Today's edition of quick hits:
* Probation: "Former CIA director and retired four-star Gen. David Petraeus was sentenced Thursday to two-years of probation and must pay a $100,000 fine for leaking classified military information to a woman with whom he had a relationship while serving as head of the intelligence agency, according to NBC News."
* Deal's off? "Comcast could drop its mega-merger bid for Time Warner Cable as early as Friday, a source told CNBC on Thursday. Time Warner Cable declined to comment to CNBC on an earlier report of an intent to drop the bid."
* Something to keep an eye on: "NATO's chief on Thursday reported a sizeable Russian military buildup on the border with Ukraine that he said would enable pro-Moscow separatists to launch a new offensive with little warning."
* Earthquakes: "Man-made earthquakes associated with wastewater disposal wells from oil and gas extraction are on the rise in parts of the United States, according to a report the U.S. Geological Survey released Thursday."
* He was the only senator to skip the vote: "Sen. Ted Cruz skipped the vote to confirm Loretta Lynch as attorney general on Thursday -- just three hours after he took to the Senate floor to rail against her nomination." He had a fundraiser to go to.
* Ferguson: "The family of Michael Brown -- the unarmed black teen who was killed last August by a police officer in Ferguson, Missouri -- is filing a civil suit against the city for wrongful death."
* $15? "Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate's labor committee, has been reaching out to her Democratic colleagues to rally support for a more ambitious minimum wage proposal, according to a Senate source familiar with the conversations."
* When law enforcement effectively invents a dubious field of forensic science, and uses in prosecutions for decades, that really is a problem that deserves more attention.
* The Secret Service really isn't having a good year: "The U.S. Secret Service failed to replace a broken alarm system at the Houston home of former President George H.W. Bush for more than a year, according to a government report on the troubled protection agency."
* It wasn't the point of his piece, per se, but Brian Beutler imagined what politics would be like right now if Mitt Romney had won in 2012, and his take is extremely compelling.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.