WASHINGTON — A series of forest fires burned 3 million acres in Idaho, Montana and Washington over two days in 1910, prompting a new firefighting era.

After those fires, which charred a region a bit smaller than Delaware, it became federal practice to stop the use of human-set fires to cull excess fuel. In 1935, the Forest Service set policy ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The driver of an armored car carrying $712,000 in cash from licensed marijuana dispensaries was heading into Barstow on a Mojave Desert freeway in November when San Bernardino County Sheriff's deputies pulled him over. They interrogated him, seized the money and turned it over to the FBI.

A few weeks later, deputies stopped the ...Read more

In an effort to raise awareness about the vast number of counterfeit pills — often containing deadly doses of fentanyl — that are flooding the illicit drug market, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has released a guide to emojis used by people looking to buy and sell drugs on social media.

The DEA hopes publicizing the emojis used on...Read more

A week before Alec Baldwin fatally shot the cinematographer of “Rust,” the film’s 24-year-old armorer was reprimanded for leaving guns unattended on set and for failing to sufficiently juggle two important roles, emails show.

The armorer, Hannah Gutierrez Reed, had been hired to perform two jobs on the low-budget western: the armorer in ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — An L.A.-area man accused of a string of BB gun shootings aimed at a Planned Parenthood facility in Pasadena is facing up to 10 years in federal prison following an investigation by police and the FBI.

Richard Royden Chamberlin, 53, of Altadena, was charged with one count of being a convicted felon in possession of a firearm ...Read more

Idaho health officials confirmed the state’s first case of the fast-spreading COVID-19 omicron sub-variant BA.2 days after returning to crisis health care rationing.

“The BA.2 sub-variant has been identified in 22 U.S. states and at least 40 countries where it is reportedly spreading quickly,” the state Department of Health and Welfare ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Hours before President Joe Biden was to visit Pittsburgh on Friday to tout his infrastructure plan, a bridge with a troubled inspection history collapsed, injuring 10 people and stranding seven vehicles, including a Port Authority bus, on the wrecked structure that spans a ravine in Frick Park.

Three people were rushed to a ...Read more

New York and New England braced for this winter’s biggest storm yet, as airlines canceled flights, cities readied snow plows and officials urged residents to ride out the next 24 hours at home.

The storm was expected to hit New York City in earnest Friday evening and drop 6 to 12 inches of snow, while raking the area with high winds that ...Read more

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — A 17-year-old driver speeding up State Road 7 just west of Delray Beach on Thursday night plowed into a car full of people, killing six, police said.

Investigators with the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office believe Noah Galle, of Wellington, was under the influence of alcohol and or drugs at the time of the 10:58 p....Read more

NEW YORK — A student at a Manhattan public school was found with a backpack stuffed with weapons, sources told the Daily News on Friday.

The 14-year-old student at Intermediate School 70 in Chelsea showed off a knife to another pupil, who reported it to the principal about 11:45 a.m. on Thursday, sources said.

School safety agents and ...Read more

PITTSBURGH — Hours before President Joe Biden was to visit Pittsburgh on Friday to tout his infrastructure plan, a bridge with a troubled inspection history collapsed, injuring 10 people and stranding seven vehicles, including a Port Authority bus, on the wrecked structure that spans a ravine in Frick Park.

Three people were rushed to a ...Read more

A Kansas man who claiming God directed him to the nation’s capital is charged with threatening to kill President Joe Biden, whom he referred to as the Antichrist.

On Tuesday, Scott Ryan Merryman called police in his hometown of Independence, telling them he was going to see the president, according to a Maryland arrest warrant obtained by The...Read more

Venezuela’s opposition has suggested the U.S. ease economic sanctions on the country and some of its individuals, a potential policy shift aimed at bringing President Nicolas Maduro back to the negotiating table, according to National Assembly head Juan Guaido.

The plan could be put in motion even before talks hopefully resume in Mexico, ...Read more

NEW YORK — A slain young NYPD officer was remembered for his ever-present smile and love of the job Friday at a packed St. Patrick’s Cathedral funeral where his sobbing widow shared the sad details of their last day together.

On a snowy Manhattan day of mourning and heartache, New York Police Department Officer Jason Rivera was fondly ...Read more

BOISE, Idaho — A newly released independent investigation found no evidence to substantiate allegations of indoctrination happening at the University of Idaho.

The report, conducted by the law firm Hawley Troxell, looked into specific allegations that were published by the Idaho Freedom Foundation about the University of Idaho’s diversity ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — A defense attorney for a former Minneapolis police officer questioned Friday whether poor training and a paramilitary culture were to blame for his client's failure to stop Derek Chauvin from killing George Floyd.

In cross examining a police inspector, Thomas Plunkett expounded on his opening statement that the department failed...Read more

FORT WORTH, Texas — Fort Worth city council member and Texas House candidate Cary Moon told Burleson police he once served as mayor of Fort Worth and asked officers to call the police chief during his October 2020 arrest on a driving while intoxicated charge.

“Y’all know who I am, right?” he later said after an officer told Moon he was ...Read more

ANCHORAGE, Alaska — Alaska reported rising virus hospitalization numbers Friday and the highest case rate in the nation as the omicron variant continues to snarl staffing at health care facilities that have had to adapt to the ups and downs of the pandemic.

The state on Friday reported 5,897 cases of COVID-19 over the past two days and a ...Read more

Lynn Long, a Black mechanic for the Architect of the Capitol, was referred to as a racial slur and as “lazy” by colleagues, was tasked with “dirty jobs” and subjected to different working conditions than his white co-workers, a lawsuit filed Friday against the agency alleges.

The complaint — which claims Long has been discriminated ...Read more