Sayreville Six Got Light Sentences After Most Entered Guilty Pleas

A year after six Sayreville War Memorial High School football players were accused of sexually assaulting and hazing some of their freshman teammates, a judge in New Jersey handed down their sentences on Monday. The judge ordered two years of probation for the four players who pleaded guilty to charges of hazing and child endangerment and one year of probation to the two who were found guilty of committing a delinquent act; all six must do 50 hours of community service. The players, all between the ages of 15 and 17, will not have to register as sex offenders after prosecutors claimed they slammed younger players to the floor, stomped them, grabbed their genitals and digitally penetrated them. A seventh player is still awaiting trial.

Supreme Court Orders Ky. Clerk To Issue Gay Marriage Licenses

Rowan County Clerk Kim Davis will have an important choice to make Tuesday morning (Sept. 1) when she comes to work: abide by Monday's Supreme Court ruling ordering her to issue gay marriage licenses or face potential fines or possible jail time. Davis has run out of options to avoid issuing the licenses, which she has refused to do claiming her Christian beliefs.

Murder Rates In Major Cities Rising

After years of declines, more than 30 U.S. cities have reported sharp increases in violence this year, including Milwaukee, which has logged 104 people killed so far this year, after 86 homicides for all of 2014 (a 76% difference). Similar spikes have taken place in New Orleans, where 120 people had been killed by late August, compared to 98 during the same time last year and St. Louis, which has seen 136 people killed, a 60% increase over the 85 murders by this point last year. Explanations vary from city to city, from gang rivalries over drug turf to the wide availability of guns to less aggressive methods from cops due to increased scrutiny over police use of force.

Quick Take 1: A former Florida high school math teacher has filed suit against Edgewater High School claiming she was fired in 2013 for dating her now-husband, who is black. The teacher, who is white, claims that administrators would mock her for relationships with black men and that the principal and former vice principal once wore blackface and gold chains during a talent show in which they mocked black people. The school district has blamed budget cuts for the teacher's termination.

Quick Take 2: Bill Gates donated $1 million on Monday to Washington state's Initiative 594, which, if it passes on Nov. 4, will require universal background checks for all firearm purchases in the state. Gates joins original Amazon investor Nick Hanauer and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen in cutting big checks for the Initiative, which has huge support in the state.

Daily Quote: "The point is that climate change is no longer some far-off problem," President Obama told an international meeting on Arctic issues Monday night. "It is happening here and is happening now."