Local clergy hand out condoms at Aurora Hobby Lobby store  —  A small group of clergy and representatives from Planned Parenthood handed out condoms Wednesday evening in front of a Hobby Lobby store in Aurora in response to this week's U.S. Supreme Court ruling involving the company.

The Case for Mitt Romney in 2016  —  I'm absolutely serious.  —  No politician wants to be compared to Richard Nixon, but Mitt Romney might like the following.  —  First, consider the similarities in their 1960 and 2012 presidential contests.  Romney and Nixon were both mighty warriors …

A Period Is Questioned in the Declaration of Independence  —  Every Fourth of July, some Americans sit down to read the Declaration of Independence, reacquainting themselves with the nation's founding charter exactly as it was signed by the Second Continental Congress in 1776.  —  Or almost exactly?

Conservative Journalist Declares War On ‘Reprehensible’ GOP Operative: 'It's On'  —  Charles C. Johnson, the freelance conservative journalist who's at least temporarily commandeered the toxic political battle consuming Mississippi, has spent much of the last 48 hours tirelessly and aggressively calling out his critics by name.

Garbage-patch tale as flimsy as a single-use plastic bag  —  A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences could mean bad news for environmental doomsayers.  Forget all those warnings about the million tons of plastic debris floating in the ocean.

The Seven Senate Races Democrats Should Be Optimistic About in 2016  —  Look, I'm not going to sit here and lie to you.  I'm not going to pretend Washington — by which I mean the journalism/politics/lobbying/ evil establishment that's based in the capital — is at work today.

Video: Sleeping Man Arrested On Nearly Empty F Train  —  A YouTube video of a man being arrested on a nearly empty F train—for allegedly falling asleep during his early morning commute—has been making the rounds on the Internet.  According to the NYPD, which confirmed the arrest …

Berkeley Requires Marijuana Dispensaries To Provide Free Weed For Low-Income Patients  —  BERKELEY (CBS SF) — The city of Berkeley will require medical marijuana dispensaries to give away two percent of the amount of cannabis they sell each year free to low-income patients.

Jay Carney: ‘A Little Perspective Is Useful’  —  Now that you're leaving your job as White House press secretary, do you know which cable news network you're going to be a pundit for?  I haven't made any decisions about what combination of things I'm going to be doing.

What it's like to be a conservative columnist at the New York Times Yahoo News Wednesday, July 2, 2014  —  ASPEN, Colo. — New York Times columnist David Brooks gets a lot of hate mail.  And he doesn't read the comments section.  —  “I used to read them, but it was just too psychologically damaging …

Storm brings heavy flooding to Brooklyn as Brooklyn Bridge wall collapses  —  A strong storm system moved through the city Wednesday evening and made several streets nearly impassable.  Pedestrians by the Brooklyn Bridge were hit by stones tumbling from a ramp wall.

DNC will visit six cities vying for 2016 national convention  —  The Democratic National Committee announced Thursday that its site selection team will visit six cities that are vying to host the party's 2016 convention.  —  Birmingham, Ala., Cleveland, Columbus, Ohio, Brooklyn, N.Y., Philadelphia and Phoenix are in the running.

Ebola ‘out of control’ in West Africa as health workers rush to trace 1,500 possible victims  —  Fear, mistrust of Western medicine and difficulties reaching remote areas mean hundreds of potentially infected people have not yet been found  —  Hundreds of West Africans could be carrying …

Ted Cruz should be ashamed  —  Reasonable people can disagree on whether it would be good to amend the Constitution to overcome the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, but Sen. Ted Cruz's (R-Texas) false claims about the proposed amendment have no place in an informed debate.

Veteran Dies Waiting for Ambulance in VA Hospital  —  A veteran who collapsed in an Albuquerque Veteran Affairs hospital cafeteria, 500 yards from the emergency room, died after waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance, officials confirmed Thursday.  —  Officials at the hospital said took a half …

Murdered Arab Youth's Parents ‘Gave Contradicting Statements’  —  Riot in Shuafat after murder of Arab boy  —  In a little-noticed report on Channel Two Wednesday night, analyst and reporter Moshe Nussbaum presented information which could upend the police inquiry into the murder of Muhammad Abu Khadr …

Insurers seeking double-digit ObamaCare premium hikes in NY  —  Insurance firms participating in New York's ObamaCare health exchange are seeking double-digit hikes for patient medical premiums in 2015, new figures reviewed by The Post reveal.  —  The average hike sought by insurers …

NSA ‘totalitarian,’ ex-staffer tells German parliament  —  A former NSA technical chief has told Germany's parliament that the US agency has become a “totalitarian” mass collector of data.  German public broadcasters say the NSA targets individuals who use encryption services.

Faith leaders: Exempt religious groups from order barring LGBT bias in hiring  —  Fourteen prominent faith leaders — including some of President Obama's closest advisers — want the White House to create a religious exemption from his planned executive order banning federal contractors …

Alito could have been stopped: Why Dems should have filibustered the radical  —  The man who has wreaked havoc on this country could have been avoided altogether.  Here's why it never happened  —  One of the biggest “tells” in our modern political life is the extent to which the mere mention …

How Obama Lost the Middle East  —  In his first term, Barack Obama all but declared victory in America's Middle East struggles.  —  As he precipitously pulled out all U.S. peacekeepers from Iraq, the president had his own “Mission Accomplished” moment when declaring the country “stable,” …