“Out of due care for the family, the citizens, the police officers, I set a date, not the mayor. I set a date to get this done. I was communicating clearly I wanted a sense of urgency on this case to get the results out there.”

Grace suffered a critical spinal injury and died a week later. His death sparked rioting earlier this week in Baltimore, has led to protest marches in other major cities including New York, Philadelphia and Washington D.C. Tensions have eased somewhat in Baltimore with an overnight curfew in effect and police and National Guard troops out on the streets.  

 

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is getting into Democratic race for president. As NPR’s Mara Liasson explains, he’ll be taking on the party’s frontrunner from the left.

Hillary Clinton now has one official challenger—Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders. He calls himself a Democratic Socialist and he’s the longest serving Independent in congressional history. His website says “paid for by Bernie, not the billionaires”. Today he said his issues will be climate change, campaign finance reform and the disappearing American middle class.

“How does it happen that the top 1% owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%. And my conclusion is that that type of economics is not only immoral, it’s not only wrong, it is unsustainable. It can’t continue.”

Sanders says he thinks the questions about Clinton’s ethics are fair game, but he will not be airing any negative ends against her. Mara Liasson, NPR News, Washington. 

 

Legislation tightening restrictions on government surveillance cleared the House Judiciary Committee today. As NPR’s David Welna reports, the measure ends the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records (that) were revealed nearly two years ago by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. 

Under the so-called USA Freedom Act, the National Security Agency could no longer hold Americans’ phone records in bulk; instead, it would have to get specific court-ordered records from the phone companies. Wisconsin Republican Jim Sensenbrenner sponsored the measure.

“For years the NSA has collected our phone records. Yet it cannot point to a single attack that bulk collection has stopped. ” 

But California Democrat Zoe Lofgren notes that other laws still allow collections of records without a warrant.

“I want to be clear that while I do believe this bill makes meaningful reforms, it doesn’t stop the bulk collection.” 

The bill is competing with a Senate GOP bill extending bulk collection for five years. David Welna, NPR News, Washington. 

 

Sale off on Wall Street appears to have picked up speed as the session wound down today. The Dow was down 195 points at 17,840. The Nasdaq closed down 82 points. 

 

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A volcano in Chile that erupted twice last week has been sending a new cloud of ash and gas into the sky today. The Calbuco Volcano that spewed upwards of 200 million tons of ash clouding nearby towns and villages continues to be unstable. The geologists are warning about the risk of a new eruption. Calbuco is one of those most active volcanoes along a chain of about 2,000 in Chile. TV pictures show a thick grey plume rising into the sky hitting southeast over the Andes in neighboring Argentina. A 12-mile exclusion zone around the volcano has been in place since it erupted earlier in the month. 

 

A NASA spacecraft has crashed into the surface of the closest planet to the Sun – Mercury. NPR’s Geoff Brumfiel reports researchers are saying goodbye.

The Messenger spacecraft was the first ever orbit Mercury. For four years it endured blustering temperatures and intense solar radiation. After finally running out of fuel, it plunged into the far side of the planet. Larry Nittler was a senior scientist on the robotic mission.

“I’m sad this little intrepid robot of ours has worked under tremendously difficult circumstances.” 

In the years before it died, Messenger sent back maps, pictures and measurements. They showed Mercury as a planet not unlike Earth, but its proximity to the Sun has left it a charred desert world. Geoff Brumfiel, NPR News. 

 

British luxury carmaker Aston Martin, despite James Bond’s automaker of choice, announced today it’s raised up worth of $307m in an equity issue. That money is expected to go towards moving the 102-year-old car company into production of crossover models. The company says it expects global demand for its luxury sports cars to stay strong this year.