The outbreak has been an ongoing one dating back to March of this year, resulting from links to Townsend Farms Antioxidant Blends product line, sold by the Fairview, Ore., fruit processing firm. This line of products is sold at Costco. NBC reports that Townsend Farms is cooperating with the Centers for Disease Control and the Food and Drug Administration while they conduct a thorough inspection and analysis of its processing facilities.

All infections tied to the outbreak are confirmed in people who bought the frozen berry and pomegranate mix in question at Costco. The states with infections reported to date include Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Washington. And while the product was available in other states, no cases have been reported in Alaska, Idaho, Montana or Oregon.

A slew of food safety lawyers and lay citizens have filed lawsuits against Costco and Townsend Farms directly for their negligent actions. Although too late to prevent the damage done, Townsend Farms officially recalled lots of the product on June 3.

CNN reports Sean Joyce, the deputy director of the FBI, also spoke in previously unheard detail of a specific case in which PRISM allowed the FBI to obtain vital information prior to a planned New York City subway bombing.

Joyce testified PRISM intercepted an email with a U.S. resident that discussed optimal conditions and ideal ingredients for bombs. Federal law enforcement was able to track and follow the suspect from Denver to New York City where the FBI — after obtaining search warrants — found multiple bomb-making materials  in the suspect’s apartment.

A recent CNN poll shows the majority of Americans favor the prosecution of PRISM whistleblower, Edward Snowden, but remain split on the approval of such intense data surveillance.

While President Obama always had his fair share of opponents, a recent CNN/ORC International poll shows the President’s approval rating tanked eight points in just 30 days — now down to just 45 percent of the public who believe President Obama is trustworthy and honest. CNN reports this latest approval rating marks the lowest approval rating for the President throughout his entire two terms.

Just as summer loomed around the corner, President Barack Obama enjoyed a respectable 53 percent approval rating. Yet as continual news broke of major government scandals — seemingly each one worse than the previous — President Obama’s core following (those under 30 years old and minority groups) dramatically shifted their opinions.

CNN reports both President Obama’s professional handling of the scandals — especially in regards to PRISM — and his personal appeal are all in significant downward trend.

The Chicago Sun-Times reports that city police are currently investigating the situation and the details surrounding the tragic incidents. In this tragic turn of events, there was not just one shooting but, terribly unfortunately, multiple ones. The first homicide of the weekend took place late Friday evening on the West Side of Chicago. This left 46 people injured and many others dead. The youngest reported victim was 15-year-old Michael Westley, who died Sunday.

To add insult to injury, Windy City police officials confirmed that further shootings took place during the same weekend last year.  It remains to be seen whether this repeated event is coincidence or not.

Terrified workers at neighboring offices fled the Cherokee Place Business Incubator around 1:40 p.m. EST. The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports law enforcement recovered a semi-automatic weapon from the crime scene.

Four people died, including the shooter. Police say all of the victims were somehow related to A K Home Health Care, and there are initial reports that Dirir and Muse could also be connected through the pair’s marriages to each other’s family members. Dirir killed a total of three people and then took his own life.

It’s not clear what the argument was over but some friends of Dirrir say the 59-year-old, well-educated Somalian man was distressed over a recent divorce and financial difficulties. A former co-worker told the St.Louis Post-Dispatch, “He told me for two or three year, ‘I’m going to kill people and then myself,’ but nobody took him seriously.”

Charles Kirkwood, who helped Dirir start A K Home Health Care, also talked to the paper. “Ahmed was very bright, he had a master’s degree. He was brilliant. He must have just snapped,” Kirkwood explained. “I’m just kind of sad.”

Facebook’s goal with their new adoption of the hashtag is to make it easier for consumers to find content already on the social network. The use of the functional and pop-culture-loved hashtag is the first step in doing just that. Since a large portion of users already employ hashtags in their posts (despite the lack of functionality to date), Facebook’s reported mindset is why not make them work? Smart thinking, Mr. Zuckerberg and company.  The monstrous social network will be capitalizing on existing consumer behavior rather than implementing a forced change.

And what better way to be a savvy marketer, right? Right.

Facebook hashtags will be both clickable and searchable, allowing users to interact with trends they see going on in their feeds and also proactively look for a topic of interest.

Twitter user Chris Messina created the adored original hashtag in 2007. From his strategic use of a symbolic keyboard character, “Twitter adopted the system of organizing tweets around a certain subject into its API and its broader ecosystem.” Since its inception nearly six years ago, the hashtag has been adopted by a slew of other social platforms, including Flickr, Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook-owned Instagram.

Finally, Facebook proper will join that list. And that is #goodnews.

The late Leffler, aptly nicknamed “LefTurn”, was a two-time winner of NASCAR. New Jersey State Police pronounced him dead last night around 9 p.m. EST after a fateful heat/sprint car race collision.  The racer had to be extracted from the car after striking a wall on the track around 8:30 p.m.”  Leffler had been in second place in the first heat race, when his car “flipped several times on the front straightaway,” reports witness Chris Taitt.

NASCAR put out a statement shortly thereafter saying, “NASCAR extends its thoughts, prayers and deepest sympathies to the family of Jason Leffler who passed away earlier this evening, For more than a decade, Jason was a fierce competitor in our sport and he will be missed.” Immediately after the accident, the racetrack where the incident occurred, Bridgeport Speedway suspended racing for the remainder of the evening.

In addition to being missed by NASCAR competitors and fans alike, Leffler will also be missed by his surviving 5-year-old son, Charlie Dean.

The investigation profiled numerous American charities, and CNN discussed five of the worst offenders: U.S. based charities who — despite their glitzy marketing campaigns and brand recognition — continually chose to either pocket donations and scatter a few dollars back to their communities or operate under confusingly wasteful practices.

The top 5 worst charities in America:

1. Kids Wish Network
Donations: $110 million over 10 years
Return: Less than 3 cents per dollar

2. Cancer Fund of America
Donations: $98 million over 10 years
Return: Less than $1 million over 10 years

3. Children’s Wish Foundation International
Return: $3 million in donate goods
Spent: $6 million to host fundraisers for goods

4. American Breast Cancer Foundation
Return: $100,000 for screening facilities for low-income women
Spent: Charity uses founder’s telemarketing company to solicit donations to the tune of $18 million a year in fees

5. Firefighters Charitable Foundation
Donations: $64 million from 2002 to 2011
Spent: Less than 10 cents per dollar

CNN reports that America’s worst charities generally give less than 4 percent of all donations in aid to their communities. Worst of all, some organizations failed to return any money at all to their so-called cause.

And in case your still optimistic? The year-long report also found that U.S. corporations actually set-up charities as convenient non-profits to raise money for “startup costs, lock them into exclusive contracts at exorbitant rates, and even drive the charities into debt.”

Before you donate any money to a charitable organization, it’s best to check out independent reviews and audits of the non-profit like through a company like Charity Navigator.

The full report on America’s worst charities is currently available on the Tampa Bay Times website.

Castro’s attorney, Craig Weintraub, spoke to the press outside the courthouse after the arraignment hearing. CNN reports Weintraub explained that while several of the charges are “indisputable,” he believes Ariel Castro should not face the death penalty for the deaths of two victims’ unborn children. Castro’s attorney went on to say that he was hopeful for a “resolution” to avoid a trial.

If prosecutors do not strike a deal with Castro, the trial is likely to be highly publicized and extremely difficult given the length of time, level of charges, and number of victims involved in the Cleveland, Ohio, case.

E-cigarette supporters posit that the product in tow, an electronic inhaler containing nicotine, is healthier, less expensive and less intrusive to nonsmokers than the standard nicotine-ridden cigarette. Their advocated benefit lies in allowing the consumer to mimic the act of smoking a “real” cigarette while inhaling less nicotine in a less intrusive fashion. According to the CDC, the Centers for Disease Control, in excess of 45 million Americans currently smoke traditional cigarettes, with roughly half of that number trying to quit each year.  So e-cigarettes are the perfect solution, right? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Earlier this year, the FDA reported that e-cigarettes in fact do not necessarily prompt the act of quitting. Along with the FDA, the WHO also conveyed its skepticism in e-cigarettes’ projected strength in decreasing the number of smokers. So while e-cigs are on the surface a “healthy alternative,” that is in fact nothing more than pop-culture-created gospel. They made their entry into society and came across as an easy fix to a lofty issue. Sometimes, when it seems too good to be true, it is.

In addition to the WHO and FDA, the tobacco industry is naturally anything but thrilled with the entry of the e-cig. Morgan Stanley analysts’ analysis found that sales of traditional tobacco products dropped 4.5 percent from original full-year 2013 projections. That is a hard figure to overlook.

Despite their controversy today, e-cigarettes are likely not going anywhere any time soon. The parent company of Philip Morris and the makers of Marlboro, two main tobacco manufacturers, are slated to launch their own e-cigarette lines this summer. What will become of the smoky world of tobacco remains to be seen.