Dorothy Abernathy, The Associated Press bureau chief for West Virginia and Virginia, shares the 10 things you need to know Friday, March 7, 2014. Look for full stories on these late-breaking news items, upcoming events and stories in West Virginia newspapers.
1. HOW OBAMA IS PUSHING BACK AT PUTIN IN UKRAINE STANDOFF
The U.S. president is imposing sanctions against Moscow and rejecting a referendum on the future of Russian-occupied Crimea.
2. SOME SENATORS WON’T STOP TRYING TO TAKE SEX CASES AWAY FROM MILITARY COMMANDERS
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand says the defeat of her bill won’t be the last attempt to put serious sexual crimes in the hands of seasoned military trial lawyers.
3. WHERE THE LATEST FIGHTERS IN THE SYRIAN WAR ARE COMING FROM
Sunnis and Shiites are streaming in from Lebanon to fight over a rebel stronghold at the countries’ border.
4. WHO IS BEHIND BITCOIN
Dorian S. Nakamoto, the man Newsweek claims is the founder of the digital currency exchange, denies he had anything to do with its creation.
5. NEW YORK CITY INMATES REPORT VIOLENT ENCOUNTERS WITH GUARDS
Nearly a third of Rikers Island inmates had suffered a blow to the head, a tactic that is supposed to be a guard’s last resort.
6. NEW TEXAS ABORTION LAW CLOSES MORE CLINICS
The last clinic in the vast, impoverished Rio Grande Valley closed today, along with the sole remaining clinic in the 100-mile stretch between Houston and the Louisiana border.
7. SILICON VALLEY BOOM CREATES WEALTH GAP
The river of money flowing through this 1,800-square-mile California peninsula has driven housing costs to double in the past five years while wages for low- and middle-skilled workers are stagnant.
8. WHAT DOES EL NINO MEAN FOR US WEATHER WOES
The warming is expected to lead to fewer Atlantic hurricanes and more West Coast rain next winter, and even a milder winter for the nation’s frigid northern tier next year, meteorologists say.
9. WITNESS TELLS HOW PISTORIUS PRAYED OVER GIRLFRIEND’S BODY
“I shot her. I thought she was a burglar. I shot her,” the double-amputee runner’s neighbor recalled him saying.
10. BARBIE CAN `BE ANYTHING,’ INCLUDING A GIRL SCOUT SYMBOL
That’s the message the group’s spokesman says it is sending despite criticism from consumer advocates about its association with the doll.
