CACTUS, Texas - Downed power lines, flattened houses and roads littered with debris kept many residents from returning to their homes yesterday in this rural Panhandle town hit hard by tornadoes.

At least 14 people were injured, two of them critically, during the storms late Saturday that knocked out power to about 20,000 customers in the region, officials said.

About 50 townspeople were unaccounted for yesterday, Judge Rowdy Rhoades of Moore County said. However, he said that most of the town's 2,500 residents probably evacuated after hearing tornado sirens.

WAYCROSS, Ga. - An overnight wind shift drove smoke from the wildfire in southeast Georgia to Atlanta and Chattanooga, Tenn., officials said yesterday.

The wildfire, believed to have started from a downed power line on April 16, is 30 percent contained but continues to spread, Sharon Dolliver of the Georgia Forestry Commission said.

NEW YORK - Dutch bank ABN Amro NV has reached an agreement to sell its U.S. bank, LaSalle, to Bank of America Corp. for $21 billion, according to a published report.

ABN's spin-off of LaSalle Bank Corp., with headquarters in Chicago, is part of negotiations for a separate transaction in which Britain's Barclays PLC would buy ABN for more than $80 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.

The boards of ABN and Bank of America met yesterday to approve their deal, which may need approval from ABN shareholders and U.S. regulators, the newspaper reported.

MERCED, Calif. - The company that distributed hamburger patties believed to have sickened at least three children with E. coli is blaming the contamination on the slaughterhouse that processed the meat.

The recalled products are hamburger patties and ground beef sold under the brands Fireriver, Chef's Pride, Ritz Food, Blackwood Farms, California Pacific Associates, C&C Distributing, Golbon and Richwood.

CAMARILLO, Calif. - Gasoline prices have gone up more than 8 cents across the country the last two weeks and are up 69 cents so far this year, according to a survey released yesterday.

A gallon of mid-grade gasoline averaged about $2.98, and premium was $3.09. Prices were about 15 cents below the all-time record in August 2006, when regular gas averaged $3.03 a gallon.

NEW YORK - Women make only 80 percent of the salaries their male peers do one year after college; after 10 years in the work force, the gap between their pay widens further, according to a study released today.

The study, by the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation, found that 10 years after college, women earn only 69 percent of what men earn.

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