Midday Roundup: EgyptAir hijacking ends peacefully

Extreme domestic dispute. A man who claimed to be wearing a suicide vest hijacked an EgyptAir passenger plane flying from Alexandria to Cairo this morning and forced it to land in Cyprus. The man’s list of demands kept changing, but his overarching desire was to talk to his estranged wife, who lives on the Mediterranean island. The hijacker, identified as Seif Eldin Mustafa, eventually surrendered after releasing almost all of the plane’s passengers. No one was injured, and it’s not clear whether Mustafa actually had explosives. Both Egyptian and Cypriot officials insist the incident was not connected to terrorism, although Mustafa reportedly demanded the release of female prisoners in Egypt. The plane, an Airbus A320, was carrying 56 passengers, six crew members, and one security official. Of the 26 foreigners onboard, eight were Americans.

On the trail. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who ended his own bid for the Republican nomination for president in September, endorsed one-time rival Ted Cruz this morning. The announcement comes a week before Wisconsin’s Republican primary and could help give Cruz a boost among the state’s conservatives. Although Walker’s overall approval rating in the state remains low, his popularity among Republicans hasn’t wavered. Cruz and Donald Trump are neck-and-neck in Wisconsin polls. Trump dismissed the announcement, saying he didn’t expect Walker to endorse him after he beat him so badly in early primary contests. Until now, Trump has eschewed the need to court party leaders, insisting voter support would carry him to the convention with enough delegates to win the nomination outright. With that looking less and less likely, the Trump campaign is scrambling to develop a strategy to court delegates in the event of a contested convention. The billionaire businessman also is opening an office in Washington to court congressional support. Meanwhile, Trump’s campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, is facing battery charges in Florida over an incident involving a reporter for the conservative news website Breitbart.

AG opts out. North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper announced today he won’t defend in court a new state law blocking a Charlotte ordinance that would have forced businesses to allow transgender customers to use the restrooms and locker rooms of their choice. Cooper’s announcement comes a day after the American Civil Liberties Union and gay rights groups filed suit to overturn the law the Republican-led legislature and GOP Gov. Pat McCrory approved last week. Cooper, a Democrat, is challenging McCrory for governor this fall. State Senate leader Phil Berger responded to Cooper’s announcement by calling for the attorney general’s resignation: “His zeal for pandering for the extreme left’s money and agenda in his race for governor is making it impossible for him to fulfill his duties as attorney general—and he should resign immediately.”

Surprise ending. The FBI announced late yesterday it has cracked the encryption on the San Bernardino shooter’s iPhone, ending its court battle with Apple over access to the device. The agency would not say who helped it access the phone or whether the method used would be available to other law enforcement agencies also anxious to find a way to scale the iPhone’s security walls. In a court filing ending its bid to force Apple to unlock the phone, the agency said it has “now successfully accessed the data” stored on Syed Rizwan Farook’s iPhone. Farook and his wife, Tashfeen Malik, killed 14 people in a December attack apparently inspired by Islamic State. The FBI hopes messages stored on the phone will help piece together the plot and identify any other people who might have been involved.

Wage fight. California business owners are voicing concern over a proposal to raise the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour over the next six years. Gov. Jerry Brown and state labor unions have been in negotiations over the wage increase for the last week and are expected to announce a deal today. No other states have such a high minimum wage, although some cities have adopted $15 minimums. Carlos Zubizarreta, whose family owns a restaurant in downtown San Jose, said the higher wage would be tough for the business to pay without making cuts elsewhere. “Because we’re a small business, it does hurt us. Prices of items are going to go up,” he told the San Jose Mercury News. “Rent is pretty expensive. And it creates a domino effect where people who make more than minimum wage would expect to be paid more too.”