According to aides who were present when Trump discussed the issue, but who choose to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, Trump said he was sick of Vance and wanted to fire him. “I wanted him to be my attack dog,” said Trump, “but he appears foolish on television. He dropped the college football trophy. He met with Pope Francis and the next day the pope died. Vance is toxic, and I don’t want him to come near me. He just doesn’t look as good on television as I thought he would.”   read more

Holt, president of the Council of Conservative Citizens, has supported the campaigns of Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul, former Sen. Rick Santorum and others. The man who has said black people were “the laziest, stupidest and most criminally-inclined race in the history of the world” has contributed $8,500 to Cruz, $1,750 to Paul, $2,000 to Mitt Romney, and $1,500 to Santorum. According to FEC and state filings, 24 Republicans have received contributions from Holt.   read more

In Ohio, a task force chaired by Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters issued a report saying a proposed constitutional amendment to legalize medical and personal use marijuana could create more than 30,000 jobs and generate nearly $7 billion for the state’s economy. Legalization of marijuana in other states “has not led to drastic increases in crime, adult or teen use, workplace injuries,” noted the report.   read more

Included in the figure are the two convicted killers who recently made a daring escape from the Clinton Correctional Facility in upstate New York. The manhunt involving 800 federal, state and local law enforcement officers has been ongoing. Other fugitives include a convicted murderer who broke out through prison ventilation ducts, and an Indiana murderer who escaped in a garbage truck. Another convict packaged himself inside a furniture crate being shipped out.   read more

The threat of violence continues. On Thursday, 400 people were evacuated from the Allen Temple AME Church in Greenville, South Carolina, during a prayer vigil, due to a bomb threat, and the Morris Brown AME Church in Charleston was evacuated for the same reason on the same afternoon. On Friday, there was a bomb threat against Washington D.C.’s Metropolitan AME Church.   read more

Brian Norberg claims in his class action suit that although he’s not a Shutterfly user, a friend uploaded a picture of him to the service and tagged it with his name, which created a biometric profile of Norberg. Now the service recognizes him in other photos.   read more

The department traditionally takes two secured floors at the Waldorf for the UN session. However, the department has been worried about security issues at the iconic hotel since it was purchased last year by the Chinese Anbang Insurance Group for $1.95 billion.   read more

The three-minute video shows workers on a slaughter line and at a farm location. There is no gentle way to describe the process of killing chickens, hung upside in shackles on a crowded moving contraption that slices off their heads on their way to further hacking and preparation. But that’s the process signed off on by American Humane Association, which inked an agreement with Foster Farms in 2013 to certify that its chickens aren’t abused.   read more

A report from the Congressional Budget Office outlines the effects that an appeal would have. Fourteen million Americans would lose coverage through Medicaid and 18 million fewer would have insurance through the federal exchanges. That would be partly offset by 8 million more people who would be insured through their employers.   read more

Introduced in the U.S. in 1898, the ballot initiative was a response by progressives to the view that state legislatures were in the pocket of powerful corporate interests. But the ballot measure, it would seem, has now been hijacked by big-money interests for the benefit of big business. During the 2014 election, these special interests and election professionals were collectively paid at least $400 million for 85 statewide measures. And that’s during an “off year.”   read more

McCain had had enough of this process last year when he found out the Navy’s new aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, went $2.4 billion over budget—and he couldn’t get an answer out of the chief of naval operations as to who was responsible for the problem.   read more

Union Pacific Railroad has sold rights to 1,871 miles of oil pipelines along rail lines in six states—California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas and Oregon—according to the complaint. But the Terrys claim Union Pacific should never have been allowed to sell the rights. The plaintiffs want the court to establish that the easements allow railroads to use land under the tracks only for purposes directly related to the railroad.   read more

“Sooner or later every case must come to an end,” Judge Neil Gorsuch wrote in the opinion. “After all, that’s why people bring their disputes to court in the first place: because the legal system promises to resolve their differences without resort to violence...it’s pretty surprising when a state and several of its counties need a reminder.”   read more

Earthquakes associated with injection wells have “skyrocketed from a handful per year in the 1970s to more than 650 in 2014,” the university reported. Researchers found that “high-rate” injection wells were most often associated with quakes. These high-rate wells pump in excess of 300,000 barrels of wastewater into the ground per month. "We think the evidence is convincing that the earthquakes we are seeing near injection sites are induced by oil and gas activity," said researcher Weingarten.   read more

The staff was allegedly made to transfer the chemicals into non-descript bottles that bore no warning labels. The complaint says Marriott not only required housekeepers to use the hazardous chemicals, but also denied they were dangerous and threatened to fire anyone who complained about them. Housekeepers who did not speak English were forced to sign documents they didn’t understand, including liability waivers, which the housekeepers were told they had to sign under threat of termination.   read more

Science instructors shouldn't worry that the artificial rats would not measure up to the real deal. NecropSynth says its 3-D animals would have “layers so that they feel like real tissue,” and simulate bones and muscles. Hollow conduits with colored gel would represent the vascular and nervous systems. More importantly, NecropSynth believes that its process could potentially save the lives of the 6 million to 12 million animals that are killed annually for use in biology classes.   read more

Some say it’s because police fear for their jobs if they’re caught abusing a suspect, but some police have displayed a more defiant attitude about the slowdown. Those who complain about police “are going to get the police force they want, and God help them,” Lt. Victor Gearhart told the Sun.   read more