10 things you need to know today: September 6, 2015

(Image credit: Riccardo De Luca/Associated Press)

Jump to category:

1. Report: Hillary Clinton personally paid State Department staffer to maintain private server
2. Pope Francis calls on Europe to take in refugees
3. Hundreds rally to support Kim Davis outside Kentucky jail
4. New poll shows Bernie Sanders leading Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire
5. John Kerry cautions Russia not to up military support for Syrian president
6. Whole Foods fires security firm after armed guard allegedly assaults customer
7. Japan reopens town 4 years after Fukushima nuclear plant disaster
8. Spain race car crash kills 6 spectators
9. Rutgers boots 5 arrested football players from team
10. Philadelphia Eagles release Tim Tebow

published 6 September 2015

1. Report: Hillary Clinton personally paid State Department staffer to maintain private server

Democratic presidential frontrunner and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton personally paid a State Department employee to maintain her private email server, a campaign official anonymously told The Washington Post on Saturday. The Clintons paid Bryan Pagliano $5,000 for "computer services" before he started work at the department in May 2009, and continued to pay him separately during his employment. Pagliano has said he'd plead the Fifth in a congressional testimony.

Thousands of migrants, many fleeing conflict in Syria, streamed into Austria and Germany on Saturday and Sunday. The dangerous journey for refugees is made more difficult by European countries either refusing to take people in or severely limiting the number of people they'll accept. On Sunday, Pope Francis called on the Catholic community in Europe to help refugees flee "death from war and hunger." He said the Vatican's two parishes are taking in two families.

Subscribe to The Week

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

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

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.

About 300 people gathered outside the Carter County Detention Center in Grayson, Kentucky, on Saturday to support jailed Rowan County clerk Kim Davis, who is refusing to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples. Supporters rallied with signs like "No to Sodomite Perversion" and "Kim Davis for President." Davis, who has been jailed since Thursday, would be released should she choose to comply with the judge's order to issue the licenses. Her husband has said she'd stay in jail "as long as it takes."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) leads Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire, according to the latest round of NBC News/Marist polls. He nabbed 41 percent of Democratic support compared to Clinton's 32. Vice President Joe Biden, who has not entered the race, pulled in 16 percent. In July's poll, Clinton led Sanders by 10 points in New Hampshire. She remains ahead in Iowa. On the Republican side, the poll shows Donald Trump leading in both states.

Secretary of State John Kerry called his Russian counterpart Saturday with concerns that the Kremlin might step up military support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He told Sergey Lavrov, Russia's foreign minister, such a move could lead to "confrontation" with the American-led coalition, which has been bombing ISIS positions in Syria. The State Department said Russian airstrikes could interfere with U.S. ones or even target Syrian opposition groups the U.S. supports.

Whole Foods replaced the security firm at their Oakland, California, store on Saturday, two days after witnesses reported seeing an armed security guard assault a black customer who they say had not posed a safety threat. One witness wrote on Facebook she saw the man, who had been trying to pay with food stamps, slammed against concrete pillars, put in a chokehold, restrained, suffocated, and then thrown on the pavement. The victim is in stable condition at the hospital.

The Japanese government reopened the town of Naraha to residents Saturday, more than four years after a tsunami and earthquake struck the nearby Fukushima nuclear plant. Radiation is now at safe levels, the government said. Naraha is the first area town to reopen following the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl. More than half of the town's 7,400 residents say either they're not ready to return home yet or are still undecided.

Ten minutes before opening day kickoff, Rutgers University dismissed five football players from its program. They had already been suspended from the team by the athletics director following their Thursday arrests. Nadir Barnwell, Razohnn Gross, Ruhann Peelel, and Delon Stephenson were charged with aggravated assault, riot, and conspiracy to commit riot. Dre Boggs was charged with two counts of robbery, two counts of conspiracy to commit armed robbery, burglary while armed, and attempted burglary. After the dismissals, the Scarlet Knights trounced Norfolk State 63-13.

Explore More

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.