Hunger Strikers at Gitmo are said to be in dire shape;  Texas cops are on high alert in the face of a possible plot by racists to murder public officials;  And President Obama taps a very famous name for a big job.

The lawyer for some Guantanamo Bay detainees say a group of hunger strikers are “more determined than ever to achieve their goals or die trying”.  They’ve been held at Gitmo without trial for a decade.  Defense lawyers say they are “confident” more than 130 prisoners are taking part in the hunger strike, military officials say 39 are refusing food and sustenance.  Guards are force-feeding some prisoners with cans of Ensure put through a feeding tube into the prisoners’ stomachs.  But some of the men have fasted down to less than 50 kilos.

Prosecutors will seek the death penalty for James Holmes, the accused murderer of 12 people at a movie theater in Colorado last July.  The defense offered to plead guilty to take capital punishment off of the table last month, that offer was rejected by prosecutors.  They’re now expected to attempt to prove Holmes was insane at the time of the massacre.

The grim search for human remains from the 9-11 attack has resumed.  Crews are combing through some 60-truckloads of debris from New York’s World Trade Center site.  The current search will take about ten weeks.  Officials say that DNA testing will be used to identify as many victims as possible.  So far, 1,629 of the 2,753 victims in the World trade Center have been identified.

Law enforcement is on high alert in Texas after a county prosecutor and his wife were murdered in their home.  One of the prosecutor’s deputies was murdered near his office a few weeks ago.  Authorities are investigating a possible white supremacist prison gang plot.

President Obama is nominating the daughter of a one of his predecessors to be Ambassador to Japan.  Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg has avoided running for office, although she has spoke at Democratic conventions and loaned her name to political campaigns in the past, including President Obama’s.  Ms. Kennedy is the only surviving child of the assassinated President John F. Kennedy and former First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy.

The city of Stockton, California has filed for bankruptcy protection.  The move has the potential to set precedent for hundreds of other cash-strapped American cities.  Stockton’s creditor’s claim it could have cut costs and services more and more to raise revenues.

The Cure and Mumford and Sons will headline the Lallapolooza Festival in Chicago this summer.  Founder Perry Farrell also announced performances by The Killers, Nine Inch Nails, Tegan and Sara, Cat Power, and Lana Del Rey.  Three-day passes are already sold out and some single-day passes are left.