News Wrap: Mexican forces capture Zetas cartel leader

In our news wrap Wednesday, Mexican authorities arrested Omar Trevino Morales, the head of the notorious Zetas cartel, during an early morning raid. Known as “Z-42,” Morales was wanted in both the U.S. and Mexico for drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder. Also, the Justice Department announced it won’t file charges against the officer who shot and killed Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.

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  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    President Obama's health care law hung in the balance today before the Supreme Court, at issue, whether tax subsidies to help pay premiums apply nationwide. Most states rely on a federally run insurance exchange.

    But the attorney challenging the law, Michael Carvin, said Congress meant to limit subsidies to states with their own exchanges.

    MICHAEL CARVIN, Lawyer for Plaintiffs: I obviously believe our case is very compelling, so I'm hopeful and confident that the court will recognize the merits of our statutory interpretation, and not let the IRS rewrite the plain language of the statute.

    Now that it's the law of the land, we need it to be neutrally and fairly interpreted. And that's exactly why we're here, to vindicate the rule of law.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    U.S. Solicitor General Donald Verrilli argued the government's case, with former acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal in support.

  • NEAL KATYAL, Former Acting Solicitor General:

    When the federal government runs an exchange, it is such an exchange, just like a state one, and should be eligible for the subsidies. And when Mr. Verrilli took the podium, I think you saw that heavily hammered, the idea that this isn't an ambiguous provision. This is a provision that everyone understood at the time to provide subsidies to both federal and state exchanges.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The high court is expected to decide the case in late June. We will look at today's arguments in detail after the news summary.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    There's new confusion over same-sex marriage in Alabama. Last night, the state's highest court ordered probate judges to uphold a ban on gay marriage, despite a federal court ruling that it's unconstitutional. Today, some counties stopped issuing licenses to gay couples.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The Justice Department confirmed today that it will not file civil rights charges in the killing of Michael Brown. His death last summer in Ferguson, Missouri, touched off national protests. Then-police officer Darren Wilson said he feared for his own life when he shot Brown, and today's report backed that account.

  • Attorney General Eric Holder:

  • ERIC HOLDER, Attorney General:

    I recognize that the findings in our report may leave some to wonder how the department's findings can differ so sharply from some of the initial widely reported accounts of what transpired.

    I want to emphasize that the strength and integrity of America's justice system has always rested on its ability to deliver impartial results.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The department also officially released a scathing report that found systemic racial bias in the Ferguson Police Department and courts.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    In Mexico, the head of Mexico's notorious Zetas drug cartel, Omar Trevino Morales, is behind bars tonight. Police and soldiers arrested him early today at his home outside Monterrey. Morales is wanted in the U.S. and Mexico on charges of drug trafficking, kidnapping and murder. It's the second arrest of a Mexican cartel leader in less than a week.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    The latest negotiations over Iran's nuclear future have wrapped up with no breakthrough. Secretary of State John Kerry said today there are still — quote — "significant gaps." And a senior U.S. official dialed back hopes for a framework agreement by month's end.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    Russian President Vladimir Putin weighed in publicly today, for the first time, on the murder of Boris Nemtsov. The opposition leader was gunned down near the Kremlin on Friday night, hours after he denounced Putin's policies in Ukraine.

    In televised remarks to Interior Ministry employees, Putin condemned the killing.

  • PRESIDENT VLADIMIR PUTIN, Russia (through interpreter):

    The most serious attention must be paid to high-profile crimes, including those with a political motive. We must finally rid Russia of the disgrace and tragedy of the kinds of things we recently saw and experienced. I mean the audacious murder of Boris Nemtsov in the very center of the capital.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    There have been no arrests in the case.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    Back in this country, the Senate failed to override President Obama's veto of the Keystone oil pipeline bill. Supporters of the project fell five votes short.

    Meanwhile, the president signed the Homeland Security funding bill. It passed after Republicans gave up on rolling back his immigration policies.

  • GWEN IFILL:

    Wall Street gave ground today on profit-taking. The Dow Jones industrial average lost 106 points, ending below 18100. The Nasdaq fell 12 points and the S&P 500 slipped nine.

  • JUDY WOODRUFF:

    And, finally, the wreck of the giant Japanese battleship Musashi has been found 70 years after it was sunk. Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and his research team say they located what's left of the vessel off the Philippines. U.S. planes sank the Musashi in October 1944.

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