Ukraine Crisis: The European Union today is prepared to offer $15 billion in aid to shore up Ukraine. That’s in addition to the $1 billion offered by the US yesterday.

  Stocks jumped yesterday as investors relaxed their fears about Russia invading all of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir  Putin said he has no plans to use force, but reserves the right to use it if he thinks it’s necessary.

But visiting Kiev, Secy. of State John Kerry was at odds with Putin saying, “It is clear that Russia has been working hard to create a pretext for being able to invade further.” Kerry is scheduled to meet the Russian foreign minister today.

In the midst of all the stress, Russia decided yesterday was a good day to test an intercontinental ballistic missile that was fired from Astrakhan on the Caspian Sea, to a proving range in Kazakhstan.

Nation: President Obama sent Congress a $3.9 trillion budget that some Republicans are already calling “dead on arrival”. The budget proposes ambitious plans for education from pre-school through college and for roads and public works. But it would pay for the initiatives by ending some tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations. Rep. Paul Ryan of (R-Wisc.), dismissed the budget saying, “This budget isn’t a serious document, it’s a campaign brochure.”

>The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously to ban the use of e-cigarettes in public spaces including bars, restaurants, parks, and generally anywhere that it’s already illegal to smoke a cigarette. Los Angeles joins Chicago, New York and other cities in restricting what’s known as “vaping” in public. E-cigarettes are sold as being safer than cigarettes, but little is known about the chemicals in the vapor they put in the air.

World: China has its neighbors worried after announcing its biggest hike in military spending in three years, a jump of 12.5 percent. China is trying to develop more high tech weapons as well as bolstering air and coastal defenses. The country’s increased spending in recent years has allowed it to projected power into disputed waters of the East and South China Seas, and further into the western Pacific and Indian Oceans.

>Havana’s National Museum of Fine Arts recently discovered the theft of dozens of modernist Cuban about  works that had been kept in storage. A Cuban-American art dealer in Miami became suspicious when he was offered 11 pieces, one of which he bought. He notified the museum in Havana and called the FBI. The Havana National Museum then found that it was missing 95 works that had been cut from their frames.

Signing Off: National Public Radio’s Carl Kassel, who has a voice like God, is leaving the network later this spring. Lately Kassel has hosted the weekly game show “Wait Wait… Don’t Tell Me!,” but he’s been at NPR since 1975 and delivered the news for “Morning Edition” for 20 years.

Guacamole Crisis: The Chipotle restaurant chain says it might stop serving guacamole if global warming and climate change get any worse. In its annual report the chain said weather volatility is driving up the price of ingredients. But a Chipotle spokesman immediately tried to knock down the panic saying, “This is nothing more than routine risk factor disclosure. The sky is not falling.”

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