OKLAHOMA CITY — More snow fell Sunday as part of a powerful storm blowing through Oklahoma and the southern Plains on the first weekend of spring. The National Weather Service said there was moderate to heavy snow across northeast Oklahoma, northwest Arkansas and southwest Missouri, with some places reporting 8 to 12 inches of snow. The snow and rain was expected to end later Sunday.
Authorities have attributed at least five deaths in four states to the weather. Police in Arlington, Texas, said ice on an interstate caused an accident Sunday involving five vehicles and two 18-wheelers. One of the 18-wheelers fell on another vehicle, killing one person. The storm came a day after temperatures had reached into the 70s. Forecasters say temperatures should rebound into the 60s today.
Maryland: Two officers shot
Two Baltimore police officers who had pulled over a suspicious vehicle were shot and wounded by the driver, and the suspect was killed when the officers returned fire, Baltimore police said Sunday. Police Commissioner Frederick Bealefeld III said the officers will survive and are expected to undergo surgery at the University of Maryland Shock Trauma Center. One officer was shot in the right cheek, while the other was shot in the hand. A third officer also shot at the suspect. The names of the officers and the suspect were not immediately released because some family members had not yet been notified.
Illinios: Emergency landing
Chicago officials say there were no injuries after an emergency landing at O’Hare International Airport. Chicago Department of Aviation spokeswoman Karen Pride says there was “a pressurization problem” on American Airlines Flight 2363, which landed about 10:30 a.m. Sunday. The flight had taken off from Chicago and returned there. Pride didn’t have further details. An American Airlines spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. The airline’s Web site says the flight was headed from O’Hare to the Yampa Valley Regional Airport in Colorado. It arrived at its destination after 1 p.m. — about two hours later than scheduled. Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Langford says there were 119 people aboard the Boeing 737.
France: Voting favors left
The long-flailing French left made a big-time comeback Sunday, crushing Nicolas Sarkozy’s conservatives in regional elections colored by voters’ economic worries and informally kicking off the 2012 presidential race. Cheers resounded from Socialist Party headquarters as leftists swept races from the French Riviera to Paris. With 97 percent of ballots counted, the Socialists and their allies won 54 percent of the vote nationwide, while Sarkozy’s UMP party had 35.3 percent, according to the Interior Ministry. The results show what a rough road the dynamic but increasingly isolated Sarkozy has ahead of him between now and 2012. Nationwide strikes are planned Tuesday by some of those who punished his party Sunday: train drivers angry over pension reforms that are a pillar of his presidential policy, and teachers angry over job cuts. Meanwhile, he faces new challenges from a popular green movement and a reinvigorated extreme right.
Iceland: 2nd eruption feared
A volcano in southern Iceland has erupted for the first time in almost 200 years, raising concerns that it could trigger a larger and potentially more dangerous eruption at a volatile volcano nearby. The eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano, located near a glacier of the same name, shot ash and molten lava into the air but scientists called it mostly peaceful. It occurred just before midnight Saturday at a fissure on a slope — rather than at the volcano’s summit — so scientists said there was no imminent danger that the glacier would melt and flood the area.
Australia: Deadly croc attack
An Australian coroner started an investigation today into the death of an 11-year-old girl who was killed by a crocodile last year, as two fresh attacks refocused public scrutiny on how to manage the animals. The inquest will look into the death of Briony Goodsell, one of four people killed by crocodiles in a seven-month period in 2008 to early 2009. It comes on the heels of two crocodile encounters in the last week — the latest a 5-year-old girl who was slashed on her leg while swimming Sunday in Caledon Bay in Northern Territory. Police said it was unclear whether the 6 1/2-foot saltwater crocodile attacked the child, who received a laceration on her leg, or if she disturbed the animal and it cut her as it was trying to get away.
From Herald news services
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