Thousands of New Yorkers discovered they couldn’t vote in the primaries Tuesday. The reason: Under a New York law dating to the late 1800s, independent voters would have had to register last October in order to cast a vote in the primary. Some Bernie Sanders supporters suggested such rules were a way for party leaders to hamstring insurgents like the Vermont senator. But in fact the rules were originally intended as a strike against the manipulations of party bosses and political machines.   read more

While use of the drug did not increase significantly among children, it did jump among adults. Relying on data from the national drug use survey, Colorado reported that nearly a third of Coloradans 18 to 25 in 2014 had used pot in the last 30 days, a rise of about 5 percent from the year before recreational pot was legalized. The survey showed a similar spike in adults over 26. Past 30-day marijuana use went from 7.6 percent in 2012 to 12.4 percent in 2014.   read more

Tens of thousands of people didn't realize they had enrolled in a political party that opposes abortion rights and same sex marriage. The mistake could prevent people from casting votes in the June 7 presidential primary, considered California's most competitive in recent years. The AIP's roots date to 1967 when George Wallace, a segregationist, launched his second run for the White House. Wallace, who had run as a Democrat in 1964, helped create the party and ran on its ticket.   read more

University at Buffalo spokesman John DellaContrada says the mistaken email was sent Wednesday to students whose applications hadn't been fully reviewed. He says the university sent a second email about three to four hours later notifying the students of the gaffe and apologizing for it. The university posted a statement on its website saying the "miscommunication occurred when an incorrect email list was generated from an applicant database."   read more

Cathy and Melvin Duren appeared in court on Thursday to each face a misdemeanor charge of failure to return rental property. They lost a Dr. Seuss book their teenage son borrowed for their granddaughter in 2014. In December, the Durens received a letter informing them they could be charged with a crime. "I can't image going to jail over it, but I certainly will fight these charges because I'm not guilty," Cathy Duren said. The couple said they probably will never check out a library book again.   read more

The authors analyzed the behavior of U.S. presidents during international conflicts from 1816 to 2010 that involved either the threat of force, a show of force, or the use of force. Their analysis shows that when militarized disputes occurred under Southern presidents, they were twice as likely to result in the use of force, lasted on average twice as long, and were three times as likely to result in an American victory.   read more

Now the tables have turned--ChemRisk is trying to drop the lawsuit. But the writers are saying, not so fast, arguing that ChemRisk should not be allowed simply to withdraw its lawsuit. Instead, they say the company should pay their lawyers, who have represented them on a pro bono basis, and issue an apology for dragging them through years of litigation. “ChemRisk knows that Karen and Cherri will not be intimidated and will prevail if ChemRisk continues the action,” said one of their lawyers.   read more

Alexander Hamilton has achieved unlikely heights in the lights on Broadway more than 200 years after his untimely death. The first Treasury secretary, in the 18th century, Hamilton has become a 21st-century rap-musical phenomenon, with adults shelling out up to thousands of dollars a ticket and teenagers rapping Hamilton’s life story at the dinner table. Now the fed is leaning toward keeping Hamilton on the $10 note and relegating a vignette of female historical figures on the bill's back side.   read more

The notion of using Medicaid to steer people away from jails and into services that offer housing, job training and mental-health or substance-abuse treatment comes at a crucial time for the criminal-justice reform movement. Incarceration numbers are making headlines. States are legalizing marijuana, and police departments hammered over questionable shootings are trying to reconnect with the public they serve. Instead of booking people into jail, police try to enlist them in social services.   read more

More than 8,500 megawatts of wind power capacity was built last year, almost double the 2014 tally. More than 3,600 megawatts of that construction - enough to power about 100,000 homes - was built in Texas, which now counts almost a quarter of the country's wind energy. The surge followed a rush by wind developers to get projects under construction before the end of 2014 out of fear Congress would not renew the tax credit, an uncertainty that has hung over the industry for nearly 20 years.   read more

Men with the top 1 percent in income lived 15 years longer than men with the lowest 1 percent in income; for women that gap was 10 years. The lowest life expectancies for the poorest men and women — less than 78 years — were in Indiana, Nevada and Oklahoma. For the richest, the lowest life expectancies — less than about 85 years — were in Hawaii, Nevada and Oklahoma. The poorest Americans fared best in affluent cities with highly educated populations.   read more

Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band canceled their North Carolina concert because of the state’s new law blocking anti-discrimination rules for the LGBT community, said guitarist Steven Van Zandt, calling it the kind of legislation that’s like an “evil virus” spreading around the U.S. The band had been scheduled to play Sunday in Greensboro.   read more

The possible sentence raised questions with Judge Franz Zibilich, who was overseeing Grimes' arraignment last week. "Isn't this a little over the top?" Zibilich said. "Twenty years to life for a Snickers bar, or two or three or four." Grimes' lawyer agreed, saying: "They're spending their time to lock someone up for years over $31 worth of candy." The D.A.'s office emphasized that the alleged crime was considered a felony by the state.   read more

Judge Coffin rejected motions by the U.S. government and big energy companies to dismiss the lawsuit by 21 plaintiffs ages 8 to 19. Hundreds of people came to show their support for the youths, who contend the release of dangerous carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere is a violation of their constitutional rights. They are demanding the U.S. government create a plan to significantly cut the emissions. "The future of our generation is at stake," said plaintiff Victoria Barrett, age 16.   read more

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said the topless women undermined the family-friendly nature of the square the city wanted to promote. On Thursday, several performers in superhero costumes came to the council chambers to defend their profession. Abdel Amine Elkhezzani, a Spider-Man performer in Times Square, said he would lose most of his business if he had to stay in a certain zone. “We go up to people and interact with them and entertain them and kind of convince them to take pictures with us,” he said,   read more

The babysitter lost all vision in her eye when the child she was watching, who was 4 years and 9 months old at the time, hit it with a toy rubber dolphin he threw. "Children under the age of five have a limited capacity to appreciate how their actions can cause harm to themselves or others and have an inadequate internal ability to control impulses that may lead to injuries," the 8-page ruling states.   read more