Donald Trump Dominates Republican Field in Pre-Debate Bloomberg Poll  —  Billionaire Donald Trump is lapping the Republican field, a new Bloomberg Politics national poll shows, as two prominent governors, Chris Christie of New Jersey and John Kasich of Ohio, rank in the top 10 ahead of the first presidential debate.

“Intact Fetal Cadavers” At 20-Weeks “Just a Matter of Line Items” at Planned Parenthood TX Mega-Center: Abortion Docs Can “Make it Happen”  —  #PPSellsBabyParts “INTACT FETAL CADAVERS” AT 20-WEEKS “JUST A MATTER OF LINE ITEMS” AT PLANNED PARENTHOOD TX MEGA-CENTER: ABORTION DOCS CAN “MAKE IT HAPPEN”

Whole Foods' $6 Asparagus Water Is Just Water With Three Stalks of Asparagus in It [Updated]  —  Is Whole Foods trolling its own employees?  —  Twitter user Layla Dhere (@dhere) expressed confusion in a recent tweet featuring the above image of a row of bottles of what is labeled “Asparagus Water” on a shelf.

Obama to call for Voting Rights Act restoration on law's anniversary  —  President Obama will call for the restoration of the Voting Rights Act on its 50th anniversary Thursday, the White House said.  —  Obama will hold a teleconference to commemorate the landmark legislation and call for its renewal …

Hear Trump's Message on His Leaked Cellphone  —  Donald Trump has turned the tables on Gawker.  After the online site released one of Donald Trump's cellphone numbers, the GOP presidential candidate changed his voicemail this morning.  —  “Hi, this is Donald Trump and I'm running …

The Freakishness of Christianity  —  Evangelical Christianity has long had a stranglehold on how Americans imagine public faith.  Vague invocations of “religion”—whether it's “religion vs. science” or “religious freedom”—usually really mean “conservative, Protestant, evangelical Christianity …

Crisis in Santorum campaign  —  The moves leave the winner of the 2012 Iowa Caucuses without a campaign manager and raise questions about whether he can last until Iowa votes on Feb. 1 next year.  —  Several top staffers have left Rick Santorum's campaign to create a new super PAC …

Uneven Performances in Trump-less Republican Forum  —  Jeb Bush stumbled through a familiar question about his brother and father, struggling for the right words as he cracked a joke about duking it out with anyone who questioned the legacy of his aging dad.

Montgomery boxes Confederate statue to protect it from vandalism  —  Montgomery County has erected a wooden box around a Confederate monument recently spray-painted with the words “Black Lives Matter,” in hopes of shielding the statue from further vandalism as officials seek to move it out of downtown Rockville.

2 Men Open Fire On Soldiers At Jade Helm Training Site In Mississippi  —  HATTIESBURG, Miss. (AP) — A sheriff in Mississippi says authorities are searching for two men who fired gunshots from a vehicle at soldiers at a military facility.  No injuries were reported.

2 immigrants in U.S. illegally are named to Huntington Park commissions  —  Julian Zatarain always assumed the doors of City Hall were closed to him because he is here illegally, arriving from Sinaloa in 2007 when he was 13.  —  The 21-year-old college student found other outlets for service …

TCU student punished for criticizing Islam, Baltimore riots  —  All it took was 140 characters for Texas Christian University to suspend a conservative student who posted a series of social networking posts that insulted the Islamic State, the Baltimore rioters and Mexicans.

Scott Walker just got punked at a New Hampshire pizza shop  —  MANCHESTER, N.H. — Maybe it should have been a tip-off that the two 20-somethings were so overly excited to meet Scott Walker.  Like dramatically excited.  The young woman was literally bouncing with excitement.

SEE IT: California cops pull man out of car before train slams into it  —  Two quick-thinking deputies dragged a man out of his car just moments before two trains plowed into it in California.  —  San Mateo County sheriff's deputies Lance Whitted and Erik Rueppel were just blocks away …

In the words of young Germans, just ‘merkeln’  —  Angela Merkel inspires German dictionary manufacturer's youth word of 2015.  —  The German dictionary manufacturer Langenscheidt came up with the idea seven years ago to to create a list of new words and expressions invented by teens by selecting the …

Obama Administration Urges States to Cut Health Insurers' Requests for Big Rate Increases  —  WASHINGTON — Hoping to avoid another political uproar over the Affordable Care Act, the Obama administration is trying to persuade states to cut back big rate increases requested by many health insurance companies for 2016.

Committee approves bill to take Alabama out of marriage biz  —  MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - A state Senate committee has approved a bill to take Alabama probate judges out of the wedding license business following the U.S Supreme Court ruling legalizing gay marriage.