1. It’s not too late to take a sick day
Here we go: The United States and Germany play at the World Cup at noon ET, and a win or draw puts the Stars and Stripes in the knockout round. Expect nothing to get done at work for a couple of hours. (And even the hall monitors in HR understand.) NBC Sports has everything you need to know about the game, including the all-important tiebreaker scenarios.
Jurgen Klinsmann has a note for your boss:
2. Major decisions from Supreme Court as term nears end
The Supreme Court handed down two big rulings, one on cellphone privacy in the digital age and the other a probable death blow to Aereo, a television streaming service. More rulings are on the way today and perhaps Monday, including the most hotly anticipated decision of the term, a ruling about the birth-control mandate in the Affordable Care Act.
3. I’ll see you in court: What Boehner’s announcement means
House Speaker John Boehner says he’s taking President Barack Obama to court over an executive-branch power grab. The Brookings Institution says Obama issues executive orders at the slowest pace since the Grover Cleveland administration, so what’s going on here? Election-year politics, for one. Read more about the Republicans’ plans, and their chances of success, in POLITICS.
4. Flight 370 was probably flying itself
An Australian official says Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was probably flying on autopilot until it ran out of fuel. Authorities say they’re still not sure when the autopilot was engaged, and there is still no sign of the plane, three and a half months after it disappeared. Meanwhile, the often-criticized acting transport minister of Malaysia, the public face of the search for Flight 370, is out of a job. Read more in NEWS.
5. Powerful Iraqi cleric says Shiites will ‘shake the ground’
Muqtada al-Sadr, the firebrand Shiite cleric in Iraq — remember him? — is vowing that his supporters will “shake the ground” in the fight against the Sunni militants wreaking havoc across the country’s north. Sadr railed against “ignorance and extremism” and has issued a call for Shiite fighters to form brigades to beat back the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham. Read more in NEWS.
6. Gay marriage win at appeals court sets up fight ahead
The winning streak for gay-marriage advocates continues in the nation’s courts. A federal appeals court ruled Wednesday that a gay-marriage ban in Utah violates the 14th Amendment, the first time an appeals court has made such a pronouncement. A federal district court in Indiana issued a similar ruling. The issue is headed for the Supreme Court. Read more in NEWS.
… What’s trending today?
Vanderbilt University won the College World Series, its first national title in a men’s sport , by beating Virginia in the decisive Game 3. The Vanderbilt closer, Brian Miller, didn’t make an appearance in the game — but he did lock down another win. He got on one knee after the game and proposed to his girlfriend. She said yes.
