National

(BUFFALO, N.Y.) — At least 51 people have died nationwide from the wintry weather wreaking havoc across the U.S. over Christmas weekend.

The most deaths are in New York state, where 29 people have died in the wake of a massive lake effect snowstorm, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and local officials.

Hochul called the storm “the blizzard of the century” in western New York during a news conference Monday and said the White House has promised to quickly approve an emergency disaster declaration. President Joe Biden said he spoke to Hochul on Monday afternoon.

Twenty-seven of New York’s deaths are in Erie County, which includes the city of Buffalo, Mark Poloncarz, the executive of Erie County, said Monday. Among the causes of death confirmed by the Erie County Medical Examiner’s Office were three people who suffered heart attacks while shoveling or blowing snow, 14 people who were found outside and three who died due to an EMS delay.

“We do expect that there will be more,” Poloncarz said.

Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said 18 bodies were recovered in the city of Buffalo; most were found by police inside of vehicles.

A driving state of emergency remains in effect in Erie County and Poloncarz said police will start issuing summons to people driving around — “joyriding” — in violation of the driving ban. He said the city of Buffalo remains impassable.

Poloncarz said another 8 to 12 inches of snow is forecast for the region through 1 p.m. Tuesday. Buffalo received 43 inches of snow over the weekend, according to the National Weather Service.

Reports of looting

Poloncarz also said that police are investigating scattered reports of looting in Buffalo.

“I’m heartbroken about the deaths, just absolutely devastated to see as many deaths. And then to find out that there’s looting going on in our community at the same time we’re still recovering bodies is just horrible,” Poloncarz said.

Daniel Neaverth Jr., the Erie County commissioner of Emergency Services, said more than a dozen gas stations in the county have been reported inoperable “because the convenience side of them has been looted and the equipment inside has been rendered ineffective and thus the pumps for the fueling are ineffective.”

Neaverth said the looting was hampering emergency vehicles from fueling up.

“So if you don’t think there’s a trickle down from going looting and grabbing individual little things, this is a drastic implication for us that we now have to deal with to find alternate fuel sources,” Neaverth said.

Brown said police responded to several looting in the city of Buffalo and have made some arrests. The mayor said it was “reprehensible” that people are taking advantage of a natural disaster, calling the looters “the lowest of the low.”

Poloncarz said 12,473 utility customers countywide remain without power on Monday and he warned some might not have electricity until Tuesday due to the “serious nature of the substation damage.” He said power was restored to about 13,000 customers overnight.

At one point, 23,000 households lost power, said Jackie Bray, the state commissioner of Homeland Security and Emergency Services. Bray said 12,500 households remain without electricity Monday.

‘Winter wonderland tour’ bus rescue

Polocarz added that hundreds of cars were left abandoned on roadways across the county, including tractor-trailer rigs and buses.

“There are cars everywhere pointing the wrong direction on roads. They’ve basically been plowed in and need to be dug out and towed,” Poloncarz said.

Among the hundreds who had to be rescued was a group of tourists from around the world on a “winter wonderland bus tour,” Poloncarz said. He said the bus got stuck in the Buffalo suburb of Lackawanna and that rescue crews had to evacuate passengers and take them to a nearby shelter.

“These tourists are getting more than they bargained for with regards to their ‘winter wonderland tour’ as they’ve gone through one of the worst storms in U.S. history,” Poloncarz said.

The “colossal” snowstorm brought winds of nearly 80 mph to Buffalo, the governor said.

“This will go down in history as the most devastating storm” in Buffalo, Hochul said during a Christmas morning news conference.

Poloncarz said Monday that the death toll has now outpaced the Blizzard of 1977.

Buffalo initiated a travel ban as blizzard conditions moved in.

“I cannot overstate how dangerous the conditions still are,” Hochul said Sunday, urging people to stay off the roads on Christmas.

This storm marked the first time in history that the Buffalo Fire Department couldn’t respond to any calls, officials said. National Guardsmen have been called in.

Hundreds of people have been rescued from cars, Hochul said, adding, “We still have people who need to be rescued.”

Buffalo’s airport will be closed until Wednesday. Pittsburgh’s airport is sending plows to help dig out the runways.

The National Hockey League canceled the Tuesday game between the Buffalo Sabres and Columbus Blue Jackets due to the weather and the Sabres not being able to travel from Buffalo in time for the game.

Weather fatalities across the nation

Weather-related fatalities were also reported in Ohio, Vermont, Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky, according to The Associated Press.

The storm comes as brutally cold air slammed the country on Christmas morning.

The temperature plunged to minus 9 degrees in Minneapolis, 2 degrees in Chicago, 3 degrees in Denver, 15 degrees in New York, 16 degrees in Atlanta and 21 degrees in Dallas.

More than 6.3 million customers across the United States were without power at some point over the holiday weekend, officials said.

More than 165,000 customers woke up without power on Christmas morning across Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Virginia and Florida. The majority of those customers had power restored by Monday, though 15,800 customers in Maine and 13,900 in New York — the vast majority in Erie County — remained without power Monday afternoon.

Airlines continue to cancel thousands of flights in what is becoming a Christmas nightmare for so many. More than 18,200 flights have been canceled since Wednesday, according to FlightAware, a flight tracking website. More than 3,000 flights were canceled into, out of or within the United States on Christmas Eve, and more than 2,000 flights were canceled on Christmas Day.

Another 3,500 flights were canceled in the United States Monday, as of 3:30 p.m. Southwest Airlines is having significant systemwide issues and has canceled 2,600, or about 65%, of scheduled flights.

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(NEW YORK) – A look at the level of gun violence in the U.S. through statistics.

More than 6,000 children have been killed or injured in the United States by gunfire in 2022, the most ever recorded in the nine-year history of a nonprofit that tracks shooting incidents.

With five days to go in the year, the Gun Violence Archive found that 6,023 U.S. children 17 years old or younger have been killed or hurt in gunfire this year, surpassing the 5,708 killed or hurt 2021.

The Gun Violence Archive said it was the most children to die or be injured by gunfire in a single year since it started keeping track in 2014.

At least 306 children 11 years old or younger have been killed by gunfire in 2022, according to the website. Another 1,323 children between the ages of 12 and 17 died in shootings, according to the website.

In the first year the Gun Violence Archive began to track shootings in 2014, it recorded 2,859 children 17 years old or younger killed or injured by gunfire.

The grim statistics come after a 3-year-old girl in Kansas City, Missouri, was killed on Christmas Eve in what police suspect was an accidental shooting, Kansas City ABC affiliate KMBC reported.

The child shooting deaths in 2022 also include 19 students, all 11 years old or younger, killed in a mass shooting on May 24 at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas.

One of the youngest victims killed by gunfire this year was 5-month-old Cecilia Thomas, who was shot in the head while sitting in a car in Chicago during a June 24 drive-by shooting.

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(NEW YORK) — At least 39 people have died from the wintry weather wreaking havoc across the U.S. over Christmas weekend.

The highest number of fatalities is in New York state, where 17 people have died in the wake of a massive snowstorm, according to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul.

Ten of New York’s deaths are in the city of Buffalo. Mark Poloncarz, the executive of Erie County, which encompasses Buffalo, said he expects more fatalities.

The “colossal” snowstorm brought winds of nearly 80 mph to Buffalo, the governor said.

“This will go down in history as the most devastating storm” in Buffalo, Hochul said during a Christmas morning news conference.

Buffalo initiated a travel ban as blizzard conditions moved in.

“I cannot overstate how dangerous the conditions still are,” Hochul said Sunday, urging people to stay off the roads on Christmas.

This storm marked the first time in history that the Buffalo Fire Department couldn’t respond to any calls, officials said. National Guardsmen have been called in.

Hundreds of people have been rescued from cars, Hochul said, adding, “we still have people who need to be rescued.”

Buffalo’s airport will be closed until Tuesday.

Weather-related fatalities were also reported in Ohio, Vermont, Colorado, Wisconsin, Kansas, Missouri and Kentucky.

The storm comes as brutally cold air slammed the country on Christmas morning.

The temperature was forecast to plunge to minus 9 degrees in Minneapolis, 2 degrees in Chicago, 3 degrees in Denver, 15 degrees in New York, 16 degrees in Atlanta and 21 degrees in Dallas.

More than 165,000 customers woke up without power on Christmas morning across Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Virginia and Florida.

Over 3,000 flights were canceled into, out of or within the U.S. on Christmas Eve, and more than 2,000 flights were canceled on Christmas Day.

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(AUSTIN, Texas) — A Texas A&M University student who went missing more than a week ago has been found dead, police said.

The body of 22-year-old Tanner Hoang was found in Austin on Saturday, a College Station Police Department spokesperson told ABC News.

ABC News has reached out to the Austin Police Department for further information.

Hoang was last seen the morning of Dec. 16, authorities said. His family said they were going to the College Station school for his graduation and reported him missing when he did not show up to lunch before the ceremony.

“He was supposed to graduate but I’m not sure what happened that would cause him to leave,” his uncle, Bao Hoang, told ABC Waco affiliate KXXV earlier this week.

The student’s phone had been turned off, making it difficult to track him, according to his family.

After his vehicle was spotted several times on video, the car was ultimately found unoccupied in Austin on Thursday, according to Amber Alert Network Brazos Valley. The car was located near Pennybacker Bridge Overlook on Highway 360 at the Colorado River, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Volunteers organized a search in the area on Saturday, with the community urged to take precautions due to frigid Christmas Eve temperatures and rough terrain. Though law enforcement officers “asked that all search and volunteer efforts cease,” organizers said in an update early Saturday afternoon.

Hoang’s uncle called the disappearance “uncharacteristic.”

“He is always available, always showing up to help,” his uncle told KXXV. “Anytime that I’ve been back to Texas or anytime his grandparents would need help, he would show up there. Anytime his parents would need help, family gatherings, always show up.”

“That’s why we’re quite in disbelief that he would leave without notifying us,” he added.

Amid the search for Hoang, family members spoke out to him to come home.

“Tanner, we love you. God loves you,” his uncle said to KXXV. “Come home as soon as you get this message or the messages that’s been on Facebook for you.”

“We hope that he’s okay,” he continued. “We hope that everything will come to a conclusion that will be a reunion with the family.”

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(NEW YORK) — At least 23 people have died from the wintry weather wreaking havoc across the U.S. over Christmas weekend.

The highest number of fatalities are in upstate Erie County, New York, which encompasses Buffalo, where seven deaths were reported.

“This will go down in history as the most devastating storm” in Buffalo, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said at a Christmas morning news conference.

Power pole down in Buffalo from the fierce winds of #blizzard 2022 pic.twitter.com/UFY5ATJdcB

— Reed Timmer, PhD (@ReedTimmerAccu) December 25, 2022

The lake band is still raging, but it’s now south of the airport. Here’s a view of our office with some rather impressive snow mounds in the foreground. Many (many) cars are still buried throughout the area. pic.twitter.com/owto22GbF6

— NWS Buffalo (@NWSBUFFALO) December 25, 2022

The “colossal” snow storm brought winds of nearly 80 mph, the governor said.

Buffalo initiated a travel ban as blizzard conditions moved in.

“I cannot overstate how dangerous the conditions still are,” Hochul said Sunday, urging people to stay off the roads on Christmas.

This storm marked the first time in history that the Buffalo Fire Department couldn’t respond to any calls, officials said. National Guardsmen have been called in.

Hundreds of people have been rescued from cars, Hochul said, adding, “we still have people who need to be rescued.”

Buffalo’s airport will be closed until Tuesday.

Blizzard conditions ongoing in Watertown! #nywx pic.twitter.com/YTGBuBzLX2

— Chris Luft (@ChrisLuft25) December 25, 2022

The storm comes as brutally cold air slams the country on Christmas morning.

The temperature is forecast to plunge to minus 9 degrees in Minneapolis, 2 degrees in Chicago, 3 degrees in Denver, 15 degrees in New York, 16 degrees in Atlanta and 21 degrees in Dallas.

Over 165,000 customers woke up without power on Christmas morning across Maine, New York, New Hampshire, Virginia and Florida.

Over 3,000 flights were cancelled into, out of or within the U.S. on Christmas Eve, and more than 1,600 flights are cancelled so far on Christmas Day.

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(LOS ANGELES) — A family is pleading for answers a week after they say their daughter was shot in the head while driving on a California highway and remains on life support.

Ronni Newt, 26, was shot multiple times on Dec. 17 while on U.S. Route 101 in the San Fernando Valley, police said.

She was heading to meet up with friends at the time, her parents said.

“She said that she would be back in a couple of hours because we were going to decorate our tree,” her mother, Francine Webster, told ABC Los Angeles station KABC.

California Highway Patrol officers responded to the scene following reports of a traffic collision around 5:15 p.m. They found a black Audi sedan on the shoulder. The driver, Ronni Newt, had been stuck by “multiple gunshots” and was transported to a local hospital in critical condition, California Highway Patrol said.

“This is the call you never want to get. This is the thing as a parent you fear,” Robert Newt, the victim’s father, told KABC. “I pray every night for my kids to be protected.”

Ronni Newt, who was described by her mother as having a “big heart” and a “lot of personality,” was shot in the head and remains in a coma on life support, according to her parents.

“It’s beyond me that something could be said that could actually make you pull out a gun and shoot somebody,” Robert Newt told KABC.

In the week since the shooting, there have been limited leads into what happened and no suspects have been identified, a California Highway Patrol spokesperson said.

Newt’s parents are now urging any witnesses to come forward.

“If you saw anything, anything that was strange, anything out of the ordinary,” Robert Newt told KABC. “If you saw the color of the car, if you saw the make of the car — no clue is too small.”

The two have been by their daughter’s side in the hospital daily since the shooting and are praying for her recovery, while also waiting for answers.

“There are a lot of people that love her that are supporting her, that want to see whoever did this to her apprehended,” Webster told the station.

California Highway Patrol said it is seeking any dash-cam videos and recordings taken between 4:45 p.m. and 5:30 p.m. on Dec. 17, northbound and southbound along US-101 from I-405 to Tampa Avenue.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the CHP Southern Division’s Major Crimes Unit at -323-644-9550 or Crime Stoppers at 800-222-8477 or lacrimestoppers.org.

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(BLOOMINGTON, Minn.) – A 19-year-old man is dead after a verbal altercation became violent in a Nordstrom branch at the Mall of America on Friday evening.

Bloomington Police Chief Booker Hodges said in a press conference late Friday evening that at approximately 7:50 p.m., an officer heard gunshots near the Nordstrom at the mall. But when the officer went into the store, they found a man who had been shot multiple times.

The officer tried to perform life-saving measures on the victim but the man ultimately succumbed to his injuries, authorities said.

The Mall of America in Minnesota was put on lockdown after the shooting, the Bloomington Police Department said, but was reopened a little over an hour later shortly after 9 p.m. The Nordstrom’s branch remained closed.

After reviewing surveillance footage of the incident, authorities believe a verbal altercation began between two groups of people before it turned physical. During the conflict a man allegedly pulled out a gun and shot the 19-year-old, Hodges said.

It is believed that the entire altercation lasted about 30 seconds, authorities said.

Police are now in the process of identifying the suspects but no arrests have been made at this time, Hodges said.

The victim who died in the shooting has not yet been identified.

“The family here, I feel really bad for them.” Hodges said. “This is before Christmas, and now they’re having to bury one of their loved ones.”

The Nordstrom will remain closed on Saturday but the Mall of America will open as usual.

ABC News’ Victoria Arancio contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol on Friday released its latest batch of transcripts from interviews conducted during the probe.

The 46 transcripts, available on the committee’s website, include the panel’s interviews with former White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany and former President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka.

The transcripts show that Trump called McEnany days after she received her subpoena to testify before the Jan. 6 committee, according to McEnany’s testimony.

But McEnany told investigators she ignored the call.

“I believe, shortly after I was subpoenaed, I received a call from President Trump, but I did not answer the call,” she said, according to the transcripts. “As I noted to the committee, I have not spoken with him since being subpoenaed. But that’s all to the best of my recollection. I might have received another text I’m forgetting about.”

In its voluminous final report released late Thursday night, the committee said they are aware of “multiple efforts by President Trump to contact Select Committee witnesses,” and that the Justice Department is aware of at least one of those circumstances.

McEnany said she also received a text from General Keith Kellogg and Trump ally Kash Patel after being subpoenaed, and had a phone call with former Trump aide Stephen Miller.

Ivanka Trump, in her testimony, repeatedly told the committee that she could not recall or remember the answers to their questions about her actions and conversations on Jan. 6 — including those with her father.

According to the transcripts, the phrase “don’t recall,” “don’t remember,” or “don’t know” came up more than 300 times amongst her and investigators while she was being interviewed.

Committee members at times appeared skeptical about some of Ivanka’s responses, including when she claimed she never discussed the events of Jan. 6 with her husband, Jared Kushner, as they returned home from the White House that night.

“You just lived through what is understandably very — as you’ve explained, an experience that I think was incredibly traumatic,” committee vice chair Liz Cheney pressed her at one point. “You’d been directly involved in that. It was exceedingly intense. And you haven’t talked to your husband about it since?”

“Ivanka Trump was not as forthcoming as … others about President Trump’s conduct,” the committee noted in its summary report released earlier in the week. “Indeed, Ivanka Trump’s Chief of Staff Julie Radford had a more specific recollection of Ivanka Trump’s actions and statements.”

According to the testimony of former White House communications director Hope Hicks, days after the attack on the Capitol she was asked by Trump if Jan 6. was “as bad as everyone says it was?” Hicks told him yes, she testified.

Following Jan. 6, Hicks said she texted a colleague regarding Trump: “In one day he ended every future opportunity that doesn’t include speaking engagements at the local Proud Boys chapter.”

Other interviewees whose transcripts were released Friday include former attorney general Bill Barr, former White House counsel Pat Cipollone, former acting attorney general Jeffrey Rosen, Trump-backed attorney Sidney Powell, and Marc Short, who was chief of staff to Vice President Mike Pence.

Friday’s release followed the release of three dozen interview transcripts over the last week.

Among those witnesses whose testimony was released earlier this week are former President Donald Trump’s one-time national security adviser Michael Flynn, Proud Boys leader Enrique Tarrio, Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes, Infowars host Alex Jones, onetime Trump campaign adviser Roger Stone, and Trump-backed attorneys John Eastman and Jenna Ellis.

Most of those transcripts contained responses from the witnesses invoking their Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

The committee’s final report, the culmination of its 17-month probe, called on Congress to consider barring Trump from holding further office for leading what it called a “multi-part conspiracy to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 Presidential election.”

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(NEW YORK) — The Mega Millions jackpot has jumped to an estimated $510 million.

After players failed to win the top prize on Tuesday night, the amount rose to $510 million, the second-largest Mega Millions jackpot this year. Numbers for the latest prize will be drawn Friday night at 11 p.m. ET.

The cash prize totals $266.8 million.

In July, the jackpot surpassed the massive $1 billion mark for only the third time in the 20-year history of Mega Millions.

The historic $1.34 billion prize was won by an anonymous ticket owner in Des Plaines, Illinois.

The last winning ticket for a Mega Millions jackpot was on Oct. 14. Two ticket winners split a $502 million prize.

Only six Mega Millions jackpots have been won this year. Winning tickets were in California, Florida, New York, Minnesota, Illinois and Tennessee.

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(NEW YORK) — A massive storm is bringing blizzard conditions and icy roads to the U.S. right as the holiday travel rush gets underway.

Cancellations, delayed deliveries and outages

Over 4,800 flights are canceled within, into or out of the U.S. so far on Friday.

FedEx and UPS warned that customers could see delays on Christmas deliveries due to the weather’s impact on major shipping hubs.

More than 1.5 million customers are without power in the U.S. and states of emergency have been declared from South Dakota to New York.

“This is really a very serious weather alert,” President Joe Biden warned Thursday. “Please take this storm extremely seriously.”

Danger on the roads

At least one person is dead from a 50-vehicle crash on the Ohio Turnpike, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

State police, including in New York, Illinois and Michigan, are urging people to stay off the roads.

The Michigan State Police said nine semi-tractor trailers crashed on Interstate 94 in Berrien County, where “visibility is near zero.” A seven car pileup was reported in the same area, according to police.

“There are thousands of our first responders, emergency management personnel and utility crews out working in the elements to keep New Yorkers safe today,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Friday. “I’m asking everyone to stay off the roads this evening as conditions will worsen when temperatures drop across the state later today. Bundle up, stay indoors, and stay safe this weekend.”

Latest forecast

The storm barreled across the Midwest and Great Lakes on Thursday.

Blizzard conditions will continue in the Great Lakes into Friday.

Several feet of snow could drop in Michigan and western New York.

Only a few inches of snow is expected for the rest of the Midwest. But the combination of the snow, wind and brutal cold will make travel extremely dangerous throughout the day Friday.

Meanwhile, heavy rain invaded the Northeast Thursday night, flooding roads from Virginia to New York.

The heavy rain is ongoing in New England.

As the temperature plunges on Friday, roads could turn to ice, so those hitting the road for the holidays should use extreme caution.

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