Gas prices fall 9 cents

Gas prices fall 9 cents

CAMARILLO, Calif. — The national average price for gasoline went down about 9 cents over the last three weeks, according to a survey released Sunday.

The average price of regular gasoline on Friday was $3 a gallon, mid-grade was $3.12, and premium was $3.24, oil industry analyst Trilby Lundberg said.

The nation’s lowest price was in Tulsa, Okla., where a gallon of regular cost $2.74 on average. The highest was in San Francisco at $3.42, according to the Lundberg Survey of 7,000 stations nationwide.

Shuttle launch scrubbed

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla.— NASA on Sunday delayed the launch of space shuttle Atlantis until January after a gauge in the fuel tank failed for the second time in four days.

With only a few days remaining in the launch window for the shuttle’s mission to the international space station, senior managers decided to stand down until next month in hopes of better understanding the perplexing and persistent fuel gauge problem.

“We’re determined to get to the bottom of this,” said LeRoy Cain, chairman of the mission management team.

Whether Atlantis can fly as early as Jan. 2 “is all going to depend on what we find out,” he said.

Study: Mutated gene
linked to breast cancer

NEW YORK — Researchers say they’ve discovered a major reason why women who inherit a mutated version of the gene BRCA1 run a high risk of breast cancer — and that finding might aid the search for new treatments. A second gene, called PTEN, plays a key role, scientists said in a study released Sunday.

Scientists have long known that BRCA1 normally repairs damage to other genes. So if it’s crippled by mutations, the unrepaired damage could be expected to lead to cancer. But the specifics of that story have been murky.

The new study fingers PTEN, which normally acts as a brake on cancer. The researchers found evidence that in breast cancers associated with a BRCA1 mutation, PTEN is often broken and doesn’t get repaired. That sets off a chemical cascade that leads to malignancy.

Ice storm hits Missouri

ST. LOUIS — An ice storm grounded airline flights and knocked out power to thousands of customers in Missouri on Sunday.

Ice as much as a half-inch thick coated roads and tree limbs in sections of extreme southeast Kansas.

Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt declared a state of emergency and activated the National Guard to aid communities affected by the stormy weather that started Saturday and was expected to continue through midweek.

At Kansas City International Airport, 18 flights had been canceled by midmorning Sunday, and 13 flights were called off at St. Louis Lambert International Airport.

Three slain in Virginia

WOODBRIDGE, Va. — Three people were killed and two were wounded in a shooting at a northern Virginia home. Police arrested a suspect hours later in northeastern Pennsylvania.

Police say 39-year-old Anastacio Sanchez-Miranda was arrested in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., about 2:30 p.m. Sunday.

The arrest came six hours after the shooting at the Woodbridge home was reported. Authorities say the suspect was arrested without incident at the home of a relative.

Associated Press

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