The Police Beat: A private autopsy has fed outrage over the fatal police shooting this week of an unarmed black man in Sacramento, Calif. The autopsy commissioned by the family of 22-year-old Stephon Clark found that he had been shot …

Christmas Day: Pope Francis said during a service last night that Christmas has been “taken hostage” by materialism, and that the season needs more humility. Francis said we live in a time “when the lights of commerce cast the light …

Deferred: Donald Trump, who claims that as Commander-in-Chief he would quickly defeat the Islamic State, received a draft deferment during the Vietnam War because he had bone spurs on his heels, the NY Times reports. Trump also received four college …

Fire Line: A 500-acre wildfire has forced the evacuation of as many as 5,000 people in the Los Angeles suburb of Calabasas west of the city. The fire started when a pickup truck hit a power pole, knocking it down …

World: Pope Francis made a brief symbolic visit to a camp on the Greek island of Lesbos yesterday to draw attention to the Mediterranean refugee crisis. He returned to the Vatican with a dozen Syrian Muslim refugees, including six children. …

Word on High: Pope Francis signaled this morning that he’d like the Catholic Church to ease up, become more welcoming, and less judgmental. The Pope’s 256-page guide to love, sex, and marriage is called “Amoris Laetitia,” Latin for “The Joy …

Permawar: US warplanes struck an Islamic State camp in Libya today, killing about 30 people. The primary target was a man named Noureddine Chouchane, described as a senior operative in terrorist attacks in Tunisia. It’s unknown yet whether he was …

Advice and Dissent: With the brewing fight over replacing the late Justice Antonin Scalia on the Supreme Court, Republicans are demanding that Barack Obama be a placeholder for the last year of his term. Marco Rubio yesterday on NBC said …

Category 4: Central coast states already soaked and flooded by heavy rains are bracing for the possible arrival of Hurricane Joaquin, which has been upgraded to a Category 4 storm with sustained winds up to 130 miles per hour. Virginia, …

Death in Georgia: Despite pleas from the Pope and her lawyers, Georgia last night executed 47-year-old Kelly Gissendaner, the first woman executed in the state in 70 years. Gissendaner was convicted of plotting the murder of her husband in 1997. …