Helena, MT – Senators from California and Montana said Thursday that they plan to introduce a bipartisan bill that aims to protect communities from wildfires like the one that killed 85 people and destroyed much of the Northern California town of Paradise last year. Democrat Dianne Feinstein of California and Republican Steve Daines of Montana [...]

Washington – E-cigarette giant Juul Labs gave nearly $100,000 to members of Congress during the first half of 2019 as the company faced the bulk of the blame for a surge of underage vaping and calls for tighter government regulation of the industry. The donations from Juul’s political action committee represent a sharp increase over [...]

Seattle – A theft ring in Washington state sold millions of dollars’ worth of stolen goods on Amazon.com in the past six years, and a pair of Amazon delivery drivers was involved, recently unsealed federal court documents show. According to a search warrant affidavit unsealed in U.S. District Court in Seattle and reviewed by The [...]

Junction City, KY – A regional gas pipeline ruptured early Thursday in Kentucky, causing a massive explosion that killed one person, hospitalized five others, destroyed railroad tracks and forced the evacuation of a nearby mobile home park, authorities said. Some structures were completely consumed by the blaze, and five to seven people were unaccounted for [...]

Trenton, NJ – A New Jersey law allowing terminally ill patients to seek life-ending drugs went into effect Thursday. Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy had signed the bill in April, making New Jersey the seventh state with such a measure. Maine enacted a similar law in June, becoming the eighth. The Medical Aid in Dying for [...]

Philadelphia – Philadelphia’s longest-serving sheriff has been sentenced to five years in prison for using bribes from a businessman to help buy two homes and then awarding him millions in city contracts. John Green was given the maximum sentence Thursday for his role in a scheme that authorities say involved $675,000 in bribes from businessman [...]

Denver – A mother pleaded guilty Thursday to child abuse resulting in the death of her 7-year-old son whose body was found in a Denver storage unit, in a deal requiring her cooperation with prosecutors who have charged the boy’s father with murder. The plea agreement approved by a judge recommends that Elisha Pankey spend [...]

Concord, NH – A federal inspection report says the driver involved in a crash that killed seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire was on drugs and reached for a beverage just before colliding with a group of bikers. The Boston Globe reports that the document it obtained found Volodymyr Zhukovskyy tested positive for an unspecified drug [...]

Detroit – Nissan will do a “service campaign” to fix nearly 200,000 Altima midsize cars because a suspension part can come loose from the frame due to corrosion. The campaign falls short of a recall, but the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is continuing an investigation into the problem that covers more than 2 [...]