Grand jury won’t get Martin case Grand jury won’t get Martin case ADVERTISING ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A grand jury will not look into the Trayvon Martin case, a special prosecutor said Monday, leaving the decision of whether to charge
Grand jury won’t get Martin case
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — A grand jury will not look into the Trayvon Martin case, a special prosecutor said Monday, leaving the decision of whether to charge the teen’s shooter in her hands alone and eliminating the possibility of a first-degree murder charge.
That prosecutor, Angela Corey, said her decision had no bearing on whether she would file charges against George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watch volunteer who has said he shot the unarmed black teen in self-defense. Corey could still decide to charge him with a serious felony such as manslaughter, which can carry a lengthy prison sentence if he is convicted.
A grand jury had been set to meet Tuesday in Sanford, about 20 miles northeast of Orlando.
Corey has long had a reputation for not using grand juries if it wasn’t necessary. In Florida, only first-degree murder cases require the use of grand juries.
Corey’s decision means she doesn’t have to rely on potentially unpredictable jurors, said David Hill, an Orlando criminal defense attorney.
“Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt. Maybe she knows there isn’t enough for first-degree murder but she wants to maintain control and charge him with something else,” Hill said. “What does she need a grand jury for? She cuts out the unpredictability of the grand jury. She goes where she feels she has more evidence.”
Three found slain at Minn. day care
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. (AP) — A mother who had a suspicious feeling after she dropped off her toddler at a home day care Monday returned to the house a few minutes later to make a grisly discovery: three adults inside, shot dead.
The woman’s child was unhurt and no other children were at the day care at the time. Police had made no arrests by Monday evening and were seeking a suspect in his mid-20s, believed to have fled on a BMX bicycle.
“It’s a tragic day for the city of Brooklyn Park,” Brooklyn Park Police Chief Michael Davis said. “We are going to bring whoever is responsible for this to justice.”
Two nearby community colleges were locked down for several hours after the shootings were reported at 6:30 a.m. Both had re-opened by Monday afternoon, after police spent the day canvassing the area and using police dogs to search for the suspect.
Dow has lowest closing in month
NEW YORK (AP) — Investors had a three-day weekend to brood over disappointing job growth in March. When they got back to work Monday and delivered their verdict, it wasn’t good.
Stocks closed sharply lower, sending the Dow Jones industrial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500 index to only their second four-day losing streak this year.
The Dow finished down 130.55 points at 12,929.59, its first close below 13,000 since March 12. The S&P ended the day off 15.88 points at 1,382.20. The Nasdaq composite closed down 33.42 at 3,047.08.
The Dow and S&P had four consecutive trading days of declines at the end of January, but the losses then were smaller. The Dow lost 124 points over that stretch. It has lost about 330 this time.
Stocks had their best first quarter since 1998 but have stumbled in April. Last week, the Federal Reserve suggested that it is disinclined to take further steps to help the economy, and the European debt crisis flared in Spain.
Facebook paying $1B for Instagram
NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook is spending $1 billion to buy the photo-sharing company Instagram in the social network’s largest acquisition ever.
On the surface, that’s a huge sum for a tiny startup that has a handful of employees and no way to make money.
But the lack of a business model rarely dampens excitement about hot tech upshots these days. As Facebook has shown, itself without ads or revenue in its early days, money goes where the users are.
Instagram lets people share photos they snap with their mobile devices. The app has filters that can make photos look as if they’ve been taken in the 1970s or on Polaroid cameras. Its users take photos of everything from their breakfast egg sandwiches to sunsets to the smiling faces of their girlfriends.
In a little more than a year, Instagram attracted a loyal and loving user base of more than 30 million people. Apple picked it as the iPhone App of the Year in 2011.
Instagram’s fans, brand recognition and its potential are difficult to put a price tag on. Yet Facebook has — and can afford it. The company is preparing for an initial public offering of stock that could value the company at as much as $100 billion in a few weeks. What’s $1 billion? A drop in the bucket, really.
”Facebook after this IPO is going to be in a position to be predatory. They can make sure no one steps in their way and buy anyone who gets in their way,” said Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter, who follows social media.
Pitt campus on
edge amid threats
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Dozens of bomb threats at the University of Pittsburgh, including at least four on Monday, have made professors start holding classes outside and forced security officials to put in new building access measures and offer a $50,000 reward for information.
Some students “are definitely afraid,” said Brian Haughwout, a junior who had one of his final exams changed to a take-home because of the disruptions.
“But I think just shutting down the university would be a mistake,” he said, adding that’s probably what the person making the threats wants.
The threats began in mid-February, at first targeting a landmark building at the center of campus. But in recent weeks numerous buildings have been threatened. Four threats had been made by mid-afternoon Monday, starting at about 4 a.m.
Student Dawn Diehl, said it wasn’t until a few days ago that the bomb threats started to affect her in terms of “my feelings of security.”
