WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) ordered a halt to sale of Buckyballs magnetic toys on Wednesday, calling them a serious hazard in the panel’s first stop-sale order in 11 years.

The commission ordered distributor Maxfield and Oberton Holdings of New York to halt sales because injuries to children who had swallowed them had continued to rise, the CPSC said in a complaint.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Amtrak, the U.S. passenger rail service, plans a $7 billion expansion of Washington, D.C.’s Union Station with the goal of making it a high-speed rail and commercial hub, Amtrak said on Wednesday.

The proposal calls for doubling the number of trains that can be handled at the crowded site, the second-busiest Amtrak station in the United States, Amtrak said in a statement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An investigation into Penn State University’s role in the Jerry Sandusky child sex abuse scandal will be published on Thursday, and the family of late football coach Joe Paterno has questioned its fairness and confidentiality.

The head of the eight-month probe, former FBI Director Louis Freeh, said on Tuesday its report would be published online at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT) on Thursday. He will hold a news briefing at 10 a.m. EDT (1400 GMT) in Philadelphia.

, July 6 (Reuters) – Weary West Virginians
dumped rotting food from their refrigerators and tried to clear
fallen trees from the roads on Friday as new storms prolonged
the power outages that have already lasted a week.

The forecast for the weekend called for more record-breaking
heat across the Midwest and into the Eastern United States, with
heavy rains and severe storms in the upper Midwest, the National
Weather Service said.

, July 6 (Reuters) – Weary West Virginians
dumped rotting food from their refrigerators and tried to clear
fallen trees from the roads on Friday as new storms prolonged
the power outages that have already lasted a week.

The forecast called for more record-breaking heat and
triple-digit temperatures across the Midwest and into the
Eastern United States during the weekend, with heavy rains and
severe storms in the upper Midwest, the National Weather Service
said.

By Ian Simpson

LEWISBURG, W.V. (Reuters) – Six days after violent storms hit the eastern United States, the state of West Virginia was struggling to recover on Thursday, with nearly a third of electricity customers still without power and new storms putting more customers in the dark.

Electric utilities said more than 550,000 homes and businesses are without power from Ohio to Virginia, leaving them without air conditioning amid a heat wave.

WASHINGTON, July 3 (Reuters) – Nearly 1.4 million homes and
businesses in the eastern United States remained without power
amid a heat wave on Tuesday, and storm damage forced many Fourth
of July celebrations to be canceled.

Violent weekend storms and days of record heat have killed
at least 22 people in the United States since Friday. Some died
when trees fell on their homes and cars, and heat stroke killed
others.

WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) – Relentless heat gripped much
of the eastern United States for a fourth straight day on
Monday, with nearly 2 million homes and businesses without power
after violent storms and soaring temperatures killed at least 18
people.

Power companies warned it could take several days to restore
electricity completely in some areas as much of the United
States sweltered in a heat wave. On Sunday, 288 temperature
records were set nationwide.

WASHINGTON, July 2 (Reuters) – The Navy on Monday blamed a
rare two-engine mechanical failure for the April crash of an
F/A-18D fighter into a Virginia apartment complex that caused
minor injuries.

An investigation of the crash, on April 6 in Virginia Beach
just over a minute into a training flight, showed that the right
engine compressor stalled and the left afterburner blew out,
said Rear Admiral Ted Branch, the Atlantic naval air commander.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Relentless heat was forecast for much of the eastern United States for a fourth straight day on Monday, with about 2.2 million customers without power after violent storms and soaring temperatures killed at least 15 people.

Power companies warned it could take several days to restore electricity completely in some areas as much of the United States sweltered in a record-breaking heat wave.