A day of surprises in the UK elections. Tom Brady tight-lipped about Deflategate. And the Atlantic tropical storm season has begun.
It’s Friday, and here are five things to know for your New Day.
UK ELECTIONS
What a night: It was supposed to be a close election. It turned out to be shocking. The votes are still being counted this morning, but it appears UK Prime Minister David Cameron and his Conservative Party have won a majority in Parliament. Polls before the election pointed to an especially close election and possibly a hung Parliament, but the voters had other ideas. Other surprises: The pro-independence Scottish National Party made historic gains, despite the failure of last year’s referendum to leave the United Kingdom. And a 20-year-old politics student scored a major win for the SNP, becoming the country’s youngest lawmaker in more than 300 years and knocking out one of the opposition Labour Party’s top leaders. And what of the Labour Party? Leader Ed Miliband displayed a gift for understatement when he declared it a “disappointing night” for his party.
DEFLATEGATE
Brady speaks (sort of): It wasn’t a “no comment,” but Patriots quarterback Tom Brady didn’t have much to say last night about Deflategate and the recently released report that implicates him in the scandal. The report, led by attorney Ted Wells, says “it is more probable than not” that Brady knew that a pair of Patriots employees were tampering with game-day balls. Brady, speaking last night at a university just north of Boston, said he didn’t have a reaction and hadn’t had time to “digest” the 243-page report. Brady indicated that he would, at some future time, like to say more about the issue.
BALTIMORE
DOJ probe: Later today, the Department of Justice will announce that it is investigating the Baltimore Police Department. The probe, requested by Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, will be a so-called pattern or practice investigation, which is a broad, full-scale civil rights examination of the entire department. The investigation, of course, comes in the wake of Freddie Gray’s death and the social unrest that followed.
NYPD OFFICER KILLED
Saying goodbye: An estimated 30,000 people — including police officers from across the country — are expected to attend the funeral today of NYPD officer Brian Moore, who was shot in the head Saturday while on duty. Flags at city and state of New York government buildings have been flown at half-staff to honor his memory. The New York Mets had a moment of silence for Moore earlier this week, and Mets players wore NYPD caps during batting practice.
TROPICAL WEATHER
Well, hello Ana: The 2015 Atlantic tropical storm season official began yesterday when Ana was spawned off the coast of Georgia. Ana is actually a subtropical storm because she didn’t form in the tropics. She’s not packing anything close to hurricane force gales, but instead a stiff breeze of 45 mph maximum sustained winds. No, not a hurricane, but nothing to sneer about either. Ana is expected to arrive at the coastline near Charleston, South Carolina, late Sunday. Ana will produce high rip currents on Georgia and South Carolina shores and may push in coastal flooding in South Carolina.
Those are your five biggies for the day. Here are a few others that are brewing and have the Internet buzzing.
Bad idea: The Cleveland Cavaliers had to apologize for this video, which played in the arena during a playoff game this week.
Not listening: If Siri was your mom, she still wouldn’t hear you correctly.
Lip sync No. 1: What happens when your parents get their hands on a lip syncing app.
Lip sync No. 2: Wolverine — um, I mean Hugh Jackman — knows this little ditty from the “Adventure Time” cartoon.
So happy: Cuteness alert! A squirrel lets out a chorus of adorable squeaks as he eats a nut.