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

The government’s move, announced minutes after a federal judge rejected efforts by the Standing Rock Sioux, appeared to seek to ease tensions and reset the terms of a passionate debate that has cast the 1,170-mile Dakota Access pipeline either as an economic boon or a threat to the Native American sovereignty, waters and lands. But perhaps more significantly, it appeared to signal a broader willingness to re-examine the involvement of the tribes in infrastructure decisions like this one.   read more

"Just this year, at least 12 humpbacks have been found dead along the U.S. East Coast and that number does not include the more than a dozen humpback whales that have been reported as entangled there," Regina Asmutis-Silvia, the WDC's North American executive director, said. "Further, their growth rate has not met goals in their recovery plan. For the NMFS to imply that these whales have somehow met recovery is tragically misleading at best and makes a mockery of the Endangered Species Act."   read more

The demand has been so overwhelming that the manufacturer ran out of raw material in just a few days. Enthusiasts extol its virtues all over the internet. Millennials are clamoring for it. "I'm telling all my friends about it," said Maddy Novich, 33. Like so many crazes these days, this one has been fueled by social media, word of mouth and the internet. "I have never seen such interest in a credit card, and I've been doing this for 15 years," said Gary Leff.   read more

Yovanovitch was named an ambassador for the first time when she took over the U.S. embassy in Kyrgyzstan, which served as a vital base in the U.S. war in Afghanistan. In 2008, Yovanovitch was nominated to be ambassador to Armenia. She was confirmed by the Senate, but not before going through hard questioning on why she wouldn’t use the term “genocide” to refer to the killing by Turkey of 1.5 million Armenians from 1915 to 1917. By 2011, she was back in Washington.   read more

The approach has set off some complaints among patients, who rely on regular injections of the drugs to keep painful symptoms in check. But Express Scripts said that the move was necessary to contain costs. The drugs account for nearly 10% of all drug spending among its members — costing an estimated $7.5 billion — even though fewer than 1% of its members use them. The company said the move would require drug companies to compete more directly, pushing drug companies to offer better discounts.   read more

"I felt I had to do something to help those who worked so hard for Japan," said the prime minister. "Maybe this isn't enough, but it will express our gratitude, that Japan is thankful." Sailors became sick with cancers, leukemia, and brain tumors, and they blame radiation. Their ships were in the direction of the radioactive plumes spewed from the Fukushima plant. Aircraft carriers routinely use drinking water from the ocean, which the lawsuit says was contaminated with radiation.   read more

Demographer William Frey said the slower growth is largely a factor of the economy. A slower economy is influencing families to hold off on having more children, and it's discouraging migration amid stronger border enforcement, he said. Kenneth M. Johnson, a senior demographer at the Carsey School of Public Policy, said U.S. Hispanic women between the ages of 20 to 24 have seen a 36% decline in birth rates. "That's by far the largest decline of any other group," Johnson said.   read more

It's no Nobel Peace Prize, but Barack Obama has a new honor to brag about. Scientists have named a parasite after him — and there's no worming out of it. Meet Baracktrema obamai, a tiny parasitic flatworm that lives in turtles' blood. A new study officially names the 2-inch, hair-thin creature after Obama. Thomas Platt, the newly retired biology professor at Saint Mary's College in Indiana who chose the name, says it's an honor, not an insult. Really.   read more

Part of her duties were organizing and staffing trips made by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Perez returned to Washington in 2011 as Deputy Assistant Secretary in the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs. The following year, she had to defend the department after auditors found the United States wasted $200 million on a training program for Iraqi police.   read more

Advocacy groups said Texas’s education campaign was misleading voters into believing that voting would still be more difficult than it is. The reason is that the campaign omits the word “reasonably." That not only ignores the court’s order, but also leaves voters with the erroneous impression that they cannot vote unless they have exhausted every avenue to acquire an ID. The single word may seem a small matter, but the issue is not: More than 600,000 Texans have none of the required IDs.   read more

The study found more young adults are open to conservative ideology. Twenge said it's surprising as these same young people generally disagree with many traditional conservative viewpoints. "Given young people's support for same-sex marriage and legalizing marijuana, it's surprising that more now identify as political conservatives. Overall, millennials may not be as reliably liberal and Democrat as many had predicted, especially as they are likely to grow more conservative as they get older."   read more

Federal wildlife officials burned more than $1 million worth of rhino horn items in a ceremony Thursday, as they and onlookers raged over continued poaching and trafficking of the endangered animals. The items--whole horns and ornate objects--had been confiscated by U.S. officials before being used in the symbolic event — the first of its kind in the nation. "Wildlife trafficking through the United States, or into the United States, will not be tolerated," said Wildlife Service's Michelle Gadd.   read more

Muslim advocacy groups cheered Qureshi’s nomination. The issue of diversity in the judicial landscape received renewed attention this year after Donald Trump, the Republican nominee, said in May that Gonzalo P. Curiel, the presiding judge in a lawsuit filed by former Trump University students, would be biased against him because of the judge’s Mexican-American background. Trump later said that he did not think that a Muslim judge would be fair to him, either.   read more

U.S. aviation safety officials took the extraordinary step late Thursday of warning airline passengers not to turn on or charge a new-model Samsung smartphone during flights following numerous reports of the devices catching fire. The FAA also warned passengers not to put the phones in their checked bags, citing "recent incidents and concerns raised by Samsung." It's unusual for the FAA to warn passengers about a product. Samsung ordered a global recall after an investigation of explosions.   read more

The dairy producers were accused of conspiring to prematurely slaughter more than 500,000 cows between 2003 and 2010 to limit the production of raw milk and drive up prices for yogurt, sour cream and other dairy products. "The biggest dairy producers in the country, responsible for almost 70 percent of the nation's milk, conspired together in a classic price-fixing scheme, forcing higher prices for a basic food item onto honest consumers and families," said attorney Steve Berman.   read more

Colgate Total is the only toothpaste in the U.S. that contains triclosan. For some critics, the decision to take it out of topical products but leave it in an oral product is a bit of a head-scratcher. “We put soap on our hands, and a small amount gets into our body,” said Rolf Halden, who has tracked triclosan for years. But through the gums, “chemicals get rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream." Triclosan may scramble hormones in kids and promote drug-resistant infections, said the FDA.   read more