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Dangerous wind chills were likely in an area stretching from northern Pennsylvania to Maine starting early on Friday and through Saturday evening, the National Weather Service said in its forecast. "The wind chills have the potentially to be once-in-a- generation cold," the weather service said, urging people to either stay indoors or take precautions against frostbite and hypothermia. The wind chill factor describes the combined effect of wind and cold temperatures on exposed skin. In New Hampshire's Mount Washington State Park, atop the Northeast's highest peak, record-breaking wind chills of -110 degrees and wind speeds topping 100 miles (160 km) per hour were expected. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu declared a cold emergency for New England's biggest city for Friday through Sunday, as the city is expecting below-zero wind chills starting Friday.

☆ Tyre Nichols funeral draws civil rights leaders, U.S. vice president
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Alyssa Porter | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

Al Sharpton will eulogize Nichols, and another prominent civil rights leader, attorney Ben Crump, will deliver a "call to action" during a funeral at the Mississippi Boulevard Christian Church in Nichols' adopted hometown of Memphis. Among those planning to join the mourners was U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Crump said the Nichols family invited. Harris spoke with Nichols' mother, RowVaughn Wells, in a private telephone call on Tuesday, he said. Two other officers implicated in the events leading to Nichols' death have been relieved of duty - effectively suspended - and are under investigation. "What happened to Tyre Nichols here is a disgrace to this country," Sharpton told reporters, flanked by Nichols' mother and his stepfather, Rodney Wells.

☆ U.S. African American studies does not include material targeted by Florida governor
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-01 | by ( Brad Brooks | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Feb 1 (Reuters) - An African American studies course for U.S. high school students that was released on Wednesday does not include material that Florida's conservative governor said pushed a liberal agenda, the latest development in a fierce debate about politics, education and censorship. Henry Louis Gates Jr., director of Harvard University's Hutchins Center for African and African American Research, was among scholars who praised the curriculum in the College Board statement. On Tuesday, more than 200 African American studies faculty members from dozens of universities published an open letter defending the course and expressing their "outrage at the efforts of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to delegitimize the AP's pilot curriculum in African American Studies." "We categorically reject DeSantis's autocratic claim to knowing what college-level material should be available in an AP African American Studies course." DeSantis and other Florida officials accused the lessons of being "indoctrination" for including Black queer studies, Black Lives Matter, reparations, and the abolishment of prisons.

☆ California shooting victims: Who died in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay attacks?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Jan 26 (Reuters) - Back-to-back mass shootings in California have claimed the lives of people who loved to dance at a studio in Monterey Park and farm workers in the coastal community of Half Moon Bay. HALF MOON BAY VICTIMSSeven people were killed and one person was in critical condition after a 66-year-old man on Monday attacked two mushroom farms near the resort town of Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, police said. "You look to improve your life and then you end up with this," said Juarez, quiet and sullen as he took a break from cooking at a Mexican restaurant in a Half Moon Bay strip mall. Perez was stunned when, upon arriving in Half Moon Bay in the late 1990s, he saw Martinez-Jimenez again at a party. The San Mateo County Coroner's Office declined to comment on the identities of the victims in the Half Moon Bay shooting.

☆ Suspect in California's latest shooting rampage due in court
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Alexandra Ulmer | Thomson Reuters | U.S. National Affairs Correspondent Who Spent Four Years In Venezuela Covering President Maduro'S Administration | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/3] A suspect is arrested by law enforcement personnel after a mass shooting at two locations in the coastal northern California city of Half Moon Bay, California, U.S. January 23, 2023 in a still image from video. HALF MOON BAY, Calif., Jan 25 (Reuters) - The man accused of shooting and killing seven farm workers near San Francisco in the latest of two back-to-back gun rampages in California that claimed 18 lives overall was due in court on Wednesday for his initial appearance before a judge. Chunli Zhao, 66, the lone suspect in Monday's massacre at two mushroom farms in the seaside town of Half Moon Bay, is expected to be formally presented with murder and other charges at the San Mateo County Superior Court in nearby Redwood City. The suspect was described as a resident of Half Moon Bay, a community of about 12,000 residents known for its foggy weather, fishing, and agriculture. San Mateo County jail records showed Zhao was booked on suspicion of premeditated murder, attempted murder and firearms offenses.

☆ Suspect in Half Moon Bay shooting rampage appears in California court
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Jorge Garcia | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

[1/6] A suspect is arrested by law enforcement personnel after a mass shooting at two locations in the coastal northern California city of Half Moon Bay, California, U.S. January 23, 2023 in a still image from video. The hearing was held at the San Mateo County Superior Court in nearby Redwood City, California. The complaint against Zhao also alleged "special circumstances" accusing Zhao of "personally and intentionally" shooting to kill. IMMIGRANT VICTIMSHalf Moon Bay, a community of about 12,000 residents south of San Francisco, is home to both a luxury resort and a low-income farming community. Two days before the Half Moon Bay killings, another gunman 380 miles to the south opened fire at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio, a club frequented mostly by older patrons of Asian descent in Monterey Park.

☆ California shootings: Who died in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay attacks?
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-24 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Jan 24 (Reuters) - Back-to-back mass shootings in California have claimed the lives of people who loved to dance at a studio in Monterey Park and farm workers in the coastal community of Half Moon Bay. MONTEREY PARK VICTIMSEleven people died after a 72-year-old gunman opened fire late Saturday during a celebration of the Lunar New Year at the Star Ballroom Dance Studio in Monterey Park, east of Los Angeles. There were six women killed: My Nhan, 65, Lilian Li, 63, Xiujuan Yu, 57, Muoi Ung, 67, Hong Jian, 62, and Diana Tom, 70. HALF MOON BAY VICTIMSSeven people were killed and one person was in critical condition after a 67-year-old man on Monday attacked two mushroom farms near the resort town of Half Moon Bay, south of San Francisco, police said. Police said two other people were also killed at the mushroom farm off Highway 1 just south of Half Moon Bay.

[1/5] Police officers detain a man, believed by law enforcement to be the Half Moon Bay mass shooting suspect, in Half Moon Bay, California, U.S., January 23, 2023, in this screengrab taken from a social media video. California Governor Gavin Newsom said he was visiting wounded survivors from Saturday night's massacre in the Los Angeles suburb of Monterey Park when he was informed of Monday's killings in northern California. A semi-automatic handgun was found in his car, San Mateo County Sheriff Christina Corpus told an evening news conference. It ranked as the deadliest mass shooting ever in Los Angeles County, according to Hilda Solis, a member of the county Board of Supervisors. Monterey Park Police Chief Scott Wiese said investigators were looking into unconfirmed reports that the violence may have been precipitated by jealousy or relationship issues.

It is exceedingly rare for a person over 70 to carry out a mass shooting. Flowers are left near the scene of a shooting that took place during a Chinese Lunar New Year celebration, in Monterey Park, California, U.S. January 22, 2023. Police in Monterey Park had no prior interactions with Tran, Chief Scott Wiese said at a news conference on Monday. He lived in San Gabriel, near Monterey Park, from the early 1990s until around 2014, records show. Reporting by Tim Reid in Monterey Park, California, and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing and additional reporting by Joseph Ax; Editing by Colleen Jenkins and David GregorioOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ California assesses damage after days of deadly storms
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-16 | by ( Rich Mckay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

Jan 16 (Reuters) - Authorities in California were set to assess damage on Monday after a wave of storms killed at least 19 people, swept away scores of homes and forced thousands to evacuate. Small rainstorms lingered early on Monday from San Francisco through central California and a few inches of snow fell on the foothills of the Sierras, the National Weather Service reported. "It's coming to an end as we speak," said meteorologist William Churchill on Monday morning at the National Weather Service (NWS) Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. The Russian River, swollen with floodwater following a chain of winter storms, flows past the town of Guerneville, California, U.S. January 15, 2023. Then most of the state will have sunny days and at least a 10-day spell of dry, cool weather.

Poloncarz updated the death toll from the blizzard on Wednesday, reporting 37 deaths in Erie County, with one other storm-related fatality in neighboring Niagara County. The goal was to get at least one lane of traffic open on each street by Wednesday night, Poloncarz said. The mercury climbed above freezing on Wednesday, and forecasts called for the thaw to continue with spring-like temperatures and showers likely by week's end. "We're actually expecting a rapid melt over the next two days, because we're going to hit 50 degrees (Fahrenheit)," Poloncarz said. Showers and thunderstorms are expected in the Gulf Coast and lower Mississippi Valley, the weather service said.

"We're recovering from the worst storm I've ever seen, certainly in terms of death from mother nature's wrath," he said. Progress was slow due to the sheer volume and depth of the snow, which Poloncarz said "is not plowable." [1/7] A "let’s go Buffalo" sign is seen behind an abandoned car on the road following a winter storm in Buffalo, New York, U.S., December 27, 2022. New York Governor Kathy Hochul called it an "epic, once-in-a-lifetime" weather disaster, the worst blizzard to hit the Buffalo area in 45 years. Buffalo residents with plows attached to their Jeeps and pickup trucks helped clear side streets.

[1/5] Abandoned cars are seen after being towed to a parking lot following a winter storm in Buffalo, New York, U.S., December 28, 2022. Almost all electricity was restored by Wednesday morning and temperatures were warming as Buffalo continued to dig out. The goal was to have at least one lane of traffic open on each street by Wednesday night, Poloncarz said. Melting snow presents a risk of flooding and about 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch of rain is expected in Western New York on Friday and Saturday. Reporting by Lindsay DeDario in Buffalo and Rich McKay in Atlanta.

[1/5] An aerial view of buildings during a blizzard in Buffalo, New York, U.S. December 26, 2022, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. "It's still snowing" in Western New York, said NWS meteorologist Bob Oravec, predicting two more inches. "This is probably the last of the snow," added Oravec, who is with the NWS Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. Buffalo, New York state's second largest city, was ground zero for the blizzard that took shape on Friday. Poloncarz, speaking at a press briefing Tuesday, urged residents to stay home and the curious to stay away.

☆ U.S. deep freeze forecast to break Christmas Eve records
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-24 | by ( Rich Mckay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Dec 24 (Reuters) - An arctic blast that has gripped much of the United States this week, disrupting daily life and holiday travel for millions of Americans, was expected to produce the coldest Christmas Eve on record in several cities from Pennsylvania to Florida. Temperatures are forecast to top out on Friday at just 8 degrees Fahrenheit (-13 Celsius) in Pittsburgh, the largest city in western Pennsylvania, surpassing its previous all-time coldest Christmas Eve high of 13 F, set in 1983, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The capital cities of Florida and Georgia - Tallahassee and Atlanta - were likewise expected to record their coldest daytime Christmas Eve high temperatures, while Washington, D.C., was forecast to experience its chilliest Dec. 24 since 1906. Extreme winter weather was blamed for at least five deaths on Friday. The NWS said its map of existing or impending meteorological hazards "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever."

As the storm took shape over the Great Lakes on Thursday, a weather phenomenon known as a bomb cyclone was likely to develop from a "rapidly deepening low-pressure" system, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The cyclone could spawn snowfalls of a half inch (1.25 cm) per hour and howling winds from the Upper Midwest to the interior Northeast, producing near-zero visibility, the weather service said. "It's dangerous and threatening," President Joe Biden said at the White House, urging Americans with travel plans to not delay and to set off on Thursday. Hundreds of Texans died in February 2021 after the state's power grid failed amid wintry storms, leaving millions without electricity. Greg Carbin, chief of forecast operations at the NWS Weather Prediction Center in Maryland, said freezing or below-freezing cold would bisect central Florida, with temperatures about 25 degrees below normal.

With the deep freeze stretching from Montana to Texas as it crept eastward, some 240 million people - more than two-thirds of the U.S. population - were under winter weather warnings and advisories on Friday, the National Weather Service (NWS) said. The map of existing or impending wintry hazards "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever," the NWS said. [1/5] A driver makes their way through a flooded street at high tide during a winter storm in Gloucester, Massachusetts, U.S., December 23, 2022. Their plight has added to local agencies scrambling to get people off the streets as the arctic blast arrived. While some areas downwind from the Great Lakes received a foot or more of snow on Friday, "the big story wasn't so much the falling snow but the blowing snow," weather service meteorologist Brian Hurley said.

☆ Deep freeze grips U.S. as winter 'bomb cyclone' looms ahead of holiday weekend
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Steve Gorman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Numbing cold intensified by high winds was expected to extend as far south as the U.S.-Mexico border. The NWS map of existing or impending wintry hazards, stretching from border to border and coast to coast, "depicts one of the greatest extents of winter weather warnings and advisories ever," the agency said. The bomb cyclone could unleash snowfalls of a half inch (1.25 cm) per hour driven by gale-force winds, cutting visibility to near zero, the weather service said. Power outages were expected from high winds, heavy snow and ice, as well as the strain of higher-than-usual energy demands. The weather service said relief from the deep freeze was in sight for the northern Rockies and High Plains, where the arctic blast first materialized on Thursday.

☆ Massive winter storm threatens holiday travel for millions of Americans
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Tyler Clifford | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

In its wake, the cyclone could spawn snowfalls of a half inch an hour and winds of more than 50 mph (80 kph) in the Upper Midwest and interior Northeast, the weather service said. "This will lead to dangerous, to at times impossible, land and air travel leading up to the holiday weekend," the agency said on its website. Temperatures in parts of the Southern Plains and Southeast could stay below freezing -- 30-plus degrees less than normal -- for multiple days, the weather service predicted. The weather service also warned of freezing rain in parts of Oregon and Washington in the Northwest, where the storm originated, late Thursday. That would be the biggest daily drop in output since the freeze of February 2021 when a winter storm cut gas supplies from Texas and forced the Texas electric grid operator to impose rolling power outages.

☆ Thousands reported without power after 6.4 earthquake hits offshore California
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Dec 20 (Reuters) - A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck off the coast of northern California on Tuesday, the U.S. Geological Survey said, as local authorities and media reported thousands of power outages and bridge damage. The earthquake was about 10 miles (16.1km) deep, USGS said, and struck about 7.4 (12km) west-southwest of Ferndale, California, about a four-hour drive north of San Francisco. There was no risk of a tsunami after the quake, the U.S. tsunami warning system said. In Ferndale and surrounding Humboldt County, more than 55,000 homes and businesses were without power early Tuesday, the electric grid tracking website Poweroutageus.com said. The California Independent System Operator, which oversees much of the state's electrical grid, issued a transmission emergency notice for the area following the earthquake.

☆ Shooting at Pennsylvania medical clinic leaves two wounded, suspect dead
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-15 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/3] View shows the scene of a shooting at a medical facility in Wyomissing, Pennsylvania, U.S., December 15, 2022. REUTERS/Hannah BeierDec 15 (Reuters) - A gunman wounded two people, including a woman with whom he had a "relationship," in the parking lot of a Pennsylvania medical clinic on Thursday before killing himself, local police said. The suspect came to the medical office in the town of Wyomissing to confront the woman, shooting her in either the neck or face, Police Chief John Phillips told reporters. The chief declined to identify the suspect but said police had "contact" with him in the past, without specifying the nature of the contact. Neither the police chief nor the hospital would comment on the conditions of the victims.

☆ Suspected vandals leave thousands in the dark in North Carolina
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-04 | by ( Rich Mckay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

Outages began around 7 p.m. Saturday, and utility workers found evidence at multiple electric substations that "indicated intentional vandalism had occurred," Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields said in a statement. But Brooks told NBC News that he could not further describe the nature of the possible crime. In Pinehurst, the county's largest community of about 20,000 residents, church was canceled at the Pinehurst United Methodist Church, which holds three services every Sunday. "Read your Bible, pray...and stay safe," church leaders posted on its Facebook, leaving open whether its Christmas concert would go on in the late afternoon. Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[1/3] Duke Energy workers gather as they plan how to repair a crippled electrical substation that they said was hit by gunfire after the Moore County Sheriff said that vandalism caused a mass power outage, in Carthage, North Carolina, U.S. December 4, 2022. REUTERS/Jonathan DrakeDec 4 (Reuters) - Residents of a central North Carolina county faced a second night of freezing weather without power on Sunday after vandals opened fire on two electric substations in what authorities called a "targeted attack." A motive for the Saturday night damage spree wasn't clear, said Moore County Sheriff Ronnie Fields. The lights went dark at about 7 p.m. Saturday for 40,000 homes and businesses in Moore County. Reporting by Rich McKay in Atlanta and reporting by Sharon Bernstein in Sacramento, Editing by Lisa ShumakerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ Buffalo supermarket shooting suspect pleads guilty to murder
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-28 | by ( Rich Mckay | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A man prays at a memorial at the scene of a weekend shooting at a Tops supermarket in Buffalo, New York, U.S. May 19, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermidNov 28 (Reuters) - An avowed white supremacist pleaded guilty on Monday to first-degree murder and other state charges in a mass shooting that killed 10 people in May at a supermarket in a predominantly Black neighborhood of Buffalo, New York, prosecutors said. At a hearing at Erie County Court, Payton Gendron, 19, pleaded guilty to multiple counts related to the shooting, which also left three people wounded. In June, he initially pleaded not guilty after a grand jury returned an indictment. Gendron, from Conklin, New York, was initially charged with 10 counts of first-degree murder and 10 counts of second-degree murder, all of them as hate crimes.

The gunman, identified as Andre Bing, 31, of Chesapeake, Virginia, said nothing as he began firing on workers gathered late on Tuesday ahead of their overnight shift, according to two employees who were in the break room. Another Walmart employee, Briana Tyler, told ABC's "Good Morning America": "I looked up and my manager just opened the door and he just opened fire." [1/6] FBI agents stand in the parking lot after a mass shooting at a Walmart in Chesapeake, Virginia, U.S. November 23, 2022. He told her that during the nightly meeting his manager was acting "strange" and "then started shooting," she told the news station. This was not the first mass shooting at a Walmart, which has thousands of stores across the country.

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