Veteran Scandal: President Obama said this morning that he has ordered a broad investigation of accusations that veterans are dying while waiting for healthcare. “If these allegation prove to be true it is dishonorable, it is disgraceful and I will not tolerate it.” For the time being, Obama appears to be sticking with VA Secy. Eric Shinseki.

Playing With Pain: Retired NFL players have teamed up to sue the league claiming that teams administered illegal drugs and painkillers to keep players on the field when they were injured. The suit said players were kept in the dark about broken bones and given drugs to mask the pain.

   Some of the marquee names on the lawsuit are from the 1986 Super Bowl champion Chicago Bears; defensive end Richard Dent, offensive lineman Keith Van Horne, and quarterback Jim McMahon. Van Horne said he played most of a season unaware he had a broken leg and McMahon said he was only given painkillers for a fractured neck. At least 500 players have joined the complaint. Only last year the NFL reached a $765 million settlement with former players over concussions.

Nation: General Motors yesterday recalled another 2.4 million cars for defects, bringing the total to 13.5 million recalled vehicles this year. That’s more than four times the number of cars GM sold last year. GM seems to have developed a hair trigger on recalls since being caught covering up a potentially fatal defect with ignition switches.

>Kentucky Sen. Mitch McConnell trounced his Tea Party challenger in his state’s Republican primary, but that leaves him in a dead heat with Democrat Alison Lundergan Grimes, who’s looking to unseat him. McConnell was first elected to the Senate in 1984 and is now the majority leader.

Across the country, Tea Party candidates did not do well, signaling that the mainstream Republicans are taking back their party.

The Banns: A federal judge in Pennsylvania yesterday struck down the state’s bans on same-sex marriage, making it the 19^th state in which gay marriage is legal since the Supreme Court ruled that legally married same-sex couples are eligible for federal benefits as spouses. Judge John Jones III wrote: “By virtue of this ruling, same-sex couples who seek to marry in Pennsylvania may do so, and already married same-sex couples will be recognized as such in the Commonwealth.”

As art imitates life, the characters Mitch and Cam are getting married tonight on ABC’s Modern Family.

World: The militant group Boko Haram is the prime suspect in a double explosion that killed 118 people and wounded 45 in the Nigerian city of Jos yesterday. Boko Haram, which abducted more than 200 schoolgirls last month, is fighting for an Islamic state.

>Flooding in the Balkans is exposing landmines and unexploded ordnance left over from Bosnia’s long civil war. Forty people have died in the floods brought on by three days of Biblical rains. And half a million people have had to leave their homes. But the flooding and landslides add a new twist to the lingering landmine problem. They’re being washed to unmarked locations.

Gaseous: Russia and China have reached a 30-year deal for Russia to provide China with natural gas from Siberia. Russia could gross $400 billion. This gives Russia an outlet for natural gas and an economic connection to the East just as natural gas has become a pawn in the Ukraine crisis to the west.

Sentenced: Deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarek has been sentenced to three years in prison and his two sons got four years each for embezzling public money. The charges say the Mubareks took $17 million to feather their own nests.

Burrito, Not Beretta: The Chipotle restaurant chain has asked its customers not to bring guns to dinner. The chain reacted after a group of “open carry” advocates had their picture taken carrying assault rifles inside a Chipotle outlet. It’s a disappointment to gun lovers who will no longer be able to use their burrito bowl for target practice inside the restaurant.

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