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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Malaysia’s government has given final approval for a Texas-based marine robotics company to renew the search for Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, which is believed to have crashed in the southern Indian Ocean more than a decade ago.

Cabinet ministers agreed to terms and conditions for a “no-find, no-fee” contract with Texas-based Ocean Infinity to resume the seabed search operation at a new 15,000-square-kilometer (5,800-square-mile) site in the ocean, Transport Minister Anthony Loke said in a statement Wednesday. Ocean Infinity will be paid $70 million only if wreckage is discovered.

The Boeing 777 plane vanished from radar shortly after taking off on March 8, 2014, carrying 239 people, mostly Chinese nationals, on a flight from Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur, to Beijing. Satellite data showed the plane turned from its flight path and headed south to the far-southern Indian Ocean, where it is believed to have crashed.

An expensive multinational search failed to turn up any clues to its location, although debris washed ashore on the east African coast and Indian Ocean islands. A private search in 2018 by Ocean Infinity also found nothing.

The final approval for a new search came three months after Malaysia gave the nod in principle to plans for a fresh search.

Ocean Infinity CEO Oliver Punkett earlier this year reportedly said the company had improved its technology since 2018. He has said the firm is working with many experts to analyze data and had narrowed the search area to the most likely site.

Loke said his ministry will ink a contract with Ocean Infinity soon but didn’t provide details on the terms. The firm has reportedly sent a search vessel to the site and indicated that January-April is the best period for the search.

“The government is committed to continuing the search operation and providing closure for the families of the passengers of flight MH370,” he said in a statement.

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Another storm system affected millions of people in the middle of the U.S. on Wednesday, leaving parts of the Midwest and Great Plains under blizzard conditions and a broad swath of neighboring states at risk of high winds and wildfires.

Roughly 72 million people were under a wind advisory or warning, with winds gusting over 45 mph (72 kph), according to Bryan Jackson, a National Weather Service meteorologist.

At this time of year, cold air lingering in the north collides with warm air from the south to produce strong, low pressure systems, Jackson said. But he added that the latest weather was the third storm system to rapidly develop in recent weeks and bring high winds to a large swath of the U.S., a “very active pattern” since February.

At least 42 people died over the weekend when dynamic storms unleashed tornadoes, blinding dust and wildfires, uprooting trees and flattening hundreds of homes and businesses across eight states in the South and Midwest.
Snow for some

A band from southwestern Kansas to central Wisconsin was expected to bring as little as 2 inches (5 centimeters) of snow or as much as a foot (30 centimeters). Combined with high winds, forecasters warned of whiteout conditions.

The Kansas Department of Transportation temporarily closed more than 250 miles (400 kilometers) of Interstate 70 from the Colorado border east to Salina, Kansas. By Wednesday night, nearly all of it had been reopened due to improved road conditions.

The first stretch to close in western Kansas was also impacted by last week’s high winds when eight people died after a dust storm resulted in a pileup of 71 cars and trucks.

Blizzard conditions early Wednesday led to near-zero visibility in south-central Nebraska, the state patrol said via Facebook, urging people to stay off the roads. There were road closures of more than 160 miles (255 kilometers) of I-80 from Lincoln to Lexington and nearly 70 miles (115 kilometers) of I-29 along the Nebraska-Iowa border. Stalled cars, jackknifed semitrailers, crashes and downed power lines contributed to the chaos.

Around the Iowa-Illinois border, more than an inch of snow was falling per hour, while gusts were as high as 30 mph (48 kph), according to the National Weather Service.

Heavy snow and high winds knocked down tree branches and snapped utility poles. Power was knocked out to more than 140,000 customers in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Indiana, according to PowerOutage.us.

The storm left many with weather whiplash following a springlike Tuesday with temperatures topping 70 degrees Fahrenheit (21 Celsius) in some parts.
High winds and risk of fires

Where it was not snowing, there were still very strong winds. Gusts combined with dry conditions from Texas and Oklahoma through Arkansas and central Missouri raised the wildfire potential.

“Before plants are growing,” Jackson said, “there’s a lot of dry fuel out there.”

The fire threat ramped up Tuesday and persisted Wednesday with renewed risk in parts of Oklahoma still reeling from an outbreak of blazes that started Friday. More than 400 homes were severely damaged or destroyed, and at least four people died due to the fires or high winds, officials said.

The Texas A&M Forest Service reported that it responded to 14 new wildfires Tuesday that burned about 29 square miles (75 square kilometers) across Texas.

The agency responded to a fire of about 3 square miles (8 square kilometers) the following day in San Jacinto County, with just a small fraction of it contained.

One fire near Borger, in the state’s panhandle, cut power, led to evacuations and threatened more than 1,000 late Tuesday, the city said via Facebook.

“Through quick response and collaborative effort from many departments around our region, the fire remained outside of the City limits, and we did not lose any of those 1201 homes,” the city said.

As of Wednesday night, that fire, originally spanning 350 acres (140 hectares), covered an estimated 500 acres (200 hectares) and was 75% contained, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.

Crews also responded to dozens of fires in Arkansas, where winds posed additional risk. Four homes in Little Rock were heavily damaged in the southwest part of the city, Fire Chief Delphone Hubbard said during a news briefing, but no fatalities or injuries were reported.

Mayor Frank Scott urged people to heed a burn ban for Pulaski County, saying, “Please do not do anything reckless or careless, because it could create a loss of life.”

Part of I-530 southeast of Little Rock was shut down because of smoke from a grass fire, but traffic resumed by the evening.

The midsection of the state saw wind gusts as high as 59 mph (95 kph), according to the National Weather Service.

In New Mexico, where massive walls of dust forced highway closures and resulted in power outages Tuesday, forecasters warned of a return of critical fire weather conditions on Thursday.
Tornadoes possible

Severe thunderstorms were possible in central Illinois with risks of hail, strong wind and tornadoes. Much of Illinois and Indiana were forecast to be under slight risk, with lower risk farther south through the Tennessee Valley.

Severe storms brought strong winds to Indiana, and hail and tornadoes threatened part of the state, the National Weather Service said.
Looking ahead — and eastward

Jackson said the storm would send a cold front across the Eastern Seaboard on Thursday with potential heavy snowfall at higher elevations in New England.

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Fingerhut reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writers John Hanna in Topeka, Kansas, Andrew DeMillo in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

LUBBOCK (ABC) — The measles outbreak in western Texas is continuing to grow with 20 additional cases confirmed, bringing the total to 279 cases, according to new state data published Tuesday.

Almost all of the cases are in unvaccinated individuals or in individuals whose vaccination status is unknown, according to the Texas Department of State Health Services (DSHS). Just two cases are among fully vaccinated individuals. At least 36 people have been hospitalized so far, the state said.

In the Texas outbreak, children and teenagers between ages 5 and 17 make up the majority of cases, at 120, followed by children ages 4 and under making up 88 cases, the DSHS data shows.

“Due to the highly contagious nature of this disease, additional cases are likely to occur in the outbreak area and the surrounding communities,” the DSHS said in its update.

The number of measles cases in Texas is close to the number confirmed for the entirety of last year in the U.S., which saw 285 cases nationwide, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Two likely measles deaths have been reported so far in the U.S. this year. The first reported death was in Texas, according to the DSHS. The child did not have any known underlying conditions, according to the department.

The death was the first U.S. measles death recorded in a decade, according to data from the CDC.

A possible second measles death was recorded after an unvaccinated New Mexico resident tested positive for the virus following their death. The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) said the official cause of death is still under investigation.

New Mexico has reported a total of 33 measles cases so far this year, according to the NMDOH. Many of the cases have been confirmed in Lea County, which borders western Texas.

Health officials suspect there may be a connection between the Texas and New Mexico cases, but a link has not yet been confirmed.

The CDC has confirmed 301 measles cases in at least 14 states so far this year, including Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Maryland, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Vermont and Washington, according to new data published Friday.

The majority of nationally confirmed cases are in people who are unvaccinated or whose vaccination status is unknown, the CDC said. Of those cases, 3% are among those who received just one dose of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) inoculation and 2% are among those who received the required two doses, according to the CDC.

The CDC recommends that people receive two doses of the MMR vaccine, the first at ages 12 to 15 months and the second dose between ages 4 and 6 years old.

One dose is 93% effective, and two doses are 97% effective, the CDC says. Most vaccinated adults don’t need a booster, per the health agency.

In the face of the growing measles outbreak, the federal health agency issued an alert on March 7 saying parents in the outbreak area should consider getting their children an early third dose of the MMR vaccine. Texas health officials have also recommended early vaccination for infants living in outbreak areas.

ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud and Sony Salzman contributed to this report.

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AUSTIN (AP) — The Trump administration has moved to dismiss a Biden-era lawsuit against Texas over a state law that would allow local police to arrest migrants who enter the country illegally, days after the administration’s decision to dismiss similar lawsuits against Iowa and Oklahoma.

The Justice Department under the Biden administration had sued Texas over concerns that the law, known as Senate Bill 4, was unconstitutional and sought to supersede federal authority.

Signed by Republican Gov. Greg Abbott in 2023, the law would allow law enforcement to arrest migrants for illegal entry and give judges the authority to order them to leave the country. It took effect for just a few hours last year before a federal appeals court put it on hold.

Abbott signed the bill to challenge the federal government after accusing the Biden administration of failing to enact immigration enforcement.

The Trump administration’s decision shadows its refusal to pursue lawsuits against Iowa and Oklahoma, which enacted similar state immigration laws to allow state and local officials to arrest and charge immigrants in the U.S. illegally.

Texas’ law has been considered the most far-encompassing by legal experts and opponents, allowing police anywhere to carry out immigration enforcement.

Senate Bill 4 was one of many efforts by Abbott during the Biden administration to instill more state control over immigration enforcement, which has included busing tens of thousands of migrants to Democratic-controlled cities and installing giant buoys in the Rio Grande to deter migrants from crossing the river from Mexico.

AUSTIN (AP) – The Texas Senate on Tuesday advanced bills that would require public school classrooms to display the Ten Commandments and allow districts to provide students with time to pray during school hours.

Senators gave final approval to Senate Bill 11, the school prayer bill, on a 23-7 vote. It now heads to the Texas House for consideration. All Republican senators and three Democrats — Royce West of Dallas, Judith Zaffirini of Laredo and Juan Hinojosa of McAllen — voted for the bill.

Lawmakers also gave initial approval to Senate Bill 10, the Ten Commandments bill, on a 20-10 vote. Both proposals are on Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick’s list of priority bills this session.

The votes are the latest sign of confidence by conservative Christians that courts will codify their opposition to church-state separation into federal law and spark a revitalization of faith in America.

That much was clear during the debate on the Senate floor Tuesday. Several Democrats criticized both bills, saying they would infringe on the religious freedoms of Texans who are not Christian.

“I think you’re expanding the role of our public education system to include matters that particularly conservatives have previously said is a private matter,” Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, said of the school prayer bill. The proposal references the Bible but does not specifically name any other religious texts.

Republican Sens. Mayes Middleton of Galveston and Phil King of Weatherford, who authored the bills, expressed confidence that their legislation would survive in the courts. Religious conservatives see recent court rulings as a sign that legislation putting more religion in public schools will survive legal challenges — though critics of these proposals aren’t so convinced.

“Our schools are not God-free zones. We are a state and nation built on ‘In God We Trust,’” Middleton said in a news release following Tuesday’s vote. “Litigious atheists are no longer going to get to decide for everyone else if students and educators exercise their religious liberties during school hours.”

Middleton also thanked President Donald Trump for “making prayer in public schools a top priority.”

Some Texas faith groups have expressed sharp opposition to both bills. In a letter directed to the Texas Legislature on Tuesday, 166 faith leaders in the state — including those from Sikh, Baptist, Jewish and Buddhist communities — called on lawmakers to reject the school prayer bill and similar legislation.

“We do not need to — and indeed should not — turn public schools into Sunday schools,” the letter wrote.

Similar arguments to those made on the Senate floor Tuesday were also echoed during a Senate committee hearing on March 4, as supporters and some lawmakers argued that the legislation would reverse what they see as decades of national, moral decline.

The vote comes amid a broader push by conservative Christians to infuse more religion into public schools and life. In just the last few years, state Republicans have required classrooms to hang donated signs that say “In God We Trust”; allowed unlicensed religious chaplains to supplant mental health counselors in public schools; and approved new curriculum materials that teach the Bible and other religious texts alongside grade-school lessons.

Last month, Texas senators also approved legislation that would allow public taxpayer money to be redirected to private schools, including parochial schools.

Those efforts have come as the Texas GOP increasingly embraces ideologies that argue America’s founding was God-ordained, and its institutions and laws should thus reflect fundamentalist Christians views. Meanwhile, GOP lawmakers and leaders have continually elevated once-fringe claims that the wall between church and state is a myth meant to obscure America’s true, Christian roots. The argument has been popularized by figures such as David Barton, a Texas pastor and self-styled “ amateur historian ” whose work has been frequently debunked by trained historians, many of them also conservative Christians.

Barton and his son, Timothy Barton, were both invited to testify in favor of the bills on the March 4 hearing. Citing old documents and textbooks that mention the Ten Commandments, they argued that Christianity is the basis for American law and morality, and that their inclusion in classrooms would prevent societal ill such as gun violence.

“It used to be there was a very clear moral standard that we could point to,” Timothy Barton testified, calling it “ironic” that children can be arrested for breaking the law — and thus, he said, the Ten Commandments — but that they should not be able to read them in schools.

Other bill supporters and lawmakers said that there was a moral and spiritual imperative to introduce children to Christianity. Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, cited a study that found around 25% of children have been to church.

“It’s absolutely horrific, and something we all need to work on to address,” he said.

Other lawmakers similarly invoked declining Christian participation as a reason to support the bills. “There is eternal life,” said Sen. Donna Campbell, R-New Braunfels. “And if we don’t expose or introduce our children and others to that, then when they die, they’ll have one birth and two deaths.”

Texas is one of 16 states where lawmakers are pursuing bills to require the Ten Commandments in classrooms — pushes that supporters say have been enabled by recent U.S. Supreme Court decisions. In 2019’s Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, for instance, the court ruled in favor of a Washington state football coach, Joe Kennedy, who argued that his employer, a public high school, was violating his religious rights by prohibiting him from leading prayers on the field after games.

Kennedy was among those who testified in support of the Texas bills on March 4. He was joined by Matt Krause, a former state House representative and current lawyer at First Liberty Institute, a Texas-based law firm that represented Kennedy and other high-profile plaintiffs in lawsuits that have allowed for more Christianity in public life.

The Kennedy case, Krause testified, was a “ huge paradigm shift ” that allowed for the Ten Commandments to be in classrooms because of its historical significance to American law and history. Asked about the recent court decision that blocked a similar Louisiana law, Krause said he expected the Texas bill would be upheld if it were taken to the ultraconservative Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals and, after that, the U.S. Supreme Court.

The bills have been strongly opposed by religious history scholars and some Christian groups, who argue that they are based on mischaracterizations of early American history and amount to a coercion of religion upon students. Opponents also say that the Ten Commandments bill diminishes a sacred text by stripping it of its religious nature, and that introducing more Christianity into schools will exacerbate tensions and isolate Texas’ growing number of non-Christian students.

“Since 2021, this Legislature has used its authority to impose increasingly divisive policies onto school districts, banning culturally relevant curriculum, forcing libraries to purge undesirable books and putting teachers into the crosshairs of overzealous critics,” said Jaime Puente of the nonprofit Every Texan. The bills “are two giant pieces of red meat that will further harm our schools.”

Christian opponents also testified that the bills would erode church-state separations — a cause that has historically been championed by Baptists and other denominations that faced intense religious persecution in early America.

“All Baptists are called to protect the separation of church and state,” said Jody Harrison, an ordained minister and leader of Baptist Women in Ministry. “Is it really justice to promote one type of Christianity over all schoolchildren?”

Harrison’s comments were strongly opposed by Campbell, the senator. “The Baptist doctrine is Christ-centered,” she said. “Its purpose is not to go around trying to defend this or that. It is to be a disciple and a witness for Christ. That includes the Ten Commandments. That’s prayer in schools. It is not a fight for separation between church and state.”

LUBBOCK (AP) — A Texas lawmaker is laying the groundwork to create a statewide system that connects all first responders and government agencies to the same network. The proposal comes as a possible solution to fix communication issues the agencies have encountered during emergencies and amid a rash of new wildfires in the state.

State Rep. Ken King, R-Canadian, filed House Bill 13 this month. The bill would create The Texas Interoperability Council, which would be tasked with creating a statewide strategic plan for governing the use of emergency equipment and infrastructure. King filed the bill in response to the devastating wildfires last year that engulfed the Panhandle, when more than 1 million acres burned and three people died. King, who lost part of his property in the fires, said he found communication problems as he led the investigative committee last year.

“The first responder community will tell you it takes three meetings in the middle of a disaster before everybody starts moving in the same direction,” King said in a House committee meeting last week. “When that wildfire is moving 60 miles-per-hour, that’s too long.”

Since the wildfires last year, lawmakers seem ready to mitigate wildfire risk. King and state Sen. Kevin Sparks, R-Midland, filed a package of bills that address the problems uncovered last year. Their bills would put more oversight on unregulated power lines, increase funding for rural volunteer fire departments and create a database of readily available firefighting equipment.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also signaled that wildfire response is one of his priorities for the session. Last week, Sparks filed Senate Bill 34, which now includes his previous bills about wildfire response and creating the Texas Interoperability Council.

In both bills, the governor, lieutenant governor, and speaker of the Texas House of Representatives each would appoint two members to the council, which would be led by the chief of the Texas Division of Emergency Management. The members would serve staggered six-year terms, with the last term ending on Sept. 1, 2031.

TDEM Chief Nim Kidd called the bill the boldest move he has seen in his career. Kidd, who started his career 33 years ago when he joined the volunteer fire department in La Vernia, told lawmakers he often paid for his own equipment and training. He mentioned that when he worked for the San Antonio Fire Department, the police, fire and EMS crews were responding to the same incident on three different radio channels that were all labeled the same.

A network that connects all first responders and state agencies is important, he said, as several agencies respond to the same incident but aren’t able to talk to each other.

“This council will set up an organization structure to bring in over 50 independent operators of radio systems on to the same place,” Kidd said.

This month has been a test of preparedness. As the committee discussed the bills, most of Texas was under wildfire risk. A combination of weather conditions — including hurricane-force winds and drought — hit the Panhandle and South Plains. Gov. Greg Abbott directed the TDEM to ready state emergency response resources.

Jordan Ghawi, a reserve firefighter and a leader for the state emergency medical task force, testified in favor of HB 13. Ghawi told lawmakers he has been deployed to numerous disasters, including the Robb Elementary shooting in Uvalde and hurricanes. He said in every response, the lack of communication and interoperability has been a problem.

“When seconds matter,” Gwahi said, “the ability for our first responders, whether its law enforcement, fire, EMS or state agencies to communicate seamlessly can mean the difference between life and death, or property preservation or property loss.

The bill states the strategic plan must include plans to develop any necessary communication infrastructure and training programs. It must also have a plan to make sure first responders have communication equipment that is interoperable with other equipment, and another plan to ensure any new emergency equipment and infrastructure can be integrated into the existing equipment.

The council would also administer a grant program to assist local governments in getting emergency communication equipment that connects them with other emergency responders and the emergency infrastructure in the state. The grant also would go toward building more emergency communication infrastructure in the state.

Two wildfires erupted in the Panhandle over the weekend. The Windmill Fire in Roberts County was still active Tuesday, but firefighters had it almost completely contained after burning more than 23,000 acres. Several small fires popped up around the state, as well, including the Crabapple Fire outside Fredericksburg. After burning nearly 10,000 acres, firefighters had the fire 90% contained Tuesday night. Firefighters also were battling another blaze late Tuesday night that started in Dallam County, which is near the Texas-Oklahoma border. Texas A&M Forest Service reported it had burned 15,000 acres and was 50% contained. The fire’s forward progression also had stopped.

A Texas 2036 study with state climatologist John Nielsen-Gammon found that the wildfire season — late winter and early spring — is expected to get longer. The study also states that while almost all of the wildfires occur in the western half of the state, other portions of the state will likely be susceptible to wildfire risk.