Nation IN BRIEF : MIDWEST : Mississippi Waters Climbing Rapidly

From St. Paul, Minn., to St. Louis, rising waters moved toward record levels and threatened to close a 500-mile stretch of the upper Mississippi River and halt shipping. “We are predicting this will be the second-highest flood level on record for the Mississippi,” said Denise Yale, spokeswoman for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Rock Island, Ill. Fifty-six towboats and their barges were already trapped by lock closures affecting a 215-mile stretch, from Canton, Mo., to Bellevue, Iowa. That is expected to grow to a 500-mile stretch--from north of St. Louis to south of St. Paul-- by today as more locks are shut down.