Now the juror is suing to lift a lifetime gag order that prevents members of the grand jury from speaking publicly about the case.
The federal suit filed today names St. Louis County Prosecutor Robert McCulloch as the defendant, because he would be the person to bring charges against a grand jury member who violated the gag order. The member is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Missouri, which says the juror wants to weigh in on the national conversation on race.
'That's who they were. They were risk takers'
Two U.S. ski team developmental athletes were killed in an avalanche today. Ronnie Berlack, 20, of New Hampshire, and Bryce Astle, 19, of Utah, were skiing off trail with four others in an area of Soelden, Austria, where the U.S. team's European training base is located. Berlack and Astle were buried by the avalanche; the other four were able to ski out. "It's our worst nightmare come true," head coach Sasha Rearick told USA TODAY Sports. Berlack's father, Steve Berlack, said he is "still sort of numb" over the news of his son's death, but he's "not bitter." His son died doing what he loved, he said. "That's who they were. They were risk takers."
Get ready to love your weatherman even more
Your weather forecast is getting an upgrade. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said today that the forecasting power of top U.S. weather supercomputers will leap tenfold this year thanks to a $45 million upgrade that should put it near the head of the class alongside the rival European system (yes, a supercomputer arms race is happening). If you want to know the difference between our current top computer model and Europe's, all you need to do is look at Hurricane Sandy. In 2012, our model forecast showed the powerful storm spinning harmlessly out to sea, while the European model — correctly, as it turned out — showed it making a direct hit on the East Coast.
This is why the Dow had such a bad day
Investors have high expectations for the stock market in 2015, but stocks haven't gotten off to the best start this year. The Dow closed Monday's session with a loss of more than 330 points. What's going on? Many analysts are blaming falling oil prices. But there are more factors at play: 1) Today the euro fell to its lowest level against the U.S. dollar in nearly a decade. 2) Net negative credit balances that investors have in their brokerage accounts have reached record levels and are now starting to raise concerns about overuse of margin debt among ordinary account holders. 3) With potential short-term interest-rate hikes coming as soon as later this year, paying interest on margin debt could become a much bigger burden.
Key update in hunt for AirAsia Flight 8501's black box
It looks like a search vessel located the tail of AirAsia Flight 8501, which is where the crucial black box voice and data recorders are located. Indonesian authorities haven't confirmed the discovery yet. Bad weather has hampered search efforts for the plane, which plunged into the water on Dec. 28 with 162 people aboard. So far, 37 bodies have been recovered. Also today, Indonesia announced sanctions against airport officials who allowed the flight to take off without proper permits from Surabaya, Indonesia, bound for Singapore.
There aren't enough facepalms in the world to adequately relay this tragedy that happened on Twitter over the weekend.
This is how cold it was today.
Real Housewife Teresa Giudice started serving her 15-month sentence for tax fraud today. People reports that she could be assigned to a job scrubbing toilets or washing dishes.
There's etiquette for everything. Here's some on reclining your seat in-flight.
Stop getting trigger happy with the copy/paste. This 'copyright' Facebook message is a hoax.
ICYMI: Jury selection began today in the Boston Marathon bombing trial.
If you want to keep up with all the buzz from CES this year, we've got you covered.
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