In other news, Maine Governor Paul LePage has been ordered by a state court to proceed with Medicaid expansion. Again. This is the third time.
Meanwhile, vaping congressman Duncan Hunter (R-CA) is reportedly using campaign funds to pay for his legal defense against charges that he used campaign funds for personal expenses.
Finally, Senator John McCain's family says he has decided to stop receiving treatment for brain cancer, an indication that he won't be around for much longer.
Here's a handful of other stories I didn't have time to cover during this very busy week:
Former Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Scott Pruitt used his special $43,000 secure phone booth to make one single outgoing call according to phone records. One.
The Missouri attorney general's office has launched an investigation of abuse by Catholic priests following the recent report on abuse in Pennsylvania.
Climate change and coastal flooding is already reducing the value of homes on the coasts of New York and New Jersey.
Researchers at George Washington University say Russia's professional trolls have been sharing anti-vaccination conspiracy theories in addition to interfering in our elections.
Senator Rand Paul (R-Moscow) tried and failed to defund Planned Parenthood. Again.
Volunteer moderators for Reddit say they discovered Iran's fake social media accounts months ago but company officials ignored them.
Michigan health department director Nick Lyon has been charged with involuntary manslaughter in connection with a fatal outbreak of Legionnaires’ disease caused by Flint's contaminated water.
The people of Tangier island still love Trump, even if he's going to get them all killed.
White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney is trying to convince Trump to lift tariffs for a television factory in his home district. Why not lift them for everyone?
Corporate stock buybacks are now expected to surpass $1 trillion in November according to investment researchers.
The Chinese government is planning to boost government spending to make up for the impact of Trump's trade war. That includes more insurance for workers and more spending on infrastructure projects.
Researchers at the University of Warwick in Britain say Facebook has fueled a wave of anti-refugee attacks in Germany. Comparing data on Facebook users and instances of anti-refugee violence, the researchers found that areas with higher numbers of Facebook users correlates with increased violence.
The Santa Clara County Fire Department had their "unlimited" mobile data throttled by Verizon while they were fighting the Medocino Complex fire, the largest fire in the state's history. The fire department's experience has been added to a lawsuit seeking to restore net neutrality.
"County Fire has experienced throttling by its ISP, Verizon," Santa Clara County Fire Chief Anthony Bowden wrote in a declaration. "This throttling has had a significant impact on our ability to provide emergency services. Verizon imposed these limitations despite being informed that throttling was actively impeding County Fire's ability to provide crisis-response and essential emergency services."
Bowden's declaration was submitted in an addendum to a brief filed by 22 state attorneys general, the District of Columbia, Santa Clara County, Santa Clara County Central Fire Protection District, and the California Public Utilities Commission.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos wants to let schools use funds that are suppose to be for improving education to buy guns with the money instead.
Finally, I highly recommend reading this story from Wired on the NotPetya Russian cyberattack that crippled Ukraine and disrupted the global shipping industry for weeks. It's an amazing look at how a computer virus can easily spiral out of control and cripple commerce.
Have a good weekend.