SEATTLE -- Washington state identified two new coronavirus cases, including a school-aged adolescent who has no known travel history or encountered anyone who had visited affected areas, health officials said.

The two tested positive in local tests and are awaiting confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The other ...Read more

SEATTLE -- Gray whales are lumbering back into Puget Sound, and scientists have plans in store for some of them.

The mighty grays undertake one of the longest migrations of any mammal, traveling from Arctic feeding grounds to calving areas in Mexico, then back north again come spring.

A small group of about a dozen whales pause along the way, ...Read more

LOS ANGELES -- Oregon reported its first case of coronavirus and the patient was probably infected through community spread, the state's health official said.

The patient, from Washington County, has no known recent travel history to a country with a large virus outbreak. It was likely infected in a similar way to a case in California, Patrick ...Read more

CAMP PENDLETON, Calif. -- A Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton became the first woman to graduate from the Corps' Howitzer Section Chief Course this month, taking on a combat artillery leadership role once reserved for men.

The M777 Howitzer is a cannon that can hit targets from almost 20 miles away. It requires a crew of at least six Marines ...Read more

ISTANBUL -- Turkey's ambassador to the United Nations on Friday said Ankara would not hesitate to retaliate if threatened by Syria, after deadly attacks in Idlib province severely escalated tensions between Turkey and Russian-backed Syrian forces.

"If they want to learn the hard way, they will," Ambassador Feridun Hadi Sinirlioglu said during a...Read more

NORTH CHARLESTON, S.C. -- During a raucous rally here Friday on the eve of the state's Democratic primary, President Donald Trump brushed off the nation's rising concerns about the coronavirus, declaring that "confidence is surging" in the economy, despite the stock market having just suffered its worst week of losses since 2008.

He accused ...Read more

CHARLESTON, S.C. -- Dawn Vollink says she's finally ready to settle on Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

Well, maybe.

The 70-year-old Democrat who once contemplated voting for former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg (before he showed "attitude" in recent debates) and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (before she slumped in Nevada) in the 2020 Democratic ...Read more

Customs and Border Protection officer strangled wife, shot kids and then self, autopsies find

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The Customs and Border Protection officer who was found dead with his family at their home near Bithlo, Fla., last week had strangled his wife to death and shot both his children, before killing himself, the Orange County Sheriff's ...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas -- A revolution-minded, conspiracy-bent militia group named the Oath Keepers is recruiting law officers in Hood County to take up arms in what the founder predicts will be a "bloody civil war" against the U.S. government.

A national director of the Las Vegas-based Oath Keepers, John D. Shirley, moved to rural Hood County in ...Read more

It's hard to run an election during a pandemic, let alone stay healthy.

In 1918, as Spanish influenza wreaked havoc in one of the greatest health disasters in U.S. history, politicians were sidelined as bans on public gatherings made it impossible to hold campaign rallies.

There was no vaccine for that virus, which killed hundreds of thousands...Read more

AMMAN, Jordan -- The news broadcast finished and Salah Abed began to dismantle the equipment: There would be no other broadcast that evening -- and maybe never again -- from the Radio Fresh station in the Syrian town of Kafranbel.

The town had been an icon of uprising and the radio station was its voice to the world. Activists relied on the ...Read more

MEXICO CITY -- The U.S. State Department announced Friday that a former governor of Nayarit state in western Mexico was involved in "significant corruption," an official designation that bars him and family members from entering the United States.

Roberto Sandoval Castaneda, who served as governor from 2011 to 2017, faces various corruption ...Read more

ROCKLIN, Calif. -- There wasn't a lot of youth to be found at an event called "Turning Out the Youth Vote" this month at Sierra College. Senior citizens outnumbered students 3-to-1.

One gray-haired woman said she had tried, and failed, to post something about the event on, "believe it or not, Instagram." The decidedly blue-leaning room roared ...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- The federal government is disputing University of California assertions that there was a delay in testing a critically ill Solano County woman for the coronavirus, saying it responded as soon as requested.

The timing is important, because the delay exposed health workers and people in the community to unnecessary risk. An ...Read more

The birds have been chirpier than normal for a February, the snow drops and daffodils are showing no fear, and when was the last time you saw salt brine on a road near you?

People in the U.S. have a 100% chance of having their earliest spring in 124 years, arriving officially this year on at 11:50 p.m. EDT on March 19.

Not only do we get a Feb...Read more