Death toll from Tennessee tornadoes climbs to at least 24
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Rescuers searched through shattered Tennessee neighborhoods for bodies Tuesday, less than a day after tornadoes ripped across Nashville and other parts of the state as families slept. At least 24 people were killed, some in their beds, authorities said.
The twisters that struck in the hours after midnight shredded more than 140 buildings and buried people in piles of rubble and wrecked basements. The storms moved so quickly that many people in their path could not flee to safer areas.
“It hit so fast, a lot of folks didn’t have time to take shelter,” Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter said. “Many of these folks were sleeping.”
The governor declared an emergency and sent the National Guard to help with search-and-rescue efforts. State emergency officials, who initially reported at least 25 dead, revised the toll to 24 fatalities on Tuesday evening after determining one death counted earlier was not storm-related.
An unspecified number of people were missing.
Dow sinks 2.9% after rate cut fails to stem market’s dread
NEW YORK — Fear and uncertainty continue to control Wall Street, and stocks fell sharply Tuesday after an emergency interest-rate cut by the Federal Reserve failed to reassure markets wracked by worries that a fast-spreading virus will slam corporate profits and the economy.
The Dow Jones Industrial average sank 785 points, or 2.9%. It had surged 5% a day earlier on hopes for aid from the Fed and other central banks. In another sign of the market’s caution, the yield on the 10-year Treasury sank below 1% for the first time in history.
While the cut gave some investors exactly what they had been asking for, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged that the ultimate solution to the virus challenge will have to come from health experts and others, not central banks. Some traders are also questioning whether more aid is on the way to stabilize the market, while others called the Fed’s move premature.
Through it all, markets are still faced with the same quandary that has sent stock prices tumbling 11% since they set a record just two weeks ago: No one knows how far the virus will ultimately spread before authorities can get it under control, and by how much companies’ profits will be shorn because of it.
Stocks rallied briefly in the morning following the Fed’s surprise move, but it took just 15 minutes for the gains to evaporate. Treasury yields fell to more record lows as investors ratcheted back expectations for the economy and inflation. A gauge measuring traders’ fear of upcoming swings for stocks jerked wildly up and down through the day.
Looking for hand sanitizer? Good luck finding it
NEW YORK — The hand sanitizers on Amazon were overpriced. A Walmart this weekend was completely sold out. Only on his third try was Ken Smith able to find the clear gel — at a Walgreens, where three bottles of Purell were left. He bought two.
“I didn’t want to hoard,” says Smith, a retired biomedical technician in Wichita Falls, Texas.
Fear of the coronavirus has led people to stock up on the germ-killing gel, leaving store shelves empty and online retailers with sky-high prices set by those trying to profit on the rush. More is on the way, although it’s not clear how long it will take retailers to restock.
Sales of hand sanitizers in the U.S. were up 73% in the four weeks ending Feb. 22 compared to the same period a year ago, according to market research firm Nielsen.
The alcohol-based gunk is convenient, but hand sanitizer isn’t the best way to clean your hands. For that, soap and water still reigns supreme, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
From wire sources
The agency recommends first washing hands with warm or cold water and then lathering soap for 20 seconds to get it on the backs of hands, between fingers and under finger nails before rinsing off.
Super Tuesday: Biden wins in South, Sanders takes Colorado
WASHINGTON — Joe Biden scored a trio of Super Tuesday victories in key Southern states, building on momentum that has swiftly revived his Democratic presidential campaign in recent days. Bernie Sanders countered with wins in his home state of Vermont and in Colorado, as the race began to shift west, where some polls were starting to close.
Biden took Alabama and the battleground states of North Carolina and Virginia, a strong start as 14 states went to the polls across the nation. Still, voting was ongoing in the two top prizes, Texas and California — meaning the night’s biggest winner remained unclear.
The wins in heavily African American states complemented the former vice president’s victory in last weekend’s South Carolina primary. Virginia was especially key because Sanders, a Vermont senator, and billionaire former New York Mayor Mike Bloomberg heavily contested it over the past week.
A once-jumbled race arrived at the most pivotal night of the primary as an increasingly well-defined battle between leftist Democrats who back the likes of Sanders and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and centrists preferring Biden. A wild card was Bloomberg, who skipped the primary’s first four states but poured more than $500 million of his personal fortune into TV advertising in Super Tuesday states and faced increasing pressure to prove it was all worth it.
Some good news for the former mayor came in the U.S. territory of American Samoa, where he took five of its six delegates. The final one went to U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard of Hawaii.
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AP VoteCast: Many Democratic voters made last-minute picks
WASHINGTON — Many Democratic voters in Super Tuesday’s presidential primaries made up their minds just before casting a ballot — a sign of fluidity in a race recently upended by Joe Biden’s blowout in South Carolina.
The share of late deciders ranged from about a quarter of voters in Texas to roughly half in Minnesota, according to AP VoteCast surveys of voters in several Super Tuesday contests. Moderate and conservative voters in each state were slightly more likely than their liberal counterparts to delay a decision to the last minute.
The indecision shows voters grappling with their choices in a race that is changing quickly. Biden’s big win in South Carolina on Saturday revived his struggling campaign and helped push three of his rivals toward the exit.
Biden is now trying to consolidate moderate voters, block Sen. Bernie Sanders, box out Sen. Elizabeth Warren and overcome the hundreds of millions spent by billionaire Mike Bloomberg — who is on the ballot for the first time Tuesday. Further complicating the possible outcomes on Tuesday was that many people voted early.
Here’s a snapshot of Democratic voters in Alabama, Colorado, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Texas and Virginia — who they are and what matters to them — based on preliminary results from AP VoteCast surveys, conducted for The Associated Press by NORC at the University of Chicago. Additional polling results will be added throughout the night.