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Here are some of the stories that will be making news later today:

Bank of America will be the target of protests at hundreds of branches across the country today. The demonstrations coincide with the bank's annual shareholders meeting. Taxpayers are now the largest holders of Bank of America's stock.

At 1pm ET, a Senate subcommittee holds an emergency hearing on the public health response to the "swine flu" outbreak. Officials from the Centers for Disease Control and the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases are expected to testify.

In the midst of the swine flu outbreak, Congress is moving quickly to fill a vacant slot at the Department for Health and Human Services.
Today the Senate is set to approve Kathleen Sebelius as the agency's leader. Her confirmation has been held up in Congress.

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Here are some of the stories that will be making news later today:

More bad weather is expected in the Midwest today after a weekend of intense storms and even tornados. Heavy rain and thunderstorms are triggering flooding from Oklahoma to Wisconsin. Our weather experts in the CNN Weather Center will be closely monitoring these storms for you all day.

Vice President Joe Biden will be in Chicago today discussing how the recovery act is creating jobs. At 11:15am ET he'll make remarks at Serious Materials – a factory that was able to re-hire 250 employees thanks to recovery act spending.

And we're keeping an eye on reports out of South Korea saying Kim Jong Il may be grooming his third son to be his successor. South Korea's Yonhap news agency is reporting that Kim Jong Un has been assigned to the country's National Defense Commission. And that could be indicative of a greater role for him in the future.

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Here are some of the stories that will be making news later today:

At 1:30pm ET, President Obama will speak about student loans and higher education. He'll specifically focus on how hard it is for many students and families to get a loan for college.

At 10am ET, former Vice President Al Gore will be talking climate change on Capitol Hill. The House Energy Committee has been focusing on the environment all week, examining energy legislation proposed by House Democrats in a new climate bill.

And Centcom commander General David Petraeus appears today before a House appropriations committee at 9:30am ET. He'll discuss supplemental funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. It's likely he'll cite the spiraling cycles of violence in Afghanistan and Pakistan to bolster his case.

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Here are some of the stories that will be making news later today:

At 9:30am ET, the man in charge of monitoring the 700-billion dollar taxpayer bailout appears before Congress to give a progress report today. Special Inspector General for TARP Neil Barofsky says the program has evolved into a 3-trillion dollar program of "unprecedented scope, scale and complexity."

At 10am ET, the House Financial Services Committee will be focusing on predatory lending. They'll be examining a bill Senator Barney Frank co-authored to crack down on lenders and lax lending standards.

President Obama will be on Capitol Hill to deliver remarks at the Holocaust Days of Remembrance Ceremony at 11am ET.

At 2:30pm ET, Attorney General Eric Holder heads to Capitol Hill for a House budget hearing. Don't be surprised if questions turn from budgets to potential prosecutions of Bush administration officials who authorized harsh interrogation techniques on terror suspects. Holder speaking publicly about the controversy for the first time yesterday saying, "No one is above the law."

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is also on Capitol Hill today. She'll be there to discuss State Department budget issues, but it's likely tough questions on Iran and Pakistan will be on the agenda.

And all day long we're keeping a close eye on those spreading wildfires in South Carolina. The coastal fires have torched over three thousand acres and over 40 homes. The CNN weather center will be monitoring those fires all day.

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Here are some of the stories that will be making news later today:

It's Earth Day and President Obama will spend part of it in Iowa promoting alternative energy sources. At 12:20pm ET he'll visit a former Maytag plant in Newton that's now building towers for wind turbines. The president will tour the facility and meet with workers.

Some major U.S. companies will release earnings reports today. Mcdonald's, Morgan Stanley, Wells Fargo, AT&T, Apple & E-bay are due to announce first quarter numbers.

And at 9am ET, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner delivers a speech on the Obama administration's continuing efforts to address the global recession. On Capitol Hill yesterday, Geithner was grilled by a panel overseeing the bank rescue program. He said even with the bailouts credit markets remain tight. Geithner also told the committee most banks have enough capital to weather the current economic crisis.

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Here are some of the stories that will be making news later today:

This morning at 10 o'clock ET, President Obama will meet with King Abdullah of Jordan at the White House. Officials say the talks will focus primarily on achieving peace in the Middle East.

Also at 10am ET, The Supreme Court takes up a landmark case that could affect your children. The case centers around a teenage girl who was strip searched at school. She was suspected of carrying ibuprofen, that's the active ingredient in Advil and Motrin, which the school district had banned. The girl's family claims the search violated her constitutional rights.

And today, some major U.S. companies will reveal their quarterly earnings. We're expecting first quarter reports from construction equipment maker Caterpillar, pharmaceutical giant Merck, Coca-Cola, Delta, the New York Times and later in the day, Yahoo.