DEATH VALLEY NATIONAL PARK, Calif. (AP) — As uninviting as it sounds, Death Valley National Park beckons. Even as temperatures are forecast to climb even higher, potentially topping records amid a major U.S. heat wave, tourists are arriving at this infamous desert landscape on the California-Nevada border. Daniel Jusehus snapped a photo earlier this week of a famed thermometer outside the aptly named Furnace Creek Visitor Center after challenging himself to a run in the sweltering heat.

NEW YORK (AP) — A suspect has been taken into custody on New York's Long Island in connection with a long-unsolved string of killings, known as the Gilgo Beach murders, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press on Friday. The case has drawn immense public attention since human remains were found along a New York beach highway more than a decade ago.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — After a historically wet winter and a cloudy spring, California's summer was in full swing Thursday as a heat wave that's been scorching much of the U.S. Southwest brings triple-digit temperatures and an increased risk of wildfires.

CHICAGO (AP) — A tornado touched down Wednesday evening near Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, prompting passengers to take shelter and disrupting hundreds of flights. There were no immediate reports of injuries. A confirmed tornado was on the ground around 7 p.m., according to the National Weather Service in Chicago.

HIGHLAND, Ill. (AP) — A Greyhound passenger bus crashed into three tractor-trailers parked along a highway exit to a rest area early Wednesday in southern Illinois, killing three people and injuring 14 others, some seriously, state police said. The bus was traveling westbound along Interstate 70 in Madison County around 1:55 a.m. when it crashed into the three semis, Illinois State Police said, citing an initial investigation.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Iowa’s legislature passed a bill banning most abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy during a marathon special session Tuesday that continued late into the night. Gov. Kim Reynolds immediately said in a statement she would sign the bill on Friday.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — The Webb Space Telescope is marking one year of cosmic photographs with one of its best yet: the dramatic close-up of dozens of stars at the moment of birth. NASA unveiled the latest snapshot Wednesday, revealing 50 baby stars in a cloud complex 390 light-years away. The region is relatively quiet yet full of illuminated gases, jets of hydrogen and even dense cocoons of dust with the delicate beginnings of even more stars.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten walked out of a California prison Tuesday after serving 53 years of a life sentence for her participation in two infamous murders. The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said Van Houten “was released to parole supervision.”

ANDOVER, Vt. (AP) — A storm that dumped up to two months of rain in two days in Vermont and other parts of the Northeast brought more flooding Tuesday to communities marooned by water, including the state capital, where officials kept watch on a dam just upstream.

GENOA, Neb. (AP) — Amid a renewed push for answers, archeologists planned to resume digging Tuesday at the remote site of a former Native American boarding school in central Nebraska, searching for the remains of children who died there decades ago. The search for a hidden cemetery near the former Genoa Indian Industrial School in Nebraska gained renewed interest after the discovery of hundreds of children’s remains at Native American boarding school sites in the U.S. and Canada since 2021, said Dave Williams, the state's archeologist who's digging at the site with teammates this week.

ANDOVER, Vt. (AP) — A storm that left up to two months' worth of rain in Vermont and saturated other parts of the Northeast was moving out Tuesday, but more flooding was expected after already cutting off access to some communities, including the main approach to the state capital.

LONG BEACH, Calif. (AP) — A pilot escaped with only minor injuries after a single-engine plane crashed nose-first into the roof of a hangar Monday at a Southern California airport, authorities said. The crash happened around 2:30 p.m. while the pilot of the Cessna 172 was “practicing landings and takeoffs" at Long Beach Airport, south of Los Angeles, the Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Disgraced sports doctor Larry Nassar, who was convicted of sexually abusing Olympic and college female gymnasts, was stabbed multiple times by another inmate at a federal prison in Florida that is experiencing staffing shortages. The attack happened Sunday at United States Penitentiary Coleman, and Nassar was in stable condition on Monday, two people familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

ROLLING HILLS ESTATES, Calif. (AP) — A dozen homes torn apart by earth movement on Southern California's Palos Verdes Peninsula during the weekend were likely to fall into an adjacent canyon, an official said. The homes in the Los Angeles County city of Rolling Hills Estates were hastily evacuated by firefighters on Saturday when cracks began appearing in structures and the ground.

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — An electrical malfunction in a ceiling fan sparked a fast-moving fire that severely damaged an historic market building in Pennsylvania's capital city early Monday, authorities said. No injuries were reported in the fire at the Broad Street Market in Harrisburg was reported about 1 a.m. but was brought under control a short time later.

NEW YORK (AP) — Heavy rain washed out roads and forced evacuations in the Northeast on Monday as more downpours were forecast throughout the day. One person in New York drowned as she was trying to leave her home. The slow-moving storm reached New England in the morning after hitting parts of New York and Connecticut.

CLEVELAND (AP) — An early morning shooting in a nightclub area of downtown Cleveland sent nine people to the hospital, but no fatalities were reported, authorities said. Police said preliminary information indicated someone opened fire toward a group of people in the Warehouse District shortly before 2:30 a.m. Sunday as the clubs were closing. The suspect apparently fled.

HUDSON VALLEY, N.Y. (AP) — Heavy rain sparked extreme flooding in New York's Hudson Valley that killed at least one person, swamped roadways and forced road closures on Sunday night. The National Weather Service issued flash flood warnings across parts of southeastern New York, describing it as “life-threatening.”

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden's administration has decided to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine and is expected to announce on Friday that the Pentagon will send thousands of them as part of a new military aid package worth up to $800 million for the war effort against Russia, according to people familiar with the decision.

SEATTLE (AP) — A passenger aboard an Alaska Airlines flight from Atlanta to Seattle Wednesday is accused of making a bomb threat that caused pilots to land the plane in Spokane, Washington. Documents filed in U.S. District Court said Brandon Scott, 38, faces a false information and hoaxes charge, The Seattle Times reported.

HOUSTON (AP) — A Texas man who was reported missing as a teenager in 2015 returned home the next day but he and his mother deceived officers by giving false names over the ensuing eight years, police said Thursday. Houston police detectives said prosecutors have declined to bring false report charges against Janie Santana and her son, Rudolph “Rudy” Farias IV, but that their investigation is continuing.

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Two firefighters were killed and five others injured battling a blaze that began deep inside a docked cargo ship carrying more than a thousand vehicles, officials said Thursday. Responding firefighters found five to seven vehicles already on fire when they reached the 10th floor of the cargo ship at Port Newark around 9:30 p.m. Wednesday night.

NEW YORK (AP) — Two swimmers were apparently attacked by sharks off the shores of Long Island on Tuesday, a day after two others reported being attacked while enjoying the water at popular New York beaches. At least one beach delayed opening to holiday revelers Tuesday, after officials said drones spotted some 50 sand sharks that morning near a popular beach park. When the beach reopened, swimmers were advised to stay close to shore.

BOSTON (AP) — Revelers across the U.S. braved heat and heavy rain to take part in Fourth of July activities Tuesday — celebrating the nation's founding with parades, fireworks and hot dog eating contests at a time of lingering political divisions and concerns about the country's future.

HILTON HEAD ISLAND, S.C. (AP) — A South Carolina woman died Tuesday after she was attacked by an alligator while walking her dog near a golf course, authorities said.