10 things you need to know today: February 27, 2015

(Image credit: (Win McNamee/Getty Images))

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1. FCC approves net neutrality rules
2. Senate, House head to funding votes with Homeland Security shutdown looming
3. Missouri gubernatorial candidate reportedly kills himself
4. Blogger Avijit Roy killed on Bangladesh street
5. Argentine judge clears president in alleged bombing cover-up
6. South Korean court throws out adultery ban
7. Senate Judiciary Committee signs off on attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch
8. Judge sides against NFL and throws out Adrian Peterson's suspension
9. First African-American NBA player, Earl Lloyd, dies
10. Lupita Nyong'o's $150,000 Oscars dress reported stolen

last updated 27 February 2015

1. FCC approves net neutrality rules

The Federal Communications Commission voted Thursday to regulate broadband internet traffic as a public utility. The landmark 3-2 vote on net neutrality was split along party lines. The commission's Democratic chairman, Tom Wheeler, said that web access was "too important to let broadband providers be the ones making the rule." The decision means that all broadband service will be treated equally, so media companies and customers won't be able to pay for fast lanes while others get slower service.

The Senate appears poised to vote Friday on a bill that would approve funding for the Department of Homeland Security without blocking President Obama's immigration order. The House — which passed a DHS funding bill last month that included provisions thwarting Obama's immigration action — is expected to reject the Senate bill in favor of a stop-gap proposal that would provide funding for three weeks. With funding for DHS running out Saturday, Senate Republicans are expected to capitulate to the House and its restive conservative wing.

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Missouri Auditor Tom Schweich (R) died Thursday from a single gunshot in what police called an "apparent suicide," shortly after launching a campaign for governor. Thirteen minutes earlier, police received an emergency call from Schweich's home and he had told an Associated Press reporter by phone that the state GOP chairman had made anti-Semitic comments about him. The chairman, John Hancock, denied it, but said "it's plausible" he had told someone he thought Schweich, who attended an Episcopal church, was Jewish.

Atheist American blogger Avijit Roy was hacked to death on a sidewalk in his native Bangladesh, local police said Friday. The attack occurred as Roy, an outspoken critic of religious intolerance and promoter of secular democracy in Bangladesh, was returning from a book fair in the capital city of Dhaka with his wife, Rafida Ahmed. She was seriously injured but survived. A new militant group, Ansar Bangla 7, claimed responsibility, tweeting that Roy was targeted "because of his crime against Islam."

An Argentine judge on Thursday dismissed a charge accusing President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of trying to help cover up Iran's alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish center in Buenos Aires. Judge Daniel Rafecas said the documents filed by late prosecutor Alberto Nisman, who was found dead in his apartment last month, did not meet the minimal standards for launching a court investigation. "There is not a single element of evidence, even circumstantial, that points to the actual head of state," he said.

A South Korean court on Thursday struck down a 62-year-old law criminalizing extramarital affairs. The country's Constitutional Court ruled that the ban suppressed personal freedom. More than 5,400 people charged with adultery since 2008, the last time the court upheld the ban, could be affected by the decision. Current charges could simply be thrown out. The stock price of South Korean condom maker Unidus Corp. jumped by 15 percent on the news.

Attorney general nominee Loretta Lynch on Thursday moved closer to confirmation after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 12 to 8 to send her nomination to the full Senate. All nine Democrats on the committee voted for Lynch, as did Republican Sens. Jeff Flake of Arizona, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, and Orrin Hatch of Utah. If confirmed, Lynch would become the first female African American attorney general in history.

A judge on Thursday overturned the National Football League's suspension of running back Adrian Peterson. The decision marked a major blow to the league. It means Peterson will be reinstated to the Minnesota Vikings, who previously indicated they would welcome him back to the team for next season. The NFL, which suspended Peterson last year after he pleaded no contest in a child abuse case, said Thursday it would "review the decision."

Earl Lloyd, the first black player to appear in an NBA game, died Thursday at age 86. Lloyd's first game was with the Washington Capitols on Oct. 31, 1950. "(Fans) would say stuff like, 'Go back to Africa,'" Lloyd told NBA.com. "And I'm telling you, you would often hear the N-word. That was commonplace. There were a lot of people who sat close to you who gave you the blues, man." The former West Virginia State star went on to win the 1955 championship with the Syracuse Nationals, and become one of the NBA's first African-American coaches.

The $150,000, pearl-decorated dress worn by actress Lupita Nyong'o to the Oscars ceremony on Sunday has been reported stolen from a Hollywood hotel, local police said Thursday. The Kenyan actress won an Academy Award for best supporting actress last year for her role in 12 Years a Slave. This year she wore the custom-made Calvin Klein Collection dress by Francisco Costa when she served as a presenter. Her representatives and the London West Hollywood hotel, where the alleged theft occurred, had no immediate comment.

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.