Decisive wins and deadly decisions. It’s Wednesday, and here are the 5 things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
1. Campaign 2016
This one was yuuuuge. The Donald and Hillz delivered dominating wins last night in New York’s primaries, squelching, at least for a night, talk of how their campaigns were on the verge of being overrun by insurgents Ted and Bernie. Wrestling the nomination away from the two frontrunners just got a lot harder. Here are five takeaways from last night and the best nuggets from the Trump-Clinton victory speeches.
2. Police shooting
Tragic, but not reckless. That’s essentially what a judge said as he reduced ex-NYPD Officer Peter Liang’s manslaughter conviction to criminally negligent homicide. An unarmed man, Akai Gurley, was hit in the chest by a ricocheted bullet fired from Liang’s gun in a Brooklyn housing project stairwell in 2014. The judge said Liang’s was a “quick reaction to perhaps a sound,” and sentenced him to 800 hours of community service and five years’ probation.
3. Afghanistan plane crash
When a C-130J cargo plane crashed in Afghanistan last year, the Taliban crowed it had brought it down. Turns out a goggles case did. A U.S. Air Force investigation said the pilot placed the small, hard-shell, night-vision goggles case in front of the cockpit yoke. That’s the thing used to control the altitude of a plane. When the plane took off, its nose started to pitch up too far. The pilot tried to adjust by moving the yoke forward. But the goggles case was blocking it. The plane exploded upon impact, killing all 14 aboard.
4. Obamacare
The end of Obamacare? Not exactly. But it’s hard to spin UnitedHealthcare’s announcement yesterday as good news: it’s leaving several Obamacare exchanges by next year. The nation’s biggest health insurer says it’s flat out losing way too much money on the exchanges. So it’s peace out. So what does this mean for the rest of us? You guessed it: higher insurance premiums.
5. Ethiopia – South Sudan
It’s not been covered widely, but what’s been happening along the Ethiopia-South Sudan border is horrific. A South Sudan tribe has killed more than 200 people in cross-border raids. The biggest was last week. The marauders abducted about 100 children, presumably to force them into child slavery. South Sudan is the world’s newest nation. Its infrastructure is poor, and there’s significant poverty. Cross-border raids are fairly common in the region, where people battle for livestock, land and resources like water and grazing rights.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
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Quote of the day:
“Soon I will turn 90 years old … it’s not the outcome of any effort; it was fate’s whim.”
A rare bit of navel gazing from ex-Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who, as he nears age 90, talked publicly about his mortality.
Netflix and bill
Can’t live without “House of Cards” or “Orange is the New Black?” Then get that wallet open, because Netflix is going to take a bigger bite out of it.
Lacking a-peel
The humble banana is under attack by a disease spreading around the globe: Fusarium wilt.
The kids are all right
A new study says children of same-sex parents are just as emotionally and physically healthy as the kids of heterosexual couples.
Bed, bug and beyond
Remember when you were tucked into bed as a kid and told not to let the bed bugs bite? That just got a lot harder to do.
Fashion statement
Headed someplace where you don’t speak the language? Then pack this T-shirt and let its symbols do the talking for you.
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
Here’s what’s happening today.
Flint follow-up
A “significant announcement” is coming out of Flint this afternoon in the water crisis investigation. Spoiler alert: criminal charges are expected.
AND FINALLY …
100 years. 100 shots
Someone combed through a century of cinema and painstakingly curated the most memorable scene from each year. Because that’s what the Internet does for you. See how many you can name.