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• Hindu nationalist leader Narendra Modi was denied a U.S. visa in 2005 for alleged complicity in religious riots in 2002 that killed more than 1,000 Muslims. Exit polls show his Bharatiya Janata Party and its allies with a large lead over the ruling Congress party and its allies after voting ended Monday.
• The Obama administration started mending fences in February, when, for the first time in Modi's decade-long tenure as the top official in Gujarat state, the U.S. ambassador met with him. Officials since have said whoever is elected India's next leader would be welcome to the U.S., leaving little doubt that if Modi becomes prime minister, he could visit Washington.
• On Monday, President Barack Obama congratulated India on its national election and said the U.S. will work closely with India's next government.
• "We look forward to working with the leaders chosen by the Indian people to advance this important partnership and to set an ambitious agenda," State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
• ___

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- The availability of state-funded pre-kindergarten programs varies widely from one part of the country to another, says a new report.
• For example, more than 9 in 10 4-year-olds in the District of Columbia attended such a program during the 2012-13 school year, while 10 states have no such program.
• A number of states had fairly high enrollments, according to the report released Tuesday, though slightly lower than the District. More than 7 out of 10 4-year-olds in Florida, Oklahoma and Vermont were in such programs, while about 6 in 10 in Iowa, Georgia, West Virginia and Wisconsin were enrolled.
• In fact, even as lawmakers from both parties have embraced the idea of expanding early childhood programs, the number of children enrolled in state preschool programs saw a modest decline of about 9,200 children in the 20-2013 school year -- the first such reduction since 2002, when researchers at Rutgers University started tracking pre-K trends. Even as funding increased from a year earlier, more than half of states with programs made cuts. California alone, for example, lost nearly 15,000 slots.
• Overall, $5.4 billion was spent by states on pre-K funding for about 1.3 million preschoolers.

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