American Airlines has grounded dozens of airplanes for a second time this week due to loose passenger seats, causing nearly 100 flights cancellations on Thursday and Friday. It said it was quickly resolving the problem, which the company indicated was caused by an array of factors, including the “gunk” from drinks that get spilled. 

"We have identified the issue and our maintenance teams are securing an FAA-approved locking mechanism to make sure no seat can be dislodged,” company spokeswoman Andrea Huguely said in a statement. “Repairs are complete on 40 of the 48 aircraft. All of our (Boeing) 757s will be back in service by Saturday."

She said the seat issue forced the company to cancel 50 flights on Thursday, and 45 on Friday.

American first grounded the 48 Boeing 757 aircraft it operates on Monday for inspection after seats came loose on three flights, two of which made emergency landings as a result. 

Huguely’s statement did not provide detail as to what caused the seat problem, but another company spokeswoman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said multiple “contributing factors” led to the problem.

“There are a lot of contributing factors — normal wear and tear, gunk that can affect the locking-pin mechanism—whether its debris or sodas,” she said.  

But she said “gunk” was not the primary cause.  “There were some installation issues—a lot of contributing factors.” 

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The Huntsville Times via AP, file

Biology professor Amy Bishop is escorted by sheriff's deputies at the Madison County Courthouse in Hunstville, Ala. on Sept. 11.

A Harvard-educated biology professor was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole on Monday after being convicted of shooting colleagues at a faculty meeting, killing three and wounding three others.

The jury deliberated for about 20 minutes before convicting Amy Bishop in the Feb. 2010 shooting rampage at the University of Alabama in Hunstville.

Bishop, who arrived in court with her feet shackled and wearing a red prison uniform showed no reaction as the verdict was read, The Associated Press reported.  

"She is shattered beyond belief," attorney Roy Miller said. Miller said that Bishop has often expressed great remorse to the victims and their families.

Colleagues believed Bishop, who allegedly pulled the gun from her purse to start shooting, was angry that the school had denied her tenure.

Bishop killed her boss, biology department chairman Gopi Padila, plus professors Maria Ragland Davis and Adriel Johnson. Professors Joseph Leahy, staff aide Stephanie Monticciolo and assistant professor Luis Cruz-Vera were shot and wounded.

On Sept. 11, Bishop pleaded guilty to killing three people and wounding three others. By doing so, she avoided a possible death sentence with the plea and instead faces life imprisonment.

A trial was still required under Alabama law.

After her arrest in Alabama, authorities in Braintree, Mass., charged Bishop with the 1986 shooting death of her teenage brother.

That death initially had been ruled accidental based on the testimony of the family.

Authorities in Massachusetts are awaiting the outcome of the Alabama trial before deciding how to proceed in their case against Bishop.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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The death on July 8 of Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway is being treated as a homicide, by authorities in Maine. A 10-year-old girl is charged with homicide in the case.

A 10-year-old girl has been charged with manslaughter in the death of an infant from Clinton, Maine, WLBZ television reported Friday, citing state police. 

Three-month-old Brooklyn Foss-Greenaway died July 8 after being left in the care of a babysitter in Fairfield, about 6 miles from Clinton, according to police.

Police automatically investigate the death of a child under three, reports said.

The state medical examiner's office ruled the death a homicide on Wednesday, WLBZ reported.

"In this case there was some warning signs that we thought very early on," Department of Public Safety Spokesman Steve McCausland told WABI television. "The medical examiners have confirmed that and obviously the case now has been declared a homicide."

"The cause of death is being withheld as the medical examiner continues to work on that aspect," he said, according to WABI. 

The 10-year-old, whose name was not released, is in custody of the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, the WLBZ report said.

The baby's mother, Nicole Greenaway, said the 10-year-old is the daughter of the babysitter, the Bangor Daily News reported. Greenaway said she works with the woman at a medical facility in Waterville, ME.

The girl is the youngest person in Maine to be charged with manslaughter in at least 25 years, WLBZ reported, citing McCausland. It was not clear whether she was charged as a juvenile or an adult.

She is scheduled to appear in court Oct. 22 with her attorney. 

According to earlier reports, emergency responders arrived at the scene six minutes after receiving a 911 call on the night of July 7 saying the baby was not breathing and unresponsive. The baby died later at the hospital, WABI reported.

Data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics show that 88 children between the ages of 10 and 12 were arrested on murder and non-negligent manslaughter charges between 2003 and 2009. Of them, 14 were girls.

During that same time, seven children under the age of 10 were arrested for similar crimes; one was a girl.

In 2005, a 7-year-old boy from Kentucky was charged with killing his mother’s boyfriend, according to an Associated Press report at the time. He was too young to be tried as an adult and was, at the time, sequestered away from older adults at a juvenile detention facility.

In 2008, an 8-year-old boy from rural Arizona confessed to fatally shooting his father and his father’s friend.

"I went upstairs and then I saw my dad and then I got the gun and then I fired it at my dad," the boy told prosecutors, according to an ABC News report. "He was on the ground and then I reloaded it."

These juveniles cannot, according to a recent Supreme Court ruling, be sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.

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