A murderer who escaped from a Pennsylvania jail and was captured two weeks later told authorities he had been planning to carjack someone and flee to Canada or Puerto Rico, a law enforcement official said Thursday. Interviewed at a state police barracks hours after his capture Wednesday morning, Danelo Cavalcante, 34, revealed to investigators he planned to get a car in an effort to slip a tightening law enforcement perimeter, Deputy U.S. Marshal Robert Clark told The Associated Press.

LEOMINSTER, Mass. (AP) — Hurricane Lee looks poised to wallop New England later this week even as the region still deals with the impact of days of wild weather that produced torrential rain, flooding, sinkholes and a likely tornado. A hurricane watch stretches from Stonington, Maine to the U.S.-Canadian border, where hurricane conditions, heavy rainfall and coastal flooding are possible Friday night and Saturday, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday night.

LEOMINSTER, Mass. (AP) — Parts of New England already soaked with rain were expecting more precipitation on Wednesday, as residents in Massachusetts and Rhode Island spent the day cleaning up the flood damage while bracing for Hurricane Lee as it barreled north toward the region. Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey issued a state of emergency Tuesday night following the “catastrophic flash flooding and property damage” in two counties and other communities.

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A federal judge has blocked part of a public health order that suspended the right to carry guns in public across New Mexico’s largest metro area, with criticism mounting and political divides widening over the Democratic governor’s action. The ruling Wednesday by U.S. District Judge David Urias marks a setback for Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — A murderer who brazenly escaped from a Pennsylvania jail was captured Wednesday in the woods by a team of tactical officers, bringing an end to an intensive search that terrified residents as the fugitive broke into homes for food, changed his appearance, and stole a van and rifle during two weeks on the run.

LEOMINSTER, Mass. (AP) — Heavy rainfall has flooded parts of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, with one city declaring a state of emergency as water poured into homes, creating moats around their foundations and leading to boat rescues of residents. Concern about a dam listed in poor condition led to more evacuations.

POTTSTOWN, Pa. (AP) — Escaped murderer Danelo Souza Cavalcante stole a rifle from a garage and fled a homeowner's gunfire, authorities said Tuesday as police closed roads in a rural stretch of southeastern Pennsylvania, told residents to lock their doors and set up a new search area in the nearly 2-week-old manhunt.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Community leaders along the Mississippi River worried that dry southwestern states will someday try to take the river's water may soon take their first step toward blocking such a diversion. Mayors from cities along the river are expected to vote on whether to support a new compact among the river’s 10 states at this week's annual meeting of the Mississippi River Cities and Towns Initiative, according to its executive director Colin Wellenkamp.

Some of the most high-profile urban areas in the U.S. gained population on Tuesday. But it's not because of a sudden flood of moving trucks into Atlanta, New Orleans and San Francisco. Rather, the U.S. Census Bureau corrected errors made in the population and housing counts of urban areas that were officially released in December, according to a Federal Register notice published Tuesday.

SOUTH COVENTRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. — Residents of a suburban Philadelphia community locked themselves in their houses and at least one school district canceled classes as authorities indicated they were closing in on an escaped murderer who has evaded capture in the region for nearly two weeks.

NEW YORK (AP) — With tolling bells, personal tributes and tears, Americans looked back Monday on 9/11 at anniversary observances that stretched from ground zero to small towns. People gathered at memorials, firehouses, city halls, campuses and elsewhere to observe the 22nd anniversary of the deadliest terror attack on U.S. soil.

PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. (AP) — Authorities say an escaped murderer who has eluded capture since breaking out of a southeastern Pennsylvania prison a week and a half ago slipped out of the search area, changed his appearance, stole a dairy delivery van, abandoning it miles away and remained at large.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Michael White had only recently arrived in a grim Iranian jail when a curious fellow prisoner, an English-speaking Iranian, approached him in the courtyard for a conversation. The American did not reveal much at first, but it was the beginning of an unlikely friendship between White, a Navy veteran imprisoned on spying charges he says were unfounded, and Mahdi Vatankhah, a young Iranian political activist whose positions on social issues had drawn his government's ire.

ATLANTA (AP) — Hurricane Lee is rewriting old rules of meteorology, leaving experts astonished at how rapidly it grew into a goliath Category 5 hurricane. Lee could also be a dreadful harbinger of what is to come as ocean temperatures climb, spawning fast-growing major hurricanes that could threaten communities farther north and farther inland, experts say.

WORCESTER, Mass. (AP) — The maker of an extremely spicy tortilla chip sold as the One Chip Challenge and popularized as a dare on social media is pulling the product after the family of a Massachusetts teenager blamed the stunt for his death. The cause of Harris Wolobah's death last Friday hasn't been determined and an autopsy was still pending as of Thursday, but the 14-year-old's family blames the challenge.

CROSS CITY, Fla. (AP) — An elderly man who was cleaning debris from Hurricane Idalia in north Florida when a tree fell on him has been declared the state's third death from the Category 3 storm, officials said Thursday. The 90-year-old man died Tuesday in Dixie County after a tree fell on a tractor he was operating, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A federal judge has dealt another serious setback to the proposed Twin Metals copper-nickel mine near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in northeastern Minnesota, dismissing the company's lawsuit that sought to regain the critical mineral rights leases that the Biden administration cancelled.

WEST CHESTER, Pa. (AP) — A murderer made a brazen escape from a suburban Philadelphia jail yard by scaling a wall, climbing over razor wire and jumping from a roof in a breakout that wasn’t detected by guards for a full hour, authorities said Wednesday as the killer eluded a widening manhunt for a seventh day. The timeline and details of Danelo Cavalcante's escape — including that he got out using the same route another prisoner took in May — were released as police from various agencies flooded a search zone of increasingly worried residents.

BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) — A high school football coach in Washington state who won his job back after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled he could pray on the field resigned Wednesday after just one game back. Assistant Bremerton High School coach Joe Kennedy made the announcement on his website, citing several reasons, including that he needed to care for an ailing family member out of state. He had been living full-time in Florida before the football season started last Friday.

ANCHORAGE, ALaska (AP) — A pair of Alaska teachers needed good news after they lost nearly all their possessions when their house collapsed into a river swollen by a glacial-outburst flood and their cat went missing. Elizabeth Wilkins was holding onto hope that if any animal would survive the house falling into the Mendenhall River on Aug. 5, it would be Leo, the couple’s resilient big-eyed, black-and-white cat who shows no fear of bears.

GOODHUE, Minnesota (AP) — As Goodhue Police Chief Josh Smith struggled this summer to fill vacancies in his small department, he warned the town's City Council that unless pay and benefits improved, finding new officers would never happen. When nothing changed, Smith quit. So did his few remaining officers, leading the Minnesota town of 1,300 residents to shutter its police force in late August.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden will award the Medal of Honor on Tuesday to a Vietnam War Army helicopter pilot who risked his life by flying into heavy enemy fire to save four members of a reconnaissance team from almost certain death as they were about to be overrun. Biden is recognizing retired Capt. Larry Taylor of Tennessee at the White House.

WASHINGTON (AP) — First lady Jill Biden tested positive for COVID-19 Monday but is experiencing only mild symptoms, her spokeswoman said. President Joe Biden was tested for the virus following his wife's positive test, but his results were negative. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the president would continue testing regularly and would be monitored for symptoms.

Rosenberg, TX (AP) — A driver plowed through a wall of a busy East Texas restaurant, injuring 23 people. Police in the Houston suburb of Rosenberg, Texas said a man crashed his SUV into a Denny's restaurant just off the highway late Monday morning. The vehicle slammed into the restaurant's south wall leaving patrons with injuries ranging from minor cuts to “severe injuries” that don't appear to be life-threatening, police said in a statement. Victims ranged in age from 12 to 60 years old.

DENVER (AP) — A fancy-looking French angelfish that was found one day with a funny float has its buoyancy back after taking some time out of its tropical trappings to get a CT scan at the Denver Zoo. A zoo worker recently noticed the blue and yellow fish was swimming with a tilt, prompting a visit last week to the facility's on-site hospital for an ultrasound and the CT scan.