2 storms to bring some of the highest snow totals of season to major cities
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(NEW YORK) — Two major winter storms are bearing down on the U.S. this week and are expected to bring some of the highest snow totals of the season for cities including Chicago and Washington, D.C.
The first storm, which spans from Colorado to Delaware, will hit Tuesday morning through Wednesday morning.
By 7 a.m. ET Tuesday, heavy rain is expected from Dallas to Nashville, Tennessee, while snow will be falling from Louisville, Kentucky, to Richmond, Virginia.
The snow will arrive in D.C. by noon on Tuesday and may last for over 12 hours. Some light snow may make it as far north as Philadelphia.
Four to 6 inches of snow is possible for the D.C. and Baltimore region.
Meanwhile, the heavy rain in the South may cause flash flooding.
By the time that first storm leaves the East Coast, the second storm will have already started in the Midwest.
At 7 a.m. ET Wednesday, widespread snow is expected from Colorado to Iowa to Missouri, while heavy rain will be falling from Houston to Louisiana.
In Chicago, the snow will begin around 9 a.m. Wednesday and may last for over 12 hours. Five to 9 inches of snow is possible in the Windy City.
Then, in the East, a mix of rain and freezing rain expected in D.C. and Philadelphia beginning after 5 p.m. Wednesday and continuing overnight.
In New York City and Boston, the snow is forecast to start Wednesday night and then change to rain overnight.
Both storms combined will result in hefty snow totals in the Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic, and potentially flooding rain for a wide swath of the South.
(WASHINGTON) — A Food and Drug Administration vaccine advisory committee meeting that was set to discuss what flu strains to include in next season’s flu vaccine has been canceled, multiple sources told ABC News, leaving some to wonder if the meeting cancelation will delay next year’s flu vaccine delivery schedule.
The meeting was canceled in an email sent from the FDA to members who were planning to attend the annual meeting in about two weeks.
The high-profile, public meetings of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee are where independent experts review scientific data and vote on a variety of vaccine related issues. Members of the March 13 meeting were set to vote on which flu strains would offer the most protection in next season’s flu shot.
“Influenza vaccines aren’t perfect and to get the best influence vaccine each year requires predicting the strain as best we can,” said Dr. Andrew Pavia, professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Utah and a spokesperson for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. “There’s a lot of complex data that needs to be reviewed and having a number of experts do it gives us the best chance of making the best prediction.”
The meeting typically takes into consideration recommendations from WHO. It also receives input and data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Defense and vaccine manufacturers.
The timing of this meeting aligns with the six-month lead time typically required for vaccine manufacturing to ensure vaccines are ready for distribution in the fall — before peak flu season hits in the United States.
“I can’t think of any rational reason to do this other than to throw a hand grenade into vaccine production,” Pavia said. “The impact is going to be felt in terms of our ability to reduce flu hospitalizations and flu deaths.”
Earlier in the week, officials and specialists at the CDC virtually joined the annual WHO meeting to discuss the upcoming flu vaccine strain for next year, despite being previously ordered to halt all communication with the global health organization.
Typically, the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee meets after the WHO meeting to finalize recommendations.
It remains unclear what impact the meeting cancellation may have on next season’s flu vaccine. But experts are concerned about the timing because flu vaccines are made using chicken eggs to grow and harvest the virus before processing it into a vaccine.
“It’s a very very tight timeline because it takes a long time to create the template viruses and then grow them in eggs,” Pavia said. “It is a many months long process and any delay means it will be difficult to have vaccine in time for the next season.”
U.S. vaccine strains are usually picked by April. Manufacturing is completed over the summer and delivered for vaccination starting in September.
Sanofi, one manufacturer of flu vaccines, told ABC News the company has already started the initial steps of manufacturing.
“Just as every year, we have already begun production for the 2025-2026 flu season in the Northern Hemisphere and will be ready to support final strain selections in time for the season,” a spokesperson for Sanofi told ABC News.
However, the FDA must approve the final strains for the shots to be legally marketed and distributed in the U.S.
ABC News has reached out to both the FDA and Health and Human Services for comment.
Dr. Paul Offit, a member of the FDA’s independent committee who was planning on attending the meeting said, “Who canceled this meeting? Why did they cancel it? Will the vaccine makers turn to the World Health Organization to determine which strains to include in this year’s vaccine?”
“It’s very concerning with regard to the ability to produce enough vaccine in time for next year’s flu season,” Pavia added. “Hopefully, there will be workarounds that could be developed. But what they are — we don’t know yet.”
Police are hunting for a suspect who was allegedly caught on camera violently robbing an 83-year-old woman of her lottery winnings shortly after claiming them from a convenience store, police said. Via Facebook / Orange County Sheriff’s Office
(ORLANDO, Fla.) — Police are hunting for a suspect who was allegedly caught on camera violently robbing an 83-year-old woman of her lottery winnings shortly after claiming them from a convenience store, police said.
The incident occurred on Wednesday morning shortly after 8 a.m. outside a store on Curry Ford Road, near the intersection of S. Goldenrod Road in Orlando, Florida, according to a statement from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
Authorities posted surveillance footage of the violent robbery on social media where the unnamed 83-year-old woman is seen walking out of the store to her car with what looks to be the lottery winnings she had just collected.
It was then that the suspect, who authorities named as Diego Stalin Tavarez Fleury, can be seen walking directly toward the woman and attempting to forcibly take the winnings from her hand as she tried to defend herself.
Another man who was in the convenience store is then seen coming outside and appears to intervene between the victim and the suspect, causing Fleury to further attack the woman in an attempt to steal the money while the good Samaritan tried to pull him off of the victim.
Fleury, however, can be seen dragging the woman from her car further into the parking lot before ultimately stealing her winnings and running off.
The suspect is currently at large and wanted for robbery, sudden snatching and battery on a person 65 or older, authorities said, and anyone with information on Fleury’s whereabouts is asked to contact the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.
(WASHINGTON) — Two apparent assassination attempts, a terrorist-inspired attack in New Orleans, an explosion in Las Vegas and a pair of global conflicts see President-elect Donald Trump returning to the Oval Office under circumstances that can only be described as high pressure and high stakes.
Monday’s inauguration of the 47th president — which will be the first to take place indoors since 1985 — will occur against a backdrop of domestic and international threats, all of which need to be mitigated to ensure a safe, peaceful transfer of power.
Presidential inaugurations have always been targets for nefarious activities, most often tied to groups with opposing political positions who plan acts of civil disobedience. Unfortunately, that dynamic has changed and threats against public officials have increased exponentially.
Assassination attempts seemed to dominate the news last year, including an attempt on Trump’s life (closely followed by an apparent second attempt) and the fatal attack on United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. This makes the security concern for Trump’s second inauguration unlike any in recent history.
In 1998, the National Special Security Event (NSSE) procedures were established by President Bill Clinton as part of Presidential Decision Directive 62. This laid out the security roles of federal agencies at major events after the 1996 Olympic bombings in Atlanta, where a lack of an overall coordinating federal agency was cited as a security gap that needed to be addressed.
The Presidential Threat Protection Act of 2000 added special events explicitly to the powers of the Secret Service, making it the clear federal coordinator for all large NSSE-declared events.
Under that planning process, the Secret Service has to coordinate all federal, state and local resources for the event, which this year is taking place amid unprecedented threats from assassinations, ISIS-inspired attacks, vehicle ramming attacks and potential domestic violent and foreign actor threats.
This means every facet of the inauguration, from aerial surveillance and perimeter access controls to mass transit, road closures and security sweeps must all be planned and prepared for. In this environment, the Secret Service will also lean on interagency coordination centers to vet and address all risks that arise.
The Department of Defense is one of the critical stakeholders and resource providers for inauguration ceremonies and security. Defense Department support assets are sure to be employed to assist with K-9 and technical security sweeps, along with aviation security and aiding the Coast Guard in making sure the Potomac River is safe.
These assets have a dual responsibility: they are mandated by policy to support the Secret Service and to follow the commander in chief by law.
Perhaps the one that will be most critical is the interagency intelligence operation, which is co-chaired by the Secret Service, FBI and Washington’s Metropolitan Police Department.
With the current threat levels, these groups are sure to be running down leads locally, nationally and internationally to mitigate any potential threat to the inauguration or any of the high-level people attending.
Presidential movements on Inauguration Day will be a particular focus for planners. From the swearing-in inside the U.S. Capitol Rotunda to celebratory gatherings Trump may attend, each movement that day will have Secret Service security mitigation measures in place.
Under the Secret Service NSSE umbrella and through the dedication of its personnel, Monday’s inauguration should be a well-planned and secure event despite the historic threat environment.
(Donald J. Mihalek is an ABC News contributor, retired senior Secret Service agent and regional field training instructor who served during two presidential transitions. He was also a police officer and served in the U.S. Coast Guard. The opinions expressed in this story are not those of ABC News.)
