Mount St. Helens puffs out new steam cloud

MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. - Mount St. Helens vented a new column of steam Sunday, a lazy plume that rose out of the crater of the snow-dusted volcano.

The billow of steam rose from an area where a large upwelling or bulge of rock has been growing on the dome-shaped formation of rock in the crater. The plume rose several hundred feet above the 8,364-foot volcano, and light wind slowly blew it toward the south and southeast.

The venting probably was produced by a combination of rain water percolating down to hot rocks and volcanic gas coming from deeper levels, scientists said.

The steam emission followed an increase in earthquake activity over the previous two days, with quakes of magnitude 2.4 occurring every two minutes until Sunday, when the vibrations were more frequent but weakened to magnitude 1 or less.

Investigators hunt for cause of bus crash

MARION, Ark. - Investigators on Sunday combed through a patch of grass near an interstate highway, searching for clues to why a tour bus drifted off the pavement and overturned, killing 14 people.

Fifteen passengers remained hospitalized in Little Rock and Memphis, many in critical condition with injuries that included collapsed lungs, broken hips and head wounds they suffered when the bus wandered off Interstate 55 in northeastern Arkansas.

A reconstruction of the accident was under way, and officials planned to create computer models of the crash, but they cautioned that a final police report would not be ready for a week. Findings from the National Transportation Safety Board report would take longer.

Police initially reported that 15 people had died. Investigators worked through the night to identify the victims and on Sunday revised that number to 14 dead. Most passengers were asleep when the accident happened before dawn.

Treasury chief expects Arab help with oil prices

WASHINGTON - Oil costing roughly $53 a barrel is a major drag on the U.S. economy, and Arab finance ministers have told the Bush administration they are committed to bringing the price down, Treasury Secretary John Snow said Sunday.

"They've indicated that they are committed to bringing the price of oil down," the Treasury chief told CNN's Late Edition.

Gasoline prices have climbed nearly 8 cents a gallon in the past two weeks because of record-high crude oil prices, and they are likely to continue rising, an industry analyst said Sunday.

From Sept. 24 through Friday, the combined national average for all grades of gas rose from $1.94 to $2.02 a gallon, said Trilby Lundberg, who publishes the semimonthly Lundberg Survey of 7,000 gas stations across the country.

Self-serve regular, the biggest seller, averaged $1.99 a gallon Friday, midgrade was $2.09 and premium was $2.18, Lundberg said.

Hot-air balloon collides with radio tower

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. - A balloon became entangled in a radio tower on the final day of the city's trademark balloon festival Sunday, forcing the pilot and two young passengers to climb most of the way down the nearly 700-foot-tall structure. Bill Chapel was piloting the balloon - shaped like the face of Smokey Bear - when it blew into the radio tower near a park where the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta was being held.

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