[naviga:h2]April Fools' Day snow was no joke[/naviga:h2]

MONTPELIER, Vt. — It was April Fools' Day, but this is no joke: People across northern New England woke up to a foot of heavy, wet snow on parts of the region Saturday and conducted weekend business as more fell throughout the day.

The storm caused power outages and numerous highway accidents. By evening, the number of electric customers without power across Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine had dropped to close to zero from overnight totals that reached into the tens of thousands.

While it might be disheartening to see snow so late in the season, it's not unusual. The record for Portland, Maine, was 15 inches on April 10, 1906.

[naviga:h2]Collapse to cause rush hour problems[/naviga:h2]

ATLANTA — Commuters are bracing for huge rush hour traffic jams and delays today as the first full workweek opens since the fiery collapse of a major Atlanta interstate bridge.

And the rush hour headaches could just be the start of traffic tie-ups that could last months.

Early today crews continued working around-the-clock to remove scorched debris from the collapsed bridge weakened by a fierce blaze on Thursday. Officials pledged after Thursday's collapse of a 350-foot section of Interstate 85 that a replacement bridge would be built as soon as possible, but could take months.

Authorities said the fire was started by a man who was smoking crack under the bridge in an area north of downtown Atlanta where the state of Georgia stores noncombustible construction materials.

[naviga:h2]Lighting lessened to help seabirds[/naviga:h2]

HONOLULU — The U.S. Air Force will reduce exterior lighting at a Hawaii facility to help protect endangered and threatened seabirds there.

The Air Force agreed to reduce lighting at a mountaintop radar facility on the island of Kauai. After Sunday's announcement, the Center for Biological Diversity said it no longer intends to sue the Air Force.

The nonprofit conservation group says the threatened Newell's shearwater and Hawaiian petrel are attracted to bright lights at night, which can cause crashes onto the ground and sometimes death.

The center believes lights at the Kokee Air Force Station caused more than 130 birds to fall out of the air in 2015, including Hawaiian petrels, endangered band-rumped storm petrels and Newell's shearwaters. Most of them died, the center said.