Weather Report: The Mississippi River is rising at an alarming rate, threatening to break the records of flooding set in 1993 when the water breached 800 levees in Missouri. Floodwaters have already cut off some highways and Missouri Gov. Jay …

—From Poughkeepsie, NY.   DC: The Senate late last night blocked a House bill that would have ended the National Security Agency’s wholesale snooping into American phone records. The House had passed what they call the USA Freedom Act, which …

Flight: A fire believed to have been set yesterday by an employee at a Chicago air traffic control center created snarls all over the country and led to the cancellation of about 1,750 flights. Passengers were stranded. Authorities say the …

Bladerunner: Amputee runner Oscar Pistorius has been found guilty of culpable homicide, the equivalent of manslaughter, by a South African judge. Pistorius shot and killed his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp Feb. 14, 2013, saying he believed an intruder was in the …

I Spy: The Justice Department this morning announced espionage charges against five members of China’s People’s Liberation Army, accusing them of stealing trade secrets from American companies. It’s unprecedented to remotely indict officials of a foreign government, but needless to say, …

370: The surface search for wreckage from the missing Malaysia Flight 370 has been called off. The ships and aircraft involved have returned to base and a slow undersea search started yesterday. But the robotic submarine Bluefin had to perform …

Syria: Peace talks in Switzerland immediately stumbled over the continued tenure of President Bashar al-Assad. Secy. of State John Kerry said Assad could not be part of a negotiated interim government and that, “The right to lead a country does …

World: Two Americans and United Nations staffers were among 21 people killed when a Taliban suicide bomber blew himself up outside a popular Lebanese restaurant in Afghanistan’s capital Kabul. Gunmen sprayed the restaurant after the explosion. The Taliban said the …

Change for NSA: President Obama is scheduled this morning to announce changes in the NSA’s “metadata” program that collects the raw data from telephone communications. Obama is expected to say that the data should be held by the phone companies …

The Gavel: A federal judge in Oklahoma has struck down the state’s ban on same-sex marriage, but hold the wedding bells. The judge set aside his own order to give the state a chance to appeal. The decision was not …