Weather

AP - A family of Hurricane Katrina survivors whose new house was partly built with lumber from last year's Rockefeller Center Christmas tree were among tens of thousands who attended this year's lighting ceremony.

AP - Brazil is committed to quickly repairing key ports damaged in massive floods in order to recoup millions of dollars in daily losses to the economy, a government official said Tuesday.

AFP - Over 36,000 people have been affected by heavy rains and severe floods in Panama and Costa Rica since late November, the International Red Cross said Tuesday as it launched an appeal for aid funds.

AP - Cubans allegedly have stolen everything from gasoline and cement to rice and powdered milk — one person was even caught with 320 tubes of toothpaste — in the wake of three recent hurricanes that caused more than $10 billion in damages.

AP - Stranded airline passengers lingered in Chicago's airports Monday as a storm tapered off after delivering a wintry mix to the Midwest including snow, gusty winds and ice that led to at least two traffic deaths.

AP - A 30-mile scar of debris along the Texas coast stands as a festering testament to what state and local officials say is FEMA's sluggish response to the 2008 hurricane season.

AP - A storm system moving across the Great Lakes delivered Illinois' first snowstorm of the season Sunday and forced the cancellation of more than 50 flights at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport.

AP - Space shuttle Endeavour and its seven astronauts safely returned to Earth on Sunday, taking a detour to sunny California after storms hit the main landing strip in Florida.

AP - Lake-effect snow was expected in Michigan, Ohio and upstate New York on Friday. Some areas of Upper Michigan and New York's Syracuse area were to receive up to a foot of snow. Scattered flurries and snow showers were forecast for the northern Ohio Valley, parts of Pennsylvania and New York.