USA

Storms that dumped as much as a foot of rain in the Midwest headed into the Northeast Thursday, after leaving behind a trail of flooded roads, displaced residents, and more than a dozen deaths. The Ohio River at Cincinnati was expected to rise two feet above flood stage by Friday.

At a high-profile, racially charged sentencing hearing in Riverhead, N.Y., Wednesday, John White received two to four years (instead of a possible 15) for the 2006 shooting death of a white teenager at White's Long Island home. White, an African-American, said he fired accidentally while trying to defend his family from a "lynch mob" group of white teens who were feuding with his son.

Hawaii's Kilauea volcanic crater exploded Wednesday for the first time since 1924, showering an empty tourist lookout with rocks. Lava has flowed from the side of the volcano for more than a quarter-century.

The National Archives, which released Hillary Rodham Clinton's daily schedules as first lady Wednesday, asked a federal judge for a halt in processing 20,000 pages of her phone records, which a conservative group has sought to access. Archive officials say limited resources and other demands must be considered.

Princeton University said it hopes to have a program in place by the 2009-10 school year in which 10 percent of freshmen will take a year off to do social service work around the world before enrolling in classes.

The Boston Red Sox flew to Japan Wednesday for next week's season-opening series against Oakland, but not until the Red Sox players delayed a spring training game and threatened to boycott the overseas trip unless coaches received the same $40,000 negotiated for each of them. Below, Boston pitcher Julian Tavarez walks past luggage at the team's Fort Myers, Fla., training complex.