Shortly after the United States indicted 14 people on corruption charges related to world cup soccer, Swiss prosecutors announced their own investigation. They say they are looking into allegations of criminal mismanagement and money laundering related to the world cup events that will be held in Russia and Qatar. Russia’s foreign ministry immediately blamed the United States, saying the arrests of Fifa officials appear to be “the latest case of illegal extraterritorial application of U.S. laws”. The ministry says it hopes the investigation will not be used to cast a shadow on Fifa and its decisions. Corey Flintoff, NPR News, St. Petersburg. 

 

The state of Nebraska has abolished the death penalty, the first conservative state to do so in more than 40 years. As the legislature defied its Republican governor, voting to override Governor Pete Ricketts’s veto of a bill to ban capital punishment, which he strongly supports. Nebraska joined 18 others states along with the District of Columbia in banning the death penalty. 

 

The Department of Defense says it’s accidentally shipped live anthrax spores to several commercial labs. As NPR’s Jeff Brumfield reports, the government is investigating what went wrong. 

The anthrax came from the army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah, which conducts bio-security research. The samples were apparently sent to labs in nine states as part of ongoing efforts to develop field tests for anthrax. Tests are usually conductive with dead samples of anthrax and an investigation is now underway to learn why live samples were sent instead. Anthrax are highly infectious bacteria that can travel through the ear and infect people. So far the Pentagon says it appears nobody has become sick from the mistake. It has suspended all shipments of biological agents from its labs until an investigation is completed. Jeff Brumfield, NPR News, Washington. 

 

Former Republican Senator Rick Santorum is making another run for the White House, announcing today he’s ready to do this again, outlining some if his ideas.

“Step one in taking back America. Step one, let’s scrap the corrupt federal tax code and the IRS that goes with it.”

He lost the GOP nomination in 2012 to Governor Mitt Romney. The 57-year-old announced his candidacy in Cabot, Pennsylvania near his hometown. So far there are seven declared Republican presidential candidates. 

 

Wall Street higher by the closing bell. The Dow up 121 points to close at 18,162. The Nasdaq up nearly 1.5%, gaining 73 points to close at 5,106. The S&P500 up 19. 

 

This is NPR. 

 

In Houston, at least six people are dead, two others missing after flooding from severe storms ravaged the city. Officials also ordered the evacuation of around 350 houses west of Fort Worth because of a swollen river expected to flood the area. And more than 100 people are still searching for bodies along the Blanco River in central Texas and forecasters say more rain is expected overnight.

 

Broadway saw a record-breaking season according to the Broadway League, its industrial group. Jeff London has more. 

The books are closed on the 2014-2015 season, and the statistics are impressive. Broadway had its best year yet-- close to $1.4bn were spent on tickets and over 13mn people attended Broadway shows, an increase of over 13% in the last two years alone. The Broadway League credits a healthier economy and more visitors to New York City. Tourists account for 70% of Broadway audiences. The season will officially be celebrated with the Tony Awards on June 7th. For NPR News, I’m Jeff London in New York.

 

Up to 11 named storms are predicted this year and that’s less than average. Kathryn Sullivan is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She says six of the 11 storms are expected from tropical up to hurricane with sustained winds of around 39 miles an hour. 

“Driving the outlook this year most importantly is the El Nino Phenomenon, which has developed in the Pacific Ocean and is expected to last through the end of the calendar year.”

And she says up to six of those storms will develop into hurricanes.