Next cross-country storm to bring snow, extreme cold
ABC News
The next cross-country storm is already underway with snowy weather scattered across the Cascades, Rockies and into the Plains as of Monday morning, with the system forecast to sweep south and east through into Wednesday.
Heavy snow is expected to fall throughout Kansas, southern Missouri and northern Oklahoma on Tuesday morning. By the evening, heavy snowfall is forecast to have spread to northern Arkansas and southern Missouri.
Travel is expected to be significantly affected in those areas — including on interstates — with 6 to 12 inches of snow forecast.
By Wednesday morning, the storm will bring snowfall to Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and North Carolina. Nashville, Tennessee, could see between 3 and 6 inches of snow.
Virginia is also expected to see snow on Wednesday, with Norfolk and Richmond experiencing as much as 6 inches of snowfall. Washington, D.C. is set to escape the most extreme weather, but may also see a couple of inches of snowfall.
Coming cold snap
The snow flurries will be followed by plunging temperatures, with more than 65 million Americans now under cold weather alerts across 13 states from Texas to Minnesota.
Wind chills in North Dakota could reach 60 below zero, at which frostbite can occur on exposed skin in minutes.
Minneapolis could feel temperatures as low as 42 below zero Monday and Tuesday, with Kansas City feeling like 30 below zero on Thursday morning.
Tulsa could feel like 17 below zero Wednesday and Thursday, with Dallas feeling like 10 below zero.
Numerous daily record low temperatures are possible in this region this week.
(NEW YORK) — The detaining of Mahmoud Khalil, the Columbia University student and Palestinian activist who possessed a green card, has raised questions about the deportation risks faced by lawful permanent residents amid the Trump administration’s escalating crackdown on immigration.
President Donald Trump’s administration, which has alleged that Khalil was a supporter of Hamas, has said it has the authority to deport Khalil under the Immigration and Nationality Act.
“Secretary [Marco] Rubio reserves the right to revoke the visa of Mahmoud Khalil under the Immigration and Nationality Act, the Secretary of State has the right to revoke a green card or a visa for individuals who are adversarial to the foreign policy and national security interests of the United States of America,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a press conference this week.
Khalil, whose detention has sparked protests this week, is married to an American citizen who is eight months pregnant.
Under the Immigration Nationality Act, which experts say is rarely invoked, the government can charge a green card holder as being deportable without being convicted of a crime if there are reasonable grounds to believe they engaged in certain criminal or terrorist activities.
But experts and immigration attorneys ABC News spoke with said the statute does not give the secretary of state the power to deport green card holders like Khalil without going through a procedure.
“The way the statute is constructed, it doesn’t mean that Secretary Rubio can just say, ‘Oh, I determined this, and therefore we’re just going to deport you out of the country,'” said Greg Chen of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. “You would still need to go through a process.”
After the federal government invokes the statute, individuals like Khalil are entitled to argue their case before an immigration judge. Khalil is set to appear before an immigration judge later this month in Louisiana.
“There are some due process and protective procedures that the person is entitled to,” Chen said, “including being given a notice of the charges, and an opportunity to confront that evidence and to bring his or her own evidence in response.”
Chen told ABC News that typically it can take months or even years for immigration cases to “go from start to finish” — but because of Khalil’s “unique circumstances,” a judge can prioritize a case and expedite the process.
Experts told ABC News there are a number of reasons why an individual could lose their green card, including marriage fraud, immigration fraud, violent crimes and other offenses.
Andrew Nietor, an immigration attorney, told ABC News said that while there are cases where the government invokes the Immigration and Nationality Act for certain green card holders with criminal convictions, he said he has never seen a case like Khalil’s.
“I’ve never seen this ground of deportation invoked,” Nietor said. “It’s almost always a green card holder who is almost always in deportation proceedings because of some type of criminal conviction.”
Emergency units respond to airplane wreckage in the Potomac River near Ronald Reagan Washington Airport on January 30, 2025 in Arlington, Virginia. An American Airlines flight from Wichita, Kansas collided with a helicopter while approaching Ronald Reagan National Airport. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Figure skaters and coaches returning from the recent U.S. national championships were aboard the American Airlines flight that collided with a Black Hawk helicopter near Reagan National Airport on Wednesday, officials said.
No survivors were expected in the crash, officials said Thursday. There were 64 people aboard the plane and three in the helicopter, according to officials.
Fourteen figure skaters were among those on the flight, Doug Zeghibe, the CEO and executive director for the Skating Club of Boston, said he was told.
Zeghibe said six victims were from the Skating Club of Boston, including two coaches, two teenage athletes and two moms of athletes.
He identified the skaters from the Skating Club of Boston as Jinna Ha and Spencer Lane. Ha’s mother, Jin Han, and Lane’s mother, Christine Lane, were also on board. Zeghibe also identified the two coaches as Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov. The two were 1994 World Pair Champions who joined the club in 2017, Zeghibe said.
“Six is a horrific number for us but we’re fortunate and grateful it wasn’t more than six,” Zeghibe said. “This will have long reaching impacts for our skating community.”
Zeghibe emphasized how tight-knit the skating community is and that “everyone is like family.”
“We are devastated and completely at a loss for words,” Zeghibe said.
The U.S. Figure Skating organization confirmed that “several members” of the skating community were aboard American Airlines Flight 5342 which took off from Wichita, Kansas, and crashed approaching Reagan National Airport after colliding with a helicopter shortly before 9 p.m.
“These athletes, coaches, and family members were returning home from the National Development Camp held in conjunction with the U.S. Figure Skating Championships in Wichita, Kansas,” the organization said.
“We are devastated by this unspeakable tragedy and hold the victims’ families closely in our hearts,” the organization said. “We will continue to monitor the situation and will release more information as it becomes available.”
There were 60 passengers and four crew members aboard the jet and three personnel aboard the Army helicopter, which officials said was on a training flight at the time of the crash.
Officials have not publicly confirmed the number of fatalities in the crash.
The Mayor of Wichita, Lily Wu, offered her condolences during a press conference, becoming emotional when stating there are not any survivors.
“Our hearts are heavy as a city,” Wu said. “Our hearts are heavy as a city council, and we are here to provide the support needed for our community.”
At an early Thursday morning news conference, officials said they were continuing search-and-rescue operations in the icy Potomac River but did not say whether anyone had been pulled from the water alive, or confirm any deaths.
Meanwhile, Russian media reported that two Russian figure skaters were on board the American Airlines flight, and the presidential spokesman expressed condolences to the families and friends of those killed in the plane crash.
“There were other of our fellow citizens there. Bad news from Washington today,” Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday morning.
Earlier, several Russian state media outlets reported that the 1994 world figure skating champions in pairs, Evgenia Shishkova and Vadim Naumov, were on board the plane, though U.S. authorities have not confirmed these reports.
Oklahoma City figure skating coach Jackie Brenner was in Wichita with the skaters, coaches and officials who were aboard the flight.
“I was there on Sunday at a coaching workshop, which was the first day of U.S. figure skating development camp as they were coming into their two days of training,” Brenner said. “Huge excitement in the arena and lobby of all these families.”
The U.S. Figure Skating community has been struck by tragedy in a plane crash before. In February 1961, an entire U.S. figure skating team died in a plane crash on Feb. 15, 1961. The plane, Sabena Flight 548, was carrying the team to the World Figure Skating Championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Along with the team, 16 family members, coaches and friends of the skaters died in the crash.
Erik and Lyle Menendez booking photos taken Oct. 10, 2024. Via CRDC.
(LOS ANGELES) — The resentencing hearing for the Menendez brothers has been postponed nearly two months due to the wildfires impacting Los Angeles County, the county’s lead prosecutor said Friday.
Erik and Lyle Menendez had been scheduled to appear in court in the resentencing case from Jan. 30-31 amid their bid for freedom after being sentenced to life in prison for the murders of their parents.
The hearing will now take place from March 20-21 “due to the impact of recent wildfires on the parties’ extensive preparations for the hearings,” LA County District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s office said in a statement.
Prosecutors and defense counsel met Friday with LA Superior Court Judge Michael Jesic to set a new date for the resentencing hearing, the office said.
The postponement comes as Los Angeles County is battling two devastating wildfires, the Palisades and Eaton fires, that have destroyed thousands of structures. At least 27 people are believed to have died in the fires, which both ignited on Jan. 7.
The fires temporarily impacted the operation of multiple courthouses in Los Angeles County, though all 36 courthouses in the county remain open, according to the LA Superior Court.
Hochman said earlier this month that he has with the Menendez brothers’ relatives but is still reviewing the facts in the case and hasn’t yet decided if he’s in support of the brothers’ bid for freedom.
Erik and Lyle Menendez were convicted in 1996 of the 1989 murders of their parents, Jose and Kitty Menendez, who they gunned down in the family’s Beverly Hills home.
The defense claimed the brothers acted in self-defense after enduring years of sexual abuse by their father, but prosecutors alleged they killed for money.
Lyle and Erik Menendez, who were 21 and 18 at the time of the crime, respectively, were sentenced to two consecutive life prison terms without the possibility of parole.
ABC News’ Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
