10 things you need to know today: April 19, 2016

1. New York votes in crucial primaries

New Yorkers vote in their state's critical presidential primaries on Tuesday. The frontrunners, Republican Donald Trump and Democrat Hillary Clinton, are entering the contest with double-digit polling leads, and both need decisive victories. Trump needs 50 percent of the vote across the state to prevent Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Sen. Ted Cruz from getting some of New York's 95 delegates. Clinton is hoping a big win will douse Sen. Bernie Sanders' claim that his recent winning streak gives him "momentum."

Fox News Reuters

2. Supreme Court appears split on Obama's immigration order

The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday over a challenge to President Obama's executive action on immigration. The court appeared sharply split along ideological lines. Liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor said about 11 million immigrants are living "in the shadows" and are "here whether we want them or not." Justice Anthony Kennedy, frequently the court's swing vote, questioned whether the president can defer deportations, saying "that is a legislative task, not an executive task."

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

The New York Times

3. At least 5 die in historic Houston flooding

At least five people were killed in flash flooding in the Houston region on Monday. As much as 17 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours, and creeks rose as much as 20 feet. Emergency teams made more than 1,000 high-water rescues. Gov. Greg Abbott declared a state of disaster in nine counties. Flash-flood warnings covered more than 21,000 square miles, the largest such alert in a decade. The warnings were extended into Tuesday in some areas, as more thunderstorms loomed.

Houston Chronicle The Washington Post

4. Taliban claims responsibility for Kabul blast that kills dozens

At least 28 people were killed and hundreds injured in Kabul on Tuesday when a suspected car-bomb exploded near government offices and a bus stop. The Taliban claimed responsibility. Gunfire erupted after the blast, which occurred outside the Afghan government's Directorate of Security for Dignitaries, an elite security force that provides protection to senior government officials. A Taliban spokesman said "a truck full of explosives" was detonated before fighters went into the government compound.

The New York Times

5. Dow closes above 18,000 for the first time in 9 months

The Dow Jones Industrial Average on Monday jumped by more than 100 points to close above 18,000 for the first time since July. Stocks shook off an early decline blamed on a drop in oil prices following the failure of major oil producers to agree to a production freeze on Sunday at a meeting in Qatar. Health care and consumer discretionary stocks were among the big gainers. Shares of Walt Disney helped lift the Dow by jumping 2.5 percent after the debut of The Jungle Book beat expectations and led the box office.

CNBC CNN

6. Google wins court fight over book-scanning project

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear a challenge to Google's effort to scan millions of books into a digital library. The decision effectively ended a decade-long legal fight between Google and authors who called the project a "brazen violation of copyright law." Now that the high court won't weigh in, an October federal appeals court ruling, which favored Google and found that its scanning effort qualified as fair use, will stand.

The Washington Post

7. Ecuador's president warns of 'huge' economic impact as quake death toll rises

The death toll from Ecuador's powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake has risen to 413. President Rafael Correa said on Monday it will cost billions of dollars to rebuild areas destroyed by Saturday's quake and the economic impact "could be huge." Crumbled roads and port delays could slow exports of bananas, flowers, cocoa beans, and fish. The U.S. State Department confirmed that at least one U.S. citizen was among the dead, although it did not release the name of the victim.

NBC News Reuters

8. Pulitzer winners include Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda

Lin-Manuel Miranda, creator and star of the hit Broadway musical Hamilton, won the Pulitzer Prize for drama on Monday. The show features rap-battling founding fathers played by people of color. Other winners included The New Yorker's Emily Nussbaum for criticism, and Joby Warrick for his non-fiction work Black Flags: The Rise of ISIS. A joint Marshall Project-ProPublica team won for explanatory journalism on the search for a serial rapist, and the Los Angeles Times won for its breaking news coverage of the San Bernardino shooting.

Pulitzer Prizes Los Angeles Times

9. Actress Doris Roberts dies at 90

Actress Doris Roberts, best known for her role as meddlesome Marie Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond, died Sunday, a co-star, Patricia Heaton, confirmed Monday. She was 90. Roberts won five Emmy Awards, her first in 1983 for a guest appearance on St. Elsewhere, and the others for Everybody Loves Raymond. Roberts made her Broadway debut in 1955 in The Time of Your Life and appeared in her first film, Something Wild, in 1961. She also had guest roles on numerous TV shows, including Soap, All in the Family, Rhoda, Full House, Perfect Strangers, Desperate Housewives, and Grey's Anatomy.

Variety

10. Two Ethiopian runners sweep Boston Marathon

Ethiopian runners swept the men's and women's divisions of the Boston Marathon on Monday. Lemi Berhanu Hayle, 21, beat two-time champion Lelisa Desisa to take first among male runners, with an unofficial time of 2:12:45. Atsede Baysa, 29, took the lead in the women's division with only two miles to go, passing fellow Ethiopian runner Tirfi Tsegaye, and finishing in 2:29:19. The women's defending champion, Caroline Rotich, dropped out of the race after five miles.

CNN The New York Times