Just hours after the first death in the 2001 anthrax attacks, Tom Slezak was told to gather his team, collect his gear and get on a plane.

The last round of storms that blew across much of the 400-mile-long range during the weekend added several feet to what has become a snowpack of historic proportions.

"I know it's time, and that's OK. It is," Favre said after the 20-13 loss. "Again, I hold no regrets, and I can't think of too many players offhand that can walk away and say that."

Democratic leaders secured the support of Sen. Ben Nelson to provide the 60th and deciding vote for sweeping health care legislation in the Senate, capping a year of struggle and a final burst of deadline bargaining on President Barack Obama's top domestic priority.

A $4.2 billion tunnel beneath downtown Seattle is the best option to replace the crumbling Alaskan Way viaduct along the city's waterfront, Gov. Chris Gregoire said Tuesday, as opponents filed an initiative to block construction.

An airliner bound for the Canary Islands crashed during takeoff from the Madrid airport Wednesday and caught fire. Only 19 people survived the mid-afternoon crash - Spain's worst air disaster in nearly 25 years.

A Spanish airliner bound for the Canary Islands at the height of the vacation season crashed, burned and broke into pieces Wednesday while trying to take off from Madrid, killing 153 people on board, officials said.

Unleashing a lethal 3-point barrage for the first time in Beijing, the Americans turned the marquee matchup of the preliminary round into another romp, beating Spain 119-82 Saturday night to clinch the top seed in their group.

Across central China, the toll from Monday's 7.9 magnitude quake rose to more than 8,700 dead - the worst to hit the country in more than three decades. It shook the region for nearly three agonizing minutes.