CitizenSugar -- Breaking News, Together.

Front Page: Travelers and Shoppers Face Subzero Temps Around US

CitizenSugar — Mon, 22 Dec 2008 08:00:40 -0800

Subzero temperatures have hit the Midwest with high winds driving the windchill to 25 degrees below zero. Around the entire US, record snow and cold temperatures are being recorded. — AP
Toyota has projected its first loss in 70 years, the first since the Japanese car company began such reports. — San Francisco Chronicle
Muntadar al-Zaidi, the journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush, will stand trial on Dec. 31. He faces a prison term of five to 15 years for aggression against a head of state. — BBC News

Rahm Emanuel only had one "courtesy" phone conversation with Gov. Blagojevich, according to sources familiar with the Obama team's yet-to-be released report. Most of the conversation involved Rahm's House of Representative's seat, with only a passing reference to Obama's Senate seat. — ABC News

Texas Says Hello (Hurricane) Dolly!

LibertySugar — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 00:00:42 -0700

Yesterday, Hurricane Dolly made landfall in Southern Texas in the town of South Padre Island, with 120 mph winds ripping roofs off homes, pouring down rain, and sending residents looking for shelter. Contact with land brought the winds down from category 2 speeds to category 1, and now flooding along the Rio Grande has become the main concern over the next few days, thanks to Dolly's "sluggish nature."

Over 3,000 residents of low-lying areas by the river and the coast went to crowded schools for shelter. One school had 800 evacuees, including children and babies. Insurance experts estimate the Dolly's insurance company price tag to be $1.2 billion. Damage caused in Mexico will be about a quarter of that. While avoiding the valuable oil rigs in the Gulf, the heavy rain and wind most likely destroyed the cotton fields in the region.

Meteorologists see indications that the rest of this year's hurricane season could be very active — so hold on!

Source

Record Flooding Puts Mississippi River on Lock Down

LibertySugar — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 03:00:43 -0700

As all three of the Midwest's major rivers — the Missouri, Illinois, and Mississippi — rise above flood level, residents face record flooding and mandatory evacuations. Today the US Army Corps of Engineers plans to close nine locks and dams on the upper Mississippi River.

Closing the locks means that the economic repercussions of the flooding will rise along with the rivers — the decision will halt traffic on 200 miles of prime commercial waterway. Good thing gas is cheap, so they can just use roads to transport all those goods!

As for some good news, Iowan volunteers who filled and piled up sandbags in downtown Cedar Falls, Iowa, have been able to protect their city's center. You can see them at work in the pictures below. 200 locations have been flooded across the US, and flood warnings have been issued in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Oklahoma, and Montana, according to the National Weather Services. Are you seeing any flood action near you?

Source

Huge Storms Swipe Iowa and Minnesota Killing Eight

CitizenSugar — Mon, 26 May 2008 07:04:59 -0700

Storms brought huge hail, heavy rain and tornadoes to Iowa and Minnesota this weekend, killing at least seven people in Iowa and one 2-year-old in Minnesota.

The raging storms left parts of towns reduced to rubble and heavy rain and lightning continued with wind gusts of 70 mph. The National Weather Service pegs the storms to a massive warm system that had been centered over the southern and western great Plains several days ago. Moving north into Minnesota and Canada, the cold high that followed sparked severe storms.

Nearly 100 people have died in tornadoes so far this year — the biggest death toll in a decade — and the danger has not passed yet. Tornado season typically peaks in the spring and early summer.

Source

Front Page: Tornado, Prince Philip in Hospital, MLK Jr. Remembered, Zimbabwe Raids

CitizenSugar — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 07:01:15 -0700

A tornado ripped through the Little Rock, AR, area last night. The National Weather Service is reporting an unknown number of injuries. A spokesman for the local sheriff's department says, "there's some structural damage in the city of Little Rock and several areas north of North Little Rock. A lot of trees and power lines are down." The storm decimated a mobile home park leaving 50 trailers on fire. This Winter's weather hasn't been kind to Arkansas. In the last two months, Arkansas has seen a tornado during a storm outbreak that killed 13, a foot of snow, more than a foot of rain, and near-record flooding.

Britain's Prince Philip, husband to Queen Elizabeth, has been hospitalized. The 86-year-old is being treated for a chest infection. Reports say he's stable, and a spokeswoman says "His Royal Highness's program of engagements for the weekend have been canceled."
This day marks the 40th anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. King was shot and killed on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN, while helping organize a strike by sanitation workers, then some of the poorest of the city's working poor. Dr. King will be remembered today nationwide and with a march through Memphis and the laying of wreaths at the site of King's assassination.
Zimbabwe's government staged separate police raids on the main opposition party and foreign journalists. Four journalists, including one from the New York Times, have been taken into custody for violating the country's media laws. Zimbabwe only has one, government-controlled newspaper.

China to Control Universe Starting With the Weather

CitizenSugar — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 09:00:17 -0700

Well, it's obvious that China isn't a capitalist society. Why? Instead of making a gabillion dollars selling souvenir Olympic umbrellas, to ensure a dry and happy experience for Olympic attendees they're employing an army of thousands (scores of thousands!) to control the weather.

That's right. They're not just interested in controlling thoughts, actions, media, Tibet, nope. They're kind of behaving like a crazy jealous boyfriend to the Weather. "Where are you going to be? What are you doing? What time will you rain?" And then they send out their army of workers, like so many hosts of Cheaters to follow the clouds and force them to comply.

How? To find out,