A new twist in the Freddie Gray case. Baseball makes history with fanless game. And Hillary Clinton has some Democratic competition.
It’s Thursday, and here are five things to know for your New Day.
BALTIMORE
New narrative: Was Freddie Gray trying to hurt himself inside that police van? That’s what a Washington Post story, based on a document from the Baltimore police, asks. The document quotes a prisoner who was in the same van who said he could hear Gray “banging against the walls” of the van. Also, a female relative of one of the officers in the case told CNN the officer doesn’t know how Gray was hurt during his arrest. Baltimore police will hand over its report on the case Friday to state prosecutors. Protesters hit the streets of Baltimore again yesterday over Gray’s death, but things remained peaceful and crowds dissipated shortly after the second night’s curfew began. Other protests broke out last night across the county, including New York, Washington and Denver.
BASEBALL
No fans: Two teams? Check. National anthem? Check. Seventh-inning stretch? Check. Cheering fans? Not yesterday afternoon in Baltimore. Safety concerns stemming from Monday’s riots forced Major League Baseball to do something it’s never done: lock out the fans. The Baltimore Orioles’ 8-2 win over the Chicago White Sox before 46,000 empty seats was a strange sight, but the Orioles did have some fun, despite the circumstances. An Orioles catcher pretended to sign autographs, and a Baltimore first baseman hurled a ball to imaginary fans. And the fans weren’t totally kept away from the game: About 100 of them caught bits of the action through gates outside the stadium.
PRESIDENTIAL RACE
Sanders is in: Bernie Sanders announced yesterday he’s running to be the Democrat’s nominee for president, which is a bit strange because the independent Vermont senator has never been a registered Democrat and considers himself a socialist. But Sanders caucuses with the Democrats in the Senate and his left-of-center views align with many progressive Dems, some of whom are desperate to find an alternative to frontrunner Hillary Clinton. Sanders will outline his plan today when he holds a news conference in Washington. Advisers say he may not hold his first campaign rally until sometime in May in Vermont.
NEPAL EARTHQUAKE
A little hope: Things are grim right now in Nepal, as the death toll continues to climb after Saturday’s earthquake. But a few stories of survival have helped lift people’s spirits. A 27-year-old man was pulled from the rubble of a building yesterday, surviving 82 hours after the earthquake hit. His survival is unusual, as experts say it’s rare for injured people who are trapped to hold out for longer than 72 hours after a disaster. A 4-month-old baby was rescued from a destroyed building in the town of Bhaktapur about 22 hours after the quake. Pictures of his rescue have become the defining image of the disaster. And a 40-year-old woman in Kathmandu was rescued 36 hours after her building collapsed around her. She escaped without injury — she apparently was protected by a beam.
MOVIE THEATER SHOOTING TRIAL
Moving testimony: A parade of victims testified yesterday, painting a vivid, horrifying image of what happened inside the Aurora movie theater on July 2012 when James Holmes entered a midnight screening of “The Dark Knight Rises” and opened fire. A police officer fixated on Veronica Moser-Sullivan, the youngest victim. “I wasn’t keeping a child in that crime scene,” he said of the carnage all around her. A woman who was nine-months pregnant at the time of the shooting recounted realizing that her husband had been shot in the eye. He later had brain surgery while she delivered the baby. He survived, but with significant brain damage. The testimony prompted occasional weeping from victims, relatives and even some jury members.
Those are your five biggies for the day. Here are a few others that are brewing and have the Internet buzzing.
Just like the Masters: When you play a baseball game with no fans, the announcers call it like a golf tournament.
Molten melon: What happens when you pour melted aluminum into a watermelon? Not what you expect.
Watch out Adele: An 11-year-old girl rocks “Rolling in the Deep.”
Bugatti vs. Ferrari: Witness the most expensive fender bender ever.
“Oh my gosh”: Huge hailstones pummel the windshield of some stormchasers in Texas.