Mark Memmott

There will be many heartbreaking stories in coming hours and days about the victims of Monday's bombings at the Boston Marathon.

Among the first such tragic tales is that of the Richard family from Dorchester, Mass.

As the local Dorchester Reporter writes:

"A beloved Dorchester ...

There was a 7 percent surge in housing starts last month, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development report.

As The Associated Press notes, the pace of construction — 1.04 million starts, at an annual rate — is the fastest in nearly five years and ...

There's been a strong earthquake, with an estimated magnitude of 7.8, in southeastern Iran near the border with Pakistan, the U.S. Geological Survey reports.

The temblor was centered about 53 miles east southeast of the small city of Khash. According to USGS, it was about 9.4 miles deep.

...

The day after two bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon, investigators began to unravel some of the details of what happened, and we began to learn about the lives of the three people who were killed.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers said that ...

The Two-Way, NPR.org and some of NPR's Twitter accounts were hacked late Monday by an organization that's said to support Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime, as this statement from NPR reports:

"Late Monday evening, several stories on the NPR website were defaced with headlines and text that said 'Syrian ...

Smashing through walls and yelling "Oh, Yeah!" apparently aren't cool enough for Kool-Aid Man anymore.

Kraft Foods Group has decided that the pitcher pitchman needs an new look that plays up his "undeniably fun personality."

So he's now "technologically advanced, CGI-generated and more interactive and colorful than ever." ...

Ethiopian runner Lelisa Desisa won the men's division at this year's Boston Marathon on Monday, finishing the 26.2 miles in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 22 seconds. It's the first win at Boston for the 23-year-old.

Update at 4:50 p.m. ET: After we published our post on the race's results, ...

How wrong was Punxsutawney Phil when the groundhog said on Feb. 2 that we'd have an early spring?

"The March average temperature for the contiguous U.S. was 40.8°F, which was 0.9°F below the 20^th century average," NOAA's National Climatic Data Center reports. "This was in ...

Here's a fresh headline that may be welcome to those who oppose the bipartisan plan to extend background checks of gun purchasers to sales made at gun shows and over the Internet:

"Rifts In Both Parties Complicate Odds For Gun Measure." (The New York Times, ...

Since President George W. Bush left office in 2009, The Dallas Morning News writes, he has been "a punching bag for [President] Obama, Democrats and even some Republicans."

But while Bush told the Morning News during an interview for a long story posted over the weekend that "nobody likes to ...

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Threats And Crises Are 'Just Normal North Korean Diplomacy'

-- Venezuela Says Recount Likely After Chavez Heir's Close Win

-- At Golf's Masters, A Nice Guy Finished First

-- Book News: Yoko Ono Is Writing A ...

Jenna Bush Hager, daughter of former President George W. Bush and former first lady Laura Bush, gave birth over the weekend to a girl.

Margaret Laura "Mila" Hager is named for her grandmothers, the former president announced in a statement. According to The Associated Press, the little girl's ...

Search the morning-after stories about Sunday's dramatic finish at golf's Masters Tournament and one thing becomes clear. Adam Scott, the 32-year-old Australian who won after a two-hole playoff with Argentina's Angel Cabrera, seems to be one heck of a guy:

-- "He's one of the 10 nicest guys ...

Monday is "the day of the sun" in North Korea — a celebration of founder Kim Il Sung's birth in 1912.

On this North Korean national holiday, "Pyongyang residents spilled into the streets," The Associated Press writes. "Girls in red and pink jackets skipped along streets festooned with ...

A surprisingly small victory margin for Hugo Chavez's hand-picked successor in Sunday's special presidential election looks likely to be followed by a recount in Venezuela.

Chavez, Venezuela's fiery, controversial and charismatic leader, died on March 5.

NPR's Juan Forero tells our Newscast Desk that Nicolas Maduro, ...

He rose to fame in the 1960s with frequent appearances on The Tonight Show and roles in such movies as It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World. In the '80s, he was on TV's Mork & Mindy. Winters'...

Mattel says its "Dolls of the World" line of Barbies come with passports, stamps and, with many of the toys, an "animal friend."

But the toy company's been getting some criticism this week for "Mexico Barbie," which as GlobalPost notes is "dressed for a fabulous fiesta ...

Update at 11:50 a.m. ET. Radio 1 Will Play A Snippet:

There's word from NPR's Philip Reeves in London that BBC's Radio 1 now says its weekend Official Chart show will play "a clip in a journalistic environment" of "Ding Dong The Witch Is Dead," which critics of former Prime ...

Authorities in Arizona say a package addressed to controversial Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio was safely destroyed Thursday after a test for explosive residue confirmed it "contained black powder," The Arizona Republic writes.

According to the Arizona Daily Sun, the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said late Thursday ...

A steep drop in gasoline costs fueled a 0.6 percent decline in wholesale prices from February to March, the Bureau of Labor Statistics says.

Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, the so-called core rate of inflation was also in check: those prices rose a modest 0.2 percent.

...