American Forces Said to Bomb ISIS Targets in Iraq  —  DOHUK, Iraq — American military forces bombed at least two targets in northern Iraq on Thursday night to rout Islamist insurgents who have trapped tens of thousands of religious minorities in Kurdish areas, Kurdish officials said.

Walsh drops out of U.S. Senate race  —  HELENA — Sen. John Walsh said Thursday he is pulling out of the Senate race because his campaign was distracted by the controversy over allegations that he plagiarized a U.S. Army War College research paper.  —  Walsh, a Democrat, said he decided to drop out of the race.

The Executive Editor on the Word ‘Torture’  —  Dean Baquet is the executive editor of The Times.  —  Over the past few months, reporters and editors of The Times have debated a subject that has come up regularly ever since the world learned of the C.I.A.'s brutal questioning of terrorism suspects …

Murkowski sends ‘cease and desist’ letter to Begich over ad  —  Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) isn't happy about Sen. Mark Begich (D-Alaska) using her in his latest campaign ad — and has called in her lawyers to try to force Begich to stop airing it.  —  Murkowski's campaign lawyers sent a …

FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT.  —  There are plenty of yuks — in both the vaudeville and the visceral sense —in the NYT Magazine story, “Has the ‘Libertarian Moment’ Finally Arrived?”  First of all, the Libertarian Moment question gets raised every couple of years.

For release at 12:00 p.m. EDT  —  In its new Report on the Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households, the Federal Reserve Board provides a snapshot of the self-perceived financial and economic well-being of U.S. households and the issues they face, based on responses to the Board's 2013 Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking.

Stillwater cafe faces heat for adding ‘minimum wage fee’ to tab  —  Each tab at Stillwater's Oasis Cafe now includes 35 cents to offset minimum wage increase.  —  A small cafe in Stillwater has thrown itself into the big battle over Minnesota's minimum wage increases, inundating the cafe …

Ask Andrew W.K.: My Dad Is a Right-Wing A**hole  —  [Editor's note: Every Wednesday New York City's own Andrew W.K. takes your life questions, and sets you safely down the right path to a solution, a purpose or — no surprise here — a party.  Need his help?  Just ask: AskAWK@villagevoice.com]

Republicans Have More Reason Than Ever To Worry About Primary Challenges  —  One of the most universal lessons of sports prediction is that margins matter.  An NFL team that wins a number of games by less than a touchdown might get banner headlines for its clutch performance.

‘Porch Shooter’ Theodore Wafer Found Guilty of Murder … A Detroit jury ruled today that Theodore Wafer was guilty of murder in the shooting death of unarmed teenager Renisha McBride on his porch.  —  The jury, which consisted of seven men and five women, began its deliberations on Wednesday after nine days of testimony.

Sean Hannity: 'Where's CBS?  Where is all this so-called reporting on NBC and CNN?'  —  For his first trip to Israel, Sean Hannity had a mission: put the emphasis on what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has on the average Israeli.  As he returns home today from a 4-day reporting trip …

Americans' views of Obama, Congress, political parties: Gloomy  —  Shares -  —  Americans' views of both political parties are negative and nearly match historic lows, a new CBS News poll reveals.  —  Just 29 percent of Americans have a favorable view of the Republican Party …