An economic reckoning

March 10, 2016 - Daily News Briefing

As the US economy improves, many voters are moving out of survival mode and asking who was to blame for the Great Recession.

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Despite a Democratic filibuster of more than 30 hours, Republican lawmakers in the Missouri State Senate were able to advance a proposal that would strengthen protections for people opposed to same-sex marriages based on religious beliefs. The bill, which passed through the Senate Wednesday, would be forwarded to the Missouri House following another vote in the Senate before being put before the state’s voters. The proposed law marks further pushback in the debate over religious freedom in the wake of last year's US Supreme Court Obergefell v. Hodges ruling that effectively legalized same-sex marriage across the United States.

Law enforcement officers responsible for shooting Robert "LaVoy" Finicum, a protester who was involved in the occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge in Oregon, are under fire for their handling of the violent confrontation. Two Federal Bureau of Investigation agents who were at the scene of Mr. Finicum’s shooting death are under investigation for failing to disclose that they fired two shots at the man. And the shooting itself is being criticized by Finicum’s relatives, despite a county prosecutor’s assessment that the shooting was justified.

North Korea caused a new stir Wednesday by publicizing a purported mock-up of a key part of a nuclear warhead, with leader Kim Jong-un saying his country has developed miniaturized atomic bombs that can be placed on missiles. The North's Rodong Sinmun newspaper carried photos on its front page showing Kim and nuclear scientists standing beside what outside analysts say appears to be a model warhead part — a small, silverish globe with a ballistic missile or a model ballistic missile in the background.

Following a disappointing delay in December, NASA has revived plans to launch the InSight Mars lander to the red planet. The space agency's InSight mission (short for Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport), is still alive, with a targeted launch date of May 5, 2018, according to a release from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The window to send craft to Mars opens roughly every two years.

Indonesians and tourists alike celebrated the country’s first total solar eclipse in more than three decades on Wednesday, although the view was spoiled by cloudy conditions for some skywatchers. Indonesia has been promoting the eclipse in hopes of boosting tourism there, an industry that saw around 10 million visitors to the archipelago last year. The eclipse ended up bringing in thousands of astronomy aficionados and casual observers, who were also greeted with music festivals and markets linked to the celestial event.

A natural gas explosion rocked a Seattle neighborhood early Wednesday, sending nine firefighters to the hospital and reducing businesses to rubble. Crews were responding to reports of a natural gas leak when the explosion happened along the main thoroughfare of the city's Greenwood neighborhood, just north of downtown, Seattle Fire Department spokeswoman Corey Orvold said.

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