QUICK HITS

1 Transgender sports ban approved: Transgender females in West Virginia would be banned from competing in female sports in middle schools, high schools and colleges under a bill that narrowly won state Senate approval Thursday. After 90 minutes of debate, the Senate passed the bill on an 18-15 vote.

Decision delayed: A federal judge 2 has issued a 10-day continuance, delaying a decision on whether the Dakota Access Oil pipeline should be shut down while the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conducts an environmental review on the project. Lawyers for the pipeline asked for more time to outline the effects of recent changes in the economy.

Protesters undeterred: Police 3 in Northern Ireland deployed water cannons for the first time in six years Thursday as they tried to disperse protesters during another night of violence in Belfast. The violence erupted last week as tensions simmered between the Protestant and Catholic communities in Northern Ireland over COVID-19 lockdown restrictions that have limited socializing and post-brexit trade rules that have both economic and political ramifications.

4 Official to step down: Roberta Jackson, the top White House official leading efforts to address the migrant crisis at the U.S.Mexico border, will leave her post at the end of April, the White House announced Friday.

5 Release refused: A federal judge Friday refused to release an ex-army captain imprisoned for decades for the murders of his wife and two young daughters, deciding he lacked authority to consider Jeffrey Macdonald’s request. Macdonald was convicted in 1979 for the 1970 slayings of his pregnant wife and two young children at their home at Fort Bragg in North Carolina.