The Associated Press

Students heading off to college in Washington state next fall will have to wait awhile to find out how much tuition they'll be paying.

Since the Legislature hasn't finished the state budget, no one is sure whether lawmakers will recommend a tuition increase, or cut, or neither. All three ideas have been proposed this year.

After struggling to sway both state and federal lawmakers, proponents of expanding background checks for gun sales are now exploring whether they will have more success by taking the issue directly to voters.

While advocates generally prefer that new gun laws get approval through the legislative process, they are also concerned about how much sway the National Rifle Association has with lawmakers.

With just one day before the end of session, Washington lawmakers appear to be making little progress toward the ultimate goal of a final budget agreement.

Leaders in both the House and Senate seemed to resign themselves Saturday to the prospect of an overtime session, with the regular 105-day period coming to an end Sunday night. A spokesman for Gov. Jay Inslee said that no decision had been made on when a special session may start.

The Federal Aviation Administration says it's suspended all employee furloughs and says air traffic facilities will begin returning to regular staffing levels over the next 24 hours.

The FAA says in a statement that the air traffic system will resume normal operations by Sunday evening.

Marijuana legalization could be going back to the ballot in Colorado — a prospect that infuriated pot legalization activists Friday.

The marijuana ballot measure proposal went public as the House started debate on bills to regulate and tax pot. One bill would state how pot should be grown and sold, and the other would tax recreational marijuana more than 30 percent.

The House has approved a measure prosecutors and crime lab scientists say is needed because of concerns that a provision in Washington's new legal marijuana law jeopardizes their ability to go after any pot crimes at all.

The measure, passed on a 95-1 vote Friday, defines marijuana as part of the cannabis plant containing more than 0.3 percent of delta-9 THC and THC acid. Supporters said the change was a technical fix needed to help police and prosecutors distinguish marijuana from industrial hemp, which is grown for its fiber.

State lawmakers have reached an apparent deal on a transportation budget.

The state House is expected to vote on the compromise $8.8 billion budget over the weekend, with the Senate likely to follow suit before the regular session ends on Sunday.

Police say a piece of landing gear believed to be from one of the planes destroyed in the Sept. 11 attacks has been discovered wedged between two New York City buildings.

New York Police Department spokesman Paul Browne said Friday the part includes a clearly visible Boeing identification number. Police haven't said how big the part is.

Two government officials tell The Associated Press that U.S. intelligence agencies added the Boston bombing suspects' mother to a federal terrorism database about 18 months before the attack.

Officials say this was done after Russia contacted the CIA late in 2011 with concerns that the now-dead suspect, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, and his mother, Zubeidat Tsarnaeva, were religious militants about to travel to Russia.

With flight delays mounting, the Senate has passed legislation to end air traffic controller furloughs blamed for inconveniencing large numbers of travelers.

Approval came without dissent, and long after many senators had left the Capitol for a weeklong vacation.

A House vote is expected as early as Friday.

Washington state's chief prosecutor says there's a catch to T-Mobile's new cellphone plans, which replace the traditional two-year service contract with an installment plan for phone buyers.

One of the benefits of the new plan is that buyers can cancel their service at any time. But Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson says the company hasn't told customers that they have to pay the full remaining cost of the phone if they cancel service; they can't remain on the installment plan.

The Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled that there is no employment protection for people who use marijuana.

In a split decision issued on Thursday, the court said marijuana use is still barred by the federal government, even though state-licensed marijuana use has been approved by voters and is considered lawful.

"For an activity to be lawful in Colorado, it must be permitted by, and not contrary to, both state and federal law," the appeals court said.

New York City officials say the Boston Marathon bombing suspects intended to blow up their remaining explosives in Times Square.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly spoke at a briefing Thursday.

Kelly says the two suspects had a pressure cooker bomb and five pipe bombs they wanted to set off.

At a recent scene of a fight on Seattle's waterfront, most of the gawkers weren't looking at the handcuffed and yelling suspect or the bloodied victim. Instead, their attention and cameras were directed at a fully restored 1970 Plymouth Satellite police cruiser.

It's the common reaction to the vehicle driven by 30-year-veteran Officer Jim Ritter. By his count, the Plymouth has caused at least three fender-benders. 

Democrats in the Washington state House are moving ahead with a tax plan valued at $900 million over the next two years.

The House narrowly approved a variety of tax changes Wednesday, including the permanent extension of business taxes to raise more than half a billion dollars. The plan would also repeal tax breaks for travel agents, bottled water and fuel.