Through the first eight months of the budget year, the deficit has totaled $509.8 billion, according to the Treasury. That’s nearly $400 billion lower than the same period last year…

ALJAZEERA: Whistleblower Edward Snowden has provided proof that Global technology giant Microsoft has been working closely with US intelligence agencies, including the National Security Agency and the FBI, to make sure all of their customers can be spied on, according to the Guardian newspaper…

Court reviews of laws backed by Gov. Corbett and House Republican leaders have become commonplace over the past two-and-a-half years. The truth is these unconstitutional and illegal measures are consuming taxpayer resources to defend.

In the world’s largest assessment of public opinion on the subject, Transparency International found that political parties are considered the most corrupt institutions, followed by the police, the judiciary, parliament and public officials. Religious institutions are seen as the least corrupt.

USA TODAY Editorial: Making ObamaCare work was always going to be hard, which is exactly what you’d expect for a complex new program that affects one-sixth of the U.S. economy. Remember the rocky rollout of the Medicare prescription drug program in 2006?

PITTSBURG POST-GAZETTE: Nearly 115,000 students attending Pennsylvania’s 14 state-owned universities would see their yearly tuition rise by 3 percent effective this fall if the system’s board of governors, meeting today, approves a recommendation from its finance committee.

PITTSBURG TRIBUNE: …Spokesmen for UPMC did not respond to requests for comment. The hospital system, which is Western Pennsylvania’s largest employer, countersued in federal court alleging the city “initiated a campaign to target and damage UPMC.”

ALJAZEERA: …Following the US operation to kill Bin Laden in May 2011, which was avowedly conducted without the Pakistani government or military’s knowledge, the Commission was set up to examine both “how the US was able to execute a hostile military mission which lasted around three hours deep inside Pakistan”…

FINANCIAL TIMES: China’s air pollution has cut life expectancy by an average of 5.5 years in the north of the country and caused higher rates of lung cancer, heart attacks and strokes, according to a groundbreaking study.

The low percentage of respondents who said they turned to newspapers seemed consistent with the issues plaguing the print industry as it faces increasing digital pressures. Television polled well across all adult age groups.

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE: … Nationally, charter school students surpass gains made on standardized tests by students at traditional public schools but, on average, Pennsylvania’s charter students fall behind their public school peers, according to a recent study of charter schools by the Center for Research on Education Outcomes at Stanford University.

NEWSMAX: Lee Harvey Oswald had closer ties to Cuba’s intelligence agency in the months before his fatal shooting

What do former PA Supreme Justice Cynthia Baldwin and Attorney Wendell Courtney have in common? The short answer is that both were legal counsels to Penn State, are frequently mentioned in the scandal involving convicted child molester Jerry Sandusky and – to date – each has been able to dance through the raindrops.