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Anchored by Jake Tapper, The Lead airs at 4 p.m. ET on CNN.
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national lead
CDC director: Anthrax exposure 'never should have happened'
(CNN) - Anthrax. Smallpox. A potentially deadly strain of the flu virus. The American public trusts the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to handle dangerous biological materials, but recent incidents have put a damper on the agency's reputation, members of Congress said Wednesday.
"What happened was completely unacceptable," CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden said in his testimony before the Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee for Oversight and Investigations.
"It never should have happened."
politics lead
Clinton tells 'Daily Show' she wants office with 'fewer corners,' talks Mideast peace
Washington (CNN) - When Jon Stewart gave Hillary Clinton a career aptitude test on the 'Daily Show' Tuesday night, her answers alluded to a presidential bid - and she touched on the disintegration of a Middle East cease-fire she negotiated two years ago.
The former Secretary of State, Senator, First Lady and Cabinet member told the Comedy Central host that she wants a home office.
"Do you have a favorite shape for that home office? Would you like it to have corners?" he asked her.
"Fewer corners," said Clinton.
pop lead
Weird Al's best song ever?
(CNN) - Alfred Matthew Yankovic has come a long way from the teen chopping up '70s disco hits for the Dr. Demento radio comedy hour.
Over the years, he's taught us everything from where to buy quilts at a discount price to what teen spirit smells like.
But now, "Weird Al" is no longer just doing funny spoofs of Madonna and Michael Jackson; he's educating the Internet on how to properly use the Oxford comma.
While he's sold more than 12 million albums, earned three Grammys and racked up four gold records, Yankovic may be at his artistic peak with the sublime new single, "Word Crimes." Yankovic has turned Robin Thicke's not so humble brag about his dangling participle into something that could follow in the grand tradition of "Schoolhouse Rock" and, he says, "ostensibly be part of a school curriculum."
world lead
Hamas won't participate in Egypt peace talks; Israel sets airstrikes pause
Gaza City (CNN) - Diplomatic efforts to end the conflict in Gaza sputtered Wednesday amid Hamas' rejection of Egyptian efforts to broker a deal and rising anger over civilian deaths - including those of four children killed while playing on the beach.
The boys, ages 9 to 11, died Wednesday when a shell from an Israeli gunship exploded near them at the Al-Shati refugee camp in northern Gaza, according to Palestinian officials.
An Israeli official said the shelling was another example of Hamas using civilians as human shields - intimating that the boys had been left to play near a rocket launcher.
national lead
Did Cabinet secretary illegally fundraise?
(CNN) – When you fundraise for a candidate, it's your right.
When the labor secretary does it, it's quite possibly illegal.
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