NEW YORK — The Mamdani administration appointed three new upper-level staffers at the city’s Department of Transportation Thursday.

“I am honored to welcome Tiffany-Ann Taylor as chief strategy officer, Madeline Labadie as chief of staff, and Sindhu Bharadwaj as director of strategic initiatives — three exceptional leaders whose policy ...Read more

OLYMPIA — A day after the Senate passed a revised income tax bill, Gov. Bob Ferguson on Tuesday called it a “good start” and for the first time detailed his conditions for signing it, including $1 billion in small business-tax relief and a major expansion of the state’s Working Families Tax Credit.

Ferguson's stipulations come two weeks...Read more

The Washington Legislature passed a bill Tuesday requiring landlords to disclose if a rental property is at risk for flooding and recommend tenants consider buying flood insurance.

The bill now heads to the governor’s desk. If signed, the requirement would only apply to leases entered into after Dec. 31, 2026.

The legislation is in direct ...Read more

The Golden State’s taxpayers could fund a $23 billion bond to replace federal grants that once supercharged scientific research in California under a proposal making its way through the statehouse.

That’s the idea behind a new bill, Senate Bill 895, which would create a state-level taxpayer-funded institute similar to the National ...Read more

For years, Europe has endured President Donald Trump’s complaints that it is a complacent continent hiding under America’s security umbrella. Now, as he launches the first open-ended military campaign of his presidency, its leaders find themselves holding something he still needs: their bases, airspace and strategic geography.

Trump this ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen said Thursday he is seeking Republican Senate support for legislation he considers critical to ensuring Americans aren’t paying the tab for massive amounts of energy required by new data centers.

Van Hollen and Maryland Reps. Johnny Olszewski Jr., Kweisi Mfume and Andy Harris said at a news ...Read more

The Pentagon said it has formally notified Anthropic PBC that it’s determined the company and its products pose a risk to the U.S. supply chain, according to a senior defense official, escalating a dispute over artificial intelligence safeguards.

“DOW officially informed Anthropic leadership the company and its products are deemed a supply ...Read more

SEATTLE — Prosecutors charged 33 members of a pro-Palestinian protest group with first-degree criminal trespassing in connection with the May 2025 occupation of a University of Washington engineering building, as the protesters called for the school to sever ties with Boeing.

The King County District Court charges were filed nearly 10 months ...Read more

President Donald Trump sounded confident Thursday that change might come to Cuba in as little as two weeks, and said the country’s leadership is intent in cutting a deal with the United States.

As he welcomed Inter Miami players, the 2025 Major League Soccer champions, to the White House, Trump told one of the club’s owners, Cuban-American ...Read more

The U.S. and Venezuela agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations, the State Department said, signaling President Donald Trump’s willingness to work with the country’s current leadership now that he’s ousted Nicolás Maduro.

“This step will facilitate our joint efforts to promote stability, support economic recovery, and advance ...Read more

A Chicago federal appeals court on Thursday vacated a lower court’s injunction placing use-of-force restrictions on immigration agents during Operation Midway Blitz, calling it “constitutionally suspect” and questioning the manner in which the district judge dismissed the underlying suit.

The three-judge panel of the 7th Circuit U.S. ...Read more

OAKLAND, Calif. — A federal judge signaled Thursday she is unlikely to grant a key defense request from former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao and her co-defendants to challenge the FBI search warrants that led agents to raid their homes and businesses in June 2024.

“I would not stop preparing for trial if I were you,” U.S. District Court of ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — The attorney representing the man accused of starting the Lachman fire before it turned into the deadly Palisades fire is demanding the immediate release of his client following a sworn deposition by a Los Angeles city firefighter who testified that he told co-workers and a captain that the first fire was not fully out as they ...Read more

MINNEAPOLIS — Minnesota’s top federal prosecutor acknowledged “mistakes that have been made” during another contempt hearing Thursday over the U.S. government’s failure to abide by court orders to return detained immigrants’ belongings upon their release from custody.

U.S. District Judge John Tunheim ordered the hearing to hear from...Read more

WASHINGTON — Trump administration nominee Robert Cekada is one step closer to leading the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 14-8 to advance his nomination Thursday.

A full Senate confirmation could signal a more consistent future for an agency that often finds itself with a rotating ...Read more

WASHINGTON — House lawmakers on Thursday rejected, 212-219, a war powers resolution that sought to curb ongoing U.S. military operations in Iran, one day after the Senate voted similarly to quash its own effort.

The concurrent resolution, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was essentially a messaging vehicle that would have been ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — An Orange County Public Works crew has demolished a Vietnam War memorial that was left unfinished in Mile Square Regional Park in Fountain Valley.

In 2023, then-Supervisor Andrew Do allocated $1 million in First District discretionary funds to the nonprofit Viet America Society for the design and construction of the memorial. ...Read more

JERUSALEM — A barrage of Iranian missiles and drones targeted at least five countries across the Middle East, prompting several governments to urge their citizens to take shelter, while Israel carried out a 12th wave of airstrikes on Tehran and the United States suspended operations at its embassy in Kuwait.

As the seventh day of the Iran ...Read more