NC officials Fatal twister could have been worse

By DANIEL R. PATMORE (AP)

Marco Allen Chapman is ready to die.

After more than three years of waiting for courts to consider an appeal he never wanted, the death row inmate may soon get his wish and become the first person executed in Kentucky since 1999.

\"I\'m willing to accept the consequences for the crime I committed,\" Chapman told The Associated Press in a recent interview, his first since pleading guilty to the 2002 stabbing deaths of two children after a two-day crack binge.

Several states are moving swiftly forward on death penalty cases after the U.S. Supreme Court, in a landmark...

By RYAN MOORE (AP)

Authorities were waiting for daylight early Friday so they could begin assessing the damage from a reported tornado that killed one person and injured three others in central North Carolina.

What law enforcement officers said was a tornado touched down on the outskirts of Greensboro late Thursday as severe storms swept across the Southeast, damaging homes and businesses in at least three other states.

An apparent tornado also wrecked a shopping area in Mississippi and strong winds flipped a mobile home in Alabama. In south-central Tennessee, at least four homes and a few...

By RYAN MOORE (AP)

A line of severe storms swept across the Southeast on Thursday, damaging homes and businesses in at least four states. One person was killed and three were injured by a tornado in North Carolina, authorities said.

An apparent tornado wrecked a shopping area in Mississippi and strong winds flipped a mobile home in Alabama. In south-central Tennessee, at least four homes and a few barns were damaged.

A tornado touched down late Thursday on the outskirts of Greensboro, N.C., blowing three tractor-trailers off Interstate 40, authorities said. One person was killed and two were...

By RYAN MOORE (AP)

A line of severe storms swept across the Southeast on Thursday, damaging homes and businesses in at least four states. No injuries were reported.

An apparent tornado wrecked a shopping area in Mississippi and strong winds flipped a mobile home in Alabama. In south-central Tennessee, at least four homes and a few barns were damaged, and an apparent tornado blews cars off the road in North Carolina.

In Alabama, at least 15 school systems released students early, while others held students late as squalls passed. Winds blew a piece of metal roofing off Hamilton High School,...

By RYAN MOORE (AP)

A line of severe storms swept across the Southeast on Thursday, damaging homes and businesses in at least three states. No injuries were reported.

An apparent tornado wrecked a shopping area in Mississippi and strong winds flipped a mobile home in Alabama. In south-central Tennessee, at least four homes and a few barns were damaged. Portions of Alabama remained under tornado watches until early Thursday evening.

In Alabama, at least 15 school systems released students early, while others held students late as squalls passed. Winds blew a piece of metal roofing off Hamilton...

By (AP)

Democratic congressional candidate Travis Childers isn\'t afraid to get dirty to win.

\"Let me tell y\'all something mighty quick because I know y\'all didn\'t come to a cow sale to hear a politician,\" Childers said recently as he stepped into a muddy stockyard pen, wearing a suit and black dress shoes. \"I\'ll be responsive to the needs of north Mississippians.\"

Childers _ a socially conservative county official from the far northeastern corner of the state _ is trying to wrest a congressional seat away from the Republicans in the deeply conservative state.

Actually,...

By Jeff Chiu (AP)

IN THE HEADLINES

Evidence scant that Wright did much damage to Obama in Ind., N.C. primaries ... Michigan Dems agree to ask DNC committee to split delegates 69-59 between Clinton, Obama ... McCain\'s Navy record and medals chronicle the career, heroism of a pilot and POW

___

Evidence scant that Wright hurt Obama much in Ind., N.C.

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The reaction _ or lack of it _ by Indiana and North Carolina voters to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright\'s incendiary comments emphasizes how deeply entrenched the racial lines of support are for the two Democratic presidential...

By Jae C. Hong (AP)

The reaction _ or lack of it _ by Indiana and North Carolina voters to the Rev. Jeremiah Wright\'s incendiary comments emphasizes how deeply entrenched the racial lines of support are for the two Democratic presidential rivals.

It doesn\'t seem likely that the renewed focus on Wright has helped Barack Obama, and it is all but certain that he\'ll hear more about it from Republicans should he win his party\'s nomination. But for now, there\'s little evidence it hurt him much in this week\'s Democratic contests.

After all the attention to Wright and Obama\'s disavowal of his...

By Alex Brandon (AP)

Lingering fears about formaldehyde fumes inside federally issued trailers and the impending hurricane season has Mayor Ray Nagin pushing to empty thousands of the structures, intended as temporary housing after Katrina.

With the third anniversary of Katrina coming up Aug. 29, the push is the first for the city, where most of the remaining trailers sit on private property as residents continue to rebuild their homes.

\"We need to get everybody out,\" Nagin said. \"We need to find out if anybody\'s health has been harmed and how do we deal with that, and find the housing...

By Jeff Chiu (AP)

Republican John McCain pretended to snarl when asked about his temper Wednesday in Michigan. \"How dare you ask that question!\" McCain said, chuckling. His questioner persisted, reading a comment by a fellow Republican, Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, that the idea of McCain as the GOP presidential nominee sent a chill down his spine.

\"I\'m all too familiar with the quote,\" said McCain, who has since smoothed things over with his colleague.

McCain, whose temper has earned him the nickname \"Senator Hothead\" by more than one publication, said he does get angry _ about...

By Jeff Chiu (AP)

Republican John McCain pretended to snarl when asked about his temper Wednesday in Michigan.

\"How dare you ask that question!\" McCain said, chuckling. His questioner persisted, reading a comment by a fellow Republican, Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran, that the idea of McCain as the GOP presidential nominee sent a chill down his spine.

\"I\'m all too familiar with the quote,\" said McCain, who has since smoothed things over with his colleague.

McCain, whose temper has earned him the nickname \"Senator Hothead\" by more than one publication, said he does get angry _ about...

By Mark Humphrey (AP)

Picture the Manhattan skyline filled with Nike swooshes. Or the golden arches of McDonald\'s gently drifting over Los Angeles.

A special-effects entrepreneur from Alabama has come up with a way to fill the sky with foamy clouds as big as 4 feet across and shaped like corporate logos _ Flogos, as he calls them.

Francisco Guerra, who\'s also a former magician, developed a machine that produces tiny bubbles filled with air and a little helium, forms the foam into shapes and pumps them into the sky.

The Walt Disney Co. will use one of the machines next month to send clouds...

By Elise Amendola (AP)

Hillary Rodham Clinton lost North Carolina on Tuesday and with it her last best chance at the White House.

The results dented if not doomed her hopes of convincing superdelegates to disregard Obama\'s lead in delegates, states won and popular vote to nominate her.

\"Senator Clinton did not get out of the night what she needed,\" said North Carolina Rep. Brad Miller, an undecided superdelegate. \"To use a basketball analogy, she traded baskets. And she needed to do much better than that this late in the contest with her down 150 or 160 pledged delegates.\"

Obama came...

By Elise Amendola (AP)

Hillary Rodham Clinton lost her last best chance to score an upset on Barack Obama\'s turf Tuesday, putting the Democratic Illinois senator a step closer to becoming the country\'s first black presidential nominee.

Obama was the long-standing favorite in North Carolina, and he won there with the overwhelming support of black voters despite an intense effort by Clinton to turn the state around.

\"Senator Clinton did not get out of the night what she needed,\" said North Carolina Rep. Brad Miller, an undecided superdelegate. \"To use a basketball analogy, she traded baskets....

By Elise Amendola (AP)

Hillary Rodham Clinton lost her last best chance to score an upset on Barack Obama\'s turf Tuesday, putting the Illinois senator a step closer to becoming the country\'s first black presidential nominee.

Obama was the long-standing favorite in North Carolina, and he won with the overwhelming support of black voters there despite an intense effort by Clinton to turn the state around.

Obama\'s victory there was tempered by the fact that Clinton beat him handily among white voters, extending her argument to superdelegates who will decide the nomination that she will be the...

By (AP)

Georgia moved forward with preparations to execute a man convicted of killing his girlfriend, who on Tuesday night could become the first inmate put to death since the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of lethal injection.

Barring a last-minute reprieve from the courts, William Earl Lynd will be put to death at 7 p.m., making him the first prisoner executed since September, when the high court took up a challenge to lethal injection and effectively halted all executions nationwide for seven months.

The Supreme Court ruled last month in a Kentucky case that the...

By (AP)

Dipping its left wing, a canary-yellow biplane makes a sharp turn and dives over a flooded field, showering rice on the shallow water 15 feet below.

It\'s aerial seeding season for rice farmers in California, which produces about 20 percent of the crop grown in the U.S. With the price of rice surging internationally, much of the medium-grain rice being planted between the Sutter Butte mountains and California\'s Coastal Range has already being sold, even though harvest still is months away.

\"It\'s nuts,\" said Pat Daddow, head of the California Rice Exchange, a platform...

By (AP)

Craig Heinrich and other South Plains cotton producers no longer have to look to the sky and pray _ widespread rain arrived just in time for planting.

Heinrich, who grows irrigated cotton and the dryland type that relies solely on rainfall, said he\'s \"tickled\" by this week\'s rain. Officials said its value to the region\'s cotton crop could be in the millions of dollars.

\"That\'s about as good as it gets,\" Heinrich said. \"It\'s a godsend to get rain on all the acres, especially in May when you want to plant.\"

With Texas estimated to plant more than half (4.8...

By (AP)

Today is Thursday, May 8, the 129th day of 2008. There are 237 days left in the year.

Today\'s Highlight in History:

On May 8, 1945, President Truman announced in a radio address that World War II had ended in Europe.

On this date:

In 1541, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto reached the Mississippi River.

In 1794, Antoine Lavoisier, the father of modern chemistry, was executed on the guillotine during France\'s Reign of Terror.

In 1846, the first major battle of the Mexican-American War was fought at Palo Alto, Texas; U.S. forces led by General Zachary...

By (AP)

The 266-154 roll call Thursday by which the House passed a housing plan to aid struggling homeowners.

A \"yes\" vote is a vote to pass the housing plan.

Voting yes were 227 Democrats and 39 Republicans.

Voting no were 0 Democrats and 154 Republicans.

X denotes those not voting.

There is 1 vacancy in the 435-member House.

ALABAMA

Democrats _ Cramer, Y; Davis, Y.

Republicans _ Aderholt, X; Bachus, N; Bonner, N; Everett, N; Rogers, N.

ALASKA

Republicans _ Young, N.

ARIZONA

Democrats _ Giffords, Y; Grijalva, Y; Mitchell,...

By (AP)

An apparent tornado spawned by storms sweeping across the Southeast damaged a shopping mall and downed power lines in northeast Mississippi on Thursday, and severe weather warnings were in effect for northwest Alabama.

There were no reported injuries. Mississippi authorities received reports of fallen trees and debris across the area, and officials were dispatched to check out the damage at a shopping mall in Tupelo, Miss., about 160 miles northeast of Jackson.

A number of northeast Mississippi counties and portions of northwest Alabama were under tornado watches or warnings...

By (AP)

An apparent tornado in Tupelo, Miss. has damaged a shopping mall and downed power lines.

There aren\'t any reported injuries from the Thursday morning storm. Authorities are getting reports about fallen trees and debris across the area, and officials are being dispatched to check out the damage.

The Lee County sheriff\'s office says officers spotted a possible tornado moving in and out of the clouds. Weather officials will have to confirm that the storm was a twister.

A number of northeast Mississippi counties and portions of northwest Alabama are under a tornado watch...

By (AP)

The Senate on Wednesday rejected a bid by Gulf state senators to add wind coverage to a financially strapped federal program that provides flood insurance.

Lawmakers from Louisiana and Mississippi cited problems that occurred after Hurricane Katrina and other big 2005 storms when private insurers covering wind damage claimed that destruction to property resulted from flooding, thus shifting the burden of payments to taxpayers.

But the Senate voted 73-19 against the amendment by Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., that would have provided optional multiple peril insurance as part of...