Money in a Minute: Headlines From Around the Web

WEATHER: Joplin Tornado Kills 116, Deadliest Since 1953

A month after devastating tornadoes and storms ripped through the Midwest and racked up record insurance claims, another deadly twister hit Missouri on Sunday. “The tornado that killed 116 people in Joplin, Missouri, was the deadliest single U.S. twister since 1953, with winds that may have reached 198 miles per hour,” Bloomberg reports. “At least 481 people have died in tornadoes so far this year…The deadliest year for tornadoes in the U.S. was 1925, when 794 people were killed.”

GAS: U.S. gas prices down 9 cents over past 2 weeks

Gas prices are finally dropping. “The national average for a gallon of mid-grade is $4.05. For premium it’s $4.16 a gallon,” MSNBC reports. “Jackson, Miss., had the nation’s lowest average price for gas at $3.60. Chicago had the highest at $4.38.”

CARS: Panel says Toyota failed to listen to outsiders

The reasons for Toyota’s rash of recalls can be explained by management, not engineering. “Toyota has concentrated too much decision-making in Japan and failed to listen to customers and others when it comes to warnings about safety in its vehicles,” USA Today reports.

CONSUMER RIGHTS: Elizabeth Warren ready to rumble with House panel

White House adviser Elizabeth Warren is fighting to defend the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau that Republicans want to gut. “Ever since Republicans took over the House, they’ve been focused on curbing and reversing powers of the consumer bureau,” CNN reports. “Republicans have taken particular aim at Warren, the Harvard University professor who came up with the idea for the bureau and is a top candidate to run that new agency.”

TECH: Microsoft overtaken by IBM in market value

Microsoft and IBM both seem like titans of tech, but for the first time since 1996, IBM is worth more. “International Business Machines surged past old rival Microsoft Corp in market value for the first time since April 1996,” MSNBC reports.