Around the nation

Winter weather brings misery

BUFFALO — Lake Erie surged over its eastern shore Wednesday, adding flooding to the head-aches delivered by a windy storm that tipped tractor-trailers, disrupted flights and toppled trees and power lines across a wide swath of the nation.

A cold front and arctic air roared into New York before dawn, sending Tuesday's spring-like temperatures plummeting. Buffalo went from 53 degrees at 3 a.m. Wednesday to 15 degrees by noon. Classes were canceled at most area schools.

High winds were suspected of collapsing a scaffold at a Brooklyn building Wednesday that killed a construction worker and seriously injured another.

In northern Ohio, a train traveling in high winds derailed on a bridge over Sandusky Bay around 4 a.m., sending about 10 freight cars into the water, said Ottawa County Sheriff Robert Bratton. No injuries were reported.

In Washington state, an avalanche hit a car and forced the closure of the westbound lane of snowy Interstate 90, the state's main east-west thoroughfare, at Snoqualmie Pass. No one was injured in the avalanche.

The National Weather Service in Buffalo reported sustained winds of 40 to 50 mph, with a peak gust of 68 mph around 10:30 a.m.

Across the state, peaks of 46 mph were reported at LaGuardia Airport and close to 50 mph at Kennedy Airport.

At least two tractor-trailers blew over on the New York State Thruway in western New York. Numerous accidents led the state police to close a 60-mile stretch of the highway between Buffalo and Rochester just before 2 p.m.

Utilities worked to restore power to thousands of customers in upstate New York, West Virginia, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois.

A tornado hopscotched through Louisville, Ky., Tuesday night, tearing the roofs from several buildings and toppling trees and power lines. Joe Sullivan, a National Weather Service meteorologist, said three tornadoes had been seen in the metro area.

In Indiana, severe thunderstorms packing wind gusts of 80 mph killed three people in mobile homes and a fourth who died in a car crash, authorities said.

TEXAS

Winds fan new fires

FORT WORTH — A day after wildfires burned almost 30 square miles across Texas, a few more blazes sprang up Wednesday as victims sifted through the charred remnants of their homes.

Several dozen homes or businesses, mostly in Parker and Wise counties, were in the path of 18,700 acres of wildfires fueled by winds of more than 50 mph in some places.

The humidity increased and winds decreased a bit Wednesday, but with conditions still ripe for fires, the National Weather Service issued a warning for about 60 percent of the state.

The Texas Forest Service helped fight fires in about a dozen East Texas counties on Wednesday. No injuries were reported.

Woman arrested after leaving 8 kids

HOUSTON — A woman accused of leaving eight children with little food and no money while she traveled to Africa to marry a man she met on the Internet has been arrested.

Shanell Monique Mosley, 33, was met by authorities as she got off an Air France jet Monday at George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Harris County sheriff's spokesman Sgt. David Crain said Tuesday.

Charged with child endangerment and child abandonment for leaving the children in squalid conditions, Mosley was expected to have an attorney appointed for her at a Wednesday court appearance.

Prosecutor John Jordan said Mosley's six children, now in foster homes, were starving, and her older children couldn't recall their own birth dates.

Mosley's children are ages 1, 7, 8, 9, 15 and 16, Jordan said.

The 9-year-old son told authorities he and the baby ate a still-frozen pizza for breakfast the morning they were discovered home alone.

There were no diapers, baby food or formula for the infant, no sheets on beds, and fruit was rotting in a basket, Jordan said.

PENNSYLVANIA

Embattled anchor plans to sue station

PHILADELPHIA — A television news anchor fired after her arrest in a skirmish with New York police plans to sue the station, her lawyer indicated Wednesday.

Alycia Lane, 35, will sue KYW-TV over her Jan. 7 dismissal, lawyer Paul Rosen said in papers filed in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court. The job reportedly paid $700,000 a year.

Her arrest last month capped a string of public embarrassments involving Lane, who shed tears on-air with "Dr. Phil" McGraw over her divorce and sent photos of herself in a bikini to a married male friend, NFL Network anchor Rich Eisen.

Eisen's wife intercepted the photos and reported Lane's faux pas to tabloid gossip columnists.

Lane faces a hearing April 3 in the suspected assault of a female undercover officer, a charge she denies.

MICHIGAN

Mayor apologizes, but for what?

DETROIT — Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick pleaded for forgiveness from his family and his constituents Wednesday in an emotional televised speech, his delayed response to recently revealed racy text messages that contradict his sworn testimony that he did not have a physical relationship with a key aide.

"I truly apologize to you," Kilpatrick said, turning to his wife, Carlita, who sat by his side, holding his hand, at their family church.

"I am the mayor. I made the mistake," Kilpatrick told Detroit residents, looking into the camera. "I am accountable."

He did not publicly specify, however, what he was apologizing for, saying legal matters prevented him from doing so.

A prosecutor is investigating whether the mayor and the chief of staff, Christine Beatty, lied under oath during a whistle-blower's lawsuit last summer in which both denied having a physical relationship. A conviction of lying under oath can bring up to 15 years' imprisonment.

OHIO

Ex-autoworker loses deportation fight

CINCINNATI — A former autoworker from Cleveland who is accused of being a Nazi death camp guard lost another battle Wednesday in his 30-year fight to maintain his U.S. citizenship and residence. A federal appeals court on Wednesday rejected John Demjanjuk's challenge to a final deportation order of the nation's chief immigration judge.

The order would send Demjanjuk to Germany, Poland or his native Ukraine.

The government initially claimed Demjanjuk was the notoriously sadistic guard at the Treblinka camp known as "Ivan the Terrible." Officials later concluded that he was not, but a judge ruled in 2002 that documents from World War II prove Demjanjuk was a guard at various Nazi camps.

Demjanjuk's attorney, John Broadley, said he had no comment on the ruling. He would not speculate on what legal options remain.

OREGON

Racy photos may cost mayor her job

ARLINGTON — Opponents of a small-town eastern Oregon mayor who created a buzz with scantily clad pictures of herself on MySpace have collected enough signatures to force a recall vote.

Carmen Kontur-Gronquist's photos featured her posing on a town fire engine wearing only a black bra and panties.

Recall efforts are fairly common in small Oregon cities. Supporters of this one say the photos were inappropriate, and they disagree with the mayor on water issues and what to do with the local golf course.

Rena Kennedy, the Gilliam County clerk, confirmed Tuesday that a sufficient number of signatures on the recall petition matched voting records, The Oregonian newspaper reported. Only 41 names were required in this city of roughly 500 people.

Kontur-Gronquist has said the photos were taken before she was elected mayor three years ago, and she saw no reason to remove them from her MySpace page after taking office.