It was supposed to be a fun road trip to Mexico for a group of childhood friends.

A letter claiming to be from the Mexican drug cartel blamed for abducting four Americans and killing two of them condemns the violence and says the gang turned its own members who were responsible over to authorities.

Kendall Nunamaker and her family of five in Kennewick, Washington, faced impossible math this month: how do they pay for gas, groceries and their mortgage with inflation driving up prices.

Oregon knocked off a top-five team for the second time in two games, beating No. 5 Southern California 79-69 behind Will Richardson’s career-high 28 points.

Jacob Young scored a season-high 23 points and Oregon edged No. 3 UCLA 84-81 in overtime to give coach Dana Altman his 700th career victory.

Questions about whether inmates' midsections trembled as media witnesses described were a focus of litigation throughout the run of executions. The discrepancies could increase pressure on Biden to declare his administration won't execute any of the roughly 50 federal inmates still on death row. Activists want him to go further by backing a bill abolishing the federal death penalty. Manufacturers were no longer willing to supply the combination of drugs used in three federal executions from 2001 to 2003, explaining they didn't want drugs meant to save lives to be used for killing. Federal Bureau of Prisons attorney Rick Winter said in response that neither he nor anyone in a government witness room heard that.

(AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File)WASHINGTON – The interim warden appointed to run the federal jail where Jeffrey Epstein died was put in the position after serving as the executioner for at least five federal executions at the end of the Trump administration. The federal Bureau of Prisons named Eric Williams as the interim warden at the Metropolitan Correctional Center in New York City in late January after the prior warden, Marti Licon-Vitale, abruptly stepped down. He was previously the warden of a medium-security federal prison in Illinois. During the executions, Williams, wearing black gloves, stood directly next to the inmates as they were strapped to a gurney. AdWilliams joined the Bureau of Prisons in 2003 as a correctional officer at a prison in Texas and most recently served as the warden at FCI Greenville in Illinois.

Oregon forward Eugene Omoruyi (2) shoots a free throw against Missouri during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2020 in Omaha, Neb. 21 Oregon, validating coach Cuonzo Martin's belief that a Tigers team that returned four starters is poised to move up in the Southeastern Conference. Xavier Pinson scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half and Missouri overcame a mid-game lull and late Oregon flurry to beat the Ducks 83-75 on Wednesday night. He and Martin squared off in Missouri Valley Conference games in the building from 2008-10 when Martin coached Missouri State. Oregon plays Seton Hall in Omaha on Friday.