SOUTH CAROLINA

Hundreds flee wildfires

Wind-whipped wildfires chased churchgoers from worship, forced hundreds of residents to flee homes and closed highways across the rain-starved Carolinas and Virginia.

At least one business and an unknown number of homes were damaged by a blaze near the South Carolina coast.

In North Carolina, winds gusted up to 60 mph in some areas. Worshipers at Willow Spring Free Will Baptist Church in Cleveland, N.C., were forced to evacuate.

PENNSYLVANIA

Snow causes road pileup; 1 killed

A blinding snow squall caused a 68-vehicle pileup on an interstate in northeastern Pennsylvania, killing at least one motorist, authorities said.

A woman died when her car became wedged under a tractor-trailer, and about 35 people were injured in the midafternoon pileup on Interstate 81 near Hazleton.

FLORIDA

Sick astronaut looking better

Shuttle Atlantis’ sick German astronaut looked and sounded well as he helped a crew mate prepare for a spacewalk that should have been his.

NASA pulled Hans Schlegel off the spacewalk to help install the European lab, Columbus, at the International Space Station and delayed the work until today.

Even though Schlegel did not look sick, spacewalks are strenuous and an astronaut needs to be in top form.

From Times Wire Reports