High winds rip through Kansas City, damage homes

Hurricane-force winds, hail and heavy rain moving through Missouri have left hundreds of Kansas City-area homes and businesses damaged, and some destroyed.
Authorities say the worst damage is in the city's northern and eastern suburbs, where power was knocked out to thousands of customers. Firefighters say one Gladstone home was blown off its foundation.
Fire officials say several people were injured.
An 18-wheeler was blown over on Interstate 29 in Riverside, near five empty train cars that were toppled. The National Weather Service says winds reached 80 miles per hour in the Kansas City area.
Tornado warnings were posted in southwest Missouri overnight. The town of Ava is reporting several buildings are damaged or destroyed, including a school. Ozark schools are closed because of a power outage.
Other states also have been hit. The National Weather Service says a tornado likely touched down Friday morning in central Arkansas. There were injuries and damage reported, but no further details were available.
At least two tornadoes and large hail was reported in Oklahoma late Thursday, though no injuries or significant damage was reported there.

Parents in suspected kidnapping plead for son

Growing more anxious with each passing day, the parents of a suspected kidnap victim in Florida are increasing the reward for their son's return from $10,000 to $250,000.
"We want him back. We love him. We miss him," Thomas Wiles said of his son, weeping.
Robert Wiles, 26, of Lakeland, Florida, disappeared April 1. He was last seen at National Flight Services at Lakeland Linder Regional Airport, where he worked for his family's flight maintenance company as a business development manager.
Two days later, his father received a ransom note demanding money. The FBI won't say how much, nor will it release the name on the note because it doesn't want to spark copycats. The bureau only describes the name as unique and specific.
"It threatened Robert with harm if the terms were not complied with exactly as they say," said Thomas Wiles. "I think when I first looked at it, I felt it wasn't for real, but then subsequently I realized it was for real, and I'd best comply with the terms."

Economy still sputtering

The nation's economy continued its sluggish growth in the first quarter, according to a government report Wednesday that showed a slightly better-than-expected gain in economic activity.
Gross domestic product, a broad measure of the economy, rose at an annual rate of 0.6% in the first three months of the year, when adjusted for inflation. That matched the rise achieved in the fourth quarter as well as in the year-earlier period.
Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a 0.5% gain for the first quarter.
There has been a growing belief among many economists that the economy is in a recession, having fallen into it either late last year or during the course of the first quarter. Employers cut 232,000 jobs in the first three months of 2008 and consumers pulled back on spending in the face of higher prices.
The most common definition of a recession is two consecutive quarters in which GDP is negative, although the official designation of an economic downturn is based on broader measures as determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The GDP reading was helped by a strong build in business inventories, following a deep cut in the fourth quarter. It was also helped by a smaller trade gap as a weaker dollar made U.S. exports more competitive elsewhere in the world. A pickup in government spending, particularly a 6% rise in defense spending by the federal government, also boosted GDP.

Bush calls out Congress on economy

President Bush addressed Americans' anxiety about the effects that the U.S. economic downturn has taken on their wallets Tuesday, calling on Congress to pass legislation that will help reduce energy and food costs, keep people in their homes, and make student loans more available.
Speaking at a White House Rose Garden news conference, Bush said Congress has not passed legislation that he proposed to help ease the effects of the economic slump.
"I've repeatedly submitted proposals to help address these problems, yet time after time Congress chose to block them," said Bush.
Bush said Congress failed to pass bills that expand safe oil exploration and build new refineries that would help to reduce energy prices. The president said his proposal to expand oil production at home would result in about a 20% increase of crude oil production and it would likely mean lower gas prices.
He added that the farm bill that Congress is considering is "bloated," and would do little to reduce the cost of food.
"The bill Congress is now considering would fail to eliminate subsidy payments to multimillionaire farmers," said Bush. "America's farm economy is thriving ... and this is the right time to reform our nation's farm policies."
The president also called out Congress for failing to pass his proposed legislation to help modernize the home loan industry through Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae reforms, and by allowing state housing agencies to issue tax-free bonds to refinance subprime loans.
Lastly, the president said lawmakers need to pass a bill that would temporarily give the federal government greater authority to buy federal student loans.
"This authority will safeguard student loans without permanently expanding the government's role in their financing," Bush said.
Bush said Americans are looking for politicians to come together to work on these issues in a bipartisan manner.
"I don't think it's just too much to ask even in an election year," he added.

Oil roars to new high near $120

Oil prices hit an all-time high near $120 a barrel Monday after a weekend refinery strike closed a pipeline system that delivers a third of Britain's North Sea oil to refineries in the U.K.
The shutdown comes amid supply outages in Nigeria that have helped to support oil against a strengthening dollar.
In the U.S., retail gasoline also hit a record for the 13th straight time. The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded rose to $3.603, up four-tenths of a cent from the previous day, according to auto organization AAA.
"We've got a confluence of a number of events that have really disrupted crude oil supply," said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore. "That's what's driving oil to a new record even though the U.S. dollar actually strengthened a bit."
Light, sweet crude for June delivery rose to a record $119.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract eased back to $119.33 a barrel by midafternoon in Singapore, up 81 cents from Friday's close of $118.52.
BP PLC (BP) on Sunday shut down the Forties Pipeline System that carries more than 700,000 barrels of oil a day to the U.K. because of a 48-hour walkout by employees at a refinery in central Scotland.
Workers walked out of the Grangemouth refinery vowing not to give ground in their dispute with refinery owner Ineos over plans to close a generous pension scheme to new employees. Ineos chief executive Tom Crotty said it could take a week for the plant to return to production once the strike ends on Tuesday. BP said its pipeline could be up and running within 24 hours.

FHM names world's sexiest woman

Megan Fox is the sexiest woman in the world -- at least according to FHM magazine. The "Transformers" co-star tops FHM's annual 100 Sexiest Women in the World poll of FHM readers.
The 21-year-old model-actress beat out the likes of Angelina Jolie (No. 12), Rihanna (No. 14), Kim Kardashian (No. 17), Paris Hilton (No. 77) and last year's champion, Jessica Alba (No. 3).
Fox debuted on the annual list in 2006 at No. 68 and ranked at No. 65 in 2007. Joining her in the top 10 this year are -- in descending order -- Jessica Biel, Alba, Elisha Cuthbert, Scarlett Johansson, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Hilary Duff, Tricia Helfer, Blake Lively and Kate Beckinsale. Britney Spears came in at No. 100.
The women from MTV's "The Hills" duke it out on the list with Heidi Montag (No. 44) beating out Audrina Patridge (No. 80) and Lauren Conrad (No. 95).
Current "Dancing with the Stars" contestant Shannon Elizabeth (No. 46) returned to the ranking after being absent last year, joining professional dancers Cheryl Burke (No. 40) and Karina Smirnoff (No. 78).
FHM said nearly 9 million votes were cast for the 14th edition of the annual poll.

Clinton says she leads in popular vote

Sen. Hillary Clinton is arguing that she is ahead of rival Sen. Barack Obama when it comes to the popular vote. "I'm very proud that as of today, I have received more votes by the people who have voted than anyone else," Clinton said Wednesday, one day after her decisive win in Pennsylvania.
Not so fast, says Obama's campaign. Clinton's count includes her wins in Michigan and Florida, but the Democratic presidential candidates agreed not to campaign in those states because they violated party rules by scheduling their contests too early.
Obama didn't even have his name on the Michigan ballot, so he received no votes from that contest.
"We think that, in the end, if we end up having won twice as many states and having the most votes, then we should be the nominee," Obama said.
If Michigan and Florida are counted, Clinton is ahead by 100,000 votes -- 15.1 million to Obama's 15 million. Without those states, Obama has a 500,000 vote lead, 14.4 million to 13.9 million.
Clinton says she has received more votes than any Democratic candidate in history.
"It's a very close race, but if you count, as I count, the 2.3 million people who voted in Michigan and Florida, then we are going to build on that," the New York senator said.
Obama's campaign manager said he doesn't expect the Illinois senator to lose his lead by June 3, the date of the last contest.
But Obama is facing questions about why he can't just bring the race to an end.
"You know the way we're going to close the deal is by winning. And right now we're winning. And what we'll do is keep on campaigning in Indiana and North Carolina and Oregon and these other states," he said.