News

Just opened on the Lower East Side is Gotham’s third kitty coffee shop, where you can play with (and adopt!) felines over your nonfat extra-hot no-foam light-whip semen-free mocha latte. This one also serves booze! Gothamist reports: The Lower East Side grew ten cats stronger yesterday with the opening of Koneko, NYC’s newest cat cafe located on Clinton Street. Koneko …

A Caracas, Venezuela-bound charter plane from North Carolina-based Dynamic Airways burst into flames on the Fort Lauderdale runway this afternoon. Photos and video from the scene show the plane engulfed in thick black flames before firefighters came and extinguished the fire with a white foam. As of 1pm ET, the fire has been put out and everyone was safely off …

In a huge humiliation for Teabagistan, Paul Ryan was elected to House Speaker minutes ago with 236 votes, 18 more than needed. As is tradition, all of the Democrats voted for Nancy Pelosi. Teabagger Daniel Webster, who abstained, got eight votes. And interestingly, one vote went to Colin Powell.

The BBC reports: China has decided to end its decades-long one-child policy, Xinhua news agency reports. All couples will now be allowed to have two children, the state-run news agency said, citing a statement from the Communist Party. The controversial policy was introduced nationally in 1979, to reduce the country’s birth rate and slow the population growth rate. However, concerns …

The Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel is furious with Marco Rubio, who has essentially abandoned his Senate duties in pursuit of the GOP nomination. From their editorial board: Rubio has missed more votes than any other senator this year. His seat is regularly empty for floor votes, committee meetings and intelligence briefings. He says he’s MIA from his J-O-B because he finds …

NORAD and other US military agencies are frantically trying to corral a massive surveillance blimp which became untethered from its base at Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland. CNN reports that two F-16 fighter jets have been scrambled out New Jersey, presumably on a mission to shoot down the blimp, which is reportedly now floating somewhere over southern Pennsylvania. As you …

A South Carolina sheriff’s deputy was terminated today after his body-slamming arrest of a high school student went viral due to videos taken by other students. NBC News reports: Richland County Sheriff Leon Lott said an internal investigation over the Monday incident at Spring Valley High School in Columbia focused on whether Senior Deputy Ben Fields had violated the department’s …

CNN reports: Former House Speaker Dennis Hastert pleaded guilty Wednesday to lying to federal investigators about plans to pay someone he had wronged $3.5 million in hush money. As part of a plea deal, Hastert could serve a prison sentence, or possibly walk away with no prison time. Prosecutors recommended that the judge consider the federal sentencing guidelines, which given …

Saudi actor Abdul Aziz al-Kassar is apparently so good looking that he was swarmed by female fans demanding selfies during a visit to a Riyadh mall. In swooped an officer from the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, who arrested al-Kassar for mixing with women unrelated to him. The Daily Mail reports: The shocking moment …

Actor Wil Wheaton unloaded on the Huffington Post yesterday: I’m very lucky to not need exposure or “reach” or anything like that, at least not right now and not this way. I’m also very lucky to be able to walk away from things like this because I believe it’s the right thing to do. If I’d offered this to Huffington …

Philly.com reports: West Philly’s Yusaf Mack is known for his boxing. But it’s his sexual prowess that has people buzzing. He appears in a new porn video that’s caused a bit of a local scandal. And it’s not just any porn video but a particularly graphic one that shows him engaging in a threesome with two other men. Mack, a …

One day ahead of the next GOP debate, Ben Carson has taken the lead in a national poll for the first time. Business Insider reports: While volatility is expected in primary polls, this latest development is notable because of how completely Trump has dominated such surveys since the summer, when he rocketed to the top. But Carson gained the lead …

A fascinating exclusive from the Daily Beast: In 2011, a shipment of somewhere between 200 to 300 small clay tablets on their way to Oklahoma City from Israel was seized by U.S. Customs agents in Memphis. The tablets were inscribed in cuneiform—the script of ancient Assyria and Babylonia, present-day Iraq—and were thousands of years old. Their destination was the compound …

More bad news for Donald Trump: Ben Carson has overtaken Donald Trump in Iowa, surging to a 14-point lead, according to a new poll. A Monmouth University survey released on Monday found Carson taking 32 percent support in Iowa, followed by Trump at 18 percent. That’s a 9-point gain for Carson from the same poll in late August, while Trump …

USA Today reports: Scores of people have died after a magnitude 7.5. earthquake struck Afghanistan on Monday, causing deaths in neighboring Pakistan and tremors in northern India. The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of the quake was in the far northern Afghan province of Badakhshan, which borders Tajikistan and China. “Significant casualties are likely and the disaster is potentially …

The posh Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta, long a popular destination for gay tourists, escaped Hurricane Patricia with little damage. Gay PV Magazine reports: Puerto Vallarta, Mexico has escaped Hurricane Patricia. After a day of hotel evacuations, airport closures, flight cancellations and pending power interruptions the worst is over for Puerto Vallarta residents as of 11 pm CST. However, …

The Bush campaign is running out of the money and nobody is happier than Breitbart, where they love to mock Bush’s fluency in Spanish. They write: Going well beyond prudent cost cutting and a defensive posture, Team Jeb Bush will begin making such significant campaign cuts effective November 1, they can’t be seen as anything other than a big red …

Midtown Manhattan’s infamously seedy Port Authority Bus Terminal, the busiest such station in the world, will be demolished for a replacement that may cost up to $10B. Via the New York Post: Thursday’s vote authorized the Port Authority to hold an international design competition and choose a winner by September 2016. The project is expected to cost from $7 billion …

With 200-mph winds, the strongest recorded hurricane in Western Hemisphere history is bearing down on the popular gay resort town of Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast of Mexico. The Associated Press reports: With maximum sustained winds near 200 mph (325 kph), Patricia is the strongest storm ever recorded in the eastern Pacific or in the Atlantic, said Dave Roberts, …

The most hated man in pharma is having a bad day. The Associated Press has the story: Stepping into the furor over eye-popping price spikes for old generic medicines, a maker of compounded drugs will begin selling $1 doses of Daraprim, whose price recently was jacked up to $750 per pill by Turing Pharmaceuticals. San Diego-based Imprimis Pharmaceuticals Inc., which …