We recommend Hillary Clinton for U.S. president  —  There is only one serious candidate on the presidential ballot in November.  We recommend Hillary Clinton.  —  We don't come to this decision easily.  This newspaper has not recommended a Democrat for the nation's highest office since …

Trump, committees raise $90M in August, well short of Clinton's total  —  Washington (CNN)Donald Trump and his joint committees raised $90 million in August, a substantial haul for a candidate late to fundraising but one that still significantly trails Hillary Clinton's enormous summer totals.

Trump's pay-for-play scandal intensifies  —  The swirl of scandal around Donald Trump's donation to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi is intensifying, with the Republican nominee and his aides vigorously pushing back against the idea that he bought the decision by Bondi to not pursue an investigation into his Trump University.

Trump Outlines Scattershot Plan For Yooooge Military Buildup  —  Donald Trump laid out a national security plan that would dramatically increase defense spending and troop levels during a Wednesday address at the Union League of Philadelphia.  —  Calling for a Middle East policy …

Whoops: Independent candidate appears to have accidentally picked a running mate  —  Evan McMullin is running as an independent conservative alternative to Donald Trump.  Who McMullin is running with, however, is a bit of a mystery.  —  In all nine states where he has officially qualified …

Presidential Race Up for Grabs in Florida  —  PPP's newest Florida poll finds a very tight race for President in the state.  In the full field Donald Trump gets 44% to 43% for Hillary Clinton, with Gary Johnson at 5%, and Jill Stein and Evan McMullin each at 1%.

Pence breaks with Trump, says Obama born in Hawaii  —  SAN DIEGO — Mike Pence on Wednesday declined to say whether Donald Trump should apologize for suggesting Barack Obama was born outside the U.S., but he did say Trump's stance wouldn't hurt him with minority voters.

Charges to be filed against presidential candidate  —  Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, center, meets with Dakota Access Pipeline protesters on Tuesday in Morton County.  —  Buy Now  —  Morton County Sheriff Kyle Kirchmeier speaks at a press conference Tuesday afternoon …

New trove of Clinton Benghazi emails proves thin  —  A set of about 30 Benghazi-related messages found by the FBI during their investigation into Hillary Clinton's private email system turns out to contain little fodder for critics or supporters of the Democratic presidential nominee.

Ferguson activist Darren Seals dies at 29  —  Darren Seals wearing his signature “Straight Outta Ferguson” t-shirt as he posed with fellow activists Rev. Osagyefo Sekou, Bree Newsome and Dr. Cornel West during the “Ferguson is Everywhere” hip-hop concert on August 9, 2015.

Five or Six Things I Didn't Know About Brad Pitt, by Marlon James  —  The worst kind, too.  The kind who lets a plant starve to death.  The evidence, at two opposing corners of his office in Beverly Hills; skeletal remnants that long gave up hope of ever being watered.  He's been away for 10 months, he says.

First on CNN: FBI director defends Clinton email probe, document releases  —  Washington (CNN)FBI Director James Comey is defending the bureau's Friday afternoon release of documents from the Hillary Clinton email investigation, saying “we don't play games” and that the documents were put out when ready.

63 days to freedom  —  63 DAYS TO FREEDOM — Here we go folks.  Just over two months and this entire, dismal, garbage fire campaign will come to a merciful end.  The race tightened somewhat over the late summer with Donald Trump consolidating some of the GOP vote and Hillary Clinton largely …

Yoga teacher, 34, who ‘flashed boys and performed sex act on 15-year-old at bar mitzvah’ claims in court she was ‘drugged and raped by teens’  — Lindsey Ann Radomski, 34, of Scottsdale, Arizona faces 18 charges including with sexual indecency with a child

Bakery refuses to write ‘Trump 2016’ on cake  —  A Facebook post shared by a Bossier Parish teen is getting a lot of attention.  —  It reads, “Just left Albertsons.  The woman behind the cake counter just refused to make me a birthday cake because I wanted Trump 2016 on it.  Did that really just happen.”

House Armed Services chairman: 'I've got concerns' about Trump  —  Hours before Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were set to take the stage of the Commander in Chief Forum to answer questions about their national security bona fides, the Republican chairman of the House Armed Services Committee showed …

America's uninsured rate just dropped to a new low  —  Fewer Americans are uninsured than ever before, new federal data shows.  —  Quarterly numbers from the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) show that the uninsured rate fell to 8.6 percent during the first three months of 2016.

Hillary Clinton's ‘Invisible Guiding Hand’  —  BROOKLYN, N.Y. — There are only a handful of corner offices inside Hillary Clinton's campaign headquarters, and they are mostly occupied by familiar names: campaign manager Robby Mook, campaign chairman John Podesta, and Huma Abedin, her ubiquitous confidante.

Ammon Bundy's lawyer argues for his client's right to wear cowboy boots at trial  —  “We would prefer our clients not look like disheveled slackers in front of the jury.”  -Attorney J. Morgan Philpot  —  Before prospective jurors file into Courtroom 9A in the federal courthouse …

Donald Trump ending press ‘blacklist’  —  Donald Trump is ending a practice most journalists think he never should have started: his “blacklisting” of news outlets.  —  Effective on Thursday, the Trump campaign says it will approve requests for press credentials from The Washington Post …

The Drug of Choice for the Age of Kale  —  How ayahuasca, an ancient Amazonian hallucinogenic brew, became the latest trend in Brooklyn and Silicon Valley.  —  The day after Apollo 14 landed on the moon, Dennis and Terence McKenna began a trek through the Amazon with four friends who considered themselves …

U.S. Transferred $1.3 Billion More in Cash to Iran After Initial Payment  —  First $400 million coincided with Iran's release of American prisoners and was used as leverage, officials have acknowledged  —  The Obama administration followed up a planeload of $400 million in cash sent to Iran …

Trump has taught us this year's most important political lesson  —  The writer is an entrepreneur and investor.  —  Our government used to get things done.  The Manhattan Project coordinated the work of more than 130,000 people in over a dozen states.  It was difficult, unprecedented — and successful.

Early voting reduced in 23 NC counties; 9 drop Sunday voting after NCGOP memo  —  RALEIGH  —  Voters in 23 North Carolina counties will have fewer opportunities to vote early than they did four years ago under schedules approved by Republican-led election boards.