Over 40 million Americans on alert for winter storm conditions over the weekend
People make their wy through the snow in Times Square in New York, January 23, 2016. (Gary Hershorn/Corbis via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — A significant nor’easter is expected to march up the East Coast on Sunday into Monday, bringing significant snow for the I-95 corridor and placing New York City under a blizzard warning for the first time in nearly a decade, with the last one coming in March 2017.
As of Saturday morning, more than 40 million Americans are on alert for winter storm conditions beginning on Sunday and continuing into Monday.
The National Weather Service has upgraded southern Delaware, the Jersey Shore, all of New York City, Long Island and coastal Connecticut to a blizzard warning for increased confidence in snowfall of more than one foot and gusty winds that will likely cause blizzard conditions.
Coastal flood watches are also up from coastal Delaware to the Jersey Shore and Long Island to the coast of southern New England for minor to moderate coastal flooding during high tide.
As the forecast continues to become clearer, expect additional winter weather alerts to be issued over the next 24 hours across the Northeast.
While the exact snowfall totals and which locations will get the most precipitation from the storm remains uncertain, confidence has increased that the eastern seaboard will be dealing with a powerful coastal storm Sunday through late Monday that will bring significant snowfall, high winds and coastal flooding.
This coastal storm is expected to start taking shape over the coastal Carolinas on Sunday, bringing rain to the Mid-Atlantic and some scattered light to moderate snow from Northern Virginia up into Pennsylvania and into parts of New Jersey and New York come Sunday morning into the afternoon.
By late Sunday afternoon, the coastal storm will begin to quickly intensify off the coast of North Carolina and Virginia as it tracks to the Northeast and parallels the East Coast.
By early Monday morning, the storm is anticipated to bring heavy snow, strong wind gusts and coastal flooding across much of the coastal Northeast.
The Jersey Shore, Long Island, the southern coast of New England and Cape Cod could all see blizzard and whiteout conditions early Monday from the combination of heavy snow and very strong wind gusts.
By Monday evening, snow should begin to taper off almost completely for the Northeast except for New England which could still see intermittent precipitation.
Colin Gray, 54, the father of Apalachee High School shooting suspect Colt Gray, 14, enters the Barrow County courthouse for his first appearance, on September 6, 2024, in Winder, Georgia. Colin Gray is being charged with involuntary manslaughter, second-degree murder and cruelty to children after his son opened fire and killed 4 at the high school on Wednesday. (Photo by Brynn Anderson-Pool/Getty Images)
(GEORGIA) — In often tearful and painful testimony, students wounded in a 2024 mass shooting at a Georgia high school took the witness stand on Tuesday in the murder trial of the alleged gunman’s father.
As the defendant, 55-year-old Colin Gray, sat just feet away listening, the students recounted the horror they endured on Sept. 4, 2024, at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, allegedly at the hands of Gray’s then 14-year-old son, Colt.
Judge Nicholas Primm, who is presiding over the case, ordered the media not to show the students’ faces during the televised trial. The defense did not cross-examine any of the students who testified.
All of the students who testified Tuesday said they were in algebra teacher Cassandra Ryan’s class when they heard a loud bang outside their classroom door.
“I remember standing up and turning my back towards the door, and that’s when I saw him, Colt. He was pointing the weapon, just aiming anywhere, I guess,” testified Melany Delira-Castaneda, who was a freshman at the time of the shooting.
The now 16-year-old girl testified that she didn’t realize she had been shot until after the gunshots subsided.
“I remember standing up and I turned around. I didn’t know I was shot, but I was. My body was telling me to hold my arm, so I was holding my arm,” Delira-Castaneda testified. “I think I was just in shock and scared.”
She said she was shot in the shoulder.
“I feel like just seeing a lot of what I saw that day, it just sticks with me, and not being able to trust certain people,” Delira-Castaneda told the court.
Prosecutors called the students to testify in an effort to show what Barrow County District Attorney Brad Smith described in his opening statement as the “horrific consequences” of the alleged actions or inaction Colin Gray took with his son leading up to the shooting.
Gray is the latest parent that prosecutors in various U.S. states have attempted to hold criminally culpable for their children’s alleged deadly actions.
The father is charged with four counts of involuntary manslaughter, two counts of second-degree murder and eight counts of cruelty to children. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Gray’s son, Colt, now 16, has been charged as an adult and is awaiting a separate trial on multiple counts of felony murder and aggravated assault. He has pleaded not guilty.
Killed in the shooting were math teacher and football coach Richard Aspinwall, 39; math teacher Cristina Irimie, 53; and students Mason Schermerhorn, 14, and Christian Angulo, 14, officials said.
Angulo was also in Ryan’s class when he was shot and killed.
“This case is about this defendant and his actions – his actions in allowing a child that he has custody over access to a firearm and ammunition after being warned that his child was going to harm others,” Smith said in his opening statement on Monday.
Prosecutors allege that despite repeatedly being warned about his son’s mental deterioration and that he was a danger to himself and others, Colin Gray gave the boy an AR-15-style rifle as a Christmas present and allowed him to keep the weapon propped against a wall in his bedroom. The rifle, prosecutors allege, was used in the mass shooting at Apalachee High School.
Nautica Walton, another student in Ryan’s algebra class on the day of the shooting, testified on Tuesday that when she heard a loud bang outside the classroom door, “I realized something was wrong.”
“I remember my teacher falling to the floor, and then Taylor, [a student] in front of me, I remember seeing her fall down before I turned around and saw there was somebody at the door with a weapon,” Nautica, now 16, testified.
She told the court that she got on the ground next to Melany Delira-Castaneda.
“I remember Melany, she had blood all on her arm. I remember her blood was getting on the side of me because I was lying on the side of her,” Walton testified.
Walton further testified that she was shot in the leg during the episode and recalled going in and out of consciousness.
“I remember my teacher telling me to stay awake because I was feeling really tired,” Walton said on the witness stand. “I remember Natalie [another student] lying on the floor, saying she was hit and crying with a big puddle of blood,” said Walton, adding that a classmate took off her jacket and wrapped it around her leg.
“And then I passed out after that,” she testified.
Walton also told the court that since the shooting, she has been unable to play sports and has been “very paranoid.”
“I don’t like being in front of doors at school. I don’t use the bathroom at school,” testified Walton, adding that she had nightmares for months after the shooting.
Student Taylor Jones, now 16, testified that when she realized she had been shot in the leg, she asked a classmate to hold her hand “because I was scared.”
She told the court that she remembers being on the classroom floor before she passed out and then waking up at Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta, where she was flown to by a medical helicopter.
Jones, a one-time volleyball player on her school team, told the court that she has since undergone multiple surgeries and has been unable to play sports.
Natalie Griffith, now 16, recalled to the court looking down at her hand during the shooting and seeing a hole and blood near her wrist.
“I didn’t know this at the time, but I had another one up on my shoulder,” she testified of a second bullet wound. “I was also worried that I was going to die and how that would affect my parents because my dad has a heart problem.”
Griffith told the court that as she was being carried out of the classroom, she saw Colt Gray on the floor being detained with his hands behind his back.
“I said a lot of curse words. I was very angry at the time because I thought they were going to have to amputate my hand,” Griffith testified. “I remember yelling at him that we were kids, because we were kids.”
Jaxxon Beaver, 16, another student in the algebra class, testified that he was also shot in the leg.
“I noticed that when I was hurt, I looked down and saw a hole in my shorts and noticed I was bleeding,” Beaver said on the stand.
Beaver further testified that he was unable to go to school for at least three months after the shooting, and eventually gave up on going back.
“Every time I went back to school, I would feel like something bad was going to happen again. I couldn’t wait and had to go home, like right after,” Beaver testified.
Ronaldo Vega, now 16, recalled to the court seeing Colt Gray at the door wearing yellow gloves and firing a rifle that had a scope.
“He shot, I don’t know how many times. I went down to duck,” Vega testified.
Vega testified that when the shooting stopped, he barricaded the classroom door with desks and chairs. He said he saw Christian Angulo curled up on the floor motionless near the door.
“A girl was screaming that he was dead,” Vega told the court.
(NEW YORK) — Storms are hitting Southern California with heavy rain that flooded roads, as millions are on alert for damaging winds on Tuesday. Meanwhile, in the North, millions are preparing for a winter storm.
Heavy thunderstorms in Southern California brought 1 to 3 inches of rain to the area, with the highest elevations seeing more than 3 inches.
Damaging winds gusted between 50 and 70 mph during the strongest thunderstorms. The highest wind gust reported was 81 mph in the hills above Malibu. This toppled trees and caused roof damage.
Issues popped up throughout the region, including flooded businesses in the Fairfax District, stranded drivers in Commerce, and a massive tree that fell on a car in Crestline, according to ABC News Los Angeles affiliate KABC.
A flood watch is in effect for the Santa Barbara and Los Angeles areas again Tuesday night due to the risk of flash flooding, debris flows and mudslides — especially in burn scar areas.
Two more rounds of rain are expected across the Southern California area this week. The first is forecast to arrive Tuesday evening and continue overnight. The second is expected to arrive on Thursday morning to early afternoon.
This rain will be shorter-lived and less impactful than Monday’s event. Winds will be calmer, too. An additional 0.5 to 2 inches is possible through Thursday.
It will remain dry and sunny, with a warming trend through the weekend before more rain arrives Monday through Wednesday of next week.
In Sierra Nevada, heavy snow, strong winds and avalanche dangers have closed mountain roads and forced ski lodges to close as well.
The heavy snow will continue through the week, with snow accumulations of 4 to 8 feet through Friday.
(WASHINGTON) — A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent has been charged with two counts of second degree assault which occurred in February, according to the Hennepin County Attorney’s Office in Minneapolis.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
