Snowstorm catches Midwest off guard

COLUMBUS - More than a month after the start of spring, a rare snowstorm dumped up to a foot of snow on the Midwest and Appalachians on Sunday, aggravating residents who thought they had packed away their scarfs and shovels for good.

''My wife is livid because this was a long winter. . . . Even people who normally don't complain about it are at the end of their wits,'' said Frank Hanley, who said he had a foot of heavy, wet snow on his deck in the northeastern Ohio town of Chardon.

The two-day storm brought temperatures 25 degrees below the normal of around 60 as snow fell across parts of Michigan, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Tennessee and North Carolina.

Total accumulations of up to 18 inches were possible in parts of eastern Michigan, while Detroit's northern suburbs were expected to receive 5 to 11 inches, meteorologists said.

In Ohio, suburbs east of Cleveland were to get about 8 inches.

CALIFORNIA

Cambodians celebrate after weeklong delay

LONG BEACH - The city held its first Cambodian New Year parade on Sunday, a week later than its traditional observance because some immigrants had protested that it would have coincided with the anniversary of the rise of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime.

Some Cambodian immigrants had threatened to boycott the event and parade organizers said they were harassed. Community members then decided to hold a memorial to the regime's killings on April 17 and organizers agreed to postpone the parade.

TEXAS

Women claim suspect in murders beat them

PORT ARTHUR - Two more women claim they were beaten by a man suspected of killing three elderly women and stuffing their bodies in their closets, according to a published report Sunday.

Gary Sinegal, 40, was arrested on Friday and charged with burglary and violating his parole in the attack of a woman who fought him off and identified him in a police lineup.

He is the lead suspect in the deaths of a woman whose body was found April 18 and two others found in their homes on Thursday, police said.

Sinegal has denied involvement in the four attacks.

Karon Benton told The Beaumont Enterprise for Sunday's editions that she woke up from a nap on April 10 to find him standing in her living room. She said he hit her in the back of the head, knocked her to the floor and began choking her.

A second woman, Benie Miller, 61, said she believed Sinegal was the person who attacked her last month when she went outside to investigate a strange noise.