text:  Live from NPR News in Boston, I'm Steve Brown. New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez says he will appeal his conviction on 16 counts of accepting bribes. A Manhattan federal jury found Menendez guilty today. The Justice Department accused the 70-year-old Menendez of using his position as a three-term Democratic senator and head of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee to benefit private interests and foreign governments in exchange for hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold and cash.