Shelly Sterling to negotiate sale  —  Disgraced Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has agreed to allow his wife, Shelly, to negotiate a forced sale of the team, sources with knowledge of the situation told ESPN.  —  Shelly Sterling and her lawyers have been negotiating with the NBA since …

Morning Plum: Obama slams ‘false equivalence’ media  —  At a fundraiser last night, President Obama unleashed a surprisingly spirited and comprehensive attack on both-sides-to-blame media coverage.  While he has taken issue with Beltway coverage before, what was particularly noteworthy …

Piketty findings undercut by errors  —  Thomas Piketty's book, ‘Capital in the Twenty-First Century’, has been the publishing sensation of the year.  Its thesis of rising inequality tapped into the zeitgeist and electrified the post-financial crisis public policy debate.

A Response to Michael Kinsley  —  In 2006, Charlie Savage won the Pulitzer Prize for his series of articles in The Boston Globe exposing the Bush administration's use of “signing statements” as a means of ignoring the law.  In response to those revelations, Michael Kinsley …

How right-wingers are amping up their war on science  —  From climate change to reproduction, Republicans are increasingly deciding “science” is whatever they say it is  —  No longer content just to claim to be “skeptical” of scientific findings they find disagreeable …

Connecting the dots: Mayfield, Sager, Mary and McDaniel  —  Mark Mayfield is an attorney, Madison County Republican Party leader and officer in multiple tea party organizations.  —  Richard Sager is an elementary school physical education teacher and high school soccer coach.

Morgan Freeman on helium  —  We could tell you that this clip below is from the fifth season of Science Channel's Through the Wormhole, a documentary series exploring the mysteries of of the universe that returns June 4.  But all that does is delay getting to the point …

Barack Obama's early VA response: Executive inaction  —  President Barack Obama wants to talk about flexing his administrative and executive power to do more.  Instead, he got stuck talking about a clear administrative and executive failure that, at least so far, he hasn't done much about.

Georgia Senate: Nunn (D) Holds Slight Edge Over GOP Finalists  —  Georgia Republicans won't have a specific nominee for a couple more months, but the final two contenders are running slightly behind Democrat Michelle Nunn in Rasmussen Reports' first look at the U.S. Senate race in Georgia.

Amazon Escalates Its Battle Against Publishers  —  Amazon, under fire in much of the literary community for energetically discouraging customers from buying books from the publisher Hachette, has abruptly escalated the battle.  —  The retailer began refusing orders late Thursday for coming Hachette books …

U.S. Still Split on Abortion: 47% Pro-Choice, 46% Pro-Life  —  No decline in voters who prioritize abortion issue, now at 19%  —  PRINCETON, NJ — Americans remain divided on the abortion issue, with 47% of U.S. adults describing their views as “pro-choice” and 46% as “pro-life,” continuing a pattern seen since 2010.

Skills, education, and the rise of earnings inequality among the “other 99 percent”  —  The singular focus of public debate on the “top 1 percent” of households overlooks the component of earnings inequality that is arguably most consequential for the “other 99 percent” of citizens …

‘The Ukip fox is in the Westminster hen house’: Jubilant Farage taunts Cameron, Clegg and Miliband after his party takes council seats from Tories in the south and Labour heartlands in the north  —  A surge in support for Ukip has cost all the mainstream parties seats and control of councils …

Central bank blog … Welcome.  If you have yet to register on FT.com you will be asked to do so before you begin to read FT blogs.  However, our posts remain free.  —  Opinions on market-moving economics and central banks around the world.  — Gold fix pricing faces abolition call

The Hard Sell on Climate Change  —  Jeff Zucker, the president of CNN, was very forthright about his media priorities at a Society of Professional Journalists dinner in New York City on Monday.  —  He told Bill Carter of the New York Times: “Climate change is one of those stories that deserves more attention, that we all talk about.

The One Thing Each Party Needs to Overcome by 2016  —  So far, neither side has made much progress toward solving its lingering challenge.  —  Each party emerged from the 2012 presidential election facing one key electoral challenge before the next contest in 2016.

Scarborough: I've Never Heard Anyone Object To Obamacare Over Race (VIDEO)  —  Joe Scarborough said Friday that he doesn't understand what evidence Sen. Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) has to back up his claim that opposition to President Barack Obama's signature health care law is driven by his race.

Michael Grimm probe panel announced  —  The House Ethics Committee announced Friday the creation of a special investigatory panel to probe allegations of wrongdoing by New York Republican Rep. Michael Grimm.  —  But the panel will “defer action on its investigation at this time,” because Grimm is under federal indictment.

Pompano Beach firefighter accused of shooting at man in drunken rage  —  Janeen McKenzie arrested on aggravated battery charge  —  WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -  —  A Pompano Beach firefighter was arrested in Palm Beach County after a night of boozing and foreplay with another man led her to open fire at him, deputies said.