Military jet crashes near Eglin Air Force Base

VALPARAISO, Fla. -- A T-38 military training jet crashed Saturday in a residential area, hitting two homes, officials said. The pilot escaped with minor injuries and no one on the ground was hurt.

The plane hit two houses in this Panhandle town outside of Eglin Air Force Base around 1:45 p.m., said Lt. Col. Debbie Millett, a base spokeswoman.

She said the pilot ejected and was brought to a military hospital in good condition. People were inside the houses at the time of the crash and were talking to investigators, she said.

Millett said the jet did not come from Eglin, but was based at Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, N.M.

The T-38 is a twin-engine, high-altitude, supersonic jet, according to the Air Force's Web site. NASA has used the T-38 as a trainer for astronauts preparing for space shuttle missions.

Valparaiso is about 53 miles east of Pensacola.

Head of smuggling ring disputes terror sentence

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The first person convicted under a law that bars aid to terrorists appealed his 155-year prison sentence for heading a cigarette smuggling ring and sending $3,500 in profits to the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.

Attorneys for Mohamad Hammoud, 29, of Charlotte filed an appeal Friday in U.S. District Court, contending Judge Graham Mullen imposed an excessive sentence on Feb. 28.

Hammoud was convicted on 16 counts in June. Mullen sentenced him to a series of consecutive prison terms.

Hammoud was the mastermind of a scheme to bring cigarettes from North Carolina, where they are taxed relatively lightly, to Michigan for resale.

Judge dismisses lawsuit against gun industry

SAN DIEGO -- A judge dismissed gun makers as defendants in a lawsuit filed by 12 California cities but ruled the case can continue against several gun dealers.

Superior Court Judge Vincent DiFiglia did not issue a written opinion in ruling Friday in favor of 29 weapons makers and three trade associations.

The remaining claims against three wholesalers and two retailers could go to trial in late April, he said.

The suit accused the defendants of creating a public nuisance by distributing weapons in a way that makes them accessible to criminal elements through illegitimate markets.

The gun makers had argued that they were too far removed from the point of sale to be held responsible.

Youngest survivor of crash leaves hospital

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The youngest of the three brothers who survived after their family's plane crashed has been discharged from a hospital, a spokesman said Saturday.

The boys survived 18 hours on a snow-covered mountain after the crash last weekend that killed their parents and two siblings.

Two-year-old Ryan Ferris was discharged from Albany Medical Center on Friday, but remained there with relatives who stayed at the hospital to be with his brothers, spokesman Greg McGarry said.

His brothers, Jordan, 5, and Tyler, 10, who both had broken limbs, were upgraded from serious to fair condition, McGarry said. Both had surgery late in the week.

All three boys suffered severe hypothermia after the March 2 crash in southwestern Massachusetts.

Their family was returning home to Swanzey, N.H., from a Florida vacation when their single-engine Piper Cherokee Six crashed, killing their mother, Tayne Ferris, and their two brothers, Shawn and Kyle. Their father, Ronald Ferris, died at a hospital the next day.

The boys will now live with an aunt and uncle in upstate New York.

--From wire reports