Behind the Senate GOP's high-stakes health-care gamble: Unrelenting criticism back home  —  (Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency/EFE/Rex/Shutterstock)  —  Senate Republicans have made a calculated decision: Better to fail again trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act then not to try at all.

Another potential Mueller honey pot: Spicer's notebooks  —  The Watergate resonance of the Bob Mueller probe rose this week with a CNN report that the special counsel has details of wiretaps of “former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort under secret court orders before and after the election.”

Neighbor of disabled man shot and killed by police says family will hire attorney  —  A man who witnessed a police officer shoot and kill his disabled neighbor said he does not think the shooting was justified and that the family of the man killed is planning to hire an attorney.

China's central bank tells banks to stop doing business with North Korea: sources  —  BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) - China's central bank has told banks to strictly implement United Nations sanctions against North Korea, four sources told Reuters, amid U.S. concerns that Beijing has not been tough enough …

Law Firm Faces Questions for Ukraine Work With Manafort  —  WASHINGTON — Five years ago, Paul Manafort arranged for a prominent New York-based law firm to draft a report that was used by allies of his client, Viktor Yanukovych, the Russia-aligned president of Ukraine, to justify the jailing of a political rival.

America's Jews Are Driving America's Wars  —  Shouldn't they recuse themselves when dealing with the Middle East?  —  I spoke recently at a conference on America's war party where afterwards an elderly gentleman came up to me and asked, “Why doesn't anyone ever speak honestly about the six-hundred-pound gorilla in the room?

Ex-CIA chief stuns Nicole Wallace: It's ‘absolutely’ possible Russia ‘dispatched Manafort to the Trump campaign’  —  As headlines surrounding former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort, a former defense and intelligence official raised the possibility that Special Counsel Robert Mueller …

Roy Moore disrupts Alabama Senate race — and prepares for new level of defiance in Washington  —  DECATUR, Ala. — With the thunder and fire of an old-time revivalist, U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore rose before the assembled souls at the Redemption Baptist Church, a front-runner in the polls days …

NBC/WSJ Poll: Public Likes Trump's Bipartisan Move — But Little Else  —  WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump's approval rating has inched up, and more than 70 percent of Americans support his recent deal with Democratic leaders to provide hurricane relief and keep the government open for 90 days …

Memo: NFL players ask Roger Goodell for support in racial equality campaign  —  Current and former NFL players campaigning for racial equality and criminal justice reform  —  wrote a lengthy memo to league commissioner Roger Goodell officially seeking overt league support in their effort …

Bill Gates: Sorry about Control-Alt-Delete  —  Bill & Melinda Gates: Keeping score of global goals  —  Bill Gates is sorry that he made it so annoying to log in to your computer.  —  The billionaire Microsoft (MSFT, Tech30) co-founder admitted Wednesday that the Control-Alt-Delete function originally used …

Jim Acosta Is the White House's Favorite Reporter  —  As he walked to work down Pennsylvania Avenue, Jim Acosta, CNN's senior White House correspondent, was wondering if today would be the day he busted out of the doghouse.  —  It was an afternoon in early September and it had been three weeks since …

Border Patrol Arrests Parents While Infant Awaits Serious Operation  —  When 2-month-old Isaac Enrique Sanchez was diagnosed with pyloric stenosis, a condition that causes vomiting, dehydration and weight loss in infants, his parents were told that their son's condition was curable.

Parents divided in opinion after gender neutral teacher sends home note with 5th graders  —  A new fifth grade teacher at Canopy Oaks Elementary is asking students to use gender-neutral pronouns in the classroom.  —  Math and science teacher Chloe Bressack sent the request home in a letter to parents headlined “About Mx.

Princeton's campus newspaper disbands editorial board after string of right-leaning opinions  —  In response, board members go rogue, launch their own publication  —  Leaders of the student newspaper at Princeton University have disbanded the publication's independent editorial board …

Study: Flint water killed unborn babies; many moms who drank it couldn't get pregnant  —  Babies born in Flint after switch to river water also nearly 150 grams lighter than those born in other areas of Michigan, and gained less weight.  —  CONNECT  —  The city of Flint saw fewer pregnancies …

CEO's bonus cut 25% for his anti-gay, sexist tirade at Kathy Griffin  —  Kathy Griffin apologizes for anti-Trump photo  —  The bonus of Jeffrey Mezger, one of the most powerful people in real estate, will be slashed by 25% after he went on an anti-gay tirade against his neighbor, comedian Kathy Griffin.

Mark Zuckerberg's Fake News Problem Isn't Going Away  —  Technically speaking, Mark Zuckerberg has been on paternity leave.  In late August his wife, Priscilla Chan, gave birth to their second child, a girl.  But though Zuckerberg, the chief executive officer of Facebook Inc. …