NPR: Korva Coleman

After four years on the job, the nation's top doctor is leaving. U.S. Surgeon General Regina Benjamin announced late Wednesay that she plans to step down next month.

Yes, the NBA finals are well underway, and yes it's mid-June, but tonight marks Game 1 of the National Hockey League's Stanley Cup championship. A strike-shortened season pushed the finals later into the spring than usual.

Speaking to a huge group of children Friday at the Vatican, Pope Francis pushed aside a set of prepared remarks to talk directly to them and answer some of their questions.

One of his frank responses to a girl named Teresa was this: "Anyone who wants to be Pope doesn't care much for themselves, God doesn't bless them. I didn't want to be Pope," reports Reuters.

At least 16 people are dead after several days of flooding in Austria, Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. Historic cities are underwater, and flood victims are perching on rooftops for safety. It's been a rainy spring in the region, and heavy storms last weekend forced many rivers and streams over their banks.

And more rain is forecast for this weekend in parts of central Europe.

If it seems as though lottery jackpots keep growing in size, you're right — the multistate Powerball lottery has ballooned to its third-largest size in history, and one or several lucky people could win Wednesday night's drawing.

At this writing, the Powerball is worth an estimated $360 million, with a $229.2 million cash value. The Associated Press says not only is this one of the biggest Powerball jackpots ever, it's the seventh-largest prize ever awarded in any lottery.

As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe focuses on boosting his country's bottom line, a lingerie company is hoping to give Japan a different type of lift.

The "Branomics Bra" from Triumph International is a play on Abe's economic policy known as "Abenomics." The company says the garment has a "growth strategy" to help bust Japan's persistent inflation problem, according to Reuters.

Arbor Day celebrations have come and gone, but winter weather is gripping the Plains and Upper Midwest. The storm that dumped snow in the Rockies a day earlier is threatening to blanket parts of the region with up to 8 inches of snow on Thursday.

The National Weather Service warns: "Significant accumulations of snow continue to be reported across portions of southeast Minnesota and northeast Iowa, with over 15 inches already in Dodge Center, (Minn.)."

Galactic poet?

Here's how to become famous.

Send your work to Mars!

NASA is raising awareness for its upcoming launch of the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft with its Going to Mars project. The MAVEN spacecraft is scheduled for launch this November, to study the Red Planet's upper atmosphere; the craft will examine why Mars lost its atmosphere, and how that catastrophe affected the history of water there.

Update at 4:55 P.M ET: The Associated Press reports that Cheyenne, Wyo. has now received at least 15 inches of snow.

There's word that a Scottish cruise line has taken out an insurance policy in case of a beastly disaster. Jacobite Cruises is now insured against damage from the Loch Ness Monster.

"We see it as keeping in line with good business practice," Freda Newton, managing director of Jacobite Cruises, tells The Scottish Sun. "There is so much going on — people have tried to hunt the Loch Ness Monster, people have tried to capture it. We just don't know what could happen. It's prudent."

The Sun reports:

A young girl raped this month in the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh has died, according to several news reports. The 4-year-old child had been lured with chocolate by her alleged attacker, who later dumped her at a farm, as NPR's Julie McCarthy has reported.

The New York Times' India Ink blog says the girl's parents found her April 18, the day after the attack, and that she had been in a coma since. She sustained extensive brain and vaginal injuries.

Remember that cherry red Chevy Malibu convertible that John Travolta drives in Pulp Fiction? You know the one that he crashes, trying to get help after Uma Thurman overdoses? Did you know it's been missing for 19 years because it was stolen? Well, it's not missing anymore.

Bangladeshi authorities have arrested at least seven people in connection with this week's deadly building collapse outside Dhaka, the capital. Several garment factories, shops and a bank were housed inside.

It's not been a full month since Roger Ebert passed away, but his annual Ebertfest continued this month in Illinois with screenings, lectures and guest visits by artists.

The big hit was actress Tilda Swinton, who closed out last Friday night with this touching tribute to the longtime movie critic: a conga line.

Crew members from Marist College in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., were out practicing on the Hudson River this week when they were surprised by a gigantic head floating toward them.

A few days after Rehtaeh Parsons' mother turned off the hospital life support systems and allowed her daughter to die, computer activists claiming to be affiliated with the hacker group Anonymous are threatening to reveal the identities of Parsons' alleged rapists.

Former Nevada Assemblyman Steven Brooks is jailed in San Bernadino County, Calif., following a high-speed freeway chase with Barstow police and members of the California Highway Patrol. Just hours earlier, Brooks had been kicked out of the lower house of the Nevada State Legislature for making threats and behaving erratically.

Barstow Police Chief Albert Ramirez said the incident began when Brooks summoned a tow truck because of a flat tire, and then had a disagreement with the driver.

It's Good Friday, one of the holiest days of the Christian year, when tradition holds that Jesus was crucified and died.

Oklahoma's health department is contacting some 7,000 patients of Tulsa-area dentist Dr. W. Scott Harrington to warn them they may have been exposed to "blood-borne viruses."

Officials are urging former patients to get screened for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV after an investigation of Harrington's office found rusty instruments in use and evidence of unsanitary practices. The dentist had clinics in Tulsa and Owasso.

A mortar shell hit part of Damascus University in Syria's capital on Thursday, killing at least 10 students and wounding a number of others, according to the official Syrian news agency, which says the shell fell on an outdoor café in the architecture department.

NPR's Susannah George is following the attack from neighboring Lebanon: "State TV footage shows puddles of blood in a colorful school cafeteria, and an awning is torn above where the mortar allegedly landed."

Now he can catch up with his bills. Pedro Quezada of New Jersey claimed the fourth-largest jackpot in the history of the Powerball multistate lottery on Tuesday. Instead of taking the $338 million dollar prize in installments, he opted for a one-time lump sum payment of $211 million, which is the third-largest single cash prize the lottery has ever awarded.

There's nothing like encouragement to help you succeed. Or maybe you can just create it for yourself. Baylor's Brittney Griner had both Tuesday night as her top-seeded team blew past Florida State 85-47. She had a double double: 33 points and 22 rebounds, as Encourager-In-Chief and former President George W. Bush looked on with former first lady Laura Bush in Waco, Texas. But that wasn't all.

Good morning.

Our early headlines:

-- 'Monumental' Gay-Marriage Cases Could Set Law For Centuries

-- In Afghanistan: Kerry Wraps Up Trip; Police, U.K. Targeted In Attacks.

What can you find underneath a British railroad or parking lot? These days it could be skeletons, and probably a lot of them. Last month, researchers announced the bones of a man discovered underneath a British parking lot were actually King Richard III. Today, a British rail project says some of its staff stumbled upon skeletons of people who may have died of the Black Death nearly 700 years ago, during an outbreak of bubonic plague.

Update at 6:53 p.m. ET Rescuers End Search:

Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill says efforts to find Jeffrey Bush, who disappeared in a sinkhole, have been discontinued. He says that the conditions at Bush's home have become too dangerous for rescue workers.

"At this point it's really not possible to recover the body," Merrill said at a news conference on Saturday.

He says workers will begin efforts to demolish the home on Sunday.

Our Original Post Continues:

After all the hoopla and news of people buying tools to catch Burmese pythons invading Florida, the state's monthlong hunt for them is over. Hunters caught 68 pythons. That's right, 68, according to The Associated Press, even though 1,600 people signed up with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission to search for them.

The top of this post was updated on Feb. 17 at 6:04 a.m.

At least 81 people are dead and another 180 are wounded after an explosive device went off in a crowded marketplace in Quetta, Pakistan. Photos from the scene show heavy smoke rising over buildings.

They thought they'd managed this problem a few years ago. But Washington state Gov. Jay Inslee got a disturbing call Friday from Energy Secretary Steven Chu: Nuclear waste is leaking out of a tank in one of the most contaminated nuclear waste sites in the U.S.

The U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association says that American skier Lindsey Vonn crashed during the women's world Super-G competition in Austria today and was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Reports indicate she may have a serious knee injury.

The gold-winning Olympian was trailing the race leader by 0.12 seconds, according to the USSA, when she crashed. She was taken for medical treatment by helicopter, which the organization says is 'standard protocol'.

Vice President Joe Biden says the United States is ready to hold direct talks with Iran over its nuclear program — provided that the country's top leader is serious about such discussions.