President Barack Obama has commuted the sentence of Chelsea Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst serving a 35-year sentence for leaking classified material. Her sentence is now set to expire May 17. Manning — then known as Bradley — was locked up in 2010 after swiping 700,000 military files and diplomatic cables and giving them to Wikileaks. She is one of 209 people Obama granted commutations to on Tuesday. All told, Obama has granted 1,385 commutations — which includes 504 life sentences — and 212 pardons. It is fewer pardons than some presidents, but more commutations than the past 12 presidents combined, the White House said.
Oil prices tumbled this week, but drivers dreaming of cheap summer road trips might want to temper their expectations: Experts say a host of factors, including overseas output cuts and refinery operations, will actually make for higher gas prices over the coming months, NBC News reported.
The benchmark price of West Texas Intermediate fell 5 percent on Wednesday, dropping below $50. On Thursday, the price of crude oil fell to $49.28, its lowest close since November.
However, this is the time of year when demand from refiners historically weakens, as they make the switch from winter to summer blends and perform maintenance in advance of the summer driving season.
"Everyone forgets about the middleman — the U.S. refiner,"said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst at GasBuddy. "They're not drawing down inventory because they're doing maintenance on their plants."
