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Moody's Investors Service downgraded the general obligation bonds of Atlantic City, New Jersey to "junk" status on Wednesday, citing the struggling casino town's declining tax base. The credit rating service cut the city's underlying rating to "Ba1" from "Baa2." It affects $245 million in outstanding debt.

Less than six weeks before Labor Day, hopes for recovery at the North American summer box office have evaporated. The season is expected to finish down 15 to 20 percent compared with 2013, the worst year-over-year decline in three decades, and revenue will struggle to crack $4 billion, which hasn't happened in eight years. As a result, analysts predict that the full year is facing a deficit of 4 to 5 percent.

In a sensational press release issued Tuesday afternoon, House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) claimed that he had evidence that the Internal Revenue Service destroyed a computer belonging to a key figure in the IRS targeting scandal despite being told by experts that its data was recoverable. Camp also insinuated that the original damage to the computer was done intentionally.

Ex-IRS official Lois Lerner’s computer hard drive was “scratched” and the data on it was still recoverable. But the IRS did not try to recover the data from Lerner’s hard drive, despite recommendations from in-house IRS IT experts to outsource the recovery project. The hard drive was then “shredded,” according to a court filing the IRS made to House Ways and Means Committee investigators.

The most jaw-dropping comments from Kanye West's just-released interview with GQ Magazine wasn't that he confirmed giving a 45-minute toast to himself on his wedding day.

The best way on TV to shut up a loudmouth is with another loudmouth. I’ve learned that Tea Party advocate Tammy Bruce – the outspoken nationally syndicated radio show host, author, and Fox News talking head – is being considered for a hosting slot on The View as the so-called "anti-Rosie". What makes this especially interesting is that Bruce reportedly was suggested to the show by Sarah Palin. "I don’t think Sarah Palin is being considered to be a panelist on the show. I think she’s working behind the scenes to help them cast the conservative," an insider tells me....

Over the weekend, New York City, defying those who think such a move is insulting to the poor, approved a move by the developer Extell to build a separate entrance at an Upper West Side condominium for its affordable housing tenants.

GLAAD’s has released its second annual Studio Responsibility Index that maps the quantity, quality and diversity of images of LGBT people in films released by the seven largest motion picture studios during the 2013 calendar year: 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate, Paramount Pictures, Sony Columbia, Universal Pictures, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers. GLAAD found that of the 102 releases from the major studios in 2013, 17 of them included characters identified as lesbian, gay, or bisexual. It found that the majority of these characters were minor roles or cameos, and that many of these were outright defamatory representations in...

U.S. issued trajectory missile that hit MH17 https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BtJlw6OCcAA810y.jpg

CARRICK, Pa. — A deadly home invasion was reported in Carrick early Tuesday morning near the set of a Hollywood movie being filmed in the area. Police said the invasion happened around 2:20 a.m. on Merritt Avenue. Channel 11’s Brandon Hudson reported that the victim opened fire on the two men accused of breaking into his home, killing one and critically injuring the other. Detectives said the men demanded the victim’s belongings, but instead he pulled out a shotgun and opened fire. Investigators said one of the men tried to run away after he was shot, but fell as he...

Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin rejected overtures from True Blood's producers for a cameo role on the conservative-bashing vampire show. Her instincts proved to be correct after Sunday's HBO episode in which Republican women were once again demeaned when one of the lead characters said in horror, "Oh my God, I'm a Republi-c*nt." Palin told Breitbart News after she heard about the misogynistic episode that she simply wondered, "'True Blood' or true gall?" "The brilliant minds of 'True Blood' were brazen enough to ask me to do a cameo on their show, apparently so they could insult a conservative woman...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama told a group of young black, Hispanic, Native American and Asian men on Monday that they need be proud of their backgrounds and draw strength from their cultures, but ignore people who accuse them of “acting white.” Obama shared the advice to the young men as part of his “My Brother’s Keeper” program that is marshalling private and public resources to help more boys from minority groups succeed, a program that he views as an important part of his legacy.

WORLEY, Idaho — A Native American tribe has canceled an Aug. 4 concert by Ted Nugent at its casino. The Coeur d'Alene Tribe on Monday said that the cancellation of the concert at the casino in the northwest Idaho city of Worley was because of the rocker's "racist and hate-filled remarks."

When American astronauts make the next "giant leap" by launching to Mars, they will bring with them a memento from the first moon landing 45 years ago. NASA on Monday will present the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with a mission patch that Apollo 11 crew mates Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins carried to the moon in 1969, collectSPACE has learned. The patch will be held at the spaceport until the first crew is ready to lift off for the Red Planet on a mission NASA plans for the 2030s.

Hillary Rodham Clinton will participate in a live Q&A today on Facebook. ... She said in a Facebook post that she’ll be talking about her new book, “Hard Choices“ and answer questions on her book’s Facebook page beginning at 2:30 p.m. The book delves into her years as secretary of state.

The film begins in formulaic fashion, introducing us slowly to the ensemble cast that is about to flee for their lives for the rest of the movie, while also giving us the backstory on how a government group called “The New Founding Fathers” have instituted “the Purge,” while Internet preachers rail against it as a form of false, secular religion. Then the sirens go off, the population huddles behind closed doors and “commencement” of the purge begins with ticking clock, an excellent suspense element.

~~Come on in and shoot the breeze~~ Gun Talk Radio 7/20/14~~07:00 CST Listen to the podcast Here Or the KIDO 580 stream HereOr the KPRC feed Here

And Jesus said unto them, “I am the bread of life: he that comes to me shall never hunger; and he that believes on me shall never thirst.” John 6:35

Legendary actor James Garner -- star of "The Rockford Files" and "The Notebook" -- has died ... TMZ has learned. Law enforcement sources tell us an ambulance was dispatched to the actor's home in Los Angeles around 8PM Saturday evening ... and he was found dead when they arrived on scene.

ATLANTA, July 18 (UPI)--Tim McGraw "swatted" a fan at his July 13 concert in Atlanta. A video of the incident surfaced this week that appears to capture the 47-year-old singer smacking a woman in the face. The footage shows McGraw as he performs his song "Truck Yeah" amid a sea of fans and touches hands with people in the audience. He gives the fan in question a smack after she attempts to get his attention and grabs onto his jeans when she is rebuffed.