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4-4 split in the Supreme Court

The vacancy left in the Supreme Court by Justice Antonin Scalia’s death helped liberals win a case in the court on Tuesday. The court split 4-4, which helped an appeals court’s decision to allow unions to continue to collect fees from non-members.

Before Scalia’s death, it was widely believed that the decision would end 5-4 in favor of the conservative viewpoint to end the union practice, according to ABC News.

More: Scalia’s vacancy leads to tie

 

Bernie Sanders sweeps Saturday primaries

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won three states in his Democratic campaign for president on Saturday: Washington, Alaska and Hawaii. These wins were expected for Sanders, who has done better in the western part of the United States, where the lower percentage of black and Latino voters is in his favor.

Also in Sanders’ favor, according to The New York Times, are young voters and caucuses, which was the voting method in both Washington and Alaska.

The next primary battleground for both Republicans and Democrats is on April 5 in Wisconsin.

More: Sanders wins three states

 

Bomber strikes Pakistan

A suicide bomber in Lahore, Pakistan, killed 72 people, many of whom were women and children, in a park on Easter Sunday. The attacker was part of a splinter group of the Pakistani Taliban.

More than 341 other people were injured in the attack, according to CNN. Reports say the attacker was intentionally targeting Christians.

More: 72 dead in Lahore

 

California is first state to establish $15 minimum wage

California, the largest state in the nation, became the first to raise its statewide minimum wage to $15 on Monday. The change will be fully implemented by 2022, according to USA TODAY.

This move will increase the wages of 6.5 million Californians.

New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo is also looking to implement a $15 minimum wage across the state. His plan would call for statewide implementation by 2021.

More: California raises minimum wage

 

F-16 fighter jet crashes

An F-16 fighter jet crashed in Afghanistan on Tuesday morning after the pilot safely ejected. Medics are examining him, according to ABC News.

The crash happened near Bagram Air Field just after takeoff. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

More: Crash in Afghanistan

 

Final Four teams are decided

The Final Four of the NCAA Men’s Tournament was decided on Wednesday and will include Syracuse University, the University of Oklahoma, the University of North Carolina and Villanova University.

SU won in a major upset over the University of Virginia on Sunday. The Orange is only the fourth double-digit seeded team in history to make it to the Final Four.

Oklahoma and Villanova defeated the University of Oregon and the University of Kansas, respectively, on Saturday. After SU’s game on Saturday, North Carolina shut down the University of Notre Dame’s run.

More: The Final Four is decided

 

New report outlines dire climate change

A paper published Tuesday by former NASA scientist James Hansen warned of much harsher consequences of climate change than have previously been reported.

Hansen’s team said potential disintegration of ice caps could cause severe flooding of major coastal cities and lethal storms, according to The Guardian. The research has been controversial, but Hansen is considered the father of modern climate change science.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, an arm of the United Nations, has predicted more conservative estimates, estimating that sea levels could rise one meter by 2100 if changes are not made.

More: Climate report makes new predictions

 

Officials said they have unlocked iPhone

The United States Department of Justice reported Monday that it would no longer need Apple to unlock an iPhone used by a San Bernardino attacker. The department has withdrawn its legal actions against the tech company, according to The New York Times.

For months, Apple has refused to help the U.S. government, claiming that unlocking the iPhone would jeopardize the privacy of all its users. The government still has to decide whether it will disclose the technique it used, which lawyers for Apple have said they would request.

More: Government withdraws Apple case

 

Bosnian war criminal gets 40 years in prison

Radovan Karadzic, nicknamed the “Butcher of Bosnia,” was found guilty of genocide and other war crimes on Thursday. He was sentenced to 40 years in prison, according to CNN.

The 70-year-old was found responsible for his role in the Srebrenica massacre, where Bosnian Serbs under his command executed more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim males.

Karadzic is the highest-ranking political figure to be convicted over crimes committed during the ethnic conflicts in former Yugoslavia.

More: Radovan Karadzic sentenced

 

Islamic State leader killed in airstrike

The Pentagon announced Friday that American forces in Syria had killed a top commander of the Islamic State, according to The New York Times. The original plan was to capture the leader, Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli.

United States Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter said Qaduli was a top financier for IS. The announcement came three days after IS bombed Belgium.

More: American forces kill IS leader

Published on March 30, 2016 at 7:55 am

Contact Delaney: dovanwey@syr.edu