Maj. John Klatt, right, a member of the Air National Guard aerobatic team, flies an Extra 300L aerobatic plane upside down. In the front seat is Cindy Allen, managing editor of the Enid (Okla.) News and Eagle.

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HOUSTON — Houston has joined Los Angeles to become the second place in the nation classified as having a severe smog problem, the Environmental Protection Agency said Thursday.

The EPA reclassified the smog problem in the eight-county Houston area from moderate so that the region has an extra nine years to meet federal health standards set in 1997. The state was supposed to meet the requirements in 2010 but now has until 2019.

The EPA no longer considers the 1997 standard safe for public health, but agency spokeswoman Catherine Milbourn said progress toward it will protect the public and bring regions closer to meeting stricter requirements.

SAN ANTONIO — Internationally known radio/TV evangelist John Hagee is recovering from open heart surgery at a San Antonio hospital.

A spokeswoman for Hagee's Cornerstone Church says the successful procedure was performed Thursday.

Juda Engelmayer also told the San Antonio Express-News that the 68-year-old minister is expected to be away from the pulpit for about a month. His 30-year-old son, Matt Hagee, will handle church operations until then.

Hagee made headlines after endorsing John McCain — an endorsement the presidential candidate rejected in May after a years-old recording surfaced in which the preacher suggested God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land.

SANTA ANA — The wife of an engineer who exported U.S. defense technology to China has been sentenced in California to prison for her role in the plot.

Rebecca Laiwah Chiu was sentenced Thursday in federal court to three years in prison after pleading guilty last year to acting as an unregistered foreign agent.

Her husband is Tai Mak. He was sentenced to more than 20 years in prison this year.

Prosecutors say he was stealing information on submarine propulsion systems from defense contractor Power Paragon, where he worked. They say he passed it to China with the help of his extended family.

SAN DIEGO — Nick Reynolds, a founding member of the Kingston Trio who jump-started the revival folk scene of the late 1950s and paved the way for artists such as Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, died Wednesday. He was 75.

Reynolds had been hospitalized with acute respiratory disease and other illnesses and died in San Diego after his family took him off life support, said his son Josh Reynolds.

The Kingston Trio's version of the 19th-century folk song "Tom Dooley" landed the group a No. 1 spot on the charts in 1958 and launched the band's career.

In the mid-1950s, Reynolds met Bob Shane, who introduced him to Stanford University student Dave Guard.

In 1958, "Tom Dooley" earned Reynolds, Guard and Shane a trophy for best country and western performance at the first Grammy Awards.

LOS ANGELES — Federal railroad regulators have issued an emergency order prohibiting the use of personal electronic devices by rail workers operating trains and performing other key jobs.

The Federal Railroad Administration issued the order Thursday. It says violators will be subject to civil penalties and removed from "safety-sensitive" jobs.

The order comes a day after federal investigators announced that a Metrolink engineer sent a text message from his cell phone 22 seconds before his commuter train crashed into a freight train last month. The crash in suburban Chatsworth killed 25 people, including the engineer.

PITTSBURGH — A church panel has ruled that a Presbyterian minister did not violate church law when she officiated at the wedding of two women near Pittsburgh.

The nine-member panel unanimously concluded Tuesday that the Rev. Janet Edwards could not have performed at the ceremony. That's because neither the church nor the state of Pennsylvania recognizes gay marriage.

YOUNGSTOWN — George "Wydell" Jones, who wrote the doo-wop hit "Rama Lama Ding Dong" and performed it as a member of the Edsels, died Saturday. He was 71.

Jones, who had battled cancer, died at home, according to his son, Steffon Jones.

"Rama Lama" peaked at No. 21 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1961.l Sewell and Larry Green.

During their heyday, the Youngstown, Ohio-based Edsels performed at the Apollo Theater in New York and appeared on "American Bandstand."

Jones was born in Richmond, Va., and as a child moved to Youngstown, where his father worked in a steel mill.

After high school, Jones joined the Air Force, where he sang in a vocal group with other servicemen and wrote "Rama Lama."