NATIONAL STORIES:

CNN: Search for survivors winds down as Oklahoma begins daunting recovery

What began as a hunt for survivors is now an arduous recovery effort. No new survivors or bodies have been found since Monday, the day a mammoth tornado ripped a 17-mile path of destruction in central Oklahoma and pummeled 2,400 homes. The mayor of Moore, which bore the brunt of the tornado's wrath, said he doesn't expect the death toll to climb any higher. At least 24 people, including nine children, were killed, the state medical examiner's office said.

ALSO SEE: CNNMoney: FEMA offers aid to tornado victims

WSJ: Electronic Health Data Gaining Favor

More than half of U.S. doctors have switched to electronic health records and are using them to manage patients' basic medical information and prescriptions, according to federal data set to be released Wednesday. The Department of Health and Human Services says it has reached a tipping point as it seeks to steer medical providers away from paper records. Advocates for electronic health records say they have the potential to make medical care safer and more efficient. In 2015, the federal government will start penalizing providers that haven't begun using electronic health records in reimbursements they get for treating patients.

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CNN: Oklahoma tornado leaves massive path of death, destruction; at least 51 dead

Clinging to the hope of finding more survivors, rescue workers raced overnight scouring mountains of rubble where houses and schools once stood– even as the sobering death toll continued to climb. The vicious tornado that tore across central Oklahoma on Monday has killed at least 51 people - with about 40 more bodies expected to arrive at the Oklahoma Medical Examiner's office, Amy Elliott of the coroner's office said. The official death toll will gradually rise as the bodies are processed. At least 20 of those killed were children, including seven from Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore - the site of a frantic search early Tuesday morning.

ALSO SEE: CNN: Federal resources ready, Obama tells Oklahoma governor

LA Times: Salt Lake City has highest rate of same-sex couples raising kids

Salt Lake City: the gay parenting capital of the United States? Unexpected as it may sound, a new study finds that the Utah capital and its outskirts have the nation's highest percentage of gay or lesbian couples raising children. Among couples of the same sex in the Salt Lake City area, more than 1 in 4 are rearing children, the analysis of census data reveals. That fact may seem at odds with perceptions that San Francisco and New York are the centers of gay and lesbian life. Pop culture depicts gays and lesbians turning to adoption, sperm banks or surrogacy to form families in decidedly liberal cities such as Los Angeles. But the reality for gay parents can be very different, said Gary J. Gates, the researcher behind the new estimates from the Williams Institute at the UCLA School of Law.

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CNN: North Korea fires another projectile into the sea off its east coast, South says

North Korea on Monday fired a projectile into the sea off its east coast for the third day in a row, South Korean officials said, urging Pyongyang to refrain from "tension-creating acts." The South Korean Defense Ministry still needs to analyze exactly what the North fired, said Choi Yong-su, an official in the ministry's spokesperson's office. The projectiles the North launched over the weekend could be short-range missiles or a new kind of large-caliber artillery, the defense ministry said earlier Monday. The North fired three objects into waters off its east coast on Saturday and a fourth on Sunday, according to South Korea's semiofficial news agency Yonhap.

ALSO SEE: NYT: North Korea Seized Chinese Boat

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CNN: 7 still missing from deadly Texas tornadoes

A North Texas community forged ahead in a massive cleanup, and the search for the missing continued Friday from 16 tornadoes that ripped through the area. That search for seven people still missing is still active, a local sheriff said. "We're going to keep on looking," Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said Thursday. "We're not going to give up until every piece of debris is turned over."  The seven-hour onslaught of twisters, 16 confirmed so far according to the National Weather Service, battered the area Wednesday, turning neighborhoods into rubble and leaving six people dead.

CNN: Cause of catastrophic Texas explosions remains mystery

Investigators have not ruled out an intentional fire being behind explosions at a fertilizer plant in the small town of West that left 15 people dead, the Texas fire marshal said Thursday. State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said investigators were unable to rule out three possible causes, including a spark from a golf cart, an electrical short or an intentionally set fire. "The cause cannot be proven to an acceptable level," Connealy told reporters.

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CNN: Suicide bomber hits coalition forces' convoy, killing 6 Afghans

A suicide car bomber targeted a convoy of coalition forces in the Afghanistan capital on Thursday morning, killing six civilians, the interior ministry said. The fatalities included two children and an additional 30 people wounded, said Sediq Seddiqi, a spokesman for the ministry. Maj. Bryan Woods, a spokesman for the International Security Assistance Force, confirmed the attack. He declined to release the number of casualties, saying he wanted more time. An investigation is under way, both by the coalition forces and the Afghan officials, Woods said. Insurgent group Hezbe Islami of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar claimed responsibility for the attack.

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CNN: Possible tornadoes hit Texas; 6 dead, dozens injured

Possible tornadoes ripped through north Texas on Wednesday night, killing at least six people and injuring more than 100 others, officials said. The fatalities occurred when the storm struck a Habitat for Humanity neighborhood in the Granbury area, Hood County Sheriff Roger Deeds said. There were about 120 homes in the neighborhood and most of them were destroyed. Fourteen people still missing and the death toll could rise, according to Deeds. About 100 people were injured, said Matt Zavadsky, a spokesman for MedStar Mobile Healthcare.

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CNN: Israeli military: Syrian rockets hit Golan Heights

Several Syrian rockets landed early Wednesday in the Mount Hermon area of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, on the border with Syria, the Israeli military said. "Initial reports indicate that the rockets are a result of (the) domestic situation in Syria," a spokeswoman for the Israel Defense Forces said. "As a result the Hermon side of the mountain will be temporarily closed for visitors." The Israel Defense Forces has been in touch with the U.N. force stationed between the two countries, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, over the incident, it said.

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CNN: Boston fire chief gets vote of 'no confidence' in handling of bombings

Thirteen out of 14 Boston deputy fire chiefs have signed a letter of "no confidence" in Fire Chief Steve Abraira's handling of the Boston Marathon bombings, a source with knowledge of the situation told CNN Tuesday night. The exact content of the letter is unclear, but was sent to Mayor Thomas Menino's office in April, according to the source. The twin blasts at the end of the Boston Marathon on April 15 killed three and wounded more than 260 others.

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CNN: Doctor found guilty of first-degree murder in Philadelphia abortion case

A Philadelphia abortion provider who killed babies by cutting their spinal cords with scissors was found guilty of first-degree murder on Monday. The conviction on three counts of first-degree murder means Dr. Kermit Gosnell, 72, could be sentenced to death. Assistant District Attorney Joanne Pescatore sobbed after the verdict in the high-profile case was announced. Gosnell appeared shocked. He let out a sigh and shook his head back and forth. Defense attorney Jack McMahon told CNN it's too soon to tell whether he will appeal the conviction.

CNN: Minnesota legislators vote for same-sex marriage

Minnesota is expected to join eleven states and the District of Columbia in legalizing same-sex marriage after the state Senate on Monday voted 37-30 in favor of approving it. Gov. Mark Dayton has said he would sign the bill. After the vote, he posted online, "Join us tomorrow as we make history on the Capitol steps." The bill follows a failed attempt last year to define marriage as between one man and one woman with an amendment to the state constitution. The state House approved the measure last Thursday.

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CNN Exclusive: CNN Exclusive: Brothers call Ariel Castro a 'monster'

Ariel Castro's brothers no longer refer to him as kin. Instead, they call him "a monster" who should rot in jail after being accused of kidnapping and holding three young women hostage in his home for a decade. "I had nothing to do with this, and I don't know how my brother got away with it for so many years," Pedro Castro, 54, said when he and brother Onil Castro, 50, sat down for an exclusive interview with CNN's Martin Savidge this weekend. When the story first broke, the world saw all three brothers as suspects after Cleveland police arrested them last Monday and released their mugshots. It was not until Thursday that Pedro and Onil Castro were freed and investigators said the brothers had no involvement in the kidnappings.

ALSO SEE: CNN: As Ohio women remained in captivity, alleged abductor's life crumbled

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CNN: Prosecutor: 'Child kidnapper operated a torture chamber and private prison'

First came the pain - a decade of torture, torment and terror for three captive women and one of their young daughters. Now comes the prosecution and - if there's a conviction - punishment for the man accused of being responsible for their hell. Ariel Castro appeared silently in court Thursday, his head down, as he was arraigned on four counts of kidnapping and three counts of rape, accused of holding the women captive in his Cleveland home. Cleveland Municipal Court Judge Lauren Moore ordered Castro held on $8 million bond - $2 million for each of the three women and the child born to Amanda Berry before they were freed Monday evening.

ALSO SEE: CNN: 'He is dead to me,' daughter of Ohio suspect says in CNN exclusive

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