The Obama administration says it is easing restrictions on U.S. investment and trade in Myanmar to encourage business development in the impoverished country and in recognition of its political reforms.

The administration also named on Thursday the current special envoy to Myanmar, Derek Mitchell, as its first ambassador to the country in 22 years. The U.S. is currently represented by a lower-level diplomatic officer.

Myanmar's reforms over the past year or so have seen it emerge from decades of direct military rule and diplomatic isolation. In a sign of its international rehabilitation, the Asian nation's Foreign Minister Wunna Maung Lwin was meeting with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the State Department.

Despite the easing of restrictions, U.S. companies would still be barred from doing business with firms associated with the country's powerful military, a senior administration official told The Associated Press. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to disclose the information before a formal announcement later Thursday.

The White House is also keeping its framework of hard-hitting sanctions in place for now, saying Myanmar's democratic reforms are still "nascent."

"We continue to have concerns, including remaining political prisoners, ongoing conflict and serious human rights abuses in ethnic areas," said a notification to Congress issued Thursday, signed by President Barack Obama.

The administration had announced after democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's election to parliament in April that it planned to ease a ban on American investment in the country also known as Burma. That has fueled intense debate in Washington on how and at what pace the U.S. should ease policies that have long punished Myanmar for rights abuses and suppression of democracy.

U.S. businesses and some lawmakers are pushing for economic sanctions to be lifted and point to the European Union's recent suspension of its restrictions, which could now leave American corporations at a competitive disadvantage — not least in the potentially lucrative oil, gas and mining sectors.

Human rights groups are concerned that the Obama administration is moving too fast to reward the reforms of President Thein Sein, despite the continuing detention of hundreds of political prisoners and ethnic violence.

The senior administration official said that although Clinton telegraphed the likely easing of some controls, Thursday's announcement goes slightly farther than earlier planned, in recognition of political improvements in Myanmar including the seating of Suu Kyi in parliament, along with dozens of her party members.

The official said the U.S. would allow a broad range of economic activity, adding that responsible business development was important for keeping Myanmar on a reform path.

There have been voices of support on both sides of Congress for easing economic restrictions. Democrat Sen. Jim Webb, a longtime advocate of engagement with Myanmar who is among several senators who will meet with Wunna Maung Lwin, said the visit was an "appropriate time" to lift economic sanctions.

Republican Sen. John McCain has been a little less forthright and won a cautious endorsement Tuesday from Suu Kyi, whose opinion is key to shaping U.S. policy.

McCain said sanctions should be suspended while the U.S. maintains restrictions against individuals and entities that violate human rights and "plunder the nation's resources." He said American companies should not do business with state-owned firms dominated by the military and should adhere to established standards of corporate responsibility.

The devil of such restrictions would be in the details. If U.S. companies were barred from working with state-owned enterprises like the country's oil and gas company — which is currently not included on a U.S. list of blacklisted Myanmar entities — that would effectively exclude them from the petroleum sector, where the previous military regime earned billions.

Human Rights Watch is demanding the imposition of binding rules on corporate responsibility for U.S. companies working in Myanmar and revision of the blacklist that has not been updated for at least three years.

"Tough rules are needed to ensure that new investments benefit the people of Burma and don't fuel human rights abuses and corruption, or end up strengthening the military's control over civilian authorities," John Sifton, the group's Asia advocacy director, said in a statement.

URGENT: Police say two of four people have died after being shot on a street corner in a west Louisville neighborhood where more gunfire rang out while officers were investigating.

Four or five shots could be heard. Police ran down the street, and one officer took a shotgun from his car and ran behind a house where police had been investigating. Two people were placed in handcuffs.

Police spokesman Dwight Mitchell said Thursday afternoon that officers found two men dead when they arrived at the scene.

A third person is in critical condition at University of Louisville Hospital. The fourth was taken there with injuries that didn't appear to be life-threatening.

The victims' identities haven't been released, and police didn't release any information about what may have happened.

An armored car guard charged with killing his partner and making off with more than $2 million is back in Pennsylvania to face charges.

Kenneth Konias (koh-NEYE'-uhs) Jr. appeared Thursday before a Pittsburgh federal magistrate and asked the court to appoint a public defender. He didn't enter a plea.

A U.S. Marshals spokeswoman says he arrived earlier in the day from a facility in Oklahoma City.

The Dravosburg man was arrested April 24 in Pompano Beach, Fla., after nearly two months on the run. Authorities say he killed fellow guard Michael Haines and disappeared with $2.3 million.

Haines' body was found inside a Garda Cash Logistics truck under a Pittsburgh bridge on Feb. 28.

About $1.4 million of the missing money has been recovered.

And the heat goes on. Forecasters predict toasty temperatures will stretch through the summer in the U.S. And that's a bad sign for wildfires in the West.

The forecast for June through August calls for warmer-than-normal weather for about three-quarters of the nation, the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration said Thursday.

The warmth is expected south of a line stretching from middle New Jersey to southern Idaho. Only tiny portions of northwestern U.S. and Alaska are predicted to be cooler than average and that's only for June, not the rest of the summer.

Last May until April was the hottest 12-month period on record for the nation with records going back to 1895. This year so far has seen the hottest March, the third warmest April and the fourth warmest January and February in U.S. weather history. And it was one of the least snowy years on record in the Lower 48.

Some people called it the year without winter.

And the outlook for summer is "more of the same," said Jon Gottschalck, head of forecast operations at NOAA's Climate Prediction Center in Camp Springs, Md. "There's definitely a tilt toward being above normal through the summer."

For some areas of the Southwest that could mean temperatures 1 or even 2 degrees warmer than normal on average, and maybe close to half a degree warmer than normal in the East, he said.

One of the reasons is that much of the country's soil is already unusually dry. So the sun doesn't use as much energy evaporating water in the soil and instead heats up the air near the ground even more, Gottschalck said.

Forecasters say the combination of the heat and dryness will only make western wildfires worse. The fire season has already gotten off to a dramatic start. Wildfires in northern Arizona and northern Colorado forced residents to flee their homes on Thursday.

Fires in those areas could be even worse on Friday, said Greg Carbin, the meteorologist who coordinates warnings at the Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla.

"To see fires to the extent that they are this early isn't a good sign," he said. And the summer forecast is for "a pretty significant wildfire season developing across the western United States."

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Online:

NOAA's summer update: http://1.usa.gov/KwnlU1

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Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears

The U.S. Navy amphibious assault ship USS Essex arrived to cheers in San Diego Bay on Thursday, 24 hours after it collided with a refueling tanker in the Pacific when the warship's steering apparently failed.

Families of the ship's crew celebrated as the big ship pulled in after the crash that resulted in no injuries or fuel spills.

Andi Farquhr, wife of a 36-year-old sailor, said her husband called her from the ship and said something bad had happened. She said he told her there was a collision but gave no details.

"I'm pretty sure it was scary," Farquhr said.

Lt. Beth Teach said the Essex sustained damage to its starboard aircraft elevator, catwalks and lifeboats on aft portions of the ship. Damage shown to reporters included broken railings, crumpled lifeboats and scrapes along the elevator in a span of several dozen feet.

The USNS Yukon tanker had structural damage to its flight deck, lifeboats and davits, the arm-like structures that hold the lifeboats, Teach said.

The ships likely just bounced off each other, said maritime safety consultant James W. Allen.

Navy officials said it was the Essex's first collision. The ship, however, has had mechanical problems.

The military publication Stars and Stripes reported in February that twice over a seven-month period, missions were scrapped because of mechanical or maintenance issues involving the 21-year-old flagship commissioned in San Diego

Navy spokesman Lt. Richard Drake at the time blamed it on wear and tear. 3rd Fleet officials said they could not comment on that since at the time the Essex was in the 7th Fleet in Japan. 7th Fleet officials could not be immediately reached for comment Wednesday.

The Yukon, which was launched in 1993, has been involved in at least two previous collisions, including on Feb. 27, 2000, when it collided with a 135-foot civilian cargo ship while trying to enter Dubai's Jebel Ali port in the United Arab Emirates. The Yukon sustained minor damage.

Less than five months later, it was hit by the USS Denver during refueling off the coast of Hawaii. Both ships sustained heavy damage.

The Wednesday accident occurred about 120 miles off the coast of Southern California as the Essex was approaching the Yukon to be refueled, said Cmdr. Charlie Brown, a spokesman for the 3rd Fleet.

Brown said the steering apparently stopped working on the 844-foot-long Essex, which was carrying 982 crew members on its way to San Diego for scheduled maintenance. It had spent the past 12 years based in Sasebo, Japan, as command ship for the Navy's Expeditionary Strike Group 7.

The Essex was traveling with a new crew that came aboard for the trip to California. The ship recently underwent a crew swap with another amphibious assault ship, the Bonhomme Richard, as part of a standard procedure in the Navy to keep its ships operating.

The 677-foot Yukon arrived later Wednesday at the Navy base in San Diego with its crew of 82, including 78 civilian mariners and four military crew members.

Brown said he couldn't say how fast the ships were moving at the time of the crash because the Navy is still investigating the cause.

The standard speed for ships lining up to refuel at sea is about 13 knots, or 15 mph, Brown said. No lines or hoses had been connected because the two vessels were just approaching each other.

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Associated Press writers Andrew Dalton and John Antczak in Los Angeles contributed to this report.