Over 1,400 flights canceled nationwide as snowy weather hits upper Midwest
E4C/Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — Over 1,400 flights have been canceled nationwide with the majority due to weather hitting the upper Midwest, according to FlightAware.
Chicago O’Hare International Airport is the most impacted airport by far, with over 930 cancellations and over 750 delays as of Saturday afternoon. Flights leaving to O’Hare are delayed an average of five hours due to snow and ice, according to the FAA.
Chicago Midway has 187 cancellations and 85 delays. Both airports have been issued ground stops.
The heaviest snow in Chicago is expected Saturday between 12 p.m. and 8 p.m.
The snow becomes lighter overnight into Sunday morning, with some lingering snow winding down by 12 p.m. Sunday. Between 6 to 10 inches of snow are possible.
A cross-country storm already brought snow from Montana to Missouri later Friday. The storm has begun to move into parts of the Midwest Saturday morning, impacting travel for millions making the journey back home from the holiday.
Winter weather alerts are up for millions ahead of this system from North and South Dakota down to Indiana and Michigan.
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 6, 2026, in Uvalde, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images
(UVALDE, Texas) — Editor’s note: Some of the testimony described below is extremely graphic.
Gonzales — who was one of nearly 400 law enforcement officers to respond to Robb — is charged with child endangerment for allegedly ignoring his training during the botched police response. Nineteen students and two teachers were killed, and investigations have faulted the police response and suggested that a 77-minute delay in police mounting a counterassault could have contributed to the carnage.
Gonzales has pleaded not guilty and his legal team says he did all he could to help students.
Judge Sid Harle issued a warning to the gallery before the jury entered on Friday.
“I want to forewarn you, these photographs are going to be shocking and gruesome, and if anybody wants to step out, you are welcome to step out, but we cannot have any displays in front of the jury,” Harle said. “I’m forewarning you — these are not going to be pleasant to look at, and I’m sorry you’re going to have to look at them just like I had to.”
“There was a lot of shell casings,” said Torrez, who spent three days photographing the room. “There’s a lot of blood, a lot of blood swipes, and the weapon was in the closet.”
Using a pointer to highlight parts of the photos, Torrez testified about the location of the classroom, damage to the door and areas of the room where students didn’t attempt to hide. Defense lawyers had objected to showing the more graphic images, but Harle allowed the bulk of them into evidence due to their relevance to the prosecution’s case.
“Does the scene change?” prosector Bill Turner asked Torrez about some of the photos.
“As far as the presence of blood, it changes dramatically,” Torrez said. “A lot of bullet holes, a lot of shell casings covered in blood, a lot of bullet defects, perforations, penetrations, and just a lot of blood.”
Over the next hour, the courtroom fell almost entirely silent, other than the testimony and occasional ruffling of tissues and sniffling. Some of the jurors craned their necks to see the photos, while others covered their mouths or lifted tissues to wipe their eyes. The families of the victims sat quietly and no one left the courtroom during the testimony.
The photos did not show the bodies of students, which were removed prior to the photos being taken. But jurors did see photos showing large pools of blood and the drag marks made when the bodies were removed. Photos also showed dried bloodstains on desks, textbooks and office supplies.
Torrez testified that investigators placed rods in the cavities left by the bullets to demonstrate the direction of the gunshots. The pink and yellow rods showed that the shooter likely fired downward — through the desks — toward the sheltering students, Torrez said.
Torrez offered his testimony with little context other than his experience as a crime-scene photographer that day. Prosecutors did not explain how the images relate to Gonzales, other than suggesting that his alleged inaction contributed to the loss of life that day.
Defense attorneys say Gonzales is being scapegoated for a broader failure by law enforcement. In its opening statement this week, the defense alleged that prosecutors were playing on jurors’ emotions and that convicting Gonzales would be an injustice piled on top of one of the worst school shootings in U.S. history.
ABC News’ Juan Renteria contributed to this report.
Free food boxes are distributed to those in need at a large-scale drive-through food distribution at Exposition Park, in response to the federal government shutdown and SNAP/CalFresh food benefits delays, on Nov. 11, 2025, in Los Angeles. Mario Tama/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — The Trump administration’s claim that states were “unauthorized” to begin issuing full SNAP benefits over the weekend is “untethered to the factual record,” a federal judge ruled on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani issued a temporary restraining order that prohibits the Trump administration from trying to force states to “undo” benefits that they began disbursing over the weekend.
She also ordered the administration to ensure that the emergency funds for SNAP — which cover about 65% of November benefits — are made available to states by Thursday.
With the government shutdown nearing an end, the ruling appears unlikely to immediately change the status of the benefits, though it supports the Democratic state officials who began dispensing benefits.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Wednesday that full SNAP benefits will be paid out once the shutdown is resolved.
On Friday, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which operates the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, notified states that it was “working towards implementing November 2025 full benefit issuances” to comply with an order from U.S. District Judge McConnell that the Trump administration fully fund SNAP with emergency funds.
But the USDA backtracked the next day, telling states they must “immediately undo any steps taken to issue full SNAP benefits for November 2025,” with the administration saying the full SNAP payments by states were “unauthorized.”
Judge Talwani, in her ruling Wednesday, said the Trump administration “confused the record” by offering contradictory guidance.
“In light of this record, the court finds that USDA’s assertion — that the States took ‘unauthorized’ action when they were complying with a court order that had not yet been stayed and with the USDA’s own directive — untethered to the factual record,” she wrote.
Prince Andrew, Duke of York, attends the Sunday Service at the Royal Chapel of All Saints, Windsor, following the announcement on Friday April 9th of the death of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, at the age of 99, on April 11, 2021, in Windsor, England. (Photo by Steve Parsons – WPA Pool/Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — Within the thousands of Epstein documents released on Wednesday night by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee are several newly released emails between Jeffrey Epstein, Ghislaine Maxwell and “The Duke” — which appears to be Prince Andrew — in which “The Duke” pleads with Epstein and Maxwell to publicly say he “knew nothing” of forthcoming allegations about the trio.
“I am NOT involved and … I knew and know NOTHING about any of these allegations,” says “The Duke” in the email exchange on March 4, 2011. “I don’t know anything about this! You must SAY so please. This has NOTHING to do with me. I can’t take any more of this.”
The email exchange began after a reporter for The Mail on Sunday reached out to Ghislaine Maxwell’s attorney for comment on a story he said the publication was set to run on Maxwell, Epstein and Prince Andrew — including allegations listed by the reporter about Prince Andrew and several other allegations that were not related to him.
That email was soon forwarded to Epstein, who forwarded it to an email recipient named “The Duke,” whose email address was redacted.
“What? I don’t know any of this. How are you responding?” “The Duke” said to Epstein.
“Just got it two minute ago.. I ve [sic] asked g lawyers to send a letter,” Epstein responded in part, apparently referring to Maxwell.
“Please make sure that every statement or legal letter states clearly that I am NOT involved and that I knew and know NOTHING about any of these allegations,” replied “The Duke” in the exchange. “I can’t take any more of this my end.”
In a separate and newly released email exchange, Epstein also appeared to undercut Prince Andrew’s efforts to distance himself from his accuser, Virginia Giuffre, by raising doubts about whether a photo of them was authentic.
“I don’t remember meeting her at all,” Andrew said of Giuffre in his 2019 BBC interview. “I don’t remember that photograph ever being taken … you can’t prove whether or not that photograph is faked or not.”
However, following the release of the new documents on Wednesday, Epstein appears to confirm the photo was authentic, while challenging the remainder of her allegations.
“Yes, she was on my plane, and yes she had her picture taken with Andrew, as many of my employees have,” Epstein wrote in a July 2011 email to a redacted email address.
In an additional apparent reference to Giuffre, Epstein suggests that Prince Andrew’s accuser should be “investigate[d]” and that “Buckingham Palace would love it.”
“The girl who accused Prince Andrew can also easily be proven to be a liar. I think Buckingham Palace would love it,” Epstein wrote to a publicist in July 2011. “You should task someone to investigate the girl [REDACTED], that has caused the Queens son all this agro. I promise you she is a fraud. you and i will be able to go to ascot for the rest of our lives.”
The former Prince Andrew is now known as Andrew Mountbatten Windsor, after he was recently stripped of all his titles due to past association with Epstein.
The latest documents were obtained after the committee subpoenaed the Epstein Estate over the summer.
The White House accused Democrats on the committee of releasing “selectively leaked emails to the liberal media to create a fake narrative” about President Trump,” including one in which Epstein wrote that Trump “spent hours at my house” with someone the Democrats alleged was a victim.
“These emails prove absolutely nothing, other than the fact that President Trump did nothing wrong,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
