In the news

Mazie Baalman, owner of Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and a sponsor of an annual Easter egg hunt in Colorado Springs, Colo., said organizers have canceled this year’s event, citing aggressive parents who last year jumped a rope barring adults to ensure their children got eggs.

Dick Cheney, 71, the former vice president, is “awake and talking” after undergoing heart transplant surgery at a Falls Church, Va., hospital on Saturday, said spokesman Kara Ahern.

Gabor Rakonczay, 30, a Hungarian man whose canoe capsized during his 76-day trip across the Atlantic Ocean and ruined his communication equipment, leaving no way to contact his family and tell them he was fine, has become the first person to paddle across the Atlantic from Europe to the Caribbean.

Jeffrey Stenroos, 31, a former Los Angeles school police officer who staged his own shooting last year in a hoax that caused an 8-square-mile area to be locked down for 10 hours, has agreed to pay the city $309,000 in restitution, authorities said.

Clint Zweifel, Missouri’s treasurer, said his office has reissued a $1 million tax-refund check that was never cashed, adding that the refund, which was destined for a company doing business in the state, was lost because the company’s address had changed.

Bobby Brown, whose ex-wife, Whitney Houston, drowned last month after an apparent heart episode with cocaine as a contributing factor, has been arrested in California’s San Fernando Valley on suspicion of driving under the influence, law enforcement officials said.

Michelle Obama

was joined by schoolchildren from New York, Pennsylvania and North Carolina in planting potatoes, spinach, broccoli, carrots, radishes and onions at the White House as part of the first lady’s broader initiative to promote healthy eating.

Alexandra Pew, 18, is in critical condition at a Lansing, Mich., hospital after authorities say the high school student fell six stories after crashing through a dorm window while playing catch with friends at Michigan State University.

President Nicolas Sarkozy

of France said Mohamed Merah, who is believed to have gunned down Jewish children, a rabbi and paratroopers and was killed in a standoff last week, was not part of al-Qaida, as Merah had told police.

Front Section, Pages 1 on 03/27/2012

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