UPPER MARLBORO, Maryland (AP) -- A travel company operator pleaded guilty to bilking about 60 people, mostly senior citizens, by selling them bogus tickets and charter bus trips to Chicago, Illinois, to see the "Oprah Winfrey Show."

Terrance M. Hawkins, 45, has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of aggregate theft over $500.

He agreed to pay full restitution within two years, prosecutors said. Hawkins has paid back some victims and owes about $22,000.

Hawkins faces seven years in prison, but under a plea deal, most of his sentence will be suspended, prosecutors said. He also faces supervised probation for three years at a sentencing hearing September 29.

Operating his business under the names Royal Travel and Royal Stages Travel Group, prosecutors said Hawkins accepted payments between December 2004 and April 2005 for trips that were never delivered.

The "Oprah Winfrey Show" is free, with tickets available on a first-come, first-served basis.

"Hopefully, these victims will someday get their chance to see Oprah in person without having to worry about scam artists like Mr. Hawkins," State's Attorney Glenn F. Ivey said in a statement Monday.

'This wasn't a job for him, it was his life'

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- Dan Young, director of CNN/US's field operations, died Sunday after a battle with leukemia. He was 47. During 24 years at CNN, he worked as a photographer on some of the biggest and most dangerous assignments of his time.

Bush: Mideast truce an 'important step'

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Bush declared Lebanon a front in the "global war on terrorism" Monday, equating the Israeli battle against Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas to the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Feds: Student was left to die in a ditch

FARGO, North Dakota (AP) -- Alfonso Rodriguez Jr. stabbed college student Dru Sjodin, slit her throat and left her to die, a federal prosecutor told jurors Monday.

Jerry Springer and Tucker Carlson to dance on TV

NEW YORK (AP) -- Talk-show hosts Jerry Springer and conservative Tucker Carlson of MSNBC will be among the celebrities competing on the third season of ABC television's "Dancing With the Stars."

Flight evacuated at LAX

LOS ANGELES, California (AP) -- Police safely evacuated an Alaska Airlines flight on Monday after a report that a "suspicious item" was found on board, a Los Angeles International Airport spokeswoman said.