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Triple Murder Investigation Expands to Include Dzhokhar: ABC News: “Massachusetts investigators have developed what they call ‘mounting evidence,’ bolstered by ‘forensic hits,’ that point to the possible involvement of both Tamerlan Tsarnaev and his younger brother Dzhokhar in a gruesome, unsolved triple homicide in 2011, law enforcement officials told ABC News. The officials cautioned that until more definitive DNA testing is complete, it is still too early to consider bringing an indictment against the younger of the two brothers. … In the wake of the Marathon bombings, Middlesex County began to probe a link between the elder Tsarnaev and Brendan Mess, one of the three men killed in the gruesome slaying on Sept. 11, 2011. Officials said Mess and two men were found in a Waltham residence with their throats slit and their bodies covered with marijuana. Tamerlan and Mess were once roommates and did boxing and martial arts training together. … The officials also said records of cell phones used by the Tsarnaevs appears to put them in the area of the murders on that date.”
The Slatest: Tamerlan Tsarnaev’s Secret Grave Site Is a Secret No More
IRS Says It’s Sorry: New York Times: “The Internal Revenue Service apologized to Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations on Friday for what it now says were overzealous audits of their applications for tax-exempt status. Lois Lerner, the director of the I.R.S. division that oversees tax-exempt groups, acknowledged that the agency had singled out nonprofit applicants with the terms ‘Tea Party’ or ‘patriots’ in their titles in an effort to respond to a surge in applications for tax-exempt status between 2010 and 2012. She insisted that the move was not driven by politics, but she added, ‘We made some mistakes; some people didn’t use good judgment.’ … Republicans seized on the acknowledgement, demanding more information and adding it to a growing list of missteps by the Obama administration that they say prove political interference, from hiding the terrorist origins of the attack in Benghazi, Libya, to the demand for disclosure of donors to conservative ‘super PACs.’ “
Weigel: Tea Party Leaders Understandably Annoyed that the IRS Investigated Them
Moneybox: There Are Way Too Many Tax-Exempt Nonprofits in America
Hooray, it’s Friday! You made it; we all did. Welcome to the Slatest PM, follow your afternoon host on Twitter at @JoshVoorhees and the whole team at @slatest. You can also wish a fond farewell/good luck to Slatest all-star @abbyohlheiser, who is heading on over to the Atlantic Wire, which is lucky to have her.
The Slatest: One of the First Responders to the West Fertilizer Blast Has Been Arrested For Having a Pipe Bomb
No Human Remains in Cleveland: CBS News: “The FBI says it did not recover human remains in its search of a Cleveland house where a man is accused of holding three women captive for a decade. FBI spokeswoman Vicki Anderson says investigators have for now concluded their search at the house where the women were found earlier this week. Anderson said Friday that agents took more than 200 items from the house, though she wouldn’t discuss what was found.”
The Slatest: DNA Test Confirms Castro Is Father of Girl Born in Captivity
The New WTC: Associated Press: “A tall, heavy spire was fully installed atop One World Trade Center on Friday, bringing the New York City structure to its symbolic height of 1,776 feet. Loud applause and cries of joy erupted from construction workers assembled on a temporary work platform on the roof of the building as the huge, silver spire was gently lowered and secured into place. … Installation of the final two sections of the 408-foot, 758-ton spire was completed after pieces of it had been transported to the roof of the building last week. It will serve as a world-class broadcast antenna. The building is at the northwest corner of the site where the twin World Trade Center towers were destroyed in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The 72-story 4 World Trade Center is under construction at the southeast corner of the site.”
So Is It the Tallest in the Western Hemisphere? Wall Street Journal: “It depends how height is counted. If you ask the owners, yes. But it all depends on whether the 408-foot mast is considered a spire—an architecturally integral piece of the building—or an antenna, which would mean the building is just counted to its roof at 1,368 feet. The mast’s main architectural feature—a geometric white shell—was stripped from plans last year, leaving exposed the infrastructure that was not designed for public view. The Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat is the official arbiter, and they are set to rule when it’s completed.”
Some Rare Good News From the Rubble: Reuters: “A young Bangladeshi woman who spent 17 days buried alive under a collapsed garments factory was rescued on Friday when astonished workmen heard a voice calling ‘save me, save me’ from the rubble. Pale, drawn but seemingly unhurt, Reshma Begum was cut from the ruins and hoisted onto a stretcher to wild cheers in scenes that captivated a nation which had long given up hope of finding any more survivors. When the eight-storey building collapsed on April 24, Begum was trapped in a lightless, cell-like nook—alone, but alive. She managed to survive by taking sips from bottles of water buried with her. … The 45-minute rescue was broadcast live on television. Cameras captured hope lighting up the faces of rescue workers peering into the hole, before Begum was carried out.”
Mixup on Aisle 3: Associated Press: “Whole Foods Market Inc. said that labels on a chicken salad and those on a vegan version were reversed at some of its cold food bars in the Northeast. The mislabeled salads — a curried chicken salad and a vegan curried ‘chick’n’ salad — were sold in 15 stores in Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Jersey and New York, Whole Foods said. In some locations, the company said the salads were sold in the cold food bars where customers can scoop food into containers, which are then weighed at the register. In other locations, it said the salads were displayed in the prepared food sections behind glass. The salads were sold on Tuesday and Wednesday.”
A Few More Quick Hits From Slate’s Blogs—
- Future Tense: Carbon Dioxide in Atmosphere Hits 400 PPM for First Time in Human History
- Bad Astronomy: Coolant Leak on Space Station May Delay Return of Astronauts to Earth
- Future Tense: Five Useless Tips From the NSA’s Quaint, Hopelessly Outdated Guide to Internet Research
- Crime: Dumb Criminal of the Week: The Alleged Domestic Abuser Who Got Beat Up by Robbers
- Future Tense: Why the Tesla Model S Is Not the Best Car Ever Made—Yet
See you back here Monday. Until then, tell your friends to subscribe, or simply forward the newsletter on and let them make up their own minds.
