AP News in Brief at 9:04 p.m. EST

Lawmakers see boost for immigration deal after Trump remarks

WASHINGTON (AP) — Backed by the White House, Democratic and Republican lawmakers dug into a politically fraught search for compromise on immigration Wednesday, seeking to take advantage of a window of opportunity opened by President Donald Trump. They’re under pressure to find a breakthrough before a deadline next week that could lead to a government shutdown neither side wants.

Democrats want urgent action to stave off deportation of some 800,000 immigrants currently protected by an Obama-era program called Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA. Trump still wants his border wall, though he’s toned down what that means. Conservatives are watching with a wary eye, fearing he will strike a soft compromise that could infuriate their — and his — political base heading into this year’s elections.

The No. 2 lawmakers of each of Capitol Hill’s quadrants of power — Republicans and Democrats in both House and Senate — touched gloves Wednesday afternoon, deputized for action at what appears to be a moment of genuine opportunity to break Washington gridlock.

“Everybody wants to find a deal there, myself included,” said Republican Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, chairman of the stoutly conservative House Freedom Caucus. “It better be good, because that particular issue is really one of the issues that got this president elected. He can’t afford to make a mistake.”

The Democrats talk most about DACA, the program protecting immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and are now here illegally. Many have only known America as their home and are viewed sympathetically in opinion polls and among most lawmakers.

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17 dead in California mudslides, more than a dozen missing

MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — Anxious family members awaited word on loved ones Wednesday as rescue crews searched for more than a dozen people missing after mudslides in Southern California destroyed an estimated 100 houses, swept away cars and left at least 17 victims dead.

“It’s just waiting and not knowing, and the more I haven’t heard from them — we have to find them,” said Kelly Weimer, whose elderly parents’ home was wrecked by the torrent of mud, trees and boulders that flowed down a fire-scarred mountain and slammed into the coastal town of Montecito in Santa Barbara County early Tuesday.

The drenching storm that triggered the disaster had cleared out, giving way to sunny skies, as hundreds of searchers carefully combed a landscape strewn with hazards.

“We’ve gotten multiple reports of rescuers falling through manholes that were covered with mud, swimming pools that were covered up with mud,” said Anthony Buzzerio, a Los Angeles County fire battalion chief. “The mud is acting like a candy shell on ice cream. It’s crusty on top but soft underneath, so we’re having to be very careful.”

Buzzerio led a team of 14 firefighters and six dogs in thick debris. They used long-handled tools to search the muck in the painstaking task.

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10 Things to Know for Thursday

Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about Thursday:

1. WHERE COMPROMISE IS IN THE AIR

A bipartisan group of lawmakers, backed by the White House, reaches for a deal on a tangle of spending and immigration issues.

2. TRUMP SEES LITTLE NEED TO TALK TO MUELLER

The president says it “seems unlikely” that he’ll give an interview in the special counsel’s investigation into potential co-ordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.

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Dems say Trump action on Florida drilling guided by politics

WASHINGTON (AP) — Opposition to the Trump administration’s plan to expand offshore drilling mounted Wednesday as Democrats from coastal states accused President Donald Trump of punishing states with Democratic leaders and a second Republican governor asked to withdraw his state from the plan.

Democrats said Trump and Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke were being hypocritical by agreeing to a request by Florida’s Republican governor to withdraw from the drilling plan, but not making the same accommodation to states with Democratic governors.

Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff of California said on Twitter that his state, “like Florida, has hundreds of miles of beautiful coastline and a governor who wants to keep it that way. Or is that not enough for blue states?”

“If local voices matter why haven’t they excluded Virginia?” asked Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va. “Is it because the governor of Florida is a Republican and the Virginia governor is a Democrat?”

The complaints came as South Carolina’s Republican governor said Wednesday he is seeking an exemption from the proposed drilling expansion, a move that will test the relationship between Trump and one of his earliest supporters.

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Louisiana teacher speaks out after arrest at board meeting

ABBEVILLE, La. (AP) — The Louisiana teacher who was ejected from a school board meeting and handcuffed after speaking out about salaries — a video-recorded arrest that sparked outrage — said Wednesday her treatment was appalling and encouraged others to speak out.

The fallout from Deyshia Hargrave’s arrest Monday night was wide-ranging, with school district officials receiving death threats and the governor saying it “cast a negative light” on the state. Video of the arrest was shared widely online.

“By taking away my voice they’ve taken away — or tried to take away — my First Amendment rights to speak,” Hargrave said in a video posted on the Louisiana Association of Educators’ Facebook page . “And I’m appalled at this, and you should be too.”

She expressed gratitude for support from students and parents in Vermilion Parish — about 150 miles west of New Orleans. “Go to your local school board meetings,” Hargrave said. “Speak out. Be vocal.”

Gov. John Bel Edwards, who is married to a teacher and gets support from teacher unions, said he “didn’t see anything that warranted that type of action.”

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Trump says it ‘seems unlikely’ he’ll give Mueller interview

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday that it “seems unlikely” that he’d give an interview in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into potential co-ordination between Russia and the Trump campaign.

Trump said “we’ll see what happens” when asked if he’d provide an interview to Mueller’s team.

“When they have no collusion and nobody’s found any collusion at any level, it seems unlikely that you’d even have an interview,” Trump said during a joint news conference with the prime minister of Norway.

The special counsel’s team of investigators has expressed interest in speaking with Trump, but no details have been worked out. Trump’s lawyers have previously stated their determination to co-operate with requests in the probe, which has already resulted in charges against four of Trump’s campaign advisers.

Trump called the investigation a “phoney cloud” over his administration.

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Immigration agents descend on 7-Eleven stores in 17 states

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Seven immigration agents filed into a 7-Eleven store before dawn Wednesday, waited for people to go through the checkout line and told arriving customers and a driver delivering beer to wait outside. A federal inspection was underway, they said.

Within 20 minutes, they verified that the cashier had a valid green card and served notice on the owner to produce hiring records in three days that deal with employees’ immigration status.

The well-rehearsed scene, executed with quiet efficiency in Los Angeles’ Koreatown, played out at about 100 7-Eleven stores in 17 states and the District of Columbia, a rolling operation that officials called the largest immigration action against an employer under Donald Trump’s presidency.

The employment audits and interviews with store workers could lead to criminal charges or fines. And they appeared to open a new front in Trump’s expansion of immigration enforcement, which has already brought a 40 per cent increase in deportation arrests and pledges to spend billions of dollars on a border wall with Mexico.

A top official at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said the audits were “the first of many” and “a harbinger of what’s to come” for employers.

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Cold snap exposes cracks in upkeep of timeworn schools

BALTIMORE (AP) — The recent spell of cold weather exposed the poor state of school buildings in many big-city districts, including Baltimore, where the failure of heating systems closed dozens of institutions after children were left shivering in frigid classrooms.

Schools were challenged in other cities affected by the cold snap, including Philadelphia and Bridgeport , Connecticut’s largest city, as pipes burst, heating units froze and other pieces of decades-old infrastructure gave out under the strain of record-breaking cold.

It’s no wonder; investment in school construction and maintenance has been falling steadily since the recession, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

Experts who have been sounding alarms about the state of many public school buildings say the problems that struck last week are a direct result of years of inadequate funding for basic upkeep. The need is especially great in urban centres where older buildings serve poorer children and maintenance is often put off until it becomes an exponentially more costly emergency repair, said Mary Filardo, executive director of the non-profit 21st Century School Fund, which advocates for better facilities.

“The systems are vulnerable because they’re old and they’re well beyond their useful life, and so they fail,” Filardo said.

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Thieves raid jewelry boutique at Paris’ famed Ritz Hotel

PARIS (AP) — Armed thieves entered the luxury Ritz Hotel and stole valuable jewels and other goods from a hotel boutique Wednesday, carrying out an unusually brazen heist in one of the world’s most prestigious neighbourhoods.

Three suspects were quickly arrested near the chic Place Vendome in central Paris, but at least two others got away, a police official said. No one was injured.

None of the jewels or other items had been recovered so far, said an official familiar with the investigation. Both officials were not authorized to be publicly named.

French media estimated the stolen merchandise as worth at least 4.5 million euros ($5.4 million). Police could not confirm the sum.

One official said some of the thieves apparently had guns, but could not confirm reports that they used hatchets to smash the glass.

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Diet Coke gets new look, new flavours amid sinking sales

NEW YORK (AP) — Diet Coke is getting a makeover to try to invigorate the sugar-free soda’s slumping sales.

Coca-Cola Co. said Wednesday it’s adding a slimmer 12-ounce Diet Coke can, updating the logo and offering the 35-year-old drink in four new flavours, including mango and ginger lime. The taste of the plain Diet Coke will stay the same, the Atlanta-based company said.

Diet Coke sales have fallen as more people switch to other low-calorie drinks, such as flavoured fizzy water. In fact, Coca-Cola said the new slim 12-ounce cans are the same ones used for its Dasani sparkling water. Diet Coke will still come in standard 12-ounce cans, as well as other sizes, such as bottles and mini cans.

“We’re maintaining the essence of Diet Coke while modernizing the brand to invite a new generation of drinkers to try it,” the company said in a post on its website.

Coca-Cola said the new flavours and look — with a different colour vertical stripe for each flavour and red for plain — are aimed at appealing to millennials. It spent two years on the makeover, and tested more than 30 flavours before settling on the four, which also include cherry and blood orange.