Joe Paterno, revered coach tainted by scandal, dies (Reuters)

STATE COLLEGE, Pennsylvania (Reuters) ? Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, the winningest coach in major college football history who was fired in November over a child sexual abuse scandal involving an assistant that rocked America, died on Sunday of lung cancer. He was 85.

Paterno won adoration from fans of the highly successful and profitable Penn State football program and they unleashed invective at the university board of trustees who fired him unceremoniously after 46 years as head coach, tarnishing his outsized legacy.

Equally outraged were his critics and advocates for victims of sexual abuse who faulted Paterno for his relative inaction upon hearing an accusation that former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky had sexually abused a young boy in the Penn State football showers in 2002.

Paterno told university officials but not police, opening him to criticism that he protected an accused child molester for nine years.

Sandusky, 67, who has maintained his innocence, faces 52 criminal counts accusing him of sexually abusing 10 boys over 15 years, using his position as head of a The Second Mile, a charity dedicated to helping troubled children, to find his victims. The court placed him under house arrest.

Waves of mourners descended on a makeshift shrine to Paterno outside the university's Beaver Stadium. They draped an American flag on a statue of Paterno and wrapped its neck with a Penn State scarf.

Sobbing at the statue's feet was Dana Gordon, a 1982 graduate who blamed the school's Board of Trustees for hastening Paterno's death by firing him in a "callous way."

"The way the board treated him took a lot of the fight out of him," Gordon said.

The case raised questions about the measures the university took to protect Sandusky and a football program that Forbes magazine estimated made a profit of $53 million in 2010, especially since accusations against him first surfaced in 1998. At that time a university police detective admonished Sandusky to stop showering naked with boys but stopped short of bringing criminal charges.

One of the biggest scandals in college sports history, it provoked a national discussion about pedophilia in the same way charges involving Roman Catholic priests did years earlier.

The matter also drew impassioned arguments about the balance between protecting the young and the rights of criminal defendants, who are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

"I hope his passing and the controversy surrounding Sandusky will deter other people, especially powerful people, from covering up child sex crimes," said David Clohessy, director of Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a support group.

"Even decades of professional achievement should not obscure dreadfully reckless and callous inaction that results in child sex crimes," Clohessy said.

Sandusky issued a statement sending condolences to the Paterno family that did not mention the investigation.

"Nobody did more for the academic reputation of Penn State than Joe Paterno. He maintained a high standard in a very difficult profession," Sandusky said.

Paterno won a reputation for making sure his players graduated and one of the program's mottos was "Success With Honor."

Paterno's downfall was spectacular. For decades he was a symbol of vitality who patrolled the Penn State sidelines with unchallenged authority, easily recognizable by his thick eyeglasses and jet-black hair that only showed a hint of gray in his later years. His two national championships, in 1982 and 1986, won him enduring loyalty from fans who affectionately called him "JoePa."

In the end, he was confined to a wheelchair upon breaking his hip in a fall one month after being fired, and he wore a wig after losing his hair to chemotherapy, according to the Washington Post, which interviewed Paterno about a week before his death.

Paterno was surrounded by family when he died 9:25 a.m. on Sunday of metastatic small cell carcinoma of the lung, Mount Nittany Medical Center said in a statement.

IMPACT ON CRIMINAL CASE

Paterno's death may not significantly affect the case against Sandusky, but was more likely to weaken the criminal case against two university officials charged with perjury, at least one legal expert said.

Paterno learned of at least one accusation against Sandusky in 2002, when graduate assistant Mike McQueary told Paterno he witnessed Sandusky molesting a boy of about 10 years old in the showers of the Lasch Football Building.

Paterno told university officials but not police, a decision that ultimately led to his downfall.

Paterno, in an interview with the Washington Post published on January 14, said he was uncertain how to handle the matter and trusted the university administration.

Paterno testified before the grand jury that he informed former athletic director Tim Curley about what McQueary told him. About 10 days later, McQueary testified, he was called to a meeting with Curley and university finance official Gary Schultz to discuss what happened.

Curley and Schultz both face perjury charges based on their inaction. Schultz also testified before the grand jury he was aware of the 1998 investigation of Sandusky.

University President Graham Spanier was fired along with Paterno, and Curley and Schultz stepped down.

"If he (Paterno) had known the devastation that this means, he would have reacted differently," said Peter Pelullo, founder of Let Go, Let Peace Come In, a support group helping some of Sandusky's accusers with counseling.

"If there had been an auto accident on the Penn State campus and a kid had been run over, everybody would have called 911. That boy was being crushed at the moment he was in the shower with Sandusky. It's not just Joe Paterno but the rest of the country that didn't understand this," Pelullo said.

Because Paterno was not believed to have witnessed any purported abuse, his testimony would not have been crucial to Sandusky trial, said Paul Callan, a former prosecutor and criminal defense attorney.

But his death could set back the criminal case against Curley and Schultz.

"The Confrontation Clause (of the constitution) guarantees that criminal defendants will have the right to confront and cross-examine the witnesses against them at the time of trial," Callan said. "No defense attorneys were present at the grand jury proceedings to do such a cross-examination."

Max Kennerly, a Philadelphia trial lawyer who has followed the case, said Paterno's death was unlikely to alter any civil litigation being contemplated by Sandusky's accusers. If any were considering suing Paterno, they could just name his estate.

"Death doesn't change your status as a party," Kennerly said.

(Additional reporting by Ian Simpson, Barbara Goldberg and Noeleen Walder; Writing by Daniel Trotta and Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120122/ts_nm/us_usa_paterno

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Officials confirm light fuel near ship (AP)

ROME ? Italian officials have confirmed the presence of light fuel in the sea around the capsized Costa Concordia that appears to have come from machinery on the ship.

However, Coast Guard spokesman Cmdr. Cosimo Nicastro says there is no indication that any of the nearly half-million gallons (2,200 metric tons) of fuel oil has leaked from the ship's double-bottomed tanks.

Nicastro said Saturday that the leaked substance appears to be diesel, which is used in rescue boats or as lubricants on machinery. There are 185 tons of diesel and lubricants on board.

He described its presence in the sea as "very light, very superficial" and appearing to be under control.

Crews were removing oil-absorbing booms used to prevent environmental damage in case of a leak. Originally white, the booms were grayish.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

ROME (AP) ? Divers are resuming the search of the wreckage of the capsized Costa Concordia after data indicated the cruise ship had stabilized in the sea off Tuscany.

To make it easier to enter and leave, the divers blasted more holes Saturday into the carcass of the ship, which has been lying on its side near the port of Giglio island since shortly after it crashed into a reef Jan. 14

They are searching for bodies or survivors, although it is unlikely any of the 21 missing in the accident could still be alive. The search was suspended on Friday after the Concordia shifted, prompting fears the ship could roll off a rocky ledge of sea bed and plunge deeper into the sea. There are also fears the Concordia's fuel could leak, polluting pristine waters.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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Beijing caves to public, releases pollution data

Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is.

The initial measurements were low on a day where you could see blue sky. After a week of smothering smog, the skies over the city were being cleared by a north wind.

The readings of PM2.5 ? particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size or about 1/30th the average width of a human hair ? were being posted on Beijing's environmental monitoring center's website. Such small particulates can penetrate deep into the lungs, so measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.

It is the first time Beijing has publicly revealed PM2.5 data and follows a clamor of calls by citizens on social networking sites tired of breathing in gray and yellow air. The U.S. Embassy measures PM2.5 from a device on its rooftop and releases the results, and some residents have even tested the air around their neighborhoods and posted the results online.

Beijing is releasing hourly readings of PM2.5 that are taken from one monitoring site about 4 miles west of Tiananmen Square, the monitoring center's website said Saturday. It said the data was for research purposes and the public should only use it as a reference.

The reading at noon Saturday was 0.015 mg/m3, which would be classed as "good" for a 24-hour exposure at that level, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. The U.S. Embassy reading taken from its site on the eastern edge of downtown Beijing said its noon reading was "moderate."

The U.S. Embassy began publishing its hourly readings on Twitter in 2008.

'Already a bit suspicious'
Steven Andrews, an environmental consultant who has studied Beijing's pollution data since 2006, said he was "already a bit suspicious" of Beijing's PM2.5 data. Within the 24-hour period to noon Saturday, Beijing reported seven hourly figures "at the very low level" of 0.003 milligrams per cubic meter.

"In all of 2010 and 2011, the U.S. Embassy reported values at or below that level only 18 times out of over 15,000 hourly values or about 0.1 percent of the time," said Andrews. "PM2.5 concentrations vary by area so a direct comparison between sites isn't possible, but the numbers being reported during some hours seem surpisingly low."

The Beijing center had promised to release PM2.5 data by the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Monday. It has six sites that can test for PM2.5 and 27 that can test for the larger, coarser PM10 particles that are considered less hazardous. The center is expected to buy equipment and build more monitoring sites to enable PM2.5 testing.

Beijing wasn't expected to include PM2.5 in its daily roundups of the air quality anytime soon. Those disclosures, for example "light" or "serious," are based on the amount of PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.

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Beijing interprets air quality using less stringent standards than the U.S. Embassy, so often when the government says pollution is "light," the embassy terms it "hazardous."

"There has been tremendous amounts of attention in the Chinese media ? whichever newspaper you pick up, whichever radio station you listen to, channel you watch ? they are all talking about PM2.5 and how levels are so high," said Andrews.

"What has been so powerful is that people are skeptical, and I think rightly skeptical," about the government's descriptions of data, he said.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46080896/ns/world_news-asia_pacific/

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These fantasy sports iPhone apps are worthy of their own store (Appolicious)

If you?re already tired of your group of friends who talk about their fantasy football teams like they?ve personally coached them, your life is about to get a little bit more frustrating. According to TechCrunch, CBS Sports is working on what is essentially an app store for fantasy sports apps.

As an avid and acknowledged fantasy sports nerd, an open platform for fantasy sports-related apps appeals to me in a very real way. But I?m sure I?d be scoffing a lot more if there was an app store for, say, car apps or something similarly niche, so I can understand the skepticism around this idea, too.

But if you?re already on board, there?s no reason to wait for CBS Sports? app store of sports apps. There?s plenty of valuable year round fantasy sports apps already available in your regular everyday iTunes App Store.

If you?re the type of fantasy sports player who has multiple leagues spread out over several different websites, Fantasy Monster Pro ($4.99) may seem a little pricey, but could be well worth the investment. The app lets you manage all of your Yahoo!, ESPN, and NFL.com fantasy teams under a single app. That?s a huge time saver if you?re got multiple leagues cooking, especially during the period of the year when the NBA, NFL and NHL are all going at the same time.

If that all seems a bit complex and you just need some news-centric apps to make sure you?re not going to be starting players that have been injured for a few weeks, there are a number of apps that might be of some use.

The free?Fanball.com Fantasy Sports News stands out not just because of its thorough video and text news updates, but also for its customizable player-follower. Users can create lists of the players on their fantasy teams to make sure the news they want is all easily accessible under one tab.

Rotoworld Fantasy News (also free) is another strong fantasy news option. You can quickly grab news, injury reports and well-researched analysis on players in the NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, PGA golf and even NASCAR. Rotoworld?s player search function is also extremely easy to use, making finding players you?re curious about a breeze.

If you?d rather not limit your sources of information, the free?PlayerLine app brings together news from all over the web so you?ll always have the most varied and up-to-date info on your fantasy team. The app pulls news, bios and videos from Yahoo!, Digg, NFL.com, ESPN, MLB.com, CBS Sports and Fox Sports among other sources and feeds.

And if you just need some advice, well, get in line. But while you?re waiting in line, try out Fantasy Sports Coach (free). The app is essentially a forum for fantasy sports owners to ask for and offer advice to their fellow team owners. Now, if you make a bad decision to sit a guy who has a huge game, at least you can blame the crowd of strangers who offered you bad advice instead of your own poor research, and that?s always a good feeling.

While none of these apps will automatically take you from worst to first in whatever fantasy league you?re playing, they all should at least arm you with the knowledge you need to make better decisions. Heed the old proverb ? give a man fantasy sports advice, and he?ll win for a day, but teach a man how to properly navigate the tumultuous sea of fantasy football news, and he?ll win for a few more days.

Create a list of your favorite fantasy sports apps

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_appolicious_com_articles10825_these_fantasy_sports_iphone_apps_are_worthy_of_their_own_store/44254187/SIG=13hal7l84/*http%3A//www.appolicious.com/sports/articles/10825-these-fantasy-sports-iphone-apps-are-worthy-of-their-own-store

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Italian shipwreck threatens to create second disaster at sea

ScienceDaily (Jan. 20, 2012) ? Charles Greene, a professor of earth and atmospheric sciences at Cornell University, is an expert on the protection of threatened marine ecosystems. Greene comments on the potential for ecological disaster posed by the 2,300 tons of fuel oil still aboard the capsized cruise ship Costa Concordia, half submerged on the rocks in the international Pelagos marine sanctuary off the Tuscan coast of Italy.

Greene says: "When the cruise liner Costa Concordia ran aground last week, it was a disaster on so many levels. In addition to the humans killed and injured, the stricken ship's leakage of fuel oil could be disastrous for the local marine life.

"While not close to the scale of the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, the Costa Concordia's grounding off the Italian island of Giglio falls within the Pelagos Sanctuary for Mediterranean Marine Mammals. Created a decade ago by France, Italy and Monaco and located between Corsica and the Italian mainland, the sanctuary was set aside to protect many marine species including fin whales, sperm whales, dolphins, tuna, billfish and sharks. The Sanctuary is especially important to the protection of fin whales, which spend their summers feeding there.

"Fuel oil is particularly nasty stuff, much worse than diesel, and those responsible for cleaning up the 2,300 tons of it carried aboard the ship will have a difficult job on their hands if significant leakage occurs."

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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/01/120120182709.htm

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FDA clears safety test to screen Tysabri patients

(AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration on Friday approved a new diagnostic test to help identify patients who have an increased risk of developing a rare brain infection while taking Biogen Idec's multiple sclerosis drug Tysabri.

Tysabri is one of a handful of drugs used to control multiple sclerosis, a debilitating disease in which the body attacks its own nervous system. Prescribing of the drug has been tightly controlled by the FDA because of a rare infection that causes inflammation of the brain, known as multifocal leukoencephalopathy, or PML. Currently there is no treatment or cure for PML, which usually causes death or severe disability.

The newly approved Stratify JCV test is designed to detect a common virus that increases the likelihood of developing the brain infection. The John Cunningham virus is harmless in most people, but can become dangerous in patients taking immune system-suppressing drugs like Tysabri.

Doctors can use the results of the blood-based test, combined with facts about the patient's medical history, to determine whether they are at risk of developing the brain infection. Other factors that influence a patient's risk include how long they've been taking Tysabri and whether they've previously taken other medications that weaken the immune system.

The test was developed by Quest Diagnostics.

The FDA also updated Tysabri's label to specify that patients who test positive for the virus have a higher risk of developing PML.

"This label change marks an important advance in assisting people with MS and their physicians to make better-informed decisions concerning the challenges of balancing effectiveness with safety," said Dr. Nicholas LaRocca, vice president of the National MS Society.

Tysabri was temporarily pulled from the market shortly after its launch in 2005 after three patients taking the drug developed PML. FDA allowed the drug back on the market the following year but under a restricted distribution program. Only doctors and pharmacies registered with the company's distribution program are permitted to prescribe and dispense the drug.

Biogen, based in Weston, Mass., sells Tysabri through a partnership with Elan Corp., an Irish drugmaker.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-01-20-Biogen%20Drug-Safety%20Test/id-cd46aa760605452cb15b0a0242b1381c

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Economics and Investing: - SurvivalBlog.com

Debasement of 5 Pence and 10 Pence coins in England is causing problems: New coins won't work in parking meters and vending machines. (Thanks to G.G. for the link.)

B.B. sent this charming news: Treasury dips into pension funds to avoid debt: "The Treasury on Tuesday started dipping into federal pension funds in order to give the Obama administration more credit to pay government bills."

China Brings US Treasury Holdings To One Year Low, Russia Cuts Treasury Exposure By 50% In One Year. (Thanks to S.M. for the link.)

Craig D. flagged this: World Bank warns on risk of global recession

Items from The Economatrix:

Europe Must Move Quickly After Downgrades--Merkel

S&P Downgrades Eurozone's EFSF Bailout Fund

How to Prepare for the Difficult Years Ahead

Oil Pries Waver On Concerns About Global Demand

Source: http://www.survivalblog.com/2012/01/economics_and_investing_1058.html

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Another anti-government protest in Romania (AP)

BUCHAREST, Romania ? Thousands of Romanians, including teenage students who cut class, marched through their capital on Thursday to demand the resignation of their government for imposing harsh austerity measures in order to receive international loans for the nation's battered economy.

It was one of the largest protests in recent times in Bucharest and came after a week of sometimes violent anti-government demonstrations.

As the march reached University Square, protesters blocked traffic and shouted what has become a trademark slogan aimed at President Traian Basescu: "Get out, you miserable dog."

The square ? a focal point of recent protests ? is historically significant for Romanians because it was a centerpiece of the 1989 anti-communist revolution that led to Romania's birth of democracy.

On Thursday, some protesters pretended to hang Basescu and his close political ally, Tourism and Regional Development Minister Elena Udrea, by stringing their dummies to gallows set up in the square.

"Resign!" and "Down with Basescu!" other protesters screamed.

Some 14-year-old students at a school located along the route of the march abandoned class to join the demonstration. "To prison with you!" the students yelled at their president.

Police said 7,000 attended the rally, while organizers claimed the crowd was far larger.

In 2009, Romania took a two-year euro20 billion ($27.5 billion) loan from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Bank as its economy shrank by 7.1 percent. It imposed harsh austerity measures under the agreement, reducing public wages by 25 percent and increasing taxes. Anger has mounted over the wage cuts, slashed benefits, higher taxes and widespread corruption.

On Thursday, Basescu made his first public appearance since the protests began a week ago in an address to ambassadors in Bucharest. He spoke about Iran, the Middle East, domestic reforms and the "Arab Spring," but did not touch on the demonstrations or the anger over the state of Romania's economy.

During the Bucharest rally, one protester who only identified himself as Tudor, a 43-year-old locksmith said: "We want decent salaries and pensions. We want change ? from the top to the bottom."

Another protester, a 55-year-old nurse named Lorelei said, "We wouldn't have needed to have austerity measures if our governments hadn't stolen so much and bled us dry." She said she has attended all this week's anti-government rallies.

Three opposition parties organized Thursday's march, with protesters arriving in the capital from all over the country. Opposition leaders and Romanian personalities addressed the crowd before the march.

___

Alison Mutler reported from Bucharest.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_re_eu/eu_romania_protests

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NW storm cuts power, thousands try to stay warm

A U.S. flag is shown encrusted with ice, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, near Lacey, Wash. Heavy layers of ice brought down trees and power lines across the Northwest Friday, following two days of snow and ice storms. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

A U.S. flag is shown encrusted with ice, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, near Lacey, Wash. Heavy layers of ice brought down trees and power lines across the Northwest Friday, following two days of snow and ice storms. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

A tree branch that feel as a result of a heavy coating of ice is shown resting on a house, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, near Lakewood, Wash. Heavy layers of ice brought down trees and power lines across the Northwest Friday, following two days of snow and ice storms. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

A deep snow pile made things a bit challenging for an Intercity Transit rider while boarding the bus on Friday, Jan. 20,2012 in Olympia, Wash. Thick ice brought down trees and power lines in the region overnight, following two days of snow and ice storms. A powerful Pacific Northwest storm knocked out power to about 250,000 electric customers around Seattle, Tacoma and Olympia after it coated much of Washington in ice and swelled Oregon rivers, killing a child and two adults. Besides the outages, the big concern now is more flooding in both states with warmer temperatures and rain. (AP Photo/The Olympian, Steve Bloom)

A truck drives past downed trees and low-hanging power lines, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, near Lacey, Wash. Heavy layers of ice brought down trees and power lines across the Northwest Friday, following two days of snow and ice storms. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

Vehicles drive past downed trees and low-hanging power lines, Friday, Jan. 20, 2012, near Lakewood, Wash. Heavy layers of ice brought down trees and power lines across the Northwest Friday, following two days of snow and ice storms. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

(AP) ? Tens of thousands of Pacific Northwest residents faced the prospect of a chilly weekend after a powerful storm brought snow and ice and left a tangle of fallen trees and damaged power lines. Several Oregon counties saw their worst flooding in more than a decade.

The National Weather Service forecast more rain and winds gusting as high as 40 mph Saturday in Western Washington, a combination that could bring down even more snow-laden and ice-damaged trees.

Nearly 230,000 customers were without power late Friday night in Western Washington, about 220,000 of them Puget Sound Energy customers.

The utility has brought in repair crews from across the West and planned to field more than 800 linemen on Saturday, in addition to tree-trimming crews, spokesman Roger Thompson said.

"The wind is a wild card that could set us back," he said, adding PSE hoped to have the majority of the outages restored by Sunday, although some customers will probably be without power into early next week.

The Weather Service predicted weekend lows in the mid-30s.

Several warming shelters have been opened in the area to aid people whose homes are without heat.

Despite warnings from emergency officials, the first cases of possible carbon monoxide poisoning surfaced Friday night. Two families in the Seattle suburb of Kent were taken to hospitals after suffering separate cases of possible poisoning. Both had been using charcoal barbecues indoors for heat.

The storm was already blamed for three deaths. A mother and her 1-year-old son died after torrential rain on Wednesday swept away a car from an Albany, Ore., grocery store parking lot. An elderly man was fatally injured Thursday by a falling tree as he was backing an all-terrain vehicle out of a backyard shed near Seattle.

On Washington's Mount Rainier, a blizzard kept rescuers from searching Friday for two campers and two climbers missing since early this week. Just east of that region, about 200 skiers and workers were able to leave the Crystal Mountain ski resort after transportation officials reopened the area's main highway, closed two days earlier by fallen trees.

Near Tacoma, three people escaped unharmed Friday when a heavy snow and ice load on the roof of an Allied Ice plant caused the building to collapse. West Pierce Fire and Rescue Battalion Chief Hallie McCurdy said they heard loud noises and got out just in time.

As floodwaters receded, residents of Oregon's Willamette Valley began taking stock of damage in soaked cities.

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber paid a visit Friday to the hard-hit town of Turner, where 100 homes were damaged or still underwater.

Friday's mainly dry streets belied a morning of terror barely 24 hours earlier, when emergency crews conducted 55 boat rescues as water filled streets, homes and businesses.

"You just watch the water rise hour by hour, and there's nothing you can do about it," Mayor Paul Thomas said. "It's a long, slower sort of torture."

Kitzhaber said the state would work with local and federal officials to try and get disaster funding to Turner and other communities hard-hit by flooding.

The governor praised residents' strong sense of community as neighbors helped each other.

Nancy Ko saw that spirit first-hand. From the safety of higher ground, she watched a live feed from a security camera as water rose over the curb and lapped against the front door of the convenience store and cafe she owns just feet from Mill Creek.

Out of the blue, five strangers showed up and plopped sandbags in front of the door, preventing damage that she believes would have otherwise been far more severe.

"Just a godsend," said Ko, a Korean immigrant who has owned the store for six years. "Good person, amazing persons."

Elsewhere in the Willamette Valley, a 35-year-old woman who drove a Ford Mustang into 4 feet of floodwater was plucked from the roof Friday by deputies who arrived by boat to save her. It was one of a number of dramatic rescues in western Oregon, left sodden by as much as 10 inches of rain in a day and a half that has brought region's worst flooding in 15 years.

Interstate 5, the main road connecting Seattle and Portland, was briefly closed near Centralia so crews could remove fallen power lines.

Much of Washington's capital, Olympia, was without power.

Gov. Chris Gregoire's office, legislative buildings and other state agencies in Olympia lost electricity for several hours before power was restored. The governor thanked repair crews late Friday by hand-delivering peanut butter cookies.

The storm was "a constant reminder of who's in charge. Mother Nature is in charge, she gives us a wake-up call every once in a while, this is one of those," Gregoire said.

It was still snowing in the Cascades, with up to 2 feet possible in the mountains over the weekend.

At Sea-Tac Airport in Seattle, airlines were trying to accommodate passengers whose flights were canceled Thursday. The airport's largest carrier, Alaska Airlines, canceled 50 of its 120 daily departures Friday. On Thursday, Alaska and sister airline Horizon canceled 310 flights to and from Seattle, affecting 29,000 passengers.

In Seattle, Carly Nelson was negotiating an icy sidewalk on her way to Starbucks. Nelson has been frequenting her neighborhood coffee shop to avoid cabin fever.

"I'm pretty tired of it. It gets old pretty fast. All my friends are stranded in little pockets and you can't get together to go to yoga," she said. "I'm just looking forward to being able to go wherever I want to go."

___

Cooper reported from Oregon. Associated Press writers Doug Esser, Ted Warren, Rachel La Corte, Nigel Duara and Nicholas K. Geranios contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-21-Northwest%20Storm/id-6e081f52ffb44728ad794493051a9717

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SC GOP primary races to dramatic close

Primary day at hand, fast-climbing Newt Gingrich told South Carolinians on Saturday that he was "the only practical conservative vote" able to stop front-runner Mitt Romney in the GOP presidential race. Romney acknowledged the first-in-the-South contest "could be real close" and prepared for an extended fight by agreeing to two more debates in Florida, next on the election calendar.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum braced for a setback and looked ahead to the Jan. 31 contest after getting the most votes in Iowa and besting Gingrich in New Hampshire. Texas Rep. Ron Paul made plans to focus on states where his libertarian, Internet-driven message might find more of a reception with voters; his campaign said it had purchased a substantial ad buy in Nevada and Minnesota, which hold caucuses next month.

The first contest without Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who dropped out this past week and endorsed Gingrich, was seen as Romney's to lose just days ago. Instead, the gap closed quickly between the Massachusetts governor who portrays himself as the Republicans best positioned to defeat President Barack Obama and Gingrich, the confrontational former House speaker from Georgia.

Video: GOP primary stops in South Carolina (on this page)
  1. Other political news of note

    1. SC GOP primary races to dramatic close

      Updated 71 minutes ago 1/21/2012 5:54:35 PM +00:00 Republicans Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich are not ceding one inch of South Carolina as the unpredictable campaign for the South's first presidential primary concludes ? and certainly not Tommy's Ham House.

    2. Obama to talk economy in State of the Union
    3. Romney sharpens attack on Gingrich as SC polls open
    4. Gingrich foes revive ex-speaker's ethics woes
    5. First Read: Showdown in South Carolina

Romney avoided a run-in with Gingrich at Tommy's Country Ham House, where both had scheduled campaign events for the same time. Romney stopped by the breakfast restaurant 45 minutes ahead of schedule. When Gingrich arrived, just minutes after Romney's bus left the parking lot, he said: "Where's Mitt?"

Earlier, Gingrich had a message for voters during a stop at The Grapevine restaurant in Boiling Springs not long after the polls opened: Come out and vote for me if you want to help deny Romney nomination.

He told diners who were enjoying plates of eggs and grits that he was the "the only practical conservative vote" to the rival he called a Massachusetts moderate. "Polls are good, votes are better," he said.

Voters head to the polls in the South Carolina primary

Gingrich also said he would put a stop to federal actions against South Carolina's voter ID and immigration laws.

Romney's agreement to participates in Florida debates Monday in Tampa and Thursday in Jacksonville was seen as an acknowledgement of a prolonged battle with Gingrich.

"This could be real close," said Romney as he chatted on the phone with a voter Saturday morning and urged the man to go vote.

Before the ham house standoff that wasn't, Romney stood outside his Greenville headquarters and undertook a new attack on Gingrich. He called on Gingrich to further explain his contracts with Freddie Mac, the housing giant, and release any advice he had provided to the company. He has said the contracts earned two of his companies more than $1.6 million over eight years, but that he only pocketed about $35,000 a year himself.

'I'd like to see what he actually told Freddie Mac. Don't you think we ought to see it?" Romney said.

Video: Wives are fair game this year (on this page)

It was another response to pressure on Romney to release his tax returns before Republican voters finish choosing a nominee.

A day earlier, Romney had called on Gingrich to release information related to an ethics investigation of Gingrich in the 1990s. Gingrich argues that GOP voters need to know whether the wealthy former venture capital executive's records contain anything that could hurt the party's chances against Obama.

Gingrich foes revive ex-speaker's ethics woes

Romney has said he will release several years' worth of tax returns in April. Gingrich has called on him to release them much sooner. On Saturday, Romney refused to answer questions from reporters about the returns and whether his refusal to release them had hurt him with South Carolina voters.

Gingrich, buoyed by Perry's endorsement as he left the race Thursday, has called Romney's suggestion about releasing ethics investigation documents a "panic attack" brought on by sinking poll numbers.

The stakes were high for Saturday's vote. The primary winner has gone on to win the Republican nomination in every election since 1980.

It's very important, but it's not do or die," Paul told Fox News

Some of South Carolina's notorious 11th-hour devilry ? fake reports in the form of emails targeting Gingrich and his ex-wife Marianne ? emerged in a race known as much for its nastiness as for its late-game twists.

"Unfortunately, we are now living up to our reputation," said South Carolina GOP strategist Chip Felkel.

State Attorney Gen. Alan Wilson ordered a preliminary review of the phony messages to see if any laws had been broken.

Gingrich's ex-wife burst into the campaign this week when she alleged in an ABC News interview that her former husband had asked her for an "open marriage," a potentially damaging claim in a state where the Republican primary electorate includes a potent segment of Christian conservatives. The thrice-married Gingrich, who has admitted to marital infidelities, angrily denied her accusation.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46082185/ns/politics-decision_2012/

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