10 things you need to know today: April 20, 2016
Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton win New York primaries, charges expected in Flint drinking water crisis, and more
- 1. Trump and Clinton win big in New York primaries
- 2. Charges expected in Flint drinking water crisis
- 3. Obama arrives in Saudi Arabia at tense moment in U.S.-Saudi relations
- 4. Ex-NYPD officer gets no jail time in stairwell shooting case
- 5. Utah governor declares porn a 'public health hazard'
- 6. UnitedHealth pulls out of most ObamaCare exchanges
- 7. Transgender teen wins Virginia school bathroom appeal
- 8. Judge approves Ferguson reform agreement
- 9. Israeli convicted for murder of Palestinian teen
- 10. March was hottest on record
1. Trump and Clinton win big in New York primaries
Frontrunners Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton won commanding victories Tuesday in New York's presidential primaries. With 60 percent of the vote, Trump secured most of the 95 Republican delegates at stake in his home state, increasing his lead over Sen. Ted Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich and his chances of winning the nomination without a convention fight. On the Democratic side, Clinton's unexpectedly strong 58 percent to 42 percent win ended Sen. Bernie Sanders' winning streak. "Victory is in sight," Clinton said.
2. Charges expected in Flint drinking water crisis
Michigan Attorney General Bill Schuette will announce criminal charges on Wednesday connected to the Flint drinking water crisis, the Detroit Free Press reports, citing three sources familiar with Schuette's ongoing investigation. Two to four people are expected to face felony and misdemeanor charges. One is a city official who signed a document saying the homes the city tested all had lead service lines, a statement investigators say was false. Investigators believe city tests showed low lead levels because the homes most at risk — those with lead service lines — were not tested.
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3. Obama arrives in Saudi Arabia at tense moment in U.S.-Saudi relations
President Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday for what is expected to be a tense visit. The trip comes as Saudi officials express anger over the U.S.-backed nuclear deal with Saudi Arabia's regional enemy, Iran. Obama told Atlantic magazine's Jeffrey Goldberg that Saudi leaders must "share the neighborhood" with Iran. U.S.-Saudi relations risk worsening as Congress, over Obama's objections, considers a bill seeking to hold Saudi Arabia liable in U.S. courts for any role it played in the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
The New York Times The Wall Street Journal
4. Ex-NYPD officer gets no jail time in stairwell shooting case
Former New York City police officer Peter Liang was sentenced Tuesday to 800 hours of community service and five years of probation — with no jail time — in the 2014 fatal shooting of an unarmed black man, Akai Gurley. Liang was found guilty in February of official misconduct and manslaughter, but Judge Danny Chun reduced that to criminally negligent homicide. Chun said there was "no evidence" Liang knew Gurley was there when he became startled while patrolling a dark stairwell in a Brooklyn public housing project and fired.
5. Utah governor declares porn a 'public health hazard'
Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Tuesday signed a mostly symbolic resolution declaring pornography a "public health hazard." "We realize this is a bold assertion and there are some out there who will disagree with us," Herbert said at a Tuesday news conference. "We're here to say it is, in fact, the full-fledged truth." Resolution sponsor Sen. Todd Weiler (R) said, "We're not banning anything" with the non-binding resolution.
6. UnitedHealth pulls out of most ObamaCare exchanges
UnitedHealth Group announced Tuesday it plans to withdraw from federal health insurance marketplaces in all but "a handful" of the 34 states where it now participates. UnitedHealth is the nation's largest insurer, and its decision — which it telegraphed in November — shows how hard companies find it to make money in ObamaCare marketplaces. Analysts said other companies are unlikely to follow suit. UnitedHealth was slow to enter the exchanges, but other big insurers, such as Anthem and Aetna, have a greater proportion of their business to lose if they leave.
7. Transgender teen wins Virginia school bathroom appeal
A federal appeals court in Richmond ruled Tuesday that a transgender teen, Gavin Grimm, can sue his school board for discrimination for banning him from boys' bathrooms at his high school. In a 2-1 decision, the 4th Circuit Court reversed a lower court ruling upholding the ban. Judge Henry Floyd wrote that the district should respect the U.S. Education Department's policy of letting students use bathrooms matching their gender identity. The U.S. Commission on Civil Rights this week said bathroom bans recently approved in North Carolina and Mississippi could endanger transgender people.
8. Judge approves Ferguson reform agreement
A federal judge on Tuesday approved a reform agreement between the Justice Department and Ferguson, Missouri, calling it a "reasonable resolution" to racial bias in the city's police and court systems uncovered by a federal investigation. The Justice Department launched an investigation after the 2014 fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager, Michael Brown, by a white officer, Darren Wilson. The case sparked protests and helped fuel the nationwide Black Lives Matter movement.
9. Israeli convicted for murder of Palestinian teen
An Israeli judge on Tuesday found 31-year-old Yosef Haim Ben-David guilty of abducting and murdering a Palestinian teenager in 2014, rejecting the defendant's insanity plea. Ben-David and two teenage nephews grabbed Muhammad Abu Khdeir, 16, off the street near his East Jerusalem home and killed him in an apparent revenge attack after Palestinians abducted and fatally shot three Israeli teens. Ben-David said in a recorded re-enactment of the crime that he told his nephews to "finish him off" during a struggle. Prosecutors are asking for a life sentence.
10. March was hottest on record
Last month was the hottest March on record, according to data released Tuesday by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In fact, the first three months of the year were so far above the norm in 137 years of record-keeping that Gavin Schmidt of NASA's Goddard Institute of Space studies says there is already a "99 percent chance" that 2016 will set another annual record. March was the 11th straight month to set a record, and 15 of the 16 hottest years measured occurred this century.
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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.
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