NEW YORK TIMES: ….[ Senator Elizabeth Warren ], who entered Congress with a liberal halo of anti-Wall Street credibility, took her most high-profile and tenacious Senate stand last week over a single provision in a $1.1 trillion spending bill, one that would roll back portions of the 2010 Dodd-Frank Act, the financial industry regulatory law.

MINNESOTA STAR TRIBUNE: …In its current form, the $1.1 trillion spending bill includes a section that bans the Department of Justice from using federal funds to intervene in states with medical marijuana laws.

“I have come to the conclusion that a big part of the problem is ignorance and what I call the ‘Imaginary Negro Syndrome.’ Many whites have no concept or understanding of just what it means to be black in America and even greater ignorance of what it is to be a black male, whether a child or a man.”

That clause would repeal part of the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform package dealing with complex derivatives. Warren denounced the provision in a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday, saying it “was slipped in at the last minute to benefit Wall Street.”

The hospitals that close may be converted to outpatient service centers. They may serve as places for physician offices or surgical centers. More importantly, the health care personnel will continue to be employed.

BUDAPEST BEACON: “This is not Christianity. This is barbaric pagan behavior. It is so disgraceful to God, and I’m not even being extreme with my words. It’s so wrong that it fills me with pain and shame and I refuse to be quiet about it. This is not Christ-like.”

“In April 2013, Community First Fund was awarded a $15 million allocation of New Markets Tax Credits (NMTC). These allocations from the U.S. Department of the Treasury are intended for use in low-income communities to stimulate growth and create and retain jobs.

Moreover, [Budget Director Charles] Zogby lauded the governor’s compliance with a no-tax pledge made long ago to a Washington lobbyist while ignoring the fact that the administration’s failure to properly fund public education caused 75 percent of the state’s 500 local school districts to significantly raise local property taxes…

So far, [former Congressman Joe] Sestak is the only potential challenger to show real interest – cheering those who praise his fight, but worrying some Democrats who chafe at the hard-charging ex-admiral, and who would prefer an alternative but have found none…

Full legalization is probably farther off in the distance. No state has approved recreational legalization except via a ballot measure, and Pennsylvania doesn’t have a mechanism to easily put those types of issues on the ballot.

More recently, Jackie gave a second, different name of her attacker to different friends who gave it to the Post. When the Post gave that name to the three friends mentioned in theRolling Stone article, they said they had never heard it.

POLITICO: … [Jonathan] Gruber, an economist and health care adviser, apologized for his infamous “stupid voters” riff about Obamacare, got scolded by one committee member after another, said he wasn’t really the “architect” of Obamacare and even came away facing a subpoena threat…

Kane is hiring Blake Rutherford as chief of staff at $141,301. A former chief of staff for an Arkansas attorney general, Rutherford has private-sector public relations experience. He holds a law degree from the University of Arkansas Law School…