Ky. delivers report on last season's costly storms
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) -- A report released Thursday on last season's ice and wind storms says Kentucky's utilities should not spend billions of dollars burying electrical transmission lines to prevent future mass outages....

'Call of Duty' setting entertainment records
NEW YORK (AP) -- The video game "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2" is blasting its way into entertainment history....

Heavy snow storms in northern China kill 40
BEIJING (AP) -- Unusually early snow storms in north-central China have claimed 40 lives, caused thousands of buildings to collapse and destroyed almost 500,000 acres (200,000 hectares) of winter crops, the Civil Affairs Ministry said Friday....

East Coast storm begins to move out to sea
OCEAN CITY, N.J. (AP) -- A powerful storm born from the remnants of Tropical Storm Ida began moving out to sea Friday after raking the East Coast for three days, leaving behind it a trail of flooding, damaged buildings, eroded beaches and at least six deaths....

Dolphin stranded in Ala. after Tropical Storm Ida
GULF SHORES, Ala. (AP) -- An Atlantic bottlenose dolphin is being treated for dehydration and pneumonia after it was found stranded following Tropical Storm Ida's brush with the Alabama coast....

DC rescuers evacuate shops over collapse fears
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Rescuers have evacuated several shops in southeast Washington, D.C., over concerns that nearby buildings under construction might collapse because the ground is soaked from recent rain....

Mass. law pushes utilities to improve services
LUNENBURG, Mass. (AP) -- Gov. Deval Patrick has signed a new law penalizes utility companies that fail to provide safe and reliable service to customers after major storms....

House speaker wants federal money to tackle blight
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) -- Federal recovery money that remains unused since hurricanes Katrina and Rita should be spent on blight remediation and infrastructure repairs in New Orleans, House Speaker Jim Tucker said Thursday....

Va. gov out of town for DNC as his state floods
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) -- With his state under an emergency declaration because of heavy rain and floods Thursday, Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine was in Arkansas for a Democratic fundraiser....

Ida further slows harvest for Southern farmers
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) -- Tropical Storm Ida may not have done much damage when it hit the Gulf Coast this week, but its wind and rain compounded the misery for Southern farmers already coping with a wet, difficult harvest season....