In the news

President Barack Obama planned to sign an executive order today increasing the minimum wage for federal contractors to $10.10, the White House said, a move that affects a few hundred thousand workers.

Hugh Jackman, best known as Wolverine in The X-Men movie franchise, will host the Tony Awards ceremony, which will be held June 8 at New York’s Radio City Music Hall, the producers of the event announced.

Gabrielle Giffords, the former Democratic lawmaker from Arizona severely injured in a 2011 mass shooting, and her husband, Mark Kelly, are collaborating on the book Enough: Our Fight to Keep America Safe from Gun Violence.

Jay Inslee, the Democratic governor of Washington state, said he was suspending the use of the death penalty in his state for as long as he’s in office.

John Walsh, 53, a Montana Democrat, was sworn in by Vice President Joe Biden as the newest member of the Senate and replaces Max Baucus, who was tapped by President Barack Obama to serve as ambassador to China.

Pascal Tessier, an openly gay 17-year-old in Maryland, achieved the rank of Eagle Scout, just weeks after the Boy Scouts of America lifted its ban on gay youths.

Frank Almond, 50, the concertmaster of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra who was robbed last month of a 300-year-old Stradivarius violin on loan to him, said the recovered $5 million instrument has some cosmetic damage but is otherwise fine.

Michael Skakel, 53, the Kennedy cousin who was released from prison in Connecticut last year after he was granted a new trial in the 1975 slaying of neighbor Martha Moxley, received approval to have a GPS tracking device moved from his ankle to elsewhere on his body while he attends his son’s ski competition.

Jose E. Reyes, 17, and a 16-year-old boy each face a capital-murder charge, accused of sexually assaulting and killing Corriann Cervantes, a 15-year-old suburban Houston girl, in a satanic ritual, a prosecutor said.

Ruben James Turner III, 30, a homeless man who spent the night sleeping in the back of a Portland, Ore., patrol car left unlocked and then couldn’t get out, was arrested and booked on charges of criminal mischief, criminal trespass and unlawful entry into a motor vehicle.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 02/12/2014

Upcoming Events