CONGRESSIONAL VACATIONS

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US Congress will soon return from yet another long vacation, and the do nothing legislative group will be facing their own version of Mission Impossible filled with perilous political predicaments.

While some say our national leadership will certainly have its hands full, others fear it will be business as usual and very little will get accomplished before their next vacation.

5 perilous issues for Boehner when Congress returns http://usat.ly/1Eea1B3 via @usatoday

Obama’s Quiet Vacation Will Yield to a Noisy September http://nyti.ms/1PtBIpQ

TEACHER EVALUATIONS

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Should teacher evaluations be tied to student test scores? Americans give low marks to rating a teacher based partly on how students perform on standardized tests, according to the latest poll.

Gallup: Many Americans oppose linking teacher evaluations to kids' test performance http://strib.mn/1Lu8mKd

Schools To Be Rated On More Than Just Tests http://fw.to/0Ep9SUS

Parents worry about too many exams in Fargo-Moorhead schools | Grand Forks Herald http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/education/3823487-parents-worry-ab…

HEROES TO THE RESCUE

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Paris-bound train coward crew members decided to barricaded themselves in their staffroom and locked the door as Kalashnikov-wielding terrorist went on the rampage and leaving the passengers alone to take down the devil.

The Moroccan madman was disarmed and beaten unconscious by US servicemen and a British man after he opened fire on a Paris-bound train with a Kalashnikov.

3 people wounded in high-speed train shooting in France http://ti.me/1PE6jSq via @TIMEWorld

2 members of U.S. military stop Islamist attacker on train in Belgium @CNN http://cnn.it/1JwW1Vh

POLITIBYTES

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TV was once a powerful commercial medium that had cornered the competitive marketplace for valuable advertising dollars. Recently, those revenues provided incentives to drive a market towards web videos, as creators and distributors of web programming continue to expand and multiply.

ALL HANDS ABANDON SHIP

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At the U.S. Coast Guard Academy at New London, Conn., all incoming first-year students are called swabs and must take part in the rigorous Sea Trials, a daylong exercise that tests them physically and mentally in preparation for life at the academy and as future officers in the Coast Guard.
“All hands abandon ship!” Loudspeakers carried that message during the emergency drill, just over an hour since the first urgent communication pierced the dawn quiet at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy.

MALE OR FEMALE PRISON?

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Caitlyn Jenner, who was formerly known as Bruce Jenner, is an American athlete who won the men's decathlon at the 1976 Summer Olympics. The investigation into a deadly four-car accident involving Caitlyn Jenner has been completed and he could face manslaughter charges.

If charges are filed and jail time is ordered by the court, in light of present circumstances which facility would he be incarcerated in?

Investigators to recommend Caitlyn Jenner face manslaughter charge http://es.pn/1J7B5Rr

Evidence could get Jenner charged in wreck: source http://nydn.us/1NohRuN

HOTEST JULY EVER

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A July, 2015 study blended land and sea Surface temperature percentiles and NOAA has learned that it was the hottest on record.

The July average temperature across global land and ocean surfaces was 1.46°F (0.81°C) above the 20th century average. As July is climatologically the warmest month for the year, this was also the all-time highest monthly temperature in the 1880–2015 record, at 61.86°F (16.61°C), surpassing the previous record set in 1998 by 0.14°F (0.08°C).

Separately, the July globally-averaged land surface temperature was 1.73°F (0.96°C) above the 20th century average. This was the sixth highest for July in the 1880–2015 record.

The July globally-averaged sea surface temperature was 1.35°F (0.75°C) above the 20th century average. This was the highest temperature for any month in the 1880–2015 record, surpassing the previous record set in July 2014 by 0.13°F (0.07°C). The global value was driven by record warmth across large expanses of the Pacific and Indian Oceans.

The average Arctic sea ice extent for July was 350,000 square miles (9.5 percent) below the 1981–2010 average. This was the eighth smallest July extent since records began in 1979 and largest since 2009, according to analysis by the National Snow and Ice Data Center using data from NOAA and NASA.

EMPOWER CONSUMERS

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According to the New England Journal of Medicine... As one of only two countries that permit direct-to-consumer advertising (DTCA) of pharmaceuticals, the United States tasks the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with regulating that advertising to ensure that it doesn't mislead consumers. When a drug maker publishes or broadcasts a claim that its drug has benefits in a particular disease, the FDA requires it to include information on the product's risks as well. Since it's not feasible for companies to include all the important information about their products in a television ad, the FDA requires them to refer viewers to more complete information, such as that in a printed magazine ad. Companies have tended to comply with this requirement by supplementing colorful, persuasive ads with one or two pages of dry text providing the required disclosures, often simply using language that the FDA has approved for other purposes, such as package inserts for prescribers. But research shows that most patients who attempt to read these disclosures find them difficult to understand, and many don't even try to make sense of them.1 Now, the FDA is in the process of adjusting its DTCA rules, aiming to provide greater assurance that patients receive due warning of the most significant risks — but its tweaks probably don't go far enough to really empower consumers to make smart decisions about the drugs they put into their bodies.

This spring, the FDA revised its guidance for communicating risks in DTCA, which had been in “draft” form since 2004.1 The agency has long recommended the use of nontechnical language (e.g., “drowsiness” rather than “somnolence”) but now also recommends using an evidence-based format for conveying such information. The FDA's research supports the use of a “Drug Facts” box, of the type that has proven successful for over-the-counter products, with familiar headings for “Uses” and “Warnings.” Alternatively, companies will be allowed to use a question-and-answer format, as some have already been doing.

The draft guidance gives companies additional discretion about which risks to disclose and how. Though the FDA continues to insist that any “black-box” warnings and contraindications be included, companies will now be able to omit mention of other adverse events. The guidance directs companies to include only the “most serious and the most common” risks posed by a product. The idea that it actually helps to give consumers less of the available information about a product's risks may be counterintuitive, but the FDA is reasonably concerned that the recital of extremely rare risks can distract from, or even trivialize, the more significant disadvantages of a product.

Still, the guidance raises difficult questions about which risks to exclude, and it's worrisome when discretion is given to marketers who have an interest in downplaying overall risks. For the industry, such discretion is a double-edged sword. If a patient experiences an adverse effect and files a lawsuit, a civil jury may find that the advertising was misleading, and a company's defense may receive little support from the FDA's vague guidance. Some conservative companies may therefore prefer to continue providing comprehensive lists, and the new guidance allows them to do so. If the FDA is serious about streamlining disclosures, it may need to take a stronger approach.

HANGZHOU ASIAN GAMES?

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It is considered to be the most beautiful city in Chiba and Hangzhou, which once was the capital, and now leads China’s Zhejiang province, has formally submitted a bid to host the 2022 Asian Games.

TIMES SQUARE BARE

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Times Square, NYC is the intersection in Midtown Manhattan, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue, and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets. They call it the crossroads of the world.

First came a Naked Cowboy, an American street performer on New York City's Times Square who wears only cowboy boots, a hat, and briefs, with a guitar strategically placed to give the illusion of nudity.