AP-National

By DAVID KOENIG AP Airlines Writer The FBI has told passengers on the Alaska Airlines Boeing 737 Max that lost a door-plug panel in midflight that they might be victims of a crime. “I’m contacting you because we have identified you as a possible victim of a crime,” a victim specialist from the federal agency’s

By BRUCE SCHREINER Associated Press FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) — Kentucky’s Republican-dominated legislature wrapped up work Friday on a bill meant to lay the foundation for nuclear energy in a state where coal has been king for generations, fueling the economy. The House gave 92-0 final passage to send the measure to Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear.

By ADRIAN SAINZ Associated Press MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Relatives of Tyre Nichols, George Floyd and Eric Garner are expressing frustration with politicians who have failed to pass legislation targeting police violence or have worked to invalidate laws intended to reduce chances that citizens’ encounters with police end in death. Philonise Floyd, the brother of

By MARK STEVENSON Associated Press MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s president says he won’t fight drug cartels on U.S. orders, in the clearest explanation yet of his refusal to confront the gangs. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has laid out various justifications over the years for his “hugs, not bullets” policy of avoiding clashes with

By ADAM BEAM Associated Press SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — California’s unemployment rate is now the highest in the country. The state’s unemployment rate was 5.3% in February. That’s higher than Nevada’s 5.2% rate. The national unemployment rate is 3.9%. The increase comes after new data revealed job growth in California was much slower last year

BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Lawmakers in Idaho have passed a bill to ban the use of any public funds for gender-affirming care, including for state employees using work health insurance and for adults covered by Medicaid. The legislation cleared the Senate on Friday after previously passing the House. It heads next to Gov. Brad Little’s

By COLLIN BINKLEY AP Education Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. Education Department said it has discovered a calculation error in hundreds of thousands of student financial aid applications sent to colleges this month and will need to reprocess them — a blunder that follows a series of others and threatens further delays to this

By JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON (AP) — The National Guard has joined in fighting wildfires that erupted this week in West Virginia. Two Blackhawk helicopters dropped water from buckets on the fires Friday in steep, wooded terrain in Hardy County, near the Virginia border. Officials say the fires have burned more than 6.25 square

CHICAGO (AP) — A pair of juries has found two men guilty of killing a Chicago boy almost nine years ago. The Sun-Times reports jurors on Thursday found 29-year-old Jamal Joiner and 28-year-old Rasheed Martin each guilty of murder in connection with the death of 7-year-old Amari Brown. The jurors also found them each guilty

By SYLVIA HUI Associated Press LONDON (AP) — One of the most famous, photographed and talked-about women in the world is fighting a very personal battle. Kate, Princess of Wales, disclosed Friday that she is being treated for an unspecified form of cancer. The revelation went alongside a request for “some time, space and privacy

By CARLA K. JOHNSON AP Medical Writer Kate, the Princess of Wales, has disclosed that she has cancer and is undergoing chemotherapy — though in a video announcement Friday, she did not say what kind of cancer or reveal details of her treatment. Here’s what is known: What kind of surgery did Kate have? Kate

By JACK DURA Associated Press BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — A Democratic state senator in North Dakota has filed paperwork for a campaign to run for governor. Merrill Piepkorn, of Fargo, did not confirm his candidacy. However, he said he is planning a press conference soon. Democrat and security guard Travis Hipsher also is running for

By JEFF AMY Associated Press ATLANTA (AP) — A former Georgia insurance commissioner is pleading guilty to conspiring to commit health care fraud. John W. Oxendine of Johns Creek entered the guilty plea Friday in federal court in Atlanta. The crime is punishable by up to 10 years in prison, but the 61-year-old Oxendine is

By JOHN RABY Associated Press CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia has become the 12th state to ban smoking in vehicles with children present. Republican Gov. Jim Justice signed a bill Friday that would fine violators up to $25, but only if a vehicle is pulled over for another offense. Smoking with children present cannot

By STEPHEN GROVES Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Mike Gallagher, a Wisconsin Republican who has spearheaded House pushback against the Chinese government, says he will resign from the House. Gallagher will resign his position on April 19. It will leave Republicans with a 217-213 majority in the House, meaning that they cannot afford to

By STEPHEN WHYNO AP Sports Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — The attorney general for the District of Columbia contends that the NBA’s Washington Wizards and NHL’s Washington Capitals are obligated to play their games in the downtown arena through 2047. Brian Schwalb made that assertion in a letter to Monumental Sports and Entertainment this week. The

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A Michigan man has pleaded guilty to kidnapping and killing a 2-year-old girl whose disappearance last summer led to a 100-mile search that stretched from the state capital to the Detroit area. Rashad Trice admitted that he took Wynter Cole Smith from her home in Lansing as part of a

By SARA CLINE Associated Press BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — Louisiana crawfish are in demand despite a shortage of the mudbugs driven by last summer’s drought, extreme heat, saltwater intrusion on the Mississippi River and a hard winter freeze. The state is the nation’s top producer of crawfish, but last year harvested a fraction of

By GENE JOHNSON and MARK THIESSEN Associated Press Authorities are investigating the deaths of an 83-year-old man who was walking his dogs and a 72-year-old man who lived in a remote cabin in connection with the escape of an Idaho white supremacist prison gang member and an accomplice after a Boise hospital ambush. Escaped prisoner

By STEVE REED AP Sports Writer CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — The Atlantic Coast Conference and Florida State squared off in a courtroom for the first time Friday, following the member school’s push to exit the conference for a more lucrative landing spot elsewhere. During a four-hour hearing at Mecklenburg County courthouse, attorneys from both sides