The ex-girlfriend of a man suspected of kidnapping two Iowa girls this week worried that he would harm her and her family before his impending release from prison in 2011, citing prior sexual and physical abuse and threats, according to court records released Friday.

Federal officials were searching the country for a possible temporary replacement for a bridge that collapsed along the crucial Interstate 5 corridor, but Washington Gov. Jay Inslee cautioned Friday that major disruptions will last for weeks, if not months.

The Washington Post is reporting that Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Haynes Johnson has died. He was 81.

The principal of the Oklahoma elementary school where seven children died in a tornado says her teachers did everything they could to save their lives.

Sabrina Mitchell is used to looking for silver linings.

Sixteen people were taken to the hospital Friday, at least two in serious condition, after they were hurt in a crash between a hotel shuttle bus and a tractor-trailer near Atlanta's airport, officials said.

A southwestern Illinois judge already under scrutiny after a colleague died of a cocaine overdose at his family's hunting lodge was charged Friday with possession of heroin and guns.

Without even thinking, Joe Ortner rattles off a list of items on his family's dairy farm that could kill you: 1,000 gallons of diesel, 500 gallons of gas, cleaning chemicals in the milking parlor, oil and lubricant for repair work and a 6-foot-deep manure pond in which you could drown.

Prosecutors say a Tennessee pharmacy owner killed during a robbery had handed over several bottles of oxycodone before he was shot to death.

The last of the brothers accused of creating an infamous Mexican drug cartel pleaded guilty Friday to helping send hundreds of millions of dollars in proceeds from the United States, marking one of the final milestones in an investigation that began nearly two decades ago.

The engineer of the commuter train that derailed last week in Connecticut observed an "unusual condition" on the track before the wreck, federal officials said Friday without explaining what the condition was, though they did say repair work was done last month in the area of the crash.

A man accused of killing five members of a central Illinois family with a tire iron has wiped away tears as he painted a horrifying picture of the murder scene to jurors.

In the wind-swept prairie called Tornado Alley, the scene is eerily familiar: Homes smashed to splinters. Trees and telephone poles snapped like twigs. Piles of bricks, overturned cars and dazed survivors sifting through rubble in search of a precious photo or heirloom. A town in ruins.

A Utah Army veteran charged with killing a police officer and wounding five others in a shootout during a marijuana raid was found hanging dead in his cell early Friday.

All students at a Denver-area high school are safe after a report that a man with a rifle was seen near campus, police said Friday.

The lawyer for a Maine man charged with killing a 15-year-old girl wants a judge to keep affidavits and search warrants with details about the case under seal.

As authorities suggested residents of a northeastern North Dakota city flee their homes earlier this week in case a rain-swollen dam burst, Daryl Thompson hurriedly prepared meals at his Main Street cafe for the emergency workers who would stay behind.

Gun owners in the only state still banning concealed weapons would win that right under a plan approved by the Illinois House on Friday, but the governor and other powerful Democrats oppose the plan because it would wipe out local gun ordinances _ including Chicago's ban on assault weapons.

Many states get hit frequently with tornadoes and other natural catastrophes, but Oklahoma is Disaster Central.

New Jersey used a record-breaking gesture Friday to celebrate its recovery from a record-setting storm, proclaiming to the nation that the Jersey shore is back in business following Superstorm Sandy.