quick checks of some of the other stories. randi kaye has the stories. randi? reporter: president barack obama signed a $42 billion bill that he says will help small businesses create jobs. the new law provides billions in tax credits and creates a 30 billion fund for banks to make loans to small businesses. southwest airlines is buying airtran, its low-cost competitor. airtran will adopt southwest s name and its no fees policies. in return, southwest will gain a foothold in airtran s major destinations like atlanta, washington and new york. down, stay down! heads down! stay down. and some very frightening moments aboard a delta airlines jet on saturday night as it was forced to make an emergency landing at new york s jfk airport. all captured on that cell phone video. the flight originated in atlanta and was bound for white plains new york when it developed landing gear problems. despite those sparks from the right wing, no one was injured
souvenirs. on a tape obtained by abc news, corporal jeremy morelock, also charged with murder, told army investigators sergeant gibbs was crazy, that no one could tell him no. you don t want to cross paths with gibbs at all. when it comes to killing people, it s too easy for that guy. reporter: it is shades of vietnam, including allegations that soldiers at the base regularly use drugs, hashish laced with opium, to deal with the stress of their lives in afghanistan. bad days, stressful days, days that we just need an escape. reporter: the military now confirms it is investigating the allegations that the parents of adam winfield tried back in february to warn the army, that both innocent afghan civilians and u.s. soldiers were being put at risk. brian ross, abc news, new york. the fallout from the merger of southwest and airtran airways could impact travel in most of the nation. southwest is buying airtran for nearly $1.5 billion. the deal opens the way for southwest to move
coming your way, backhoes and bulldozers up and running again in israeli settlements in the west bank and they re casting a dusty cloud over the peace process. will the resumed construction talks derail will the resumed construction derail the peace talks. also two discount airlines announcing plans to tie the knot on the same week continental and united states become one airline. with fares and fees already surging what are these new unions in the sky meaning for you? i ve got people who know. let s start with that conversation. once again, a familiar name in air travel is disappearing. not really going away. airtran, a discount carrier based in orlando being bought by southwest. the dallas-based carrier known for doing things its own way and quite successfully, too. southwest is paying roughly $1.4 billion in cash and stock, but when you figure airtran s debt and lease obligations into the price, more like $3.4 billion. at the moment, each carrier flies to 69 u.s. cities.
prices. not always the case. in this case what does it mean when it s two discount airlines? i think the thing to remember is why southwest is buying airtran and the reason they re buying it is to buy market share. by buying this carrier it is getting a hot roll straight into atlanta hartsfield, because airtran is such a big player there. it is also buying coverage and route coverage into the northeast united states, to boston, to new york, to washington. those key routes where southwest has had presence but has not been dominant or indeed not able to get much of a footprint. buy airtran and you start to make huge in-roads into the northeast corridor and the whole eastern seaboard of the united states. now, rick seaney, southwest likes s ts to sight something calls the route brings fees and prices doin on the routes. is that likely to happen?
again at an israeli settlement in the west bank. will the resumed construction derail mideast peace talks? once again, a flarl time disappearing, not really going away. airtran, a discount carrier based in orlando, florida, is being bought by southwest. the dallas-based carrier known for doing things its own way and often quite successfully. southwest is paying $1.4 billion in cash and stock. when you figure in air trans s debt and lease obligations the price comes to $3.4 billion. at the moment, each carrier flies to 69 u.s. cities but southwest is quite a bit larger. last year, for instance, southwest, which you can see on the west, flew more than 100 million passengers. airtran on the right flew 24 million passengers. southwest flew 544 aircraft. airtran has 138. the vast majority of both of those aircraft, however, are 737 s, making it easy to maintain team. if regulators and shareholders