In the New York metropolitan area, Kennedy International Airport reported the highest total of unclaimed funds: $43,716. The lowest amount collected at a hub airport was $1.99, at the Pago Pago International Airport in American Samoa. What will the agency do with the money? In 2005, Congress gave the TSA the authority to use unclaimed money on security operations.   read more

The Obama administration is beginning a major project to better understand microbes, and even control them. The National Microbiome Initiative announced by White House science officials Friday aims to bring together scientists who study the microbes that live in the human gut and in the oceans, in farm soil and in hospitals — to speed discoveries that could bring big payoffs.   read more

When it comes to emojis, women can be brides or princesses, paint their fingernails and go dancing in a red dress. If those sound like roles determined by the patriarchy, well, it’s not a new complaint. But it may be changing. “Isn’t it time that emoji also reflect the reality that women play a key role in every walk of life and in every profession?” said a Google proposal. The proposed emojis include women in business and health care roles, at factories and on farms, among other things.   read more

Texas now has one of the biggest citizenries in the country authorized to carry concealed and unconcealed firearms. The 1 million are made up of 268,200 women and 749,418 men, according to the Department of Public Safety. Most of those men and women — 873,166 — are white. Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, is one of them. More people are licensed to be armed in Harris County, Texas, than in the entire state of Louisiana.   read more

All in all, it's some of the worst of times for Republicans who promised to clean up state government after seizing control from Democrats. "I never recall when the top leaders of all three branches of government were simultaneously accused of improper behavior," said retired political scientist Bill Stewart. It's hard for state government to concentrate on issues like Medicaid or the prison system when so many officials are fighting for their jobs, he said. "It's definitely a traumatic time."   read more

Simply having a first-class compartment made an air rage incident nearly four times more likely, equivalent to the effect of a nine-hour flight delay, the study found. The bad behavior was higher not only for economy passengers, but those in first class too. The results have implications for any physical environment where differences in class or status are apparent. Using dual boarding gates, separating first-class from economy cabin, could help reduce rage incidents, says Prof. DeCelles.   read more

The would-be governor of New Hampshire used an electronic billboard and his radio show to accuse local businessmen of selling guns, dealing drugs and killing children, they claim in court. It's not the first time Gill's billboards have landed him in hot water. A previous sign sparked outrage for displaying an obscenity in an attack on U.S. Sens. Jeanne Shaheen and Kelly Ayotte for corruption. Gill was also recently jailed in contempt of court for an outburst during a divorce proceeding.   read more

FDA officials attribute the higher smoking rate in the LGBT community to the "coming out" process, which can cause anxiety and social stigma that may drive people to use tobacco. The agency also points to research suggesting the use of tobacco by gay celebrities encourages younger people to take up smoking. The federal campaign "is designed to challenge the perception that tobacco use is a necessary part of LGBT culture," said Richard Wolitski of the Department of Health and Human Services.   read more

The Isle de Jean Charles resettlement plan is one of the first programs of its kind in the world, a test of how to respond to climate change in the most dramatic circumstances without tearing communities apart. Under the terms of the grant, the island’s residents are to be resettled to drier land and a community that as of now does not exist. “We see this as setting a precedent for the rest of the country, the rest of the world,” said Marion McFadden, who is running the program at the HUD.   read more

"Mrs. Barrera, who is Anglo and a U.S. citizen, intended that she and her husband be buried together in the San Domingo Cemetery," the lawsuit states. "In response to her request...Mr. Bradford told Mrs. Barrera 'absolutely not. When Mrs. Barrera asked why 'the board' wanted to exclude her husband's remains from the San Domingo Cemetery, Mr. Bradford responded 'because he's a Mexican,' and that she could 'go up the road and bury him with the niggers and Mexicans."   read more

A U.S. senator is calling for a federal investigation into an outdoor advertising company’s latest effort to target billboard ads to specific consumers. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-New York) has dubbed Clear Channel Outdoor Americas’ so-called RADAR program “spying billboards,” warning the service may violate privacy rights by tracking people’s cell phone data via the ad space.   read more

Seattle’s warrantless searches of garbage to enforce its recycling law is unconstitutional, a judge ruled. Though Seattle has one of the highest recycling and composting rates in the nation, the city passed a law in September 2014 that fines residents for discarding food or recyclables in their personal garbage bins. Garbage collectors and Seattle Public Utilities inspectors enforced the law by searching garbage cans without suspicion or warrants.   read more

Clinton Cook Sr. tells Anchorage television KTUU he was on a boat that found one of the heavy, hard plastic containers. They were going to pass it, but noticed the unusual shape, about 8-feet by 2-feet. Troopers say an explosives ordinance team helped determine the boxes were "void of their original contents."   read more

The FBI took the unusual step of deeming part of that case a “bad shoot” in agents’ parlance. But the two agents who killed Harrison were not faulted. Instead, only the agent who shot the tire was blamed, recommending that the agent be suspended for a day without pay. The reason was that lethal force force policy forbids firing a gun to disable a vehicle. But the same policy permits firing a gun to protect people from danger, which they applied to Harrison's killing.   read more

Isabella Baumfree, a slave born in 1797, changed her name to Sojourner Truth after she walked off an upstate farm in 1826 with her infant daughter. She became a Christian preacher and grew increasingly political in pressing for abolition, women’s suffrage and prison reform. She delivered her most famous address, “Ain’t I a Woman,” in 1851 in Ohio, where she said: “I could work as much and eat as much as a man — when I could get it — and bear the lash as well. And ain’t I a woman?”   read more

Fueled by Trump fascination, the Republican race in general has gotten more coverage. Fox no doubt believes that its audience, dominated by Republicans, is more interested in the GOP campaign. For example, Sean Hannity's show had no Democratic candidates or surrogates on during the month-long period. A 2012 Pew Research Center study found that 78% of Hannity's audience identified themselves as conservative, and 5% as liberal.   read more