Gang robs US family of plane in Mexico

The Associated Press

April 15, 2008

Gunmen held up a family of U.S. tourists in Mexico on Tuesday and made off with their small plane, police said.

The robbers attacked the plane as the American couple and their two daughters, ages 6 and 8, were about to take off from a hotel airstrip in the Baja California beach town of Mulege.

Detective Juan Carlos de Jesus Jimenez said the thieves pulled a car in front of the six-seat Cessna Stationair, knocked out one of its windows and forced the tourists out at gunpoint. They then set fire to the car and flew off in the plane.

U.S. officials said they had heard reports about the incident but had not yet been in contact with the victims. The plane's identification number matched a craft registered to a company in Boise, Idaho.

Small aircraft are commonly used by Mexican drug cartels to smuggle narcotics.

New passport rule creates backlog of applications

The Associated Press

Published: 03.17.2007

CHICAGO - The State Department is wading through a crush of passport applications pouring in at more than 1 million a month.

Passport applications filed between October and March are up 44 percent from the same period a year ago, the department said.

Because of the glut, it could take 10 weeks instead of the usual six to process routine applications, according to the department. Expedited requests, which cost an extra $60 on top of the normal $97 fee, could take four weeks instead of two.

Can't say I didn't warn ya! -mm