Tech Shock: The death of a young star has rocked the tech world. The Internet genius, activist and sometimes hacker Aaron Swartz hanged himself in his Brooklyn apartment at age 26. Swartz helped invent RSS, a compiler of web feeds, and was a founder of the social news site Redditt. He was about to go to trial on charges that he stole and made public thousands of scientific journal articles from an archive at MIT. Some who believe everything should be free on the Internet saw it as an overzealous prosecution.

World:  Airstrikes by French jets and helicopters appear to have stopped the advance of Islamist rebels in the West African country of Mali. The French and other West African countries are trying to shore up a weak Mali government against an Al Qaeda-influenced takeover.

National: A public health emergency has been declared in the State of New York to deal with the influenza epidemic. New York has had over 19,000 confirmed cases, more than four times the laboratory confirmed cases for all last season. In a nationwide epidemic, overwhelmed hospitals in some states have turned away patients looking for treatment.

• The new F-35 fighter jet, which cost $395 billion dollars … that’s billion with a “B” … has undergone a third of its tests and is far from ready to fly in combat. The system has trouble with a special helmet needed to fly it and with how its weapons work.
•  Twenty-three year old Mallory Hagan of Brooklyn, NY won the Miss America Pageant.

But Now He’s McSteamy: The Actor Patrick Dempsey, “McDreamy” of Grey’s Anatomy fame, has won control of the Tully’s coffee chain after a bankruptcy hearing. Dempsey’s bid of $9.15 million beat some larger offers, as well as Starbucks, with a promise to save jobs.

No Spare Change: The White House and Treasury Department announced they will not mint a $1 trillion platinum coin to solve the debt crisis. The idea was known as “The Platinum Option”, which sounded more like the title of a Robert Ludlum novel than a sound fiscal plan.

It’s Chinese to Us: A Chinese company has bought naming right to the famed “Chinese Theater” in Hollywood, which opened as “Grauman’s Chinese Theater” in 1927. The catchy new name is “TCL Chinese Theater”. We’re told it’s good, but an hour later you want to watch another movie.

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