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

Some members of the track and field community point to Justin Gatlin, who won gold at the 2004 Summer Olympics, as an example of how an athlete, who was suspended for steroid use from 2006 to 2010, can still be enjoying the benefits of steroids. Gatlin, 32, has been burning up the track with times not usually seen by sprinters his age. He ran six of the seven fastest 100-meter times in the world last summer, prompting criticism from competitors like British runner Dai Greene.   read more

The Obama administration’s attempt to report how much money has been flowing from manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and medical devices to doctors is proving to be seriously flawed. CMS officials proclaimed during the unveiling of Open Payments that the data included nearly 4.5 million payments worth $3.5 billion, but the flaws and omissions raise questions about how complete those numbers really are. Mistakes won’t be corrected until next year, and some of those errors are whoppers.   read more

With the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan winding down, American defense contractors were looking at leaner times. Then, the Islamic State (IS) came to their rescue. The U.S. air campaign against IS—which has no deadline for ending—could demand between $2.4 billion and $3.8 billion annually from the Pentagon. That would translate into more business for military suppliers. “Defense companies are not being harmed by the current situation, I can tell you that much," said analyst Wayne Plucker.   read more

For many addicts, the journey from pharmaceutical fixes to street remedies like heroin is all too common. “While the majority of prescription opioid users do not become heroin users,” the CDC reported, “previous research found that [about] 3 out of 4 new heroin users report having abused prescription opioids prior to using heroin.” Two factors are responsibility: an increase in heroin supplies “and widespread availability of prescription opioids and increasing opioid addiction rates.”   read more

It is taking much longer these days for the Nobel committee to decide whom to honor for achievements in science. At one time, the lag time between breakthroughs and Nobel prizes was shorter. Before World War II, those having to wait more than 20 years for their recognition occurred only 11% of the time in physics, 15% in chemistry and 24% in medicine. But since 1985, such delays have happened much more often. Some scientists have died by the time their research was deemed worthy of honor.   read more

A new report from the GAO shows Floridians, in 2012, had the longest average wait time in the nation at polling places: 34 minutes. About 16% of voters had to wait more than an hour. Alaska residents, however, rarely had to worry about cooling their heels while waiting to vote. Their average time before entering the voting booth was only 1.4 minutes. Their state’s delays come on the other end of the process—getting the votes counted.   read more

Chicago is being sued for an honorary renaming of a street after Bangladesh’s former president, Ziaur Rahman, with the suit claiming the move honored a ruthless dictator. Critics compare Rahman to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Chile’s Augusto Pinochet. “Said sign has been erected to honor a dictator that oppressed the people of Bangladesh,” the complaint states, calling it “an affront to the Bangladeshi Community of Chicago.”   read more

Uyehara was sent to Frankfurt, Germany in 2008 as director of the Regional Support Center at the U.S. Consulate. In 2010, she was named management counselor for the Department of State at the U.S. Tri-Missions in Vienna, Austria. Her most recent assignment was as executive director of the Bureaus of European and Eurasian Affairs and International Organization Affairs in the Department of State in Washington.   read more

Keeping the deadly Ebola virus contained to West Africa is proving difficult, given that airlines flying out of the region are relying on the honesty of passengers and the competency of newly trained airport screeners. The CDC sent out experts to help improve airport screening programs. But a key component of the screening efforts—and what some critics say is a major flaw—is the reliance on passengers to be truthful about their exposure to the virus and how they are feeling.   read more

“You are not going to find this neat, clean, secular rebel group that respects human rights and that is waiting and ready because they don’t exist,” said Aron Lund. “It is a very dirty war and you have to deal with what is on offer.” In the end, the U.S. may be dancing to the tune called by ISIS, just as the George W. Bush Administration took Osama Bin-Laden’s bait and attacked in Afghanistan and Iraq, causing the radicalization of many in the Middle East.   read more

A woman died while being moved by a private prisoner transport service from Kentucky to Florida. There have been other incidents of transport officers sexually assaulting and raping their prisoners, and threatening them with a gun to keep them quiet. The lack of safety standards for prisoner transport has led to prisoners being burned alive in worn-out vehicles that have caught fire. There have also been incidents in which untrained guards have been held hostage by prisoners.   read more

The law requires those seeking an abortion to present evidence justifying the abortion and proving her maturity. The law also charges the D.A. to investigate the case, bringing in family members, boyfriends and teachers to testify as to the teen’s fitness to make such a decision. “This law aims to shame a young woman into not having an abortion,” said the ACLU's Susan Watson. “Why should she be put on trial and treated like a criminal for a constitutionally protected procedure?”   read more

State computer systems contain a lot of information, including names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, birth certificates, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and banking information. Health records in particular are valuable to criminals. It’s not only a question of personal information getting into the public domain. Computer system breaches also affect the public’s trust in government and cost taxpayers millions.   read more

More than 3,000 of Ferguson’s 21,000 residents have registered to vote since the August 9 shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown by a white police officer. “It could completely change the political landscape, the power structure, the decision making,” Brown attorney Anthony Gray said. “The service to the African American community would almost quadruple because they would be viewed as a credible and legitimate voting bloc.”   read more

The level of familiarity Americans have with current affairs can largely depend on what the mainstream media is focused on, a new poll shows. The questions most respondents got right was that the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and that Syria is one of the Middle East countries partially occupied by ISIS. Only 20% of respondents knew that 15% of Americans live below the poverty line, and 20% knew that the federal government spends more on Social Security than any other program.   read more

Wittig was named Germany’s ambassador to the U.N. in 2009. He successfully campaigned to win Germany a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council, speaking to 190 of 191 representatives in the process. Germany won a seat in 2010, but the campaign, while wound down, didn’t completely cease as the nation made noises about being given a permanent seat on the Security Council.   read more