AP (New)

Seattle police officer fired for off-duty racist comments

SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle police officer was fired for calling his Chinese American neighbor racist and sexist slurs while off duty in 2022, according to a news report. Officer Burton Hill was fired in May, The Seattle Times reported. The termination stemmed from an altercation with his neighbor, Zhen Jin, over the disposal of […]
30 minutes ago

2 killed in helicopter crash in Washington state, authorities say

BLUESTEM, Wash. (AP) — Two men died in a helicopter crash in eastern Washington state, authorities said. Lincoln County Fire District 6 Chief Brandon Larmer told KREM-TV that the helicopter had two people aboard when it crashed Wednesday afternoon. The men who died were identified Thursday as 68-year-old Ryan Sandvig, of Spokane, and 63-year-old Mark […]
4 hours ago
Former U.S. Representative George Nethercutt. (Getty Images)...

Former GOP Rep. George Nethercutt, who defeated House Speaker Tom Foley in 1994, dies at 79

Former U.S. Rep. George Nethercutt, a Spokane lawyer who ousted Democratic Speaker of the House Tom Foley, has died.
2 days ago
starbucks supreme court...
Associated Press

Supreme Court, siding with Starbucks, makes it harder for NLRB to win court orders in labor disputes

The Supreme Court case began in February 2022, when Starbucks fired seven workers who were trying to unionize their Tennessee store.
7 days ago

Woman with gun taken into custody after standoff at FBI building in Seattle, authorities say

SEATTLE (AP) — A woman armed with a handgun was taken into custody after an hourlong standoff at the FBI building in Seattle on Wednesday, authorities said. The woman walked into a publicly accessible area where people have to wait to be buzzed into the lobby, according to FBI spokesperson Steve Bernd. She pointed the […]
8 days ago

Former astronaut William Anders, who took iconic Earthrise photo, has died in Washington plane crash

SEATTLE (AP) — Retired Maj. Gen. William Anders, the former Apollo 8 astronaut who took the iconic “Earthrise” photo showing the planet as a shadowed blue marble from space in 1968, was killed Friday when the plane he was piloting alone plummeted into the waters off the San Juan Islands in Washington state. He was […]
13 days ago

Washington man sentenced for 20 ‘swatting’ calls of false threats in US, Canada

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — A Washington state man who made 20 false reports of bombs and shootings around the U.S. and in Canada, prompting real emergency responses, has been sentenced to three years in prison, U.S. authorities said. Ashton Connor Garcia, 21, of Bremerton, was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Tacoma on Tuesday, according […]
15 days ago

Asylum-seekers looking for shelter set up encampment in Seattle suburb

BELLINGHAM, Wash. (AP) — Asylum-seekers who have been looking for shelter in Washington state, mainly from Angola, Congo and Venezuela, have set up an encampment in a Seattle suburb. The asylum-seekers moved to the site next to an empty motel south of Seattle in Kent, on Saturday, The Seattle Times reported. The motel is owned […]
16 days ago

Seattle police chief dismissed from top job amid discrimination, harassment lawsuits

SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle’s embattled police chief has been dismissed, Mayor Bruce Harrel said Wednesday. Harrell said at a news conference that he met with Police Chief Adrian Diaz on Tuesday and they agreed Diaz should step down. He will work on special assignments for the mayor with the police department, Harrell said. Diaz’s departure […]
22 days ago

Person fatally shot by Washington state trooper during altercation on I-5 identified as Idaho man

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — The person who was fatally shot by a Washington state trooper during an altercation on Interstate 5 north of Seattle last week has been identified as an Idaho man. The Snohomish County Medical Examiner’s Office said the man was 31-year-old Marvin Arellano of Nampa, the Daily Herald reported. The office determined […]
29 days ago

Prosecutors say Washington officer charged with murder ignored his training in killing man in 2019

KENT, Wash. (AP) — A suburban Seattle police officer ignored his training and unnecessarily resorted to deadly force when he shot and killed a man outside a convenience store in 2019, prosecutors said as the officer’s murder trial opened Thursday. Auburn Police Officer Jeff Nelson shot Jesse Sarey twice while attempting to arrest him for […]
1 month ago

Seattle Times publisher Frank Blethen to step down after 4 decades in charge of family-owned paper

SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle Times publisher and CEO Frank Blethen has announced he will step down at the end of next year after four decades leading the newspaper his family has owned since 1896. Blethen, 79, confirmed his plans Monday in a Seattle Times interview. He said he expects to retain his position as board […]
1 month ago

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators who blocked road near Sea-Tac airport plead not guilty

SEATAC, Wash. (AP) — More than three dozen pro-Palestinian protesters accused of blocking a main road into Seattle-Tacoma International Airport last month pleaded not guilty on Monday to misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and failing to disperse. Thirty-seven people pleaded not guilty in SeaTac Municipal Court, where Judge Pauline Freund returned $500 bail to each […]
1 month ago

Seattle man is suspected of fatally shooting 9-month-old son and is held on $5 million bail

SEATTLE (AP) — A Seattle man has been arrested in connection with the fatal shooting of his 9-month-old son. Officers responded to reports of a shooting in the Magnolia neighborhood Wednesday evening, the Seattle Police Department said in a post on its website. A woman told officers her baby had been shot, and firefighters pronounced […]
1 month ago

Seattle to open short-term recovery center for people after a fentanyl overdose

SEATTLE (AP) — Seattle will open a new space for people to recover and receive treatment for nearly 24 hours after they have overdosed on fentanyl or other drugs, Mayor Bruce Harrell announced Thursday. The center is slated to open near the Pioneer Square neighborhood in mid-2025 and will be run by a homelessness and […]
1 month ago

Three men sentenced to life in prison for killing family in Washington state

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. (AP) — Three men found guilty of killing a family in Washington state in 2017 over alleged drugs and money were sentenced to life in prison without without the possibility of parole. Superior Court Judge Kevin Hull on Tuesday sentenced Danie Kelly Jr., 45, Robert Watson III, 52, and Watson’s brother Johnny […]
1 month ago

Binance founder Changpeng Zhao sentenced to 4 months for allowing money laundering

SEATTLE (AP) — Changpeng Zhao, founder of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, was sentenced Tuesday to four months in prison for looking the other way as criminals used the platform to move money connected to child sex abuse, drug trafficking and terrorism. U.S. District Judge Richard A. Jones credited the founder and former CEO of […]
2 months ago

Zebras get loose near highway exit, gallop into Washington community before most are corralled

NORTH BEND, Wash. (AP) — It was an unusual wildlife sighting Sunday when four zebras escaped from their trailer and galloped into a Washington neighborhood. Three of the four black-and-white striped animals were quickly captured, but the fate of the fourth wasn’t immediately known Monday, Washington State Patrol Trooper Rick Johnson said. The zebras were […]
2 months ago

Police in Washington city issue alarm after 3 babies overdosed on fentanyl in less than a week

EVERETT, Wash. (AP) — Officials are sounding alarms after a baby died and two others apparently also overdosed in the past week in separate instances in which fentanyl was left unsecured inside residences, authorities said. A 911 caller on Wednesday afternoon reported that a 13-month-old baby was not breathing in an apartment in Everett, the […]
2 months ago

America’s child care crisis is holding back moms without college degrees

AUBURN, Wash. (AP) — After a series of lower-paying jobs, Nicole Slemp finally landed one she loved. She was a secretary for Washington’s child services department, a job that came with her own cubicle, and she had a knack for working with families in difficult situations. Slemp expected to return to work after having her […]
2 months ago

A Washington police officer killed 3 people in 8 years — and faces a murder trial for the last one

SEATTLE (AP) — Jury selection began Monday in the trial of a suburban Seattle police officer charged with murder in the death of a 26-year-old man outside a convenience store in 2019 — the third person the officer had killed in the past eight years. Auburn officer Jeff Nelson shot and killed Jesse Sarey while […]
2 months ago

Longtime AP journalist, newspaper publisher John Brewer dies at age 76

PORT ANGELES, Wash. (AP) — John Brewer, whose coast-to-coast journalism career spanned 50 years, including nearly two decades at The Associated Press, has died. He was 76. Brewer and his longtime friend Randy Johnson were on their annual fly fishing trip in Montana on Friday when the boat Brewer was in hit a submerged log […]
2 months ago

Microsoft invests $1.5 billion in AI firm G42, overseen by UAE’s national security adviser

REDMOND, Wash. (AP) — Microsoft is investing $1.5 billion in a technology firm based in the United Arab Emirates and overseen by the country’s powerful national security adviser. Microsoft and the technology holding company G42 announced the deal Tuesday. As part of the agreement, Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, will join G42’s board of directors. The […]
2 months ago
solar eclipse...

Total solar eclipse wows North America. Clouds part just in time for most

MESQUITE, Texas (AP) — A chilly, midday darkness fell across North America on Monday as a total solar eclipse raced across the continent, thrilling those lucky enough to behold the spectacle through clear skies. Street lights blinked on and the planets came into view, as the moon shrouded the sun for a few minutes across […]
2 months ago