Criminal charges say that a Minnesota state senator told police she broke into her stepmother’s home because her stepmother refused to give her items of sentimental value from her late father, including his ashes. Democratic Sen. Nicole Mitchell of Woodbury was arrested early Monday at the home in Detroit Lakes. The arresting officer said he heard Mitchell tell her stepmother she was trying to get some of her dad’s things because the stepmother had cut off contact. The complaint, filed Tuesday, charges the former broadcast meteorologist with one count of first-degree burglary. Court records don't list an attorney for her.

A former MIT researcher has been sentenced to 35 years in prison for the killing of a Yale University graduate student in Connecticut. Qinxuan Pan apologized for his actions Tuesday during a hearing in a New Haven courtroom packed with family and friends of the victim, Kevin Jiang. Pan pleaded guilty to murder in February. Jiang was shot multiple times after leaving his fiancée's apartment in New Haven in February 2021. The motive was never made clear. Police say Pan and Jiang's fiancee had met when they both attended MIT, but she said they were never romantically involved.

Satellite photos analyzed by The Associated Press appear to show a new compound of tents being built near Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip as the Israeli military continues to signal it plans an offensive targeting the city of Rafah. This tent construction is near Khan Younis, which has been targeted by repeated Israeli military operations over recent weeks, but Israel has said it plans to evacuate civilians from Rafah during an anticipated offensive on the southern city, where hundreds of thousands of people have taken refuge during the war, now in its seventh month. On Monday, a failed rocket strike was launched at a base housing U.S.-led coalition forces in Syria, a U.S. defense official said.

Israeli police said a car slammed into pedestrians in Jerusalem, wounding three people lightly. Also Monday, Israeli authorities said they had arrested a suspect in the killing of a 14-year-old Jewish West Bank settler. The teen’s disappearance earlier this month sparked rampages by Israeli settlers in a number of Palestinian communities. At least one Palestinian man was killed, Palestinian health officials said, and dozens were injured in the rampages and in confrontations with the settlers. Palestinians have carried out periodic attacks on Israeli cities and towns since the country’s war against Hamas began on Oct. 7, while violence has surged in the West Bank.

As President Joe Biden and Donald Trump step up their campaigning in swing states, a quieter battle is taking place in the shadows of their White House rematch. The Republican National Committee, newly reconstituted under Trump, has filed lawsuits in nearly half the states targeting voting and various aspects of election administration. It's not a new strategy. But with recent internal changes at the RNC and added pressure from Trump, the legal maneuvering is expected to play an increasingly significant role for the party as Election Day in November approaches. The lawsuits are useful for campaign messaging, fundraising and raising doubts about the validity of the election.

Former first lady Melania Trump is making a political comeback during the presidential campaign of her husband, former President Donald Trump. Melania Trump will appear at the Log Cabin Republicans event Saturday in Mar-a-Lago, the home she lives in with her husband in Palm Beach. The conservative gay rights group had previously awarded Melania Trump with its Spirit of Lincoln award in 2021. The Saturday event with Melania Trump will be closed to the press, and it would be her first major political event this year.

The White House says it's getting ready to welcome 40,000 people for its annual Easter Egg Roll. The egg-stravaganza was first held on the lawn in 1878. Guests this year will include thousands of military and veteran families, their caregivers and survivors. Members of the general public claimed tickets through an online public lottery. Monday's events will be held on the South Lawn and the Ellipse and will have an “egg-ucation” component to fit with Jill Biden's theme. The first lady is a career educator who still teaches English and writing at a northern Virginia community college.