Ice storm strikes across Midwest

An ice storm slickened roads and sidewalks, grounded hundreds of flights and cut power to tens of thousands Sunday in a swath from the Southern Plains to the Great Lakes as even colder weather threatened.

The wintry weather was expected to continue through midweek, and ice storm warnings stretched from Texas to Pennsylvania.

Six traffic deaths were blamed on icy roads in Oklahoma. Roads along much of the state were considered slick and hazardous by the Oklahoma Department of Transportation, with two sections of Interstate 40 being closed temporarily.

More than 130,000 customers lost power in Missouri, Oklahoma, Illinois and Kansas, utilities reported, and some communities in Missouri reported ice as thick as three-quarters of an inch, the National Weather Service said.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard.

Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, one of the nation’s busiest, canceled more than 400 flights. The airports in Kansas City, Mo., and St. Louis also canceled several flights.

LOS ANGELES

Student arrested in online threat

Los Angeles police arrested a 21-year-old Loyola Marymount University student in connection with an online threat to shoot people on campus, officials said Saturday.

Police arrested Carlos Huerta, a senior, for investigation of making criminal threats. Huerta was taken into custody Saturday night near his apartment on campus.

Huerta is suspected of posting a message that he would shoot and kill as many people as possible on campus before being killed himself by police, authorities said. The threat appeared on Juicycampus.com, a chat board that describes itself as having the “simple mission of enabling online anonymous free speech on college campuses.”

LA PAZ, Bolivia

New constitution advances to vote

Allies of leftist Bolivian President Evo Morales approved nearly all of a new constitution Sunday morning in a marathon 17-hour session that was largely boycotted by opposition representatives.

The proposed new constitution, which opposition leaders charge is illegal, grants more power to the country’s indigenous majority, allows presidents to be re-elected indefinitely and abolishes the country’s opposition-led Senate.

Sunday’s approval ends a tumultuous 16-month assembly that’s sparked bitter debate across the impoverished nation of 9.1 million. Bolivians will vote on the proposed constitution in a referendum tentatively scheduled for next September, and they’ll vote separately on a constitutional article limiting the size of private land holdings.

SYDNEY, Australia

Explosions rock fireworks factory

Explosions ripped through a fireworks factory in eastern Australia, destroying 20 buildings in the complex and jeopardizing New Year’s Eve displays in three state capitals, officials said Sunday.

No workers were inside the factory during the overnight explosions, but police were investigating whether someone broke in and tampered with shipping containers used to store the fireworks, said police Superintendent Greg Martin.

Factory owner Andrew Howard said 20 buildings were razed and 30 others damaged. Plans for New Year’s Eve fireworks displays in Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide were in doubt, he said.

He said the fireworks were of a professional standard, meaning they are not considered unstable. They “really require ignition or an ignition source, or a fire or sparks of some nature, to set them off,” he said.