Two students were injured, one critically, in a Maryland school shooting
The two teens were shot in a hallway of Great Mills High School, just before first period began. They were shot with a semiautomatic handgun.
Authorities say the shooter, identified as 17-year-old Austin Wyatt Rollins, died at a medical center a few hours after the shooting. He was shot by the school resource officer on duty, though at this time it’s unclear if he died from that shot or a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
An eighth grader interviewed after the incident said she wasn’t surprised by the shooting: “What’s happening with Parkland and all that, I just expect it to happen.”
It has been 35 days since the shooting at a Parkland, Florida, high school in which 17 people died.
The suspect in the Austin package bombings has died
Police say he died in an explosion after a shootout early this morning. The suspect, described as a 24-year-old white male, killed himself by detonating an explosive while still in his car as SWAT team officers approached on foot after a pursuit along Interstate 35.
This story is developing. We’ll have more for you as the day goes on.
The backlash to the Cambridge Analytica scandal is widening
The company is at the center of an international scandal for improperly obtaining access to data on 50 million Americans via Facebook. Cambridge Analytica boasts it played a key role in Trump winning the election — we’ll come back to that in a second.
First of all: Facebook is in trouble. The attorneys general in New York and Massachusetts are demanding that Facebook hand over information on the alleged misuse of the data.
But also: Cambridge Analytica’s CEO is in trouble. He was suspended by the firm’s board after was he caught on tape secretly bragging about how one of its strategies is to entrap its clients’ opponents with sex workers.
What did Cambridge Analytica do with the data? Glad you asked. Cambridge Analytica says it uses a method called "psychographic" profiling to understand behavior. It’s understood the data helped it build these profiles. The firm’s CEO brags that it “profiled the personality of every adult in the United States of America — 220 million people.”
What does that look like in action? We examined ads by Make America Number One, a pro-Trump super PAC that used the services of Cambridge Analytica. These 27 ads were “dark posted,” which, in English, means they don’t show up on a page’s public timeline, only on the timelines of users the post is targeted to reach.
What we found was that the ads — which aggressively attacked Hillary Clinton on themes of corruption — were targeted at very specific audience segments, and had impressive engagement.
How are people responding? Many people don’t trust Facebook with their data anymore. If you’re one of them but you’re not ready to delete your account, here’s how to limit the information you give it.
The US has been involved in Yemen’s war for years. The Senate passed on changing that.
The US has been backing the Saudi-led coalition in Yemen’s bloody civil war, and not casually — the military has been providing intelligence, munitions, and logistical support, including midair refueling, to the Saudis.
That support is not going to end soon: A bipartisan group of senators tried to pass a resolution that would have forced the withdrawal of any US forces from Yemen not involved in fighting al-Qaeda or its affiliates. That resolution did not pass.
Their argument was that the Constitution states that only Congress can authorize the US to engage in war. The Pentagon says the support the US has been providing is “non-combat support” and it complies with the law.
The Saudi-led coalition has been responsible for two-thirds of more than 10,000 civilian deaths in Yemen since 2015, according to the United Nations.
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Quick catch-up
Nikolas Cruz’s brother: Police have involuntarily committed Zachary Cruz, the 18-year-old brother of the suspected Parkland school shooter, for a mental health evaluation in an effort to prevent him from owning a gun. This came one day after he was arrested on suspicion of trespassing onto the grounds of the high school where his brother allegedly killed 17 people.
Trump affair claims: A former Playboy model who says she had a 10-month affair with Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit to be released from a 2016 agreement to stay silent. Like adult film actor Stephanie Clifford, better known as Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal is arguing that her contract to not discuss her alleged relationship with Trump is invalid.
Congratulating Putin: Republicans criticized Trump for congratulating Vladimir Putin on winning reelection. “An American president does not lead the Free World by congratulating dictators,” Sen. John McCain said.
Another storm coming: It’s the first day of spring, but the East Coast apparently didn’t get the memo as it readies for the fourth winter storm in a month.
Imagine if you couldn’t remove your credit card information from Uber or Lyft
That’s exactly what happened to our reporter Venessa Wong.
She received a suspicious text with an “Uber code,” so she feared someone was trying to hack into her Uber account. She opened the app to remove her credit card information. But Uber wouldn't let her.
Lyft wouldn't allow her to delete all her credit cards from within its app either. The company says if your account is hacked, customer support can help you remove all your card information.
Last year’s massive Equifax breach affected 148 million people. It made it clear for many that no one is safe from identity theft. Read Wong’s account of trying to figure out which tech companies would let her remove her own information.
Baristas are sharing the most ridiculous coffee orders they’ve ever gotten, and it’s nuts
Thirty pumps of syrup. “This is the coffee of a woman who craves death” was one reaction that summed it up appropriately.
Starbucks baristas are sharing insane orders on Twitter that they have had to make for customers, and I challenge you to read them without your teeth hurting.