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Grand jury investigating Sen. Menendez

 
Published March 15, 2013

Washington

Grand jury investigating Sen. Menendez

A federal grand jury in Miami is investigating Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J., examining his role in advocating for the business interests of a wealthy donor and friend, the Washington Post reported, citing three people aware of the inquiry. Menendez has intervened in matters affecting the financial interests of Florida ophthalmologist Salomon Melgen, documents and interviews show. Also, Menendez's office has said he interceded with federal health care officials after they said that Melgen had overbilled the U.S. government for care at his clinic. As part of the grand jury investigation, the three people said, federal agents have questioned witnesses about the interactions between Menendez and Melgen, who contributed $700,000 last year to Menendez and other Senate Democrats.

Geneva

Physicists say they've found a Higgs boson

It helps solve one of the most fundamental riddles of the universe: how the Big Bang created something out of nothing 13.7 billion years ago. In what could go down as one of the great Eureka! moments in physics, — and win somebody the Nobel Prize — scientists said Thursday that they are confident they have found a Higgs boson, the elusive subatomic speck sometimes called the "God particle."

San Francisco

Journalist charged in hacking conspiracy

Federal authorities on Thursday charged a journalist with conspiring with the notorious hacking group "Anonymous" to deface a story on the Los Angeles Times' website a little more than two years ago. The federal indictment handed down in Sacramento accuses Matthew Keys of being a "terminated employee" of the Tribune Co. who gave hackers the information they needed to log in to the publisher's computer system in December 2010. A hacker identified only as "Sharpie" in the indictment is alleged to have used the information to alter a headline on a story to include a reference to a hacking group.

Elsewhere

Phoenix: A federal appeals court on Thursday threw out the convictions of Debra Jean Milke, who was sentenced to death in the notorious 1989 killing of her 4-year-old son, ruling that the case was tainted by a detective with a history of lying under oath.

Times wires