‘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 …

EBOLA NEW ISSUE AS UDALL, GARDNER TANGLE IN FINAL SENATE DEBATE  —  U.S. Senator Mark Udall, left, and his Republican challenger, Cory Gardner.  (Denver Post file photos)  —  Ebola emerged Wednesday night as a new issue in Colorado's U.S. Senate debate with Democrat Mark Udall and Republican Cory Gardner …

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 …

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.

Latino Voters and the 2014 Midterm Elections  —  Geography, Close Races and Views of Social Issues  —  A record 25.2 million Latinos are eligible to vote in the 2014 midterm elections, making up, for the first time, 11% of all eligible voters nationwide.  But despite a growing national presence …

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 …

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.

Doing what's best for Nevada  —  The past year has been a trying time for our family — the Laxalt family.  Sadly, we have been forced to face the loss of several cherished family members.  This challenge has made many of us stop and pause about what truly does matter in life.

Arkansas Supreme Court Strikes Down Voter ID Law, Saying It Exceeds State Constitution  —  The Arkansas Supreme Court struck down the state's voter identification law on Wednesday, saying that it would set a new requirement for voting beyond those listed in the state's Constitution.

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

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 …