Exit: Attorney General Eric Holder announced yesterday he is resigning and leaving the Justice Department as soon as his replacement is announced. It was not a surprise. Holder had previously said he planned to leave by the end of the year, but that might not necessarily happen. Expect opposition by House Republicans to just about any nominee.

The first black attorney general, Holder is one of the longest serving, having taken office in February 2009. Holder’s tenure has been marked by controversies over race, and the recent blow up over the shooting of a black teenager in Ferguson, Mo. But he’s taken on some tough issues. He refused to defend the law that defined marriage as between one man and one woman; he sued North Carolina and Texas over voting laws that limited the power ofminorities and the elderly; he conducted 20 investigations of abuses by local police departments.

Nation: Investigators are still looking for a missing University of Virginia student even though they already have arrested and charged a man with her abduction. Eighteen-year-old Hannah Graham went missing in the early hours of Sept. 13. Police arrested Jesse Matthew, 32, on a Texas Gulf beach. He is believed to be the last person seen with Matthew before she disappeared.

> A South Carolina police officer who shot and wounded a motorist after asking for his license has been fired and charged with assault. In the Sept. 4^th incident the man ducked back into his car to get his license and was shot.

Drive: The price of gasoline is expected to drop below $3 a gallon this fall in about 30 states, according to gas price analysts. Global oil prices are falling.

War: The Pentagon says the attacks on ISIS in Syria and Iraq cost $7-10 million dollars a day and the effort could go on for years. They’ve fired at least 47 Tomahawk cruise missiles so far, at a cost of $1.4 million each. The US is also blowing up American-made equipment that was given to the Iraqi military and captured by ISIS. An interesting note: The Pentagon has yet to give one of its propaganda names to the operation… like Operation Iraqi Freedom, for example. That means they don’t want to give the public and the press a tail to pin on the donkey.

World: The Chinese government admits that 50 people died Sunday in Xinjiang in what was described as a “serious terrorist attack.” Xinjiang is home to the Uighur Muslim minority.

Anti Social: The President of Norwich University in Vermont has blocked access to the social media site Yik Yak because he says it has been used for personal attacks on some of his students. Yik Yak allows people to post gossip and nasty comments anonymously. Students at Colgate University in Western New York say racist comments on Yik Yak were part of their motivation to take over the administration building this week. There’s some racially marginal stuff in there, but most of the Colgate Yik Yak postings are about getting drunk and having sex.

No. 2: Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter made the game-winning hit over Baltimore last night and took his final bow in pinstripes at Yankee Stadium after 20 years with the team. When the game was over he took one last walk to the shortstop position and looked at the stadium. Jeter’s #2 will be the last of the single-digit Yankee numbers to be retired along with the likes of Babe Ruth (3), Lou Gehrig (4), Joe DiMaggio (5) and Mickey Mantle (7).

Rogue’s Island: Former Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, 73, who’s served six terms as mayor and been removed twice for felony convictions, as well as served time in prison, is once again in the lead to become mayor. Cianci pleaded guilty once to beating up his wife’s boyfriend, and was convicted of leading a corrupt organization, although prosecutors couldn’t pin him with any individual acts. One Rhode Island politician famously said,  “They found him guilty of nothing but responsible for everything.” Cianci also sells his own label spaghetti sauce.

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