Hurricane Ivan

Who's hot Mark Teixeira of the Rangers is hitting .370 (34 of 92) in his past 25 games. Who's not Jose Contreras of the White Sox has allowed 15 runs and 15 hits in his past two outings, which lasted a combined 4 2/3 innings. Line of the day Gil Meche, Mariners P IP H R BB SO 9 5 0 1 4 He said it "I didn't even know I was rated. How can I be overrated? I couldn't even find a job in the offseason." Russell Branyan, Brewers third baseman, after a fan called him overrated On deck The Marlins, waiting out Hurricane Ivan, are "home" at Chicago's U.S. Cellular Field today and tomorrow.

NATIONAL US Airways files for bankruptcy US Airways Group Inc., the nation's seventh-largest airline, filed for bankruptcy protection yesterday for the second time in two years. The Chapter 11 filing came after the airline was unable to obtain $800 million in annual cost cuts from its workers' unions that the airline said it needed to stay afloat. [Page 1a] Nation's crime rate steady The nation's crime rate held steady last year at the lowest levels since the government began surveying crime victims in 1973, the Justice Department reported yesterday.

Security alert shuts part of Cincinnati airport for 2 hours HEBRON, Ky. - Part of Cincinnati's main airport was temporarily shut down yesterday after a passenger passed through a security checkpoint with what appeared to be a gun in a carry-on bag, authorities said. Baggage screeners noticed an X-ray image that resembled a gun after the passenger had picked up the bag and left the checkpoint, said Christopher White, a Transportation Security Administration spokesman in Atlanta. Part of Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport was closed for about two hours as officials searched for the passenger and the weapon.

PENSACOLA, Fla. - The readings at Olive Baptist Church yesterday morning were from the Old Testament, verses about the voice of the Lord shaking the wilderness and mountains slipping into the sea. Slowly, during a hymn about shelter, people began to cry. When the pastor told them to kneel and pray, their shoulders began to shake, and men and women sobbed as they finally let go of their emotions, three days after Hurricane Ivan struck. All over this churchgoing city, pastors tried to make sense of the destruction that the storm left behind.

PUNTA GORDA, Fla. - Don't say the "I" word around here. These folks don't want to hear it. They are too weary and devastated to think and talk about Hurricane Ivan, but as they rebuild their city, that's exactly what they're doing. "If Ivan comes, I'll be through," said Tim Humphrey, whose home and boat were damaged by Hurricane Charley. "I'll pack my stuff in that little blue car. I ain't coming back." For more than a decade, this precariously located peninsular state had avoided a direct hit from a hugely destructive hurricane.

Meteorology Gulf storm waves reach new heights One of the most astonishing reports from the recent spate of Gulf hurricanes showed wave damage to oil rig structures 80 feet above the water. It was astonishing because the tallest ocean waves ever measured were North Pacific giants about 53 feet from crest to trough -- the height of a five-story building. The Gulf damage was attributed to a freak "rogue" wave. But on Sept. 15, 2004, Hurricane Ivan passed directly over wave and tide buoys deployed 100 miles south of Mobile, Ala. by the Naval Research Laboratory's Stennis Space Center.

GULF SHORES, Ala. - Sgt. Skip Callaway knew the streets would look like a green snowfall, and that roofs would come off and trees would blow down. He was even prepared to find death the morning after Hurricane Ivan hit his beachfront town. But standing as he was yesterday, at the intersection of Route 59 and Zoo Drive, Callaway still found it hard to contemplate just how much change a storm like Ivan brings. To his right was a crumpled restaurant, one of hundreds of damaged businesses in town.

A Memorable Place Island of Grenada steals the heart By Theresa G. Medoff SPECIAL TO THE SUN When I heard the news on the radio, I pulled over and sobbed. Hurricane Ivan had ripped across the lush, mountainous island of Grenada, destroying homes, schools, the parliament building and the nation's only hospital. I tried to imagine the devastation: 90 percent of buildings damaged or destroyed, the people homeless, the economy in tatters. At home later, I compared my vacation photos of the island's colorful harbor with the harbor I saw in news photos from last September - strewn with a jumble of wrecked boats, twisted metal and splintered wood torn from waterfront buildings.

A Maryland company that helps local governments prepare for terrorism is currently consumed with a much different problem: How to get rid of 25,000 truckloads of debris. General Physics Corp. of Elkridge was hired by Polk County in central Florida to manage the logistics for cleaning up the aftermath of two hurricanes in three weeks. The county, which expects to pay between $2 million and $3 million for the company's services, last saw a major hurricane in 1960. General Physics has 135 people in Florida - almost all of them temporary, local hires who were out of work from their regular jobs because of the storms.

PENSACOLA, Fla. - Jennifer McNeal was doing the same thing everyone else in western Florida was doing yesterday - battening down for the mightiest storm to set its sights on the Panhandle in a decade. Her tools were different - three cranes and a crew of 200. And so was the property she was protecting - worth $102 million. But the frustration in her voice, the tired resignation in her eyes, were part of the damp mood that rolled through Florida's western coast yesterday ahead of Hurricane Ivan.