A historic visit. An important vote. A patriotic rebranding. It’s Wednesday, and here are the five things you need to know to Get Up to Speed and Out the Door.
1. Campaign 2016
Donald Trump romped to two GOP victories last night in West Virginia and Nebraska, while Bernie Sanders edged out Hillary Clinton (but still not getting anywhere close to her in the delegate count) in West Virginia. All this on a day where a group of swing state polls show Trump and Hillary Clinton neck to neck, while Ted Cruz hints that he might get back in the race. If that’s not enough politics for you, here are five takeaways from the primaries.
2. Massachusetts stabbings
A man stabs six people — two fatally — in two separate locations. He is killed by police, leaving us with that age-old question: why? Police say Arthur DaRosa went on his stabbing spree in Taunton, Massachusetts, after he was in a car wreck last night. He stabbed two people in a home, killing an elderly woman. He then took a car and crashed into a mall, where he later stabbed four more people — killing a 56-year-old man — at a restaurant. An off-duty cop ended the rampage by fatally shooting DaRosa.
3. President Obama
The White House announced yesterday that President Obama will visit Hiroshima, Japan later this month. He’ll become the first sitting American president to visit the site of the U.S. atomic bomb attack. It’s part of Obama’s “apology tour,” conservative critics cried, but the White House said Obama won’t “revisit” the decision to drop the bomb on the city at World War II’s end.
4. Brazil
Today’s a big day in Brazilian politics. The Senate is set to vote on impeachment proceedings against President Dilma Rousseff. If the vote passes, she’ll have to step down for up to six months while impeachment claims are investigated. Things aren’t looking too hot on the Olympics front either. Ex-soccer star Rivaldo is warning everyone to stay away, saying Rio’s too dangerous, after a teen girl was shot and killed over the weekend. And U.S. soccer star Hope Solo says she’ll “begrudgingly” participate despite Zika fears.
5. NASA
Here’s today’s science lesson: An exoplanet is a planet that orbits a star other than our own Sun, and the Kepler telescope has found a ton of them. Kepler’s discovered 1,284 planets, NASA said yesterday, the most exoplanets announced at one time. Are any of them habitable? Way too soon to determine that, but Kepler is focused on finding rocky planets in the habitable zone — the planetary sweet spot where water (and this thing called life) could exist.
BREAKFAST BROWSE
People are talking about these. Read up. Join in.
Quote of the day: “We all must understand that a symbol or gesture that one group of people may find harmless may offend others”
West Point superintendent Lt. Gen. Robert L. Caslen, who announced yesterday that 16 female, African-American cadets would not be punished for appearing in a photo with raised fists
Red, white and brew
Did you know drinking was patriotic? It is now, since Anheuser-Busch announced it’s (temporarily) renaming Budweiser as America.
All in agreement
LeBron James couldn’t do it. Neither could Michael Jordan. But Stephen Curry did. He’s the first unanimous MVP winner in NBA history.
Loosey goosey
When a baby goose got all tangled up in some string, the mother goose did what we all do when we need help — she went to the police.
Who needs nine lives?
Rejoice, planet Earth. We’ve got a new World’s Oldest Living Cat. He’s Scooter, a thirtysomething Siamese from Texas.
#FirstWorldProblems
Google changed its search results black, for some people, and (surprise!) the internet threw a hissy fit. Don’t worry, says Google; it was just a test. Sheesh.
WHAT’S FOR LUNCH
Here’s what’s happening today.
Explosion explanation
The cause of the West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people three years ago will be revealed today at noon ET.
CNN town hall
An “Anderson Cooper 360” town hall on prescription drug addiction starts at 9 tonight ET on CNN.
AND FINALLY …
‘I’m just a bill, yes I’m only a bill’
Learn — “School House Rock”-style — how many hoops Donald Trump’s Mexico wall idea will have to jump through to become reality.