Mystery: A 33-year-old West Hollywood man has died of meningitis, raising alarms that a quick and deadly disease might be stalking gay men. Brett Shaad was described as fit and healthy only days before he died. At least 22 cases …

World: Secretary of State John Kerry is in China urging leaders to put a lid on the bellicose rhetoric coming from their neighbor Kim Jong-un in North Korea. They also agreed to work toward eliminating nuclear weapons from the Korean …

L’il Kim’s L’il Nuke: North Korea might know how to make a small nuclear warhead that could be delivered by ballistic missile, US defense intelligence analysts have concluded. Word of this was released by a Colorado Congressman who may have …

 National: Shortly after submitting his budget plan, President Obama signed an order imposing $91 billion in automatic cuts for 2014 if Congress doesn’t make a deal. So far Congress has done nothing to avert the $89 billion in cuts already …

The Merry Go Round: The Senate appears to be reaching a deal under which background checks on gun buyers would be extended to gun shows and online sales. A bill is moving toward a vote over the dead bodies of …

 National: The federal budget sequester and its $85 billion in cuts is beginning to hit home … all over the country. The Huffington Post collected 100 news stories about layoffs by military bases, cutbacks and closings at food pantries and …

Breaking: Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died suddenly of a stroke today. She was 87. Sometimes known as the Iron Lady, she was a staunch conservative who led Britain for 11 years beginning in 1979. She’s credited with breaking …

National: Three US soldiers, two American civilians, and an Afghan doctor died in an IED attack on a convoy in Afghanistan. One of the dead was 25-year-old Anne Smedinghoff, a foreign-service officer. Four other State Department people were wounded, one …

National: A Federal judge in Brooklyn ruled that the Plan B “morning after” pill must be available over the counter to women 16 and under. This overturns a rule set in 2011 by Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen …

 National: The stock market is down this morning on news that the US added only 88,000 jobs in March, compared to 268,000 in February. Even so, the unemployment rate ticked down from 7.7% to 7.6%. President Obama will offer a …