SEATTLE — Three Seattle-area corporate giants, Microsoft, Amazon and T-Mobile, collectively donated $20 million to fund President Donald Trump’s White House ballroom project, according to an internal spreadsheet obtained by The Washington Post.

The donations put them among the top donors of the project, estimated to cost $330 million.

...Read more

Five people are believed to be dead after a shooting at a Bend, Oregon, elementary school, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.

The shooter was also shot and killed, although it’s unclear whether the shooter was among the five people authorities believe have died so far.

Police responded to Silver Rail Elementary School after...Read more

WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Katie Zacharia appeared to acknowledge Thursday that she did not pass the California bar exam, calling the results “inconsequential” as she sought to tamp down mounting questions over her legal credentials.

Zacharia said that when she sat for the exam she was preparing to marry her now husband and...Read more

SEATTLE — With little progress on artificial intelligence legislation in Congress, some Washington leaders are looking at how the state could regulate the technology.

Early discussions are underway about bills for next year’s legislative session to set new guardrails around safety, privacy and liability for AI.

But Senate Majority Leader ...Read more

FRESNO, Calif. — Central Valley detention facilities have denied attorneys access to detainees picked up by ICE in Fresno and the region during an immigration enforcement surge that started early last week, lawyers say.

Many of those detainees have already been transferred to a Texas facility after they agreed to sign voluntary departure ...Read more

SAN DIEGO — A brush fire charred more than a thousand acres on Camp Pendleton Thursday and prompted the closure of Interstate 5 in both directions as dry Santa Ana winds pushed the flames toward the freeway.

The California Highway Patrol has closed the entire 16-mile stretch of freeway running through the base, from Harbor Drive in Oceanside ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump rejected plans to livestream the execution of a former Army major who killed 13 people in 2009, overruling Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s proposal after facing intense bipartisan backlash.

Trump said Thursday the execution would proceed, and that it may be viewed in person by the immediate families of ...Read more

Gov. JB Pritzker on Thursday cast doubt on his ambitious housing program passing in the short fall legislative session but indicated optimism about legislation to regulate data centers and support a new Bears stadium to be located in the suburbs or even stay in Chicago.

The Democratic governor’s comments on several policy priorities came less...Read more

There were no big wins at the blackjack table for Gov. JB Pritzker in 2025, according to partial tax returns released Thursday, offering a limited glimpse into the billionaire Democrat’s finances less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 election.

Pritzker — who is running for a rare third term as governor in a rematch against Republican ...Read more

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea’s long-standing alliance with America is being tested by spats spanning from investment deals to intelligence leaks, compromising Seoul’s ability to respond to North Korea.

In a rare admission, Seoul’s top envoy to the U.S. on Monday acknowledged an “issue” with Washington’s sharing of covert data....Read more

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Washington dismissed a lawsuit filed by former CIA Director John Brennan to compel the Justice Department to take special steps to preserve records in an ongoing criminal investigation into President Donald Trump’s perceived political enemies.

In a decision Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jia Cobb wrote that ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota has confirmed another 18 cases of measles in the past week — one of its highest single-week totals in decades — amid two ongoing outbreaks in the state’s least-vaccinated counties.

“The case count will very likely grow in the days and weeks ahead,” the Minnesota Department of Health warned in a written ...Read more

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump didn’t order any limitations on Ukraine’s access to SpaceX’s Starshield satellite technology, according to a senior U.S. official.

Asked whether the U.S. president had ordered restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Starshield, the official said Thursday no such request was ever made by the president.

...Read more

Remnants of Hurricane Isaias brought a record number of tornadoes to central North Carolina, with one of the strongest tornadoes traveling more than 5 miles.

There were 13 tornadoes across the state on Sunday, Oct. 11, with nine of those in the central part of the state and under the National Weather Service’s Raleigh office’s coverage area...Read more

WASHINGTON — The Trump administration is seeking to stop the counting of some votes in California through a federal lawsuit filed Thursday, arguing that more than 20,000 voters in the state may not be citizens.

The lawsuit, filed in California federal court, argues the state should set aside the ballots of more than 20,000 voters who the ...Read more

The Department of Justice is suing the city of St. Paul over ordinances banning federal law enforcement officers — including ICE and Customs and Border Protection agents — from hiding their faces on the job, as well as requiring they identify themselves.

The complaint, filed Thursday in Minnesota federal court, argues the city’s ...Read more

COLUMBIA, S.C. — A showdown between prosecutors and lawyers for Alex Murdaugh who is accused of killing his wife and son will take place Friday when they meet in a pretrial hearing at the Lexington County courthouse.

Murdaugh, 58, is expected to be at the hearing.

Over the last several weeks, prosecutors and defense attorneys have filed ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Republican former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida is facing a lawsuit accusing him and others of sexually trafficking and abusing two women from 2017 to 2019.

The lawsuit, filed anonymously by a pair of women in Florida federal court and docketed Thursday, alleges that Gaetz and coconspirators coordinated to pay for travel, sex and ...Read more