1. Really?!: North Carolina plans to defy the federal government by not repealing its anti-LGBT law.
On Thursday, House Speaker Tim Moore said legislators would not meet the federal government’s deadline. "We don’t ever want to lose any money, but we’re not going to get bullied by the Obama Administration to take action prior to Monday’s date. That’s not how this works," he said. (Los Angeles Times)2. World News: Turkey's Prime Minister resigned after a political showdown with the country's president.
After losing a political struggle for control of Turkey’s Justice and Development Party, Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said on Thursday that he would leave office this month, setting the stage for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to appoint a loyalist to spearhead his push to consolidate power in the presidential palace. (Wall Street Journal)
3. Puff Puff: California raised the smoking age to 21, while the FDA announced new regulations for e-cigarettes.
Under the law, persons under the age of 21 are prohibited from purchasing tobacco — with the exception of active military personnel. Service members will be able to buy cigarettes at 18 with a military identification card. (Read More)
4. Don't Panic, But...: Trader Joe's listeria recall just extended to its prepared-foods section.
It recalled 33,610 pounds of its Broccoli Slaw & Kale Salad with White Chicken Meat with use-by dates from May 2 to May 7 due to possible contamination of the salad's sunflower seeds. The products in question were shipped to Arizona, California, Nevada, and Utah. (Read More)
5. Cha-Ching: Taylor Swift leads Billboard 's list of top money-making musicians of 2015.
Swift's $61.7 million in touring revenue accounted for the lion's share of her 2015 haul, but Ryan Adams ' stark reinterpretation of her 1989 album also helped make her the top earner of publishing royalties. (Read More)
6. ICYMI: Lifetime just released a trailer for its new Center Stage sequel — and it looks epic.
Lifetime has released a trailer for Center Stage: On Pointe, a follow-up to the 2000 teen ballet flick Center Stage. The footage finds our heroine, Bella (Nicole Muñoz), being told by an older man that she's "not the ballet type." We've heard that line before. (Read More)
7. Damn, Gina: Actress Gina Rodriguez just revealed her awesome new haircut.
Gina Rodriguez debuted a brand-new look on Instagram yesterday. The actress shared her badass new haircut with the world alongside the caption "Annihilation." No, the Jane the Virgin actress is not just talking about the annihilation of her long hair. (Read More)
8. Tech Talk: A Russian hacker stole passwords from 272 million email accounts.
Your email could be compromised. Cybersecurity experts say a massive cache of user data, including usernames and passwords, has been put up for sale online. The information was stolen from some 272.3 million accounts, the vast majority of which are Russian Mail.ru users, but also include Google, Yahoo, Hotmail, and Microsoft. (Read More)
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