Gun control — All but ending chances for an assault weapons ban, Democratic leaders said Tuesday the firearms legislation the Senate will debate next month won’t include the provision that gun-control advocates pressed for after an assault-type weapon was used in the Newtown school shootings in December.
Rand Paul on immigration — Republican Sen. Rand Paul said Tuesday that illegal immigrants should be allowed to become U.S. taxpayers and ultimately get a chance to become citizens, a significant step for the Tea Party favorite amid growing Republican acceptance of the idea. “Let’s start that conversation by acknowledging we aren’t going to deport" the millions already here, the potential 2016 presidential candidate told the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce.
Marine deaths — A mortar shell explosion killed seven Marines and injured a half-dozen more during mountain warfare training in Nevada’s high desert, prompting the Pentagon to immediately halt the use of some of the weapons worldwide until an investigation can determine their safety, officials said Tuesday. The explosion occurred Monday night at the Hawthorne Army Depot, a facility used by troops heading overseas.
Cyprus bailout — Cypriot lawmakers on Tuesday rejected a critical draft bill that would have seized part of people’s bank deposits in order to qualify for a vital international bailout, with not a single vote in favor. The rejection leaves Cyprus’s bailout in question. Without external funds, the country’s banks face collapse and the government could go bankrupt.
Ohio shooting verdict — Wearing a T-shirt with “killer" scrawled across it, a teenager cursed and gestured obscenely as he was given three life sentences Tuesday for shooting to death three students in an Ohio high school cafeteria. T.J. Lane, 18, had pleaded guilty last month to shooting at students in February 2012 at Chardon High School, east of Cleveland. Investigators have said he admitted to the shooting but said he didn’t know why he did it.
Foiled Florida attack — The student behind a foiled attack plot at a Florida university was working off a checklist that included plans to get drunk, pull a fire alarm and then “give them hell," authorities said Tuesday. James Oliver Seevakumaran was crossing items off his list ahead of his planned attack his classmates with guns and homemade explosives, University of Central Florida Police Chief Richard Beary said at a news conference.
Syria conflict — The Syrian government and Syrian rebels traded accusations about a lethal attack in the northern province of Aleppo on Tuesday, in which each side in the country’s ongoing conflict said the other had used chemical weapons. But neither side presented clear documentation, and two U.S. officials said there was no evidence to suggest that any chemical weapons had been used.
Michigan shooting verdict — A 75-year-old Detroit-area woman was convicted of second-degree murder on Tuesday for shooting her teenage grandson six times during an argument last spring. Sandra Layne’s trial was not about whether she pulled the trigger last spring at her home in West Bloomfield Township. It boiled down to whether she would be convicted of first-degree murder or a lesser charge, or cleared based on self-defense.
Daniel Pearl killing — Pakistani security forces in Karachi have arrested a militant in connection with the murder of Daniel Pearl, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was abducted 11 years ago in that southern port city and beheaded, officials said Tuesday. Qari Abdul Hayee, who is affiliated with the extremist group behind a wave of recent deadly attacks targeting Shiite Muslims, was captured Sunday by a paramilitary unit known as the Sindh Rangers.
Northeast storm — Snow and sleet blasted the Northeast on the last full day of winter Tuesday, closing schools and turning roads into a slick mess that got the Harlem Globetrotters’ bus into a minor accident. Some places were looking at well over a foot of snow by the end of a storm that commuters hoped would be the last.
Sanford’s congressional bid — Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford advanced Tuesday to a runoff in the Republican contest for an open congressional seat along the state’s southern coast, a major step in his bid for a political comeback. In early returns on Tuesday evening, it was unclear who Sanford would face in the April 2 GOP runoff. Fifteen other Republicans were running, including Teddy Turner, the son of media mogul Ted Turner. Tuesday was Sanford’s first political race since disappearing while governor in 2009 and then returning to admit an affair with an Argentine woman. They are now engaged.
— From wire reports
