University of Georgia agronomist Stanley Culpepper stands in a cotton field heavily infested with an herbicide-resistant variety of pigweed. Culpepper and other experts say the weed could be the worst threat to cotton since the boll weevil, starving cotton plants of sunlight, nutrients and water. The weed has spread to farms across the Southeast.

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BILLINGS — A federal judge has restored endangered species protections for gray wolves in the Northern Rockies, derailing plans by three states to hold public wolf hunts this fall.

U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy granted a preliminary injunction late Friday restoring the protections for the wolves in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho. Molloy will eventually decide whether the injunction should be permanent.

The region has an estimated 2,000 gray wolves. They were removed from the endangered species list in March, following a decade-long restoration effort.

Environmentalists sued to overturn the decision, arguing wolf numbers would plummet if hunting were allowed. They sought the injunction in the hopes of stopping the hunts and allowing the wolf population to continue expanding.

FRESNO — A federal judge has ruled that California's water systems threaten to push native salmon into extinction, but stopped short of ordering any immediate water cutbacks farmers said could cost millions in lost crops.

The ruling in a Fresno federal court Friday ultimately could force regulators to change the way they move and use water to prioritize letting the endangered fish breed in the state's rivers and migrate into the Pacific Ocean.

U.S. District Judge Oliver Wanger denied environmentalists' and fishermen's requests to order more water to be stored in a federal reservoir in an effort to protect the habitat of the dwindling winter- and spring-run salmon and native steelhead populations.

SAN FRANCISCO — Lawyers for the pilot of the ship that struck the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge say there is new evidence raising doubts about the Chinese crew's truthfulness after the incident, and say the crew should be detained as witnesses for several more months.

The six crew members have already been held in Northern California as "material witnesses" for eight months while the case against Capt. John Cota plods along.

Cota was at the helm of the container ship Cosco Busan last November when it sideswiped a bridge support tower, spilling 53,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the fragile bay.

Federal prosecutors have been investigating new evidence that, according to documents, suggests the crew altered records after the accident.

CHICAGO — Authorities say a Mexicana Airlines flight overshot a runway while landing at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, but no one was injured.

Department of Aviation spokeswoman Karen Pride said an arrestor bed of lightweight concrete blocks at the end of a runway stopped the plane just after 7 p.m. Friday.

Mexicana Airlines spokes man Adolfo Crespo said 145 passengers and crew members were aboard the Airbus A320 from Mexico City. Crespo said crosswinds forced Flight 802's nose gear off the runway.

CINCINNATI — Ohio must include the Libertarian Party's nominees on its ballot in November, a court has ruled, complicating Sen. John McCain's effort to win conservative votes in a hotly contested state rich in electoral votes.

The Libertarian candidate, Bob Barr, formerly a Republican congressman from Georgia, will lead his party's ticket, which includes the vice presidential candidate, Wayne Allyn Root, and candidates for governor and several congressional seats.

"Ballot restrictions are all designed to prevent competition for the Democrats and Republicans," said Russell Verney, Barr's campaign manager, who said inclusion on the ballot with a party banner should help attract more votes than if Barr were on the ballot as an independent candidate.

The court order, issued Thursday, directs Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner to disregard her office's current guidelines for ballot inclusion, which require eligible parties to gather valid signatures equal to one-half of 1 percent of the total vote in 2006 or to have won at least 5 percent of the last election's votes.

LUFKIN — Police say a motorist caused a fatal rollover after an illegal left turn, then started an eight-car pileup four hours later by rear-ending a stopped car.

Authorities said a grand jury will review the fatal crash, and a medical advisory board will review whether Isaac Melvin Milstid, 70, of Houston, should have his driver's license revoked over Wednesday's crashes.

Lufkin police Lt. David Young said Milstid made a left turn from the center lane of a three-lane highway, turning into the side of a Ford Focus that then went into the grassy median and flipped when it skidded sideways back onto the road.

Bertress Allen, 75, of Gladewater, was killed. Four other people in the Focus were taken to hospitals and later released.

Four hours later in nearby Diboll, police said Milstid was traveling about 70 mph before he rear-ended a car stopped at a red light. The crash caused a domino effect that led to crashes involving five other cars and a tractor-trailer, authorities said.