(NEW YORK) — A major winter storm is making the post-Christmas travel extremely dangerous in parts of the Northeast, and the storm is set to bring the most snow to New York City in years.
The storm is also impacting flights. Nearly 800 flights have been canceled so far on Friday, with New York City’s three airports and the Detroit Metro Airport hit the hardest.
The storm first hit the Midwest. People in Wisconsin and Michigan are waking up to a layer of ice on the roads, so drivers should use extra caution.
On Friday morning, the freezing rain moves east into Pennsylvania and will cover the entire state throughout the day, making the roads extremely treacherous. An ice storm warning is in place for nearly 1 million people in parts of western Pennsylvania.
On the north side of this storm, where temperatures are cold enough to create snow instead of ice, heavy snowfall is expected in parts of New York, eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Connecticut, western Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
The snow will begin in western New York on Friday morning and reach New York City by 5 p.m. Friday.
The snow will be heavy at times and will greatly reduce visibility, making travel treacherous.
The snow will continue overnight, ending in New York City around 9 a.m.
New York City is forecast to get about 7 inches of snow — the most snow in nearly four years.
A winter storm warning in place for the tristate region. Six to 9 inches of snow is possible in upstate New York, with 10 inches possible in the Hudson Valley. Five to 8 inches is forecast for northern New Jersey, while Hartford, Connecticut, could get about 4 inches.
Philadelphia can expect 1 to 3 inches of a sleet and snow mix, along with a glaze of ice, making travel challenging on Friday night. Baltimore can also expect icy roads.
A memorial dedicated to the 19 children and two adults murdered on May 24,2022 during a mass shooting at Robb Elementary School is seen on January 05, 2026 in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas) — A judge sided with defense lawyers on Thursday and is instructing jurors to completely disregard the testimony of a former teacher who is a key prosecution witness in the trial of former Uvalde, Texas, school police officer Adrian Gonzales.
Former teacher Stephanie Hale returned to the witness stand for an hour on Thursday in an effort to salvage her testimony, but defense lawyers ultimately argued that allowing her testimony to stand would endanger Gonzales’ right to a fair trial.
“There’s no doubt that this was crucial to the [defense] strategy,” Judge Sid Harle said. “I don’t think I have any choice, having denied the mistrial — other than to craft a remedy that will protect the due process rights and hopefully avoid any appellate review that would result in this case being reversed — so I am reluctantly going to instruct the jury to disregard her testimony in its entirety.”
Before instructing the jury, the judge personally thanked Hale for her testimony and emphasized that she was not at fault.
“I want to emphasize that you did absolutely nothing wrong. It’s not on you,” the judge said. “I want to tell you, just from personal experience, memories of traumatic events change.”
When Hale was on the stand Thursday, defense attorney Jason Goss attempted to point out that her original account — provided to state investigators four days after the May 2022 shooting — differed from what she told the jury on Tuesday.
“Seeing a shooter, and being shot at, are important details, you would agree with that?” Goss said.
“It depends on who you are,” she responded. “I don’t know. I guess possibly.”
Gonzales, who was one of nearly 400 law enforcement officers to respond to the Robb Elementary School mass shooting, is charged with 29 counts of child endangerment for allegedly ignoring his training during the botched police response.
Gonzales has pleaded not guilty. His legal team says he did all he could to help students and maintains he’s being scapegoated.
If convicted on all counts, Gonzales could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Nineteen students and two teachers were killed in the shooting. Investigations faulted the police response and suggested that a 77-minute delay in police mounting a counterassault could have contributed to the carnage.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
New York Attorney General Letitia James stands silently during a press conference on October 21, 2025 in New York City. (Photo by Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — The nationwide fight over the Trump Administration’s top prosecutors moves to an Albany courtroom this morning, when a federal judge hears arguments about whether Acting U.S. Attorney John Sarcone has the authority to act as Northern New York’s chief law enforcement officer.
New York Attorney General Letitia James began the legal fight against Sarcone after the Federal Bureau of Investigation served two grand jury subpoenas to her office for documents related to the civil cases against the Trump Organization and National Rifle Association.
The oral arguments over the legitimacy of the subpoenas and criminal investigation comes one week after a judge in Virginia dismissed a criminal mortgage fraud case against James over issues with the appointment of Trump’s handpicked prosecutor.
Lawyers for the attorney general’s office argue that the subpoenas and ongoing criminal investigations are a “flagrant abuse of the criminal justice system” to punish James’ office for bringing cases against the president, his business and his allies.
“The Executive Branch seeks to transform a personal grievance, which failed as civil claims, into a federal criminal prosecution—a plain and calculated campaign to harass a law enforcement agency that held Mr. Trump and his organization to account,” attorneys wrote in a motion to quash the subpoenas.
Last year, James won a half-billion-dollar penalty against Trump for inflating his net worth to secure better business deals, but a state appeals court vacated the financial penalty when it upheld the ruling earlier this year. According to court filings, a grand jury in Albany issued two subpoenas in August to the office to turn over any documents or records related to both cases to the Justice Department.
James’s office moved to quash both the subpoenas in August by arguing the subpoenas were issued in bad faith, lacked a legitimate legal basis, violated state sovereignty, infringed on First Amendment protections and were issued by an unlawfully appointed federal prosecutor.
“The U.S. Department of Justice asks this Court to treat this as an ordinary case. It portrays the subpoenas as routine. And it recites the usual standards governing grand jury investigations — while trying to ignore and trying to convince this Court to ignore the extraordinary reality before it, that these subpoenas are a flagrant abuse of the criminal justice system, even by this President’s standards,” lawyers for the office wrote.
Prosecutors with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of New York have defended the subpoenas by arguing that the grand jury has vast power to investigate James because she allegedly “repeatedly promised to investigate, prosecute and sue the NRA and President Trump.”
“The challenged subpoenas … were issued by a validly empaneled grand jury in the Northern District of New York, which is entitled to investigate whether Attorney General Letitia James — alone or in concert with others — violated federal law by selectively pursuing the NYOAG Lawsuits against the NRA and President Trump when other similarly situated entities and individuals went unpursued,” prosecutors wrote.
The legal fight took on an added significance in recent months as the Trump administration’s policy of circumventing the Senate confirmation process for many of its U.S. attorneys has been scrutinized and rejected by federal judges.
A federal judge recently dismissed criminal cases against James and former FBI Director James Comey because the president’s handpicked prosecutor lacked the authority to bring the cases, and a federal appeals court unanimously upheld a decision on Monday disqualifying Alina Habba as the U.S. attorney in New Jersey.
Last month, U.S. District Judge Lorna Schofield — a judge in the Southern District of New York overseeing the case after Northern District judges recused themselves — narrowed the purpose of today’s hearing to the sole question of whether Sarcone’s allegedly unlawful appointment invalidates the subpoenas.
Sarcone has functioned as the Acting U.S. attorney in Northern New York, but a panel of judges in July refused to permanently appoint him to lead the office following his controversial interim tenure. In response, Attorney General Pam Bondi named him as a “special attorney to the attorney general” who can indefinitely serve as northern New York’s top federal prosecutor.
Similar legal standoffs have sprouted across the country over the last few months, as federal courts have disqualified the U.S. attorneys in Nevada, California, and New Jersey. In each case, the Trump administration’s original picks to lead the office have remained in charge, bucking the long-standing practice of having the Senate confirm the president’s picks for the positions.
Meningitis Medical term in a card on doctor hand, medical conceptual image. Getty/Md Saiful Islam Khan
(LANGHORNE, Pa.) — A Pennsylvania high school student died from bacterial meningitis, according to the local school district.
Ryan Duffy, 18, a senior at Neshaminy High School in Langhorne, contracted Streptococcus Pneumoniae Meningitis last week and was treated in the ICU before dying Tuesday, according to a letter sent to parents by the Neshaminy School District and obtained by ABC News.
“It is with great sadness that we inform you of the death of a member of our school community, Ryan Duffy, who passed away earlier today, October 14, 2025. Ryan’s family has given us permission to share with you that he became suddenly ill late last week and was admitted to the ICU at the hospital,” the letter read. “We hold the family in our thoughts and wish them strength in this difficult time. Ryan was diagnosed with Streptococcus Pneumoniae Meningitis.”
The Neshaminy School District is using enhanced cleaning protocols at Neshaminy High School, but the school said that Duffy’s form of meningitis is not typically contagious.
“It is important to note that this type of meningitis is not usually contagious in a school setting and does not typically spread through casual contact, such as being in the same classroom or cafeteria,” the letter continued.
According to the CDC, though this type of meningitis is spread through droplets that are released when you cough, sneeze, or talk, it is not highly contagious.
Parents in the community are mourning Duff’s death from the disease.
“These old diseases that have been around for years are still affecting people,” said Eddie Maurer, a parent from Bensalem, told ABC News affiliate ABC 6. “It just doesn’t make sense. It’s hard to believe.”
Bacterial meningitis causes inflammation of the brain’s protective lining and spinal cord and can lead to death in a few hours if not treated properly, according to the CDC.
Symptoms include severe headaches, high fevers, excessive vomiting, stiff neck and confusion, according to the CDC, and the best way to inoculate yourself against the disease is through vaccination.
“Most people recover from bacterial meningitis if managed properly,” the CDC page on the infection says, but “those who recover can have permanent disabilities.”
It is not yet known how Duffy contracted the infection.
