SOME NEWS: * The big picture: how the spread of income inequality is stifling economic growth. * A case study in incompetent lawyers leading their client to death row. * Gridlock embodied: twenty lawmakers who just say no. * FiveThirtyEight crunches the numbers on the Politifact grades for the candidates. * 'An icy political vision ' of America. * Good read: Penn Jillette on separating church and state . * "The Nobel prize for chemistry has gone to a single researcher for his discovery of the structure of quasicrystals ." * An 'urban lab' dedicated to solving modern problems.