Irene continues its northern track, now a tropical storm strength. How they spend the weekend torrent of a path from North Carolina to New England.  

        At least 18 people have reportedly died across 8 states in the storm, flooding and lost power are Irene’s main stories. The storm is now in MARB where rivers are expected to crest late tonight or early tomorrow. Along the East Coast, more than 4 million have lost power and many people who are evacuated ahead of the storm are beginning to return home. NPR’s Larry Abramson has more.

        Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano briefed President Obama on the storm Sunday morning. She warned people to stay after woods.        

        “We are not out of the woods yet. Irene remains a large and potentially dangerous storm. Hazards still persist in communities that have already seen the storm pass. ”

        Official remained concern about the rascal flooding in coming days as swollen rivers continued to rise. Larry Abramson, NPR News, Washington.

        And New York City where Irene seems to spare the city of more severe lashing. Councilman Vincent J. Gentile says the cleaner bizarre back to start. 

        “I’ve told that, you know, I told that in the part to part now and the wind is placid would begin the cleanup sometime this evening and I would mention over the next 3 days should base charge of that casino.”

        Craig Carper was member station WCVE reports of the state of Virginia is now experiencing the second largest power outage in history.

        The area of the state most affected by the storm was Richmond where 75% of the city is without power. Dominion Virginia Power says it would be days possibly longer before power is fully restored to their service area. A force fatality due to a falling tree has been reported. State officials are warning people not to take chances over certain themselves during a storm cleaning up. 

        Virginia Secretary of Health and Human Services Dr. Karen Remley.

        “If you’re not used to chopping down trees, today is not the day to learn how. It’s a bit than less somebody else coming into for real. So I think it’s today we should all kind of take a deep breath and say we’re lucky there that we’re all here and think about planning the cleanup in a thoughtful way rather than trying to jump into it.”

        One positive effect of the hurricane is that extinguished bios in the great dismount swarm. For NPR News, I’m Craig Carper,Richmond.

        Libyan rebels appear to be solidifying control of Tripoli. We get more from NPR’s Jason Beaubien.

        There’re robots all over the city at the moment. It’s very hard to move around. The rebels have also been making events as they say that they’ve created much of the road entirely from Tripoli to west, to the Tunisia border. They’re also moving closer to Sirte, the hometown of Gaddafi where loyalists are still in control there. So, the rebels are rapidly controlling more and more of the country. It is very clear that they do completely control Tripoli.

        NPR’s Jason Beaubien in Tripoli. This is NPR.

        U.S. officials say they have killed a key al-Qaeda operator in Pakistan as NPR’s Dina Temple-Raston reports that the report’s true the group has lost its new second-in-command.

        Officials said Atiyah al-Rahman was killed last week Waziristan Pakistan in the CIA drone strike. There’re often reports about drone strikes that have killed a quart of al-Qaeda leaders. Only to have targeted the terrorists surface later run escaped. In fact, that happened last year in Rahman’s case. But this time, officials seem convinced that they got the man. Rahman is more than just al-Qaeda’s NO.2. He’s one of the headquarter fighters who fought the Soviets in Afghanistan alongside Osama Bin Laden. He became Bin Laden’s trusted aide camp. He’s in charge of communicating to other al-Qaeda leaders and other al-Qaeda the affiliate groups. He was also in charge getting Bin Laden’s many audio video tapes out to the media. If it is that, officials say it’s another body blow to al-Qaeda. Dina Temple-Raston, NPR News.

        The state of California is considering legislation to ban Styrofoam food containers starting by 2015. More than 50 California cities and counties already have similar ban. Supporters of the ban say Styrofoam is not decomposable or biodegradable and can last thousands of years. 

        The blockbuster novel turned blockbuster movie The Help was in first place at the box offices this weekend with 14.3 million dollars in sales.

        “I want to give you an interview about what the factory is made. I advise you to put this back work for our families.”

        Hurricane Irene made slow summer weekend and the movie is even slower.

        I’m Louise Schiavone, NPR News, Washington.