Florida Politics reports: A group spotlighting positive college environments for LGBTQ students just dropped two Florida universities from its rankings. Campus Pride excluded the University of Central Florida (UCF) and the University of North Florida (UNF) from its Best of the Best LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges & Universities list. That’s despite both colleges earning high marks in prior years. Instead, the college …

Politico reports: The Republican Party will host its 2028 convention in Houston, party officials decided in a private meeting on Friday. The Republican National Committee’s selection of a 2028 convention site, confirmed exclusively to POLITICO, comes a full year before the GOP holds its 2024 nominating event. It’s an unprecedented early decision that Republicans said helped them lock facilities down …

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports: One hour before the deadline to surrender expired, Illinois pastor Stephen Lee became the last of the 19 defendants accused in the sweeping election racketeering case to surrender to the Fulton County Jail. Lee already has a bond agreement in place at $75,000. He is charged with violating the state’s RICO Act, influencing witnesses, conspiracy to …

The Binghampton Press reports: A Broome County man will spend three months in federal prison for threatening a member of the U.S. Congress last year. Joseph F. Morelli, 51, of Endicott was also sentenced to three years of post-release supervision for making threatening phone calls  to a voicemail in the office of U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Georgia. Morelli pleaded …

Youngstown’s CBS affiliate reports: A pastor from New Castle, Pa. who was convicted in June of charges that he solicited a minor for sex was sentenced Thursday to six months in prison. Judge Anthony D’Apolito handed down the sentence to Jarod Mills, 36, who was convicted by a jury following a trial in June of importuning, a fifth-degree felony. Mills …

NBC News reports: Spirit Airlines has agreed to pay up to $8.25 million to settle a class action lawsuit by passengers who said the low-cost carrier blindsided them with surprise carry-on bag fees on tickets bought through third-party travel services. Lawyers for the passengers disclosed the deal in a motion late Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn and asked a …

Guitar Magazine reports: Eric Clapton has addressed his attempt to donate to Robert F Kennedy Jr.’s presidential campaign. The musician had formerly tried to donate $5,000, but his attempt was invalid as Clapton is not only an English citizen, but his donation was also over the limit of $3,300. As we reported back in July, Clapton describes himself as a …

NBC News reports: Former Justice Department official Jeffrey Clark has surrendered to Georgia authorities after being charged in the racketeering case along with former President Donald Trump and 17 others last week in connection with efforts to overturn the 2020 election. He was booked at the Fulton County Jail early Friday and released on a $100,000 bond. Clark, who served …

Bloomberg Law reports: Google LLC and YouTube LLC won’t be required to immediately restore videos of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questioning the safety of Covid-19 vaccines to their platform because he’s unlikely to succeed on the merits of his free speech claims against the companies, a federal trial court said. Kennedy, who is seeking to be the Democratic Party’s 2024 …

Reuters reports: The Kremlin said that Western suggestions Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin had been killed on its orders were an “absolute lie” while declining to definitively confirm his death, citing the need to wait for test results. Russia’s aviation authority has said that Prigozhin, head of the Wagner mercenary group, was on board a private jet which crashed on …

Posted to Franklin Graham’s Facebook page: Presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has established what he calls the “10 commandments” of his campaign, and they all make a lot of sense. #1 on his list is: “God is real.” That is true. There is one true God who created the universe and everything in it—and His 10 commandments never change. They’re the …

The Daily Beast reports: The former president’s re-election campaign announced in an email that it would give away a “free” premium cotton t-shirt with Trump’s scowly mugshot printed on it for a measly donation of $47. A caption on the shirt reads “NEVER SURRENDER”—which, of course, is legally and literally what Trump was doing when he had that picture taken. …

CNN reports: In all, the former president was in Atlanta for more than an hour and a half. “I did nothing wrong,” Trump told reporters before boarding the plane. Trump described the criminal case against him as “a travesty of justice.” Later Thursday, he told the right-wing network Newsmax that being at Fulton County jail was “a “terrible experience.” “I …

Politico reports: Fox News drew 12.8 million viewers during the first Republican presidential debate, the network announced Thursday. The viewership numbers from Wednesday night reflect an interest in GOP candidates other than the current frontrunner, former President Donald Trump, but do not outpace the first GOP debate in August 2015 during Trump’s first run for the White House. Viewership for …

Mediaite reports: Former President Donald Trump spent the late-night hours following his arrest posting messages of support from fans, including a bonkers QAnon-friendly meme. The meme features a photo of Trump with 20 or so semiautomatic pistols pointed at his face, each emblazoned with labels like “Pedophiles” (a Q reference) and “FBI” and other conspiratorial references. Other messages reposted by …

CBS News reports: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is now forecasting an acceleration in new COVID-19 hospitalizations over the coming month, the agency said this week, replacing a previous projection that admissions would “remain stable or have an uncertain trend.” It comes as health officials are racing to study a new highly mutated COVID variant called BA.2.86, nicknamed …

“Your attorney general, your weaponized Department of Justice under Merrick Garland acts likes this is business as usual. It’s anything but business as usual. “Mark my words: if they succeed with this persecution of Donald Trump, it’s not going to be long before they start targeting other Republicans, future Republican presidential candidates until there’s nothing left of the party.  “Now, …

“When you read the indictment, Fani Willis is complaining about alleged criminal behavior in other jurisdictions — Michigan, Arizona, Pennsylvania. That requires diversity jurisdiction, which means it goes to federal court. And the other, is absolute immunity on a motion to dismiss. You know the president has a duty to enforce the laws. If he is seeking to unravel and …

“Trump is the most egregious example of the politicization of our prosecutorial system on the state and federal level — you know, go after your political opponents. This is happening in colleges and universities, high schools, junior high schools, in the workplace, in the military, where people who see themselves as traditionalists. Like they can’t speak, they probably won’t get …

“I think of those who are conducting this travesty and creating this two-tiered system of justice and I want to ask them, ‘What the heck? Do you want us to be in civil war?’ Because that’s what’s going to happen. We’re not going to keep putting up with this. And Eric, I like that you suggested that we need to …