10 things you need to know today: April 29, 2015

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1. Police and soldiers swarm Baltimore to prevent further rioting
2. Justices split sharply over gay marriage
3. Bali Nine executed in Indonesia despite clemency pleas
4. Man pulled from rubble in Nepal after 80 hours
5. Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders reportedly plans run for president as Democrat
6. Missing schoolgirls not among girls rescued from Boko Haram camp
7. NFL drops its tax-exempt status
8. Gov. Jerry Brown pushes $10,000 fine for California's worst water wasters
9. Jack Ely, Kingsmen lead singer who made Louie, Louie famous, dies at 71
10. An American in Paris and Fun Home lead Tony nominations

By Harold Maass, The Week US

published 29 April 2015

1. Police and soldiers swarm Baltimore to prevent further rioting

Thousands of police and National Guard troops patrolled Baltimore to enforce an overnight curfew to prevent further rioting over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who suffered a fatal injury in police custody. Police arrested 10 people, but said the curfew was working. On Monday, 20 officers were injured, and more than 250 people were arrested. President Obama said there was "no excuse" for the violence and looting, which he said distracted from the message of peaceful protesters.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday heard oral arguments on whether same-sex couples have a constitutional right to get married. Liberal and conservative justices appeared sharply divided — Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. asked whether groups of four people should have the right to marry, and Justice Stephen Breyer said marriage was a fundamental freedom for all couples. Justice Anthony Kennedy asked lawyers on both sides tough questions. A ruling is expected in late June or early July.

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Australia withdrew its ambassador in protest after Indonesia executed eight convicted drug traffickers from several countries early Wednesday despite calls for clemency from around the world. Two Australians identified as leaders of the so-called Bali Nine — Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan — were among the inmates shot dead by firing squad, punishment Indonesia justifies as crucial to its drug war. The execution of Mary Jane Veloso, a Philippine woman caught in 2010 carrying heroin in her suitcase, was delayed.

Rescuers pulled a 28-year-old man out of a collapsed apartment building in the Nepalese capital of Katmandu on Tuesday, after he spent 80 hours trapped in the rubble after Saturday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake. "It seems he survived by sheer willpower," said Akhilesh Shrestha, a doctor who treated him. The death toll has risen past 5,000 in Nepal — with about 100 more dead in India and China — but storms are hampering search and rescue crews. Nepalese government officials have said the death toll could reach 10,000.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) plans to run for the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination, according to multiple reports. The news was first reported by Vermont Public Radio. Sanders, 73, is technically an independent, but caucuses with the Democrats. He had previously hinted at a presidential run and is expected to make a formal announcement Thursday. If he does, he will become the second official Democratic candidate in the 2016 race, after Hillary Clinton.

The Nigerian army rescued about 200 girls and 93 women from Boko Haram militants on Tuesday, but said none of the more than 200 girls abducted in April 2014 from a school in Chibok were among them. The rescue took place at a Boko Haram camp in the Sambisa Forest, a stronghold of the Islamist extremist group in northeastern Nigeria not far from Chibok. The plight of the Chibok schoolgirls has attracted worldwide attention. Dozens escaped but 219 are still missing.

The NFL is dropping its tax-exempt status, which critics in Congress had said was depriving the government of millions in annual taxes. Houston Texans owner Robert McNair, chair of the league's finance committee, said in a Tuesday statement that the league's 32 football teams have always paid taxes, and the league office's status had become a "distraction." One result of paying taxes is that the NFL will no longer have to reveal Commissioner Roger Goodell's compensation, which has exceeded $30 million in recent years.

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) said Tuesday that he wants to hike the maximum penalty for the most egregious cases of wasting water from $500 to $10,000 as the state tries to conserve water in a historic drought. The recommendation is part of a proposal to expand enforcement of water restrictions aiming to slash water consumption by as much as 36 percent. "We've done a lot. We have a long way to go," Brown said after a meeting with mayors from 14 cities.

Jack Ely, who sang the iconic 1963 hit Louie, Louie, died Tuesday at his home in Oregon. He was 71. Ely was just 20 years old when, as lead singer of The Kingsmen, he crowded into a Portland recording studio with his bandmates and shouted the unintelligible lyrics of the Richard Barry song, which would make such a mark that bands from the Beach Boys to Nirvana would record their own versions. The FBI investigated complaints of lewd words in Ely's version, but concluded it was "unintelligible at any speed."

An American in Paris and Fun Home led this year's Tony Award nominations, which were released Tuesday. An American in Paris is a dance-driven adaptation of the 1951 Oscar-winning movie; Fun Home is a chamber musical based on Alison Bechdel's autobiographical novel. Both got 12 Tony nods. Something Rotten, a satire about the world's first musical, set in Elizabethan England, was not far behind with 11 nominations. All three are in the running for the coveted award for best new musical, the prize with the biggest impact on box office sales.

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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.