(AP) — The Mormon church has issued a sweeping declaration that opposes efforts to relax Utah’s famously strict liquor laws.

The move comes ahead of the upcoming legislative session and draws a line against the tourism, restaurant and bar industry supporters who have helped ease the state’s alcohol regulations in recent years.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints posted to its website this week a robust multimedia policy statement, featuring a lengthy explanation of the church’s stance, a video interview with one of the faith’s top leaders and graphic presentations of supporting statistics.

The church is strongly urging lawmakers to keep rules that they say reflect the state’s morals.

Political pundits say the LDS Church’s statement could have a chilling effect on efforts to change liquor laws this session.

(AP) — The Oklahoma Highway Patrol says two law officers and a suspect have died during a pursuit in western Oklahoma.

Trooper Brian Orr says a Washita (WASH’-ih-tah) County sheriff’s deputy and a Burns Flat police officer died along with the suspect Thursday near Dill City — about 110 miles west of Oklahoma City. The names of the three who died have not been released.

Orr says there are two crash scenes. One involves the suspect and the other involves the two officers.

He says he does not know how far the two scenes are from each other or where the chase started.

Burns Flat, near Dill City, is the site of the Clinton-Sherman Industrial Airpark.

(AP) — Army investigators suspect murder-suicide in the deaths of the husband and two children whose bodies were found in a home at Fort Hood.

In a statement Wednesday, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command says the 43-year-old man is married to a female soldier who recently returned from overseas deployment. He and their two daughters, ages 9 and 4, were found dead in their Fort Hood home Tuesday morning.

The statement says “early indications” point toward murder-suicide, though a final determination hasn’t been made. Autopsies are being performed by the Office of the Armed Forces Medical Examiner.

The statement says identities and other information are being withheld to protect the integrity of the investigation, but agents see no threat to the public.

(AP) — President Barack Obama is marking the 41st anniversary of the Supreme Court decision that legalized abortion by reaffirming his administration’s commitment to protecting a woman’s access to safe, affordable health care and her constitutional right to privacy, including the right to reproductive freedom.

In a written statement, Obama says the guiding principle of the court’s landmark decision is that all women should be free to make their own choices about their bodies and health. The justices’ Jan. 22, 1973 has been challenged ever since.

Obama commented Monday as thousands of anti-abortion demonstrators gathered in Washington’s sub-freezing weather for an annual march protesting the decision.

Obama says his administration also resolves to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies, support maternal and child health, and build safe, healthy communities for children.

(AP) — A Canadian company has started operating the Texas portion of a proposed cross-border pipeline that has stirred controversy and tension between the United States and Canada.

TransCanada says in a statement on its website Wednesday that it is delivering oil through the Gulf Coast portion of its proposed Keystone XL pipeline. The company is planning a news conference later Wednesday.

Texas landowner Julia Trigg Crawford vows to walk around her farm daily to look for any leaks from the pipeline that runs under her property. She has appealed her case against TransCanada to the Texas Supreme Court.

This pipeline is the southern leg of the proposed Keystone pipeline, which would transport oil from Canada’s oil sands to Houston-area refineries. That cross-border section requires President Barack Obama’s approval.

(AP) — For months, two sisters argued over which of them was in most urgent need of a lung transplant.

Each wanted the other to go first.

In the end, the argument was resolved in an unusual way. Seventy-one-year-old Irma Myers-Santana and her younger sister, 69-year-old Anna Williamson, each received one lung from the same donor, in what doctors at Houston Methodist Hospital say is a first for their facility.

The sisters had idiopathic pulmonary disorder, a scarring of the lungs that often requires a transplant.

But the two are also Jehovah’s Witnesses and insisted on a “bloodless transplant” because their religion doesn’t allow transfusions. Houston Methodist is the only hospital in the country that does such transplants.

Now, for the first time in years, both sisters can both breathe easy.

(AP) — Authorities in suburban Chicago say a 14-year-old girl is in custody for the death of an 11-year-old girl who lived in her home.

The Lake County State’s Attorney’s office said Wednesday they’ve approved a first-degree murder charge against the teenager in the killing Tuesday of the younger girl.

Authorities haven’t released details on the girls or how they’re related. But officials say both girls lived in the same Mundelein home, about 30 miles northwest of Chicago. No parent was home at the time of the slaying.

Mundelein Police Chief Eric Guenther says the older girl called 911 around 8:30 a.m. and answered the door for police.

An autopsy is being performed. Guenther says the body had multiple stab wounds.

A Wednesday hearing is expected in juvenile court.

(AP) — The American Civil Liberties Union is challenging the state of Utah over its decision to stop granting new benefits to hundreds of newly married same-sex couples.

The organization plans to file a lawsuit Tuesday against Utah officials on behalf of four gay and lesbian couples.

A federal judge in Utah overturned the state’s same-sex marriage ban Dec. 20. Hundreds of gay couples then married, until the U.S. Supreme Court halted the weddings Jan. 6.

After the Supreme Court issued the stay, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert told state agencies to hold off on moving forward with any new benefits for the couples until the courts resolve the issue.

Utah ACLU legal director John Mejia says the marriages are valid no matter what a federal appeals court rules.

(AP) — Opponents who have chipped away at abortion with state-level restrictions are facing a dilemma in some of the places where they have been most successful.

Do they continue with that approach or seek more dramatic policies that risk court rulings that could undo previous gains?

For the last several decades, anti-abortion groups have focused on putting relatively small limits on the procedure in politically conservative states. Those efforts intensified after Republicans made major gains in the 2011 elections.

But as groups on both sides of the debate mark Wednesday’s anniversary of the 1973 Roe vs. Wade decision, anti-abortion leaders and lawmakers are under pressure to take bigger steps.

Jennifer Mason represents Personhood USA, a Colorado-based anti-abortion group. She says many of her peers are frustrated with the incremental approach.

(AP) — A man and two children have been found dead in a home at Fort Hood.

A statement from the Texas Army post says the bodies were found about 7:15 a.m. Tuesday.

The post released few details about the deaths. It did say all three are military dependents, meaning they’re related to a soldier. However, officials haven’t said if they’re related to each other.

Agents of the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command are investigating but are withholding any details until relatives can be notified. Also, agents aren’t commenting on the deployment status of the soldier in the household.

However, the statement says there is no further threat to the community.