NPR's Morning Edition

One of the worst school disasters in American history occurred 75 years ago, when an explosion killed hundreds of students at a school in East Texas. It was an event that etched itself into the memory of Kenneth Honeycutt, now 83.

"It was an explosion in the school building that led to the death of 300 students and teachers," he says. "It was caused by an accumulation of gas throughout the school building."

A new batch of performers will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame later this month. In the weeks leading up to the induction ceremonies, Morning Edition is visiting the cities that gave birth to the inductees.

Fans had a chance to be immortalized in the stadium by buying personalized bricks. The animal rights group PETA bought one. The group's brick contained a hidden message that spells out an anti-fishing website.

A Seattle man came home to discover that his dog had eaten his tickets to the Masters in Augusta, Ga. After the dog threw up, he managed to re-assemble the tickets. After all that effort, the Masters says they'll re-print his tickets anyway.

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And our last word in business today is cardboard to classy.

Today, Domino's Pizza is hoping to complete its rebranding as a place that does not sell lousy pizza. The effort started a couple of years ago when the company actually criticized itself in ads like this one.

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UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Dominoes Pizza crust, to me, is like cardboard.

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The Master's begins today in Augusta, Georgia. It's the first of the four majors that punctuate the golf season, and the only one of the majors that is always played at the same course: the perfectly manicured Augusta National. Behind the gorgeous imagery, the private golf club is dealing with an awkward issue, and USA Today sports columnist Christine Brennan is here to talk about it.

Christine, good morning once again.

CHRISTINE BRENNAN: Good morning, Steve.

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This is MORNING EDITION from NPR News. I'm Renee Montagne.

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And I'm Steve Inskeep.

Martin Luther King was assassinated 44 years ago this week. When people in Miami held a rally to mark that anniversary, local activist Billy Hardemon brought up the killing of another Martin.

BILLY HARDEMON: Two Martins that died too young, Trayvon and Martin Luther King.

Mitt Romney is closer to winning the GOP presidential nomination after primary victories this week in Wisconsin, Maryland and Washington, D.C. Halfway through the GOP nominating season, Romney's attacks on President Obama are intensifying.

A Spanish bond auction went poorly Wednesday, suggesting that Spain may be becoming the next Greece. It was the first auction without a lot of help from the European central bank.

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NPR's business news starts with layoffs at Yahoo.

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Life is not back to normal for everybody in the town of Lancaster, Texas. A state of emergency has been declared there, and the city of Arlington, as well, following yesterday's storms in the Dallas area.

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Good morning. I'm Renee Montagne with an early Easter for the dogs of Edmond, Oklahoma. The city's parks and recreation department hosted an Easter egg hunt for dogs. The Daily Oklahoman reports that over 70 dogs took part in the first ever Hound Hunt, sniffing out more than 700 treat-filled plastic eggs, including two silver eggs as grand prizes. One canine contestant went all out, donning a pair of plush rabbit ears for the occasion. It's MORNING EDITION. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright National Public Radio.

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STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

It's MORNING EDITION, from NPR News. Good morning. I'm Steve Inskeep.

RENEE MONTAGNE, HOST:

And I'm Renee Montagne.

A flight departure board at the Dallas-Fort Worth Airport yesterday told the story. One word was repeated again and again: cancelled, cancelled, cancelled.

INSKEEP: That was just one sign of chaos, as up to a dozen tornadoes spun through the area. Amazingly, nobody was reported killed.

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And this weekend Nokia rolls out its newest smartphone to the American public. It's called the Lumia 900. Nokia is trying to break its way back into the high-end mobile phone market it once dominated. In this fight against Apple iPhone and Google's Android, Nokia is the underdog now.

And as NPR's Steve Henn reports, it has joined up with Microsoft in its bid to make a comeback.