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Deal seems near on $2T Biden package, though deadline slipsWASHINGTON (AP) — A deal within reach, President Joe Biden and Congress’ top Democrats edged close to sealing their giant domestic legislation Friday, though the day's informal deadline appeared to slip as they worked to scale back the measure and determine how to pay for it.Negotiations were expected to continue into the weekend, all sides indicating just a few issues remained unsettled in the sweeping package of social services and climate change strategies.Biden met at the White House Friday with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer joined by video call from from New York, trying to shore up details. The leaders have been working with party moderates and progressives to shrink the once-$3.5 trillion, 10-year package to around $2 trillion in child care, health care and clean energy programs. Pelosi said a deal was "very possible."She told reporters back at the Capitol that more than 90% of the package was agreed to: The climate change components of the bill "are resolved," but outstanding questions remained on health care provisions. ___Pfizer says COVID-19 vaccine more than 90% effective in kidsKid-size doses of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine appear safe and nearly 91% effective at preventing symptomatic infections in 5- to 11-year-olds, according to study details released Friday as the U.S. considers opening vaccinations to that age group.The shots could begin in early November, with the first children in line fully protected by Christmas, if regulators give the go-ahead. That would represent a major expansion of the nation's vaccine drive, encompassing roughly 28 million elementary school-age youngsters.Details of Pfizer's study were posted online. The Food and Drug Administration was expected to post its own review of the company's safety and effectiveness data later in the day.Advisers to the FDA will publicly debate the evidence next week. If the agency itself authorizes the shots, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will make the final decision on who should receive them.Full-strength Pfizer shots already are authorized for anyone 12 or older, but pediatricians and many parents are anxiously awaiting protection for younger children to stem rising infections and record hospitalizations among them from the extra-contagious delta variant and to help keep kids in school.___Warrant: Baldwin didn't know weapon contained live roundSANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — An assistant director unwittingly handed Alec Baldwin a loaded weapon and told him it was safe to use in the moments before the actor fatally shot a cinematographer, court records released Friday show."Cold gun," the assistant director announced, according to a search warrant filed in a Santa Fe court.Instead, the gun was loaded with live rounds, and when Baldwin pulled the trigger Thursday on the set of a Western, he killed cinematographer Halyna Hutchins. Director Joel Souza, who was standing behind her, was wounded, the records said.The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office obtained the warrant Friday so investigators could document the scene at the ranch outside Santa Fe where the shooting took place. They sought Baldwin’s blood-stained costume for the film "Rust" as evidence, as well as the weapon that was fired, other prop guns and ammunition, and any footage that might exist.According to the records, the gun was one of three that the film's armorer, Hannah Gutierrez, had set on a cart outside the wooden structure where a scene was being acted. Assistant director Dave Halls grabbed the gun from the cart and brought it inside to Baldwin, unaware that it was loaded with live rounds, a detective wrote in the search warrant application.___EXPLAINER: Texas abortion law gets Supreme Court argumentsWASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Friday allowed a Texas law that bans most abortions to remain in effect for now. But in an unusual move the justices said they want to hear arguments in the case at the soonest opportunity.Those arguments at the high court on Nov. 1 will help the justices decide whether the law, the most restrictive abortion law in the nation, should be blocked while legal challenges continue.The law, known as Senate Bill 8, has been the subject of a series of legal challenges since before it went into effect in September, and it made one previous trip to the high court. Except for a brief window when a lower court judge blocked it, however, it has remained in place. That has meant that most women in Texas seeking abortions have been unable to get them unless they travel out of state.Here are some questions and answers about the law, its path through the courts and what happens next.WHAT EXACTLY IS THE SUPREME COURT DECIDING?___Giuliani associate convicted of campaign finance crimesNEW YORK (AP) — A Florida businessman who helped Rudy Giuliani’s effort to dig up dirt on Joe Biden in Ukraine was convicted Friday of campaign finance crimes, including funneling a Russian entrepreneur's money to U.S. politicians.Lev Parnas was on trial for more than two weeks as prosecutors accused him of using other people’s money to pose as a powerful political broker and cozy up to some of the nation’s star Republicans.One part of the case alleged that Parnas and an associate made illegal donations through a corporate entity in 2018 as they tried to jump-start a new energy company, including a $325,000 donation to America First Action, a super PAC supporting former President Donald Trump.Another part said he used the wealth of a Russian financier, Andrey Muraviev, to donate to Republicans in Nevada, Florida and other states, ostensibly in support of an effort to launch a legal, recreational marijuana business.Parnas, 49, was convicted on all six counts after about five hours of jury deliberations.___Where are the workers? Cutoff of jobless aid spurs no influxINDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Earlier this year, an insistent cry arose from business leaders and Republican governors: Cut off a $300-a-week federal supplement for unemployed Americans. Many people, they argued, would then come off the sidelines and take the millions of jobs that employers were desperate to fill. Yet three months after half the states began ending that federal payment, there's been no significant influx of job seekers.In states that cut off the $300 check, the workforce — the number of people who either have a job or are looking for one — has risen no more than it has in the states that maintained the payment. That federal aid, along with two jobless aid programs that served gig workers and the long-term unemployed, ended nationally Sept. 6. Yet America's overall workforce actually shrank that month."Policymakers were pinning too many hopes on ending unemployment insurance as a labor market boost," said Fiona Greig, managing director of the JPMorgan Chase Institute, which used JPMorgan bank account data to study the issue. "The work disincentive effects were clearly small."Labor shortages have persisted longer than many economists expected, deepening a mystery at the heart of the job market. Companies are eager to add workers and have posted a near-record number of available jobs. Unemployment remains elevated. The economy still has 5 million fewer jobs than it did before the pandemic. Yet job growth slowed in August and September. ___Group clings to faith as US works on Haiti kidnapping casePORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — A U.S. religious organization whose 17 members were kidnapped in Haiti asked supporters on Friday to pray and share stories with the victims' families of how their faith helped them through difficult times as efforts to recover them entered a sixth day.Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries issued the statement a day after a video was released showing the leader of the 400 Mawozo gang threatening to kill those abducted if his demands are not met. Haitian officials have said the gang is seeking $1 million ransom per person, although they said it wasn't clear if that includes the five children in the group, the youngest being 8 months old."You may wonder why our workers chose to live in a difficult and dangerous context, despite the apparent risks," the organization said. "Before leaving for Haiti, our workers who are now being held hostage expressed a desire to faithfully serve God in Haiti."The FBI is helping Haitian authorities recover the 16 Americans and one Canadian. A local human rights group said their Haitian driver also was kidnapped."Pray that their commitment to God could become even stronger during this difficult experience," Christian Aid Ministries said.___EXPLAINER: California proposes limits on community drillingSACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — An ambitious plan by California regulators to block new oil and gas wells within 3,200 feet (975 meters) of schools and homes is drawing protests from the oil industry and plaudits from environmentalists, who still want the state to go further. But the plan released Thursday is just a first step, and things are far from settled. Here's a look at what's in the proposal, how it came about and what's next: WHAT WOULD HAPPEN UNDER THE PLAN?It adopted as written, the state would stop allowing new oil and gas wells to be drilled within 3,200 feet of K-12 schools and daycares, homes and dorms, health care centers such as hospitals or nursing homes, and public-facing businesses. It wouldn't stop existing drilling within those zones but would create more than a dozen new pollution control measures designed to limit the negative health effects for people who live nearby. ___Suns respond to potential investigation, deny racism, sexismPHOENIX (AP) — The Phoenix Suns released a statement regarding a potential media investigation into the workplace culture of the franchise, denying that the organization or owner Robert Sarver have a history of racism or sexism.The statement sent Friday said the organization is aware that ESPN is working on a story accusing the organization of misconduct on a "variety of topics." The Suns responded by saying they were "completely baseless claims" and "documentary evidence in our possession and eyewitness accounts directly contradict the reporter’s accusations, and we are preparing our response to his questions."Sarver — a Phoenix businessman — has owned the Suns since 2004. Suns general manager James Jones, who is Black, said in the team’s response: "None of what’s been said describes the Robert Sarver I know, respect and like – it just doesn’t."The franchise is coming off one of the most successful seasons in its history, making the NBA Finals with stars Devin Booker, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton before losing in six games to the Milwaukee Bucks. The Suns have made the Finals three times, in 1976, 1993 and 2021, but have never won a championship.___Jury gets chance to hear Elizabeth Holmes' bold promisesSAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) — A jury weighing the fate of fallen Silicon Valley star Elizabeth Holmes got its first chance Friday to listen to recordings of her boasting to investors about purported breakthroughs in a blood-testing technology.The technology heralded as a quantum leap in blood testing, however, later dissolved into a scandal that now threatens to send her to prison.The drama unfolded in a San Jose, California, courtroom with federal prosecutors playing a series of recordings from a December 2013 conference call that Holmes held with investors in Theranos, the company she started in 2003 after dropping out of college at 19 in hopes of becoming a revered visionary in the mold of Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.The audio clips of Holmes capped the sixth week of a high-profile trial revolving around allegations that Holmes duped sophisticated investors and major retailers with bogus promises about a Theranos device dubbed Edison. The company's machine was supposed to be able to quickly scan for hundreds of potential health problems with a few drops of blood taken with a finger prick.In the recordings, Holmes — speaking in a husky voice that some critics said she adopted to sound more authoritative — boasted about partnerships with big pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer that evidence in the trial has revealed didn't pan out. She also mentioned contracts that never materialized because Theranos couldn't get the Edison to work properly. The device's repeated failures disillusioned former U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, a former Theranos board member ally who testified earlier in the trial.