Mark Memmott

The U.S. economy grew at a 2.5 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2013, the Bureau of Economic Analysis estimated Friday morning.

That's modest growth, and was below the 3.2 percent pace economists had expected to hear about. But growth was up substantially from fourth-quarter 2012, when the economy expanded at a scant 0.4 percent annual rate.

An estimated 38 people died early Friday at a psychiatric hospital north of Moscow when a fire swept through the facility.

The state news agency RIA Novosti says it has been told by a "police source" that most of the victims "died in their sleep [from] inhaling the fumes as they were likely sedated by prescribed medicine."

Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, the surviving suspect in the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings and the crimes that followed, has been moved out of Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center "and is now confined at the Bureau of Prisons facility FMC Devens at Ft. Devens, Mass.," U.S. Marshals Service spokesman Drew Wade said in a statement emailed to reporters Friday morning.

A body pulled out of the water earlier this week in Providence, R.I., has now been identified as that of 22-year-old Sunil Tripathi, a Brown University student who had been missing since March 15.

Thanks, mom.

On the day her son George's presidential library is being dedicated in Dallas, former first lady Barbara Bush has told NBC's Today show that "we've had enough Bushes" when it comes to seeing the presidency.

There were 339,000 first-time claims for unemployment insurance last week, down 16,000 from the week before, the Employment and Training Administration says.

The drop brought claims down to around their lowest level since early 2008, when the latest recession was just getting started and before the downturn got its grip on the economy.

We're due for one of those rare moments Thursday morning when the current president and all of his living predecessors will be together.

The occasion: The dedication of the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the campus of Southern Methodist University in Dallas. Presidents Jimmy Carter, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama are due to be there along with, of course, George W. Bush.

The latest developments in the investigation into the April 15 bombings at the Boston Marathon and related news include:

Update at 2 p.m. ET. FBI Says Suspects Planned Explosions In Times Square, New York Mayor Bloomberg Says:

This may not surprise fans of HBO's The Wire:

A suspect is in custody after five people were reportedly shot to death in Manchester, Ill., a town of 300 or so residents about 90 miles north of St. Louis, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports.

"The @AP Twitter account, which was suspended after being hacked, has been secured and is back up. Thank you for your patience."

That's the word Wednesday morning from The Associated Press.

"Clashes broke out between protesters and riot police near France's lower house of parliament late on Tuesday just hours after the country legalized gay marriage, with opponents of the law hurling projectiles at police, who responded with tear gas," France 24 reports.

The latest developments in the investigation into the bombings at the Boston Marathon and related news include:

Update at 7:36 p.m. ET. Suspect Unarmed When Arrested:

When police cornered Dzhokhar Tsarnev in a boat in Watertown, they said they traded fire with the Boston bombing suspect.

Though they told him he wouldn't be hurt, the man who was allegedly forced by the suspects in the Boston Marathon bombings to hand over his SUV and go with them says he was convinced the gunmen would "kill me later."

A Twitter account from The Associated Press was hacked Tuesday afternoon and the erroneous message — to be perfectly clear, it WAS NOT TRUE — sent stocks down sharply for a few moments.

The false message claimed there had been two explosions at the White House and that President Obama had been injured. Again, none of that happened.

France is poised to become the latest nation to legalize same-sex marriage after its Parliament passed a bill that also legalizes adoptions by same-sex couples.

President Francois Hollande is expected to sign the bill quickly.

Authorities are bracing for the reaction from opponents. Correspondent Eleanor Beardsley tells our Newscast Desk that "supporters are planning a celebratory rally and opponents will stage protests across the country. Opposition in France to gay marriage has radicalized over the past month as far-right extremists have joined the protests."

While sales of existing homes dipped in March because of a tighter inventory, sales of newly built homes rose 1.5 percent from February and were up a whopping 18.5 percent from March 2012, the Census Bureau and Department of Housing and Urban Development say.

The Boston Marathon bombings "riveted most Americans" and seemed to "confirm the public's long-held belief that occasional terrorist acts are to be expected," the Pew Research Center says.

In a report released Tuesday morning, it adds that:

(Most recent update: 8:39 p.m. ET.)

Reaching the victims of Saturday's strong earthquake in China's Sichuan province remains difficult because of aftershocks and landslides.

According to Voice of America:

There was a 0.6 percent dip in sales of existing homes in March from February, the National Association of Realtors reports, because the supply of homes for sale has tightened as the number of would-be buyers rises.

Its data suggest that sales ran at a 4.92 million annual rate last month, falling from a "downwardly revised" pace of 4.95 million the month before.

Now, something completely unrelated to the heavy news of recent days:

"I clearly had one drink too many and I am deeply embarrassed about the things I said," actress Reese Witherspoon says in a statement sent to Entertainment Weekly and other news outlets about her arrest Friday in Atlanta.

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- Boston Bombings: Monday's Developments; (our running coverage).

-- Midwest's Floods Aren't Over, But So Far, So Good.

The good news is that "the big river didn't get too big," The St. Louis Post-Dispatch writes this morning.

"Sandbags held back the cresting Mississippi River from several towns north of St. Louis on Sunday," it adds, "while the forecast for the immediate vicinity remained high but manageable."

(Most recent update: 7:00 p.m. ET.)

The surviving suspect in the Boston Marathon bombings was charged Monday with using a weapon of mass destruction to kill three people and wound more than 200 in what FBI investigators said evidence shows was a coldly calculated attack.

Al Neuharth died Friday at his home in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

He was 89.

Al's name may not be familiar to you, but this blogger hopes that you are acquainted with the newspaper he willed to life in 1982: USA Today.

From 1984 to 2009, I was either a reporter or editor — and sometimes both — at McPaper (a nickname that critics bestowed upon USA Today, but which those of us who were there in its best days adopted with the pride of underdogs).

"A powerful earthquake jolted China's Sichuan province Saturday near where a devastating quake struck five years ago," The Associated Press writes. According to CNN, early estimates put the death toll around 100. More than 1,000 other people were reportedly injured. Both figures could change substantially as more information comes in.