WASHINGTON (AP) — Meteorologists are warning that a gigantic line of powerful thunderstorms is likely to threaten one in five Americans.

The storm system packing tree-toppling winds is forecast to rumble Wednesday from Iowa to Maryland.

The continuous line of storms might even spawn an unusual weather event called a derecho.

That’s a massive storm of strong straight-line winds spanning at least 240 miles. A historic derecho last year killed 13 people and knocked out power to 4 million residents.

Bill Bunting, operations chief at the National Weather Service’s Storm Prediction Center, says Wednesday’s storms are likely to produce tornadoes, dangerous lightning and large hail.

Power outages are likely, to be followed by oppressive heat. Cities at risk include Chicago, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Detroit, Baltimore, Washington, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio, and Louisville, Ky.

NOBLE, Mo. (AP) — The Ozark County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the deaths of two men. Few details are being released.

Authorities won’t say how the men died but are calling it a double fatality.

The sheriff’s department says two men are in custody and are being questioned in the deaths. No names are being released.

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) — Opponents are gearing up to try to halt the sale of a Girl Scout camp in southwest Missouri.

The board of directors of Girl Scouts of the Missouri Heartland will vote Friday on whether to sell Camp Mintahama nine miles south of Joplin. It has been serving Girl Scouts since 1946.

The board also will decide the fate of the Latonka Program Center in Wayne County.

The board’s staff has recommended that the 180-acre Camp Mintahama be sold after the 2015 camping season.

Anne Soots, CEO of Missouri Heartland, says fewer than 5 percent of the group’s membership attends the resident camp.

A group of Camp Mintahama supporters met Thursday to discuss how to stop the sale.

KINGMAN, Kan. (AP) — A case that riveted the attention of many has culminated in the conviction of a former Kansas lawman in the death of his wife.

Jurors in Kingman found Brett Seacat guilty of first-degree murder Tuesday in the shooting death of his 34-year-old wife, Vashti Seacat, in their home just days after she filed for divorce in 2011.

Sentencing was set for Aug. 5. Prosecutors say they intend to seek what they call a “hard 50” sentence, which means Seacat would have no chance for parole for at least 50 years.

Investigators found Vashti Seacat’s body among the charred remains of the Kingman house where the couple lived with their two sons, ages 2 and 4.

Brett Seacat is a former police instructor. He claimed his wife set the fire and then shot herself.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Relatives of a Kansas City Chiefs player and his girlfriend are due in court to argue for custody of the baby girl orphaned by the couple’s murder-suicide.

Jovan Belcher shot and killed Kasandra Perkins Dec. 1, then drove to Arrowhead Stadium and shot himself in front of Chiefs coaches and officials.

Belcher and Perkins were the parents of 9-month-old Zoey Belcher.

The custody fight pits Jovan Belcher’s mother, Cheryl Shepherd, of West Babylon, N.Y., against relatives of Perkins. A hearing was scheduled to begin Tuesday in the probate division of Jackson County Circuit Court in Kansas City.

Court officials set aside three days for the hearing.

ST. LOUIS (AP) — St. Louis police are searching for suspects after a violent night in which 15 people were shot in five incidents. No one died in the shootings. It wasn’t clear if any of the cases were connected.

Five people were shot around 9:30 p.m. Monday on the city’s north side, including four juveniles. Victims told police a fistfight earlier in the night may have spurred the shootings.

Three people were shot 30 minutes later about a mile away. Police say they were standing near a car when a man began shooting.

Five others were shot just after 1 a.m. Tuesday, again in north St. Louis, when a man with an assault rifle opened fire outside an apartment. One victim is in critical condition.

Two other men were shot in separate incidents.

HUTCHINSON, Kan. (AP) — A former Kansas sheriff serving a 27-year sentence for sex crimes involving a 13-year-old child wants his conviction set aside.

Attorneys for James Bloom argued during a Reno County hearing Monday that his former attorneys provided ineffective counsel before his 2006 trial. Bloom claimed they did not tell him the maximum sentence he could receive if he was convicted of rape and aggravated indecent liberties with a child.

Bloom was an instructor at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center and former Trego County sheriff.

His former attorneys testified Monday that they discussed possible sentences for each of six plea agreements offered by the prosecution.

Judge Trish Rose took the case under advisement and said she would issue a ruling later.

FESTUS, Mo. (AP) — A father and son are hospitalized after their small plane crashed south of St. Louis.

The crash happened Monday night after takeoff from the Festus Airport in Jefferson County. Authorities say the plane went down in a farm field.

The 60-year-old father and his son, in his 40s, were both conscious and talking to authorities, describing a malfunction with the plane.

Their injuries are not believed to be life-threatening. Their names were not released.

Federal investigators were looking into the cause of the accident.