Bernie Kosar, former quarterback for the Cleveland Browns, was removed from his position as a sports TV broadcaster Wednesday. WKYC-TV President and General Manager Brooke Spectorsky disputed Kosar’s claim that he was sacked because of “a speech impairment due to concussions.”  The Browns administration said it was in talks with Kosar for potential new roles in the preseason. (Read full story.)

Secretary of State John Kerry denounced new Russian military exercises near the border of Ukraine Thursday. Anxiety in the region is already high after Ukrainian forces killed at least two people attempting to force pro-Russian insurgents out of the country. Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned, in turn, the actions of the Ukrainian forces as a crime against its own people.

The Food and Drug Administration proposed rules on Thursday to ban sales on electronic cigarettes for anyone under 18 and add warning labels to any new products. The debate over whether e-cigarettes pose the same health risks as regular nicotine-based cigarettes fueled much of the proposed rules. “There are far more questions than answers,” said Mitch Zeller, director of the FDA’s Center for Tobacco Products. (Read full story.)

Three Americans were killed in Afghanistan Thursday when an Afghan security guard opened fire at a hospital in Kabul. One victim, a pediatrician from Chicago, was visiting the country offering humanitarian aid, along with a father and son who were also killed. The attack is the latest in a series of assaults on foreign civilians which, according to investigators, have no apparent motivation.

Contact Matt Merchant at [email protected].