72-year-old grandmother accused of running green-card marriage scam gets 44-month prison term

DALLAS — A Texas grandmother who ran a scheme in which relatives married scores of foreigners seeking to stay in the United States is going to prison.

Fitch Ratings sees improvement in airlines financial health, but cash reserves running low

DALLAS — The slump in revenue at U.S. airlines is slowing and the carriers’ financial health should improve modestly over the next year, according to a major credit-rating agency.

Police: Teacher stabbed to death at high school in Texas; 1 juvenile taken into custody

TYLER, Texas — A special-education teacher who had a passion for music was fatally stabbed Wednesday morning in a Texas high school classroom, and police took a 16-year-old student into custody.

American Airlines dropping its standard retiree health plan for nonunion workers

DALLAS — American Airlines is dropping its long-standing health insurance plan for retired executives and support staff over 65 as the company battles rising medical costs and a decline in revenue.

AP Exclusive: Texas liquor board agents rarely disciplined, experts say probes are flawed

DALLAS — The Texas alcohol agency under fire for its raid at a gay bar rarely punishes its officers for misconduct, and officers’ supervisors are usually the ones who conduct disciplinary investigations. Experts say that method increases the likelihood of flawed probes.

Former TV journalist Max Page, who oversaw construction of Newseum, dies at 60

VIENNA, Va. — Max C. Page, a top executive at the Newseum and a former broadcast journalist, has died.

AMR to offer 30 million shares, $250 million in notes to bolster balance sheet

DALLAS — The parent of American Airlines plans to issue new stock and debt in a move to raise more than $500 million as it heads into the slower fall and winter travel season.

NY Times: Edwards aide who claimed paternity of mistress’ child says Edwards fathered child

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — A man who once claimed to have fathered the child of John Edwards’ mistress says in a book proposal the former presidential candidate is the real father and that he and Edwards worked with his campaign finance chairman to hide that secret, according to a newspaper report published online Saturday.

Last few immigrant families depart former Texas prison as part of changes to detention system

DALLAS — The last immigrant families have departed a disparaged former Texas prison that housed them while they awaited decisions in immigration cases, federal officials said Friday.

Texas innocence group derides use of dogs to sniff out criminals in lineups as junk science

DALLAS — A group that tries to free wrongly convicted people says scent identifications using trained dogs are based on junk science and should be scrapped.

Tentative deal between Southwest, pilots’ union heads to membership for ratification vote

DALLAS — Southwest Airlines Co. said Thursday the board of its pilots’ union has voted to send a new tentative contract agreement to membership for a ratification vote. The low-cost carrier’s pilots in June narrowly rejected a previous deal.

Rich Franklin, Vitor Belfort lead MMA into Dallas for UFC 103

After six years in the UFC, Rich Franklin embraces the chance to be one of mixed martial arts’ cleaner-cut poster boys. He doesn’t even mind when those posters are hanging in unfamiliar cities such as Dallas.

Texas Instruments raises quarterly dividend by a penny to 12c; sixth consecutive yearly raise

DALLAS — Texas Instruments Inc. says its board has raised its quarterly dividend by a penny to 12 cents.

Capital Senior Living appoints former Lehman executive to its board

DALLAS — Capital Senior Living Corp., which runs residential communities for seniors, said Wednesday it has named former Lehman executive Michael Reid to its board.

I love Pakistanis as we are the same people, says US-based Indian-born Miss Asia

DALLAS - Newly crowned Miss Asia Chinmayi Ghatraza feels that Indians and Pakistanis are same and has said that she hardly finds any difference between the people of the two countries.

Blockbuster will close as many as 960 stores to cut costs amid fierce competition

DALLAS — Blockbuster is planning to close as many as 960 stores by the end of next year. That would shrink the video rental chain by more than 20 percent as it struggles against stiff competition from Netflix and Redbox.

Cyber Cemetery at North Texas school keeps government work alive when agency Web sites go dark

DALLAS — It was a historian’s nightmare. During the change from the Clinton to the Bush administration, Web sites affiliated with the Clinton White House went dark, and an unknown number of online documents and files were forever lost.

Norman Borlaug, who developed crops that helped save millions from world hunger, died at 95

DALLAS — Scientist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug rose from his childhood on an Iowa farm to develop a type of wheat that helped feed the world, fostering a movement that is credited with saving up to 1 billion people from starvation.

Report: FBI investigating ’stolen’ condolence note Jacqueline Kennedy wrote to Ethel Kennedy

DALLAS — The FBI is investigating a “stolen” handwritten condolence note by Jacqueline Kennedy to Ethel Kennedy that was penned shortly after Robert F. Kennedy’s 1968 assassination.

Nobel Prize-winning scientist Norman Borlaug, father of the ‘green revolution,’ dies at age 95

DALLAS — Agricultural scientist Norman Borlaug, the father of the “green revolution” who won the Nobel Peace Prize for his role in combating world hunger and saving hundreds of millions of lives, died Saturday in Texas, a Texas A&M University spokeswoman said. He was 95.

AP Source: American Airlines talking with struggling JAL about a cash infusion

DALLAS — American Airlines parent AMR Corp. is negotiating for closer ties and possibly an investment in financially troubled Japan Airlines Corp., according to a person familiar with the talks.

Cadbury chairman says Kraft bid undervalues company, opposes being absorbed by US food giant

DALLAS — The chairman of candy maker Cadbury PLC said Saturday that Kraft Foods Inc. undervalued his company in a takeover offer this week, and he dismissed the suitor as a “low growth conglomerate.”

Number of flights will fall with autumn leaves as carriers see fewer passenger bookings

DALLAS — The U.S. airline industry is shrinking to a size not seen since the months after the 2001 terror attacks.

Air Canada sues US secretary of transportation over charter flights dispute

ATLANTA — Air Canada says the United States’ insistence that the carrier cancel all of its season-long sports charter flights would wreak havoc on the upcoming professional hockey and basketball seasons if it is upheld.

AT&T launches a Web site offering free video like Hulu

DALLAS — AT&T Inc. on Thursday unveiled a Web site that offers free access to TV shows and movies.

Airline traffic continued to drop during summer vacation season as seat supply also fell

DALLAS — Summer has come and gone without giving much lift to the nation’s airlines.

New jobless claims fall more than expected to 550,000, total unemployment rolls also drop

WASHINGTON — First-time claims for jobless benefits fell more than expected last week, evidence that companies are laying off fewer workers as the economy improves.

Texas Instruments raises 3rd-quarter profit outlook, revenue expectations

DALLAS — Chip maker Texas Instruments is raising its profit outlook for the third quarter.

Families slowly leaving Texas facility that housed immigrants awaiting immigration decisions

DALLAS — As immigrant children and their parents depart a disparaged former Texas prison that housed them while they awaited decisions in their immigration cases, advocates are questioning if the government has fully thought out what happens to the families now.

Federal Reserve survey shows worst recession since 1930s may be over

WASHINGTON — The recession is ending and the economy is finally growing again. That’s the message implicit in the Federal Reserve’s latest survey of businesses around the country, which found economic activity stabilizing or improving in most regions.