Major winter storm slams mid-Atlantic, closing schools and canceling flights: Latest
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(NEW YORK) — A major winter storm that broke snowfall records in the Midwest is now hitting the mid-Atlantic, bringing with it a heavy mix of snow and ice and canceling more than 1,400 flights across the U.S.
The heaviest snow and ice is moving into the Appalachians and the East Coast’s Interstate 95 corridor on Monday, with states of emergency in effect in West Virginia, Virginia and Maryland.
Schools are closed in Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington, D.C.
A winter storm warning was issued for Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, where 8 to 12 inches of snow is possible. If D.C. gets more than 8.3 inches, it would be the biggest snowstorm for the city since 2016.
Federal offices are closed in D.C., where a snow emergency is in effect until at least the end of Tuesday, officials said.
D.C. Transportation Department director Sharon Kershbaum told ABC News Live that the city has been preparing for weeks and has geared up nearly 250 snowplows.
“if you don’t need to travel, please don’t,” she said, adding, “Our priority is to make sure that Congress can get where they need to.”
A winter weather advisory was issued for Philadelphia, where 2 to 4 inches of snow could fall and make roads very slick.
The heaviest snow should end from D.C. to Baltimore on Monday morning, but snow showers are forecast to linger into the evening.
New York City could see a dusting of snow. Boston is not expected to see any snow.
Snow should be gone from the East Coast by Monday night.
Before hitting the East Coast, this storm hit the Midwest on Sunday.
Snowfall totals have topped 1 foot in several places, including Chapman and Topeka, Kansas, where the storm dumped 18 inches and 14 inches, respectively.
The 5 inches of snow that fell in Cincinnati on Sunday is the city’s new single-day record for Jan. 5.
Three fatalities have been attributed to the storm: one in Missouri and two in Kansas, officials said.
(PHILADELPHIA) — Members of the “Central Park Five” filed a defamation suit against former President Donald Trump on Monday, accusing him of spreading “false, misleading and defamatory” statements about their 1989 case during the Sept. 10 ABC News presidential debate, according to a new court filing.
Attorneys representing the five men — Yusef Salaam, Raymond Santana, Kevin Richardson, Antron Brown and Korey Wise — filed their civil suit against Trump in federal court in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, seeking monetary damages over his statements, which they say have caused them “severe emotional distress and reputational damage.”
The five men, then teenagers, were accused of the violent rape of a female jogger in Central Park in April 1989. The five, who always maintained their innocence, were convicted and served years in prison. A decade after the attack, a different man confessed to the crime, which was confirmed through DNA analysis.
During the debate, Trump was responding to a statement from Vice President Kamala Harris in which she revisited his full-page ad in The New York Times in the wake of the incident that called for the execution of the Central Park Five when he said the following: “[T]hey come up with things like what she just said going back many, many years when a lot of people including Mayor [Michael] Bloomberg agreed with me on the Central Park Five. They admitted — they said, they pled guilty. And I said, well, if they pled guilty they badly hurt a person, killed a person ultimately. And if they pled guilty — then they pled we’re not guilty.”
The lawsuit points out that Trump’s statements were false in multiple respects — noting none of the members of the Central Park Five ever entered guilty pleas in the case, none of the victims of the Central Park assaults were killed, and the mayor at the time of the assaults was Ed Koch — who did not agree with Trump’s position in the full-page ad.
“Defendant Trump’s conduct at the September 10 debate was extreme and outrageous, and it was intended to cause severe emotional distress to Plaintiffs,” the lawsuit stated.
Trump’s attorneys have not yet entered an appearance on the court docket as of Monday morning.
“This is just another frivolous, Election Interference lawsuit, filed by desperate left-wing activists,” a Trump campaign spokesperson said in response to an inquiry about the lawsuit.
According to the court filing, one of the Central Park Five members, Salaam, was actually present at the debate and sought to confront Trump over his statements in the spin room afterward.
Salaam says he repeatedly shouted questions to Trump, saying, “Will you apologize to the Exonerated Five?” and, “Sir, what do you say to a member of the Central Park Five, sir?”
Trump reportedly responded to him at one point, “Ah, you’re on my side then,” to which Salaam responded, “No, no, no, I’m not on your side.”
“Plaintiff Salaam was attempting to politely dialogue with Defendant Trump about the false and defamatory statements that Defendant Trump had made about Plaintiffs less than an hour earlier, but Defendant Trump refused to engage with him in dialogue,” the lawsuit stated.
The five men’s convictions were vacated in 2002 and Wise, who was still in prison at the time, was released early. The group sued New York City in 2003 and after a decadelong standstill, the lawsuit was settled for $41 million. The city did not admit to any misconduct by its police department or prosecutors.
Salaam was elected to the New York City Council last year, representing northern Manhattan, including Harlem, East Harlem, parts of the Upper West Side and Morningside Heights.
(NEW YORK) — The Menendez brothers face the possibility of freedom after serving more than 30 years in prison, with their case being reviewed for possible resentencing by the Los Angeles County District Attorney following the emergence of significant new evidence.
On Aug. 20, 1989, Lyle Menendez, then 21, and Erik Menendez, then 18, gunned down their parents in their Beverly Hills mansion. Jose Menendez was a wealthy 45-year-old entertainment executive, while 47-year-old Kitty Menendez was a homemaker.
The brothers were sentenced to life in prison after being convicted at their second retrial, following mistrials in the first trial.
“It was from the jump, one of the biggest cases in Los Angeles and in the country; no one could believe that these two young men had killed their parents this way,” ABC’s Terry Moran, who covered the trial, told “Impact X Nightline.”
The fact that they killed their parents 36 years ago was always clear. However, the reason they did it has always divided and captivated the nation.
During their initial trial, defense attorney Leslie Abramson contended that Lyle and Erik shot their parents in self-defense. She argued that the brothers feared their parents would kill them if they disclosed the years of alleged molestation they had suffered at their father’s hands.
The first trial ended in a mistrial on Jan. 13, 1994, due to a deadlocked jury. After a second trial, the brothers were found guilty of first-degree murder in 1996 and received two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
A fresh legal filing has been submitted with even more distressing details of Jose Menendez’s alleged abuse.
According to the brothers’ attorneys, Erik Menendez penned a letter describing his father’s alleged abuse to his cousin.
Another alleged victim of their father, a former member of Puerto Rican boy band Menudo, also spoke out in 2023 Peacock documentary “Menendez + Menudo: Boys Betrayed.” Roy Rosselló alleged that he was abused by José Menendez when he was 14.
The Menendez brothers have seemingly gone from public enemies to victims as a powerful movement builds online to set the brothers free.
Their story is now under a modern lens, casting a new perspective on an alleged trauma that was barely understood at the time — that men could also be victims of sexual abuse. Some people say this reexamination challenges long-held beliefs and prompts people to rethink their understanding of this complex issue.
“I have always thought that if the Menendez brothers were the Menendez sisters, they’d be free today, would have been convicted,” Moran said. “But an abuse victim often gets some kind of clemency.”
Prison reform advocate Kim Kardashian called for their release.
‘We are all products of our experiences,” Kardashian wrote in a personal essay about the brothers. “Time changes us, and I doubt anyone would claim to be the same person they were at 18.”
Actor Rosie O’Donnell has befriended the brothers.
“They were not horrible kids,” O’Donnell told “Impact X Nightline.” “They were severely, sadistically tortured by a pedophile predator father, and a very compliant and also involved mother, who had no interest in them.”
In the ’90s, Dr. William Vicary, a former psychiatrist, was a key witness for the defense in the case after defense attorney Leslie Abramson hired him to evaluate Erik Menendez. Vicary later received probation of his medical license for admitting to altering notes from those meetings.
“In the ’80s and ’90s, the public had very little knowledge about this type of sexual abuse, especially fathers abusing their own sons,” Vicary told “Impact X Nightline.” “Back then, there were many people that just dismissed this outright.”
Others like Alan Abrahamson, who covered the trial for the LA Times, still believe the brothers killed their parents for money and that the jury got it right, given their lavish spending spree in the aftermath of the killings.
“The parents were sitting in the den watching TV,” Abrahamson told “Impact X Nightline.” “Did they have any weapons? No.”
Los Angeles County District Attorney George Gascón announced earlier this month that he was reviewing new evidence in the case against the brothers.
Some family members said the Menendez brothers should have been charged with manslaughter instead of murder. A group of relatives, including Kitty Menendez’s sister, agree.
The family members held a news conference in LA on Wednesday, hoping it would influence the appeal of their sentencing. The court has scheduled one hearing for November 2024.
One person was killed and six firefighters were injured after a fire broke out at an apartment building in New York City on Monday. (WABC)
(NEW YORK) — One person was killed and six firefighters were injured after a multi-alarm fire broke out in an apartment building on the Upper East Side of Manhattan on Monday.
The fire started around 7:15 p.m. at a six-story residential building located between York and East End avenues on 82nd Street, according to a statement from fire officials.
When FDNY crews arrived to the scene, they reported heavy fire on the fifth and sixth floors.
The flames eventually extended down to the fourth floor, as well, officials said.
Crews stretched multiple hose lines and had to pull apart walls to fight the flames, according to a spokesperson for the FDNY.
The fire was elevated to three alarms around 7:40 p.m.
About 138 FDNY and EMS personnel responded to the blaze, representing 33 emergency response units, officials said.
FDNY officials say one civilian was killed, while six firefighters suffered minor injuries.
“You know, the art and skill of a firefighter is inherently dangerous,” a spokesperson for the FDNY said on Monday night. “It’s a cold night, we have a lot of water going on, we have ventilation — windows breaking, we have a lot of fire and smoke. So, thank God, all the [injuries] seem to be minor at this time.”
The civilian, who has not yet been identified, was found in the hallway of the fifth floor, the spokesperson said.
The fourth, fifth and sixth floors all suffered heavy damage from smoke and fire, and other parts of the building were damaged from the water.
Multiple apartments were impacted.
The FDNY said that an MTA bus was going to shelter some of the victims whose homes were affected until they could be “properly relocated.”
Fire marshals will continue to investigate the cause of the fire.
