[flexcoders] working with an array collection

[tkskates]

Hello I'm new to the group and flex I've been reading books and what not
but I have a question probably simple for someone more experienced.

So here is what I want to do I have an array collection _getNews and I
want to pull information out of it in the statesFilterFunction the field
I want in the array collection is called fkstate_id so do I reference it
like this

_getNews.data.fkstate_id
or
_getNews.fkstate_id

anyways i keep getting a 1119 error = access of possibly undifined
property data through  a reference with a static type

Any help would be great

Thanks

         [Bindable]
             private var _getNews:ArrayCollection;

             private function newsDataHandler(event:ResultEvent):void
             {
                 _getNews = new ArrayCollection(event.result as Array);

             }

             private function statesFilter(_getStates:Object):Boolean
             {
                 var currentCountry:Object = countryList.selectedItem as
Object;
                 return (currentCountry.country_id ==
_getStates.fkcountry_id && _getNews.data.fkstate_id ==
_getStates.state_id);
             }