Blissful rain, snow expected in California
SAN FRANCISCO – Meteorologists say a pair of storms could dump several inches of rain on parched cities and croplands throughout California in the coming week.
That’s welcome news for a state enduring its driest year in recorded history. While the rain won’t be enough to end the drought, the National Weather Service projects the much-needed precipitation could nearly double the amount of rainfall in parts of the San Francisco Bay Area this year.
The first storm on Wednesday won’t offer much relief. By Friday, radar images show the second storm should drench the entire state.
Oil spill closes New Orleans’ port
NEW ORLEANS – A 65-mile stretch of the Mississippi River, including the Port of New Orleans, was closed to all water traffic Sunday as crews cleaned up oil spilling from a barge after it ran into a towboat between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, the Coast Guard said.
Officials don’t know how much oil spilled, but only a sheen was reported on the river after the collision, which happened Saturday afternoon near Vacherie, 47 miles west of New Orleans by land, said Coast Guard Petty Officer Bill Colclough.
No one was hurt, and all barges were secured, Colclough said. The cause of the collision was under investigation.
Paula Deen: ‘Back in the saddle’
MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – Paula Deen continued maneuvering for a comeback Sunday, turning a beachside cooking demonstration into a public apology for racist comments that decimated her career.
The former Food Network star took the stage to prepare chicken and dumplings at the South Beach Wine & Food Festival – but before picking up the spatula, she admitted making mistakes and said she was glad to be back.
“I am not a quitter,” she told a cheering crowd of several hundred fans. She added, “But you know, I have heard on more than one occasion ... that I’ve never apologized. So, if anybody did not hear me apologize, I would like to apologize to those who did not hear me.”
Deen’s career and her lucrative endorsement deals were in shambles following a one-two punch of public-relations disasters. In 2012, she was criticized for announcing she had both diabetes and a lucrative endorsement deal for a drug to treat the condition she’d – until then – hidden.
Then last summer, during a legal dispute with a former employee, she acknowledged having used racial slurs in the past.
Missouri spelling bee runs out of words
KANSAS CITY, Mo. – After 19 rounds in a Missouri county’s annual spelling bee over the weekend, only two of the 25 contestants who started the competition remained.
Several hours and 47 rounds later, an 11-year-old and her 13-year-old adversary had used up all of the available words, forcing organizers of the Jackson County Spelling Bee to temporarily halt the showdown.
Sophia Hoffman, a fifth-grader at Highland Park Elementary School in the Kansas City suburb of Lee’s Summit, and Kush Sharma, a seventh-grader at Frontier School of Innovation in Kansas City, buzzed through the list of words provided by the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Then they ran through a list of about 20 additional words bee officials picked out of their Merriam-Webster’s 11th Edition during the lunch break.
Associated Press
