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Morning Updates: Iran makes a deal, Pluto gets up close and personal

Members of the NASA’s New Horizons science team react to seeing the spacecraft's image of Pluto. AP/Bill Ingalls

By Eric Levenson @ejleven

July 14, 2015

3 minutes to read

Good morning, Boston. Iran and the U.S. make a deal, a police captain’s son had plotted a Boston Marathon bombings-style attack, NASA gets a good look at Pluto, and the rest of the news you need to know today.

A historic nuclear deal: “Iran and a group of six nations led by the United States said they had reached a historic accord on Tuesday to significantly limit Tehran’s nuclear ability for more than a decade in return for lifting international oil and financial sanctions. The deal culminates 20 months of negotiations on an agreement that President Obama had long sought as the biggest diplomatic achievement of his presidency. Whether it portends a new relationship between the United States and Iran — after decades of coups, hostage-taking, terrorism and sanctions remains a bigger question.’’ (The New York Times)

Son of police captain had plotted an attack on a university, FBI says: “A tip to the FBI from a Boston police captain about his son’s desire to fight for the Islamic State prompted federal agents to monitor — and then arrest — the 23-year-old in connection with an alleged plot to attack a university, according to law enforcement officials and court records unsealed Monday.’’ (The Boston Globe) “What I am gonna do is prepare fire bombs. I’ll do that today. T[hey] are cheap and effective,’’ 23-year-old Alexander Ciccolo said to an FBI witness, according to a criminal complaint. “You get the rifles. I’ll get the powder.’’ (Boston.com)

Mystery Rhode Island explosion: “Kathleen Danise didn’t know what hit her. ‘The last thing I remember was reading my book,’ the Connecticut woman told WTNH. According to Danise’s sister, the 60-year-old was launched from her chair ‘like a human cannon’ by an explosion Saturday at Rhode Island’s Salty Brine State Beach in Narragansett. And as of Monday night, investigators don’t know what hit Danise, either.’’ (Boston.com)

Three. BILLION. Miles: “After nine and a half years and three billion miles, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft was on course to take the first close-up look at Pluto on Tuesday morning. ‘Fasten your seatbelts,’ S. Alan Stern, the mission’s principal investigator, said Monday at a news conference here at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, which is operating the mission. ‘New Horizons is arriving at the Pluto system.’ … Paul Schenk, a co-investigator on the science team, said, ‘It looks like somebody painted it for a ‘Star Trek’ episode.’’’ (The New York Times)

The general store with all your needs: “Behind the gas pumps, a tall marquee sign rises up from the asphalt. GUNS, WEDDING GOWNS, COLD BEER, it says—everything you’d need for a shotgun wedding. The sign outside seems too good to be true, but inside, the story checks out.’’ (Boston.com)

Why is the 500-foot home run still so rare? “Indeed, it’s happened at Fenway at least once — or so the single red seat in section 42, row 37, seat 21 suggests. Asked for his thoughts on whether anyone might have reached that remote location in Fenway Park, however, David Ortiz developed the first warning signs of the upper respiratory infection that sidelined him on Sunday amidst a brief spasm. ‘The red seat?’ Ortiz inquired. ‘Cough — bull — cough.’’’ (The Boston Globe)