Top Items:
KWTX-TV:
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.
Discussion:
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Selwyn Crawford / Dallas Morning News:
Live video: Explosion, injuries reported at fertilizer plant near Waco in West, Texas — A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant rocked the town of West, north of Waco, causing multiple injuries and leaving people trapped and buildings on fire. — Firefighters were reported among …
Discussion:
The PJ Tatler, Chicago Boyz, Alan Colmes' Liberaland, The Moderate Voice, The Agonist and AMERICAblog
Lateef Mungin / CNN:
Explosion hits fertilizer plant north of Waco, Texas — Are you there? Please send photos and videos to iReport, but please stay safe. — (CNN) — An explosion ripped through a fertilizer plant Wednesday night in the area of West, Texas, sending a massive fireball into the sky and causing dozens of injuries, officials said.
Discussion:
Alan Colmes' Liberaland, Booman Tribune, Lawyers, Guns & Money and Crooks and Liars
Washington Post:
Fertilizer plant explosion injures at least 160 in central Texas; 5 to 15 feared dead — A massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in central Texas Wednesday night left more than 160 people wounded and killed an estimated five to 15 people, officials said, likely including firefighters …
Discussion:
Restoring Liberty and Outside the Beltway
Lateef Mungin / CNN:
Deadly blast rattles Texas town — Are you there? Please send photos and videos to iReport, but please stay safe. — (CNN) — The full extent of the devastation will have to wait until the light of day Thursday. But residents of the small Texas town of West already know what to expect.
Discussion:
Business Insider and National Review
Waco Tribune-Herald:
UPDATED: Fatalities confirmed in West plant explosion
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette, Gawker and Los Angeles Times
Randy Lee Loftis / Dallas Morning News:
West fertilizer plant said in report that it presented no risk
Discussion:
ABCNEWS, Macleans.ca and Quartz
Gabrielle Giffords / New York Times:
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 …
Discussion:
Washington Wire, Yahoo! News, TIME, Politico, American Power, Prairie Weather, Taylor Marsh, U.S. News, CNN, The Hill and msnbc.com
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Alexander Bolton / The Hill:
Senate rejects background checks on gun purchases in 54-46 vote — The Senate delivered a devastating blow to President Obama's agenda to regulate guns Wednesday by defeating a bipartisan proposal to expand background checks. — It failed by a vote of 54 to 46, with 5 Democrats voting against it.
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Senate Blocks Drive for Gun Control
Discussion:
msnbc.com, Politico, BOR, The Agonist, CNN and Post Politics
Ron Fournier / NationalJournal.com:
At Pivotal Point in Presidency, Obama Routed on Gun Control
Discussion:
Yahoo! News, Roll Call, National Review, The Michael Bane Blog, ECHIDNE OF THE SNAKES, Hot Air and Instapundit
Allahpundit / Hot Air:
Open thread: Senate gun-control vote-a-rama; Update: Toomey/Manchin fails, 54/46; Update …
Discussion:
USA Today, Mediaite, The Daily Caller and Patterico's Pontifications
Talking Points Memo:
NRA Celebrates Failure Of Background Check Bill In Senate
Discussion:
Weasel Zippers
John Bresnahan / Politico:
Gun control: Senate rejects background checks deal
Discussion:
The Plum Line and White House Dossier
Jonathan Weisman / New York Times:
Drive for Gun Control Blocked in Senate
Discussion:
Wonkblog, The Fix, The Plum Line, The Week, Quartz, Weekly Standard, Hit & Run, msnbc.com, TalkLeft, A plain blog about politics, Balloon Juice, ThinkProgress and American Power
Associated Press:
Senate rejects gun background checks
Discussion:
The Week, Hit & Run and BillMoyers.com
U.S. News:
Feds arrest suspect in ricin-positive letters sent to Obama, senator — The ricin-laced letters sent to President Obama and Mississippi Sen. Roger Wicker were both postmarked April 8 and sent from Memphis, Tenn., signed “I am KC and I approve this message.” A third letter went to Michigan Sen. Carl Levin.
Discussion:
New York Times, The Hinterland Gazette, Business Insider, CANNONFIRE, Mediaite, The Week, Twitchy and Towleroad News #gay
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Lady Liberty 1885:
Paul Kevin Curtis and the Ricin Letters — NOTE: This post was embargoed by LL1885 pending confirmation of the suspect's identity. We did not want to get the wrong guy. It was written at 2:16 pm EST and held until now. Paul Kevin Curtis Arrested for Ricin Letters My co-blogger …
Discussion:
The Week, Weasel Zippers and Doug Ross
Jason Howerton / TheBlaze.com:
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.
Discussion:
New York Times, Fox News, Restoring Liberty, Ed Driscoll, Patterico's Pontifications, BuzzFeed, The Jawa Report, Mediaite and The PJ Tatler
Los Angeles Times:
Videos point to 2 suspects in Boston Marathon bombing — Investigators comb through Boylston Street just beyond the finish line of the Boston Marathon, two days after two bombs exploded. (Julio Cortez / Associated Press / April 17, 2013) — Two suspects in the Boston Marathon bombing …
Discussion:
Daily Mail and Weasel Zippers
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FBI:
No Arrest Made in Bombing Investigation
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Washington Post:
GOP abandons Mark Sanford; ex-wife says sons ‘upset’ over encounter with former mistress — Following revelations that his ex-wife accused him of trespassing on her property earlier this year, former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford (R) has lost the support of his national party.
Discussion:
Post Politics, Washington Monthly, Dependable Renegade, The Greenroom and msnbc.com
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Alex Isenstadt / Politico:
Republicans pull plug on Mark Sanford
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CNN, Associated Press, ABCNEWS, NationalJournal.com, bigstory.ap.org, Daily Kos, The BRAD BLOG, Right Turn, Towleroad News #gay, The Reaction, The Moderate Voice, Washington Wire, The Caucus, The National Memo, National Review, The Week, The Raw Story, The Daily Caller, Talking Points Memo, msnbc.com, Hot Air and Outside the Beltway
Jason Zengerle / New York Magazine:
How Savvy Jenny Sanford Sabotaged Ex-Husband Mark's Political Comeback
Discussion:
The Hinterland Gazette, Right Turn, Balloon Juice and U.S. News
Jacob Sullum / Hit & Run:
Obama Responds to His Gun Control Defeat With Self-Righteous Solipsism — “There are good people on both sides of this thing,” President Obama said in a gun control speech a couple of weeks ago, “but we have to be able to put ourselves in the other person's shoes.”
Discussion:
Betsy's Page, White House.gov Blog and Instapundit
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Ryan Grim / The Huffington Post:
Patricia Maisch, Hero Of Tucson, Escorted Out Of Capitol For Shaming Senate — WASHINGTON — Patricia Maisch, a hero of the Tucson shooting that left six dead and another 13 wounded, including former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.), was escorted by police out of the Capitol Wednesday …
Discussion:
Daily Kos, Mediaite, ThinkProgress and The Raw Story
Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar / Associated Press:
Max Baucus Says He Fears Obamacare Is Headed For ‘Huge Train Wreck’ — WASHINGTON — A senior Democratic senator who helped write President Barack Obama's health care law stunned administration officials Wednesday, saying openly he thinks it's headed for a “train wreck.”
Discussion:
Power Line and Weasel Zippers
Vicki Needham / The Hill:
House Democrats, restaurant owners backing minimum wage increases — House Democrats are gathering support behind a proposal to raise the minimum wage for hourly and tipped workers. — Reps. George Miller (D-Calif.) and Donna Edwards (D-Md.) unveiled a new association of restaurant owners …
Discussion:
Campaign for America's Future
David Edwards / The Raw Story:
Texas teacher claims she couldn't have fondled black student because she's racist — A teacher in Texas has invoked her own racism in a defense against charges that she fondled an African-American student in her first grade class at Northwest Preparatory Academy Charter School in Humble.
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