The death toll from a powerful winter storm rose to 36 across six Midwest states Monday as utility crews labored to restore service to hundreds of thousands of Missouri households and businesses enduring cold weather without electricity for heat and lights. The crews hoped to take advantage of moderate weather expected Monday -- with only a few lingering snow showers and flurries -- before temperatures plunged back to the single digits Monday night.
Four runaway rail cars struck two parked locomotives in east-central Kentucky on Monday, causing a fire spilling a chemical that prompted a limited evacuation and orders that others stay indoors. The crash released butyl acetate, a flammable liquid, from a burning tanker car, authorities said. The fire produced a huge column of black smoke, and a section of the Kentucky River caught fire. No injuries were reported, authorities said.
The U.S. will gather Israeli and Palestinian leaders to discuss an eventual independent Palestinian state, hoping to breathe life into moribund peace efforts, President Bush's top diplomat said Monday. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice also asked Arab allies to help support the fragile government in Iraq, on whose success much of Bush's new plan to turn the war around will depend.
Potential jurors in the perjury trial of a former White House aide will likely be asked their opinions of the Bush administration, political scandals and the Iraq war Tuesday, foreshadowing the political tenor of a lengthy trial. I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby is accused of lying to investigators about his conversations with reporters regarding outed CIA officer Valerie Plame. Plame's identity was leaked to reporters in 2003 after her husband criticized the Bush administration's prewar intelligence on Iraq.
Fire broke out at a California oil refinery Monday morning, injuring one employee and briefly prompting an order for residents to stay indoors, authorities said. The fire began at about 5:24 a.m. at Chevron's Richmond Refinery, said Contra Costa County Hazardous Materials specialist Maria Duazo. The fire was under control by daybreak and the worker's injury was minor, Chevron said.
A storm blamed for at least 36 deaths across the eastern half of the country spread into the Northeast on Monday, coating trees, power lines and roads with a shell of ice up to a half-inch thick and knocking out power to tens of thousands of homes and businesses. Ice-covered roads cut into Martin Luther King Jr. holiday observances from Albany, N.Y., to Fort Worth and Austin, Texas, where officials also canceled Gov. Rick Perry's inauguration parade on Tuesday because another round of ice was expected during the night.
