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Dangerous thunderstorms and tornadoes will continue into tonight across the South. The same system will spark an outbreak of strong storms along the mid-Atlantic coast Friday. The South Regional News reports increasingly strong storms are erupting from southeastern Louisiana to central Kentucky and will shift eastward later tonight, reaching from the Virginia Panhandle to the Florida Panhandle.

POLK COUNTY -- Smoke and fog formed a deadly combination this morning along Interstate 4 near Haines City. Near-zero visibility caused a massive, deadly pile-up involving at least 50 vehicles, many of them tractor-trailers. A number of vehicles caught fire. Three people are reported dead and dozens injured. The accidents occured in the area of County Road 557. I-4, the main traffic artery between Tampa and Orlando is now shut down in both directions between the Polk County Parkway (Hwy 570) and Highway 27 in Haines City. It will likely remain closed for much of the day.

12:35 p.m. - The orbiter is rolling to the left in the first of several steep banking maneuvers. This series of rolls helps bleed off excess energy and slow the orbiter's speed. The atmospheric pressure is growing around Discovery and the orbiter's aerosurfaces are taking over control of the vehicle. 12:30 p.m. - Discovery is beginning to encounter the effects of the atmosphere, a point called "entry interface." Now flying at about 16,000 miles per hour, the orbiter is angled upward with wings level. The shuttle is set to touch down in just over 30 minutes.

West Bend - Voters in the West Bend School District rejected a $119.3 million school building referendum by a 62.6% to 37.4% margin in Tuesday's special election. The referendum, had it passed, would have been the largest in state history. The proposal, which included the construction of three new schools and renovation of others over fours years beginning in 2009, was defeated in each of nine communities within the 105-square-mile district. Even voters in Jackson, where construction of a new elementary school was proposed, spurned the spending plan. - more -

PENSACOLA, Fla. -- A tornado touched down Thursday, damaging this city's major shopping mall, as a line of violent thunderstorms made their way across the western Panhandle. There were no immediate reports of injuries. The twister could be seen tossing debris around, and preliminary damage reports were still coming in, said Escambia County sheriff's spokesman Glenn Austin. He said the tornado struck a section of Cordova Mall, the major shopping mall in Pensacola. He said he did not know the extent of damage. Snip

Might be a good time to revisit how we all heard about the the attack on 9/11 and how we reacted to the darkest day in American history. What emotions were strongest for you on that day? How did you find out? Did you stay at work? Did you go Home? Who did you call?

B&F System Inc. Recalls Emergency Tool Kits Due to Fire and Shock Hazards WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, in cooperation with the firm named below, today announced a voluntary recall of the following consumer product. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. Name of Product: Emergency Tool Kits Units: About 43,000 Distributor: B&F System Inc., of Dallas, Texas Hazard: Booster cables in the recalled kits can have undersized wiring and inadequate connections, posing a fire and shock hazard to consumers. Incidents/Injuries: None reported. Description: The recalled emergency tool kits have booster cables in...

FDA Blocks Nutro Pet Food Shipment from Entering U.S. Products "appeared to contain poisonous substances and unsafe additives" By Lisa Wade McCormick ConsumerAffairs.Com August 28, 2007 The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in July blocked more than 100 Nutro Products -- various styles and flavors of its dog and cat food -- from entering the United States. ConsumerAffairs.com learned the FDA took that action at the Port of Los Angeles -- and listed Nutro’s pet food on its Import Refusal Report -- because the products appeared to contain poisonous substances and unsafe additives. The FDA has authority to block and...

Menu Foods has re-supplied Wal-Mart with previously recalled pet food after placing a new UPC code over the previous UPC codes. They claim that the re-shelved foods are completely safe and that the packaging is the issue, not the food inside. The decision to place new stickers over the old UPC code was reportedly made together with Wal-Mart. Menu Foods said all of the contaminated food was returned back to them after the pet food recalls in March. In order to put a “safe” product back on the shelves, Menu Foods and Wal-Mart put a laminated sticker with a new...

Relentless storms pounded southwest Wisconsin over the weekend, causing widespread flooding that drove people from their homes, destroyed roads and prompted states of emergency to be declared in three counties. Almost a foot of rain fell in some areas, causing the worst flooding in the region in nearly 30 years.

A Philadelphia woman says her dog died after eating tainted dog food treats (Bestro Chicken Jerky Strips) bought from Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart has quietly pulled the made in China dog treat from its stores named Bestro Chicken Jerky Strips. There has been no announcement to the public as of yet. It is also uncertain of how many tainted bags of treats there may still be out among consumers. more .....

Shell Oil was pulling nonessential workers from the western U.S. Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday as the company prepared to shut in 5 million cubic feet of natural gas production off the south Texas coast, the company said. U.S. crude futures jumped $1.11 per barrel or 1.5% to $73.73 per barrel in the minutes after Shell announced the evacuations. ...

Goose Creek - Berkeley County police pulled over a light colored van in a routine traffic stop near Meyers Road and Highway 1-76 around 6 p.m. The van with Florida tags was driven by two men of Middle Eastern descent. Inside the vehicle police found explosives.

Phoenix — Two helicopters collided in midair and crashed while covering a police pursuit in central Phoenix Friday afternoon, killing at least two people. Both helicopters were news choppers from local television stations.

Food and drinking water shortages, panic buying and the threat of looting have followed the worst flooding to hit England in 60 years. Amid concerns that the government-run Environment Agency acted far too slowly in responding to serious flood alerts from the Met Office, parts of the West Country woke up this morning to another day under water and the Thames Valley now faces being inundated.

"But while TEPCO had initially said that the lethal earthquake had not caused any leaks, it revealed later on Monday night that 1,200 liters of radioactive water had sloshed into the sea from its Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant in Niigata." ... "Also on Tuesday, the company admitted that a small amount of radioactive materials -- cobalt-60, iodine and chromium-51 -- had been emitted into the atmosphere."

Federal Government Was Testing Satellite System, Activated EAS By Mistake (CBS) CHICAGO Chicago area radio and TV stations were taken over for a couple minutes this morning, after what was supposed to be a test of a new satellite system instead activated the Emergency Alert System.

MILWAUKEE - Pat Kasthurirangaian said he doesn't know the people who pulled him from his car and brutally beat him. He doesn't know why they did it. He has some serious injuries after a senseless beating that took place as people left Tuesday's Juneteenth celebration. Kasthurirangaian spoke exclusively to TODAY'S TMJ4 reporter Michael George. "They broke my nose, they busted my lip in many places and I have a fractured eye socket," Kasthurirangaian said. ...

Introduction: FDA has found a poisonous chemical, diethylene glycol (DEG), in certain toothpastes imported from China. The agency increased its scrutiny and testing of imported toothpaste and dental products after receiving reports in late May 2007 of contaminated Chinese dental products found in several countries, including Panama. Q: Why are consumers being warned about toothpaste? FDA is strongly warning consumers to avoid using any toothpaste labeled as made in China because we have found levels as high as 3-4% of a poisonous chemical, diethylene glycol (DEG), in Chinese toothpaste. Q: What is diethylene glycol, or DEG? Diethylene glycol (DEG), also...

Five-ounce tubes of toothpaste labeled Colgate and sold in discount stores in four states are being recalled because they may contain a poisonous chemical, according to the importer. A Food and Drug Administration official, Doug Arbesfeld, confirmed that testing had found the chemical in a product with the Colgate label. But he said the agency is unsure if it is really Colgate or a counterfeit.