EXCLUSIVE: Sydney Leathers Details Being At Center Of Anthony Weiner Sexting Scandal  —  We're hearing for the first time from the young woman at the center of the Anthony Weiner sexting scandal.  —  Twenty-three-year-old Sydney Leathers spoke exclusively to INSIDE EDITION about the raunchy text messages …

Chris Christie: Rand Paul ‘dangerous’  —  New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is ripping libertarians - including Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). - for challenging government surveillance programs and failing to understand the dangers of terrorism.  —  “This strain of libertarianism that's …

Fiscal Armageddon could remake Hill in 2014 elections  —  Not again.  —  That's the message several national GOP strategists and some lawmakers have for Republicans hell bent on waging another fiscal fight this fall.  —  The 2014 midterm season is about to heat up - and President Barack Obama …

EXCLUSIVE: Fed-up Silda Spitzer plans to divorce Eliot after election  —  Silda Spitzer is privately telling friends she plans to divorce her hooker-loving husband, Eliot Spitzer, Page Six can exclusively reveal.  —  Multiple sources tell us long-suffering Silda — who, he last night admitted …

Four More Women Accuse Filner … Four prominent San Diego women came forth today accusing Mayor Bob Filner of unwanted sexual advances.  They related specific incidents in an exclusive interview with KPBS News.  —  The latest accusers —a retired Navy rear-admiral, a dean at San Diego State University …

Lincoln Memorial vandalized with splashes of green paint  —  The Lincoln Memorial was shut down Friday morning after vandals splashed the statue of the nation's 16th president and the marble floor around it with green paint, U.S. Park Police said.  —  Police are reviewing surveillance footage …

Student Drought Hits Smaller Universities  —  By - CAMERON MCWHIRTER and - DOUGLAS BELKIN -  —  Loyola University New Orleans faces a $9.5 million budget gap caused by 25% fewer freshmen this fall than it had expected.  —  As Loyola University New Orleans gears up for fall classes next month …

Rep. Sensenbrenner: DOJ is legally justified in going after Texas  —  The Obama administration has every right to challenge Texas' unilateral adoption of new voting laws, a top Republican argued Thursday.  —  Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) said the Voting Rights Act authorizes …

Halliburton Pleads Guilty to Destroying Evidence After Gulf Spill  —  HOUSTON — Halliburton has agreed to plead guilty to destruction of critical evidence after the Gulf of Mexico oil spill in 2010, the Justice Department announced on Thursday.  —  The oil services company said it would pay …

Feds tell Web firms to turn over user account passwords  —  Secret demands mark escalation in Internet surveillance by the federal government through gaining access to user passwords, which are typically stored in encrypted form.  —  The U.S. government has demanded that major Internet …

Mother of slain Benghazi victim Sean Smith: ‘My son is dead.  How could that be phony?’  —  The mother of a Benghazi victim is furious about the new White House strategy of calling the terrorist attack and many other scandals plaguing the Obama administration “fake” or “phony.”

Republican Health Care Panic  —  Leading Republicans appear to be nerving themselves up for another round of attempted fiscal blackmail.  With the end of the fiscal year looming, they aren't offering the kinds of compromises that might produce a deal and avoid a government shutdown; instead …

How Not to Correct the Record - TNR Edition  —  Earlier this month, The New Republic posted an article by Stanford law professor Richard Thompson Ford on the Zimmerman trial.  As noted by my co-blogger David Bernstein and Michelle Meyer at The Faculty Lounge, this article included some factual inaccuracies.

Egyptian Court Accuses Morsi of Espionage  —  CAIRO — Egyptian state media reported on Friday that former President Mohamed Morsi had been formally charged with espionage and ordered to be detained for 15 days, a move that seemed certain to further anger his supporters …

U.S. Says Snowden Wouldn't Face Death Penalty  —  Holder Also Rules Out Torture in Bid to Reassure Russia  —  WASHINGTON—U.S. authorities say National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden wouldn't face the death penalty—and also promise he wouldn't be tortured—in a new letter hoping …

Larry Kramer Is Married in Hospital Ceremony  —  Larry Kramer, the award-winning playwright of “The Normal Heart” and longtime gay rights advocate, married his partner, David Webster, on Wednesday in the intensive care unit of NYU Langone Medical Center, where Mr. Kramer has been recovering from surgery for a bowel obstruction.

An Obama-McCain Alliance: Two Bitter Rivals Team Up To Upend The Status Quo  —  The unlikeliest of alliances forged between two once-bitter rivals stands to upend the status quo of congressional gridlock and potentially resolve a bitter partisan chasm that has characterized the modern era of crisis governance.