Midday Roundup: Feds dig up longest drug smuggling tunnel yet

Subterranean smuggling. U.S. officials have discovered a nearly half-mile-long underground drug tunnel—the longest ever found—connecting Tijuana, Mexico, to the Otay Mesa neighborhood of San Diego. In a raid on the tunnel’s California entrance, federal agents found two tons of cocaine and seven tons of marijuana, worth nearly $22 million. Agents discovered the elaborate underground pathway after spotting a commercial truck delivering a dumpster filled with wood scraps to what turned out to be the tunnel entrance. The tunnel had ventilation systems, lights, and a large elevator that ferried people and drugs from a closet inside a home in Tijuana. Six suspected drug traffickers have been arrested. “This case is a strong reminder of the vulnerabilities that exist along the southwest border,” said Hunter Davis, director of air operations for Customs and Border Protection, Air and Marine Operations.

Just compensation. The U.S. Supreme Court hit Iran with a heavy financial penalty yesterday. In a 6-2 ruling, the high court said families of terror victims may collect a nearly $2 billion judgment against Iran’s central bank. Nineteen separate terror attacks—all linked to Iran—are included. The oldest attack took place in 1983, the bombing of a U.S. Marine Corps barracks in Beirut by Iranian-backed Hezbollah fighters. About 1,000 victims will receive payments from Iranian funds stashed in a U.S. bank. “Exercise by Congress and the president of control over claims against foreign governments, as well as foreign government-owned property in the United States, is hardly a novelty,” Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg said in summarizing her 24-page majority opinion from the bench.

Making their case. Lawyers for the Little Sisters of the Poor and other nonprofits challenging Obamacare’s contraceptive and abortifacient mandate filed a second round of briefs in the case yesterday. Obama administration lawyers also filed their briefs. Neither side deviated from the course set out in their April 12 filings, which proposed a way for the government to provide coverage for the objectionable drugs without making the religious groups complicit. The government insists its current compromise works fine. The nonprofits have asked the court to approve a system that would impose the mandate on insurance companies, requiring them to provide separate contraceptive plans to nonprofit employees who wanted them. That arrangement would avoid the “moral complicity” created by the government’s compromise, which would require the nonprofits to tell insurers to provide the coverage separately.

Royal celebration. Queen Elizabeth II celebrated her 90th birthday today with a 30-minute walkabout through the streets of Windsor, where thousands of well-wishers had gathered with flowers, cakes, and stuffed animals. In September, the queen became Britain’s longest-serving monarch, eclipsing her iconic great-great-grandmother, Queen Victoria. Tonight, the queen will celebrate her birthday with a quiet family dinner. Tomorrow, she will host U.S. President Barack Obama and his wife, Michelle, for lunch. As part of the commemorations, the royal family also released photographs taken by famous American portrait artist Annie Leibovitz. The one generating the most attention includes the two newest members of the family, Prince George and Princess Charlotte, who is sitting on her great-grandmother’s lap.

Out of work. ESPN announced last night it had fired baseball analyst and former All-Star pitcher Curt Schilling after he posted to Facebook his support for laws requiring people to use the restrooms that correspond to the gender listed on their birth certificates. “A man is a man no matter what they call themselves,” Schilling wrote. “I don’t care what they are, who they sleep with, men’s room was designed for the penis, women’s not so much. Now you need laws telling us differently? Pathetic.” ESPN called Schilling’s conduct “unacceptable.” Schilling declined to comment.

WORLD Radio’s Mary Reichard contributed to this report.