10 things you need to know today: August 15, 2018

1. Pennsylvania grand jury names 300 priests accused of sexual abuse

Catholic bishops and other church leaders covered up sexual abuse of more than 1,000 children by more than 300 priests over seven decades, according to a grand jury report released Tuesday. The "real number" of victims could be in the thousands, but some records have been lost and some victims were afraid to come forward, the grand jury said. "Priests were raping little boys and girls, and the men of God who were responsible for them not only did nothing. They hid it all," Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said. More than 100 of the priests are dead, and in nearly all of the cases, the statute of limitations has run out, making criminal prosecution in those cases impossible. The grand jury accused Cardinal Donald Wuerl, head of the Washington diocese, of helping protect abusive priests when he was Pittsburgh's bishop. He disputed the accusation, saying he acted with "diligence" to protect victims.

The Associated Press

2. Pawlenty loses in Minnesota, Hallquist makes history in Vermont

Primary elections in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Connecticut, and Vermont reinforced Republicans' embrace of President Trump's allies and Democrats' backing of glass-ceiling breakers. In Minnesota's GOP gubernatorial primary, underdog Jeff Johnson beat former Gov. Tim Pawlenty, who was weighed down by his 2016 description of Trump as "unhinged and unfit" after a tape surfaced in which Trump boasted about groping women. Meanwhile, Democrats picked former utility executive Christine Hallquist in Vermont's gubernatorial primary. She would be the nation's first transgender governor. Jahana Hayes, a former national teacher of the year, won the Democratic nomination for a U.S. House seat in Connecticut. She is favored to win in November and become the first black woman to represent New England in the House. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota became one of two female Muslim Democrats running in House races this fall.

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The Washington Post

3. Dozens die in Italy when bridge collapses

A bridge collapsed in the Italian city of Genoa on Tuesday when a section of a highway fell near a crossing over the Polcevera River. The collapse sent about three dozen vehicles and tons of debris plunging nearly 150 feet onto city streets and killing at least 37 people. "I heard something like an explosion and a screech of iron," said Adriano Scimpioni, who had just finished work at the city's garbage collection company, "and in a second we were all covered by a cloud of dust." Two of his colleagues were killed. Giuseppe Conte, who took over as Italian prime minister on a wave of anti-establishment anger in June, visited the scene of the disaster, which sparked an emergency review of the city's aging infrastructure.

The New York Times

4. Manafort lawyers rest defense without calling witnesses

Paul Manafort's lawyers on Tuesday declined to call any witnesses or put their client on the stand, resting their defense in the tax evasion, money laundering, and bank fraud trial of President Trump's former campaign chairman. Just a day earlier, Special Counsel Robert Mueller's prosecutors rested their case after two weeks of presenting witnesses, including former Manafort deputy Rick Gates, who pleaded guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Manafort is accused of failing to report millions of dollars in income from his work as a political consultant in Ukraine before he joined the Trump campaign. Gates testified that Manafort hid money in offshore accounts.

CNN The Washington Post

5. Sarah Huckabee Sanders 'can't guarantee' no tape of Trump using racial slur

White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Tuesday she could not guarantee that President Trump never used the N-word in a conversation caught on tape. Former Apprentice contestant and White House adviser Omarosa Manigault Newman, who is touring to plug a new tell-all book, has said she knows such a tape exists. "I can't guarantee anything, but I can tell you that the president addressed this question directly," Sanders said. "I can tell you that I've never heard it." Trump this week tweeted that he had never used "such a terrible and disgusting word" and that the producer of The Apprentice has assured him no such tape exists.

The Washington Post

6. Trump calls Omarosa 'dog,' 'crying lowlife'

President Trump on Tuesday stepped up his criticism of former Apprentice contestant and White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman as she continued a media tour promoting her tell-all book, Unhinged. "When you give a crazed, crying lowlife a break, and give her a job at the White House, I guess it just didn't work out," Trump tweeted. "Good work by General Kelly for quickly firing that dog!" CBS This Morning earlier Tuesday posted a new recording from Manigault Newman that purports to lend credence to her claim that the president was recorded saying the N-word, and Manigault Newman herself appeared on MSNBC to claim that Trump knew in advance that WikiLeaks would make public a trove of leaked emails from Hillary Clinton in 2016. She also revealed that she has been interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team.

CBS News Twitter

7. Colyer concedes to Kobach in Kansas gubernatorial primary

Kansas Gov. Jeff Colyer conceded the state's Republican gubernatorial primary to immigration and voter I.D. hardliner Kris Kobach, Kansas' secretary of state, on Tuesday. Colyer threw his support behind Kobach, who received an endorsement from President Trump shortly before last week's vote. Colyer said he called Kobach to congratulate him hours after a tally of votes in the state's largest county failed to give him the votes he needed to erase Kobach's narrow lead. Colyer said he had no intention of challenging the result or requesting a recount. "Kansas is too important," he said. Kobach will face projected Democratic nominee state Sen. Laura Kelly, as well as an independent candidate, Greg Orman.

The Washington Post

8. Puerto Rico says power fully restored for first time since 2017 hurricane

Utility crews in the southern Puerto Rico city of Ponce on Tuesday reconnected the last neighborhood left without electricity after last year's Hurricane Maria, marking the first time power had been restored to the entire island in 11 months, the U.S. Caribbean territory's electric utility announced. "No more lamps, no more candles, no more extension cords," Ponce resident Charlie Colon Nazario told El Nuevo Dia as about two dozen power workers connected his home. The mayor of San Juan said the island still needs help, and is not ready for another storm to hit this hurricane season. The blackout across the island was the longest continuous outage in the nation's history, and some individual homes, plus the island of Vieques, still rely on generators.

The Associated Press

9. RBS to pay $4.9 billion fine for misrepresenting mortgages

Royal Bank of Scotland will pay $4.9 billion to settle allegations it misrepresented the risk and quality of mortgages it sold to investors during the housing bubble that led to the 2008 financial crisis, the Justice Department announced Tuesday. The fine is the largest ever imposed on a single company for misconduct during the financial crisis, although the Justice Department also has hit Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and other banks with billions of dollars in penalties to settle similar allegations linked to the crisis. "This settlement holds RBS accountable for serious misconduct that contributed to the financial crisis," Acting Associate Attorney General Jesse Panuccio said in a statement.

The Associated Press

10. Aretha Franklin reportedly in hospice care

Aretha Franklin, the legendary soul and pop singer, is in hospice care at her home, gravely ill and surrounded by family, a source close to Franklin told CNN's Don Lemon. A friend of Franklin, 76, told People she has "been ill for a long time" and her friends and family have been warned that her "death is imminent." But her nephew, Tim Franklin, was more positive. "We believe she'll pull through it, she believes she'll pull through it, and that's the important thing," he said. Franklin's professional singing career goes back to her first record deal in 1960, and by 1968 she had sealed her fame with hits like "Respect" and "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman." She released her final album, A Brand New Me, last year, right after announcing her retirement.

CNN People