Trigger happy: If it were a country, the city of New Orleans would rank second in the world for its rate of gun murders per every 100,000 residents, at 62.1. That’s according to a report by The Atlantic focusing on gun violence in U.S. cities compared to the deadliest nations in the world. New Orleans’ gun homicide rate isn’t too far behind that of the deadliest nation identified in the report—Honduras, which has 68.4 firearm-related homicides per every 100,000 people. Check out the complete report here to see a map comparing other major U.S. cities with nations around the world.
Naming names: The New Orleans Hornets plan to announce the official change of their nickname to the Pelicans and unveil their new colors and logo during a news conference Thursday, sources are telling Yahoo! Sports. The new nickname, colors and logo will be used during the 2013-14 season. The colors will be blue, gold and red. The Hornets have been expected to change their identity since being purchased by Tom Benson on April 14. More details are available in the full story here.
Kicking the can: The House overwhelmingly passed a bill today to permit the federal government to borrow enough money to avoid a first-time default for at least four months, defusing a looming crisis setting up a springtime debate over taxes, spending and the deficit. The House passed the measure on a bipartisan 285-144 vote. It would suspend the $16.4 trillion cap on federal borrowing and reset it on May 19 to reflect the additional borrowing required between the date the bill becomes law and then. More details are available here.
