Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Amazing: “All of the more than 180 people injured in the Boston Marathon blasts one week ago who made it to a hospital alive now seem likely to survive. That includes several people who arrived with legs attached by just a little skin, a 3-year-old boy with a head wound and bleeding on the brain, and a little girl riddled with nails. Even a transit system police officer whose heart had stopped and was close to bleeding to death after a shootout with the suspects now appears headed for recovery.”
* Terror plot thwarted: “Canadian security forces say they have thwarted an al-Qaeda-backed plot to blow up a rail line between Canada and the United States, and officials announced two arrests on Monday afternoon. The suspects had sought to attack a passenger train that left from the U.S. bound for Toronto once the train crossed the Canadian border, sources told NBC News.”
* Gun violence: “A 28-year-old man fatally shot and killed his live-in girlfriend inside an apartment south of Seattle, then went on a rampage that left three men dead, including a neighbor who had phoned 911 to report hearing gunfire, authorities said.”
* Deadly quake: “A strong earthquake struck China’s mountainous Sichuan province Saturday morning, leaving at least 113 people dead and more than 3,000 injured. Chinese authorities assessed the magnitude of the quake at 7.0, while the U.S. Geological Survey reported 6.6.”
* Stunning images: “The satellite images above provided by DigitalGlobe show the destructive force of the fertilizer plant explosion that rocked the small town of West, Texas, with the force of a magnitude-2.1 earthquake last Wednesday evening.” (Also note the image with labels.)
* Unexpected: “Federal agents have not discovered evidence of ricin at the Mississippi home of an Elvis impersonator charged with sending letters tainted with the poison to President Obama and Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), an agent testified Monday.”
* Celebrating Earth Day 2013.
* Worth watching: “Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) are poised to unveil legislation to reform the country’s much-maligned campaign finance rules.” * I genuinely love the White House Science Fair. * It amazes me when the same people who complain about a “war on Christmas” and a “war on Easter” also believe the government should put recording devices in houses of worship. Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
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