Snowstorm pushes through Northeast with days of melting expected to follow
A man on cross-country skis travels through Central Park after a historic blizzard hit parts of the East Coast, on February 24, 2026 in New York City. (Ryan Murphy/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Snow is moving through the Northeast Wednesday morning, though much of the snow is light with heavier bands of precipitation further inland and higher elevations.
In New York City, snow is expected to last a few hours before ending in the late morning with less than an inch of snow accumulation anticipated.
In Boston, snow should end by midday with less than an inch of snow expected and, in Portland, Maine, snow totals could be up to 2 to 3 inches.
There is a chance for lingering snow showers scattered across New England through the evening but without much additional accumulation expected.
Meanwhile, temperatures the rest of the week will likely reach above freezing each day from New York City to Boston, meaning there should be some daily melting and then an overnight re-freeze that could create black ice in areas.
The chance for heavy snow across the Northeast is dwindling as the storm looks to stay farther south and temperatures too warm for snow, meaning it is much more likely this will be a rain event for the South with little to no snow for areas north of there.
While there may be thunderstorms accompanying some of the rain, no flood or severe weather threat is anticipated.
Elsewhere, on Saturday there is a chance for snow from Bismarck, North Dakota, to Milwaukee, Wisconsin and through southern Michigan that should move quickly and dump a couple of inches of snow in these regions.
Some of that snow may linger into the Northeast on Sunday but, overall, it is looking weaker and light with about an inch or less expected for those experiencing the snow.
On Sunday and Monday nights, there is a chance for snow over parts of the Midwest and Mid-Atlantic but it is currently too soon to know how this storm will develop with another round of rain and snow possible on Tuesday for the East and Northeast.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks to reporters and members of the media at Mar-a-Lago on February 1, 2026 in Palm Beach, Florida. Al Drago/Getty Images
(WASHINGTON) — U.S. Judge Aileen Cannon on Wednesday sentenced Ryan Routh to spend the rest of his life in prison for attempting to assassinate President Donald Trump on his Florida golf course in September 2024.
Prosecutors argued that Routh, 60, should get a life sentence after a jury last year convicted him on five counts for allegedly plotting “painstakingly to kill President Trump, and [taking] significant steps toward making that happen.”
“Routh’s crimes undeniably warrant a life sentence — he took steps over the course of months to assassinate a major presidential candidate, demonstrated the will to kill anybody in the way, and has since expressed neither regret nor remorse to his victims,” prosecutors argued in a court filing.
After a two-and-a-half-week trial in September, a jury quickly found Routh guilty on five felony counts, including attempted assassination of a major presidential candidate and assaulting a federal officer.
Routh allegedly hid in the bushes of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach and pointed a military-grade SKS rifle towards Trump and a Secret Service agent.
“Routh’s crimes of conviction reflect careful plotting, extensive premeditation, and a cowardly disregard for human life,” prosecutors wrote. “Routh’s motive for his crimes was unconscionable – preventing the American people from electing the candidate of their choice for President. Routh’s gloss on his crimes has always been that anything he may have done was justified by events in Ukraine or American domestic politics.”
Routh represented himself at trial and attempted to argue that he never intended to harm Trump or the Secret Service agent, framing his actions as a form of protest against the president’s policies. After he was found guilty, he attempted to harm himself in front of the jury by stabbing himself with a pen.
Since his conviction, Routh was appointed an attorney and has requested a 27-year sentence that would allow him to “experience freedom again as opposed to dying in prison.” His lawyer argued that Routh could not have a fair trial because he represented himself, even though Routh made that decision after repeated warnings about the potential consequences.
“Defendant recognizes that he was found guilty by the jury but asserts that the jury was misled by his inability to effectively confront witnesses, use exhibits, or affirmatively introduce impeachment evidence designed to prove his lack of intent to cause injury to anyone,” his defense lawyer wrote.
Routh had attempted to bolster his push for a lighter sentence by submitting multiple letters from friends attesting to his character and undergoing a psychiatric examination, which suggested he suffers from narcissistic personality disorder and bipolar II disorder.
“Ryan has already shown, through his actions, that he is an asset to his community, not a threat. He deserves the chance to one day return home, where he can continue to be a loving father, partner, and a peaceful, contributing member of society,” wrote Darya Trotsenko, a Kyiv resident who said she met Routh when he attempted to volunteer to support Ukraine’s defense.
But prosecutors argued that Routh continues to show little remorse for his actions, pointing to recent writings in which he referenced an earlier attempt on Trump’s life and wrote, “I hate our dictator missed the trial, can my appeal be heard in 30 years when he is gone.”
In another court filing, Routh suggested he prefers that Trump personally punish him for his actions.
“If the President wished to pummel the defendant just for good measure, put on the handcuffs and shackles and give it your worst. No cameras, no complaints, no charges/charges. Just good fun. Don’t be a p—-. (Can I say p—- or coward – sorry),” Routh wrote.
Cannon, a Trump-appointed judge, dismissed the criminal case against the president in 2024 related to his handling of classified documents. Routh unsuccessfully attempted to have Cannon removed from the case by arguing her appointment by Trump is a conflict of interest.
Nile Monitor lizard (1001slide/STOCK PHOTO/Getty Images)
(FLORIDA) — Another giant reptile is clawing its way toward disrupting the South Florida ecosystem as an invasive species.
The Nile monitor — a semi-aquatic lizard equipped with razor claws that can grow up to 6 feet — has been establishing populations in the area since the 1980s, according to ecology experts.
Endemic to the Nile river delta in Sub-Saharan Africa, the continent’s largest lizards arrived in Florida via the pet trade, through both intentional and unintentional release, Frank Mazzotti, a professor of wildlife ecology at the University of Florida, told ABC News.
“They’re very wild, they’re very active,” Mazzotti said. “They don’t make good pets at all. They don’t calm down.”
The temperament of the giant lizards also makes them difficult to catch. Mazzotti described Nile monitors as “very strong” and “very aggressive.”
The reptiles will put up a fight and even bite humans who attempt to make contact with them, Mazzotti said.
“They’re crazy,” he said. “They’re very hard to handle, and you have to take great care that they don’t escape and that you don’t get bit.”
Monitor lizards are one of the high priority nonnative species for removal due to their potential impacts on native wildlife, Lisa Thompson, a communications specialist for the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) Division of Habitat and Species Conservation, told ABC News via email.
Current management approaches focus on containing established populations and preventing the establishment of new populations, as well as recurring surveys and removals, Thompson noted.
Nile monitors are now established in Lee and Palm Beach Counties, with multiple sightings in Broward County as well. The FWC is also monitoring observations of the species in Miami-Dade County, according to Thompson.
The state’s humidity allows the Nile monitors to thrive, Mazzotti said.
“Their habitat requirements are met,” he said. “The climate’s a match.”
In addition, their diverse diet and ability to travel over land and in fresh and saltwater allows for potential establishment throughout Florida, especially in coastal areas with mangroves and salt marshes.
South Florida’s extensive canal system can provide ample corridor, and they have a high reproduction rate, according to the FWC.
The giant lizards are “generalist” feeders, meaning they aren’t picky about what they eat, Mazzotti said.
They have been observed to eat crabs, crayfish, mussels, snails, slugs, termites, caterpillars, beetles, spiders, grasshoppers and crickets, fish, frogs, toads, lizards, turtles, snakes, young crocodiles and other reptiles, birds and their eggs and small mammals, according to the FWC. They can hunt for prey on the surface, below ground and in trees.
Some researchers have even observed them eating iguana eggs, Mazzotti noted.
“They don’t care what they eat,” he said.
Due to their generalist diet, the invasive reptile could impact state and federally listed threatened species, including sea turtles, wading birds, gopher tortoises and the American crocodile, according to the FWC.
Biologists and ecologists are also concerned about burrowing owls, as their largest population also occurs where the largest known Nile monitor population also occurs.
Nile monitors are not protected in Florida, except by anti-cruelty laws, and can be humanely killed on private property with the landowner’s permission, according to the FWC.
It was added to Florida’s Prohibited Nonnative Species List in April 2021, which limits possession of Nile monitors for the purposes of research, educational exhibition, control or eradication.
Nile monitors are often olive green to black in color and have stripes on their jaw and head. They also have yellow-ish V-shaped stripes that begin at the base of its skull and neck and transform into “bands” along their back, according to the FWC.
They are often seen in or close to water and basking on rocks and branches, wildlife experts say.
The reptiles are usually active during the day and sleep on branches or submerged in water at night.
When temperatures drop, Nile monitors will retreat to burrows to keep warm, the FWC noted.
While they have not yet had demonstrated impacts on the ecosystem, it’s important to keep populations of Nile monitors under control before they disrupt an already delicate environment, Mazzotti said.
“You cannot wait until an invasive species has demonstrated its impact upon the ecosystem,” he said. “Because if you do, then it’s too late.”
Ghislaine Maxwell attends VIP Evening of Conversation for Women’s Brain Health Initiative on October 18, 2016 in New York City. (Jimi Celeste/Patrick McMullan via Getty Images)
(WASHINGTON) — As federal investigators built a case against Jeffrey Epstein’s co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell, they discovered emails they believed suggested that she was arranging young women to have sex with then Prince Andrew, according to a new review of documents released earlier this year by the Department of Justice.
A search warrant application signed just days before Maxwell’s 2020 arrest identified at least three instances when Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and Maxwell appeared to discuss arrangements for young women, including ahead of his official state visit to Peru in 2002.
“As for girls well I leave that entirely to you,” said an email believed to have been sent by Mountbatten-Windsor to Maxwell in Feb. 2002, signed “Masses of love A”
In another email identified by the FBI, Mountbatten-Windsor asked Maxwell about helping him find “some new inappropriate friends,” according to the search warrant affidavit.
“I am up here at Balmoral Summer Camp for the Royal Family,” Mountbatten-Windsor wrote in August 2001. “Have you found me some new inappropriate friends?”
Months later ahead of his official visit to Peru, Maxwell shared with Mountbatten-Windsor an email in which she asked an acquaintance in Peru to help find him people who are “intelligent pretty fun” and can be “to be friendly and discreet.”
“Some sight seeing some 2 legged sight seeing (read intelligent pretty fun and from good families) and he will be very happy. I know I can rely on you to show him a wonderful time and that you will only introduce him to friends that you can trust and rely on to be friendly and discreet and fun,” Maxwell wrote in March 2002.
“Got it I will ring him today if I can. Love you A,” an email associated with Mountbatten-Windsor responded.
According to a search application released earlier this year by the Department of Justice, the FBI believed those emails showed Andrew and Maxwell “discussing her attempts to arrange for young females to engage in sex acts” with him. The messages were cited as part of an application to get a judge’s permission to search dozens of electronic devices seized from Epstein’s residences.
Neither the palace nor a representative for the former Prince Andrew responded to a request for comment from ABC News.
Mountbatten-Windsor has long denied any wrongdoing, and Maxwell — who was convicted on sex trafficking charges in 2021 — was never charged with arranging women for Mountbatten-Windsor. As part of that prosecution, investigators unsuccessfully sought to interview Mountbatten-Windsor in 2020.
“To date, Prince Andrew has provided zero cooperation,” former U.S. Attorney Geoffrey Berman said in January 2020.
The disclosure of the new documents come as police in the United Kingdom are renewing their scrutiny of Mountbatten-Windsor. In an interview with ABC News earlier this month, Metropolitan Police Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley said his office was seeking unredacted materials related to Epstein from the Department of Justice.
“There’s a whole range of suggested sexual allegations and those are being assessed at the moment to see whether any of them do actually merit a criminal investigation,” Rowley said.
