By ALEX VEIGA, AP Business Writer

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. eased this week, though it remains close to its highest level in more than two months.

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The rate fell to 6.81% from 6.83% last week, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 7.17%.

Borrowing costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell. The average rate dropped to 5.94% from 6.03% last week. It’s down from 6.44% a year ago, Freddie Mac said.

Mortgage rates are influenced by several factors, including global demand for U.S. Treasurys, the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions and bond market investors’ expectations for future inflation.

After climbing to a just above 7% in mid-January, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained above 6.62%, where it was just two weeks ago. It has risen sharply since then, reflecting volatility in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The yield, which had mostly fallen this year after climbing to around 4.8% in mid-January, spiked earlier this month to 4.5% amid a sell-off in government bonds triggered by investor anxiety over the potential fallout from the Trump administration’s ongoing trade war.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.34% in midday trading Thursday, down from 4.40% late Wednesday.

Lower mortgage rates help boost homebuyers’ purchasing power, but they haven’t come down enough to encourage home shoppers at a time when real estate prices are still rising nationally, albeit more slowly.

Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell in March, posting the largest monthly drop since November 2022, as elevated mortgage rates dampened the start of the spring homebuying season.

Forecasts by housing economists generally called for the average rate on a 30-year mortgage to remain around 6.5% this year.

By MIKE CATALINI

A man set a bonfire using wooden pallets in New Jersey’s Pine Barrens and left them without fully extinguishing the blaze, sparking a quick-moving wildfire with smoke affecting air quality in the New York City area, authorities said Thursday.

Authorities arrested the 19-year-old from Waretown, New Jersey, and charged him with arson and aggravated arson in the fire that’s still burning in southern New Jersey that they described as started with “an improperly extinguished bonfire.”

Prosecutors said there’s no attorney listed for him.

It’s peak forest fire season in the vast pine wilderness that covers more than 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) — an area roughly as large as the Grand Canyon — and firefighters are contending with low humidity and the aftermath of a monthslong drought in the region.

Though large tracts of the Pine Barrens are uninhabited, New Jersey is the nation’s most densely populated state and officials have warned the fire could threaten developments nearby. The fire had grown to more than 23 square miles (60 square kilometers) on Thursday, approaching what officials believe to have been the largest wildfire in the state in the last two decades.

Authorities had said there were no injuries or deaths in the fire, but a commercial building and some vehicles had been destroyed. About 5,000 people had been evacuated but were permitted to return home on Wednesday, officials said.

“This is still a very active fire,” LaTourette said Wednesday. “As we continue to get this under full control the expectation is that the number of acres will grow and will grow in a place that is unpopulated.”

An update is planned for later Thursday.

The effects of the fire are beginning to be seen beyond the state.

Higher-than-normal pollution levels were expected Thursday in New York City, Rockland and Westchester counties, and in Long Island’s Nassau and Suffolk counties, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation advised Wednesday. The fire is roughly 54 miles (87 kilometers) south of New York City.

It said “going indoors may reduce exposure” to problems such as eye, nose and throat irritation, coughing, sneezing and shortness of breath.

The Ocean County Sheriff’s Office in New Jersey also cautioned early Thursday about air quality, saying “smoke will continue to permeate the area.” It said emergency personnel will be on site for the next few days.

In New York, dry conditions across the state are resulting in a “high” fire danger rating in several regions including New York City, Long Island, the Hudson Valley, Capital Region, and portions of the North Country, the state air quality advisory said. The rest of the state is at a moderate or low level of fire danger.

Officials said the fire is believed to be the second-worst in the last two decades, smaller only than a 2007 blaze that burned 26 square miles (67 square kilometers).

Acting New Jersey Gov. Tahesha Way declared a state of emergency Wednesday and officials said they’ve contained about 50% of the wildfire. Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, is on an official visit in Poland for a Holocaust memorial. He’s due to fly back home on Friday.

Video released by the state agency overseeing the fire service showed billowing white and black clouds of smoke, intense flames engulfing pines and firefighters dousing a charred structure.

The Pine Barrens sit between Philadelphia to the west and the Atlantic coast to the east. The region, with its quick-draining sandy soil, is in peak forest fire season. The trees are still developing leaves, humidity remains low and winds can kick up, drying out the forest floor.

The area had been under a severe drought until recently.

Bruce Shipkowski in Chatsworth, New Jersey; Hallie Golden in Seattle and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, contributed to this report.

Robert Crimo III will spend the rest of his life in prison for opening fire on spectators at the 2022 Highland Park Independence Day Parade.

Lake County Judge Victoria Rossetti imposed the expected sentence Thursday after listening to statements from 19 survivors and loved ones of people killed in the mass shooting. He was sentenced to seven consecutive natural life sentences without the possibility of parole − one for each of the seven people he murdered — plus an additional 50 years for the four dozen spectators he injured.

“A mass shooting is like a bomb blast throughout a community,” said Highland Park resident Erica Weeder, who was injured in the attack alongside her husband. “Because of this mass shooting, this act of terror, I, my children, and our entire community now know that no one is ever really safe.”

The proceeding was temporarily halted when Crimo —who repeatedly declined to attend the two-day hearing — decided he wanted to make an appearance. Rossetti had already issued the seven consecutive life sentences when he made his decision, another act seemingly intended to cause confusion and further pain for a traumatized community.

The 24-year-old gunman unexpectedly pleaded guilty last month to 21 counts of first-degree murder and 48 counts of attempted murder, minutes before opening statements were set to begin in his murder trial. His decision eliminated the need for a weekslong, high-profile court battle that would almost certainly have ended in a guilty verdict.

Under state law, anyone found guilty of committing two or more murders receives an automatic life sentence in prison with no possibility of parole. Before Rossetti announced her decision, Crimo’s attorney said the shooter understands he will die in prison because of his actions.

Killed in the shooting were Katherine Goldstein, 64; Irina McCarthy, 35, and her husband, Kevin McCarthy, 37; Stephen Straus, 88; Jacki Sundheim, 63; Nicolas Toledo-Zaragoza, 78; and Eduardo Uvaldo, 69.

Several victims and their families remain in civil litigation related to the shooting, including against Crimo III, his father, gun manufacturer Smith & Wesson and the gun shops that helped Crimo III get his weapons. Several lawsuits also have been filed against the Illinois State Police for approving Crimo’s Firearm Owner’s Identification card application despite concerns he was a danger to public safety.

Crimo’s father, Robert Crimo Jr., sponsored his son’s FOID card, which allowed him to purchase the high-powered rifle used in the shooting despite red flags. Crimo Jr. pleaded guilty to seven misdemeanor counts of reckless conduct for his role in helping to secure the gun permit and was sentenced to 60 days behind bars in late 2023.

Several survivors spoke about the need for gun control during their impact statements, saying there was no reason for Crimo to have the AR-15-style assault rifle he used to fire 83 bullets at spectators over a 40-second period.

“My dad was living the American Dream,” said Karina Mendez, whose father Eduardo Uvaldo was among those killed. “And died the American nightmare.”

By MIKE STOBBE, AP Medical Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — Adelynn Campbell’s last plane trip ended with a panic attack that she got through largely with the help of a kind flight attendant.

That was last year — before 67 people died in January when an American Airlines jet collided with a helicopter over Washington, D.C., in the deadliest U.S. air disaster in almost a quarter century.

Now, Campbell is even more hesitant to book a flight.

“It’s definitely spiked my concern about getting on a plane and it’s making the whole situation a little more stressful than it used to be,” said Campbell, 30, who manages a coffee shop in San Diego.

Being at least a little nervous about flying is understandable. As Mel Brooks once said: “If God wanted us to fly, He would have given us tickets.” But for some people it causes deep anxiety that could require professional help.

Here’s a look at air travel anxiety and ways to cope with it.

More people seem to be nervous about flying

The evidence is anecdotal, but psychologists and flight attendants say they’ve seen and heard increased worries — and not only in people who already had anxieties about flying.

“Even people who didn’t have a fear of flying are talking about it, given recent events,” said Jennifer Dragonette, a California-based psychologist who treats people with air travel anxieties.

U.S. air travel was down in March and early April compared with last year, according to TSA statistics. Airlines have attributed the decline to economic uncertainty, a decline in government and corporate travel and — yes — concern about recent aviation incidents.

FAA officials recently acknowledged they weren’t doing enough to ensure air safety. Recent polling by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research shows that fewer Americans report feeling safe about flying this year.

Flight attendants who work planes out of the Washington, D.C., airport were particularly rattled by the January collision, said Sara Nelson, president of the Association of Flight Attendants union. Some asked for time off to process their emotions, and at least one flight attendant left the job, she said.

What is fear of flying?

Fear of flying — sometimes called aerophobia — goes beyond just being nervous about a flight. It is an intense form of anxiety that centers on certain aspects of air travel. Many aerophobes get most rattled during take-off and landing, or when they think about being locked in a plane.

Some research has suggested it affects about 25 million U.S. adults. Psychologists say it often surfaces in adulthood, developing in people who didn’t mind flying as kids but grew more rattled as they aged.

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In many cases, it starts when people are in their 20s or 30s, at a time they are experiencing big life changes and new responsibilities — like getting married or becoming a parent — and they start to think that “everything counts,” said David Carbonell, a Chicago-based psychologist who authored a workbook to help people cope with flying fears.

A bad flight with heavy turbulence or some other problem may trigger an anxiety that persists, he said.

Campbell, who has other forms of anxiety, developed a fear of flying a few years ago. She is transgender, and said travel can be stressful because of concerns about how she’ll be treated by airport security or in other interactions.

Aerophobia can be complicated, Carbonell said. For many people, it’s not so much a fear of crashing as it is claustrophobic feelings of being in an enclosed cabin and not having control.

Campbell said that’s what she experiences: “feeling trapped and unable to breathe.”

Nelson said flight attendants regularly deal with suffering passengers: “We’ve had people have panic attacks, and we’ve had to give them oxygen. It can be quite intense.”

How to cope with flying anxiety

Statistics have long shown that airliners are probably the safest way to travel. According to the National Safety Council, the odds of dying in an airplane crash are too low to be calculated, based on 2023 statistics — making them far, far lower than of being killed in a motor vehicle crash or, for that matter, walking on a sidewalk or crossing a street.

But experts say you can’t really reason your way out of an anxiety disorder.

Carbonell spends little time on statistics, telling patients: “I know you already looked at them all, and they’re not helping you.”

For people with milder levels of aerophobia, deep breathing often works. Longer exhales help the body relax, said Dragonette, who counseled Campbell for aerophobia and other anxiety disorders at a Newport Healthcare residential facility in Temecula, California.

People suffering more extreme cases can be helped with exposure therapy. It can start by simply getting patients to become comfortable looking at photos of planes, watching videos of planes flying safely, or putting on a virtual reality headset that shows recordings of being inside a plane, Dragonette said.

It’s a matter of getting patients to learn to live with their feelings and better handle them.

Carbonell recommends patients take practice flights that do not involve work trips or any other responsibilities. When they have symptoms, he recommends they keep a written inventory.

“They’re keeping a simple count,” he said. “We’re using counting as a proxy for acceptance.”

It’s OK to ask for help

Nelson, who was a longtime United Airlines flight attendant, says: “I’ve had situations where I’d sort of sit in the aisle and hold someone’s hand.”

On a Frontier Airlines flight last year from Detroit to San Diego, Campbell tried breathing and other coping skills, but they didn’t halt her panic attack. The passenger next to her noticed she was increasingly anxious, and summoned a flight attendant.

The flight attendant took deep breaths with Campbell and helped her get through it, and also took down Campbell’s phone number and checked on her a day later.

“I was really impressed,” she said.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.