National News

By ROBERT BURNS, AP National Security Writer WASHINGTON (AP) — With Russia in mind, the Trump administration is aiming to develop new nuclear firepower that it says will make it easier to deter threats to European allies. The plan, not yet approved by President Donald Trump, is intended to make nuclear conflict less likely. Critics argue…

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — The oldest victim swept away in a California mudslide was Jim Mitchell, who had celebrated his 89th birthday the day before. He died with his wife of more than 50 years, Alice. The youngest, 3-year-old Kailly Benitez, was one of four children killed. As…

By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump will be the patient, not the commander in chief offering comfort, when he visits the Walter Reed military hospital on Friday. Trump is headed to the medical facility in Bethesda, Maryland, outside Washington, for his first medical checkup as president. But what has been a…

By CHRISTOPHER WEBER and BRIAN MELLEY, Associated Press MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — More than two full days after mudslides ravaged this coastal town, the search for the missing became an increasingly desperate exercise Thursday, with growing doubts about whether anyone would be found alive. Seventeen people were confirmed dead and eight others were unaccounted for. "They're…

By MARCIO JOSE SANCHEZ and ROBERT JABLON, Associated Press MONTECITO, Calif. (AP) — Hundreds of searchers continued the grueling work Thursday of hunting for survivors and digging up bodies in the sea of mud and wreckage left by flash flooding in this wealthy coastal enclave. Muck-spattered searchers from around the state slogged through knee-deep ooze, poking…