U.S.

SEATTLE, WA – Alaska Air Group announced it has postponed its third-quarter 2025 conference call following an IT outage that disrupted operations on October 23. File Photo (December 29, 2024) The outage led to a temporary ground stop for both Alaska Airlines and Horizon Air, which was lifted at 11:30 p.m. Pacific time. The company said the decision was made to allow teams to focus on assisting customers and restoring operations. The earnings call, originally scheduled for October 24 at 11:30 a.m. EDT, will not be held. Alaska Air Group stated it has not yet determined the financial impact of the disruption on its fourth-quarter results. The company filed its third-quarter results after market close on October 23. Alaska reported GAAP net income of $73 million ($0.62 per share) ...

FORT WORTH, TX – American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) reported a third-quarter 2025 net loss of $114 million, or ($0.17) per diluted share, despite posting record third-quarter revenue of $13.7 billion. Photo Courtesy of American Airlines Excluding net special items, the adjusted net loss was $111 million, or ($0.17) per diluted share. However, the company expects a turnaround in the fourth quarter, projecting adjusted earnings per share between $0.45 and $0.75. For the full year, adjusted EPS is forecast between $0.65 and $0.95, with free cash flow expected to exceed $1 billion. CEO Robert Isom stated the company is maintaining strong cost management and enhancing its balance sheet. “Looking forward, I’m confident that continued investments in our network, customer experie...

FORT WORTH, TX – American Airlines Group Inc. (NASDAQ: AAL) announced that Nathaniel (Nat) Pieper has been appointed as Chief Commercial Officer, effective Nov. 3, 2025. Pieper currently serves as CEO of the oneworld alliance and will report directly to American Airlines CEO Robert Isom. Photo Courtesy of American Airlines As Chief Commercial Officer, Pieper will oversee American’s commercial strategy and performance, including alliances, cargo, co-branded credit card programs, loyalty, network planning, revenue management, and sales. He will also co-lead the airline’s Customer Experience team alongside Chief Operating Officer David Seymour. Pieper’s recent tenure at oneworld began in April 2024. Under his leadership, the alliance integrated two new member airlines, launched sust...

FORT WORTH, TX – American Airlines has announced the debut of its Airbus A321XLR, becoming the first U.S. airline to operate the aircraft and the only global carrier to offer a three-cabin configuration on the model. The inaugural flight will take place December 18, 2025, operating as Flight 3 from New York’s JFK Airport to Los Angeles. Customers can now purchase tickets for this route, as well as other select transcontinental flights through February 11, 2026. The A321XLR is configured with 20 Flagship Suite® seats, 12 Premium Economy seats, and 123 Main Cabin seats. The Flagship Suite® section features lie-flat seating with privacy doors, personal storage, wireless charging, a cocktail tray, and reading lights. Premium Economy includes enhanced winged headrests, footrests, wire...

EMPIRE, CA – A teacher with the Empire Union School District has been arrested after two students at Glick Middle School reported being inappropriately touched, according to the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Office. File Photo (November 2022) On October 22, 2025, at approximately 1:30 p.m., investigators from the Sheriff’s Special Victims Unit responded to the campus after school staff notified law enforcement of the allegations. The inappropriate contact allegedly occurred during the 2024–2025 school year, with the most recent incident reported on October 20. Detectives identified 52-year-old Javier Villanueva, primarily an 8th grade English teacher, as the suspect. He was arrested near his home in Patterson with assistance from Patterson Police Services and booked into the Stanisl...

WASHINGTON, DC – Dozens of retired United Airlines pilots have been denied claims for FICA tax refunds after a federal appeals court ruled they missed strict statutory deadlines and lacked entitlement under current tax law. (File Photo) September 2025 On October 23, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld the U.S. Court of Federal Claims’ decision to dismiss the pilots’ lawsuits. The case involved multiple pro se plaintiffs, including James H. Biestek and others, who sought refunds for employment taxes they paid on retirement benefits they never received due to the airline’s bankruptcy and termination of its nonqualified deferred compensation plan. The court found the pilots failed to timely file refund claims with the IRS as required under 26 U.S.C. § 6511...

CINCINNATI, OH – The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has denied a petition from two Guatemalan brothers who sought asylum in the United States, ruling that their claims failed to show that persecution by local gangs in Guatemala was based on their indigenous heritage. According to court records, Cristian and Kevin Macario-Tzoc entered the U.S. illegally with their mother in 2014, fleeing after gang members threatened their family and injured one of the boys. They claimed asylum on the grounds that they were part of a particular social group: "Indigenous Maya Quiche family members of victims of extortion." An immigration judge denied the claims in 2020, stating that the group was not legally recognizable under asylum law and that the threats were motivated by gang extortion rather ...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Department of Justice has reinstated a 2020 opinion holding that individuals who participated in the persecution of others are barred from asylum in the United States, even if they acted under coercion or duress. In a decision dated October 22, 2025, Attorney General Merrick Garland vacated a stay previously imposed on the Board of Immigration Appeals' March 16, 2021, ruling in the case Matter of Negusie, 29 I&N Dec. 285 (A.G. 2025). As a result, the opinion issued by former Attorney General William Barr in Matter of Negusie, 28 I&N Dec. 120 (A.G. 2020), once again becomes binding. The case involves a man who entered the U.S. as a stowaway in 2004 and was initially found ineligible for asylum and withholding of removal under the “persecutor bar...

ATLANTA, GA – Coca-Cola has prevailed in a patent lawsuit over its Freestyle beverage dispensers after a federal appeals court upheld a ruling that the company did not infringe a patent held by Rothschild Connected Devices Innovations, LLC. In a decision issued October 21, 2025, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s summary judgment of noninfringement. The case stems from Rothschild’s claim that Coca-Cola’s smart drink dispensers violated U.S. Patent No. 8,417,377, which outlines a system for dispensing beverages based on user preferences transmitted to and from a server. At the center of the dispute was claim 11 of the patent, which describes a communication module that must (1) transmit a user's identity and beverage choice to a server,...

CINCINNATI, OH – The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has upheld the dismissal of a shareholder lawsuit against former executives of Lordstown Motors Corp., ruling that the failed partnership with Foxconn did not amount to securities fraud. The ruling came in Lim v. Hightower et al., Case No. 24-3960, which was filed after Lordstown filed for bankruptcy in 2023. Investors accused the company’s leadership of misleading them about the health of its business relationship with Foxconn. But the court found the executives’ public statements were either non-actionable opinions, forward-looking, or not intentionally misleading. The court also agreed with the district judge’s decision to deny investors the chance to revise their complaint, saying they did not submit a proper re...