Drones part of review into jet damage
Grupo Aeromexico is investigating whether a drone slammed into a Boeing 737 jetliner as the aircraft approached its destination in Tijuana, Mexico, on the U.S. border.
Images on local media showed considerable damage to the nose of the 737-800, which was operating Wednesday as Flight 773 from Guadalajara. In a cabin recording, crew members can be heard saying they heard a "pretty loud bang" and asking the control tower to check if the nose was damaged. The collision happened shortly before landing.
"The exact cause is still being investigated," Aeromexico said in a statement. "The aircraft landed normally and the passengers' safety was never compromised."
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration has logged a dramatic increase in the number of safety reports involving drones in recent years and air-carrier industry groups earlier this year called on the government to tighten regulations after a video was released purporting to show a drone flying just feet away from an airliner near Las Vegas. There have been about 6,000 drone sightings by pilots -- some of them by airline crews -- through June, according to FAA data.
-- Bloomberg News
Texan gets 14 years for bank loan fraud
DALLAS -- Prosecutors say a Dallas-area businessman who led a $29 million bank fraud loan scheme and advised clients to lie about their finances has been sentenced to 14 years in federal prison.
Eddie Contreraz of Frisco must also repay nearly $13 million in the scam involving about 2,300 loans.
Contreraz in March pleaded guilty to bank fraud. Contreraz, who was sentenced Monday in Dallas, led the scheme from 2011 into 2016.
Investigators say 10 banks were targeted by a Contreraz company operating as a credit repair business. Clients were often unemployed, had poor credit or lacked financial documents.
Contreraz would establish a relationship with a bank, advise clients to provide false information and electronically transmit documents or have his staff escort applicants to the bank.
Several Contreraz workers also pleaded guilty.
-- The Associated Press
The Weekly Standard shutting down
The Weekly Standard, the conservative political and cultural magazine, will shut down after its last issue appears Monday, the chief executive of its parent company said Friday.
The Washington-based magazine's 35-member editorial staff will be laid off as a result, said Ryan McKibben, the head of Clarity Media Group, the Colorado company that owns the Standard and its sister publication, the Washington Examiner newspaper.
"This was a business decision," McKibben said. "As we looked at all of our options, we saw we were facing a steady decline in revenues and circulation. That drove us to our decision to close this week.... It was a tough decision."
The Standard was founded in 1995 by three journalists, Bill Kristol, Fred Barnes and John Podhoretz, with funding from conservative media mogul Rupert Murdoch. Murdoch sold his interest to billionaire Philip Anschutz in 2009.
At its peak, the magazine's circulation topped 100,000. But it has been in steady decline in recent years, losing about half of its circulation and revenue since Clarity, owned by Anschutz, took it over, McKibben said.
-- The Washington Post
552-carat diamond found in Canada
The biggest diamond ever found in North America has been unearthed by Dominion Diamond Mines and Rio Tinto Group at a mine in Canada's frozen north.
The 552-carat yellow gem was found at the Diavik mine in the Northwest Territories, and is almost three times the size of the next-largest stone ever found in Canada. While Diavik and the neighboring Ekati mine produce some very high-quality diamonds, they're not renowned for the sort of large gems normally found in southern African mines.
Dominion Chief Executive Officer Shane Durgin said the diamond is gem quality, meaning it's suitable for jewelry, but he gave few additional details that help determine its value.
"We can label it fancy yellow, but beyond that, due to its rough nature and the abrasions received through the processing facility, that's all we can comment on," Durgin said in an interview. "It's very hard to give a ballpark estimate. It all depends on, again, the cutting and the resulting stone it ends up."
The discovery is the seventh-biggest this century, according to Bloomberg calculations, and would be among the 30 largest stones ever unearthed. The biggest was the 3,106-carat Cullinan, found near Pretoria in South Africa in 1905. It was cut into several polished gems, the two largest of which -- the Great Star of Africa and the Lesser Star of Africa -- are set in the Crown Jewels of Britain.
-- Bloomberg News
N.D. landowners lose easements appeal
BISMARCK, N.D. -- North Dakota landowners who unsuccessfully sued the developer of the Dakota Access oil pipeline over land easements have lost their appeal.
The 21 landowners sued for more than $4 million in 2017, saying a company formed by Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners and a hired land acquisition consultant used deception to acquire unfair private land easements.
A federal judge last year ruled that they didn't prove their case, in part because the fraud-based claims required a higher standard of proof.
They took their case to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which on Thursday upheld the judge's ruling.
The pipeline has been moving North Dakota oil to a shipping point in Illinois since June 2017.
-- The Associated Press
Apple to produce new Peanuts content
LOS ANGELES -- Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Peanuts crew will have a new home on Apple's streaming service.
Apple has struck a deal with DHX Media to produce new Peanuts content. The global children's content and brands company will develop and produce original programs for Apple including new series, specials and shorts based on the beloved characters.
Peanuts was created by Charles M. Schulz in 1950.
DHX will produce original short-form STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) content that will be exclusive to Apple, including astronaut Snoopy.
Peanuts Worldwide and NASA recently signed a Space Act Agreement, designed to inspire a passion for space exploration and STEM among the next generation of students.
-- The Associated Press
Business on 12/15/2018
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