EL PASO, Texas (AP) — An ex-sheriff's deputy in West Texas must serve 17 years in prison for a 2012 drunken driving wreck that killed a man who was changing a flat tire.
LOCKHART, Texas (AP) — If Alfred "Skip" Nichols had been a commercial airplane pilot, he probably would have been grounded long ago.
Nichols, the pilot of a hot air balloon that crashed over the weekend in Texas, killing 16, kept flying despite having at least four convictions for drunken driving and twice spending time in prison — pointing to gaps in oversight of hot air balloon pilots.