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Uprising’s guest expert Robert Jensen, author and a Professor of Journalism at the University of Texas at Austin, analyzes today’s news headlines:

News reporting on the NSA’s spying program has garnered top journalism honors for the Guardian and Washington Post. Ten months after reporters like Glenn Greenwald, Laura Poitras, and Ewen MacAskill reported revelations by whistleblower Edward Snowden, they have won the Pulitzer prize and the George Polk award. Ironically Snowden himself remains unable to return to the US as he is facing several criminal charges. Meanwhile, the whistleblower Chelsea Manning who was convicted of revealing war-time US misdeeds remains behind bars. A US Army General just denied Manning clemency yesterday, affirming the 35 year sentence she is serving. Click here for a Guardian article about the Pulitzers and here for a Time.com article about Chelsea Manning.

The city of Boston this week is commemorating the first anniversary of the marathon bombing which claimed the lives of 3 people and injured hundreds of others. Two pressure cooker bombs exploded nearly simultaneously on April 15 2013, and led to a days-long manhunt for two suspects. One was killed in a firefight and the other, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev remains in custody. The annual marathon will be held as usual in Boston this week. According to the Washington Post, a new poll shows that “a wide majority of Americans approve of the federal government’s handling of investigations into the bombing, and that most also approve of broader U.S. anti-terrorism efforts.” Click here for a Washington Post article about the story.

In the latest in the Ukraine crisis, tensions between the fledgling Ukrainian government and pro-Russian protesters in several Eastern cities have escalated. Protesters have taken over city government buildings and installed check points. In retaliation Ukraine’s government has amassed military troops near the city of Slavyansk, saying that an “anti-terrorist operation” was imminent. Click here for a Guardian newspaper article about the story.

In local news, long time political activist and published of Change Links newspaper, John Johnson has died. He died on Sunday night at the age of 69. Johnson was a familiar figure at political events and rallies here in the LA area. His newspaper Changelinks published many news analyses. The activist community relied on his listings of important progressive events around town. There will be a memorial service for John on Saturday, April 19th at 11:00 AM at Beth Shir Shalom, 1827 California Avenue, Santa Monica. Our deepest condolences to the family of John Johnson.