Wyoming

Rain, snow cause flooding, rock slides

Snow and rain fell across Wyoming and Utah Wednesday, unleashing rock slides and flooding at lower elevations while prompting a mountain resort to fire up its lifts for extra skiing.

The potent spring storm dropped several inches of rain on northern Wyoming and nearly 2 feet of snow in the mountains, renewing hopes the state could emerge from a yearslong drought that has devastated rangeland grasses.

In Utah, up to 4 inches of snow mixed with rain fell on the Salt Lake Valley, slowing rush-hour traffic. Cool temperatures dropped the snow line to about 5,000 feet in elevation, which covers much of Utah.

U.S. 14 on the west side of the Big Horn Mountains of north-central Wyoming was closed because of rock slides, a patrol dispatcher said.

In Utah County south of Salt Lake City, a rain-soaked foothill above Cedar Hills was on the move again, nearly two weeks after first threatening townhouses on a steep slope of the western Wasatch Front.

Iowa

Gingrich says he hasn’t ruled out presidential run

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich conceded Wednesday that he might run for president in 2008, but said he will spend the coming years focusing on changes needed in the nation and less time talking about his own political ambitions.

He said leaders must look at transforming the nation’s health care system, improving its educational system and returning the nation to the days of a balanced budget.

Gingrich made his remarks during a three-day visit to Iowa, where caucuses launch presidential campaigns every four years. His trip included signing copies of his book “Winning the Future: A 21st Century Contract with America,” his vision for national change.

By mixing in a series of political appearances during the trip, Gingrich raised questions about his own future. Asked if he would be a candidate in 2008, he said, “I might be, I don’t know.”

Wisconsin

Senior suspended for wearing dress to prom

A high school senior who thought it would be funny to wear a dress to his prom was ticketed $249 for disorderly conduct, suspended for three days and banned from his last track meet.

School district administrator Jim Gottinger said the discipline was for more than just the dress, noting Kerry Lofy, 18, was dancing in a sexually provocative manner at the prom, according to a police report.

Lofy doubts that was the real reason he was disciplined Monday.

Lofy said Lake Geneva Badger High had no problem letting him go to Saturday’s prom with another male, but that school officials drew the line at his dress.

When Lofy showed up in the dress, a blond wig, open-toed platform sandals, blue earrings and a necklace, teachers turned him away. He said he showed up later with a tan-and-black plaid leisure suit over the dress, went inside and whipped off the suit during a dance-off. A security guard escorted him out, he said.

Los Angeles

Song lyrics left as clue in murder-suicide

A man who murdered five family members then shot himself to death left the haunting lyrics of a Grammy-winning song next to his computer and a note that read, “Woe is me. I’m looking forward to seeing you in the next life,” authorities said Wednesday.

Investigators are still baffled about why David McGowan, a 44-year-old investigator for the Riverside County district attorney’s office, killed his wife, mother and three children early Tuesday while they slept.

Investigators searching McGowan’s sprawling, two-story ranch home about 100 miles southeast of Los Angeles found the typed lyrics of the Los Lonely Boys song “Heaven” next to his computer. The song is about being trapped and lost in life, and McGowan’s note was on the same sheet of paper as the lyrics.

Based on a trail of bloody sock prints, investigators determined that McGowan used his duty weapon to kill his wife Karen, 42, and mother Angelia, 75, upstairs then went downstairs and killed the children — son Chase, 14, and daughters Paige, 10, and Rayne, 8.