Authorities circulate photos of two men spotted carrying bags near site of Boston bombings  —  Investigators probing the deadly Boston Marathon bombings are circulating photos of two men spotted chatting near the packed finish line, The Post has learned.  —  In the photos being distributed …

A Senate in the Gun Lobby's Grip  —  SENATORS say they fear the N.R.A. and the gun lobby.  But I think that fear must be nothing compared to the fear the first graders in Sandy Hook Elementary School felt as their lives ended in a hail of bullets.  The fear that those children who survived …

EMS Director Says 60 To 70 Dead In West Explosion  —  West EMS Director Dr. George Smith says as many as 60 or 70 people died and hundreds were injured Wednesday night in a fertilizer plant explosion in West.  —  A rescuer earlier said he knew of five deaths.

MIND-BOGGLING DETAILS EMERGE ABOUT RICIN LETTER SUSPECT: 'I'M ON THE HIDDEN FRONT LINES OF A SECRET WAR'  —  Paul Kevin Curtis, 45, of Tupelo, Miss., has been arrested in connection with ricin letters that were sent to both Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) and President Barack Obama," The New York Times reports.

Gang of Eight aims to stop conservative attacks  —  The Senate's Gang of Eight is mounting an aggressive lobbying campaign with one major goal: weaken the conservative opposition to a sweeping immigration overhaul.  —  Hours after the bill was unveiled after 2 a.m. Wednesday …

One Wednesday last month, Ann Curry, camouflaged in a hat and trench coat, trudged into the art-deco lobby of 30 Rockefeller Plaza.  It had been nine months since she was pushed out as co-host of the “Today” show.  Curry was now NBC's “national and international correspondent” …

Gun Violence Victims Detained, Put Through Background Check For Yelling ‘Shame On You’ At Senators  —  “Shame on you!”  Patricia Maisch and Lori Haas yelled in rapid succession at the 46 senators who had just voted to kill a compromise amendment to expand background checks for gun purchases at gun shows or online.

How Savvy Jenny Sanford Sabotaged Ex-Husband Mark's Political Comeback  —  Obama Delivers Emotional Condemnation of Senate Republicans After Gun-Control Defeat  —  A couple of months ago, when I was reporting a feature on Mark Sanford's political comeback and the ongoing soap opera between …

Sinkhole swallows 3 cars on Southeast Side: ‘I am lucky’  —  A sinkhole on the Southeast Side of Chicago swallowed three cars this morning, one of which was caught on tape.  (WGN-TV)  —  Staff report  —  One person was hospitalized after a sinkhole swallowed three cars in the South Deering neighborhood …

Mitch McConnell ad seizes on secret audio  —  Mitch McConnell continues to seize on the bungled taping of his Louisville campaign headquarters.  —  The Senate Minority Leader will go on the air Thursday with a new commercial that links last week's brouhaha to the Democratic president's desire to oust him.

Nancy Pelosi says gun control push not over  —  House Democrats will continue to push for gun control legislation despite the Senate's failure to pass a bipartisan agreement to expand background checks, Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told reporters Thursday.  —  “It's disappointing,” …

EXCLUSIVE: SAUDI NATIONAL ONCE CONSIDERED ‘PERSON OF INTEREST’ MAY BE DEPORTED ON ‘SECURITY’ GROUNDS — AND HOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE FRAMED  —  Editor's note: Please see the Editors' UPDATES we will be placing in order of most-recent below.  TheBlaze's Jonathon M. Seidl contributed to this report.