• Michelle Obama, the first lady, and Jill Biden, wife of Vice President Joe Biden, toured a veterans center in Silver Spring, Md., to highlight the need to support military members and their families.
• Pope Francis, who has been credited with helping the United States and Cuba reach their rapprochement by writing to the leaders of both countries, is considering adding a stop in Cuba to his U.S. trip in September but no decision has been made, the Vatican said.
• H. Kim Bottomly, the president of Wellesley College, said she will step down in July 2016 after nearly nine years at the helm of the all-women's Massachusetts liberal arts school that counts Hillary Rodham Clinton among its alumnae.
• Elaine Santore of Schenectady, N.Y., told The Daily Gazette that she decided to plant pansies in potholes on two streets to make a statement about the pothole problem and to make people smile after what she called "a horrible winter."
• Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., quipped, "Just let it go," during a committee hearing in Washington after his cellphone's "Let It Go" ringtone from the movie Frozen interrupted Roberts' questioning of Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack.
• Alena Hughes, whose husband, Florida postal worker Doug Hughes, piloted a gyrocopter onto the U.S. Capitol lawn to make a statement about campaign-finance laws, called her spouse a law-abiding citizen in an interview with WFLA News near Tampa.
• Laura Eugenia Smith, 35, who Memphis police say was drunk and allowed a 10-year-old girl to drive Smith's car, faces multiple charges, including DUI, child endangerment and public intoxication.
• Kenneth Wanamaker Jr., a Pennsylvania man whose 6-year-old daughter's teeth were so rotten that a dentist testified her life was endangered, pleaded guilty to reckless endangerment and was sentenced to two months to a year in prison.
• Bill Beck, a Democratic freshman state lawmaker from Nashville, Tenn., was charged with drunken driving and violation of the implied-consent law on sobriety tests after an early-morning traffic stop.
• Charlie Linville, 29, a former Marine who lost his right leg and several fingers in an explosion in Afghanistan in 2011, said he is making a second attempt to scale Mount Everest to inspire others with injuries like his.
A Section on 04/18/2015