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LOS ANGELES (AP) — California’s 11th atmospheric river left the storm-soaked state with a bang Wednesday, bringing flooded roadways, landslides and toppled trees to the southern part of the state as well as drought-busting rainfall that meant the end of water restrictions for nearly 7 million people.

SABINA — Local firefighters rescued a 76-year-old man who was trapped in a grain bin for nearly five hours on Monday afternoon.

HOUSTON (AP) — Texas officials on Wednesday announced a state takeover of Houston’s nearly 200,000-student public school district, the eighth-largest in the country, acting on years of threats and angering Democrats who assailed the move as political.

By Marty Schladen

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs is being criticized by a victim’s sister and a powerful county prosecutor for her plans to defy a court order to execute a prisoner next month for his conviction in a 2002 killing. The newly elected Democratic governor vowed nearly two weeks ago that she wouldn’t carry out the Arizona Supreme Court’s order to execute Aaron Gunches on April 6, citing a review that she has ordered of death penalty protocols due to Arizona’s history of mismanaging executions.

TOPOCK, Ariz. (AP) — A freight train carrying corn syrup - not hazardous materials - derailed in western Arizona, near the state’s border with California and Nevada, BNSF Railway said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Twenty years after the U.S. invaded Iraq — in blinding explosions of shock and awe — American forces remain in the country in what has become a small but consistent presence to ensure an ongoing relationship with a key military and diplomatic partner in the Middle East.

OREGON ‒ A federal investigation into two workers’ fatal burns at an Oregon, Ohio, refinery’s crude unit has found its operator, BP Products North America Inc. violated the U.S. Department of Labor’s process safety procedures for highly hazardous materials and failed to adequately train the workers.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The Pentagon on Thursday released footage of what it said was a Russian aircraft pouring fuel on a U.S. Air Force surveillance drone and clipping the drone’s propeller in international airspace over the Black Sea.

Fewer Americans applied for jobless claims last week as the labor market continues to thrive despite the Federal Reserve’s efforts to cool the economy and tamp down inflation.