FRESNO, Calif. -- Farmers in "America's Salad Bowl" are turning into hunters -- stalking wild pigs, rabbits and deer -- to keep E. coli and other harmful bacteria out of their fields.

The exact source of the contamination was never discovered, but scientists suspect that cattle, feral pigs or other wildlife may have spread the E. coli by defecating near crops.

The pressure to safeguard crops comes from the companies that buy fresh greens. In response, some farmers are taking gun-safety classes to learn how to shoot animals that could carry the bacteria. Others are uprooting native trees and plants and erecting fences to make their land inhospitable to wildlife.

Spinach grower Bob Martin has even poisoned ponds with copper sulfate to kill frogs that might get caught in harvesting machinery or carry salmonella on their webbed feet.

Produce buyers "got us by the short hairs," said Martin, one of few growers who would talk publicly about how he is protecting his crop.

But some officials have questioned whether such drastic measures are necessary based on limited evidence.

PHOENIX -- A series of fast-moving thunderstorms packing winds of up to 100 mph plowed through the Phoenix area, leaving tens of thousands without power, damaging several airliners and collapsing a brand-new college football facility.

There were no immediate reports of injuries from Thursday's storms, which were a particularly intense episode of Arizona's summer "monsoon" season.

About 500 travelers were forced to spend the night at Sky Harbor International Airport, where damage was reported to terminals, cargo areas, electrical systems, jetways and aircraft, spokeswoman Deborah Ostreicher said.

The airport was shut down for about an hour during the height of the storm, which dumped up to 1¬1/2 inches of rain and three-quarter-inch hail in some areas.

Southwest Airlines spokeswoman Whitney Eichinger said three of the company's Boeing 737 jets were damaged. Two were quickly repaired and put back in service. A third, damaged when a baggage belt blew into the side of the plane, was still being repaired Friday afternoon.

Airport officials said three United Airlines jets, an Aeromexico plane and aircraft from commuter carrier Mesa airlines also were damaged.

ERIE, Pa. -- A defense attorney says his client will plead guilty to conspiracy in a bizarre 2003 bank robbery that led to the collar-bomb death of a Pennsylvania pizza delivery man.

Attorney Jamie Mead of Erie said Friday that Kenneth Barnes will plead guilty Wednesday to his role in planning the heist.

Delivery man Brian Wells told police he had been forced at gunpoint to wear a bomb around his neck and rob the bank. Wells was killed when the device exploded as police waited for the bomb squad.

Marjorie Diehl-Armstrong is accused of masterminding the plot. A federal judge last month ruled that she's not mentally competent to stand trial, but that could change depending on how she responds to medication and treatment.

WASHINGTON -- Federal authorities say two airliners were a minute away from colliding when they turned away from each other over the Caribbean this week.

The National Transportation Safety Board says the Delta Air Lines flight and a Russian-registered passenger jet were heading toward each other north of Puerto Rico on Thursday when cockpit alarms went off.

In a statement Friday, the NTSB says the pilot of the Russian plane -- a Transaero Boeing 737 -- descended 200 to 300 feet to avoid Delta Flight 485.

The planes were 33,000 feet over the water and about 180 miles north of San Juan. The Delta aircraft was headed from New York's Kennedy International Airport to Port of Spain, Trinidad.

MEDFORD, Okla. -- A locomotive train slammed into a propane tanker truck in north-central Oklahoma on Friday, triggering a huge explosion that killed two people and injured a third, authorities said.

"It blew the semi tanker apart," Oklahoma Highway Patrol Lt. George Brown said. "The cab was on one side of the train and the tanker on the other."

Mike Honigsberg, emergency management director for neighboring Garfield County, said the two people killed were aboard the Union Pacific train.

The injured truck driver was flown by medical helicopter to St. Francis Hospital in Wichita, Kan., with third-degree burns over at least 50 percent of his body.

The crash occurred at 9:20 a.m. on U.S. 81, about 20 miles south of the Kansas border near Medford, Brown said.

Union Pacific spokeswoman Raquel Espinoza-Williams said the truck was on the train tracks when the locomotive slammed into it.

NEW YORK -- A highly respected retired NYPD detective with inoperable liver cancer was charged with bank robbery Friday after authorities identified him as the so-called Bling Bandit, suspected of pulling off nine heists while wearing a flashy watch and ring.

Athelson Kelson, 59, was scheduled to be arraigned later Friday in connection with a robbery at a Queens bank July 10. He faces up to seven years in prison if convicted of the robbery. Judge Elisa Koenderman ordered Kelson be held and undergo a psychiatric evaluation. His next scheduled court appearance is Sept. 12.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said Kelson -- a former member of the FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force and recipient of a Purple Heart during the Vietnam War -- was terminally ill with cancer.

The police commissioner said bank employees picked Kelson out of a police lineup in four of the robberies that have occurred in Queens and Long Island during the past 2 1/2 months.

Kelly said he didn't know why Kelson apparently turned to a life of crime. Asked if the ex-detective might have been provoking an officer to kill him, Kelly told reporters: "We can't exclude that."