SEATTLE -- Mayor Jenny Durkan has approved the "emergency dismantling" of Seattle's 50-year-old downtown Pier 58, she announced Friday.

The pier between the Seattle Aquarium and the Great Wheel holds up Waterfront Park -- a boardwalk space with benches, scenic views and telescopes.

Seattle Structural, a private engineering firm, recommends ...Read more

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sacramento's smallest neighboring county, rural Amador, has quickly become a hotbed for coronavirus activity, with health officials and the state reporting a rapid spike in new cases and a flood of more than a dozen deaths in the past week -- nearly all of the fatalities at one nursing facility.

Amador County, which has a ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- The former Minneapolis police officer who stood by as three officers fatally restrained George Floyd told investigators he was focused on an angry crowd and trusted his colleagues to respond appropriately, according to a video released Friday.

Prosecutors filed the video of Tou Thao's voluntary interview with the Minnesota Bureau...Read more

WASHINGTON -- President Donald Trump on Friday ordered the Chinese owner of the popular music video app TikTok to sell its U.S. assets, citing national security concerns.

Trump's decision came after an investigation by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the U.S., which reviews acquisitions of American businesses by overseas investors. ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- A government watchdog released its findings Friday that the appointments of President Donald Trump's top Homeland Security officials were invalid, opening the administration up to legal challenges that could invalidate a number of immigration policies as well as undermine its central 2020 reelection strategy, former officials and ...Read more

MIAMI -- An accused Coral Gables rapist who was deported to Central America before he could stand trial is back on U.S. soil.

Werner Orozco, shackled and accompanied by U.S. Marshals, was extradited from Panama and arrived Friday afternoon on a flight into Miami-Dade County. He will be booked into a Miami jail.

His extradition came one year ...Read more

Minneapolis mayor announces plan to leave 100 police jobs unfilled next year

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey on Friday announced plans for the city to keep some 100 police jobs open next year, bowing to the city's budget challenges and loud calls to defund the force.

"There is no single policy proposal that will, in one fell swoop, undo 400 years...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS -- Minneapolis city officials are postponing plans to reopen the intersection where George Floyd died.

The intersection at 38th Street and Chicago Avenue won't open Monday as planned as community activists and city officials work to figure out what to do with the area where Floyd was killed by a Minneapolis police officer May 25. ...Read more

NEW YORK -- A U.S. effort to extend an expiring arms embargo on Iran was voted down at the United Nations Security Council on Friday evening, setting the stage for a diplomatic crisis pitting the Trump administration against both allies and adversaries.

"The Security Council's failure to act decisively in defense of international peace and ...Read more

The U.S. Postal Service is rolling out its first peak-season surcharges for commercial package deliveries as the agency seeks to cope with costs from the coronavirus pandemic and an expected surge in holiday demand.

The increases range from 24 cents to $1.50 per package and will last from Oct. 18 to Dec. 27, the post office said Friday in a ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- The current standoff between President Donald Trump and Congress over the U.S. Postal Service is rekindling a long-standing debate over how to overhaul an agency delivering more packages from online shoppers, but not enough letters to overcome a mounting revenue decline and growing retirement costs.

Bipartisan calls from lawmakers...Read more

CAIRO -- The United Arab Emirates' decision this week to normalize ties with Israel divided the region and the larger world on Friday, with much of the West praising the move, while large chunks of the Middle East said that, at best, it was a betrayal.

The move boosts the chances for peace in the Middle East and brings "badly needed realism" to...Read more

SEATTLE -- Approval to kill up to 840 sea lions in a portion of the Columbia River and its tributaries over the next five years to boost the survival of salmon and steelhead at risk of extinction is expected from federal officials Friday.

The kill program has been in the works since Congress approved a change in the Marine Mammal Protection Act...Read more

MIAMI -- As a deadly summer wave of virus continues to recede, Miami-Dade County officials and scientists are trying to figure out what combination of factors may have contributed to slowing a surge of COVID cases that at one point threatened to topple South Florida's healthcare infrastructure.

Social distancing measures, face mask orders and ...Read more

WASHINGTON -- Kamala Harris said Friday that Democratic nominee Joe Biden had broken through "one of the most substantial barriers" in the U.S. by picking her to be his running mate.

"Joe Biden had the audacity to choose a Black woman to be his running mate. How incredible is that?" Harris said in her first one-on-one interview since the former...Read more

ATLANTA -- Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp will sign an executive order that allows some local governments to require face coverings on their own property days after he abandoned a legal challenge that sought to block Atlanta's mask mandate.

The governor's aides said Friday that the order will clear the way for cities and counties to impose a face ...Read more