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The president had put his political weight behind expanded background checks. But if he couldn't get an important win on a popular measure in a Democratic-controlled Senate, what's in store for other parts of his second-term agenda?

A new analysis of government data finds that antibiotic-resistant bacteria that cause human illness were widespread in supermarket meat samples tested. The implications are significant: that the bacteria had become resistant to antibiotics back at the farm because farmers were overusing them.

President Obama delivered an angry message to lawmakers, who shot down a gun control measure.

At what point does debt start to drag down an economy? Harvard economists Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff have argued that a debt to GDP ratio of 90 percent is a red line of sorts. That idea is under attack with economists from the University of Massachusetts charging that Rogoff and Reinhart used selective data to make their case.

As the day dawned, officials said an estimated 5 to 15 people were killed and more than 160 were wounded. It was feared those numbers might go higher. The cause of the fire that led to the explosion at a plant near Waco is under investigation.

Clues are still being sifted — most notably, perhaps, from video that shows a man setting down a bag and leaving the scene. No arrests have been made. Thursday morning, President Obama is at an interfaith service in Boston where the victims will be remembered.

Paul Kevin Curtis, the 45-year-old Mississippi man arrested Wednesday in connection with the possibly ricin-tainted envelopes sent to President Obama and at least one senator, has taken to Facebook in recent years to claim he knows of an organ-harvesting scheme. He's also an entertainer.

Pervez Musharraf, who was on trial on treason charges related to his 2007 order to arrest dozens of judges, is holed up at his residence on the outskirts of the capital, Islamabad.

Also: Suspect in ricin letters described as conspiracist and Elvis impersonator; North Korea "sets conditions" for return to talks; and former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords expresses her anger after gun bills fail in Senate.

Gun control advocates are regrouping after the Senate's failure to pass new gun regulations on Wednesday. Host Michel Martin talks about the political news of the week with analysts Maria Teresa Kumar, Lenny McAllister and NPR's senior Washington editor, Ron Elving.