10 things you need to know today: December 13, 2014

1. Police arrest suspect in shooting near Portland high school

Saying their investigation thus far suggests a Friday shooting outside a Portland alternative high school was gang-related, police confirmed that they arrested a 22-year-old, male suspect early Saturday morning. Witnesses say a dispute outside Rosemary Anderson High School preceded the Friday shooting that left three people wounded. Taylor Michelle Zimmers, 16, is in critical condition; David Jackson-Liday, 20, and Labraye Franklin, 17, were also taken to a nearby hospital but are reportedly in stable condition.

The Associated Press

2. Reporter James Risen will not be forced to reveal source

Ending a years-long battle, Attorney General Eric Holder has directed that reporter James Risen not be forced to reveal a confidential source's identity, according to a senior Justice Department official who spoke with NBC News. Risen's book, State of War, outlined the CIA's efforts to sabotage Iran's nuclear arms program. The Justice Department had been deciding whether or not to subpoena Risen about whether former CIA official Jeffrey Sterling was the source behind the reporter's information.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

NBC News The Washington Post

3. NFL upholds Adrian Peterson's suspension, denies appeal

An NFL appeals officer upheld Adrian Peterson's suspension on Friday. While Peterson is eligible for reinstatement as early as April 15, 2015, the Minnesota Vikings star must forfeit six game checks from the 2014 season — one for each remaining game when NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell suspended Peterson on Nov. 18 — adding up to about $4.147 million in salary losses. Peterson allegedly used a wooden switch to discipline his 4-year-old son in May; he pled no contest in November to a misdemeanor reckless assault charge.

USA Today

4. Rescuers search for missing Indonesian villagers following mudslide

A landslide tore through a remote Indonesian village on Friday, killing at least 17 people and leaving scores more missing, officials said. Rescuers are searching for the buried villagers with their bare hands and sticks, because there is no access to earth-moving machinery.

Reuters

5. French President Hollande calls for terminal sedation law

French President Francois Hollande announced on Friday that the terminally ill have "the right to deep, continuous sedation until death." France's president called for a law to keep terminally ill patients sedated until they die; the law would only apply at patients' requests, or if their conditions were life-threatening in the short term.

The Associated Press

6. Pew: Wealth inequality by race is growing

A new study from the Pew Research Center reports that the median wealth of white households was 13 times greater than that of black households in 2013. That's up from eight times over in 2010, and the racial gap is the largest its been since 1989, when white households had 17 times the wealth of black households. In the wake of the recession, Pew notes that wealth for white, black, and Hispanic households is still lower than it was pre-recession.

Pew Research Center

7. SeaWorld CEO Jim Atchison steps down

After more than four years of public-relations crises, SeaWorld announced on Thursday that CEO Jim Atchison will step down from his position. An orca killed trainer Dawn Brancheau in Orlando, in 2010, then the 2013 documentary Blackfish painted a dark picture of the killer whales' daily lives in captivity. The amusement park also plans to cut an unspecified number of jobs, as its earnings and attendance have dropped significantly in the last year.

U-T San Diego

8. Drug-resistant infections could kill 10 million people by 2050

The Review on Antimicrobial Resistance released a report, commissioned by British Prime Minister David Cameron, that warns of a "crisis" of drug-resistant superbugs. The infections could lead to as many as 10 million deaths by 2050 and cost roughly $100 trillion. The threat is most dire in the developing world; four million people could die in Africa, and 4.7 million in Asia. The report's creators say the infections could eventually be deadlier than cancer.

Time

9. Mexican government passes bill to ban circus animals

The Mexican legislature voted 267-66 to ban circus animals on Thursday, following an earlier Senate vote. The bill hopes to fight animal cruelty in circus shows, and it would let zoos take their pick of animals already being used as performers. President Enrique Pena Nieto, though, has yet to announce whether he will sign the bill into law.

The Associated Press

10. Pope Francis suggests that dogs and cats go to heaven

Pope Francis reportedly recently told a boy grieving the loss of his dog, "One day, we will see our animals again in the eternity of Christ. Paradise is open to all of God's creatures." The comments set off waves through the Catholic Church, which has flip-flopped on the issue of whether animals can go to heaven, because that would imply that they have souls.

The New York Times