National news briefs

Five people were killed in a plane crash Friday just north of the Palm Beach County Glades Airport. Sheriff's deputies and Palm Beach County rescue crews recovered the bodies from the aircraft's fuselage. The twin-engine Piper aircraft was on approach to the Pahokee Airport when it went down in Lake Okeechobee, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. The aircraft departed from Tampa International Airport. An FAA spokesman said the agency is conducting an initial investigation, but the final inquiry will be completed by the NTSB.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 206 measles cases were confirmed in the United States in the first two months of this year, the highest year-to-date number going back more than a quarter-century. The number of new measles cases in the first two months of this year already surpasses the entire annual totals of all but three years since the disease was declared eliminated in 2000. Many of this year's cases stem from an outbreak in Washington state, and nearly all of those involve children who weren't vaccinated against the disease. There are also ongoing measles outbreaks in New York, Texas and Illinois.

Smoke reported on board an Air Transat flight forced an emergency landing Saturday at a New Jersey airport, where the 189 passengers were evacuated by emergency slides. Air Transat Flight 942 was on its way from Montreal to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., when it reported a possible fire in the cargo hold and was diverted to Newark Liberty International Airport. The Boeing 737 landed and remained on the runway while airport firefighters responded, and passengers used emergency slides. Two of the 189 passengers reported minor injuries.

R&B singer R. Kelly walked out of the Cook County jail on Saturday, shortly after someone paid $161,000 that he owed in back child support. Kelly, who was ordered arrested on Wednesday by a judge after Kelly said he didn't have the entire $161,000 he owed, briefly spoke with reporters, telling them: "I promise you, we're going to straighten all this stuff out." He said that was all he could say, a stark contrast to a nationally televised broadcast that aired earlier in the week in which he cried and ranted about being "assassinated" by allegations of sexual abuse that led to criminal charges last month.