Texas lawmaker proposes $2 billion effort to jump start the state’s nuclear power industry

Authorities are pulling submerged vehicles from the Columbia River, including a car thought to have belonged to a Portland couple who vanished in 1958 while out for a drive with their three daughters. The vehicles, including the station wagon believed to belong to Ken and Barbara Martin, were found after a yearslong search by diver Archer Mayo. The Martins never returned from a drive to the mountains to collect Christmas greenery. The bodies of two of the couple's daughters washed up months after they vanished. A Hood River County sheriff’s deputy says the station wagon is encased in mud and debris, so authorities aren't certain it belongs to the Martins.

Maryland and 19 other states are suing multiple federal agencies in a lawsuit alleging that President Donald Trump’s administration has illegally fired thousands of federal probationary workers. Maryland Attorney General Anthony Brown is leading the coalition of attorneys general in the federal lawsuit that was filed late Thursday in Maryland. The lawsuit says the mass firings will cause irreparable burdens and expenses on the states, because they will have to support recently unemployed workers and adjudicate claims of unemployment assistance. The lawsuit also says the layoffs will hurt state finances due to lost tax revenue and additional services for the suddenly unemployed.

Religious leaders, scholars and diplomats have gathered at Notre Dame University in Indiana for a conference on Ukraine studies with a theme of hope. The timing may not seem good. It comes amid a deterioration of relations between Washington and Kyiv as Russia presses its attacks on Ukraine. But speakers said it’s more important than ever to maintain hope — not as a pie-in-the-sky sentiment but as a force that energizes Ukrainians’ resistance. “Hope is not only a spiritual resource” but a “strategic security asset,” said Taras Dobko, rector of Ukrainian Catholic University in Lviv. The three-day conference, “Revolutions of Hope: Resilience and Recovery in Ukraine,” concludes Saturday.

Health officials say West Texas now has almost 200 measles cases and New Mexico's case number has tripled to 30. The case counts were updated on Friday. A child died of measles in Texas last week. New Mexico health officials said Thursday they are investigating a possible adult measles death. Federal health officials announced they would send a team to Texas this week. Most of the cases are in people younger than 18 and people who are unvaccinated or have an unknown vaccination status.

This is a photo collection curated by AP photo editors.

Scientists have dated the skeleton of an ancient child that caused a stir when it was first discovered because it carries features from both humans and Neanderthals. The child’s remains were discovered 27 years ago in the Lagar Velho rock shelter in central Portugal. Small roots had pierced through the bones, and contamination prevented scientists from determining their age. But new techniques have allowed the researchers to date part of an arm bone to about 28,000 years ago. At the time of the initial discovery, it had not been established that humans and Neanderthals mixed, and that people today carry Neanderthal DNA. The research published Friday in the journal Science Advances.

The Trump administration says it’s pulling $400 million from Columbia University. Multiple federal agencies announced Friday that they're canceling grants and contracts because of what the government describes as the Ivy League school’s lackluster efforts to squelch antisemitism on campus. The notice came after Columbia set up a new disciplinary committee and ramped up its own investigations into students critical of Israel, alarming free speech advocates. Nonetheless, federal Education Secretary Linda McMahon says Columbia has “abandoned” its obligation to Jewish students. Columbia is vowing to work with the government to try to get the money back.