Midday Roundup: Jordan agrees to exchange terrorist for captive pilot

Terrorist trade. Jordanian officials said today they are willing to trade a jailed Iraqi terrorist for a pilot held hostage by ISIS. The terror group that has taken over large swaths of Iraq and Syria announced yesterday that Jordan had 24 hours to agree to the swap or Muath al-Kasasbeh would be executed. The jailed terrorist, Sajida al-Rishawi, was sentenced to death for her involvement in a terror attack in 2005 that killed 60 people. In the video message issued yesterday, ISIS also threatened to kill Japanese freelance journalist Kenji Goto but made no specific demands regarding his potential release. The militants already killed another Japanese hostage, private contractor Haruna Yukawa, after Japan refused to pay a $200 million ransom. Goto reportedly traveled to Syria in October in an attempt to secure Yukawa’s release.

Details emerge. Libyan officials have confirmed that five foreigners, including one American, died in yesterday’s attack on the Corinthia hotel in Tripoli. Five Libyans also died when two attackers stormed the luxury hotel amid a barrage of gunfire and explosions. The American, contractor David Berry, was in Tripoli working for Crucible, a security firm, but the company has remained tight-lipped about the nature of his work. A French citizen and three people from Tajikistan also died in the attack but have not been identified. The Libyan branch of ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack and released photos of the two attackers who carried it out. ISIS fighters have orchestrated other attacks in Libya and are in control of the port city of Derna, in the eastern part of the country.

Righting a wrong. A South Carolina judge overturned the trespassing convictions of nine African-American men jailed for refusing to leave an all-white lunch counter in 1961. The men, mostly students at Friendship College, staged the sit-in at a McCrory's dime store in Rock Hill. Their demonstration started the “jail, no bail” strategy that became a model for other civil rights activists engaging in non-violent protests. The men served 30-day sentences, and several said the stigma of a criminal record affected them throughout their lives. “There is only one reason these men were arrested … and that is because they were black,” prosecutor Kevin Brackett said during today’s hearing. “It was wrong then, it’s wrong today.”

Good news, bad news. Obamacare won’t cost the U.S. government as much as previously estimated, but it will cost American workers a lot. According to a new report released by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), 10 million Americans will lose their employer-sponsored health insurance as a result of President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform. The CBO estimates Obamacare will cost the government $571 billion through 2019, 20 percent less than it estimated in 2010. The savings is based on lower-than-expected enrollments and subsidies. Some of the savings will be offset by an increase in the cost of Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program—$59 billion more than previously estimated. By 2018, 16 million more Americans will be enrolled in the government-funded healthcare programs.

Convicted. A jury convicted two former Vanderbilt University football players of raping an unconscious woman in their dorm room in 2013. The prosecution used graphic photos and videos taken by the four men involved in the attack. The other two men are awaiting trial. Brandon Vandenburg and Cory Batey, both 21, face decades in prison. “This case gives our entire community an opportunity to talk to each other and to our children, especially to our boys, about the way we treat women, both with our actions and with our words,” said District Attorney Glenn Funk after the verdict was read.