Nation in brief: Storms, tornado wash out roads

A storm packing rain and a tornado moved into southeast Colorado on Sunday as downpours north of Pueblo closed an eight-mile section of Interstate 25.

Meteorologist Makoto Moore said there were reports of 3 to 4 inches of rain across the northern part of Pueblo County, where a tornado touched down. Several buildings were damaged.

Colorado Gov. Bill Owens issued a disaster emergency order Saturday for Douglas County, southwest of Denver, where rain had washed out roads and flooded homes in areas stripped of vegetation by a 138,000-acre wildfire in 2002.

ASPEN, Colo.

Private memorial held for Lay

Former Enron Corp. CEO Jeffrey Skilling was among scores of people Sunday at a private memorial for company founder Kenneth Lay, who died in this mountain resort town last week as he awaited sentencing for his role in one of the nation’s biggest corporate frauds.

A lone sheriff’s deputy and uniformed private security guards were on hand, with some using umbrellas to shield participants from photo- graphers at the Aspen Chapel.

Skilling’s attorney, Daniel Petrocelli, also attended the service.

“It was very moving,” former Texas Rangers partner Fred Malek said as he left the service. “It brought back the philanthropic man that he was.”

A second memorial service is scheduled for Wednesday at First United Methodist Church in Houston.