National: A ferry crash this morning in lower Manhattan appears to have injured as many as 50 people, says the NY Times. Passengers from New Jersey said they felt a jolt like a car crash. The accident left a gash along the side of the 140-foot ferry.

Boeing, Boeing: Boeing’s new 787 “Dreamliner” has had several problems this week, including a fire on board a plane in Boston.

Heat: Hot weather, high winds and drought are feeding wildfires throughout some of the most populated regions of Australia. The country is experiencing record heat. Here in the US scientists at the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration say 2012 was on average the hottest year on record for the US, one degree warmer than the previous record set in 1998.

Aurora Shooter: A federal agent testified yesterday that accused Colorado movie theater shooter James Holmes legally bought four handguns and 6300 rounds of ammunition online. Colorado has no mechanism to screen and prevent a mentally ill person from buying a gun.

From the Hip: NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo is preparing to propose one of the most restrictive assault weapon bans in the country. 

  Retired Gen. Stanley McChrystal, who made a career carrying an assault rifle, said yesterday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” and on “The Daily Show” that civilians should not have the same kinds of weapons as soldiers. Noting that assault rifles are designed for human destruction McChrystal said, “I personally don’t think there’s any need for that kind of weaponry on the streets and particularly around the schools in America.”

Fatal Ticket: The medical examiner in Chicago has determined that a man who died one day after winning a $1 million lottery last June was poisoned with cyanide. Uruj Khan, 46, who had several dry cleaning stores was originally thought to have died of undetermined binaural causes. A send autopsy at the request of a relative revealed the presence of cyanide.

The Scoreboard: Since the opening kickoff of the college football championship Monday night, Katherine Webb, who is Miss Alabama and girlfriend of the ‘Bama QB, has gained 200,000 Twitter followers largely because announcer Brent Musberger chirped about her during the broadcast.

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