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

The Dutch study looked at the population of 15 types of birds and found a consistent decline in the population where Imidacloprid was present in surface water. Researchers believe the chemical kills off the insects that the birds eat, but they’re still unsure of the reason for the population decline. Other research has fingered neonicotinoids for the recent die-off of honeybees.   read more

Judge Terry P. Lewis noted that in employing political operatives to craft Republican-friendly boundaries, the GOP had violated a state law intended to make the election process more balanced and fair. He even quoted George Washington in warning of the use of “cunning, ambitious and unprincipled men.”   read more

Mallory Loyola gave birth July 6 to a baby girl at the University of Tennessee Medical Center. She was arrested two days later when it was found that there was methamphetamine in her system while she was pregnant, and Loyola admitted to smoking meth a few days before giving birth. Methamphetamine, while an addictive drug, is not classified as a narcotic. Furthermore, there’s no evidence that Loyola’s baby was born addicted to drugs or harmed by Loyola’s drug use.   read more

Mensah joined the Ford Foundation’s economic development unit in 1989. In 1996, she became deputy director of economic development, remaining in that job for six years. She directed the foundation’s efforts to expand microcredit and women’s economic development. In 2002, Mensah moved to The Aspen Institute to become executive director of its Initiative on Financial Security (IFA). The IFA works to encourage savings and wealth-building for working-poor families in the United States.   read more

Jadotte moved away from public service in 2005, becoming vice president for public affairs and multicultural development for NASCAR. Jadotte spent much of his time with NASCAR leading diversity programs for the organization, working to bring in minority drivers, pit crew and other team members. He did continue to dabble in politics, acting as an advisor to Organizing for America, the 2012 Obama campaign.   read more

A probe initiated by Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Missouri) discovered many disturbing facts in the world of higher education and its approach to handling rapes and other sexual assaults. One that jumps right off the page: More than 40% of colleges and universities, including many private for-profit schools, haven’t investigated a single sexual assault case on their campuses over the past five years.   read more

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week sued the company for not providing parental consent barriers to keep kids from acquiring games, as well as digital coins, clothing, clues and other goods related to games purchased through Amazon’s app store.   read more

Tariq Khdeir of Tampa, Florida, was in Jerusalem outside the home of his slain cousin, Mohammed Tariq Khdeir of Tampa, Florida, was in Jerusalem outside the home of his slain cousin, Mohammed Abu Khdeir, who was bludgeoned and burned alive by assailants on July 2. Six Israelis have been arrested in connection with the brutal murder.. During the protest over Mohammed Abu Khdeir’s death, Israeli police apprehended Tariq Khdeir and hit him repeatedly until he fell unconscious.   read more

Adams remained at Colby College for 14 years, with one of his achievements being a $376 million capital campaign for the college. Adams was also a director of Maine Public Broadcasting from 2002 to 2012. One of Adams’ biggest challenges will be to keep the NEH in business. Congress has slashed its funding and the latest budget proposal from Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) would kill it altogether.   read more

While at CPSC, Kaye has done extensive work to minimize brain and head injuries resulting from youth football. Another project of Kaye’s was warning about the risks of coin, or button, batteries. These batteries are often swallowed by children, resulting in severe chemical burns.   read more

Efforts in Washington to reduce the amount of federal tax dollars being improperly paid out is now down to only $100 billion annually, or so that’s how the Obama administration sees it. Officials are insisting the news is good, considering the total of improper payments has been going down since 2010, when they peaked at $121 billion. Such payments can consist of unemployment checks (to the employed), medical payments for elective procedures or tax breaks to those unqualified.   read more

The British government said that secret files documenting its role in a secret CIA program were destroyed by “water damage.” The information in question purportedly contained details about CIA flights in 2002 carrying detainees to and from the secret military installation known as Diego Garcia, located in the middle of the Indian Ocean. The British-controlled island may have housed a “black site” prison operated by the CIA for interrogating detainees.   read more

Federal health officials were surprised to learn that vials containing deadly smallpox virus were sitting in a vacant government lab outside Washington, DC. The virus was officially eradicated 44 years ago. At that time, “every single research lab in the world was asked to scour their facilities and submit all specimens for accounting and destruction,” said Dr. William Schaffner. It “seems curious beyond belief” that the smallpox vials were now found in an abandoned storeroom, he added.   read more

The Legislative and Executive branches of government are currently in a standoff over records pertaining to an insider trading investigation. Officials at the SEC want the House Ways and Means Committee to turn over testimony and other records that might reveal if the staff director of the committee’s healthcare subcommittee, Brian Sutter, leaked important details about federal policy changes to a Washington lobbyist before the information became public knowledge.   read more

Federal prosecutors in New York City enjoyed seven long years of successfully convicting Wall Street cheats. But their streak has come to an end. Beginning in 2007, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan managed to string together 85 straight convictions involving insider trading. The winning streak, oddly enough, began and ended with hedge fund trader Rengan Rajaratnam.   read more

Despite fierce opposition from mental health advocates, San Francisco leaders have approved a policy by which a judge can be petitioned to order mandatory treatment for the mentally ill. The policy change came as a result of the approval of a 12-year-old statute, Laura’s Law. The law was named after teenager Laura Wilcox, who was murdered in 2001 by a psychiatric patient. Nevada County, where Wilcox was murdered, was the first to adopt the program. Orange County has since signed on.   read more