News of the day from across the nation, May 12

Someone deliberately started the fire that triggered the fatal explosion in West, Texas, three years ago, government investigators said Wednesday.

There are now 1,017,618 active handgun license holders in Texas, according to the Department of Public Safety.

4 DNA evidence: A man who was sentenced to life in prison for the 1998 stabbing death of a 16-year-old girl is expected to be released Wednesday after new DNA testing showed that blood on the victim’s T-shirt did not match his.

According to articles in the Baltimore Sun at the time, Bryant was arrested a few weeks after Bullock was killed.

Rawlings-Blake made the announcement this week in a letter to city officials, saying she hopes the city’s efforts combined with those of other governments and companies “will push North Carolina and Mississippi” to change.

The letter says Cabinet members shouldn’t make travel requests to the two states “until the situation changes.”

The new law in North Carolina directs government agencies and publicly funded schools to designate bathrooms for people based on their genders at birth.