Rumors are spreading that the U.S. Supreme Court will vote 5-4 to rule that a U.S. president cannot be prosecuted for anything he does while he is president. Some Democrats are suggesting that Joe Biden bring a gun to his first debate with Donald Trump. If he shoots Trump, he would be immune, but if Trump shoots Biden he would be prosecuted because he is not a sitting president.   read more

"Nightmare speculation" does not justify a policy meant to keep out Syrian refugees, the court ruled Monday. Gov. Mike Pence had adopted the policy, vowing not to let any refugees fleeing the Syrian Civil War into his state. States have no power to suspend grants of asylum, however, so Pence instead ordered state agencies to withhold federal grant money from local resettlement agencies that provide refugees with social services. Meanwhile, Donald Trump picked Pence as his running mate.   read more

The U.S. government is no longer responsible for stewardship of internet-management functions, a move that internet-freedom advocates championed as essential to tamping down the misperception of the U.S. as the internet's overlord. Advocates of the transition said keeping the U.S. in its management role would have given countries like China, which censors online criticism of its government, an excuse to divide its networks from the web and crack down more deeply on its citizens' online conduct.   read more

Can physicians leave their own political ideology at the door during something as simple as a checkup? Republican and Democratic doctors differed significantly when it came to politicized issues. Republican doctors were twice as likely as their Democratic counterparts to say they'd discourage any future abortions. And Democratic doctors were 66% more likely to say they'd urge parents of small children not to store guns in the home.   read more

In what could be a significant realignment of political allegiance, Asian-Americans are identifying as Democrats at a quicker pace than any other racial group. And many Republicans worry this election will only accelerate that trend, damaging their party for years to come with what is now the fastest-growing minority in the country.   read more

A number of health services for transgender people will begin to be covered by military insurance beginning Monday. The Pentagon announced in June an end to the military’s ban on transgender service members. The ripple effect of the new health benefits extends beyond active-duty military to include roughly 7 million retirees and children of service members.   read more

When a loved one dies, laws cover how their houses, cars, and other property are passed on to relatives. But the rules are murkier — and currently far more restrictive — when it comes to pictures on Facebook and emails to friends or relatives. Google, Facebook and other companies have said a federal privacy law approved decades before digital storage became common prevents them from releasing electronic memories or records unless the account owner grants permission.   read more

New York’s first legal hemp farm in decades has taken root under a pilot program that’s part of a national resurgence of a plant that’s prized for making food, clothing and shelter but long banned along with its smokable cousin. Hemp has been used for millennia as a source of oil, protein and fiber used in clothing, rope and paper. Modern uses include cosmetics, nutritional supplements, biofuels, building materials and pharmaceuticals.   read more

When Karen Savage and Cherri Foytlin wrote an article about the Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill of 2010, they thought it might get a few moments of attention and then fade away. More than three years later, Savage and Foytlin are still defending their article after being sued by a scientific consulting company. The battle is headed to the highest court in Massachusetts. Arguments are scheduled for Friday.   read more

The Supreme Court is set to begin its new term as it ended the last one, down one justice and ideologically deadlocked on a range of issues. The absence of a ninth justice since Antonin Scalia's death in February has hamstrung the court in several cases and forced the justices to look for less contentious issues on which they are less likely to divide by 4-4 votes. It could be several months, at least, before the nation's highest court is again operating at full strength.   read more

The White House rushed Friday to correct a diplomatic blooper after an official transcript listed Jerusalem as part of Israels. The mix-up came in a transcript of President Barack Obama's eulogy at the funeral for former Israeli President Shimon Peres. The White House press office routinely issues transcripts of Obama's speeches and includes the location of the speech at the top. A transcript released shortly after the funeral listed the location as "Jerusalem, Israel."   read more

The FOIA requests that Jeffrey Scudder eventually filed have aimed to uncover not the juicy details of any specific historical event, but the annals of the agency's internal scholarly magazine, Studies in Intelligence. Scudder's latest lawsuit — co-filed with academics Ken Osgood, a history professor the Colorado School of Mines; Hugh Wilford, a history professor California State University; and Mark Stout, who directs Global Security Studies at Johns Hopkins — goes a step farther.   read more

The sprawling encampment that's a living protest against the four-state Dakota Access pipeline has most everything it needs to be self-sustaining — food, firewood, fresh water and shelter. Everything, that is, except permission to be on the federal land in North Dakota. Federal officials say they won't evict the Oceti Sakowin, or Seven Council Fires camp, due to free speech reasons, even though it's on U.S. Army Corps of Engineers land.   read more

When Patriot Coal filed for bankruptcy in 2015 — its second time in three years — environmentalists and regulators were prepared for the company to figure out ways to shunt liabilities and maximize returns. But no one could have envisioned what happened next. Patriot handed over millions of dollars of environmental obligations to a nonprofit company run by a man named Tom Clarke, who owned a chain of nursing homes and a tourist attraction that had fallen behind on its bills.   read more

A federal control board on Friday took over Puerto Rico’s finances and several government agencies for the first time in the U.S. territory’s history in a bid to haul the island out of an acute economic crisis. It ordered Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla to produce a fiscal plan in two weeks and submit weekly and monthly revenue reports that detail how the government is adhering to its budget.   read more

Hackers have targeted the voter registration systems of more than 20 states in recent months, a Homeland Security Department official said Friday. The disclosure comes amid heightened concerns that foreign hackers might undermine voter confidence in the integrity of U.S. elections.   read more

A requirement that edible marijuana products come with a diamond-shaped stamp and the letters T-H-C — not just on the packaging but on the brownies, candies and other edibles themselves — takes effect Saturday in Colorado. The rule referencing marijuana’s psychoactive ingredient was added after complaints that the treats look too much their non-intoxicating counterparts.   read more