Week In The News: USA FREEDOM Act, Boston Terror, Four More For President

New curbs on NSA spying. A terror suspect shot dead in Boston. Tragedy on the Yangtze. The 2016 field grows. Caitlyn Jenner. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Another week, another hacking attack. This one from China, US officials say. On the info of four million federal employees. Beijing says – not us! At home, Congress reins in American surveillance on itself. Makes it tougher for the NSA to scoop up phone data. Edward Snowden smiles. We’ve got more hats in the ring for 2016. An alleged terror planner shot dead in Boston. Beau Biden remembered. Tragedy on the Yangtze River. FIFA prez out. Caitlyn Jenner. And a sex pill for the ladies. This hour On Point: our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.
-- Tom Ashbrook

Lisa Lerer, national political reporter for the Associated Press. (@llerer)

Nancy Cordes, CBS News Congressional correspondent. (@nancycordes)

Jack Beatty, On Point news analyst. (@JackBeattyNPR)

Boston Globe: Prosecutors detail decapitation plot, a change in plans — "Usaama Rahim had been plotting for days, officials said. He bought three long-bladed fighting knives — 'good for carving,' he said — and confided to his nephew and another man that he would travel to another state to commit a beheading. But at 5 a.m. Tuesday, the plan abruptly changed, according to a federal affidavit. Rahim would murder police officers in Massachusetts."

Washington Post: Did the Senate just roll back the government’s surveillance power? Not so fast. -- "The USA FREEDOM Act arguably establishes two different ways for the government to collect telephone metadata. If it collects metadata on an 'ongoing' basis and the request is for metadata created 'before, on, or after' the date of the application (my emphasis), then the government can only analyze the data for counterterrorism purposes — just as before."

Associated Press: Chafee fills out field of Hillary Clinton's challengers — "There are still eight months to go before the first votes of 2016 take place in the Iowa caucuses, enough time for a challenger to rise and pose a threat to Hillary Rodham Clinton's place as the front-runner for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination. But today? After former Rhode Island Sen. Lincoln Chafee's entry into the race, the Democratic field is largely set, and it's hard to see the contest as anything other than Clinton...and the rest."