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

Khan said the Afghan government seized his lands after he was captured, and a ruling that he was innocent might help him get the deeds back. He also said that because of his past, he could not obtain a passport, which he needed to travel to a medical clinic in India for treatment for hearing loss he suffered as a result of “loud blaring music” used “during interrogations, mostly at CIA facilities before” Guantánamo. “This injury is not redressable by a federal court," wrote the judge.   read more

It is the first major legal challenge of the rules and will add fuel to one of the hottest debates in health care. The suit, filed by AARP, argues that these programs violate anti-discrimination laws aimed at protecting workers’ medical information. It also questions whether the programs are truly voluntary, because the price of not participating is high for some workers. The target of the suit is the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.   read more

The magnitude 5.1 quake that struck northwest of Fairview in February was likely induced by distant disposal wells, the agency said. The USGS report indicated that in the area around where the Fairview quake occurred, the volume of fluid injected had increased sevenfold over three years. The Fairview temblor had been the largest in the central and eastern U.S. since a magnitude 5.7 quake hit near Prague in 2011.   read more

Even with Obamacare, the U.S. still ranks poorly among comparable countries in insurance coverage. While the rate of insured is the best it has ever been in the U.S., a greater percentage of the population is uninsured than that of pretty much any other industrialized nation in the world. When asked if patients could get a same-day or next-day appointment with their provider when they were sick or needed care, 52% of Americans said no. This placed the U.S. next to last among 11 wealthy nations.   read more

ABA lawyers commissioned a report on Trump's litigation history and concluded he is a “libel bully” who had filed many meritless suits attacking his opponents and never won in court. But the bar refused to publish the report, citing “the risk of the ABA being sued by Mr. Trump.” Bodney said “It is more than a little ironic that a publication dedicated to the exploration of First Amendment issues is subjected to censorship when it seeks to publish an article about threats to free speech.”   read more

FBI Director Comey has described the lack of women — and minorities — in the FBI as a serious problem that can undermine investigations and keep the agency out of touch with the communities it serves. Inside the FBI, women look up to Amy Hess. She is the first woman to head the science branch — one of few female agents commanding such an important job at the FBI, a clubby agency where men are more predominant in senior positions than they were even three years ago.   read more

The Justice Dept will move to disband a police dept overseeing two towns on the Arizona-Utah border dominated by a fundamentalist Mormon sect led by imprisoned child molester Warren Jeffs. The towns are accused of withholding police and utility services from non-members of the church. A jury granted $2.2 million to residents who were denied water, housing and police protection because they were not church members.   read more

Most of the 10 states with the highest rates of smoking-attributable cancer deaths were in the South, while most of the 10 states with the lowest rates were in the North or West. Among men, where smoking is generally more common, the cigarette-linked cancer death rate was highest in blacks at 35%, compared with 30% for whites and 27% for Hispanics. Among women, whites had the highest cigarette-linked cancer death rate — 21%, compared 19% for blacks and 12% for Hispanics.   read more

About 9,700 current and retired soldiers received notices to repay some or all of their bonuses with more than $22 million recovered so far. Soldiers said they feel betrayed at having to repay the money. “These bonuses were used to keep people in,” said Christopher Van Meter, a 42-year-old former Army captain and Iraq veteran who was awarded a Purple Heart. “People like me just got screwed.” If soldiers refuse, they could face interest charges, wage garnishments and tax liens.   read more

The people who do the most good in the world, spending their careers helping others in exchange for modest paychecks, often get the worst retirement plans. In fact, millions of people who save in 403(b) plans may be losing nearly $10 billion each year in excessive investment fees. “It’s a wealth transfer from those who don’t know any better — Main Street — to those who do: Wall Street,” said financial planner Scott Dauenhauer.   read more

Many people vigorously oppose the use of Native North American names as mascots and logos as demeaning. The Chief Wahoo logo in particular stands out because it is a caricature. “It is racist — that is all there is to it,” said Cardinal. “I had been thinking about the problems we have as a community with the issue of suicide, and I think there is a direct correlation between these kinds of depictions of our people as inferior and as caricatures to be mocked. It is wrong and it must stop.”   read more

Secrecy in the voting booth has become a thing of the past for those ready to share their lives on social media. In Illinois, ballot selfies is a felony that carries a prison sentence of one to three years. In California, Gov. Brown signed a bill that repeals a 125-year-old law barring voters from showing people their marked ballots. The change will take effect nearly two months after the election. The author of the bill has been sharing constituents’ photos of marked ballots on social media.   read more

Texas classified more than 1,800 offenders arrested near the border by highway troopers in 2015 as "high threat criminals." But not all live up to that menacing label or were anywhere close to the border — and they weren't caught entering the country illegally, as Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is Texas' chairman for GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump, has suggested. Crimes lumped in with suspected killers and human traffickers were speeding teenagers and harmless hit-and-runs.   read more

Not everybody was a loser in this tale. ITT’s top five executives received princely compensation over the period — $117 million in total. Lobbyists for ITT also benefited. The company has spent almost $1 million on lobbying since 1998. “They were abusing that system for years and ripping off the government for billions of dollars and we brought that to light," said whistleblower Graves. He said he was frustrated by the outcome of his case. and wonders what had taken the government so long.   read more

After her son was murdered, Marcia DeOliveira-Longinetti requested that the state agency forgive her son’s student loans, which total about $16,000. The agency refused, requiring Ms. DeOliveira-Longinetti to continue to pay off his debt. Nearly a dozen people testified before legislators at a Senate hearing in August, saying they were troubled by the agency’s loan program. Several families described how they had resorted to bankruptcy to manage their high debt burden.   read more

The portion of Americans who do not have a bank account, known in industry jargon as the "unbanked," declined to 7% in 2015 from 7.7% in 2013. The improvements came mostly from households making less than $15,000 a year and among minority populations. Another way of looking at it: For every 10 households that were unbanked in 2013, one of those households is now banked. "The improving economy no doubt impacted these numbers in a positive way," FDIC Chairman Martin Gruenberg said.   read more