Mark Memmott

We're nearly to the last of the many milestones that come along during presidential campaigns.

The primaries? Long over.

The conventions? All wrapped up.

Labor Day, when voters supposedly start paying attention? That was four weeks ago.

Some of the latest news from Afghanistan, including a grim milestone:

-- "A suicide bombing [today] in the eastern Afghan city of Khost has killed at least 14 people, three of them Nato soldiers, officials say." (BBC News)

Here's what the White House says the conversation was like when President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone today:

"President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke today as part of their regular consultations, and to follow up on Secretary Clinton's meeting with the prime minister.

Last week, Fox and Friends saw a photo on The Drudge Report and started saying that President Obama had time to sit down with a comical "pirate" but not to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The only problem: The photo was three years old.

So far, at least, the dirt beneath a driveway in Roseville, Mich., isn't turning up any sign that former Teamsters boss Jimmy Hoffa was buried there 37 years ago.

The man charged with killing 12 people and wounding 58 others at an Aurora, Colo., movie theater on July 20 threatened a University of Colorado psychiatrist about six weeks before the massacre and was barred from campus "as a result of those actions," according to local prosecutors.

They also say in court documents released this morning that James Holmes' alleged threat was reported to university police at the time.

How much of a "public relations disaster" has Apple's new mapping software been?

Big enough that the famously proud company has apologized — and suggested that users can turn to arch rival Google Maps instead.

In a message "to our customers" posted this morning, CEO Tim Cook says:

While denying it did anything wrong, Bank of America announced this morning it will pay "$2.43 billion and institute certain corporate governance policies ... to settle a class action lawsuit brought in 2009 on behalf of investors who purchased or held Bank of America securities at the time the company announced plans to acquire Merrill Lynch."

Americans' personal income grew by just 0.1 percent in August from July and consumer spending would have been basically flat as well if it hadn't been for higher gasoline prices, the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported this morning.

Friday morning quarterbacks seem to be unanimous in saying that having a "regular" crew of officials back on the field for Thursday night's NFL game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns made an immediate — and positive — difference.

"It felt like a real NFL game because the real NFL refs were back," writes ESPN's Jamison Hensley.