21.   Rain and showers will arrive from the southwest Wednesday night, and persist into Thursday.

22.   Rain will persist into the afternoon from Cape Cod, Mass., through Maine.

23.   Rain will then persist into Saturday from southeastern Pennsylvania to New England.

24.   Some of the storms will persist into the evening across the Middle Atlantic states and the Northeast coast.

25.   Skies will become cloudy over the eastern Tennessee Valley and southern Appalachians, but sunshine will persist into the afternoon in the Carolinas.

26.   Sluggish consumer demand for retail goods and homes has persisted into the second quarter, said Lewis Alexander, chief economist with the Commerce Department.

27.   Sunshine will be abundant, except for parts of eastern Maine, where clouds will persist into the afternoon.

28.   The Climate Prediction Center has forecast that La Nina will persist into the spring, then fade.

29.   The negative effect is likely to diminish over time but economists expect it to persist well into next year.

30.   The problem persisted into the afternoon in many neighborhoods, raising the prospect that the election will have to be held again.