in the lineup for this weekend's series at Tampa Bay. There was no immediate word on why Youkilis wasn't in the Friday night lineup.
Friday night's game at Tropicana Field will feature Wade Davis (9-8; 4.5 ERA) going up against John Lackey (12-11; 6.11 ERA). First pitch is at 7:10 PM and the game will be televised on NESN.
NFL: Are you ready for some football? So was I, as it turns out.
After a prolonged, contentious and highly public feud between the NFL players association and owners, the 2011 NFL season got underway Thursday night in a contest that pitted the previous two Superbowl champions against each other.
In a little noticed move immediately after President Obama's groundbreaking jobs speech, the NFL had scheduled their season opener for Thursday night in Lambeau Field, pitting the New Orleans Saints against the defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers. Packers QB Aaron Rogers went 27 of 35 attempts with 312 yards and 3 TDs in Green Bay's 42-34 win at Lambeau.
New Orleans QB Drew Brees actually had the better night statistically (32-49, 419 yards and 3 TDs) but the Packer's D was able to limit a number of New Orleans drives deep into their territory to field goal attempts.
OTHER NFL NEWS- INDIANAPOLIS: Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning underwent neck surgery, his third such procedure in 19 months and will miss the season opener at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.
Doctors and team officials from the Colts have been very ambiguous about a timetable for Manning's return. Some of the less optimistic (but still unconfirmed) reports claim he could miss the entire season.
Manning hasn't missed a start in 14 seasons, starting in 227 consecutive games for Indianapolis.
Veteran QB Kerry Collins, who most recently saw action with Indy's AFC South foe Tenessee Titans, will be starting for the Colts while Manning is out.
OTHER NFL NEWS- CHICAGO- The NFL has no plans to sanction or fine Chicago Bears linebacker Lance Briggs for wearing cleats and gloves adorned with the colors of the US flag. Although technically a uniform violation, the league said that players could wear customized shoes and gloves for Week 1.
NCAA Football: Possible future conference-mates Oklahoma State and Arizona met at Stillwater, OK Thursday night. The 9th ranked Cowboys (2-0) handeled the Wildcats (1-1) fairly easily, winning by a 37-14 final.
Games on tap for Friday night include Arizona state vs #21 Missouri and Louisville hosting Florida International Univ.
ELSEWHERE IN THE BIG 12: After SEC presidents and chancellors welcomed a possible move to the SEC conference by Texas A&M, the move faces a roadblock in the form of Baylor university.
Bayolr is threatening to sue if the Aggies depart the Big 12 and the SEC must reportedly obtain waivers from each school before any such move, according to an e-mail from Big 12 commisioner Dan Beebe. One SEC chancellor said that Texas A&M must resolve any pending legal disputes within the Big 12 before becoming the 13th team in the SEC.
A spokesman from the Russian Emergency ministry said that the Yak-42 crashed shortly after takeoff from the city of Yaroslavl some 150 miles north of Moscow. Authorities haven't determined a cause of the crash yet.
Lokomotiv had won three previous championships, the most recent being in 2003. Their 2011-2012 roster includes former NHL-ers Ruslan Salei, Pavol Demetria and Josef Vasicek as well as Canadian head coach Brad McCrimmon.
RED SOX: Determined to prove that the outcome of the late August series against Boston in Arlington, TX was a fluke, the Texas Rangers came into Boston and took two out of three from the Sox before the Olde Towne Team was slated to head north to Toronto for a 4-game series that began on Labor Day in the Rogers Centre.
Monday's game seemingly ripped the heart out of the Sox, with Josh Beckett leaving the scoreless game in the 4th inning due to an ankle sprain. While the bullpen stepped up tremendously- including 3 ⅔ innings from Alfredo Aceves- the Jays were throwing shutout baseball behind starter Henderson Alvarez. The game would remain scoreless until the bottom of the 11th inning when Dan Wheeler gave up a 2-out walkoff solo homer to Jays 3B Brett Lawrie for the 1-0 Toronto win.
Tuesday was a slightly different story with Jon Lester getting plenty of run support early and often while striking out 11 Jays batters and allowing just 3 hits and one walk in 7 complete innings of work. The Sox jumped all over Toronto starter Luis Perez for 4 runs in the top of the first and seemingly never let up afterwards. After just 2 and ⅔ innings, the Red Sox jumped out to an 8-0 lead and chased Perez from the mound. SS Marco Scutaro went 4-5 with 4 RBI and Big Papi went 4-6 with 2 RBI on the night. The Red Sox win this one going away by a final of 14-0.
Prior to Tuesday night, the Red Sox had only won one out of their last 5 games, putting them two and a half games behind the Yankees for 1st in the AL East. After a lengthy rain delay on Tuesday night, the Yankees beat Baltimore by a 5-3 final in Yankee Stadium to keep the gap at two and a half games
Wednesday night's game will have Tim Wakefield (6-6; 4.95 ERA) going up against Brandon Morrow (9-10; 4.78 ERA). Wakefield, as you may recall, is stuck on career win #199 and has been on a Groundhog Day-esque quest for #200 for the last month or so.
OTHER RED SOX NEWS: While He's expected to miss a start for the Sox, an MRI on Josh Beckett's ankle found no serious damage. Beckett returned to Boston on Tuesday to have his ankle examined by team doctors.
Right-handed rookie Kyle Weiland (8-10; 3.58 ERA with AAA Pawtucket this season) is expected to get the start on Saturday against the Rays in Beckett's place.
PAW SOX: The Pawtucket Red Sox clinched their first playoff berth in three seasons and their first IL-North division title since 2003 with a 12-7 win over the Scranton Wilkes-Barre Yankees on Saturday night. They then closed out the regular season at McCoy Stadium with a 7-3 victory over the Rochester Red Wings.
The Paw Sox will travel to Allentown, PA to take on the Lehigh Valley Iron Pigs for Game 1 of the first round of the IL playoffs.
EVEN MORE RED SOX NEWS: Perhaps looking to close their budget shortfall, Hall of Famer and Red Sox slugger Ted Williams will be featured on a postage stamp to be issued by the US Postal Service next year.
The set of stamps will also feature Larry Doby, Willie Stargell and Joe DiMaggio and be denominated in the 'Forver' rate (i.e. it would cost 44 ¢ at the time of issue, but could still be used if there were any rate increases). Ted Williams was the last hitter to have a single-season batting average above .400- hitting .406 in 1941- and although he missed several seasons while serving as a Marine Corps pilot in WWII and the Korean War, Williams was inducted to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown in 1966.
As a rule, the US Postal Service doesn't issue stamps depicting an individual until a decade after their death. An exception to the rule is made for former US Presidents.
OTHER MLB NEWS: Washington Nationals starting pitcher Stephen Strasburg made his first MLB start in over a year on Tuesday night, going 5 scoreless innings and allowing just two hits in a 7-3 loss to the LA Dodgers in the Nation's Capitol. The Nats rookie left mid-season in 2010 with shoulder problems and had Tommy John surgery in the offseason.
Strasburg began his rehab assignments with the Class A affiliate Hagerstown Suns in the South Atlantic League in August and allowed just one hit in six shutout innings with the AA affiliate Harrisburg Senators of the Eastern League.
NEW ENGLAND PATRIOTS: In a surprise move, the New England Patriots cut safety Brandon Merriweather. The two-time pro bowler will likely be replaced by Josh Barrett or Sergio Brown. RB Sammy Morris, WR Brandon Tate, DT Ty Warren and TE Alge Crumpler were among the 15 players released by the Pats at the end of preseason.
Warren was picked up by the Denver Broncos while Merriweather was signed by the Chicago Bears.
The NFL regular season starts Thursday night with the Defending Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers hosting the New Orleans Saints. New England's season doesn't begin in earnest until Monday night, where they travel to Miami to take on the Dolphins in Game one of a Monday Night Football doubleheader.
OTHER NFL NEWS: NFL Hall of fame Defensive End Lee Roy Selmon passed away from a stroke on Sunday, September 4th at the age of 56. Selmon was born and raised in Eastern Oklahoma and played for the Oklahoma University Sooners with his two brothers in College.
In 1976, Selmon was the first-ever draft pick for the expansion Tampa Bay Buccaneers and remained with the team until his 1984 retirement, notching 742 tackles and 78.5 career sacks.
After his playing days, Selmon remained in Florida and participated in a number of charities and started up a chain of sports bars in the Tampa area.
BOSTON COLLEGE FOOTBALL: Well- that could've gone better. Although both teams headed into the lockers at the half toed 10-10, The Northwestern Wildcats would come back out and get two TDs to put them up 24-10.
Boston College would pull to within a touchdown after Andre Williams capped an 80 yard BC drive with a 1-yard TD run, but that would be it for the offense. Andre Williams would have 22 carries for 106 yards and 2 TDs while Eagles QB went 24-44 with 351 yards and an interception.
The Wildcats' QU Kain Colter would go 17-24 with 197 yards and one TD, but no turnovers either. The Wildcats would also get TDs from RB Mike Trumpy and Adonis Smith in Northwestern's 24-17 win.
The Eagles will next travel to Orlando, FL to take on the University of Central Florida Knighs at 8 PM ET.
UCONN FOOTBALL: To nobody's surprise, the UConn Huskies rather handily defeated the Fordham Rams in their E. Hartford home opener by a 35-3 final. This sets up a meeting in Nashville with Vanerbilt on Saturday wit a 7:30 ET kickoff.
OTHER NCAA NEWS: The Texas A&M Aggies are expected to officially announce that they will be moving to the SEC beginning in 2012. The move would make the Aggies the third school in 15 months to depart the Big 12, with Colorado going to the Pac 12 (formerly Pac 10) and Nebraska going to the Big 10.
Oilman and Oklahoma State booster T Boone Pickens the demise of the Big 12 conference within a few years, claiming that Oklahoma State and Oklahoma might be departing for what's now the Pac-12 conference. Oklahoma university officials in Norman, OK are expected to make a decision on whether or not to remain in the Big 12 conference in the next couple of weeks.
Former Jayhawks coach Don Fambrough with teammate Marvin Small at Reunion in 2008. Photo- Nick Krug
ELSEWHERE IN THE BIG 12: Former University of Kansas Jayhawk player and coach Don Fambrough died after sustaining injuries from a fall while working on his Lawrence, KS home.
Frambrough played for the Texas Longhorns for two seasons before joining the US Army Air Corps in WWII. After serving in the military, one of his Army buddies coaxed him to go to Kansas after the war. There he was on the first Jayhawk team to be invited to a Bowl game- the 1947 Sugar Bowl where they lost to Georgia Tech 24-10.
Fambrough also coached the Jayhawks from 1971 to 1982 where he amassed a record of 37-48-5 record and remained active with the program after his coaching days, often delivering firey anti-Missouri pep talks before the annual 'Border War' games against Mizzou.
Stevens was the longest-serving Republican in the Senate, taking office in December 1968 and leaving office in January 2009 after losing his re-election bid. Steven's seniority earned him enough clout where he was able to steer government and military spending towards his home state. Stevens was also responsible for lifting the cap on contract size for the Alaska Native Corporations established under the 1971 Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act
The WWII Flying Tigers veteran left office under a cloud when he was found guilty of giving false statements in a Washington D.C federal court just days before the 2008 election. However, that conviction was later voided when it was learned prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence and testimony from the trial. The prosecutors and some of their witnesses were in turn investigated by the Justice Department for prosecutorial misconduct.
Stevens and six others- including former NASA chief Sean O'Keefe- were travelling to a fishing lodge in the remote western part of the state when the single-engine DeHavilland went down. Ironically, Stevens survived a 1978 plane crash that killed his first wife Ann and four other passengers. Stevens remarried in 1980 and had a daughter with his second wife Catherine.
A Pakistani passenger jet crashed into the mountains just outside of that country's capital city of Islamabad, killing all 152 people on board. Authorities say the domestic Airblue flight took off from Karachi and lost contact with the control tower on approach.
The cause of the crash wasn't immediately known, but Civil avaition officials believe that the plane may have veered off course in the monsoon rains after losing contect with the Islamabad control tower. Terrorism wasn't immediately suspected, but officials still need to locate the black box for the Airbus A321. Emergency workers and volunteers were hindered by the rain, mud and rough terrain for most of the day.
The US State Department said that two US citicizens were on board, although they didn't immediately identify them
Kaczynski and his wife, Maria, were on their way to a ceremony at a WWII Memorial in Smolensk. The UK'sDaily Mail is reporting that the plane involved was a Tupolev TU-154.
According to reports, the plane crashed 1.5 kilometers from the runway at Smolensk in foggy conditions after the pilot accelerated to land before losing contact with air traffic control.
UPDATE: Sky News and other outlets are reporting that there are no survivors.
