FRISCO, Texas (AP) — A 16-year-old boy accused of killing his parents in their suburban Dallas home is being held in juvenile custody.

The Frisco teen appeared in court Tuesday. He’s charged as a juvenile with murder. A judge ordered him held pending another hearing in about two weeks.

The bodies of his 48-year-old father and his 49-year-old mother were discovered before dawn Monday when police responded to a 911 call about shots fired. Police recovered a rifle with a flashlight taped to it.

According to testimony at Tuesday’s hearing, police found the teen and his older sister outside the home. The sister was visibly upset.

Investigators have not released a motive for the slayings.

The Associated Press is not identifying the boy or his parents because he’s a juvenile.

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Portland, Oregon, police were told there was a chicken — and it was attempting to cross the road.

In fact, the citizen who called the police non-emergency line on Monday evening reported that the chicken’s efforts to cross a road in a north Portland neighborhood were bringing traffic nearly to a standstill.

He assured the dispatcher he was not joking.

The dispatcher chuckled — and asked a clarifying question.

“It’s just the one chicken?”

The caller said yes.

Sgt. Pete Simpson says responding officers were unable to locate the chicken.

And so, he notes, police “were unable to determine the chicken’s intent.”

ASTORIA, Ore. (AP) — A woman accused of killing her 2-year-old child before trying to slit her teenage daughter’s throat has pleaded not guilty to murder and attempted murder.

Jessica Smith appeared by video in Clatsop County Circuit Court in Oregon on Tuesday.

She smiled throughout the hearing. When asked whether she understood that she would not be released before a Sept. 30 court date, she winked.

Police say the 40-year-old from Washington state drove her daughters to a resort in Cannon Beach, Oregon, before her husband prepared to seek custody of the children.

Smith checked in July 30, and a cleaning crew found the toddler’s body and the injured teenager Aug. 1.

Smith’s attorney says the case is complex and he needs time to prepare Smith’s defenses, including one potentially based on her mental health.

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (AP) — Sheriff’s officials near San Francisco say Robin Williams committed suicide by hanging himself with a belt at his home.

A sheriff’s lieutenant says Williams’ personal assistant found the actor yesterday in a bedroom at Williams’ home. Williams also had superficial cuts on his wrist, and a pocketknife was found nearby.

According to Sheriff’s Lt. Keith Boyd, Williams had been seeking treatment for depression. Boyd isn’t saying whether Williams left a suicide note.

The actor’s wife had last seen him the night before, and had left the home that morning thinking he was still asleep. Williams’ personal assistant later came to the home and became concerned when he knocked on the door and got no response.

It will take weeks to get the results of toxicology tests on whether Williams had any drugs or alcohol in his system.

Fans and friends have been leaving bouquets, candles and personal notes in front of the locked gates of the home. Neighbors say he had lived in the quiet, waterfront neighborhood for eight years, and that he was friendly and approachable.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Academy Award winning actor and comedian Robin Williams has died in an apparent suicide. He was 63.

Sheriff’s deputies say Williams was pronounced dead Monday at his home in Marin (muh-RIHN’) County, California, north of San Francisco. The sheriff’s office said a preliminary investigation shows the cause of death to be a suicide due to asphyxia.

His press representative, Mara Buxbaum, said Williams had recently been battling severe depression.

Williams’ breakthrough performance was in the late 1970s as an alien in the hit TV show “Mork and Mindy.” He won his Academy Award in a rare dramatic role as a teacher in the 1997 film “Good Will Hunting.”

Williams’ wife, Susan Schneider, said she lost a husband and best friend who was one of the worlds “most beloved artists and beautiful human beings.”

FERGUSON, Mo. (AP) — The attorney for the parents of an unarmed black teenager fatally shot by police in suburban St. Louis says he was “executed in broad daylight.”

Benjamin Crump joined the parents of 18-year-old Michael Brown during a news conference Monday. Crump says he and the family reject police accounts that Brown struggled with an officer before being shot Saturday in Ferguson.

The attorney says several witnesses reported seeing Brown hold up his hands before the officer repeatedly shot him.

Brown’s parents joined Crump in pressing for calm in their son’s honor, noting the looting and unrest that broke out Sunday night following a candlelight vigil.

Crump also represented the parents of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, who was fatally shot by a Florida neighborhood watch organizer who was later acquitted of murder charges.

UPPER MARLBORO, Md. (AP) — Authorities say 24 people stranded on a roller coaster have been rescued from near the top of the ride at Six Flags America in Maryland.

Prince George’s County Fire officials say it took about five hours Sunday to rescue 17 adults and seven children from The Joker’s Jinx roller coaster.

Assistant Fire Chief Paul Gomez says the riders were sitting upright. A few had cramps, back pain and dehydration, but there were no major injuries.

A Six Flags America spokesman said in a statement that it is not yet clear what caused the ride to stop but that it has a computerized safety system that “performed as it is designed to.”

Six Flags’ website says the ride goes 60 miles per hour and upside down four times.

NEW YORK (AP) — A 2-year-old boy is dead after plummeting five floors from the window of a New York City apartment building.

Police say Nayvem (NEIGH-vem) Santos fell to a second-floor landing from the seventh floor of a Gerard Avenue building in the Bronx around 4:20 a.m. Sunday.

Police say the child was unconscious and unresponsive when officers arrived; he was pronounced dead a short time later at Lincoln Hospital.

A police spokesman says the toddler’s death appears to be an “unfortunate accident.” He says the boy lived in the apartment building, located about four blocks from Yankee Stadium.

An investigation is continuing.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown has reversed a parole board and denied the release of a former Charles Manson follower who has served more than 43 years in prison.

It was the third time a California governor denied the release of 71-year-old Bruce Davis.

The parole board found in March that he was suitable for parole based on his conduct in prison — he earned a doctoral degree while in prison and ministers to other inmates — and other factors.

Brown lauded Davis for his efforts to improve himself. However, he wrote in his decision that the evidence shows Davis “currently poses an unreasonable danger to society if released from prison.”

Davis was convicted with Manson and others in the 1969 murders of a musician and a stuntman.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal health authorities have eased safety restrictions on an experimental drug to treat Ebola, a move that could clear the way for its use in patients infected with the deadly virus.

Canadian drugmaker Tekmira Pharmaceuticals said the Food and Drug Administration modified a hold recently placed on the company’s drug. The company has a $140 million contract with the U.S. government to develop its drug TKM-Ebola, which targets the genetic material of Ebola. But last month the FDA halted a small study of the injection in humans due to safety concerns.

Tekmira said Thursday the agency “verbally confirmed” changes to the hold that may allow the company to make the drug available to patients.

Currently there are no licensed drugs or vaccines for the disease.