Las Vegas Strip shooter targeted aviation fuel tanks, source says  —  Fuel tanks near the Route 91 Harvest country music festival, pictured on Wednesday, Oct. 4, 2017, were targeted by Strip shooter Stephen Paddock when he fired on concert-goers from his Mandalay Bay room Sunday night.

Repeal the Second Amendment  —  I have never understood the conservative fetish for the Second Amendment.  —  From a law-and-order standpoint, more guns means more murder.  “States with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides …

‘Death spiral’: Tillerson makes nice but may not last long with Trump  —  The moment was as remarkable as it was unprecedented: A sitting U.S. secretary of state took to the microphone to pledge his fealty to the president — despite his well-documented unhappiness in the job and the growing presumption …

Jeff Sessions Just Reversed A Policy That Protects Transgender Workers From Discrimination  —  The Justice Department under Obama decreed that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 banned transgender discrimination in the workplace.  But in a new memo, the attorney general rescinded the policy.

Angry GOP donors close their wallets  —  Republicans are confronting a growing revolt from their top donors, who are cutting off the party in protest over its inability to get anything done.  —  Tensions reached a boiling point at a recent dinner at the home of Los Angeles billionaire Robert Day.

Harvey Weinstein Lawyers Battling N.Y. Times, New Yorker Over Potentially Explosive Stories (Exclusive)  —  The Hollywood mogul has enlisted a team of attorneys to fight planned articles that are said to be about his personal behavior.  —  Is The New York Times about to expose damaging information on Harvey Weinstein?

The Health of American Democracy: Comparing Perceptions of Experts and the American Public  —  Given wide­spread concern about the possible erosion of democracy in the United States, Bright Line Watch has conducted expert surveys since early 2017 asking thousands of pro­fes­sion­al …

Secret Service claims there are no Mar-a-Lago visitor logs  —  A Secret Service official said there are no logs for President Trump's visitors at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Fla., Politico reported.  —  The official said in response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) …

Democrat Northam leads Republican Gillespie in race for Virginia governor, new poll finds  —  A relatively unified party base gives Democrat Ralph Northam a clear lead over Republican Ed Gillespie heading into the final month of the Virginia governor's race, according to a new Washington Post-Schar School poll.

Pro-Life Rep. Tim Murphy Will Not Seek Re-Election After Reports Of Urging Abortion  —  PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — Congressman Tim Murphy, of Upper St. Clair, has reached a decision about his political future.  —  In a statement to KDKA's Jon Delano, the embattled anti-abortion Republican says he won't seek re-election.

Amazon Is Testing Its Own Delivery Service to Rival FedEx and UPS  —  Online retailer would deliver from other merchants' warehouses  —  Trial program underway on West Coast before national expansion  —  Amazon.com Inc. is experimenting with a new delivery service intended …

Flake tries to strike DACA compromise  —  One of the Senate's most vulnerable incumbents, Jeff Flake of Arizona, wants to break the impasse on protecting young undocumented immigrants by deporting gang members in the United States and beefing up border security, according to a summary obtained by POLITICO.

3 Special Forces Troops Are Killed and 2 Wounded in Ambush in Niger  —  WASHINGTON — Three United States Army Special Forces were killed and two were wounded in an ambush in Niger on Wednesday while on a routine patrol with troops they were training from the West African nation, American military officials said.

Three Trump Cabinet members attended mining lobbyist meeting at Trump International Hotel  —  Three members of President Trump's Cabinet attended the meeting of a major mining lobbying group at a Washington hotel owned by the president himself, according to a schedule of the event obtained by The Washington Post.

Manager at Bronx McDonald's arrested for allegedly selling cocaine with fast food  —  Want fries with that coke?  —  The night shift manager at a Bronx McDonald's has been busted for serving up cocaine with fast food, prosecutors said Wednesday  —  Frank Guerrero, 26 …