
24-year-killed in two-vehicle crash
Associated Press Archives
A 24-year-old Lake Charles man was killed early Saturday morning in a two-vehicle fatal crash on La. 14 near Linkswiller Road.
Louisiana State Police Trooper Matt Gaspard said the crash claimed the life of Jacob Hummel.
Gaspard said Hummel was driving a 2021 Ram Pickup south on La. 14 at about 2 a.m. at the same time as a 2003 Jeep Wrangler.
'For reasons still under investigation, the Ram attempted to make a U-turn and drove directly into the Jeep's path,' Gaspard said. 'As a result, the front of the Jeep struck the driver's side door of the Ram.'
Hummel, who was properly restrained at the time of the crash, received fatal injuries and died at the scene. The driver of the Jeep was also properly restrained and received critical injuries.
A standard toxicology sample was collected from both drivers and submitted for analysis. This crash remains under investigation, Gaspard said.

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


Fox Sports
2 hours ago
- Fox Sports
Mary Lou Retton pleads no contest, fined $100 for DUI, says she's committed to make positive changes
Associated Press FAIRMONT, (AP) — American gymnastics icon Mary Lou Retton on Tuesday entered a no contest plea to driving under the influence stemming from a May traffic stop in her hometown of Fairmont. A Marion County judge fined her $100, consistent with sentencing guidelines for first-time, non-aggravated offenses, her attorney Edmund J. Rollo said in a statement. In a statement released through her attorney, the 57-year-old Retton said she took full responsibility for her actions. 'What happened was completely unacceptable. I make no excuses,' she said. "To my family, friends and my fans: I have let you down, and for that I am deeply sorry. I am determined to learn and grow from this experience, and I am committed to making positive changes in my life. I truly appreciate your concern, encouragement and continued support." Fairmont police stopped Retton on May 17 following a report about a person in a Porsche driving erratically. According to the criminal complaint, Retton smelled of alcohol and was slurring her words, and she failed a field sobriety test. Officers also reported observing a container of wine in the passenger seat. Retton was 16 when she became the first American female gymnast to win the all-around at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. She also won two silver and two bronze medals to help bring gymnastics into the mainstream in the United States. In 2023, Retton's family disclosed she was recuperating from a rare form of pneumonia that landed her in intensive care. Doctors found her oxygen levels dangerously low. Her medical team considered putting her on a ventilator as her conditioned worsened. Retton went on oxygen treatment and, after weeks in the hospital, improved enough to be sent home. ___ AP sports: recommended in this topic


Boston Globe
4 hours ago
- Boston Globe
Whistleblower's death casts pall on Southern Baptist meeting and stalled sex abuse reforms
Friends reported that the backlash Lyell received after going public with her report took a devastating toll on her. Advertisement Several abuse survivors and advocates for reform, who previously had a prominent presence in recent SBC meetings, are skipping this year's gathering, citing lack of progress by the convention. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Two people sought to fill that void, standing vigil outside of the meeting at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center Dallas as attendees walked by. The pair held up signs with photos of Lyell and of Gareld Duane Rollins, who died earlier this spring and who was among those who accused longtime SBC power broker Paul Pressler of sexual abuse. 'It's not a healthy thing for them (survivors) to be here,' said Johnna Harris, host of a podcast on abuse in evangelical ministries. 'I felt like it was important for someone to show up. I want people to know there are people who care.' Advertisement Barry Bowen (left) and Johnna Harris hold signs honoring the recently deceased Gareld Duane Rollins (left poster) and Jennifer Lyell, whistleblowers who faulted the Southern Baptist Convention's handling of sexual abuse. Peter Smith/Associated Press Past attempts at reforms in the SBC The SBC Executive Committee, in a 2022 apology, acknowledged 'its failure to adequately listen, protect, and care for Jennifer Lyell when she came forward to share her story.' It also acknowledged the denomination's official news agency had not accurately reported the situation as 'sexual abuse by a trusted minister in a position of power at a Southern Baptist seminary.' SBC officials issued statements this week lamenting Lyell's death, but her fellow advocates have denounced what they say is a failure to implement reforms. The SBC's 2022 meeting voted overwhelmingly to create a way to track pastors and other church workers credibly accused of sex abuse. That came shortly after the But the denomination's Executive Committee president, Jeff Iorg, said earlier this year that creating a database is not a focus and that the committee instead plans to refer churches to existing databases of sex offenders and focus on education about abuse prevention. The committee administers the denomination's day-to-day business. Advocates for reform don't see those approaches as adequate. Southern Baptist Convention President Clint Pressley gave the President's Address during the 2025 SBC Annual Meeting on Tuesday. SBC officials issued statements this week lamenting Lyell's death, but fellow advocates have denounced what they say is a failure to implement reforms. Richard W. Rodriguez/Associated Press It is the latest instance of 'officials trailing out hollow words, impotent task forces and phony dog-and-pony shows of reform,' abuse survivor and longtime advocate Christa Brown wrote on In a related action, the Executive Committee will also be seeking $3 million in convention funding for ongoing legal expenses related to abuse cases. What is on the agenda? As of Tuesday afternoon, attendance was at 10,456 church representatives (known as messengers). That is less than a quarter of the total that thronged the SBC's annual meeting 40 years ago this month in a Dallas showdown that marked the height of battles over control of the convention, ultimately won by the more conservative-fundamentalist side led by Pressler and his allies. Advertisement That conservative consensus remains in the convention. This year's convention will be asked to approve resolutions lamenting 'willful childlessness' and calling for bans on same-sex marriage and pornography and restrictions on sports betting. Messengers will also debate whether to institute a constitutional ban on churches with women pastors and to abolish its public-policy arm, the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission — which is staunchly conservative, but according to critics, not enough so. Brent Leatherwood, president of the ERLC, said Tuesday he would address the 'turbulence' during his scheduled remarks Wednesday but was confident in the messengers' support. 'I think the majority of Southern Baptists are going to say once again, like they always have, 'We need an entity that is dedicated to taking a distinctively Baptist voice and speaking in the public square,' ' Leatherwood said.


Boston Globe
4 hours ago
- Boston Globe
How scammers are using AI to steal college financial aid
'I just can't imagine how many people this is happening to that have no idea,' Brady said. The rise of artificial intelligence and the popularity of online classes have led to an explosion of financial aid fraud. Fake college enrollments have been surging as crime rings deploy 'ghost students' — chatbots that join online classrooms and stay just long enough to collect a financial aid check. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up In some cases, professors discover almost no one in their class is real. Students get locked out of the classes they need to graduate as bots push courses over their enrollment limits. And victims of identity theft who discover loans fraudulently taken out in their names must go through months of calling colleges, the Federal Student Aid office and loan servicers to try to get the debt erased. Advertisement On Friday, the US Education Department introduced a temporary rule requiring students to show colleges a government-issued ID to prove their identity. It will apply only to first-time applicants for federal student aid for the summer term, affecting some 125,000 borrowers. The agency said it is developing more advanced screening for the fall. Advertisement 'The rate of fraud through stolen identities has reached a level that imperils the federal student aid program,' the department said in its guidance to colleges. An Associated Press analysis of fraud reports obtained through a public records request shows California colleges in 2024 reported 1.2 million fraudulent applications, which resulted in 223,000 suspected fake enrollments. Other states are affected by the same problem, but with 116 community colleges, California is a particularly large target. Criminals stole at least $11.1 million in federal, state, and local financial aid from California community colleges last year that could not be recovered, according to the reports. Colleges typically receive a portion of the loans intended for tuition, with the balance going directly to students for other expenses. Community colleges are targeted in part because their lower tuition means larger percentages of grants and loans go to borrowers. Scammers frequently use AI chatbots to carry out the fraud, targeting courses that are online and allow students to watch lectures and complete coursework on their own time. In January, Wayne Chaw started getting emails about a class he never signed up for at De Anza Community College, where he had taken coding classes a decade earlier. Identity thieves had obtained his Social Security number and collected $1,395 in financial aid in his name. The energy management class required students to submit a homework assignment to prove they were real. But someone wrote submissions impersonating Chaw, likely using a chatbot. 'This person is typing as me, saying my first and last name. ... It's very freaky when I saw that,' said Chaw. Advertisement The fraud involved a grant, not loans, so Chaw himself did not lose money. He called the Social Security Administration to report the identity theft, but after five hours on hold, he never got through to a person. As the Trump administration moves to dismantle the Education Department, federal cuts may make it harder to catch criminals and help victims of identity theft. In March, the Trump administration fired more than 300 people from the Federal Student Aid office, and the department's Office of Inspector General, which investigates fraud, has lost more than 20 percent of its staff through attrition and retirements since October. 'I'm just nervous that I'm going to be stuck with this,' Brady said. 'The agency is going to be so broken down and disintegrated that I won't be able to do anything, and I'm just going to be stuck with those $9,000' in loans. Criminal cases around the country offer a glimpse of the schemes' pervasiveness. In the past year, investigators indicted a man accused of leading a Texas fraud ring that used stolen identities to pursue $1.5 million in student aid. Another person in Texas pleaded guilty to using the names of prison inmates to apply for over $650,000 in student aid at colleges across the South and Southwest. And a person in New York recently pleaded guilty to a $450,000 student aid scam that lasted a decade. Brittnee Nelson of Shreveport, La., was bringing her daughter to day-care two years ago when she received a notification that her credit score had dropped 27 points. Advertisement Loans had been taken out in her name for colleges in California and Louisiana, she discovered. She canceled one before it was paid out, but it was too late to stop a loan of over $5,000 for Delgado Community College in New Orleans. Nelson runs her own housecleaning business and didn't go to college. She already was signed up for identity theft protection and carefully monitored her credit. Still, her debt almost went into collections before the loan was put in forbearance. She recently got the loans taken off her record after two years of effort. 'It's like if someone came into your house and robbed you,' she said. The federal government's efforts to verify borrowers' identity could help, she said. 'If they can make these hurdles a little bit harder and have these verifications more provable, I think that's really, really, really going to protect people in the long run,' she said.