Lake Powell's level highest in 6 years

Lake Powell has reached its highest level in six years, a sign that the Colorado River is recovering from one of the worst dry spells on record.

The giant reservoir that straddles the Arizona-Utah line hit its peak for the year late last month, 45 feet higher than it was in March before the river swelled with melted snow from the wettest winter on the Colorado watershed in a decade.

The runoff boosted water storage for Arizona and the other states that rely on the Colorado River and improved conditions for boaters and anglers, many of whom had stayed away from the drought-stricken lake since its decline.

Honolulu

Sen. Clinton given prime speaking slot

Hillary Rodham Clinton will headline her own night at the Democratic National Convention, Barack Obama's campaign announced Sunday in a nod to her strong second-place showing in the party's presidential primary.

The former first lady will speak on the second night, Aug. 26 — the 88th anniversary of the constitutional amendment that gave women the right to vote.

The campaign and convention committee in a statement called her "a champion for working families and one of the most effective and empathetic voices in the country today."

The campaign said Obama's wife, Michelle, will headline the opening night Aug. 25.

Washington

Campaign rehash may ruffle feathers

More evidence of the turmoil among the Clinton campaign staff is expected to surface this week when The Atlantic magazine publishes an article based on hundreds of e-mail exchanges, many of them fiery, among the most prominent of Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton's advisers during the primary season.

An online article published Sunday on the Web site politico.com offered a few tidbits, including efforts by Mark Penn, a top Clinton strategist, who urged the campaign to paint her rival, Sen. Barack Obama, as un-American.

Jackson, Miss.

Casino bus crashes; 3 dead, several hurt

A casino bus full of tourists overturned in northwestern Mississippi on Sunday, killing three people and injuring several others.

The bus belonged to Harrah's Tunica and was carrying 43 people when it flipped over in a median at an intersection in Tunica, Tunica County spokesman Larry Liddell said.

Tourists on the bus were headed to the airport for a chartered flight to South Carolina, where many were from, officials said.

Washington

Researchers see hope for invisibility

Scientists say they are a step closer to developing materials that could render people and objects invisible.

Researchers have demonstrated for the first time they were able to cloak three-dimensional objects using artificially engineered materials that redirect light around the objects. Previously, they have been able to cloak only very thin two-dimensional objects.

The findings, by scientists at the University of California, Berkeley, led by Xiang Zhang, are to be released later this week in the journals Nature and Science.

The research was funded in part by the U.S. Army Research Office and the National Science Foundation's Nano-Scale Science and Engineering Center.

Rock Springs, Wyo.

Small planes collide, killing all 3 aboard

Two single-engine planes collided in midair Sunday over a remote area a few miles from an airport in southwestern Wyoming, killing all three people aboard, authorities said.

One of the planes was a Cirrus SR22 that took off from Polson, Mont., with two people aboard.

The other plane was a Cessna 172 with only the pilot aboard.

Also

Divers in New Orleans are looking for a man reported missing after two boats collided, killing at least four people. State Wildlife and Fisheries officials say a 20-foot motorboat collided with a 30-foot cabin cruiser Saturday on the Blind River. Each boat had six people on board. Officials say the pilot of the small motorboat and three passengers died. One other passenger was in critical condition and the sixth person is missing. Two people on the cabin cruiser were injured but their injuries were not considered life-threatening.

Seattle Times news services