Things are not looking too good for Democrats in the upcoming 2014 midterm elections, and a new George Washington University Battleground poll is, on the surface, more bad news. The respondents were roughly evenly split between Democrats and Republicans, but 64 percent of GOP voters said they are "extremely likely" to vote in November, versus 57 percent of Democrats. President Obama's 44 percent approval rating won't help the Democrats, and a daunting 73 percent said their personal economic situation has stayed the same or gotten worse over the past four years.

But there is one silver lining for Democrats: Marijuana. While 82 percent of respondents disapprove of Congress — with both parties "universally despised," according to Democratic pollster Celinda Lake — 73 percent support medical marijuana in their states, 53 percent back decriminalizing pot, and most importantly, 68 percent said they are more likely to go to the polls if marijuana is on the ballot. Voters in both parties are in favor of looser marijuana laws, but the highest levels of motivation are among younger, single people — a group that skews Democratic.

"We are very excited about the marijuana numbers in this poll, not only for personal consumption to get through this election, but [also] in terms of turnout," says Lake.

Party on, pandas.

China's State Forestry Administration found in its latest census that since the last survey ended in 2003, the wild giant panda population has grown by 268, to a total of 1,864 pandas, The Associated Press reports.

"The rise…is a victory for conservation and definitely one to celebrate," Ginette Hemley, senior vice president of wildlife conservation for World Wildlife Fund, said.

Giant pandas still face threats to their habitats, though. The new survey noted that the development of such structures as hydropower stations, roads, and mining sites are replacing traditional threats to pandas such as poaching.

That'll do it.

Photo-sharing app Snapchat posted new "Community Guidelines" on its website, imploring teens to stop sexting or face suspended accounts, the New York Daily News reports.

"Don't use Snapchat for any illegal shenanigans and if you're under 18 or are Snapping with someone who might be: Keep your clothes on!" the rules read.

You heard it, kids: Keep those shenanigans to those of the legal variety.

The New York Knicks confirmed on Saturday that Anthony Mason, a former power forward with the team, has died at the age of 48, The Associated Press reports.

The 6-foot-7 Mason was known for his defensive toughness throughout a career that spanned a decade with several teams, but most memorably from 1991-1996 on coach Pat Riley's New York squads. He won the NBA's Sixth Man award in 1995 with the Knicks, and he made the 2001 All-Star team as a member of the Miami Heat.

Mason's son, Anthony Jr., played for St. John's University and then for overseas teams. Another son, Antoine, is playing for Auburn this season, having transferred from Niagara, where he finished second nationally in points per game last season.

Car-hailing service Uber announced on Friday that a data breach left the personal information of about 50,000 drivers vulnerable, The Wall Street Journal reports.

While the company said it discovered the hack in September, it waited nearly five months to report the breach, an amount of time one data-breach expert called "an unusual delay."

Most states leave the exact amount of notification time vague, but the maximum among those that do offer specifics is 60 days. Uber said it has not received any misuse reports from drivers, and noted that the 50,000 affected make up a small percentage of the hundreds of thousands of drivers working with the company.

Colorado's Marijuana Enforcement Division released its first annual report Friday on the state's legal marijuana market, Time reports.

In 2014, 4.8 million marijuana edibles and nearly 150,000 pounds of marijuana flowers were sold, the authors concluded. The report noted that marijuana flowers were more popular in the medical market, while edibles did better in the recreational market.

The report's findings may influence Colorado's ongoing debate about whether or not to regulate the types of edibles allowed — proponents of limiting the products say some types currently on the market, such as gummy bears, appeal to children and could be accidentally ingested. But the strong sales numbers will likely make it harder to convince the industry to back such limitations.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry's political action committee released a new ad on Friday that aims to set him apart from a crowded 2016 presidential field.

"There's only one individual that's ever had the uniform of this country on, and that's me. And that matters," Perry says in the ad.

Perry joined the U.S. Air Force as a pilot in 1974, leaving with the rank of captain three years later — "He never served in a combat zone," Politico notes.

Perry's ad aired after he spoke about the need for a more aggressive foreign policy at the Conservative Political Action Conference on Friday, saying that, "ISIS represents the worst threat to freedom since communism."

Watch the full ad, below. —Sarah Eberspacher

Russian President Vladimir Putin condemned the Friday killing of Boris Nemtsov, Russia's former deputy Prime Minister, and he said in a telegram to Nemtsov's mother that "everything will be done so that the organisers and perpetrators of a vile and cynical murder are punished." 

Nemtsov, 55, was shot four times while walking across a bridge near the Kremlin, BBC News reports. The harsh critic of Putin had served under Russia's first post-Soviet President, Boris Yeltsin, in the 1990s. He became a popular figure in opposition politics after Yeltsin's successor, Putin, came to power.

Western leaders including U.S. President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and British Prime Minister David Cameron called for a thorough, transparent investigation into Nemtsov's murder.

The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday night passed a one-week stopgap bill to fund Homeland Security, after the Senate had passed the one-week extension earlier in the day, Reuters reports.

The 357-60 vote averted a shutdown of the department, although a three-week funding extension was rejected by the House earlier on Friday, because conservatives in the GOP-controlled House refused to vote for that bill, which did not include a section blocking funding for President Barack Obama's executive orders on immigration.

Congress now has a week to work out a bill to fund the department, which includes the Coast Guard, the Secret Service, customs and emergency management authorities, and the Transportation Security Administration.

Late Friday evening, the Senate passed a stopgap bill that would fund the Department of Homeland Security for one week. The deadline to fund the department expires at midnight Friday. 

Earlier in the day, the House failed to pass a stopgap bill to fund DHS for three weeks, with conservative Republicans abandoning Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in his attempt to prevent a department shutdown.

It remains to be seen whether the House will pass the latest Senate bill.

The House on Friday failed to pass a stopgap bill to fund the Department of Homeland Security for three weeks, with conservative Republicans abandoning Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) in his attempt to prevent a department shutdown. The Senate earlier in the day passed a bill to fund the department that stripped curbs on President Obama's recent executive actions on immigration, which House Republicans oppose.

This is the latest in a long series of humiliating setbacks for Boehner, who has failed time and again to corral his restive caucus on important votes.

The deadline to fund the department expires at midnight. It remains to be seen whether Boehner will conjure up a face-saving Plan B, or allow a vote on the Senate measure, hoping it will pass with a coalition of moderate Republicans and Democrats.