Morning Reads

Good morning!

Today is the 145th anniversary of the birth of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi in Porbandar, India. In his honor, today is Gandhi Day in India and the International Day of Nonviolence everywhere else. (Arun Gandhi, Mahatma’s grandson, wrote a Gandhi Day message at the Gandhi Worldwide Education Institute’s website.)

Here are some climate stories …

Remain calm –> Public health officials are using an “abundance of caution” with the Dallas Ebola case. Reuters reports that as many as 80 people may have been exposed to the patient, who has now been identified as Thomas Duncan of Liberia — far more than the 18 people officials had previously announced.

Taking one for the team –> After yet another revelation of apparent incompetence by the Secret Service — in this case, news that an armed security contractor with a criminal record rode an elevator with President Obama — the agency’s director, Julia Pierson, offered her resignation on Wednesday. CNN’s Elizabeth Hartfield, Eric Bradner and Z. Byron Wolf report.

Victory, for now –> HuffPo’s Ryan Reilly reports that a federal appeals court “ordered a lower court to block two new voting restrictions in North Carolina, saying there was ‘no doubt’ the measures would disenfranchise minorities.” North Carolina Republicans promised to appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

Guilty –> Michael Dunn, the man who shot and killed an unarmed black teen at a Florida gas station after complaining that his music was too loud, was found guilty and faces life in prison. An earlier jury had deadlocked on the murder charge but convicted Dunn of three counts of attempted murder in the incident.

Inmates’ families gouged by fees” –> At The Center for Public Integrity, Daniel Wagner reports that big financial institutions are ripping off the families of federal prisoners with outrageous financial transaction fees.

Your tax dollars at work –> Nicole Flatow reports for ThinkProgress that a Minnesota prosecutor is intent on sending a mother to prison for years for giving her son, who “suffers severe pain and spasms from a traumatic brain injury,” marijuana to treat his chronic pain. The state passed a medical marijuana law, but it won’t go into effect until next year.

No journalism exemption –> Andrew March writes at The Atlantic that the law barring Americans from providing “material support” to terrorists is so broad that Vice could potentially be prosecuted for producing its acclaimed documentary on the Islamic State.

Defiant –> Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the White House for criticizing his government’s decision to move ahead with a plan to build 2,600 new housing units in the Occupied Territories. The administration has consistently said that settlement expansion is an obstacle to peace. Via: Ha’aretz.

The kids are not alright –> A new study finds that two years after graduating from college, 74 percent of young adults “are receiving financial support from their families,” 24 percent have moved back home and, among those in the labor market, 23 percent are unemployed or underemployed. Thomas Lindsay has more at The Hill.

A fool such as… us? –> Two Swedish scientists made a wager on which one could sneak the most Bob Dylan lyrics into the academic papers he published over the course of his career. The loser will buy the winner lunch. According to The Guardian, the academics have published papers with titles like, “Nitric Oxide and Inflammation: The Answer is Blowing in the Wind.”

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