Bomber Faces Life or Death, SC Cop Fired
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Vol. 4, No. 99
Guilty x 30: Boston Marathon bomber Dzokhar Tsarnaev was convicted yesterday of all 30 charges against him in the 2013 terrorist bombing. The reading of verdicts took 25 minutes. It was not a surprise. Tsarnaev had admitted his part in the bombing and the evidence against him was overwhelming.
The critical part of the trial for Tsarnaev will be the penalty phase in which the jury decides whether he gets life in prison, or death. Seventeen of his convictions carry the death penalty.
Nation: The South Carolina police officer charged with the murder of an unarmed black man after a traffic stop has already been fired by the South Charleston police department. Officer Michael Slager, 33, was videotaped as he fired eight times at the fleeing 50-year-old Walter Scott. Police Chief Eddie Driggers said, “I have watched the video and I was sickened by what I saw.”
The department is also taking a look at the actions of other officers. One of them was standing by when Slager walked away, picked up an object, and dropped it next to Scott’s body.
>Elections in Ferguson, Mo. have raised the number of black members on the city’s six-member city council from one to three. Ferguson’s only black member of council was defeated by another black candidate, and black candidates won two other seats. It’s a big political shift in the majority black city that has been controlled by white politicians.
>Kansas has become the first state to outlaw second trimester abortions that require dismemberment of the fetus. The procedure is used in less than 10 percent of abortions and abortion rights advocates say it is the safest method in the second trimester.
Recall: Thirty thousand cases of the popular Sabra hummus have been recalled for a possible Listeria contamination, the USDA announced. A random sample in Michigan was found to have Listeria.
The Cure: Shelley Ross, the tireless former executive producer of Good Morning America who had a double mastectomy to prevent cancer, has been named president of The Cure Alliance, the organization devoted to developing cures for chronic, debilitating and fatal diseases. She’ll work 20 hours a day. Ross had her mastectomy after discovering she had the same cancer-causing gene as Angelina Jolie, who also underwent a double mastectomy.
Whistle Blower: The National Football League has appointed its first full-time female referee. Sarah Thomas, 41, has worked her way up through NCAA football for the last 10 years and has been on the NFL’s radar for several years. She also works as a pharmaceutical sales representative.
NewsBiz: Bob Schieffer, the friendly face of CBS News’ Sunday morning “Face the Nation,” announced that he’s retiring this summer after 46 years with the network. He’s 78. Schieffer made the announcement during a Symposium at Texas Christian University, his alma mater. He said, “I couldn’t have asked for a better life or something that was more fun and more fulfilling.”
Channel Change: DirectTV has pulled its series of commercials featuring Rob Lowe and his “loser” alter ego after Comcast Cable (The Loser) complained that the ads were unfair and misleading. The ads ended with “loser” Lowe saying, “Don’t be like this me. Get rid of cable and upgrade to DirecTV.” DirectTV tried to call Comcast to apologize, but they got a recording saying, “Please hold, your call is very important to us.”
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