Explosion: At least five people are dead and about 165 injured in a huge explosion at a West Texas fertilizer plant. The blast also damaged and destroyed 50-75 homes and businesses. Firefighters were in the plant battling a fire but it spread to chemical tanks causing the explosion. The damage surrounding the plant is widespread and devastating.

The Gun Battle: The Republican Senate minority shot down expanded gun control, rejecting universal background checks, a ban on assault weapons and limits on bullet capacity. The 54-46 vote was six short of the 60 vote majority required. President Obama, in the company of Newtown families, delivered a long, impassioned and sometimes angry speech in the Rose Garden, saying 90% of Americans wanted more background checks. He accused the NRA of willfully lying in its campaign when it said the bill would lead to a national gun registry. Strong language. The President asked, “Who are we here to represent?” He concluded, “All in all, this is a pretty shameful day for Washington.”

Boston: Reporters waited on edge all day yesterday for what they believed would be a major announcement in the Boston Marathon bombings, but none came. Investigators said they identified a man on videotape as a possible suspects, but there was no word on whether they have a name. A photo may be released today. Investigators have recovered parts of pressure cookers that had been packed with explosives and shrapnel. Television reporters have taken to displaying pressure cookers on air to show Americans what a pressure cooker looks like.

National: A Tupelo, Miss. man has been arrested in the investigation of ricin-contaminated letters sent to the President and a senator. The letters were intercepted in off-site mail facilities that screen mail to government offices. The letter to the President had the message, “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.” It was signed, “I am KC and I approve this message.”

World: The window is closing for a “two-state” solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Secretary of State John Kerry told a Congressional hearing yesterday. Kerry said, “I think we have some period of time, in a year to year and a half to two years, or it’s over,” he said.

Killing Bambi: The NY Times Brian Stelter reports that the plan to dump Ann Curry from The Today Show was called “Operation Bambi” because a friend of the executive producer said firing Curry would be “like killing Bambi”. Stelter is publishing a book about the network morning news wars in which execs kill their own as well as the opposition.

-30-