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Powerful storms roll through Midwest

EVANSVILLE, Ind. - Just eight days after a deadly tornado struck southwestern Indiana, another strong storm system rolled across the nation's midsection Tuesday, producing funnel clouds in at least three states.

The National Weather Service issued tornado watches and warnings for the Evansville area, as well as for parts of Tennessee, Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois and Kentucky.

Funnel clouds were sighted in Indiana and Illinois, but it was unclear how many remained aloft or touched the ground. There were no immediate reports of serious injuries.

In western Tennessee, a funnel cloud reportedly touched down, damaging an undetermined number of buildings in Henry and Weakley counties.

"Numerous homes there were damaged, some completely destroyed," said Faye Scott, spokeswoman for the Henry County Sheriff's Department. "It's major destruction."

Dan Spaeth, a weather service forecaster, said Tuesday's conditions were similar to those that produced the tornado on Nov. 6 that caused 41 miles of damage from Kentucky into the Evansville area and killed 23 people.

NEW ORLEANS - The uncle and father of a Louisiana lawmaker won three no-bid contracts worth $108-million to provide temporary housing for Hurricane Katrina evacuees, stirring complaints from rival businesses and prompting a state investigation.

A state agency is investigating because the lawmaker's family did not have a Louisiana license to sell new trailer homes until well after the company provided the first ones to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

FEMA wants 125,000 campers and mobile homes for those who lost their homes in the storm that struck Aug. 29. The New Orleans-area motorcycle shop owned by the family of Rep. Gary Smith, a Democrat, received FEMA contracts to provide 6,400 trailers.

FEMA spokesman Larry Orluskie said he did not know the specifics of Smith's contracts or the licensing requirements.

"This is a contract that's going to be looked at along with all the other contracts that are being scrutinized," he said. "If there's something inappropriate, it will be revealed."

MANITOWOC, Wis. - A man who served 18 years in prison for a rape he didn't commit was charged Tuesday with murder in connection with the death of a young woman who vanished after going to his salvage yard on a photography assignment.

Investigators searching for 25-year-old Teresa Halbach found charred bone fragments and teeth in a burn pit behind Steven Avery's garage at the salvage yard, and preliminary tests identified the remains as Halbach's, officials said.

Avery faces charges of murder and mutilation of a corpse. He was jailed on $500,000 bail, with a preliminary hearing set for Dec. 6.

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Authorities searched on Tuesday for two convicted murderers who escaped from the Iowa State Penitentiary by using a homemade grappling hook to scale an unguarded section of the prison's limestone walls.

Martin Shane Moon, 34, and Robert Joseph Legendre, 27, broke out Monday night from the prison in Fort Madison, where they were serving life sentences.

State Sen. Gene Fraise said he was told by prison officials that the inmates somehow got around a wire that is supposed to activate an alarm when touched. The wall also had razor wire, he said.

Authorities said the escaped convicts may have stolen a car from a home a mile and a half from the prison and close to a bridge over the Mississippi River into Illinois.