Storm

Robin Bailey had hoped to stretch her Memorial Day weekend into today, spending time with her family and walking her black Labrador along the sandy beaches of Ocean City, N.J. Those plans changed yesterday in a flash. A flash and a very loud boom. Shortly before 9 a.m., with Bailey away at the Shore, a bolt of lightning hit the red brick chimney atop her two-story house in the 100 block of Field Terrace in Montgomery Township. The lightning started a fire that damaged much of the top floor.

When you walk through a storm, hold your head up high and don't be afraid of the flight connections, the slick highways or the limited visibility. Has sort of a lilt to it, doesn't it? It does if, at the end of the storm, there is Route 303 leading to the Richfield Coliseum. And if the 76ers have enough left to trash the Cleveland Cavaliers, 116-105. Hum a few bars, will you, guys? "That happens to all teams now and then," Sixers coach Matt Guokas said. "For every off day you can have in that situation, you can have two good ones.

John Spagnola finally got the word yesterday, and it was neither good nor goodbye. When the Eagles lined up for practice in the new indoor bubble next to JFK Stadium, Spagnola was right there at the starting tight-end spot that he has occupied for most of the last three seasons, a survivor once again in his ongoing war of wits with Buddy Ryan. But his role for Sunday's game against the New York Giants at Veterans Stadium apparently will be reduced substantially to allow more playing time for Dave Little, and his future with the team - at least in his mind - is uncertain now. In the aftermath of Sunday's 13-10 loss to St. Louis, Ryan said his one mistake this season was not claiming veteran tight end Jimmie Giles from Tampa Bay two weeks ago, all the while deepening the slight against Spagnola with several snarling references to the player's work against the Cardinals.

TRENTON - Matt Lauer displayed a 1995 campaign flier depicting Chris Christie, then a New Jersey Assembly candidate, supporting a state assault-weapons ban. Does Christie, now governor and a leader of the national Republican Party, support a federal ban? Four times Lauer asked. And each time, the governor - who proudly proclaims his bluntness - refused to answer. After the mass shooting last month at a Connecticut school, he said that gun control should be part of a broader conversation, along with violent video games, drug abuse, and mental illness.

MIAMI - Officials and residents from Florida to the Carolinas stocked up on supplies, dusted off evacuation plans, and readied for the worst as Irene, the first hurricane to threaten the United States in three years, churned over tropical waters Tuesday after cutting a destructive path through the Caribbean. Federal officials warned the storm could flood streets and knock down power lines as far north as New England. Irene lost some of its punch Tuesday and was downgraded to a Category 1 hurricane as it lashed the Turks and Caicos Islands, but the storm remains likely to regain strength and become a major hurricane before making a U.S. landfall.

This article contains information from the Associated Press.

The storm didn't only bring inconvenience. It also created scenes of serenity and splendor. Familiar objects were dressed in down. Landscapes became pure backdrops for captivating shadows.

SEASIDE HEIGHTS, N.J. - Vice President Biden spent part of Sunday visiting storm-wrecked parts of New Jersey and telling residents the federal government won't abandon them. Biden, a Scranton, Pa., native who grew up in Delaware and spent summers at the Jersey Shore as a boy, stopped on the boardwalk in Seaside Heights to say he's "a homeboy" who understands the need to rebuild the shore. Later, at the Hoboken Terminal, he said Sandy brought with the devastation an opportunity to rebuild public transit infrastructure that's strong enough to withstand the challenges of the next century.

The Anaheim Storm rallied to beat the Wings, 13-10, in a National Lacrosse League game Saturday night at Arrowhead Pond in Anaheim, Calif. In their second game of the season, the Wings took a 7-4 lead into the second half. But the Storm shut them out while scoring four times in the third quarter, going ahead on Casey Powell's power-play goal at the end of the period. The teams traded goals in the fourth quarter before the Storm scored three in a row. Although the Wings added two, Anaheim netted the final goal of the game.

A fast-moving northbound storm will be hugging the Atlantic seaboard later today, but whether the weekend weather worsens or not will depend on just what road this runner takes. If it doesn't go out to sea soon enough, it'll be rain in the city tonight and tomorrow and rain and wet snow in some of the northern and western suburbs. But if the storm does go out to sea soon enough, it'll be neither rain nor snow for anyone in the area. That's the word from Accu-Weather meteorologist Chuck Jones, who said it's so close a call that a 100-mile variation in the storm's track could be the difference.