New York travel ban lifted, Washington at standstill after storm

Sun Jan 24, 2016 | 1:59 PM EST 9:55 AM EST | 00:48 The big dig out begins By Frank McGurty and Ian Simpson NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New York lifted a travel ban and mass transit started getting back to normal on Sunday after a record-setting blizzard in the U.S. Northeast, but Washington remained at a standstill following storms that killed at least 19 people across the country. The blizzard was the second-biggest snowstorm in New York City history, with 26.8 inches (68 cm) of snow in Central Park by midnight on Saturday, just shy of the record 26.9 inches (68 cm) set in 2006, the National Weather Service said. Thirteen people were killed in weather-related car crashes in Arkansas, North Carolina, Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee and Virginia on Saturday. One person died in Maryland and three in New York while shoveling snow. Two died of hypothermia in Virginia, officials said. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday would be a major cleanup day. He urged residents to stay off streets so city crews could clear roads. “The snow pile is going to be with us for a while, but I think we'll be in good shape in the next 24 hours," he said on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopolous." After the storm moved out into the Atlantic Ocean, much of the Northeast was expected to see a mix of sun and clouds on Sunday with temperatures just above freezing. New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo lifted a travel ban on New York City-area roads and on Long Island at 7 a.m. (1200 GMT) on Sunday. A state of emergency declared by Cuomo was still in place. Most bus and subway services operated by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority were up and running again by 9 a.m. (1400 GMT), officials said. The agency was working on restoring full service on Sunday. The Metro-North rail line, which serves suburbs north and east of New York City, expected to have commuter train service running into and out of New York by 3 p.m. (2000 GMT) on Sunday. A spokeswoman for the New York Stock Exchange said the market planned to open as usual on Monday. City schools also were set to open on Monday. The New York Sanitation Department had plowed all streets at least once, and was focusing on Sunday on secondary and side streets, the mayor's office said in a statement. The city was deploying more than 2,300 pieces of snow-clearing equipment and keeping sanitation workers on 12-hour shifts, it said. RECORDS SET The National Weather Service said 17.8 inches (45.2 cm) fell in Washington, and Baltimore-Washington International Airport notched a record 29.2 inches (74.2 cm). The deepest regional total was 42 inches (106.7 cm) at Glengarry, West Virginia. Peter Hoeppe, head of reinsurer Munich Re's Geo Risks research unit, said in a statement that it was too early to estimate possible losses from the storm. Washington was a dazzling white under a bright sun, and walkers, sledders, some cars and the occasional cross-country skier were out on Sunday. Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a call for 4,000 people to help dig the city out, above the 2,000 volunteers already signed up. The House of Representatives canceled its voting until Feb. 1. The Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority had suspended operations through Sunday. Public schools were closed on Monday across much of the Washington and Baltimore region, with some shuttered through Tuesday. One Washington food store, Broad Branch Market, opened with a handful of employees, and was trying to organize volunteers to shovel the sidewalks of the elderly and others who needed help. “I have a lot of people on the list (who want shoveling) but I have yet to have any kids sign up to work today,” said the owner, Tracy Stannard. The market is out of firewood, snowmelt chemical and bread - but is baking baguettes, she said. A snow plow stuck on a nearby street late on Saturday was still there on Sunday. At Dupont Circle, hundreds of people gathered to pelt each other with snowballs. Jomel Nichols, a tourist from Kansas City, Missouri, accompanying three exchange students and her daughter, was plastered with snow. "They all turned on me, as teenagers will do," she told Reuters Television. FLIGHTS CANCELED About 3,500 flights were canceled on Sunday, and 700 were called off for Monday, according to aviation website FlightAware.com. Among New York-area airports, John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty and LaGuardia were open, with limited flight activity expected on Sunday, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey said. About 150,000 customers in North Carolina and 90,000 in New Jersey lost electricity during the storm. More than 20,000 residential and business customers in New Jersey remained without power on Sunday, mostly along the Jersey Shore, which was hit with major flooding.. In North Carolina, about 4,000 Duke Energy customers had no power on Sunday, mostly in the eastern part of the state. On Sunday, moderate coastal flooding was still a concern in the Jersey Shore's Atlantic County, said Linda Gilmore, a county public information officer. The storm developed along the Gulf Coast when warm, moist air from the Atlantic Ocean collided with cold air to form the massive winter system, meteorologists said. (Additional reporting by Lisa Lambert, David Gaffen and Susan Cornwell; Writing by Mary Milliken and Grant McCool; Editing by Andrew Bolton and Jonathan Oatis)

Livestream: Obama on Ferguson: U.S. 'has more work to do' on race relations

========== Thousands rally across US after Ferguson decision By SADIE GURMAN Nov. 25, 2014 12:55 AM EST Protesters shut down I-44 at Grand Protesters shut down I-44 at Grand Avenue in both directions in St. Louis on Monday, Nov. 24,... Read more Thousands of people rallied late Monday in U.S. cities including Los Angeles and New York to passionately but peacefully protest a grand jury's decision not to indict a white police officer who killed a black 18-year-old in Ferguson, Missouri. They led marches, waved signs and shouted chants of "hands up, don't shoot," the refrain that has become a rallying cry in protests over police killings across the country. The most disruptive demonstrations were in St. Louis and Oakland, California, where protesters flooded the lanes of freeways, milling about stopped cars with their hands raised in the air. Activists had been planning to protest even before the nighttime announcement that Officer Darren Wilson will not be charged in the shooting death of Michael Brown. The racially charged case in Ferguson has inflamed tensions and reignited debates over police-community relations even in cities hundreds of miles from the predominantly black St. Louis suburb. For many staging protests Monday, the shooting was personal, calling to mind other galvanizing encounters with local law enforcement. Police departments in several major cities braced for large demonstrations with the potential for the kind of violence that marred nightly protests in Ferguson after Brown's killing. Demonstrators there vandalized police cars and buildings, hugged barricades and taunted officers with expletives Monday night while police fired smoke canisters and tear gas. Gunshots were heard on the streets and fires raged. But police elsewhere reported that gatherings were mostly peaceful following Monday's announcement. As the night wore on, dozens of protesters in Oakland got around police and blocked traffic on Interstate 580. Officers in cars and on motorcycles were able to corral the protesters and cleared the highway in one area, but another group soon entered the traffic lanes a short distance away. Police didn't immediately report any arrests. A diverse crowd of several hundred protesters marched and chanted in St. Louis not far from the site of another police shooting, shutting down Interstate 44 for a time. A few cars got stuck in the midst of the protesters, who appeared to be leaving the vehicles alone. They chanted "hands up, don't shoot" and "black lives matter." "There's clearly a license for violence against minorities, specifically blacks," said Mike Arnold, 38, a teacher. "It happens all the time. Something's got to be done about it. Hopefully this will be a turning point." In Seattle, marching demonstrators stopped periodically to sit or lie down in city intersections, blocking traffic before moving on, as dozens of police officers watched. Groups ranging from a few dozen to a few hundred people also gathered in Chicago, Salt Lake City, and Washington, D.C., where people held up signs and chanted "justice for Michael Brown" outside the White House. "Mike Brown is an emblem (of a movement). This country is at its boiling point," said Ethan Jury, a protester in Philadelphia, where hundreds marched downtown with a contingent of police nearby. "How many people need to die? How many black people need to die?" In New York, the family of Eric Garner, a Staten Island man killed by a police chokehold earlier this year, joined the Rev. Al Sharpton at a speech in Harlem lamenting the grand jury's decision. Later, several hundred people who had gathered in Manhattan's Union Square marched peacefully to Times Square. In Los Angeles, which was rocked by riots in 1992 after the acquittal of police officers in the videotaped beating of Rodney King, police officers were told to remain on duty until released by their supervisors. About 100 people gathered in Leimert Park and some held a small news conference demanding changes in police policies. A splinter group of about 30 people broke away and marched through surrounding streets, blocking intersections, but the demonstrations remained mostly small and peaceful. Chris Manor, with Utah Against Police Brutality, helped organize an event in Salt Lake City that attracted about 35 people. "There are things that have affected us locally, but at the same time, it's important to show solidarity with people in other cities who are facing the very same thing that we're facing," Manor said. At Cleveland's Public Square, at least a dozen protesters' signs referenced police shootings that have shaken the community there, including Saturday's fatal shooting of 12-year-old Tamir Rice, who had a fake gun at a Cleveland playground when officers confronted him. In Denver, where a civil jury last month found deputies used excessive force in the death of a homeless street preacher, clergy gathered at a church to discuss the decision, and dozens of people rallied in a downtown park with a moment of silence. ___ Associated Press writers Olga R. Rodriguez in San Francisco; Jim Salter and Alan Zagier in St. Louis; Tami Abdollah in Los Angeles; Kantele Franko in Columbus, Ohio; Sean Carlin in Philadelphia; Deepti Hajela in New York; Michelle L. Price in Salt Lake City; and Joshua Lederman in Washington, D.C., contributed to this report. ======================= Obama on Ferguson: U.S. 'has more work to do' on race relations Mon, Nov 24 23:42 PM EST image By Steve Holland WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama issued an appeal on Monday for restraint by protesters and police after a Missouri grand jury decided not to indict a white police officer in the shooting death of a black teen last August. In a late-night appearance in the White House briefing room, Obama also urged Americans to understand that much work remained to be done to improve relations between black Americans and law enforcement. "We need to accept that this decision was the grand jury's to make. There are Americans who agree with it and there are Americans who are deeply disappointed, even angry. It’s an understandable reaction," Obama said. Angry crowds in Ferguson, Missouri, took to the streets on Monday night and there were flashes of violence after the grand jury determined there was no probable cause to charge officer Darren Wilson in the shooting of 18-year-old Michael Brown. The shooting set off weeks of sometimes violent protests in the St. Louis suburb and highlighted racial tensions in the community. Obama said there were still many parts of the country where a deep distrust existed between law enforcement and communities of color, and that steps must be taken to improve the situation, such as increasing the number of minority people who enter the police ranks. "Some of this is the result of racial discrimination in this country and this is tragic because nobody needs good policing more than poor communities with higher crime rates. The good news is we know there are things we can do to help," he said. About 200 protesters demonstrated peacefully outside the White House on Monday night, holding signs and chanting: "We are Michael Brown." Obama has weighed in on questions of race previously. When black Florida teenager Trayvon Martin was killed by a neighborhood watch volunteer in 2012, Obama said: "If I had a son, he'd look like Trayvon." In 2009, he criticized the police handling of the arrest of Harvard University professor Henry Gates, saying police acted "stupidly." (Reporting by Steve Holland; Editing by Peter Cooney) ============= No charges for US policeman who shot black teen . AFP By Jennie Matthew 20 minutes ago Police take cover as demonstrators throw bottles at them after learning that the police officer who shot dead 18-year-old Michael Brown will not face charges, outside the police station in Ferguson, Missouri, on November 24, 2014 . Ferguson (United States) (AFP) - The policeman whose killing of an unarmed black teen sparked weeks of riots in the US town of Ferguson will not face charges, the county prosecutor said, amid mounting anger in the streets. Related Stories 1. Factbox: Composition and workings of grand jury in Ferguson shooting case Reuters 2. Q&A on flashpoint shooting case in US town of Ferguson AFP 3. St. Louis-area schools will get notice of grand jury decision: letter Reuters 4. Early Glance: Computer companies Associated Press 5. Grand jury reaches decision on Ferguson Officer Darren Wilson; will be announced at 8p.m. CT Yahoo News The tearful family of 18-year-old Michael Brown, who was shot dead in August, expressed profound disappointment after St Louis County prosecutor Robert McCulloch relayed the grand jury's decision. A crowd of several hundred protesters gathered in front of the police station in Ferguson where Officer Darren Wilson was based chanting: "Hey, hey, ho, ho! These killer cops have got to go." But there were no initial reports of violence, amid tight security and lines of officers in riot gear awaiting the highly-anticipated verdict. Brown's devastated mother was hugged by supporters. President Barack Obama was due to make a statement at 10:00 pm (0300 GMT). McCulloch told reporters the evidence presented to the grand jury had suggested Wilson had shot as a legitimate act of self-defense during a tussle that broke out as he was responding to a robbery. .. View gallery Demonstrators react after learning that the police … Demonstrators react after learning that the police officer who shot dead 18-year-old Michael Brown w … He said "an altercation" had broken out as Wilson was sitting in his patrol car and Brown was standing at the window. "During the altercation, two shots were fired by Officer Wilson while still inside the vehicle," McCulloch said. "Mr Brown ran east... and Officer Wilson gave chase," he said. "Mr Brown stopped and turned back toward Officer Wilson. "Officer Wilson also stopped. Michael Brown moved toward Officer Wilson. Several more shots were fired by the officer and Michael Brown was fatally wounded." Having examined the physical evidence and listened to witness testimony behind closed doors, the grand jury deliberated for two days, concluding that Wilson had no case to answer. .. View gallery Demonstrators gather outside the Ferguson Police Department … Demonstrators gather outside the Ferguson Police Department in Ferguson Missouri, on November 24, 20 … "We are profoundly disappointed that the killer of our child will not face the consequence of his actions," the Brown family said in a statement. "We respectfully ask that you please keep your protests peaceful," the family said, calling for legal reform. "Answering violence with violence is not the appropriate reaction." Brown, an 18-year-old high school graduate who had planned to go to technical college, was shot at least six times by Wilson in an incident on a Ferguson street. The shooting sparked weeks of sometimes violent protests and a nationwide debate about police tactics and race relations. .. View gallery Retired captain Ray Lewis of the Philadelphia Police … Retired captain Ray Lewis of the Philadelphia Police department holds a sign outside the Ferguson Po … Before the verdict, St Louis Mayor Francis Slay admitted that "what happened to Michael Brown has deeply divided us." - Plea for non-violence - Ferguson's mainly African American community of 21,000 has been on edge for days, braced for further protests should the officer not be indicted. The mostly black suburb has an overwhelmingly white police force and residents complain of years of racial prejudice and heavy handed police tactics. Missouri's governor declared a state of emergency and called up the National Guard last week in readiness. The FBI has also deployed extra personnel. "There's going to be a war. Starting from today. A war," shouted an angry neighbor wearing an "I am Michael Brown" T-shirt at the spot where Brown died. "By activating the National Guard, you've basically told black people that's a war on us," said the man, who identified himself only as "D," convinced the jury would exonerate Wilson. Shops were boarded up in Ferguson and schools in the Ferguson-Florissant District announced they would be closed Tuesday for the safety of staff and pupils.

Tornadoes kill at least 27 in Midwest, South

Sat, Mar 03 01:53 AM EST
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By Susan Guyett

INDIANAPOLIS (Reuters) - Powerful tornadoes raked across a wide swath of the U.S. Midwest and South on Friday, killing at least 27 people in three states and bringing the death toll to at least 40 from a week of deadly late-winter storms.

The twisters splintered homes, damaged a prison and tossed around vehicles across the region, leaving at least 13 people dead in southern Indiana, another 12 in neighboring Kentucky and two more in Ohio, officials said. In all, the latest line of storms battered a band of states from Ohio and Indiana on southward to Alabama.

"We are no match for Mother Nature at her worst," Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels said in a statement, adding that he would visit the stricken southeast corner of the state on Saturday.

Another possible storm-related death occurred in Henryville, Indiana, where television images showed homes blown apart.

Televised video taken from the air showed rescue workers in Indiana picking through one splintered house, residents sifting through the ruins of a home, and a school bus thrown into a building. Several warehouse-like structures had their roofs ripped off.

Major Chuck Adams of the sheriff's office in Indiana's Clark County said there was extensive damage to a school in Henryville but said: "All the children are out. No injuries to any of them, just minor scrapes and abrasions."

An Indiana official confirmed 13 deaths from the tornadoes on Friday, in four southeastern counties. A spokesman for Kentucky's Department of Public Health reported a statewide death toll of 12, while Ohio officials said there were two deaths in a single county.

"There's a possibility we could have additional fatalities," in southwestern Ohio said Kathy Lehr, the director of public information in Clermont County.

The Ohio victims were a 54-year-old man and a 64-year-old woman who was a city council member in the town of Moscow, Lehr said. Many homes in the county had suffered damage, including some in which buildings were swept off their foundations.

Storm warnings were issued throughout the day from the Midwest to the Southeast, and schools and businesses were closed ahead of the storms after a series of tornadoes earlier in the week killed 13 people in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee.

"We may not be done yet," said John Hart, a meteorologist at the Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

As night fell and temperatures cooled, the line of storms appeared to weaken somewhat as they traveled eastward, but the National Weather Service warned of another possible outbreak of tornadic weather in Saturday's early hours.

Severe thunderstorms and tornadoes were likely over an area stretching from Indiana and Ohio into Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama.

This week's violent storms raised fears that 2012 will be another bad year for tornadoes after 550 deaths in the United States were blamed on twisters last year, the deadliest year in nearly a century, according to the Weather Service.

The highest death tolls were from an April outbreak in Alabama and Mississippi that claimed 364 lives, and from a May tornado in Joplin, Missouri, that killed 161 people. There were two tornado-related deaths earlier this year in Alabama.

STRUCK FOR SECOND YEAR

Alabama's Madison County, which was struck by a tornado during last April's deadly outbreak, was hit again on Friday by a tornado that took a similar path. An emergency management official said seven people had been transported to hospitals.

"There were two storms that moved across the area, very close together, almost attached to each other," National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Darden said. The Weather service said the damage was from an EF-2 tornado with winds of 120 miles per hour that took a similar path to a devastating tornado on April 27, 2011.

Authorities said 40 homes were destroyed and 150 damaged in two northern Alabama counties on Friday.

A prison, Limestone Correctional Facility, was in the path of the storm, Alabama officials said. High winds caused roof damage to two dormitories, forcing 300 inmates to be moved to elsewhere in the facility.

No one was seriously injured at the prison and there were no risks of prisoners escaping, though there was damage to some perimeter fencing and a canteen, said Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Multiple tornadoes also struck Tennessee and along the Ohio River valley in Illinois, Indiana and Kentucky.

In Kentucky, a small trailer park, a fire station and a few homes in Trimble County were destroyed by suspected tornadoes about 40 miles northwest of Louisville, the Kentucky State Police said. The fire house and trailer park in Milton "were down to the ground," said the state police's Kevin Woosley.

Nashville was pounded by rain and hail, and suspected tornadoes struck twice, hours apart, in eastern Tennessee near Chattanooga. Among the places hit was the valley below historic Lookout Mountain.

"We've had 29 injuries in the state, but no fatalities," said Dean Flener of the Tennessee emergency management agency.

Storm damage to transmission lines in Tennessee forced operators to reduce the output of the Tennessee Valley Authority's 1,126-megawatt Unit 2 at the Sequoyah nuclear plant to 70 percent from full power, a spokeswoman said.

More than 57,000 customers served by providers in the TVA service area were without power in north Alabama, western Kentucky and southeast Tennessee, the power supplier said.

High winds downed power lines in the Atlanta area, pitching more than a thousand homes into darkness, and officials warned residents about torn lines becoming entangled in trees.

(Reporting By Bruce Olson, Verna Gates, Tim Ghianni, Peggy Gargis, David Bailey, James Kelleher, Joe Wessels, Susan Guyett, Lee Mueller, Ivonne Rovira and Dan Whitcomb, Tim Gaynor and Cynthia Johnston; Writing by Andrew Stern; Editing by Dan Burns and Eric Walsh)

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INSURANCE LOSSES

The band of tornadoes, with at least several dozen sightings and touchdowns, has already been compared to the "Super Outbreak" of twisters of April 1974, one of the largest and most violent in the United States.

Friday's storms came less than a year after a series of tornadoes caused some of the worst insured losses in U.S. history, and the insurance industry is likely facing substantial costs again..

An Indiana official confirmed 14 deaths from the tornadoes on Friday, in four southeastern counties. A spokeswoman for the Kentucky governor reported a statewide death toll of 18, while Ohio officials said there were three deaths in a single county.

In Georgia, an 83-year-old woman was found dead near a drainage pipe after she wandered from her home in severe weather on Friday, possibly to seek better shelter. A public safety official said she may have died after water rose in the pipe.

Storm warnings had been issued throughout the day on Friday from the Midwest to the Southeast, and schools and businesses were closed ahead of the storms after the series of tornadoes earlier in the week that killed 13 people in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and Tennessee.

This week's violent storms raised fears that 2012 will be another bad year for tornadoes after 550 deaths in the United States were blamed on twisters last year, the deadliest year in nearly a century, according to the National Weather Service.

The highest death tolls were from an outbreak last April in Alabama and Mississippi that claimed 364 lives, and from a May tornado in Joplin, Missouri, that killed 161 people.

Authorities said 40 homes were destroyed and 150 damaged in two northern Alabama counties on Friday. One person died in a home in Tallapoosa County, according to Joe Paul Boone, the director of the local Emergency Management Agency.

Alabama officials said a prison, Limestone Correctional Facility, sustained roof damage to two dormitories, forcing 300 inmates to be moved to elsewhere in the facility.

No one was seriously injured at the prison and there were no risks of prisoners escaping, though there was damage to some perimeter fencing and a canteen, said Brian Corbett, a spokesman for the Alabama Department of Corrections.

Multiple tornadoes also struck Tennessee and along the Ohio River valley in Illinois.

(Additonal reporting by David Adams, Tom Brown, Ian Simpson, Karen Brooks and John Stoll; Writing by Tom Brown and Cynthia Johnston; Editing by Peter Bohan)

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