10 things you need to know today: August 13, 2013

1. BULGER CONVICTED IN BOSTON MOB KILLINGS

Notorious Boston mobster James "Whitey" Bulger was convicted Monday of a host of gangland crimes, including 11 murders. Bulger terrorized South Boston in the 1970s and 1980s, but fled and evaded capture for 16 years after a corrupt FBI agent warned him he was about to be indicted. Authorities caught up with Bulger, 83, in 2011. He was living in a Santa Monica, Calif., retirement apartment, with a stash of weapons and $822,000 in cash. He is expected to spend the rest of his life in prison. [Reuters]

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2. JUDGE ORDERS CHANGES TO NEW YORK'S STOP-AND-FRISK POLICY

A federal judge ruled Monday that New York City's controversial stop-and-frisk policy was resulting in unconstitutional racial profiling, delivering a blow to Mayor Michael Bloomberg's legacy as a crime buster. Judge Shira Scheindlin appointed a federal monitor to oversee the program to ensure that it doesn't unfairly target black and Latino men. A combative Bloomberg said the policy had saved lives, and warned that weakening it could have deadly consequences. [New York Daily News]

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3. NORTH CAROLINA VOTER ID LAW FACES COURT CHALLENGE

North Carolina Gov. Patrick McCrory (R) signed the state's controversial new voter ID law on Monday, calling it a common-sense measure that will prevent voter fraud. The law was immediately challenged in court by civil rights groups, which argue that the law will suppress voting by Democratic-leaning young black and Latino voters, who are most likely to lack sufficient ID. [CBS News]

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4. MUSK REVEALS HYPERLOOP DESIGN DETAILS

Elon Musk, the chief executive officer of Tesla Motors Inc. and Space Exploration Technologies Corp., on Monday revealed some of the details on his next big transportation dream — the solar-powered, supersonic Hyperloop. Musk said the system, which would send passengers in pods through tubes at up to 800 miles per hour, would be cheaper and faster than California's proposed high-speed rail system, theoretically zipping people from Los Angeles to San Francisco in as little as 30 minutes. [Bloomberg]

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5. LONDON BARS COMPANY FROM TRACKING PEOPLE WITH HIGH-TECH TRASH CANS

London officials on Monday ordered an advertising firm to stop using a network of high-tech trash cans capable of tracking people in the city's financial district through their smartphones. The Renew ad firm had not said how it planned to use the system, but it might have allowed the company to target people with commercials based on their habits or who they were — sending different messages to locals and tourists, for example. Privacy advocates called the system creepy and intrusive. [Associated Press]

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6. STUDY LINKS INDUCING LABOR TO AUTISM RISK

Pregnant women who have their labor induced or sped up artificially are slightly more likely to bear a child with autism, according to a study published Monday in the journal JAMA Pediatrics. The authors say that didn't mean induction caused autism. The increased risk probably stems from an underlying problem with the pregnancy that made it necessary to jump-start labor, says lead author Simon Gregory of the Duke Institute of Molecular Physiology. [USA Today]

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7. BOOKER EXPECTED TO WIN TODAY'S N.J. SENATE PRIMARY

New Jersey voters go to the polls Tuesday in a primary election to choose the general election candidates to fill the late Democrat Frank Lautenberg's Senate seat. Newark Mayor Cory Booker is expected to easily win the Democratic primary. He holds a 37-point lead over his nearest challenger in the polls, and has a 54 percent to 29 percent edge over the favored GOP candidate, Steve Lonegan, in the Oct. 16 special general election. [Reuters]

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8. CALIFORNIA LETS TRANSGENDER STUDENTS PICK BATHROOMS AND SPORTS TEAMS

California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) signed a law on Monday making his state the first in the nation to allow transgendered students to choose which school bathrooms to use. The law also lets the students decide whether to join boys' or girls' sports teams based on their gender identity. Activists said the law would protect students from discrimination, but some parents opposed it. "Just because they're confused doesn't mean they have to confuse everybody else," one woman said. [CNN]

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9. ACKMAN LEAVES PENNEY BOARD

Activist investor William Ackman has resigned from the board of struggling retailer J.C. Penney, the company said Tuesday. Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital Management is Penney's biggest investor, had been locked in a battle with fellow directors and Penney executives over the company's future. His critics said he was the one who endangered the company's turnaround efforts by pushing changes, including disposing of discounted sales, that alienated the company's core customers. [New York Times]

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10. JUDGE DISMISSES RACIAL DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT AGAINST DEEN

A federal judge in Georgia on Monday threw out the racial discrimination claims a former employee had made against embattled celebrity chef Paula Deen. The ex-employee, Lisa Jackson, claimed in a suit that she had been subjected to sexual harassment and racism at a Savannah restaurant co-owned by Deen and her brother Bubba Hiers, but the judge said Jackson had no grounds to make the race claim because she, like Deen, is white. The sexual harassment claims remain open. [ABC News]