5 stories to follow: April 9

Here's your daily look at five stories to know about:

1. Comcast hearing: Comcast Corp. will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee today for a hearing about its proposed merger with Time Warner Cable Inc.

2. Dropped sting: Law enforcement officials including District Attorney Seth Williams say federal prosecutors never determined that a public-corruption sting run by the state Attorney General's Office was too weak prosecute. Controversy has surrounded the sting, which reportedly caught Philadelphia public officials accepting cash or gifts and was dropped by Attorney General Kathleen Kane. Meanwhile, the lead investigator in the case contends that the probe shouldn't have been dropped, a Dauphin County judge could make a decision about unsealing documents related to the case as early as today.

3. Jefferson and slavery: A new exhibit that focuses on slavery at Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate opens today at the National Constitution Center. The exhibition runs through Oct. 19.

4. SEPTA contracts: The Transport Workers Union Local 234 says it won't resume contract negotiations with SEPTA until the transit agency provides documents about health-insurance and pension costs, but a strike isn't in the union's immediate future, despite contracts that expired over the weekend. SEPTA says the union could have most of the information it wants by today.

5. Rap lyrics case: The New Jersey Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments today about an attempted murder conviction that was overturned because the trial judge let jurors hear the violent rap lyrics written by Vonte Skinner, accused of shooting a man multiple times in 2005, leaving the victim paralyzed. An appeals court overturned the conviction.