Six officers charged in death of Freddie Gray  —  The six Baltimore police officers involved in the arrest of Freddie Gray - who died last month after being injured in police custody - have been charged criminally, State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced Friday.

Christie Ally Expected to Plead Guilty in George Washington Bridge Lane-Closing Case  —  A former Port Authority official and ally of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey is expected to plead guilty on Friday to the first charges stemming from the 16-month federal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closings scandal.

How Rand Paul blew it on Baltimore  —  The Kentucky senator tried to present himself as a different kind of Republican.  Then the riots happened.  —  When Rand Paul launched his presidential bid in early April amid an array of diverse faces, he talked about focusing on the inner cities …

What Jon Stewart and George Stephanopoulos Got Wrong  —  Last night on The Daily Show, in talking about the Baltimore riots, this exchange took place between host Jon Stewart and ABC's George Stephanopoulos:  —  Stewart: Right now it seems the easy thing to do is to say …

Capitol Police Left Guns in Bathrooms  —  When a member of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's security detail left his Glock and magazine stuffed in the toilet seat cover holder of a Capitol Visitor Center bathroom stall, a CVC worker found the gun, according to a source familiar …

GOP prepares list of demands if justices rule against ObamaCare  —  Republicans believe a Supreme Court ruling against ObamaCare this summer would give them leverage to force President Obama to scrap the healthcare law's central pillars.  —  Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) …

Bring Back the Smoke-Filled Rooms  —  Politics is broken.  Washington is dysfunctional.  The best way to fix it, goes the conventional thinking, is to destroy the system itself.  Rand Paul wants to “defeat the Washington machine,” while Hillary Clinton wants “get unaccountable money out of” our political system.

Feds roll out $20M police body camera ‘pilot program’  —  The Obama administration is spending $20 million on police body cameras, amid rising tension over police violence.  —  The announcement from the Justice Department on Friday would create a new pilot program to equip police in dozens …

Ron Paul Unsure If Military Will Take Over Texas, But Glad Governor Is Monitoring (VIDEO)  —  While presidential candidate Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) may have only committed to looking into whether the U.S. military plans to take over Texas, his father on Thursday took a stronger position …

Ben E King: R&B legend dies at 76  —  Ben E King received an award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2012  —  R&B and soul singer Ben E King, best known for the classic song Stand By Me, has died at the age of 76.  —  King started his career in the late 1950s with The Drifters …

Black Culture Is Not the Problem  —  BALTIMORE — IN the wake of the Michael Brown shooting and subsequent unrest in Ferguson, Mo., commentators noted the absence of black representatives among Ferguson's elected officials and its police leadership.  A Department of Justice report highlighted …

Accelerating extinction risk from climate change  —  Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Connecticut, 75 North Eagleville Road, Unit 3043, Storrs, CT 06269, USA.  —  Predicting extinction in a changing world  —  There is great interest in understanding …

Building Collapses at Watergate Complex  —  More than 25 firefighters are on the scene of a partial structure collapse today at the Watergate complex in Washington, the D.C. Fire Department has confirmed.  —  Search and rescue teams are also at the scene.  One person was seen being loaded into an ambulance.

Why Larry Flynt Is Endorsing Hillary Clinton  —  The Hustler honcho has long supported Democrats-and thinks Clinton could get a chance to shift the balance of the Supreme Court.  —  t jheil  —  When Larry Flynt is feeling righteous, he describes himself as a crusader …