The jury took seven days to find Hernandez guilty of first degree murder. The victim, Odin Lloyd, was dating the sister of Hernandez’s fiancée. The defenses are trying to argue Hernandez was targeted by police because of his fame as a Patriots tight end. District Attorney Thomas Quinn said that wasn’t true and it didn’t factor into the verdict. 

“The fact that he was a professional athlete made nothing in the end. He is a citizen who is held accountable by the jury for his depraved conduct.”

Odin Lloyd’s bullet-riddled body was found in an industrial park near Hernandez’s home in June of 2013. Aaron Hernandez still faces charges in an unrelated 2012 double murder in Boston. For NPR News, I’m Craig LeMoult. 

 

Capitol police say a man who landed a small single-seat helicopter on the West Lawn of the Capitol today has been taken into custody. A bomb squad was also brought in to secure the area despite the fact authorities later said no explosives were found. Police say the pilot of what is technically known as a gyro copter was taken into custody after it landed, and it also resulted in a brief lockdown of the Capitol and nearby street closings. The FAA says the pilot was not in contact with air traffic controllers and did not have permission to enter restricted air space. He could face civil and criminal charges. 

 

At her campaign stops in Iowa this week, Hillary Clinton is seen stay tuned to her policy prescriptions. Now she is mostly talking in broad strokes. As NPR’s Tamara Keith explains, she said she was open to something that has largely been a Republican idea. 

When Republican Senator and presidential candidate Ted Cruz talks about repealing Obama care, he says one alternative would be allowing people to buy insurance across state lines. At a roundtable discussion in Newark, Iowa, one small business owner asked Hillary Clinton whether she thinks that approach could bring down costs. And she didn’t dismiss it.

“If we are going to have a free market system, then we need a free market, where we’ve got people competing on cost and quality and that may be one of the things we need to look at.”

Clinton said she is still working on specific proposals for improving the affordable care act as well as plans in other policy areas. Tamara Keith, NPR News, Des Moines, Iowa. 

 

Further downgrading of Greece’s credit rating, ratings agency Standard and Poor’s today pushing the country’s rating further into junk status, citing what it calls the country’s unsustainable financial commitments without what it called deep economic reforms. Credit ratings agency downgraded Greece from B- to CCC- with a negative outlook. 

 

Stocks moved higher today. That’s as investors continued to wade through first-quarter earnings numbers. The Dow was up 75 at 18,112. The Nasdaq gained 31 points.

 

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Secretary of State John Kerry says he remains confident a deal can be reached with Iran on that country’s disputed nuclear program. Speaking in Germany today, Kerry was with his counterparts of the so-called group of seven industrial powers. The G7 says it plans to discuss the recent announcement by President Obama he’s agreed to sign legislation, giving Congress the right to sign off on what’s negotiated. 

 

Music sales fell overall internationally last year, but sales of digital music rose 7%. NPR’s Neda Ulaby reports that’s the first time digital has matched global CD sales. 

2014 was stilled with the kind of catchy songs you want to listen to immediately.

“Because you know, I’m all about that bass, about that bass…”

That one by Meghan Trainor. Prose happy, music by Taylor Swift, John Legend and the frozen soundtrack added up to $15bn worldwide in revenue. Still according to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, both sales of CDs and downloads dropped. But revenue from Spotify and other online streaming services went up 40% just last year. People often buy more music online in the U.S. since 2011, but this is the first time digital seen a slight edge in the worldwide music economy. Neda Ulaby, NPR News. 

 

According to organizers, it was expected to be one of the biggest mobilization of U.S. workers ever planned protests across the country today by fast-food workers as well as airport workers and employees at discount chain Walmart. Organizers say the issue was a call for $15 an hour pay raise for fast-food employees as well as the ability to unionize. Protests are planned today in more than 230 cities across the U.S.