1. Baltimore under investigation
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A protester walks through tear gas in Baltimore. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
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The Justice Department will investigate the Baltimore Police Department for excessive use of force and other abusive practices to evaluate whether police systemically violated the Constitution and locals' civil rights.
[Vox / German Lopez]
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The announcement follows weeks of tense protests over the death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died on April 19 after suffering a severe spinal cord injury in a police van despite repeated pleas for medical help.
[Vox / German Lopez]
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Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake had requested the civil rights probe.
[Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake]
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The Justice Department's COPS Program is already helping with some limited reforms, following a 2014 report that found the city had paid about $5.7 million since 2011 to settle police brutality accusations.
[Baltimore Sun / Mark Puente]
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The Baltimore Police Department has also been accused of "rough rides," in which detainees are driven recklessly in police wagons to purposely cause injuries.
[Baltimore Sun / Doug Donovan and Mark Puente]
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"Despite the progress being made, it was clear that recent events … had given rise to a serious erosion of public trust."
[Attorney General Loretta Lynch]
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One reporter asked the US attorney general if the Baltimore Police Department is different than Ferguson's because it's more diverse — but systemic racism affects everyone, even black cops.
[Vox / German Lopez]
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To read more about Freddie Gray's arrest and the protests that followed, check out Vox's full explainer.
[Vox / German Lopez]
2. Labor and pollsters lose the UK election

UK Prime Minister David Cameron will remain in power. (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)
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In a surprising election in the UK, Conservatives crushed the Labor Party and won a majority of the seats in Parliament.
[Vox / Timothy Lee and Matthew Yglesias]
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The surprise is very bad news for pollsters, who were all projecting a much closer race.
[Reuters / Estelle Shirbon]
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Another party that won big: the pro-independence Scottish National Party.
[New York Times / Katrin Bennhold]
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Conservatives slashed the budget and caused economic turmoil when they took office five years ago, but the economy has recovered since then.
[Vox / Matthew Yglesias]
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Check out the full election results in the BBC's wonderful interactive.
[BBC]
3. A manicure controversy

(Brian Brainerd/Denver Post via Getty Images)
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A New York Times investigation uncovered the systemic abuse of women working in New York salons, with some earning as little as $10 a day.
[New York Times / Sarah Maslin Nir]
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This type of exploitation is already illegal — but the law isn't being enforced.
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It gets worse: the second part of the investigation found that some of the products used by salons are poisoning workers.
[New York Times / Sarah Maslin Nir]
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One reason it's easy for employers to exploit immigrant workers: bosses can blackmail unauthorized immigrants and even those on work visas with the threat of deportation.
[Vox / Dara Lind]
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Reason's Elizabeth Nolan Brown argues that the industry at least provides job and training opportunities that many of these salon employees wouldn't otherwise have.
[Reason / Elizabeth Nolan Brown|]
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Here's a guide to getting an ethical manicure.
[Vox / Dara Lind]
4. Misc.
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The US economy added 223,000 jobs last month, which is good but mostly expected.
[Vox / Matthew Yglesias]
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Doctors thought they cured a patient of Ebola — but it turns out the virus was living in his eye.
[New York Times / Denise Grady]
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Here's how to win a bunch of popular games, according to data scientists.
[Washington Post / Ana Swanson]
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Spanish police discovered a boy trying to cross the border in a suitcase.
[Associated Press]
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Bill Simmons is leaving ESPN.
[Vox / Todd VanDerWerff]
5. Verbatim
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"[M]ale superheroes and male-dominated teams like the Avengers will have 19 films before a female superhero has one."
[Vox / Alex Abad-Santos]
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"Republicans' intransigence has created an obvious opportunity for Hillary to rip off our arms and beat us with the bloody ends."
[Fergus Cullen, former NH Republican Party chairman, to Washington Post / David Nakamura and Robert Costa]
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"Mary had a little lamb, and its fleece was white as snow, everywhere that Mary went — oh, fuck."
[The first audio recording of the word "fuck" via Boingboing / David Pescovitz]
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"Your mom is dying to confront you in hand-to-hand combat at last. Give her the opportunity to destroy you in front of a paying audience on Mother's Day, and her heart will swell with joy."
[ClickHole]
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