The Republican-led senate voted 67-32 in favor of the USA Freedom Act. Minority leader Harry Reid praised the bipartisan bill. 

It makes it so that people feel more secure about the intelligence operation we have going on in this country. 

The big loser in this fight pitting national security conservatives against civil libertarians was majority leader Mitch McConnell, who voted against the measure.

It does enhance the privacy protections of American citizens, and it surely undermines American security by taking one more tool from our warfighters, in my view, at exactly the wrong time. 

Bulk collection of phone records is to continue six months. After that, investigators will have to get specific data from the phone companies with warrant. 

DW, NPR News, Washington. 

 

 

A college friend of Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev publicly apologized today for hiding key evidence from authorities. NPR's TS reports that the now 21-year-old will be sentenced today to 6 years in prison for his crimes. 

Dias Kadyrbayev says he's been thinking for two years about what he calls a stupid decision to take Tsarnaev's backpack and computer from his dorm and threw some of it in a dumpster. He did that and texted Tsarnaev about it even as the FBI was pleading for help in identifying the bombing suspects. The judge called it repugnant, and said the sentence should send a message about obstructing terrorism investigations. This month, three other friends will also be sentenced on similar charges and Tsarnaev himself will be formally sentenced to death in three weeks. 

TS, NPR News at federal court in Boston. 

 

 

Lawmakers say they want answers from Japanese airbag maker Jakata about defective airbag inflators that prompted one of the largest safety recalls in US history. The faulty inflators that caused the bags to expand with too much force are now blamed for half a dozen deaths and more than 100 injuries worldwide. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration official Mark Rosekind says his agency is concerned about one thing at this point. 

All of these actions focus on achieving one main goal, the only acceptable goal, a safe airbag in every American vehicle. 

Jakata last month agreed to declare 33.8 million airbags defective on top of millions of others. 

 

 

It's not clear whether Greece will agree to it but it made the international lending group say they come up with the proposed cash-for-reform deal presented to the debt-plagued country. Greece and its creditors have been in a standoff for months on $7.2 billion worth of loans for the country to remain under a current bailout program. 

 

 

Stocks closed modestly lower today. The Dow was down 28 points at 18,011, the Nasdaq fell 6 points, the S&P dropped 2 points. 

 

 

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The federal prosecutors today told members of a jury in New Orleans a former BP executive lied to federal investigators when he explained how he came up with flow estimates from a 2010 oil rig explosion that sent crude oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico. Defense attorney today encountered by saying prosecutors are trying to convict DR based on an interview conducted nearly a year after the spill. He also questioned what reason R would have to lie. The case could go to the jury as soon as the end of this week. 

 

 

A woman known as the mother of folk music has died. Jean Ritchie was the leading figure in the folk revival in the 1950s and 60s. She was 92. NPR's EB has this remembrance. 

Jean Ritchie was raised on the old mountain ballads (a poem or song narrating a story in short stanzas) of his native Kentucky. 

All in the merry month of May when the green buds they were swelling. 

Her crystalline voice and dulcimer playing caught Alan Lomax, who reported her for the Library of Congress. She was a regular at the Newport Folk Festival, and recorded more than 40 albums. 

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Ritchie, her parents, and 13 siblings are all singers. Jean Ritchie died Monday at her home in Berea, Kentucky. EB, NPR News. 

 

 

While heading retailer Walmart plans to raise minimum wages for its workers, many labor advocates say the company still needs to do more. While Walmart early said it's committed to increasing minimum wages for around 500,000 of its employees to $10 an hour, union officials say that still falls well short of what workers need in order to raise families.