Retail sales fell in August, during what is traditionally back-to-school shopping season, as shoppers continued to rein in their spending. It was the first drop since March. U.S. retail sales fell 0.3% last month compared with July, the Commerce Department reported Thursday. July sales, however, were revised up slightly to 0.1% growth from an estimate of no growth. A drop in auto sales was expected to drag down overall August retail sales.

The bodies of a man and woman were found Wednesday in the Orange home of former NASCAR driver Robby Gordon. Robert Gordon, 68, and Sharon Gordon, 57, were discovered at 5 p.m. in the 1400 block of North Kennymead Street, according to the Orange County Sheriff's-Coroner Department. Property records show Robby Gordon has owned the home since 1989. Few details about the couple's death have been released, but Lt. Fred Lopez told KTLA-TV that family members asked a neighbor on Wednesday to check on the couple's welfare. The neighbor entered the home and discovered the two were dead.

Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka promised during the Republican National Convention that her father would offer more help to working families, and this week the elder Trump laid out more of the specifics: six weeks of paid maternity leave for new mothers and a new approach to tax breaks for child-care expenses. Perhaps the best that can be said is that it's refreshing to see a Republican presidential candidate advocate for federal paid family leave policies and financial assistance to help working parents afford the tremendous costs of raising children. Like so much of what Trump has said during the campaign, the proposal falls short on details, including how to pay for these new benefits, and it's woefully out of touch with the needs of many families. Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's plan is similarly lacking in key details, but at least her plan is more attuned to the challenges faced by the growing proportion of families with no stay-at-home parents. And yet, the nation is probably better off with Trump offering a flawed, half-baked plan, rather than no plan, because it suggests a bipartisan consensus that maternity leave and child care are critical national issues that the federal government can do much more to address.

It's an adage that one should not speak ill of the dead. But when conservative activist Phyllis Schlafly died last week, I was among the many liberal writers who didn't hesitate to call her a hatemonger. Schlafly, who built her 40-year career on stoking intolerance, was a vocal supporter of segregation and discrimination in housing, voting, and the workplace. She pushed to make anti-gay activism a core feature of the conservative movement. Even as the national consensus evolved toward greater rights for many Americans who had once been marginalized, Schlafly remained staunchly opposed to progress.

The California Constitution bars state and local governments from issuing tax-supported bonds unless they obtain voters' approval in advance. It sets a particularly high bar for local measures, requiring a two-thirds majority (although state voters in 2000 lowered that threshold to 55% for school bonds). Notably, this requirement does not apply to bonds designed to be repaid by user fees, lease payments or other forms of non-tax revenue. Governments have used these "revenue bonds" to pay for a host of infrastructure improvements, from new parking structures to sewer systems, hospitals, toll roads and bridges. And they have done so without seeking voter approval, even for projects costing more than 1 billion.

Immigration officials have deported Jose Vega-Zuniga four times, but he's always returned, and usually landed behind bars. But a recent DUI arrest culminated in a federal conviction this summer that carried up to 20 years in prison. So, prosecutors allege, he left of his own accord. Days after a federal judge issued a warrant for his arrest, Vega-Zuniga, 38, crossed the border near San Diego, sitting in the front passenger seat as his wife drove her pickup into Mexico, prosecutors said. On Wednesday, nearly a month after the brazen escape, federal authorities arrested his wife, Elba Soto, at her Moreno Valley home, according to the U.S. attorney's office in Los Angeles.

It sounds laughable now, but remember back when we thought a black president portended a "post-racial society"? When Barack Obama was elected in 2008, you didn't have to put that phrase in quotes. It seemed like an entirely plausible concept. Now that Hillary Clinton stands to make history as the first woman president, no one is contemplating a post-gender society or even a post-sexist society. There are a bunch of reasons for this, not least the fact that liberal-leaning, elite media are getting so much mileage from clickbait stories about identity politics that a post-anything society (at least anything having to do with race, gender or some other trait that might render you less advantaged than someone else) would be bad for business.

To the editor: Regardless of the vaccine debate, making sweeping medical conclusions without examining a patient is both unethical and negligent. I think Dr. Bob Sears has let his ideology trump medical practices. To the editor: I think there are two things to keep in mind when choosing a doctor for your child. First, choose one that relies on competent, vetted research to best help your child. Anyone spouting "theories" that have not been supported by current research, or in this case, have been refuted by research, puts a child at risk.

A deep growl came from the other side of Shaniqua Roland's front door. She was pregnant at the time and headed to a doctor's appointment, but she knew she couldn't leave the house. For half an hour, as she tried to shoo them away, a pack of pit bulls snarled and snapped at her metal door. She thought of her sister, who'd recently lost a chunk of her calf in a dog attack. She'd see her doctor another day.

A former Philippine militiaman testified before a Senate panel on Thursday that President Rodrigo Duterte, when he was mayor of a southern city, ordered him and other members of a liquidation squad to kill criminals and political opponents in gangland-style assaults that left about 1,000 dead. Edgar Matobato, 57, told the nationally televised Senate committee hearing that he heard Duterte order some of the killings and acknowledged that he himself carried out about 50 of the abductions and deadly assaults in Davao, including one in which they fed a man to a crocodile in 2007. The Senate committee inquiry was being led by Sen. Leila de Lima, a staunch critic of Duterte's antidrug campaign that is believed to have killed more than 3,000 suspected drug users and dealers since he assumed the presidency in June. Duterte has accused De Lima of involvement in illegal drugs, alleging that she used to have a driver who took money from detained drug lords. She has denied the allegations.