NATIONAL BRIEFS

OHIO: Plane crash kills 2 from NJ

Two New Jersey residents died when a small plane crashed into a cornfield and caught fire near the end of a runway, authorities said Sunday. The single-engine Cirrus CR22 was leaving Rickenbacker International Airport in Columbus for New Jersey when it crashed shortly before 9 a.m., destroying the aircraft. The Ohio State Highway Patrol identified the pair as Viswanathan Rajaraman, 54, a licensed pilot, Mary Sundaram, 50, both of Franklin Lakes, N.J. The two had arrived Friday in Columbus after visiting a daughter in Washington D.C. They had refueled before attempting to take off Sunday morning, state police said. The plane was registered to a Franklin Lakes company called Buds Aviation.

WASHINGTON: First lady going to Africa

Michelle Obama is on her way to Africa, arriving Monday in Johannesburg on a mission intended to improve relations between the United States and Africa and promote youth engagement, education, health and wellness. She will appear Wednesday before a U.S.-sponsored forum of young women leaders from sub-Saharan Africa. She will be joined by her daughters, Malia and Sasha, as well as her mother, Marian Robinson, and a niece and nephew, Leslie and Avery Robinson.

All safe after bomb threat

A bomb threat made by someone at a Dayton, Ohio, airport ticket counter caused flights at Reagan National Airport to be grounded for a time Sunday as a US Airways jet was searched, but no explosives were found. The 44 passengers all got off safely. The person who made the threat was taken to a mental health facility in Dayton, said an FBI spokesman in Cincinnati.

FLORIDA: Hurricane brewing in Pacific

Tropical Storm Beatriz is strengthening off the coast of Mexico in the Pacific Ocean and could become a hurricane by late Monday night, forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said. The storm was about 205 miles south of Zihuatanejo, and a hurricane warning is in effect from Zihuatanejo to Manzanillo.