Human Race

Implicated

U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., will face criminal corruption charges from the Department of Justice (DOJ), according to leaked reports. The senator has served in Congress with little controversy more than 20 years, but a previously scrutinized friendship with a Florida eye doctor is again under the microscope. Texas Republican Ted Cruz and other conservatives questioned the rumor’s timing due to Menendez’s criticism of the president’s negotiations with Iran. The DOJ has yet to file charges, and a defensive Menendez claimed he’s “not going anywhere.”

Overridden

West Virginia legislators passed a ban on abortions after 20 weeks, overriding on March 6 an executive veto for the first time in 30 years. The House and Senate spurned Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin 77-16 and 24-5, respectively, to protect unborn children who have developed enough to feel pain. State-level efforts for 20-week bans have surged since U.S. House Republicans proved unable to pass a ban in January.

Died

Medford Stanton Evans, a leading conservative activist of the 1960s-80s, died March 3 at the age of 80. An early writer for the National Review, Evans became the youngest editor of a daily newspaper at 26, with the Indianapolis News. Evans used his voice to influence the conservative movement at the grassroots level, helping revive Ronald Reagan’s 1980 primary campaign.

Released

Methodist missionary Phyllis Sortor is free after two weeks of captivity in Nigeria. Authorities believe an armed gang, not Boko Haram, abducted her Feb. 23 and demanded $300,000 for her release. Sortor, 71, served at Hope Academy in the Koji region. Free Methodist Church USA reported her safe, but declined to comment on how a “family representative was able to secure her release.”

Crashed

Actor Harrison Ford on March 4 crashed his World War II–era plane on a California golf course, dodging a neighborhood after he lost power. Doctors expected Ford to make a full recovery.

Treated

Mark Hall, lead singer for Christian band Casting Crowns, had one kidney removed on March 11 after doctors discovered he likely had cancer. The band documented the surgery and asked for prayers on Facebook, saying hospital staff members they met said they had been praying for Hall. Doctors called it a textbook surgery, the band reported, adding that recovery has been normal yet painful.

Rescued

Eighteen-month-old Lily left a Utah hospital and was singing nursery rhymes on March 11, just days after surviving the car accident and exposure that killed her mother. The story went viral as both the child’s life and her rescue continue to defy explanation. Lily survived nearly 14 hours upside down, with frigid water flowing under her car seat after the car veered into a river unnoticed. Four responders who found the unconscious Lily agree they heard an unknown voice saying, “Help me,” from inside the car, yet the mother was already dead.

Died

Dean Hess, a World War II and Korean War pilot who said “flying brought me ... closer to God,” died March 2 at age 97. A budding preacher beginning at 16, he joined the Army after the attack on Pearl Harbor, flying more than 300 combat missions. Hess once missed a German target and watched his bomb destroy an orphanage. In Korea, he rescued hundreds of orphans in the path of communist troops, later planted orphanages, and adopted a Korean girl. He never returned to preaching, but helped spread his motto “By faith I fly” in the movie and memoir Battle Hymn.

Died

Bill Badger, who ended the 2011 shooting rampage that injured former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords, died March 11. He was 78. Despite a gunshot graze to the head, the retired Army colonel tackled Jared Loughner after the man had killed six and injured 13 at a Giffords’ constituent event in Tucson, Ariz. Badger and his wife became advocates of strict background checks for all gun sales.

Retracted

A small-town North Carolina sheriff admits he may have made mistakes in a letter he sent to his county’s 20 registered sex offenders, effectively banning them from churches. In the letter, Graham County Sheriff Danny Millsaps invited the offenders to services at the county jail instead. He’s not the first to say a state law banning offenders from places children are present—namely schools and day care centers—applies to churches. Millsaps told the Asheville Citizen-Times he has no plans to arrest anyone for attending church.

By the numbers

1/1 | The odds the Las Vegas SuperBook gave the University of Kentucky men’s basketball team to win this year’s NCAA Tournament, making the Wildcats, who entered the tournament 34-0, the biggest favorites in modern tournament history.

$2,800 | The amount of debt the federal government accumulated for every American between February 2014, when Congress suspended the federal debt limit, and March 2015. The national debt rose from $17.2 trillion to $18.1 trillion.

18 | The percentage of Americans who said “government” was the most important problem facing the country in a March 5-8 Gallup poll, the highest percentage for any answer for the fourth month in a row.