The Associated Press

The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative's top executive called a "massive and unprecedented intrusion" into how news organizations gather the news.

The records obtained by the Justice Department listed incoming and outgoing calls, and the duration of each call, for the work and personal phone numbers of individual reporters, general AP office numbers in New York, Washington and Hartford, Conn., and the main number for AP reporters in the House of Representatives press gallery, according to attorneys for the AP.

A military judge has found Army Sgt. John Russell guilty of premeditated murder in the 2009 killings of five fellow service members at a combat stress clinic in Iraq.

Russell now faces a sentencing phase to determine whether he will face life in prison with or without the possibility of release.

The same jury that convicted a Monroe Reformatory inmate of aggravated murder for strangling a prison guard starts work Monday in Everett on the penalty stage of the trial to determine whether Byron Scherf will be executed.

Snohomish County jurors were told during the trial that the convicted rapist was already serving a sentence of life without parole in 2011 when he strangled Jayme Biendl in the prison chapel.

Several inmates at the Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla are taking part in a new program to try to ease violence and reduce the number of inmates in solitary confinement.

So far, the program is voluntary, and it targets dangerous, confrontational inmates who have been locked away in isolation.

Gunmen opened fire on people marching in a neighborhood Mother's Day parade in New Orleans on Sunday, wounding at least 19.

The shooting — described by the FBI as a flare-up of street violence — shattered the festive mood surrounding the parade that drew hundreds of people to the 7th Ward neighborhood of modest row houses not far from the French Quarter. Cell phone video taken in the aftermath of the shooting shows victims lying on the ground, blood on the pavement and others bending over to comfort them.

The young man known as the "Barefoot Bandit" says he's looking forward to leaving prison and having a "beautiful life."

Colton Harris-Moore became known worldwide after running from the law in stolen cars, boats and airplanes as a teenager for two years. Now the 22-year-old is serving a seven-year prison sentence after a plea deal with federal and local authorities.

  Washington Gov. Jay Inslee wants to streamline government permitting and review aerospace incentives in order to help convince Boeing Co. to build its 777X jetliner in the state.

Inslee said Thursday that other strategies that lawmakers need to implement include improving the state's transportation corridors and investing in education and workforce training programs. He added those efforts can help preserve thousands of jobs.

"Today what we are doing is starting for the competition not just for the 777x but for the replacement of the 737. We’re getting ready for that today. We’re thinking long-term," the governor said.

Seattle Mayor Mike McGinn has apologized for making a deliberate omission this week when he announced a plan to turn guns from a buyback program into plaques carrying messages of peace.

McGinn left the impression during a news conference on Tuesday the 700-plus weapons collected at a highly publicized buyback in January would be used to make the plaques.

The Washington state Administrative Office of the Courts was hacked in February, and up to 160,000 Social Security numbers and 1 million driver license numbers may have been accessed during the data breach of its public website.

Officials with the courts announced Thursday that so far, it has been confirmed that 94 Social Security numbers were obtained. Initially, authorities didn't think confidential information was obtained, but following an investigation by the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the broader breach was confirmed in April, said courts spokeswoman Wendy Ferrell.

North Korea says a Korean-American man sentenced last week to 15 years' hard labor smuggled in unspecified inflammatory literature and tried to establish a base for anti-Pyongyang activities at a hotel in the border city of Rason.

The statement late Thursday from an unidentified Supreme Court spokesman provides the most in-depth look so far of Pyongyang's allegations against Kenneth Bae. But it is still short on specific details. Bae hasn't made a public statement.

A Cleveland man arrested after three women missing for a decade were found alive at his home was charged Wednesday with kidnapping and raping them. Prosecutors brought no charges against his brothers, saying there was no evidence they had any part in the crime.

Ariel Castro, 52, was charged with four counts of kidnapping — covering all three captives and the daughter born to one of them while she was held — and three counts of rape against the three women. The former school bus driver owns the peeling, run-down home where the women were rescued on Monday, after one of them broke through a screen door.

Starbucks says it signed a new five-year contract to make single-serve packs for Green Mountain's Keurig brewing machines, a deal that also expands the companies' partnership beyond North America.

The deal comes after Starbucks last year introduced its own single-serve brewing machine, which was seen by many as posing a threat to Green Mountain's popular machines.

State officials say federal automatic budget cuts will lower an unemployment benefits program for people in Washington.

The Employment Security Department announced Wednesday that beginning on May 19 "emergency unemployment compensation" will be reduced by 21.08 percent under the so-called sequester. Emergency unemployment compensation is a federally funded program that is available for people who run out of state-funded benefits.

Amanda Berry, who was held captive for about a decade before being rescued from a house along with two other women, arrived at her sister's home Wednesday morning to the cheers of hundreds of neighbors and swarms of journalists.

Berry's sister, Beth Serrano, spoke briefly to the crowd after their arrival, thanking the community for their support but asking for privacy during this difficult time.

"Barefoot Bandit" Colton Harris-Moore has pleaded guilty in Mount Vernon to a burglary charge for breaking into the Anacortes Airport where he stole a plane and flew it to Orcas Island.

As part of a plea deal with Skagit County Prosecutor Rich Weyrich, the 22-year-old was sentenced Wednesday to three months he's already spent in jail.