F-16 FIGHTER CRASHES INTO WAREHOUSE

» Authorities say , . an F-16 fighter jet has crashed into a warehouse just outside of Southern California’s March Air Reserve Base.

Maj. Perry Covington, director of public affairs at the base, says the pilot ejected before the crash Thursday and was not hurt.

Television news shows a large hole in the roof of the building east of Los Angeles. Covington said there were no injuries on the ground.

Five more states sue Purdue Pharma over opioid crisis.

Five states announced Thursday that they are taking legal action against Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family who control the drug company, accusing them of deceptively pushing painkillers and misrepresenting the drugs’ safety as the pills sparked the opioid crisis.

Attorneys general of West Virginia, Maryland, Kansas, Iowa and Wisconsin took part in the coordinated effort against the manufacturer of the powerful narcotic OxyContin. All but Kansas targeted at least one member of the Sackler family, former Purdue President Richard Sackler, and Maryland named seven family members but not the company in an administrative filing.

EPA watchdog suggests agency recover $124,000 in Pruitt’s “excessive” travel expenses.

» The Environmental WASHINGTO N Protection Agency should consider recovering nearly $124,000 of improper travel expenses by former EPA chief Scott Pruitt, the agency’s inspector general recommended Thursday.

The findings, issued nearly a year after Pruitt resigned amid controversy over his spending, travel and ties to lobbyists and outside groups, highlight the fiscal impact of his penchant for high-end travel and accommodations. Investigators concluded that 40 trips Pruitt took or scheduled during a 10-month period, between March 1 and Dec. 31, 2017, cost taxpayers $985,037.

The bulk of those expenses were for Pruitt’s round-the-clock security detail, which billed $428,896 in travel costs. The agency spent an additional $339,894 on staffers traveling with the former administrator. The “questioned amount” the inspector general’s office identifies for possible recovery is the $123,941 that taxpayers spent on flying Pruitt and a security agent in first- or business-class, instead of coach.

Rosen confirmed by Senate as Justice Department’s new No. 2.

The Senate on Thursday confirmed Jeffrey Rosen to be the new deputy attorney general, succeeding Rod J. Rosenstein, whose Justice Department tenure was marked by tension with Congress and the White House over the special counsel investigation into President Donald Trump.

Rosen, who has been serving as deputy secretary of transportation, becomes the Justice Department’s No. 2 official. Lawmakers voted along party lines, 52-45, to confirm him.

During his confirmation hearing last month, Rosen declined to promise Democrats that Congress would receive the redacted portions of special counsel Robert Mueller’s report cataloguing the findings on Russian interference in the 2016 election and possible obstruction of justice by the president.

» Officials in South Florida say they are preparing for an influx of immigrants being sent by the federal government as the number of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border grows rapidly.

Broward County Mayor Mark Bogen said Thursday that officials in his community and neighboring Palm Beach County were alerted by the federal government that more than a 100 immigrants would be sent weekly to each of the two counties by plane starting in about two weeks.

— Denver Post wire services