10 things you need to know today: July 19, 2013

The former Packard Plant is seen on February 24, 2013 in Detroit. It&#039;s been shuttered since the &#039;50s.

(Image credit: J.D. Pooley/Getty Images)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. DETROIT FILES RECORD BANKRUPTCY PETITION

Detroit on Thursday became the largest U.S. city in history to file for bankruptcy. The city is at least $14 billion in debt, and could owe as much as $20 billion. Detroit was once the nation's industrial powerhouse and the cradle of the U.S. auto industry. It fell into financial ruin over decades, as auto manufacturing declined and residents moved away, reducing the city's population — and tax base — from 1.8 million in 1950 to 700,000 today. [New York Times]

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.

A Massachusetts police photographer on Thursday released photos of the capture of Boston Marathon bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev in response to Rolling Stone's controversial cover featuring a dreamy self-portrait of Tsarnaev, 19. Sgt. Sean Murphy said the magazine's image glamorized terrorism, while the ones he sent Boston Magazine — showing Tsarnaev, hands up, with the red dots of sniper rifles lighting up his bloody forehead — showed "the real Boston bomber." Murphy, who was not authorized to release the photos, was suspended for one day and faces an internal investigation. [Boston Magazine]

Russia unexpectedly released opposition leader Alexei Navalny on bail on Friday, a day after he was sentenced to five years in prison for embezzlement. The move was seen as a response to protests by thousands of supporters who called the anti-corruption campaigner's conviction a transparent attempt by President Vladimir Putin to silence him. Navalny, 37, will have to stay in Moscow, but he declared his provisional release, while he appeals, a victory for the people. [Reuters]

Panama has detained a former CIA station chief convicted in absentia for the 2003 abduction of a terror suspect in Italy, according to the Italian justice ministry. Robert Seldon Lady was CIA chief in Milan when cleric Osama Moustafa Hassan Nasr was captured under the controversial U.S. extraordinary rendition program, which critics say led to torture. Italy, which sentenced the now-retired Lady to nine years, had requested his arrest. [Associated Press]

Trayvon Martin's parents — Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin — on Thursday said they were "stunned" that a jury found George Zimmerman not guilty of murdering their son. Fulton, in her first TV interview since the verdict, said she had expected Zimmerman to be convicted of manslaughter, at least. Zimmerman says he shot the unarmed black teenager in self-defense. Martin's father, asked if race played a role, said, "I think that if Trayvon had been white, this wouldn't have... happened." [Today]

Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a controversial abortion law on Thursday, effectively banning abortion in Texas after 20 weeks of pregnancy. Perry called a special legislative session so his fellow Republicans could pass the bill after Democratic state Sen. Wendy Davis ran out the clock in the last session with a filibuster. After Perry signed the law, GOP lawmakers proposed another bill seeking to ban abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected — as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. [CBS News, Raw Story]

Matt Sandusky, an adopted son of convicted child molester and former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, has asked a court for permission to change his name. Matt Sandusky, 33, said last year that Jerry Sandusky, who was convicted of sexually assaulting 10 boys over 15 years, had abused him, too. Victims in other cases have sometimes asked for a new name, especially when the abuser was a relative. [Huffington Post]

A man who had hoped to testify in the trial of alleged Boston mob boss James "Whitey" Bulger was found dead in Lincoln, Mass., this week. Stephen Rakes, 59, had waited for decades to tell a court how Bulger allegedly stole ownership of his family's liquor store. Rakes learned this week he had been dropped from the prosecution's witness list. Police found no signs of trauma on Rakes' body, which a jogger found next to a walking trail, but investigators say the death is suspicious. [Boston Globe]

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd took what he called a "very hard-line decision" to stop an influx of boat people. His government now plans to send the refugees to Papua New Guinea. Rudd is under pressure to stem the flow of asylum seekers — many from Afghanistan, Iran, and Sri Lanka — arriving in leaky boats from Indonesia. The move is expected to please conservatives, but anger Rudd's allies, who note that impoverished Papua New Guinea's reputation for lawlessness. [Wall Street Journal]

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.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox