55 PERCENT OF PUERTO RICO HAS POWER

Puerto Rico authorities said Friday that nearly half of power customers in the U.S. territory still lack electricity more than three months after Hurricane Maria. Officials said 55 percent of the nearly 1.5 million customers have power, marking the first time the government has provided that statistic since the Category 4 storm hit on Sept. 20 with winds of up to 154 mph.

Random drawing set to break Virginia tie.

As Democrats and Republicans continued partisan sniping Friday over a House seat that could determine the balance of power in the Virginia House of Delegates, state elections officials moved to break the deadlock by scheduling a random drawing to pick the winner.

The Virginia Board of Elections said it will pick the winner’s name in the Newport News-based 94th District next Thursday, unless a recount court decides to intervene.

Police probing whether prank led to death.

Police and the FBI are investigating whether an argument over an online game prompted a prank call that led to a house where an officer shot and killed a Kansas man who apparently wasn’t involved in the dispute.

Police say the death Thursday in Wichita, Kan., may have been the result of a practice called “swatting,” in which a person makes up a false report to get a SWAT team to descend on an address.

California wildfire refuses to die.

A smoldering log rolled downhill Friday morning within the Thomas fire’s western flank and ignited a patch of unburned vegetation, sending plumes of black smoke into the air, said U.S. Forest Service public information officer Jim Mackensen.

The flames spread near Gibraltar Road, a windy mountain pass loaded with million-dollar homes surrounded by grass, bushes and trees. No homes were immediately in danger but crews weren’t taking any chances, Mackensen said. The fire started Dec. 4 and has burned 281,893 acres.

Man tries to electrocute pregnant wife.

PALM

A Florida man is accused of rigging the front door of a home in an attempt to electrocute his estranged pregnant wife.

Officials said 32-year-old Michael Scott Wilson was arrested Thursday in Knoxville, Tenn., and charged with attempted aggravated battery on a pregnant woman and grand theft of a firearm.

Singer demands apology from Lewandowski.

Singer Joy Villa says she wants an apology from Corey Lewandowski for hitting her twice on her buttocks during a Washington gathering last fall. And she’s defending herself against a video that shows her slapping another man’s buttocks at a separate event.

Villa is a Trump supporter and potential congressional candidate who wore a dress displaying Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan to the Grammys. Lewandowski was Trump’s campaign manager until being fired in June 2016.

Villa tells ABC’s “Good Morning America” that she has apologized to the man she hit.

Lewandowski has told Fox Business that “due process” was underway and would “determine a person’s innocence.”