A figure caught my eye as I passed through one of the supposedly haunted rooms of the supposedly very haunted Merchant’s House Museum in NoHo last week. I gasped, a reflex that was embarrassing even though I was ostensibly alone. “Ah!,” I thought—“Was that a ghost?”

Just days after some rude dummy tried to charge his phone by plugging it into a Broadway set’s prop outlet, a different rude dummy with a phone struck the theatre once again. But this time, Tony-winner and hero Patti LuPone was there to put some necessary fear into the audience.

James Tate, a Pulitzer prize and National Book Award winning poet who had published sixteen full-length collections of poetry, died yesterday at 71 according to Masslive. He was also a longtime English professor at the University of Massachusetts. Want to read a good poem? Here’s one by Tate that you’re sure to love.

Stoop shrimp: When you got some shrimp and you put it on the stoop and it’s hot outside and then the shrimp is cooked. Serve it up: Time for some stoop shrimp! You’re gonna love it. I know you will.

Jeb Bush’s ill-advised comment yesterday that “people need to work longer hours” not only shows the outlandish nature of his promise of 4% economic growth, it will also push even supportive voters towards his opponents—after all, no one wants people to work longer hours more than Scott Walker.

Singer and populist intellectual property icon Taylor Swift earned near-universal praise earlier this year when she was credited with revamping Apple Music’s artist payment system through sheer force of will and chiding tumbler preaching alone. Great, but on the other hand, she’s been ripping off photographers all along.

In the months before his home was raided as part of child pornography investigation, Jared Fogle was being rebranded by Subway as a “family man” to help the sandwich chain compete against newer rivals like Chipotle and Jimmy John’s.

A London Uber customer says that after she canceled a ride over the weekend, the irate driver left her a minute-long angry voicemail message threatening to cut her neck.

The mods who rocked Reddit on its most chaotic day have spoken out in a New York Times op-ed in an attempt to explain why they shut down the site’s “Ask Me Anything” forum in the wake of coordinator Victoria Taylor’s sudden firing.

They said it didn’t exist but Oregon’s got it: a chill airport that just wants you to do you, man. You want to leave your weed at home? That’s cool, dude. You want to take it on the airplane? That’s cool, too. Whatever you’re feeling, man. Whatever you’re feeling.

The Confederate flag will be removed from the the South Carolina statehouse tomorrow morning, according to a spokesman for Governor Nikki Haley.

It’s been a rough ride for Katie Rees, the former Miss Nevada 2007. Donald Trump took away her crown over some Girls Gone Wild-style photos showing her exposing a nipple and “simulating sexual acts” at a Florida nightclub, and she didn’t get to compete in the 2007 Miss USA pageant. Now she’s facing a series of meth-related charges after she was caught allegedly dealing in Vegas.

A secretive world of group sex and lavish gifts between porn stars and wealthy businessmen is unravelling in federal court—and people are getting nervous. One witness, porn star Justin Griggs, told the FBI that revealing the details of his relationship with “very powerful” David Geffen made him “fear for his safety.”

Just after 1 a.m. this morning, the South Carolina House of Representatives voted to permanently remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds. After hours of debate over adding amendments to the bill, which could have delayed the vote, Republican Rep. Jenny Horne delivered an emotional, tearful speech urging her colleagues to pass the bill without any changes.

Yesterday, newbie Democratic presidential candidate and former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley announced a plan to end student debt—and said that he had personally taken out $339,200 in student loans for his two daughters. Uhhh, what?

Early this morning, the South Carolina House of Representatives followed the State Senate’s lead and voted to permanently remove the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds. Once ratified, the bill will be sent to Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, who supports the flag’s removal.

Speaking with NBC News this week, presidential candidate and open-faced quesadilla Donald Trump defended his recent, racist comments about Mexican immigrants, saying “there’s nothing to apologize for” and even claiming, remarkably, that he would win the Latino vote in 2016.

Two New Jersey high school students have been arrested for animal cruelty after allegedly luring a family of geese into the street, running them over and uploading footage of the crime to Snapchat, NBC New York reports.

After Reddit effectively consumed itself this weekend over the firing of beloved AMA coordinator Victoria Taylor, redditors have been clawing at themselves for a chance to hear Taylor’s side of things. And now, at long last, the ex-employee has made her first public statement since the real chaos began.

Police have evacuated the Wisconsin State Capitol building in Madison because of a “credible bomb threat,” WITI reports.