Russia probe:

After revelation, Democrat urges committee chairman to step aside in investigation by House.

Supreme Court nominee: Senate Democrats on Monday forced a oneweek delay in a committee vote on President Trump’s Supreme Court nominee, who remains on track for confirmation with solid Republican backing. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said that, as expected, Democrats have requested a postponement. The committee vote on Judge Neil Gorsuch now will be held April 3.

Officer killed: A 22-year-old officer died Monday after a shootout with a man who fled a traffic stop in central Oklahoma, police said. Officer Justin Terney, a new recruit, was shot several times late Sunday and died after undergoing surgery overnight, Tecumseh Assistant Police Chief J.R. Kidney said. The man who fired on Terney was also shot multiple times and was in intensive care, Kidney said. He was not immediately identified.

Executions: The eight inmates facing lethal injection in Arkansas next month asked a federal judge on Monday to block the state’s unprecedented plan to conduct four days of double executions. Attorneys for the inmates sought a preliminary injunction to halt the executions, which are scheduled to begin April 17, arguing that the use of the controversial sedative midazolam and the rushed schedule violates their clients’ constitutional rights. Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson last month scheduled the executions to occur before the state’s supply of midazolam expires at the end of April.

Suspect escapes: San Bernardino County sheriff ’s deputies searched Monday for a suspect who slipped out of handcuffs and escaped from the back seat of a patrol car. Charles Brown, 31, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of transporting narcotics. He was taken to the Victorville Police Department to be interviewed, but before he could be brought inside he managed to wriggle out of the cuffs and get out of the car, according to a sheriff ’s department statement.

Zoo deaths: Officials say an “environmental cause” and not disease appears to be behind the recent deaths of 33 reptiles, nearly all of them snakes, at Zoo Knoxville in Tennessee. The animals found dead last week were all housed in the same building. Surviving animals were removed and given oxygen. An exact cause is still under investigation.

Parents charged: Authorities say a couple left their three young children, including an infant, alone in a suburban Rochester, N.Y., mall for hours while the parents went to work inside the shopping center. A 39-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman brought the children ages 8, 6 and 1 month to the Eastview Mall on Saturday, the sheriff ’s office said. The parents left the children unsupervised on a bench for more than six hours while they went to their maintenance jobs, deputies said. Mall security was notified and called the sheriff ’s office. Both parents were issued courtappearance tickets for endangering the welfare of a child.

Chronicle News Services