This is a collection of photos chosen by AP photo editors.

A death row inmate in Louisiana scheduled to become the first person in the state to be executed using nitrogen gas has asked for his capital punishment to be carried out using a more humane method. In a Baton Rouge federal court on Friday, attorneys for Jessie Hoffman Jr. argued nitrogen hypoxia is cruel and unusual punishment and an infringement on Hoffman's freedom to practice religion. Hoffman is seeking for his scheduled March 18 execution date to be blocked and proposes what he calls more humane methods including death by firing squad and medical-aid in dying. The 46 year old was convicted of the 1996 execution-style murder of Mary Elliott.

Authorities say Gene Hackman spent his final years retired from acting, living with heart disease and Alzheimer’s. Findings from the investigation into the deaths of Hackman and his wife paint a tragic picture of the Oscar-winning actor’s last days. Authorities say he died from heart disease one week after his wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a rare disease called hantavirus. Experts believe Hackman was severely impaired because of Alzheimer’s disease and unable to deal with his wife’s death in the last week of his life. The Santa Fe sheriff described the couple as a very private family, which presented difficulties in determining a timeline in their deaths.

The cries of a mother watching from Venezuela through a cellphone pierced through the somber Christian music and gusts of wind as her son's casket was lowered into the ground. Gustavo Alfonso Garcia Olivares died at 24, drowning in the Rio Grande not far from where we he was buried Thursday at the Maverick County Cemetery in Eagle Pass, Texas. The service was streamed live to his parents in Venezuela. It was the first funeral for a migrant by Border Vigil, a human rights organization on the U.S.-Mexico border, one of the world’s deadliest.

Early crew members of the voyaging canoe Hokulea are gathering in Hawaii to celebrate the vessel's 50th birthday. The Hokulea and its crews proved Polynesians settled their islands by navigating the seas instead of accidentally drifting there on logs. Saturday's celebration marks how their successful travels to Tahiti and around the world revived the traditional skill of navigating using stars, waves and weather instead of a relying on a compass. The canoe also helped turn Hawaiian culture to a source of pride. Original crew members and the public will be gathering at the same Oahu beach where the canoe first launched on March 8, 1975 to commemorate the anniversary.

Activists say an Alabama teenager's incarceration in an adult jail violates federal and state laws that require inmates who are minors to be separated from adults. Djovani Jean-Pierre spent his 17th birthday in the Marshall County jail. He is accused of stealing a firearm and faces up to life in prison if convicted. Activists say minors held in adult facilities are vulnerable to abuse. A sheriff says to abide by federal law and separate him from adult inmates, Jean-Pierre would have to be held in solitary confinement, which could also be detrimental. Jean-Pierre's case highlights the potential dangers of state laws that automatically send teen suspects to adult detention facilities.

An Associated Press journalist has served as a media eyewitness to the execution of Brad Sigmon by firing squad Friday in South Carolina. He reports that the firing squad is both faster and more violent than lethal injection. A hood was put over Sigmon’s head, and an employee opened the pull shade shielding where three prison system volunteer shooters were. About two minutes later they fired. There was no warning or countdown, and the abrupt crack of the rifles startled those in the room. A white target with a red bullseye that had been on his chest disappeared instantly as Sigmon’s whole body flinched. Soon a doctor came out to examine Sigmon, and he was declared dead at 6:08 p.m.

Three tribal nations and five Native American students have filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing it of failing its legal obligations to tribes when it cut jobs at Bureau of Indian Education schools last month. The lawsuit filed Friday says firings at Haskell Indian Nations University in Kansas and the Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute in New Mexico have left students and staff with unsafe conditions, cancelled classes and delayed financial aid, according to the lawsuit. The lawsuit was filed by the Pueblo of Isleta, the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, and the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

A winter storm has dumped heavy snow across northern Arizona, playing a major factor in a more than 15-mile backup on a major interstate. Semitrucks and other vehicles were stalled on Interstate 40 westbound between Flagstaff and Williams for at least an hour late Friday as the sun set. The Arizona Department of Public Safety says the snow along with a two-vehicle crash that caused an injury contributed to the backup. The storm was the biggest of the winter season so far, following a dry stretch that left Flagstaff and many other cities across the West well below normal for precipitation to date.

Utah has sent a bill to its Republican governor that would do away with the state's universal mail-in voting system. The Legislature has approved a proposal requiring voters to opt in to receive their ballots in the mail, meaning they would no longer get them automatically. Voters who want to return their ballots by mail or to a drop box would need to include an ID number. If Gov. Spencer Cox signs the bill into law, it would drastically change the voting system in the only Republican-led state that allows all elections to be conducted by mail without a need to opt in.

Hundreds of thousands of state employees across the U.S. are being ordered back into the office as governors move to shadow President Trump’s mandate for federal workers. The directives in California and Texas have raised more questions than answers as employees navigate concerns around office space and medical exemptions. The two states boast some of the country’s largest state workforces and are expected to affect more than 350,000 employees. Across the country, governors have cited a desire for more efficiency in pivoting away from remote work.

A South Carolina man has been executed by firing squad, becoming the first U.S. prisoner in 15 years to die by this method. Brad Sigmon was pronounced dead at 6:08 p.m. Friday after being shot by three prison employee volunteers with rifles. Sigmon killed his ex-girlfriend’s parents with a baseball bat in their Greenville County home in 2001 in a botched plot to kidnap their daughter. The 67-year-old chose the firing squad because his lawyers said he considered it a better option than the electric chair or lethal injection. He is the first South Carolina prisoner to be executed by bullets.

Hantavirus — blamed in the death of Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa — is a rare virus spread by contact with rodents or their urine or feces. It is found throughout the world, but it doesn't spread between people. It can cause a severe and sometimes deadly lung infection called hantavirus pulmonary syndrome, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The vast majority of cases since then in the U.S. have been in western states, especially the southwest. Between 1993 and 2022 there were 864 reported cases in the U.S.