Michael Brown Spent Last Weeks Grappling With Problems and Promise  —  FERGUSON, Mo. — It was 1 a.m. and Michael Brown Jr. called his father, his voice trembling.  He had seen something overpowering.  In the thick gray clouds that lingered from a passing storm this past June, he made out an angel.

Joint Chiefs chairman says ISIS not a direct threat to US, won't recommend Syria strikes yet  —  The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff has said that he would not recommend U.S. military airstrikes against Islamic State militants in Syria until he determines that they have become a direct threat to the U.S.

Cornel West: “He posed as a progressive and turned out to be counterfeit.  We ended up with a Wall Street presidency, a drone presidency"  —  Exclusive: Cornel West talks Ferguson, Hillary, MSNBC — and unloads on the failed promise of Barack Obama  —  Cornel West is a professor …

NBC News President Rouses the Network  —  In her first year as president of NBC News, Deborah Turness received one message loud and clear: Welcome to the feeding frenzy.  —  It didn't take long for Ms. Turness to realize that the attention paid to broadcast journalism in America …

Fort Lee issues all clear after ‘enraged’ soldier shoots herself  —  FORT LEE, Va. — Fort Lee was on lockdown Monday morning after officials say a female soldier went on a rampage in an office before shooting herself.  —  Officials said that first responders were dispatched to the Army post …

Wrong Way Nation  —  Gov. Rick Perry of Texas is running for president again.  What are his chances?  Will he once again become a punch line?  I have absolutely no idea.  This isn't a horse-race column.  —  What I'd like to do, instead, is take advantage of Mr. Perry's ambitions to talk …

Video Spurs Questions Of Arresting Methods After Deputies Tase Man Inside Walmart  —  An arrest Saturday led to some witnesses thinking the arresting officers went a little far.  —  In a video sent to 7 On Your Side, you can see a man lying on the floor of the Walmart on Whitehorse Road and the deputies attempting to arrest him.

A LETTER FROM JIM: All letters Jim wrote to his family during his captivity were confiscated by the jailers.  So, Jim devised a better approach this last June: he asked a fellow hostage about to be released to commit a letter to memory.  Very soon after his release, this hostage called Diane and dictated what follows.

71 days to midterms - CLINTON LIBRARY to spill new secrets - RISING-STAR DEMS buck administration — MARK FABIANI joins Perry legal team - DSCC targets McConnell on shutdown  —  5 YEARS AGO TODAY, Sen. Edward Moore Kennedy, the Lion of the Senate, died at his home in Hyannis Port, at age 77.

Local, state Democrats go rogue  —  In scattered state capitals and city halls around the country, a new group of elected officials is telling the federal government to take a hike: Up-and-coming Democrats.  —  Challenging federal power in sometimes-theatrical ways has been a hallmark …

Club Med for Terrorists  —  THE hostilities in Gaza between Israel and Hamas persist and the diplomatic war at the United Nations continues, also without resolution.  While there is no shortage of opinions on the way forward, the most obvious solution is strikingly absent …

DesJarlais Wins by 38 Votes, Jim Tracy Concedes  —  Rep. Scott DesJarlais has officially won his primary, barely squeaking past state Sen. Jim Tracy, who conceded Monday after more than two tense weeks following Tennessee's Republican primary in the 4th District.

Experts' eyes turn to Colo.  —  “Wow!  You'd have to be high to re-elect a guy like that.”  —  That is comedian Bill Maher's take on Republican Rep. Mike Coffman's campaign to win a fourth term in a suburban Denver district.  Smoking marijuana is legal in Colorado but even stone-cold sober …

Under Obama, racial hope but no change  —  Six years ago, Barack Obama's election was going to usher in a new era of racial understanding.  —  That hasn't happened.  Few, if any, anticipated that the man whose election itself was historic would be in a constant lose-lose situation as president when it came to race.