Colo. road crews work to clear rocks from I-70

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. -- Snowfall delayed repairs Friday to a section of Interstate 70 where a rock slide sent boulders as big as vans crashing onto the road. Road crews, under the glare of portable spotlights, toiled through the night in hopes of reopening one lane of traffic in each direction. But the highway through scenic Glenwood Canyon in western Colorado remained closed Friday morning. More than three dozen boulders landed on Interstate 70 early Thursday, some embedded 6 feet deep. State officials ended up closing a 24-mile section of the main east-west artery through Colorado.

Report: Hazmat checks on aircraft inadequate

WASHINGTON -- The government needs to do a better job monitoring and inspecting hazardous materials shipped aboard airlines, according to a report released Friday by the Transportation Department's inspector general. How well the Federal Aviation Administration oversees the shipment of dangerous cargo came into question after the 1996 ValuJet crash in the Everglades, which killed 110 people. The accident was blamed on a fire caused by illegal shipment of oxygen generators in the cargo hold. Since then, the report said, "the FAA's enforcement of hazmat regulations has been in flux." It criticized the agency for reviewing paperwork to make sure shippers and air carriers are properly declaring hazardous materials, without conducting covert tests to make sure airlines are handling them properly.

Crews search ocean for man missing from ship

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- A 54-year-old passenger vanished as a ship returned home from a five-day cruise to the Bahamas, and the Coast Guard launched a search. A patrol boat and a helicopter crew searched more than 340 square miles of ocean Friday for Glen Sherridan of Richmond, Va. His wife reported him missing to officers of the cruise ship Celebration when she could not find him several hours after the ship docked Thursday. The Coast Guard received a missing persons report soon after the ship's crew conducted a full search to make sure Sherridan wasn't still on board.

Rehnquist to lose sixth week of work to cancer

WASHINGTON -- Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist will be absent from the Supreme Court on Monday, beginning a sixth week of missed work caused by thyroid cancer. The 80-year-old has been receiving chemotherapy and radiation treatment at home and plans to skip the two-week cycle of arguments that starts Monday, a court spokesman said Friday. Details have been kept secret about the seriousness of Rehnquist's cancer, which was announced in a terse statement Oct. 25.

-- From wire reports