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February 26, 2016 - Daily News Briefing

New research confirms social media's mixed blessing. It connects people and galvanizes action but often spreads fear.

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Tornadoes tore through towns as far north as Pennsylvania, heavy snow canceled hundreds of flights in the Midwest and power outages left tens of thousands of residents from the Carolinas to New England in the dark as severe weather raked across a broad swath of the country for a third day. The storms Wednesday claimed at least a half-dozen lives, three of them in the tiny town of Waverly, Virginia, where a 2-year-old child and two men, ages 50 and 26, were killed during the storm, said Virginia State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller.

Apple Inc. on Thursday asked a federal magistrate to reverse her order that the company help the FBI hack into a locked iPhone, accusing the federal government of seeking "dangerous power" through the courts and of trampling on its constitutional rights. The filing represents Apple's first official response since the judge's order last week and builds upon arguments voiced by the company's chief executive and supporters. It marks the latest salvo in a court fight that could create meaningful precedent and establish new legal boundaries in the policy between national security and digital privacy.

A new court decision could change the way restaurants collect tips in some states. On Tuesday, a federal appeals court ruled businesses cannot collect tips from staff to split them among staff. Restaurants will no longer be able to collect tips from waiters or hosts and split them with cooks or dishwashers. The 2-1 decision by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a previous US Labor Department rule. The court declared the rule was consistent with Congress’s goal to make tips stay with the employees who received them.

A founding member of the anti-establishment House Freedom Caucus, Republican Congressman Matt Salmon of Arizona announced Thursday that he’s leaving Congress after his current term ends. Citing family as his top priority, Mr. Salmon wrote in a column for The Arizona Republic explaining the reasons for his departure after a collective 10 years representing Arizona in the House.

Transgender activists spoke with the governor of South Dakota this week as he weighs whether to sign or veto a bill that would determine which bathrooms and locker rooms transgender students are allowed to use. The conversation was prompted by a Sioux Falls nonprofit that requested the time to talk with Gov. Dennis Daugaard (R) after he said he had never met a transgender person. Several of the activists shared personal anecdotes and stories aiming to persuade the governor to veto the bill.

SeaWorld dropped a bombshell during an earnings briefing on Thursday, admitting that employees had posed as animal rights activists. The embattled theme park company posted the full statement online Thursday, saying it will end the practice of having employees pose as animal rights activists critical of the park. The decision is based on advice from a third-party company that completed a security investigation for SeaWorld, according to the press release.

Fear is an essential part of ecosystems, scientists found in a study published this week in the journal Nature Communications. Wildlife biologists and ecologists have already confirmed fear’s cascading effects down the food web among smaller animals like spiders and crabs. But this study published by Liana Zanette, a biology professor at the University of Western Ontario, and PhD student Justin Suraci, confirms that the fear induced by large carnivores is a necessary component of healthy ecosystems.

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