Another storm hitting Midwest, East Coast as Mid-Atlantic digs out from major snowfall
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(NEW YORK) — As the Mid-Atlantic digs out from a significant snowstorm, a new winter storm is underway in the Plains that will move through the Midwest before reaching the East Coast.
On Wednesday morning, the second storm is hitting Kansas City, Missouri, and Des Moines, Iowa.
The storm will reach Chicago later in the morning, dropping 4 to 6 inches of snow.
An ice storm warning has been issued for Toledo, Ohio, where ice accumulation could cause power outages.
The storm will move into the Northeast on Wednesday evening, bringing mostly rain to the Interstate 95 corridor and an icy mix to New England and upstate New York.
On the southern end of the storm, heavy rain could bring flash flooding from Louisiana to North Carolina.
Strong tornadoes are possible in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama.
This comes after another snowstorm walloped the Mid-Atlantic on Tuesday.
Virginia recorded more than 14 inches of snow and West Virginia recorded 13 inches. Trees are toppling in Virginia due to the coating of snow and ice and over 170,000 customers in the state are without power on Wednesday morning.
Public schools are closed on Wednesday in Washington, D.C., where there’s more than 6 inches of snow on the ground.
Philadelphia saw 2.6 inches of snow and New York City saw 1.4 inches.
(WASHINGTON) — Fourteen members of Congress have signed a letter demanding the release of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil, who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement last week, despite being a legal permanent resident.
Khalil was detained on Saturday after two plainclothes Department of Homeland Security agents entered Columbia student housing and detained Khalil without presenting a warrant or any filed charges, according to the letter.
Khalil is a legal permanent resident and is married to a U.S. citizen who is eight months pregnant, according to the letter.
The 14 members of Congress — including “Squad” members Reps. Rashida Tlaib, D-Mich.; Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.; and Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass. — called Khalil’s detention an “attempt to criminalize political protest” and a “direct assault on freedom of speech.”
“Khalil has not been charged or convicted of any crime. As the Trump Administration proudly admits, he was targeted solely for his activism and organizing as a student leader and negotiator for the Gaza Solidarity Encampment on Columbia University’s campus,” the members of Congress wrote in a letter addressed to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.
The members of Congress, all Democrats, also called Khalil’s detention an act of “anti-Palestinian racism intended to silence the Palestine solidarity movement in this country.”
The ICE agents who arrested Khalil at his home first said that the State Department had revoked his student visa. After being informed by Khalil’s attorney that he was a permanent resident with a green card, the ICE agents said that his green card was being revoked instead, according to the letter.
The agents also threatened to arrest Khalil’s pregnant wife, according to the letter.
“DHS initially informed them he was being held in Elizabeth New Jersey, but his wife attempted to visit the facility on Sunday only to learn that he was not there. DHS refused to provide additional information on his location to his attorney or spouse,” the letter said.
Shortly after his arrest, Khalil was transferred to an ICE facility in central Louisiana.
“Khalil’s constitutional rights have been violated. He has been denied meaningful access to counsel and any visitation from his family. This is absolutely unacceptable — and illegal,” the letter said.
A federal judge has blocked Khalil’s removal while weighing a petition challenging his arrest.
The Trump administration said it has the authority to remove Khalil under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the secretary of state has the right to revoke a green card or a visa for individuals who serve, or are adversarial to the foreign policy and the national security interests of the United States of America,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday. “Mahmoud Khalil was an individual who was given the privilege of coming to this country to study at one of our nation’s finest universities and colleges and he took advantage of that opportunity, of that privilege, by siding with terrorists, Hamas terrorists.”
Baher Azmy, one of Khalil’s lawyers, called his client’s alleged alignment with Hamas “false and preposterous.”
“Setting aside the false and preposterous premise that advocating on behalf of Palestinian human rights and to plead with public officials to stop an ongoing genocide constitutes alignment with Hamas, his speech is absolutely protected by the Constitution, and it should be chilling to everyone that the United States government could punish or try to deport someone because they disapprove of the speech they’re engaged in,” Azmy told ABC News on Monday.
Khalil completed his program at the university in December and expects to graduate in May, according to the habeas corpus petition filed by his lawyer.
Leavitt also said Tuesday that more arrests will come and added Columbia University is “refusing to help” DHS in identifying other individuals.
“I also know that Columbia University has been given the names of other individuals who have engaged in pro-Hamas activity and they are refusing to help DHS identify those individuals on campus,” Leavitt said.
(WASHINGTON) — A coalition of nonprofit aid groups said Wednesday at an emergency hearing that the Trump administration’s “opaque and chaotic” 90-day pause on foreign aid had already “devastated” their operations — consequences they said justified a judicial order halting the administration’s sweeping executive order.
The aid groups filed suit Tuesday against President Donald Trump, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Acting USAID Administrator Peter Marocco, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought, the State Department, USAID, and OMB.
Stephen Wirth, an attorney representing the nonprofits, argued at Wednesday’s hearing that his clients’ “businesses are shuttering” while the administration sifts through its foreign aid priorities.
“Food is rotting,” Wirth said. “Medical supplies are expiring and community relationships that took decades to build are crumbling.”
Wirth and his co-counsel noted that the payment portal for government contracts and grants is “completely frozen,” preventing groups from completing projects that have already been appropriated funds.
Eric Hamilton, a Justice Department attorney, replied by arguing that the nonprofits’ lawsuit amounts to a “one-size-fits-all vehicle to litigate highly fact-dependent issues,” and that it should instead be addressed “case by case, contract by contract,” in contrast to the broad relief the plaintiffs are seeking.
Hamilton said waivers that have been put in place to rescue programs deemed to be critical to the “national interest” are sufficient to allow the 90-day pause to continue unimpeded — even through he acknowledged that “there might be some hiccups in implementing” the waivers.
“The policy we’re talking about is just a 90-day pause in funding,” Hamilton argued.
But Nicolas Sansone, an attorney for Public Citizen, another group suing the government, said some of the aid groups “may well not be able to survive the 90 days.”
U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, the Biden-era appointee who convened the emergency telephone hearing, said he would issue a written ruling at some point in the future and asked that plaintiffs file a “more tailored” proposed order by 7:30 p.m. ET.
The aid groups accuse several U.S. government entities, including the president and secretary of state, of breaking multiple federal laws and violating the Constitution by failing to administer funds appropriated by Congress.
The groups claimed on Wednesday morning that contract terminations from the administration had “accelerated” in the 24 hours since they filed their lawsuits, and asked Judge Ali to issue a temporary restraining order to prevent further actions from the administration.
(WASHINGTON) — Jack Smith, who investigated Donald Trump over allegations of interfering with the 2020 election and unlawfully retaining classified documents after leaving the White House, has formally resigned as special counsel after submitting his final report on the probes to Attorney General Merrick Garland.
Smith resigned Friday, according to a court filing that noted his departure in a footnote.
His resignation was widely expected following Trump’s reelection in November, as both his cases against the president-elect were dismissed due to a longstanding Department of Justice policy prohibiting the prosecution of a sitting president.
Trump repeatedly vowed he would fire Smith upon taking office and has said Smith should be “thrown out of the country.”
Smith, who Garland tapped in November 2022 to lead both probes, charged Trump in June 2023 with 37 counts related to his handling of classified materials, after prosecutors said he repeatedly refused to return hundreds of documents containing classified information ranging from U.S. nuclear secrets to the nation’s defense capabilities, and took steps to thwart the government’s efforts to get the documents back.
Two months later, Smith indicted Trump on charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in an effort to subvert democracy and remain in power.
Trump, who has denied all wrongdoing, pleaded not guilty to all charges in both cases and slammed the prosecutions as a political with hunt, before both cases were dismissed in November due to presidential immunity.
The release of Smith’s final report on the two cases has been the subject of a court battle over the last week.
