High wind, heavy rain hit states Wednesday

Thunderstorms packing wind up to 65 mph barreled through Ohio on Wednesday, part of a storm system that battered sections of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic for a second day.

Heavy showers and high wind also caused flooding and damaged trees and power lines across Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia and Pennsylvania.

About 5 inches of rain drenched eastern Ohio's Coshocton County, where rescuers plucked children from two school buses stuck on flooded roads Wednesday, said Toby Collins of the county's emergency management office.

In West Virginia's Northern Panhandle, lightning set a home on fire in Moundsville, trapping four people before firefighters got them out, said Tom Hart, Marshall County director of emergency services.

The area around Dayton, Ohio, got 1.4 inches of rain in a 40-minute period Wednesday.

Tens of thousands of people across the storm zone lost power for a time or were still waiting to get it back.

Candidate Dean airs political ads in six states

WASHINGTON -- Democrat Howard Dean is spending $1 million for television ads in six early voting states, declaring his a nationwide campaign while rivals focus on New Hampshire and Iowa.

"We intend to beat George Bush, but in order to do it we have to campaign in all 50 states," Dean said this week. "This is the rollout."

In a show of political strength, the former Vermont governor will begin airing a new ad Friday in selected markets in Arizona, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Washington state and Wisconsin. No campaign has ventured to the nation's four corners with political spots.

Dean's increasing popularity was evident in the latest New Hampshire poll. The former Vermont governor has jumped out to a 21-point lead over rival John Kerry -- 38 percent to 17 percent -- according to a Zogby International survey of 501 likely Democratic primary voters released Wednesday.

In a February poll by Zogby, the Massachusetts senator led Dean, 26 percent to 13 percent; in June, Kerry's advantage was three percentage points.

CDC: West Nile doubles with over 1,400 infected

ATLANTA -- West Nile virus activity has again doubled, now affecting more than 1,400 people in the United States, federal officials said Wednesday.

Thirty-four states reported a total of 1,442 cases and 21 deaths, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said. Last week, the agency reported 715 cases and 14 deaths.

Colorado and the central United States continue to be the hardest hit. Colorado's 635 human cases lead the country, followed by 204 cases in South Dakota, 190 in Nebraska and 106 in Texas, the CDC said.

Six of the country's deaths were in Colorado, followed by four in Nebraska.

The virus is spread to people or animals by bites from mosquitoes that have fed on infected birds. It rarely kills, but about 1 in 150 people who get it will develop potentially deadly encephalitis or meningitis.

EarthLink files lawsuit against 'spam' mailers

ATLANTA -- EarthLink filed a lawsuit Wednesday against 100 individuals, accusing them of sending millions of unwanted junk e-mails, known as "spam," to the Internet service provider's customers.

The spam included advertisements for herbal impotence treatments, mortgage loans and fake company Web sites that took user addresses and financial information, said Karen Cashion, lead counsel for EarthLink's federal court lawsuit.

EarthLink claims the individuals -- mostly based in Alabama and Canada -- used stolen credit cards, identity theft and banking fraud to fund Internet accounts and send out more than 250 million unsolicited commercial e-mails.

The company estimated damages caused by the Alabama ring at roughly $5 million for relaying the spam, investigating the ring and losing customers, Cashion said.

-- From wire reports