In the Nation

PHOENIX - The family of a slain Border Patrol agent has sued federal officials over the botched "Fast and Furious" gun operation.

Agent Brian Terry was mortally wounded Dec. 14, 2010, in a firefight between U.S. agents and five men who had sneaked into the United States to rob marijuana smugglers.

The lawsuit filed Thursday and made publicly available Friday came from Terry's parents against six managers and investigators for the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The family also sued a federal prosecutor and the owner of the gun store where two rifles found after the firefight were bought.

The family alleges that the ATF officials and federal prosecutor created a risk to law enforcement officers such as Terry. The family also alleged that firearms agents and the prosecutor sought to cover up the link between Terry's death and the botched gun-smuggling investigation. - AP

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - A Memphis police officer was fatally shot and another wounded during a shoot-out at a house Friday, authorities said.

Officers with the organized-crime unit entered the house to serve a drug-related search warrant Friday morning, Police Director Toney Armstrong said. A gunman there fired numerous shots, striking officers Martoiya Lang and William Vrooman, he said.

Armstrong said officers returned fire, striking one suspect.

Lang, 32, a mother of four, died of her injuries, Armstrong said. Vrooman was in stable condition at the Regional Medical Center.

One suspect, 21, was hospitalized in critical condition, police said. A 26-year-old man who was in the home was in custody, but no charges were immediately filed. - AP

SAN DIEGO - More than two dozen people have been charged in San Diego in what authorities say was a large-scale operation to smuggle methamphetamine into California from Mexico.

The Drug Enforcement Administration said Friday that the charges were part of a 21-month operation that has resulted in seizures of more than 1,000 pounds of methamphetamine, 200 pounds of cocaine, and 28 pounds of heroin.

The San Diego County district attorney said 16 people were arrested this week and 12 are at large. Authorities say the defendants worked for a Mexican cartel that focuses on smuggling methamphetamine. - AP

Descendants of slaves

owned by members of the Cherokee Nation can sue the current chief in an attempt to restore their tribal memberships, a federal appeals court ruled Friday. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia overturned a ruling that the case could not proceed because the tribe was not a defendant in the case and couldn't be compelled to abide by the court's ruling.