Happening Today: Equal Pay Day, Gorsuch, Storms, Cancer Therapy, Harrison Ford

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St. Petersburg Attack Was Suicide Bomber, Officials Say

While St. Petersburg residents laid flowers outside the city's subway where a bomb blast a day earlier killed at least 14 people and wounded more than 40, Russian investigators said they believe the attacker was a suicide bomber. The Investigative Committee said in a statement that they suspect that a man whose body fragments they found in the train was a suicide bomber. The committee said they identified him but would not release the details in the interests of the probe. Earlier, Kyrgyzstan's State Committee for National Security identified a suspect as Kyrgyz-born Russian Akbarzhon Dzhalilov. It is unclear whether the Russian and Kyrgyz statements referred to the same man. The Kyrgyz intelligence agency said Russian authorities informed them about the man, aged between 21 and 22, but they were not aware of his specific role in the bombing. The intelligence agency said it is cooperating with Russian authorities to help the investigation. 

Equal Pay Day: Here's What You Need to Know

Many people in America are marking Equal Pay Day, calling attention to the wage discrepancies between men and women in the workplace, NBC News reported. Equal Pay Day, which was first marked in 1996, is held in April to symbolize how far into the year women need to work to make what men did in the previous year, according to NCPE. It is to "represent how far into the next work week women must work to earn what men earned the previous week." Even though decisions have been made in Washington to help close the gap, progress toward pay equal has been slow. Data from a 2016 study illustrates that white, non-Hispanic women make 83 cents for every dollar men make and Hispanic women make 60 cents. The fight for gender equality in the workplace if far from over. In fact, it will take 169 years for the world to completely close the economic gender gap.

Dems Claim Votes to Block Gorsuch; GOP Will Override Them

Democrats claimed the votes they needed to block President Trump's Supreme Court nominee, but the victory was only fleeting, setting up a historic showdown with Republicans who intend to rewrite Senate rules and muscle Neil Gorsuch onto the high court. The coming fight was assured as the bitterly divided Judiciary Committee voted 11-9, along party lines, to send Gorsuch's nomination to the full Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky has vowed he will be confirmed. Short of the 60 votes needed to overcome procedural hurdles, McConnell is ready to lead Republicans in a unilateral voting change so significant in the rules-conscious Congress that it's been dubbed the "nuclear option," lowering the confirmation threshold to a filibuster-proof simple majority in the 100-member Senate.

5 Killed in Severe Storms, Officials Say

A Mississippi woman who desperately tried to direct rescuers to her sinking vehicle after it skidded into a rain-swollen creek was among five people killed in storms across the South. A 52-year-old woman was running a newspaper delivery route when her car slid off a road into a creek in her hometown of Florence before dawn, authorities said. She dialed 911 from the car as it went down. In the tiny Mississippi Delta town of Glendora, the mayor's wife died when strong winds toppled a tree onto the couple's house. Two other people died earlier in Louisiana, and a man died in South Carolina after storms swept through the state.

A 'Sci-Fi' Cancer Therapy Fights Brain Tumors, Study Finds

It sounds like science fiction, but a cap-like device that makes electric fields to fight cancer improved survival for the first time in more than a decade for people with deadly brain tumors, final results of a large study suggest. Many doctors are skeptical of the therapy, called tumor treating fields, and it's not a cure. It's also ultra-expensive — $21,000 a month. But in the study, more than twice as many patients were alive five years after getting it, plus the usual chemotherapy, than those given just the chemo — 13 percent versus 5 percent. The device, called Optune, is made by Novocure, based near England.

Ford Won't Face Penalties Over Runway Incident, Attorney Says

Harrison Ford's attorney says the actor will not face any penalties over mistakenly landing on a taxiway at a Southern California airport earlier this year. The attorney writes in a statement that the Federal Aviation Administration will not fine Ford and the actor will retain his pilot's license without restriction. Ford mistakenly landed on a taxiway at John Wayne Airport in Orange County on Feb. 13 after flying over an American Airlines jet that was waiting to take off. The FAA confirmed it had concluded its investigation into the incident, but the agency said it does not comment on individual pilots. Ford cooperated with investigators, according to his attorney.