Republican group parts with Sanford after trespassing report

By Harriet McLeod

CHARLESTON, South Carolina (Reuters) - Former South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford has been accused by his ex-wife of trespassing at her home and must appear in court on May 9, two days after he stands for election as the Republican nominee for an open congressional seat.

Jenny Sanford, who divorced the former governor after revelations of his affair with an Argentine woman while he was in office, returned from a trip on February 3 to find Mark Sanford leaving her home through a back door using his phone as a flashlight, according to court documents.

Mark Sanford said on Wednesday that he had gone to her house on Sullivan's Island near Charleston to watch a football game with one of the couple's four sons.

"I did indeed watch the second half of the Super Bowl at the beach house with our 14-year-old son because as a father I didn't think he should watch it alone," Sanford said in a statement.

"Given she was out of town, I tried to reach her beforehand to tell her of the situation that had arisen, and met her at the back steps under the light of my cell phone when she returned and told her what had happened," he said.

The trespassing allegation comes as Mark Sanford seeks to make a political comeback by running for South Carolina's 1st congressional district seat, which he held from 1995 to 2001.

He will face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of TV comedian and political satirist Stephen Colbert, in a special election on May 7. The seat was previously held by Tim Scott, who in December was appointed to serve in the U.S. Senate.

Sanford has faced criticism for a 2009 incident while he was governor, in which he tried to cover up a trip to Argentina to visit his mistress by saying he was hiking the Appalachian Trail. He is now engaged to the woman.

The Sanfords' 2010 divorce agreement states that neither can enter the other's home without specific permission, according to the complaint filed by Jenny Sanford in Charleston County court.

The complaint alleges Mark Sanford has previously disobeyed the order and "has entered into a pattern of entering onto plaintiff's property, both at her former and current residences, without her permission and against her wishes."

Jenny Sanford has "demanded that it not occur again" and also filed a "No Trespass" letter with her local police department, the complaint said.

Jenny Sanford, who used to manage Mark Sanford's campaigns, could not be reached for comment on Wednesday.

Colbert Busch declined through a spokesman to comment about the accusation against her opponent.

"There is always another side to every story," Mark Sanford said in his statement, adding that it was his belief the court records should have been sealed.

"I agree with Jenny that the media is no place to debate what is ultimately a family court matter, and out of respect for Jenny and the boys, I'm not going to have any further comment at this time," he said.

(Reporting by Harriet McLeod; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Cynthia Johnston and Steve Orlofsky)

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Powerful storm blankets parts of U.S. Midwest with snow

(Reuters) - There was little sign of spring across a large swath of the U.S. Midwest on Sunday as a powerful storm dumped heavy snow across a widespread area and threatened to bring more.

The storm was part of the same system that blanketed parts of Colorado and northwest Kansas with heavy snowfall on Saturday, said Ariel Cohen, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service. That included accumulations of nearly 19 inches of snow in Boulder County, Colorado, Cohen said.

The storm was moving across the mid-Mississippi Valley region on Sunday and had already left more than 6 inches of snow by mid-afternoon in parts of east-central Missouri, including the St. Louis area, Cohen added.

He said Indianapolis, Columbus, Ohio, and Pittsburg were also expected to be hit with heavy snowfall as the storm tracked east, possibly affecting coastal New Jersey and New England by late Monday and early Tuesday.

Some snow was possible in the Washington, D.C., area late Sunday and into Monday morning but Cohen said temperatures there were a too warm for any substantial accumulation.

The weather system forced the cancellations of more than 100 flights in and out of Denver International Airport on Saturday and blowing and drifting snow closed several roads in Colorado, including Interstate 70 in both directions east of Denver to the Kansas state line.

Authorities said there were some power outages but no reports of significant travel disruptions or road closures across the Midwest by Sunday afternoon.

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