Three Dead, 176 Injured at Marathon

 Marathon Bombing: This morning the toll is three dead and at least 176 injured in the double bombing at the finish of the Boston Marathon. Among the dead is an eight-year-old boy whose mother and sister also were injured. The family had just watched the boy’s father finish.

 An uncounted number of people lost limbs, including two brothers in their 30s who each lost a leg.  Runners helped treat the injured in the triage tent that had been set up for exhausted racers.

 Although deadly, the bombs were relatively weak, exploding about an hour after the lead runners finished and the crowd had thinned. But the number of shrapnel wounds suggests that the bombs may have been packed with metal to maim and kill.

Police destroyed what they believed to be a third device. Reports that they found other unexploded devices are unconfirmed. Boston police said yesterday that there was also an explosion at the John F. Kennedy library but that proved untrue. It was a fire in an equipment room that coincided with the time of the bombings.

No one has claimed responsibility or given a reason for the bombings. But it does not look like the work of professional terrorists. Police yesterday questioned an injured man described as a Saudi national, and searched his apartment. They are not calling him a suspect. An alert has also been issued for a man seen yesterday wearing a hood and carrying two backpacks. He was believed to be driving a rented van.

World: A major earthquake has struck in Iran with at least 46 people reported dead so far. Iran’s news agency said it was the worst in 50 years.

National: The stock market bounced back this morning after yesterday’s deep dip of 265.86 points, the biggest in five months.

  • The Pentagon cancelled its controversial plan to issue what became known as the “Nintendo” medal, an award for drone pilots and cyber warfare experts. The Distinguished Warfare Medal would have outranked the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart, which offended recipients of those medals who faced bullets to get them.

The Ink Trade: The NY Times won four Pulitzer Prizes yesterday, one of them for stories about how the Wal-Mart chain used bribery to expand into Mexico. The Denver Post won for breaking news coverage of the Aurora movie theater shooting.

Obit Page: Frank Bank, the actor who played “Lumpy” Rutherford on the classic “Leave it to Beaver” television series, died at 71. Lumpy was a touchstone character for the baby boomers.

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It's Been Said

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