Nation digest 01/29/02

Home-sales record powered by low rates

WASHINGTON -- Sales of new homes climbed to an all-time high last year even as the country was mired in a recession. Low mortgage rates helped to motivate Americans to make such a big purchase.

The Commerce Department reported Monday that a record 900,000 new single-family homes were sold in 2001, a testimony to the resiliency of the housing market, one of the economy's few bright spots.

Last year's sales performance surpassed the record of 886,000 set in 1998 and represented a 2.6 percent increase from sales registered in 2000.

For existing homes, sales reached an all-time high of 5.25 million in 2001, the National Association of Realtors said last week.

Four snowmobilers killed in Montana avalanche

HELENA, Mont. -- The victims carried the essential survival gear: electronic locator beacons, snow probes and shovels for digging out. But all of it was of no use to the four snowmobilers killed in an avalanche over the weekend.

The four men, all experienced snowmobilers, died Saturday northeast of Missoula. They suffocated under as much as 20 feet of snow in a high-risk area.

The area was not off limits, but the Forest Service had warned that the avalanche risk there was high because of recent heavy snow and unstable layers underneath, Missoula County Undersheriff Mike McMeekin said.

One of the survivors, Jace Olson, 26, said the wall of snow hit so quickly that no one had time to react.

"By the time I saw it coming, it knocked me off my sled and I started swimming with it," Olson said.

Three killed, two hurt in early morning shootings

ORANGE, Texas -- Three people were killed, two of them children, in a series of shootings Monday in East Texas, and an intense search was under way for a gunman. Two people were wounded.

Authorities think the shootings in Orange and Newton counties along the Louisiana state line were related, and investigators suspected the gunman was carrying rifles, shotguns and a pistol.

State and local police searched the woods of the two counties and officers escorted school buses through the area.

In the first attack, a man shot and killed a woman in Orange, set fire to the house where the killing occurred and stole a car from a nearby home, said Trooper Richard Vasser of the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Next, several people were shot at a home at nearby Call in Newton County, Mange said. A 13-year-old and another child, about 3 or 4, were killed, and a 2-year-old and the children's mother were wounded.

Toys R Us to close 64 stores, cut 1,900 jobs

TRENTON, N.J. -- Toys R Us Inc. said Monday it plans to close 64 U.S. stores and cut 1,900 jobs, or 3 percent of its work force, in a drive to cut costs and boost profits.

The toy and children's apparel retailer has said the slumping economy, extensive remodeling costs and fallout from the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have contributed to its recent earnings slump.

The layoffs include about 1,350 people from the stores being closed and about 550 from support services. Worldwide, Toys R Us has about 70,000 permanent employees.

The company did not say which stores will be closed, partly because employees are being notified, said Louis Lipschitz, chief financial officer.

-- From wire reports