Associated Press

Official: Warren enters ’20 race

LAWRENCE, Mass. — Democratic Sen. Elizabeth Warren made her bid for the presidency official on Saturday in this working-class city, grounding her 2020 campaign in a populist call to fight economic inequality and build “an America that works for everyone.”

Warren delivered a sharp call for change at her presidential kickoff, decrying a “middle-class squeeze” that has left Americans crunched with “too little accountability for the rich, too little opportunity for everyone else.” She and her backers hope that message can distinguish her in a crowded Democratic field and help her move past the controversy surrounding her past claims to Native American heritage.

Va. Lt. Gov. wants allegations probed

RICHMOND, Va. — Virginia’s embattled lieutenant governor on Saturday called for authorities, including the FBI, to investigate sexual assault allegations made against him while defying widespread calls for his resignation with a plea for “space in this moment for due process.”

Democratic Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax issued a statement repeating his strong denials that he had ever sexually assaulted anyone and made clear he does not intend to immediately resign, despite having lost almost his entire base of support.

Two women have accused Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax of sexual assault. After the second allegation was made Friday, Fairfax — the second African-American to ever win statewide office— was barraged with demands to step down from top Democrats, including a number of presidential hopefuls and most of Virginia’s congressional delegation.

Snow piles up in Seattle; power problems

SEATTLE — Residents of the Pacific Northwest took to neighborhood hills with skis, sleds or even just laundry baskets Saturday to celebrate an unusual dump of snow in a region more accustomed to winter rain.

Some areas received more than a foot of snow, and meteorologists say more is on the way early next week. Hundreds of flights were canceled in Seattle and Portland, and heavy snow drifts closed major highways in eastern Washington. Around 50,000 people lost power.

Cory Booker: ‘I’ve run something’

MARSHALLTOWN, Iowa — New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker says having been a big city mayor distinguishes him from his rivals for the 2020 Democratic nomination.

Asked during a campaign stop in Marshalltown, Iowa, what separates him from fellow Sens. Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, he said it’s that he’s “run something.”

Booker was mayor of Newark from 2006 to 2013 before being elected to the U.S. Senate. He says the experience running a troubled urban center during a financial crisis would help him as president.