https://www.politico.com/story/2018/02/22/illinois-republican-attorney-general-candidate-racial-slur-421732





CHICAGO — A Republican candidate for the Illinois Legislature is under fire from his own party amid allegations that he asked an African-American candidate for state attorney general whether she was a “lesbo” and used a racial slur during a conversation with her.

Now, Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Republican floor leader of the Illinois House, Peter Breen, are calling for the candidate, Burt Minor, to drop out of a race for state representative.

“He’s not fit to be a Republican nominee for office, especially not the General Assembly,” Breen told POLITICO. “His conduct was outrageous.”

At issue is a conversation that took place last fall between Minor and Republican attorney general candidate Erika Harold. Harold, the party-backed candidate for the GOP, who is also a Harvard Law graduate and former Miss America, was talking to Minor in his capacity as a Winfield Township chairman.

“[Minor] asked Ms. Harold personal questions about her marital status, and even her sexual orientation, going so far as to inquire whether she was a ‘lesbo,’” Breen wrote in a letter to other Republicans this morning. “The chairman also used the full ‘n-word’ repeatedly in front of Ms. Harold and her assistant, asking whether she found its usage offensive.”

http://www.wbrc.com/story/37576770/teen-girl-arrested-in-cullman-co-for-making-terroristic-threats-against-school?utm_content=buffer3737c&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer



CULLMAN COUNTY, AL (WBRC) -
An 18-year-old girl is facing charges amid a widespread wave of threats against Alabama schools in the aftermath of a deadly school shooting in Florida.

Emily Nicole Wilson was arrested and charged with making terroristic threats along with an unnamed juvenile, Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry and Superintendent Shane Barnette announced at a Friday morning press conference.

Wilson sent the threats through the Text Now app along with a picture of a gun, the date the threat was supposed to be carried out and the name of the school, according to authorities.

Wilson reportedly made the threat to get more time to study for a test.

Most of her teachers and friends were surprised to hear that she was charged, according to investigators.

"It comes down to a poor decision made by a teenager that it was going to be a short-term, get out of class thing," Barnette said.

Wilson's arrest comes after several threats made against central Alabama schools were investigated by authorities.

Fairview High School in Cullman County was placed on soft lockdown on Friday, Feb. 16 following an online threat.

He warned parents to periodically check their children's social media account to mitigate threats.

This story is developing.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/22/news/economy/workforce-opioid-crisis/index.html

A pack of cigarettes sits on top of a Buffalo Wild Wings application on the kitchen table in front of Mike Harsanyi. After six years struggling with heroin addiction and two spells in prison, Harsanyi has been living in a sober house in Maryland for five months and he's looking for steady employment.
"The job search has not been going good," said Harsanyi, a baby-faced 27-year-old with tattoos poking out of his collar. "I think when you're a drug addict in sobriety with a felony on your record, they look at you different, like you're going to rob their store."

Jobs are plentiful in Maryland's Anne Arundel County, which boasts an unemployment rate of 3.1%. But after doing time for an armed robbery committed while he was high in 2015, Harsanyi has so far been turned down for jobs at Valvoline and Jiffy Lube, and is only able to pick up occasional work as a tile setter for another recovering addict he met through his 12-Step program.

Harsanyi's experience isn't just hard on him. The opioid crisis is turning into a real problem for employers, who are having trouble finding workers in the midst of one of the tightest labor markets in decades.

There are nearly 6 million job openings in the U.S. and the unemployment rate, at 4.1%, is at a 17-year low. But the share of people working or looking for work still hasn't recovered from before the recession. Part of the problem: The rise in abuse of prescription painkillers, partially responsible for the 64,000 drug overdose deaths in 2016, has incapacitated thousands of working-age people whom employers would otherwise be eager to hire.

https://www.cnn.com/2018/02/15/us/florida-gun-laws-trnd/index.html



The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, which killed 17 people, has put the focus on Florida's gun laws. For instance, the state doesn't require a permit or a license for someone to own a gun.

Here are some facts about the gun laws in the Sunshine State, from the Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence and the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action:

The right to bear arms is found in the first article of Florida's constitution: "The right of the people to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves and of the lawful authority of the state shall not be infringed..."

You don't need a permit or license to buy a gun, nor do you have to register a firearm.

You don't need a permit to conceal carry a rifle or shotgun, although you do need it to conceal carry a handgun.

The state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services must issue a concealed weapons license to an applicant as long as the person meets a certain set of requirements, including being a US citizen, being the age of 21 or older, not having a felony conviction and demonstrates competence with a firearm.

You can buy as many guns as you want at one time, because Florida doesn't regulate that either.

Gun sellers don't have to get a state license to sell firearms.

The state does require a three-day waiting period before you can buy a gun.

And Florida does not regulate assault weapons, .50-caliber rifles and large capacity ammunition magazines.

http://money.cnn.com/2018/02/14/investing/lloyd-blankfein-goldman-sachs-economy/index.html

Lloyd Blankfein is worried that a spending spree by the Trump administration could overheat the American economy.
"The odds of a bad outcome have gone up," the Goldman Sachs CEO told CNN's Christine Romans in an interview airing Wednesday.

Blankfein noted that the economy was already humming along before the federal government juiced it with $1.5 trillion in tax cuts and $300 billion of additional spending, pushing up the budget deficit. And now, President Trump has proposed a $200 billion infrastructure package.

That kind of spending is normally reserved for recessions -- or at least fragile recoveries -- not booms.

While it's not his "base case," Blankfein said the risk is that all that stimulus could be "too much of a good thing" for the economy and financial markets.

"Don't forget, all of these deficits have to be paid for," he said on the sidelines of Goldman's 10,000 Small Businesses Summit.