The nation in brief

— QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Why expand in a place where the people who built the gun couldn’t buy it?”

Jeffrey Reh, general counsel for Beretta, which is weighing whether it should continue

operations in Maryland after an assault-weapons ban advanced in the state Legislature Article, this page

Storm bearing down on Plains states

DODGE CITY, Kan. - A second major winter storm was bearing down on the central Plains on Sunday, forcing cancellations and sending public works crews scrambling for salt and sand supplies less than a week after another system dumped more than a foot of snow in places.

National Weather Service officials in Kansas issued blizzard warnings and watches through late today ahead of the strong storm system that’s packing snow and high winds.

The storm has been tracking across western Texas toward Oklahoma, Kansas and Missouri.

“We’re expecting more wind with this storm,” said Jeff Johnson, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Dodge City. “Snow amounts are varying, but we could see upward of a foot across south-central Kansas with lesser amounts across west-central and central Kansas.”

The region was hit by a storm last week that dumped a foot of snow in some sections, closed airports and caused numerous accidents.

Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback amended the state of emergency declaration he signed last week to include the new storm.

“This storm has the potential to be more dangerous than last week’s storm,” Brownback said Sunday.

More than a foot of snow is possible from the new storm from the Texas panhandle, across the Oklahoma panhandle and into Kansas and possibly Missouri as the storm moves eastward from the southwestern United States.

Steve Corfidi, meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said the storm also will affect Southern states and could spawn tornadoes Tuesday in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, the Florida panhandle and Georgia.

Leahy: U.S., Cuba need ‘give and take’

WASHINGTON - A senator just back from Cuba says it will require “give and take on both sides” and “quiet negotiation” to secure the release of an American man imprisoned in Cuba.

Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont said Sunday that Alan Gross isn’t going to be released by the Cuban government because of pressure from the United States.

Leahy told CNN’s State of the Union that it’s time to reexamine the overall U.S.-Cuban relationship and move on from the “Cold War mentality” of the 1960s and 1970s.

Leahy met last week with Gross and raised his case during a meeting that a congressional delegation had with Cuban President Raul Castro.

Gross, who’s from Maryland, is serving a 15-year sentence for taking communications equipment to the island illegally while on a U.S. Agency for International Development-funded democracy-building program.

Kansans take world water-tasting prize

BERKELEY SPRINGS, W.Va. - Emporia, Kan., has won the Best Tap Water prize at the 23rd annual Berkeley Springs International Water Tasting.

It’s the first time that Emporia has competed in the event held in West Virginia.

A panel of media judges awarded the top bottled-water prize to Canadian Gold Artesian Water from Marchand, Manitoba, Canada.

Touch Sparkling Mineral Water, also from Marchand, and Celvik Dobri Kiseljack from Bosnia tied for first place in the sparkling-waters competition.

Rain Fresh Oxygen Purified from Garland, Texas, took the top purified-water prize.

Global water developer and policy expert Henry Hidell III received the water tasting’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

Gift caps goal for Mount Vernon project

WASHINGTON - Philanthropist David Rubenstein is giving $10 million to George Washington’s Mount Vernon estate in northern Virginia to build a library for the president’s books and papers.

Mount Vernon officials say the gift announced Sunday surpasses their fundraising goal of $100 million for the project. It also marks what would have been Washington’s 281st birthday Friday.

The National Library for the Study of George Washington is set to open Sept. 27. It will be a center for scholarly research and leadership training for government, military, nonprofit and corporate officials, as well as students and educators.

Front Section, Pages 4 on 02/25/2013

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