DOSWELL, Va. — A hot-air balloon is believed to have caught fire and crashed in Virginia after colliding with a power line, according to state police, who were searching for the wreckage, a pilot and two passengers after eyewitnesses said they saw the balloon in flames and heard screams for help.

Virginia State Police received calls about a balloon crash shortly before 8 p.m. Friday, police spokeswoman Corinne Geller told a news conference, according to several news media reports. She said a pilot and two passengers were believed to be on board, and that police believe it was the balloon's gondola that caught fire after it apparently struck a power line.

She said police had not yet found any wreckage but planned to search throughout the night, initially by ground and possibly by air if weather allowed. Severe storms were forecast for the area, she said. Geller did not immediately respond to a telephone message left by The Associated Press.

The apparent crash happened near the Meadow Event Park in Caroline County, site of the Mid-Atlantic Balloon Festival, according to the news reports. The festival was scheduled to begin officially on Saturday, but was holding a special kickoff event Friday for a limited number of people, according to the reports, which said organizers have now canceled the rest of the festival.

SAN FRANCISCO — Federal officials say a U.S. jet airliner nearly collided in March with an airborne drone in the sky over Tallahassee, Florida.Jim Williams of the Federal Aviation Administration's unmanned aircraft systems office acknowledged the incident Thursday at a San Francisco drone conference, citing it as an example of the risks posed by integrating drones into U.S. airspace.“The risk for a small UAS (unmanned aircraft system) to be ingested into a passenger airline engine is very real,” Williams told the conference, pointing out that the famous 2009 “Miracle on the Hudson River” flight was forced to splash down in the water after a flock of geese went through its engines.The near collision with the drone was reported to air traffic control on March 22 by the pilot of an American Airlines Group jet as the pilot approached the Tallahassee runway en route from Charlotte, North Carolina.“The airline pilot said that the UAS was so close to his jet that he was sure he had collided with it,” Williams said.

HEARNE, Texas — The nephew of a 93-year-old Central Texas woman shot and killed by a police officer says his aunt fired two shots before the officer shot her.Roy Jones said Friday that he had taken his aunt Pearlie Golden to renew her driver’s license Tuesday, but she was denied after failing her test.As Jones took his aunt back to her Hearne home, he could tell she was upset by the denial, he said.Back at her house, Jones said he was sitting with his aunt on her front porch when Golden demanded her keys back. He refused, so Golden went into the house and got her .38-caliber handgun. Jones dashed into the house and called police, he told the station.Hearne police have said in a statement that Golden “brandished a gun” when officer Stephen Stem arrived Tuesday night.