Thomas Robb

About 200 people turned out to cheer a national Ku Klux Klan leader who came to Dubuque, Iowa, in the wake of at least 10 cross-burnings in this mostly white city. Ten blocks away, about 250 people gathered at a rally organized to protest the cross-burnings and Thomas Robb's visit. Mayor Jim Brady and Gov. Terry E. Branstad urged residents to ignore the appearance of Robb, 44, of Zinc, Ark., national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

About 200 people turned out to cheer a national Ku Klux Klan leader who came to Dubuque, Iowa, in the wake of at least 10 cross-burnings in this mostly white city. Ten blocks away, about 250 people gathered at a rally organized to protest the cross-burnings and Thomas Robb's visit. Mayor Jim Brady and Gov. Terry E. Branstad urged residents to ignore the appearance of Robb, 44, of Zinc, Ark., national director of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan.

The fifth blizzard of the season socked North Dakota with fierce wind and blinding snow, while snow and ice storms in the Midwest shut down highways and sent thousands of students home early. Icy conditions in Arkansas led to four deaths, including that of an 80-year-old man who fell while getting the newspaper and three killed in car accidents, and persuaded Ku Klux Klan members to postpone a rally this weekend.

Hundreds of white supremacists, many of them armed and from an assortment of Ku Klux Klan and similar U.S. and Canadian groups, met Saturday to denounce nonwhites, Jews and the federal government. Meanwhile, Idaho Gov. John V. Evans and about 1,200 others gathered 15 miles away for a "Good Neighbors Day." Nearly 200 communities sent resolutions in support of that session in Coeur d'Alene, and governors of Montana, Washington and Oregon sent statements asking citizens to reject racism.

The Ku Klux Klan's national director on Wednesday defended Missouri's decision to allow the group to take part in the state's Adopt-A-Highway program, saying he sees nothing contradictory between white supremacy and environmentalism. After five years of legal battles, Missouri transportation officials reluctantly granted the Klan an Adopt-A-Highway application Tuesday. A federal judge had ruled that the state could not deny the Klan from participating in the litter-control program.

In a hastily arranged secret ceremony, Clarence Thomas was sworn in Wednesday as the nation's 106th Supreme Court justice, providing a fitting end to a consistently surprising confirmation process. Thomas had been scheduled to take his judicial oath of office in a traditional Supreme Court ceremony Nov. 1. Since the court is in recess this week and next, the justices will not conduct any official business or hear arguments until Nov. 4.

White supremacist groups around the country are moving aggressively to recruit new members by promoting their violent, racist ideologies on billboards, in radio commercials and in leaflets tossed on suburban driveways. Watching with mounting alarm, civil rights monitors say these tactics stake out a much bolder, more public role for many hate groups, which are trying to shed their image as shadowy extremists and claim more mainstream support.

For Sandy Krupinsky, the Palm Sunday celebration at Prince of Peace Episcopal Church in Woodland Hills brought together her deep faith in Jesus and her love of family. "My parents went to church here and I grew up in this church," said Krupinsky, of Agoura Hills. "Palm Sunday is part of the tradition of church and family that I want to give to my children."

Oil speculator W. L. Norton wasn't Oklahoma's most skilled banker when he bought Columbia Bank & Trust Co. in 1908, but he had a hunch that a new state scheme called deposit insurance could quickly line his vaults with millions. He was right. With the state pledging to make up any losses, Columbia offered high interest for savings and uncapped a gusher of deposits that almost overnight made the once-stagnant lender Oklahoma's biggest bank.