USA
The second of two storms blew through the Pacific Northwest Monday, dumping as much as 11 inches of rain in 24 hours in some locations, knocking out power to thousands of residents, blocking roads with trees, power lines, high water and, mud, and causing at least four deaths. Forecasters say the storm is headed to the Upper Midwest. Above, Gary Dorning of Adna, Wash., carries a girl through the floodwaters of the Chehalis River.
The Senate Finance Committee has asked six televangelists whose finances are being investigated to submit records on compensation, board oversight, and perks by Friday.
Charitable organizations that give donated toys to needy children at Christmas report being challenged by the recent wave of recalls, especially those of Chinese toys tainted with lead paint. In some cases, the Salvation Army, Goodwill, and other groups are refusing toys or increasing efforts to screen them, they say.
Washington has the most "walkable places" per capita of any of the 30 largest US metro areas, according to a new report released Tuesday by the Brookings Institution, a nonprofit public policy organization in that city. Washington's 20 walkable places – compact, mixed-use neighborhoods where nearly every destination can be reached on foot – rank it ahead of Boston, San Francisco, Denver, and Portland, Ore.
A tunnel possibly used as a drug corridor across the US-Mexican border east of San Diego is under investigation, officials in the two countries said Monday. Border agents (above) stand in front of 10,000 pounds of marijuana found in a trailer above the tunnel in Tecate, Calif.
The Veterans Committee of the Baseball Hall of Fame elected former big-league commissioner Bowie Kuhn, former owners Walter O'Malley (Dodgers) and Barney Dreyfuss (Pirates), and ex-managers Dick Williams and Billy Southworth to the Cooperstown, N.Y., shrine.
Michigan-based Dow Chemical Co. said Tuesday it will cut 1,000 jobs, or 2.3 percent of its total workforce in the US and overseas, in an effort to shed underperforming businesses.
For the first time in the prestigious Siemens high school science competition, begun in 1998, girls took top honors ($100,000 scholarships) in the individual and team divisions. Isha Jain of Bethlehem, Pa., won for her study of bone growth in zebra fish fins. Janelle Schlossberger and Amanda Marinoff of Plainview, N.Y., won for their research of tuberculosis treatments.
