10 things you need to know today: June 12, 2012

This 1982 photo shows Lindy Chamberlain and her husband Michael the day a coroner ordered her to face a charge of murdering her 10-week-old daughter Azaria, reversing an earlier coronial verd

(Image credit: Bettmann/CORBIS)

last updated 8 January 2015

1. AVERAGE FAMILY NET WORTH PLUNGES 40 PERCENT

According to a Federal Reserve study released Monday, the net worth of the average American family plummeted almost 40 percent from 2007 to 2010, from $126,400 to $77,300, a level not seen since the early '90s. Much of the drop is attributed to crashing housing prices. The median family income also fell during the same period, from $49,600 in 2007 to $45,800 in 2010. "It fills in details to a picture that we already knew was quite ugly, and these details very much underscore that," economist Jared Bernstein, a former adviser to Vice President Joe Biden, says of the survey. "It makes clear how devastating [the economic crisis] has been for the middle class." [Reuters]

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A coroner in Australia has brought closure to a 32-year-old case that attracted international attention, finding that a dingo did indeed take 9-week-old Azaria Charmberlain from her parents' tent at a campsite near Ayers Rock decades ago. A 1981 inquest into the incident also put the blame on a wild dog, but an inquest the following year charged the baby's mother, Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton, with murder and the father with being an accessory after the fact. That decision was eventually overturned, but only after Chamberlain-Creighton had served more than three years in prison. After a third inquest in 1995, the baby's cause of death was left as open. The case inspired a 1988 film, Cry in the Dark; Meryl Streep played Chamberlain-Creighton. [Associated Press]

The White House announced late Monday that Commerce Secretary John Bryson will take a medical leave of absence. Bryson caused two car accidents in Southern California on Saturday and was cited with a felony hit-and-run. The Commerce Department says he had suffered a seizure and had "limited recall" of the accidents. Bryson will now undergo medical tests. Thus far in the investigation, police say there are no signs that drugs or alcohol were involved. [CBS/Associated Press]

On Tuesday in southeastern Arizona, voters will decide who will serve the six remaining months of Gabrielle Giffords' term; the Democratic congresswoman resigned from her position after she was injured in a 2011 shooting. The special election pits Ron Barber, a Democrat and former aide to Giffords who was also injured in the shooting, against Jesse Kelly, a retired Marine who lost to Giffords in 2010 by a narrow margin. The closely watched race is seen as an indicator of the political climate heading into November. [Washington Post]

According to the United Nations' annual report on children and armed conflict around the world, Syrian government forces and their allies have killed, maimed, tortured, and sexually abused children as young as 9 years old, and even used them as human shields. It's the first time Syria has been included on the annual so-called "list of shame," which documents governments and armed groups that brutalize children. [Associated Press]

At its Worldwide Developers' Conference Monday, Apple debuted its new mobile mapping service. Apple's maps will replace Google Maps on iPhones and iPads with the release of iOS 6 in the fall. Mapping is one of the most popular functions on smartphones, and iPhones and iPads have thus far come preloaded with Google Maps. The upcoming change signals the increasingly bitter rivalry between Google and Apple as the mobile industry evolves. [Reuters]

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