‘Fan’ dispute overshadows sharp debate between Charlie Crist and Gov. Rick Scott  —  ›  —  ‹  —  In the weirdest start of a gubernatorial debate, Florida Gov. Rick Scott initially refused to take the stage Wednesday night because Democrat Charlie Crist insisted on a fan to keep him cool.

Second Ebola nurse was given green light to fly back to Dallas by CDC  —  On the same day President Obama vowed an aggressive response to Ebola, it was revealed feverish nurse Amber Vinson was told by the CDC she could fly back to Dallas because her 99.5 temperature was not at threshold and there were no symptoms.

President Obama's Ebola problem  —  The Ebola crisis in the United States has become an anchor threatening to sink the Obama presidency.  —  Already under fire from critics who saw the federal response to the outbreak as disorganized and timid, things went from bad to worse on Wednesday …

Witness adds new perspective to Ferguson shooting  —  • By Christine Byers cbyers@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8087  —  CLAYTON  • A stream of eyewitnesses has been testifying in secret before a grand jury considering whether to indict police officer Darren Wilson in the fatal shooting …

Meghan McCain: My dad hates Rand Paul  —  Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) daughter said on Wednesday that her father and Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) “hate each other.”  —  Meghan McCain appeared on Howard Stern's SiriusXM radio show to promote her “TakePart Live” talk show on Pivot TV.

Is A Colorado Senate Candidate Lying About His Football Career?  —  UPDATE: Gardner campaign spokesman Alex Siciliano sent the following, presented in its entirety, via email: “Cory Gardner played football from Junior High through Sophomore year in high school.”

The Democrats' Most Effective Midterm Message: Outsourcing  —  Taking a page from Obama's 2012 playbook, Democrats have found a winning message in a dismal political environment.  —  CHICAGO—Of all the negative campaign messages that Democrats have used this midterm election …

John Grisham: men who watch child porn are not all paedophiles  —  As best-selling novelist John Grisham prepares to publish his new legal thriller, he argues America's prison system has run out of control  —  America is wrongly jailing far too many people for viewing child pornography …

Revealed: how Whisper app tracks anonymous users  — Company shares some information with US Department of Defense  — User data collated and indefinitely stored in searchable database  —  Whisper app rewrites terms of service and privacy policy  —  How the ‘safest place on the internet’ tracks its users

The Divorce-Proof Marriage  —  A diamond is forever, but an expensive engagement ring means the marriage might not last that long.  According to a new study, spending between $2,000 and $4,000 on an engagement ring is significantly associated with an increase in the risk of divorce.

Gillespie off the air this week  —  Republican Senate candidate Ed Gillespie has gone dark on Virginia television, three sources tracking the airwaves told POLITICO.  —  An adviser to his campaign says they plan to go back up on Saturday.  —  The news comes as the Gillespie camp announced …

The Reinventions of Rand Paul  —  Subscriber content preview. or Sign In  —  Can he fix what ails the GOP?  —  The tattooed and pierced longhairs never showed up to see Senator Rand Paul speak with students at the University of South Carolina in Columbia last month.

Milwaukee officer in fatal Red Arrow Park shooting fired  —  By Gina Barton and Ashley Luthern of the Journal Sentinel  —  The Milwaukee police officer who fatally shot Dontre Hamilton at Red Arrow Park has been fired because he did not follow department procedures for dealing …

Markets Panicked On Wednesday.  Here's Why the U.S. Economy Is OK.  —  Wednesday was an ugly day for the global economy.  British and German stocks each fell around 3 percent.  Greek stocks fell 6 percent.  (That's huge.)  In the U.S., a trifecta of economic indicators—retail sales …

Michelle Nunn Won't Say If She Voted for Obama  —  Another Democratic Senate candidate has refused to say whether she voted for President Obama: This time it was Michelle Nunn in Georgia.  —  The same question has tripped up other red-state Democrats on the campaign trail.