From time to time, the American public gets a glaring reminder that the elite play by their own set of rules. A county prosecutor in New Jersey, James McClain, is offering up a prime example: After going easy on NFL player Ray Rice for violently attacking his girlfriend, he's throwing the book at a single mother of two for having the wrong paperwork on her gun.

The mother, Shaneen Allen, spent 40 days in jail and faces a minimum three-and-a-half year prison sentence. The 28-year-old was arrested last October for not knowing that her legal gun permit in Pennsylvania is not recognized in New Jersey. Allen was pulled over for a traffic stop and could have never mentioned the gun. But Allen was forthright in telling the officer about her weapon. Allen figured she had nothing to hide. She had no criminal record and only purchased the gun to protect her family after being robbed twice in the past.

It seems rational to conclude that her honesty would lead to a quick resolution of the matter and no long-term damage to Allen and her children's lives. Instead, she was arrested and charged with a felony.

U.S. consumers have made a lot of progress in paring down the extreme debt loads that helped make the 2008 financial crisis such an epochal disaster. Fresh data from the Federal Reserve, though, offer an important caveat: Millions of the poorest families are still very deep in the hole -- and might be getting deeper.

The triennial Survey of Consumer Finances, released by the Fed last week, confirms an overall improvement in the state of U.S. household finances. The average debt burden for all families stood at about 105 percent of pretax income in 2013, down from about 125 percent in 2010 and the lowest level since the 2001 survey.

Dear President Putin and Russian People,

Please accept our apologies for the behavior of our Governments and Media. Western Nations, led by the United States, seem determined to start a war with Russia. A sane person would recognize the terrible consequences of such a war and would do everything in their power to avoid it. In fact it appears that this is exactly what you are doing. In the face of an endless stream of lies and provocations you have managed to keep Russia from being drawn into a nuclear war.^{1, 2}

Events surrounding the war in Ukraine are twisted to represent you as an aggressor when the facts clearly show otherwise. Neo-Nazi gangs commit atrocities against the citizens of Novorussia on a daily basis and they receive political and financial support from Western governments. The Ukrainian army has attacked Russian checkpoints and towns and regularly bombs refugees attempting to flee the country. Russia was blamed for the destruction of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17, even though the evidence suggests that the flight was shot down by the Ukrainian army. You offer humanitarian aid to the people of Luhansk and you are accused of smuggling weapons into Ukraine.³

The recent news of the opening of an independent bookstore on Manhattan's Upper West Side was greeted with surprise and delight, since a neighborhood once flush with such stores had become a retail book desert. The opening coincides with the relocation of the Bank Street Bookstore near Columbia University, leading the New York Times to declare, "Print is not dead yet - at least not on the Upper West Side."

Two stores don't constitute a trend, but they do point to a quiet revival of independent bookselling in the United States. They also underscore the shifting sands of physical bookselling, where the biggest losers are not - as was once assumed - the independent booksellers, but rather the large book chains.

US regulators have approved a weight-loss drug called Contrave, the third type of such prescription medication introduced in over 10 years, despite carrying some possible heavy side-effects of its own.

Contrave, which won its official stamp of approval this week from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), is being trumpeted as the latest wonder treatment in America's seemingly endless quest to shed weight.

However, the drug is not without possible health risks.

Produced by Orexigen Therapeutic Inc, the weight loss medication is a cocktail of two drugs, naltrexone, which is used in the treatment of alcohol and narcotic addiction, and bupropion, an antidepressant, also prescribed to people who want to quit smoking.

The FDA said the drug is approved for treatment of individuals who are considered to be clinically obese.

However, because the pill contains an antidepressant, the FDA said Contrave would carry a warning about the "risk of suicidal thoughts" when taking the medication. Experts point to the potentially hazardous drug combinations for users who may be taking other pharmaceutical drugs in addition to the new pill.

Contrave, Newest Weight Loss Option: FAQ http://t.co/h4b9ld2PAp
- WebMD (@WebMD) September 11, 2014

"Physicians prescribing these brain medications have to review patients other medications because they're frequently on antidepressants and there's an interaction," Dr. Ronald Tamler of Mount Sinai Hospital's diabetes center told AP.

Detroit police say a prayer vigil on the city's west side turned into a deadly family feud with several people shot, a car wreck and multiple suspects under arrest.

"It appears we have eight people shot; two in custody, fleeing the scene; five in custody at the hospital that, instead of going to show support, decided to act stupid - we had to lock them up; and we have three weapons we've recovered," Detroit Assistance Police Chief Steve Dolunt told WWJ's Mike Campbell.

The situation unfolded just before 2 a.m. Friday after a prayer vigil near Patton and Kendall streets, in a neighborhood near Outer Drive and I-96.

As the vigil was wrapping up, a vehicle drove by and a gunman opened fire on the group of people standing outside. At least eight people were struck by gunfire; one man was killed.

Maurice Westley lives behind the house where the shooting took place.

"There was a short intermission and then I heard a different type of gun going off. People were screaming and yelling and banging on doors. The shots went off, back and forth for like five minutes, or even longer," he said. "It's a mess but I'm not surprised at all, not in this neighborhood."

When officers arrived on the scene, a vehicle was speeding away from the home. Police pursued the vehicle for about two miles until it crashed into a fire hydrant and front porch of a home at Burt Road and West Chicago Avenue, near Rouge Park.

Police say a woman in the vehicle was ejected and declared dead at the scene. Another passenger who was in the back seat of the car is hospitalized in critical condition. Two other passengers were arrested.

Two Pennsylvania State Police troopers shot late Friday night, one fatally, were ambushed just outside the police barracks in Blooming Grove, Pennsylvania, Commissioner Frank Noonan told reporters.

Investigators were interviewing a "person of interest" Saturday morning, but no arrests had been made, state police spokeswoman Trooper Connie Devens said.

Earlier, Noonan said police had no description of the shooters or any information about the motive. But Noonan said "this attack seems to be directed particularly at the Pennsylvania State Police."

The shooting happened at 10:50 p.m. Friday night.

One trooper died in the shooting. Another was wounded, had surgery and is in stable condition, Noonan said.

A Northern California man has been arrested after his ex-girlfriend said he cooked her dog and fed it to her.

Ryan Watenpaugh, 34, of Palo Cedro was arrested on Thursday on charges of stalking and animal cruelty.

He remains jailed on Friday.

Watenpaugh's ex told police he had repeatedly struck her while they were dating and that after one assault, she left her Redding apartment and returned to find her Pomeranian, 'Bear,' missing.

USA Today reports that the woman said she suffers from bruises and minor cuts after the assaults and she claims that she was twice held against her will while she was trying to escape him.

Police say the couple briefly reconciled last week and Watenpaugh cooked the woman a meal and she ate it thinking it was like any other meal.

But she told police he later texted her and asked how her dog had tasted.

On Tuesday at around 1 a.m. the woman heard a truck pull up to her residence and she saw Watenpaugh walk to her house and place a mysterious object on her doorstep.

He also allegedly texted the woman about what terrible things he planned to do with the dog's remains and said that he would return its paws to her

When she went outside, she saw two of the dog's paws outside her door.

Two US Navy F/A-18 Hornets have crashed in the western Pacific Ocean, the US Navy has confirmed. One pilot has been rescued, while the second is still missing.

"Two F/A-18 Hornets from Carrier Air Wing 17 embarked on the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70) crashed at 5:40 p.m. local time, today, while operating at sea in the western Pacific Ocean," said a statement from the US Navy.

Transcript of interview with three members of Unit 8200 in which they explain why they refuse to work in Palestinian territories

Three signatories of the Israeli military intelligence refusenik letter agreed to be interviewed by the Guardian to discuss what motivated their concerns. They are all members of Unit 8200 - known in Hebrew as Yehida Shmoneh-Matayim - Israel's largest signals intelligence gathering unit, active both abroad and in the Palestinian territories.

All three are now on the active reserve list and have said they will not do reserve service relating to the occupied Palestinian territories. Of the three, "A", aged 32, and Nadav, 26, are sergeants, while "D", 29, is a captain.

By agreement with the letter's signatories, material relating to specific claims regarding the unit was provided in statements that they chose to disclose to the Israeli military censor. In face-to-face interviews they agreed to discuss what motivated them to sign the letter, declining to discuss specifics.

Below is a transcript of the Guardian's interview conducted earlier this week in collaboration with several other media outlets. It has been lightly edited for repetition, brevity and sense. Two minor amendments were made at the request of the soldiers to clarify meaning.

How did you organise the letter?

D: For a couple of months friends [have been] joining and [it's been] growing slowly ... most of them are still active. We've been thinking about it for maybe a year.

It was a difficult dilemma. We were worried that this action would be seen only as a response to the war in Gaza and it is important to us to make it clear this is about the 'normal' situation [of the occupation].

A: We didn't want it to be interpreted only in this context. We decided before the recent war to do this. For me there wasn't any particular trigger. It was a long process of realising ...

When people talk about the role that intelligence services play in non-democratic regimes usually their hair stands on their back a bit and they shudder.

And that's not the way I thought about the military service that I did [at first]. It was a gradual realisation that this was me [as well]. That I was playing that role. That made me see in a different light what I've done and take this action.

I still feel very committed to how I was raised, and that's what makes it so difficult. I still feel part of [Israeli] society.

N: I think because we are part of [Israeli] society is the reason [that] we are doing it. It is not an act against everything that is done ...

A: We feel it as an act of taking responsibility for the things we take part in. But we also see it as part of a deep concern for the society we live in. We're not trying to break away from it or anything like that.