Good morning! On this date in 1862, Abraham Lincoln signed the Compensated Emancipation Act, freeing around 3,000 slaves in DC. Nine months later, he would go on to sign the Emancipation Proclamation.
Stat of the day: 92 percent — the share of Yemenis suffering from symptoms of PTSD, according to forensic psychologist Peter Schaapveld, who attributes the findings to US drone strikes. (Via: Rolling Stone.)
War on terror? –> CNN’s Peter Bergen and New America Foundation researcher David Sterman write at CNN that (non-Muslim) right-wing extremists have killed more Americans on US soil since 9/11 than Islamic extremists. ALSO: Michael Daly reports for The Daily Beast that Frazier Glenn Miller, the white supremacist charged on Sunday with three murders at Jewish facilities outside Kansas City, had escaped a lengthy prison sentence for previous crimes by becoming a government witness.
On the brink –> Ukraine may be sliding into civil war. The Guardian’s Alex Luhn, Paul Lewis and Julian Borger have the latest developments.
Welfare and dependency –> A new study released by Americans for Tax Fairness estimates that Wal-Mart and the Walton family “receive an estimated $7.8 billion per year in tax breaks and taxpayer subsidies.”
It’s one planet –> A new study concludes that aerosol pollution in Asia is changing weather patterns in the US, according to National Geographic’s Brian Clark Howard.
Not big on democracy –> Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin signed a law that prohibits municipalities from setting a higher minimum wage or passing paid sick leave or mandatory vacation laws. Shadee Ashtari reports for HuffPo. A 2013 report by University of Oregon professor Gordon Lafer identified this kind of legislation as a key strategy developed by ALEC. (Lafer spoke to BillMoyers.com about that effort last November).
Don’t panic –> The Census Bureau is changing the way it measures the number of people who have health insurance. Obamacare’s proponents are worried that the new methodology will obscure the law’s successes — and its opponents are worried that it will hide the law’s failures — but at Vox, Sarah Kliff explains why it shouldn’t be a big deal.
Spending on defense –> The DoD announced this week that it will build a 20-megawatt solar power array in Arizona, its biggest solar project to date.
Profiling –> The controversial NYPD unit that spied on Muslims — creating “files on where people ate, prayed and shopped” — has been disbanded. Matt Apuzzo and Joseph Goldstein report for the NYT.
Those who forget the past… –> A good chunk of the town of West, Texas, was leveled in a fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people last year. Now its residents are looking for a new fertilizer plant, reports Lisa Maria Garza for Reuters.
Cowards write the Braves –> Baseball legend Hank Aaron’s recent comments about race in America have unleashed a torrent of nasty, racist hatemail, according to the Atlanta Braves. CBS has the story.
You should see the other guy –> Science Guy Bill Nye gives his own account of his debate with creationist Ken Ham for The Skeptical Inquirer.
Speaking of guns –> Take a look at some photos, courtesy of NBC, of the heavily armed “protesters” who came to Nevada to defend Cliven Bundy, the rancher who refused to pay to graze his cattle on public land because he doesn’t recognize the federal government.
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