Trucking schools

under pressure

(AP) — Nearly 44% of the 16,000 truck driving schools in the U.S. may be forced to close if they lose their students after a review by the federal Transportation Department found they may not be complying with government requirements.

Separately, the Department of Homeland Security is auditing trucking firms owned by immigrants to verify their drivers are qualified to hold a commercial license. The Transportation Department says it plans to revoke the accreditation of nearly 3,000 schools unless they can comply within the next 30 days.

Another 4,500 schools are being warned they could face similar action. This crackdown on trucking schools and companies is the latest step in the government’s effort to ensure that truck drivers are qualified and eligible to hold a commercial license.

Mangione seeks

to bar evidence

NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione has appeared in court seeking to bar evidence from his state trial over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.

Among the evidence the 27-year-old Mangione’s lawyers want to prevent the Manhattan district attorney’s office from presenting to jurors is a handgun that prosecutors say matches the one used in the Dec. 4, 2024, killing and a handwritten notebook in which they say Mangione described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive.

Court officials say the hearings could take more than a week, meaning they would extend through Thursday’s anniversary of the attack. Mangione, the Ivy League-educated scion of a wealthy Maryland family, was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, five days after the killing.

Son of drug

kingpin pleads

CHICAGO (AP) — One of the sons of imprisoned Mexican drug kingpin “El Chapo” has pleaded guilty to U.S. drug trafficking charges. He is the second of El Chapo’s sons facing similar charges to enter a plea deal.

Prosecutors allege Joaquin Guzman Lopez, along with his brother, Ovidio Guzman Lopez ran a faction of the Sinaloa cartel that illegally trafficked large quantities of fentanyl and other drugs into the United States. Joaquin Guzman Lopez previously pleaded not guilty, but on Monday pleaded guilty to two counts of drug trafficking and continuing criminal enterprise.

With the plea deal, he is expected to avoid life in prison.

USA Gymnastics

faces lawsuits

IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Two gymnasts who say they were sexually abused at an elite academy in Iowa have filed lawsuits against the sport’s oversight bodies, alleging Sean Gardner preyed on girls despite repeated complaints about the coach’s behavior. The lawsuits, filed Monday, allege USA Gymnastics and the U.S. Center for SafeSport were told about “inappropriate and abusive behaviors” as early as December 2017 when Gardner was a coach in Mississippi.

The lawsuits allege the organizations failed to “properly investigate,” revoke Gardner’s coaching credentials, report him to law enforcement or take other actions to protect athletes. Gardner was able to get a coaching job at Chow’s Gymnastics and Dance Institute in West Des Moines, Iowa, in 2018, where his abuse allegedly continued for years.