Updated at 4 p.m. ET: The government’s transportation safety experts recommended Tuesday to ban all American drivers from using portable electronic devices — including cell phones, even if you use a hands-free device.

The recommendation, which isn’t binding but which is likely to influence the decisions of Congress and state legislatures in writing new safety laws, makes only two exceptions: You could still use GPS navigation devices, and you could use your cell phone in an emergency.

“No call, no text, no update, is worth a human life,” Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board, said at a news conference in Washington.

NEW YORK — It’s a recipe for mass power outages: up to 15 inches of snow forecast in parts of the Northeast on Saturday — much of it landing on trees that have yet to shed their leaves in fall.

“We’re expecting this very heavy and wet snow, and a lot of it,” Chris Warren, a Weather Channel meteorologist, told NBC News. “And when it lands on the leaves it weighs down the branches, you get the branches snapping, falling on power lines. When it’s all said and done by Sunday millions of people could be in the dark.”

Los Angeles (CNN) — A brawl between motorcycle club members at a western Nevada casino devolved into a gunfight that left one person dead and two wounded, police said Saturday.

Around 11:25 p.m. Friday, a fight broke out among members of the Hell’s Angels and Vagos clubs in front of the Trader Dick’s bar inside John Ascuaga’s Nugget, a family-owned casino in Sparks, that city’s deputy police chief Brian Allen told reporters.

Las Vegas (CNN) — At first glance, it’s pretty easy to say Las Vegas has an unhealthy water fetish. There’s the 22-million-gallon Bellagio fountain, which rockets dancing cylinders of well water 500 feet into the air to the tune of “God Bless the USA.” There’s the liquid volcano at The Mirage, where water seems to bubble like lava. And, finally, the blue canals inside (inside!) the Venetian hotel, where water buoys gondolas for the amusement of gamblers and tourists.

Keep in mind that this city is in the middle of the Mojave Desert, one of the hottest and driest places in the world.

As president of the National Parks Conservation Association (NPCA), Tom Kiernan is, not surprisingly, a fan of Ken Burns’ documentary, “The National Parks: America’s Best Idea,” but he’d like to add an addendum.

“The national parks are America’s best idea,” he said, “but they’re not in the best of health.” In fact, according to an NPCA report out Tuesday, many face serious threats to their natural and cultural resources.

Conducted by NPCA’s Center for Park Research, the report encompasses 10 years of research gathered at 80 of the 394 units in the national park system. Among the findings:

Sometimes bad things happen to good travelers.

On a hike during a medical mission in Vietnam, Dr. Gary Feldman stepped aside to relieve himself when the cliff he was standing on gave way. Feldman broke both legs in the fall. He then endured a 14-hour ambulance ride, an airlift and surgery requiring screws to repair his legs.

ORLANDO, Fla. — George Lucas figures he’s working on his third generation of “Star Wars” fans, and plenty of them were standing in line with their parents Friday to get first crack at Walt Disney World’s overhauled ride based on the iconic movie franchise.

The 67-year-old “Star Wars” creator came to the park to celebrate the reopening of the venerable Star Tours motion simulator ride. The ride’s 25-year-old story and visuals have been updated with a new tale, digital projection system and 3-D effects. Lucas even armed himself with a light saber to share a stage with Disney CEO Robert Iger, Darth Vader and other movie characters as park guests watched.

(CBS/AP)

DAYTON, Ohio – A woman said Monday that an Ohio charter school is punishing her daughter for not immediately reporting that she saw two classmates having sex on a school bus and for changing her seat during the bus trip.

Saundra Roundtree told The Associated Press that her 14-year-old daughter told her she changed seats with a boy who wanted to sit beside another girl on a Dayton View Academy school trip last month and then saw the two having sex.

Joanna Reyes was living in uptown Manhattan in February when she came upon a postcard tucked into a pile of junk mail.

“My dear friend. The thought of you inspired me to write,” the note, in flowing cursive, opened. “Dear, how are you doing? The countryside is looking like spring, the hillsides have a soft blanket of green grass, dotted with yellow and white flowers. Beautiful. I guess I’m just a simple girl at heart. Life is romantic adventure. Remember, romance is everywhere. I love you. Love, Rose Carrera.”

The United States is using armed Predator drones in Libya to target Moammar Gadhafi’s forces with the approval of President Barack Obama, Defense Secretary Robert Gates said on Thursday.

The unmanned aircraft, already used to target militants along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, will allow for precise attacks against Gadhafi’s forces, Gates told a news conference in Washington, D.C.