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6 die in severe Midwest weather

MARENGO, Ind. - Thunderstorms continued battering the Midwest on Sunday, killing one person in a southern Indiana town after three people in Missouri were killed by a tornado the night before.

Several people were injured by the weekend's tornadoes, which also ripped through parts of Nebraska, Oklahoma and Kansas, where high wind was blamed for two highway deaths.

In Marengo, Ind., about 35 miles northwest of Louisville, Ky., witnesses reported a tornado that toppled trees, making roads impassable.

One person was killed in the storm, said Alden Taylor of the Indiana Emergency Management Agency, but he had no further details. Radio station WHAS in Louisville reported the victim was a man in a mobile home.

High wind also destroyed homes and businesses in the town of about 1,000 people.

A tornado reported in Spencer, about 50 miles southwest of Indianapolis, sent about 30 people scrambling to find cover in a gas station bathroom.

The twister "jumped over our store and touched town on the road in front of us. I was freaking out," said Billie Jo Roecker, assistant manager of the Speedway gas station.

The National Weather Service issued tornado warnings in counties across Missouri throughout the day, but there were no immediate reports of confirmed sightings or touchdowns. Authorities in Linn County reported a funnel cloud early Sunday afternoon near Purdin, about 90 miles northeast of Kansas City.

In Kansas, high wind was blamed for two deaths in separate accidents Saturday on Interstate 70 in northwest Kansas, including that of state Sen. Stan Clark, R-Oakley. Clark was killed when his car was rear-ended by a tractor-trailer after the wind blew dust that cut visibility, the Kansas Highway Patrol said.

Severe weather also swept through Nebraska, including at least two tornadoes in the southern part of the state. Two people jogging in Omaha on Saturday were seriously injured by a lightning strike, authorities said.

The storms knocked out electricity to thousands in Nebraska and Oklahoma, but much of the power was restored by Sunday.

ATLANTA - The Libertarian Party gave its presidential nomination to Michael Badnarik on Sunday at a convention that featured something those of the two major parties will lack: suspense.

"I finally got a microphone to the people who needed to hear my message," the 49-year-old computer programmer and technical trainer from Austin, Texas, said after a late surge to win the nomination Sunday afternoon.

Badnarik (pronounced bad-NOR-ik) was considered to be trailing the two other leading candidates by many Libertarians when the convention began Friday at a downtown Atlanta hotel. He faced Cleveland radio show host Gary Nolan and Hollywood producer Aaron Russo.

But after a well-received showing at a debate Saturday, Badnarik barely trailed Russo, by 256 delegate votes to 258, on the convention's first ballot Sunday morning. When Nolan again polled in third place on the second ballot, he conceded and endorsed Badnarik, who overtook Russo on the third ballot, 423-344.

WASHINGTON - Members of the Rolling Thunder motorcycling group revved their engines on the White House driveway Sunday during a visit with President Bush, who took about 10 bikers in jeans and leather jackets for an Oval Office tour.

The roar from bikers on the Mall nearby could be heard on the South Lawn as eight motorcycles, headlights illuminated and American flags jutting off the rear seats, rolled up the driveway to the South Portico where Bush was waiting.

Bush shook hands with Artie Muller, president of the veterans' advocacy group, and kissed Muller's rider, singer Nancy Sinatra. Later, Bush addressed, via telephone, a Rolling Thunder rally at Robert F. Kennedy Stadium.