Another storm hitting Midwest, East Coast as Mid-Atlantic digs out from major snowfall
ABC News Illustration
(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.
(NEW YORK) — Refrigerators, beers and bicycles stand at risk of higher prices as a result of tariffs on steel and aluminum announced by President Donald Trump this week, experts told ABC News.
The tariffs, which take effect next month, slap a 25% tax on all foreign steel and aluminum, repeating a policy Trump initiated during his first term in office.
Trade experts told ABC News the tariffs will likely raise prices for some goods made out of the two metals, since importers typically pass along a share of the cost of those higher taxes to retailers and, in turn, down the line to consumers.
“This will feed through the economy,” Kyle Handley, a professor of economics at the University of California, San Diego, told ABC News. Higher prices could manifest in as little as three months or as long as a year, Handley added.
In response to ABC News’ request for comment, the White House said the policy would boost economic performance.
“In his first administration, President Trump instituted an America First economic agenda of tariffs, tax cuts, deregulation and an unleashing of American energy that resulted in historic job, wage and investment growth with no inflation. In his second administration, President Trump will again use tariffs to level the playing field and usher in a new era of growth and prosperity for American industry and workers,” White House spokesperson Kush Desai said.
Here are the prices that may increase as a result of tariffs on steel and aluminum:
Cars and trucks
Steel is the top material by weight in a car, accounting for about 60% of its weight, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute.
Once steel imports face stiff taxes, experts forecast the price of steel paid by U.S. manufacturers will rise, meaning higher input costs for carmakers. Those companies, they added, are likely to hike prices for consumers as a means of offsetting some of those costs.
“There’s a lot of metal in a Ford truck,” Handley said. “If it’s more expensive, they’ll have to charge more for the car.”
Ford declined to respond to ABC News’ request for comment. Speaking on Tuesday at the Wolfe Research conference, an investor gathering, Ford CEO Jim Farley said potential tariffs on steel and aluminum are causing “cost and chaos,” according to a transcript of the event shared by Ford.
Bill Hanvey, president and CEO of Auto Care Association, a trade group representing thousands of firms across the vehicle supply chain, criticized the steel tariffs.
“Many specialty steel products used in our industry are not readily available from domestic sources, making access to global supply chains essential,” Hanvey said in a statement.
Soda and beer
Aluminum tariffs risk higher prices for beverages packaged in aluminum cans, such as beer and soft drinks, some experts said.
The previous set of tariffs on aluminum cost the U.S. beverage industry $1.7 billion between 2018 and 2022, according to the Beer Institute, an industry trade group.
“Paying a tariff-laden price on all aluminum drives up the cost of doing business and makes consumer goods more expensive,” the Beer Institute said in 2022.
In response to the tariffs imposed by Trump this week, the Illinois Craft Brewers Guild warned on X: “Our small brewery owners and customers will pay the price.”
Some soda companies may also feel the pinch. Speaking on an earnings call on Tuesday, Coca-Cola CEO James Quincey said the company may focus on a different packaging material if aluminum prices rise.
Home appliances
Major home appliances — such as refrigerators and washing machines — rely in part on steel, making them vulnerable to potential price increases, Jason Miller, a professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University, told ABC News.
“You would certainly expect to see those goods get a little bit more expensive,” Miller said.
In the aftermath of steel and aluminum tariffs during Trump’s first term, major appliances showed price increases of between 5% and 10% between June 2018 and April 2019, Miller added, citing a monthly government data release. Those price hikes far outpaced an overall inflation rate of around 2%.
Though prices for major appliances started to decline in the latter part of 2019, Miller noted, forecasting at the very least a halt in the price drops.
Bicycles
Steel and aluminum make up a key component of bicycles, raising the likelihood of price increases, Handley said.
“Bicycles will definitely be more expensive,” Handley said, pointing to the aluminum used for bicycle frames and components. In some cases, he added, those raw materials depend on steel.
Last month, trade organization People For Bikes expressed concern about 25% tariffs issued for Canadian and Mexican goods, as well as a 10% tariff on Chinese goods. Within days, Trump paused the tariffs on Mexico and Canada for one month, though they remain on the table.
“As a result of the new administration’s policies, the international trade landscape has become, and will remain, increasingly turbulent,” Matt Moore, policy counsel at People For Bikes, wrote in a blog post.
(NEWARK, NJ) — A Pennsylvania man attempting to go through airport security was discovered to have been hiding a living turtle in his pants as he tried to sneak it onto the plane, authorities said.
The incident took place last Friday at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey when a man from Pennsylvania was going through a body scan in the security area when an alarm was triggered “in the area of the man’s groin,” according to a statement from the Transportation Security Administration on Tuesday.
“A TSA officer administered a pat-down of the area of the man’s body where the alarm was triggered and in doing so, determined that there was something concealed in the area of the man’s groin,” TSA officials said regarding the incident. “When asked if there was something hidden in his pants, the man, a resident of East Stroudsburg, Pa., reached down the front of his pants and pulled out a live turtle that was wrapped in a small blue towel.”
The turtle was estimated to be approximately five inches in length and identified to be a red-ear slider turtle – one of the most popular breeds of pet turtle in the United States – by the man once he was caught by airport security.
“Port Authority Police questioned the man, took possession of the turtle and indicated that they would contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and local animal control officials,” the TSA said.
The unnamed man missed his flight and was escorted out of the checkpoint by police.
Thomas Carter, TSA’s Federal Security Director for New Jersey, said that this is the first time he has ever seen someone trying to smuggle a live animal down the front on their pants as they attempted to go through security.
“I commend our officer who conducted the pat-down in a very professional manner in an effort to resolve the alarm,” said Carter. “We have seen travelers try to conceal knives and other weapons on their person, in their shoes and in their luggage, however I believe this is the first time we have come across someone who was concealing a live animal down the front of his pants. As best as we could tell, the turtle was not harmed by the man’s actions.”
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration has removed a career Justice Department official from his role as the acting head of the DOJ’s National Security Division after the longtime prosecutor served in the position for less than a month, sources told ABC News.
Devin DeBacker, who in that role was an acting assistant attorney general, served for only a few weeks in the position, which helps oversee the Justice Department’s efforts to fight global terrorism, root out domestic extremism, stop foreign espionage operations, enforce U.S. sanctions, and investigate leaks of classified information.
In the first few days of the new Trump administration, as previously reported by ABC News, DeBacker tried to ease concerns within the department’s National Security Division after two of its most experienced prosecutors were removed.
But on Monday, Justice Department leadership told DeBacker that he would no longer be leading the division, according to sources familiar with the matter. It’s unclear why DeBacker was removed, and a Justice Department spokesperson declined to comment about the matter.
Under the first Trump administration, DeBacker served in the White House counsel’s office and then the Justice Department. He left at the start of the Biden administration, but rejoined the Justice Department a year later, becoming chief of the National Security Division’s foreign investment review section.
Sources said he is expected to continue in that role.
On his LinkedIn page, DeBacker describes himself as “a strategic counselor and senior government executive with deep experience in national security, complex litigation and investigations, and crisis and risk management.”
