As you walked by the yellow finish line painted on Boylston Street near where one of the bombs went off two years ago, William Abbott summarized what a lot of people are feeling about the Tsarnaev verdict. 

“I don’t think it came as any surprise.”

Especially given that Mr. Tsarnaev’s defense attorney admitted in the opening statement that her client did it. All throughout the trial the focus has been on setting the stage for the sentencing phase. Some, like college student Jackie Roper, are against the death penalty. 

“But, if, I would have changed my mind. This would definitely be the cause to do that.”

The jury will now hear evidence on whether Tsarnaev should get the death penalty or spend the rest of his life in prison. For NPR News, I’m Craig LeMoult in Boston. 

 

The family of a black man killed by a white police officer during a traffic stop in North Charleston, South Carolina Saturday plans to sue. A passerby caught the incident on a cellphone video. It shows officer Michael Slager shooting at a fleeing Walter Scott eight times before Scott falls to the ground. Chris Steward is the Scott family’s attorney. 

“Although it’ll be a massive civil law suit file, because what we all so so hate this and so painful. Out of those eight shots, five hit him. Two were kill shots.”

The officer was fired today after being charged with murder. He’s being held without bond. 

 

The number of Ebola cases in West Africa has dropped to the lowest level in more than a year. NPR’s Jason Beaubien reports only 30 new cases were documented last week. 

The World Health Organization says that for the third straight week Liberia reported zero Ebola cases. Sierra Leone and Guinea both saw significant drops in new cases from the week before. Things have improved so much in Liberia and Sierra Leone that plans have been drawn up on how to decommission surplus Ebola treatment units. The situation in Guinea, however, remains complex. Guinea still has the highest number of cases with 21 reported last week and they were spread out across the country. Many of the cases in Guinea are being identified only after the person’s died and most troubling for stopping transmission of the virus, the WHO says, unsafe burials of Ebola victims continue in Guinea at an alarming rate. Jason Beaubien, NPR News.   

 

In Yemen hostility among the country’s many armed factions is intensifying even as Saudi-led airstrikes continue to target Shiite Houthi rebels. U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter says the presence of al-Qaeda on the Arabian Peninsula is growing and they too oppose the Houthis. 

 

On Wall Street today, the Dow rose 27; the Nasdaq was up 40. 

 

This is NPR.

 

A huge merger in the energy industry, Royal Dutch Shell, has agreed to buy Britain’s BG Group for nearly $70bn in cash and stock. Energy companies are looking to become more efficient as oil prices plummet and combining businesses may help. 

 

Millionaire murder suspect Robert Durst will be staying in Louisiana for a while even though he’s wanted in California for murder. From member station WWNO, Eileen Fleming reports he’s now been indicted by a grand jury in New Orleans on weapons charges. 

 

California has wanted Robert Durst back to face a murder charge ever since his arrest last month in Orleans. An FBI agent recognized Durst and police seized a loaded gun, cash and a map of Cuba from his hotel room. Attorneys for the real estate heir say the seizure was illegal because there was no warrant issued. The attorneys also want to return him to California where they can fight charges that he killed his friend Susan Berman in 2000. The Orleans Parish indictment delays the extradition. Durst was the subject of an HBO documentary series, The Jinx, in which he was recorded off camera murdering what could be interpreted as a confession. For NPR News, I’m Eileen Fleming in New Orleans. 

 

The National Football League has hired its first full-time female ref. Forty-one-year-old Sarah Thomas will wear the black-and-white striped jersey as a line judge for the 2015 season. Thomas has broken barriers before. She was first female to officiate a high school game in Mississippi, the first woman to officiate college games and the first to work a bowl game.