Dorothy Abernathy, The Associated Press bureau chief for West Virginia and Virginia, shares the 10 things you need to know Wednesday, April 23, 2014. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items, upcoming events and stories in West Virginia newspapers.
1. SUPREME COURT DEALS BLOW TO AFFIRMATIVE ACTION
By a 6-2 majority, the court declares that state voters can outlaw using race as a factor in college admissions.
2. PRO-RUSSIAN GUNMEN HOLD AMERICAN JOURNALIST HOSTAGE
Vice News reporter Simon Ostrovsky was kidnapped in Ukraine’s eastern city of Slovyansk.
3. SOUTH KOREAN CAPTAIN’S IMAGE AT ODDS WITH HANDLING OF DISASTER
One colleague calls ferry Capt. Lee Joon-seok the nicest person on board. How did the man with a sterling reputation and glittering gold epaulets abandon a sinking ship full of teenagers?
4. CAIRO BOMB KILLS SENIOR SECURITY OFFICER
A brigadier general dies in the latest attack against Egypt’s police force.
5. WHERE OBAMA SEEKS TO LEVEL PLAYING FIELD
The president’s Asian tour aims to reassure partners about U.S. commitment to region, while balancing power of a more assertive China.
6. STOWAWAY WENT UNDETECTED FOR HOURS AT AIRPORT
Surveillance video shows teen who flew to Hawaii in wheel well of jetliner was on San Jose airfield seven hours before flight departed.
7. MICHIGAN MAN FOURTH IN US TO GET `BIONIC EYE’
After years of living with Robert Pontz’s blindness, a retinal prosthesis helps him see, prompting his wife to say something she never thought she’d say.
8. VATICAN SET TO CANONIZE REVOLUTIONARY PONTIFF ALONG WITH JOHN PAUL II
John XXIII, fondly remembered as the “Good Pope,” ushered in a modern Catholic Church in the 1960s.
9. WHY CALIFORNIA’S DEMOCRATS ARE DIVIDED
In the nation’s most populous and ethnically diverse state-the first to ban using race and ethnicity in college admissions-debate unfolds about reinstating affirmative action.
10. HOW A TWITTER REQUEST BY THE NYPD BACKFIRED
The city’s police department asked people to send their photos with officers using (hash)myNYPD. Many tweeted pictures of police brutality instead.
