(NEW YORK) — A large storm over the central U.S. is bringing a range of weather issues, from flooding rain and severe weather to heavy snow in the Rockies.
This early season snowstorm has brought more than three feet of snow to portions of New Mexico.
Angel Fire, New Mexico, is home to a popular ski resort that has picked up 40 inches of snowfall in the last 36 hours. That’s still 8 inches below their record snowfall for one storm.
Las Vegas, New Mexico, has picked up 31.7 inches of snow from this storm, breaking their all-time record snowfall of 27 inches in 1958.
Rociada, New Mexico, had 36 inches of snow; 28 inches of snow fell in Genoa, Colorado; 24.5 inches fell in Colorado Springs, Colorado; 20 inches fell in Kenton, Oklahoma.
Denver, Colorado’s snow total of 19.2 inches makes this their third-largest November snowstorm on record.
Winter Storm Warnings have been allowed to expire across parts of Colorado Saturday morning, as the snow tapers off and quieter weather moves in.
Rafael feeds flood threat
Tropical Storm Rafael is meandering around the central Gulf of Mexico with winds of 50 mph.
After seeing so much activity in the Gulf of Mexico this hurricane season, it’s a relief to see a storm that will not be making landfall as a dangerous storm.
There will be indirect impacts from Rafael as some of the moisture from this storm is pulled into a front as it moves across the south Saturday.
There is a High Risk for Excessive Rainfall in parts of Louisiana today with up to 8 inches of rain in the forecast. That flash flood risk extends as far north as Kentucky today.
Rafael is also churning up the seas enough to bring a dangerous rip current risk to several beaches along the Gulf Coast this weekend.
Waves up to 7 feet have prompted High Surf Advisories through Sunday, with minor coastal flooding also possible in parts of Louisiana.
Wildfire risk
While there are several dangerous wildfires still burning in the west, the conditions have improved enough to limit fire growth this weekend across California.
In the Northeast, a Red Flag Warning remains in effect for portions of 6 states on Saturday due to elevated fire weather concerns.
Wind gusts up to 35 mph and humidity as low as 25% could help to rapidly spread any fires that flare up, so residents are urged to avoid open flames this weekend.
Rain will move into the northeast by Sunday night, offering a bit of relief to an area that hasn’t seen much measurable rainfall in more than a month.
While any rainfall is better than nothing, this is not looking to put a dent in the severe to extreme drought across much of the northeast.
(NEW YORK) — A new study is highlighting a dramatic rise in caffeine-related emergency room visits among kids.
The study, released Monday by Epic Research, found the number of caffeine-related ER visits for middle school-aged children nearly doubled from 2017 to 2023, rising from 3.1 per 100,000 visits in 2017 to 6.5 per 100,000 visits in 2023.
For high school-aged children, the rate nearly doubled, rising from 7.5 per 100,000 visits in 2017 to 13.7 per 100,000 visits in 2023, according to the study.
Notably, the study, which looked at more than 223 million ER visits, found that boys had triple the rate of caffeine-related ER visits as girls.
The new study comes less than two months after the release of a report showing a rise in calls to poison centers involving children who consumed energy drinks, which often have high levels of caffeine.
The number of calls to U.S. poison centers about children consuming energy drinks increased about 20% in 2023 after years of remaining relatively flat, according to data from America’s Poison Centers, which accredits and represents 55 poison centers across the country.
Amid the alarming data, here are three things for parents and guardians to know about caffeine and kids.
1. Milk and water are recommended for kids.
Both the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the American Academy of Pediatrics say water and milk are the best drink options for kids.
The current U.S. dietary guidelines say children under the age of 2 should not have any caffeine. For kids under age 12, caffeine is also not recommended.
It is not known exactly how much caffeine is safe or unsafe for teens or young children, since studies of its effects are not permitted on children.
For adults, the FDA has cited around 400 milligrams of caffeine a day as a generally safe amount, though it notes there is “wide variation” in people’s sensitivity to caffeine.
For reference, a 12-ounce caffeinated soft drink contains anywhere from 23 to 84 milligrams of caffeine, according to the FDA, while a 12-ounce cup of coffee contains 113 to 247 milligrams of caffeine.
2. Caffeine is also in foods, not just drinks.
While caffeine is most often thought of as an ingredient in drinks like coffee, sodas and energy drinks, it is also found in different foods and products, according to the FDA.
Ice cream, chewing gum, protein bars, chocolate chips, energy bars and some over-the-counter medications may also contain caffeine, which has the same effects as when it occurs naturally in drinks like coffee or tea, according to the agency.
Decaffeinated teas and coffees also contain some caffeine.
The FDA recommends reading product ingredient labels carefully to check for caffeine. When it is added to a product, it must be listed on the label as “caffeine.”
When caffeine is naturally in a product, like chocolate, just the caffeine-containing ingredient is listed, according to the FDA.
Multiple signs may indicate a caffeine overdose or poisoning including but not limited to an increased heart rate, heart palpitations, increased blood pressure, nausea or anxiousness. Children with caffeine poisoning may also experience rapid breathing or tremors.
In severe cases, too much caffeine can lead to seizures or cardiac arrest.
In milder cases, too much caffeine can cause dehydration, upset stomach, sleep changes, headaches and jumpiness.
If a child or adult exhibits any such symptoms after consuming a caffeinated drink, they should seek medical attention immediately.
For poisoning-related questions, or if you need emergency assistance, you can contact Poison Help at 1-800-222-1222, or visit PoisonHelp.org.
ABC News’ Youri Benadjaoud contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — Despite Kamala Harris’ loss, pro-abortion rights activists are celebrating the results of the 2024 election, arguing that abortion rights won.
“When we look at the election results from this week, we saw voters in states that are really different from each other, in large majorities support abortion rights,” Elisabeth Smith, the director of state policy at the Center for Reproductive Rights, told ABC News in an interview.
Abortion was a central issue in Harris’s campaign as she sought to draw a stark difference between her vision for the country and President-elect Donald Trump’s. But, exit polling shows some supporters of abortion rights still voted for Trump, despite Roe v. Wade being overturned as a result of his U.S. Supreme Court appointments.
The battlegrounds of Arizona and Nevada were among 10 states with abortion on the ballot Tuesday. Some strategists hypothesized that this would boost turnout among the majority of voters who support legal abortion, aiding Democratic candidates in the process.
Trump’s approach, focusing on states’ rights, appeared to resonate with voters who didn’t view abortion access as incompatible with a Trump presidency. In Arizona, 23% who voted “yes” on the state’s initiative enshrining abortion rights in the state constitution also voted for Trump. In Nevada, where another abortion rights measure was approved, 27% of “yes” voters elected Trump.
This followed at the national level. Among the two-thirds of voters who said abortion should be legal in all or most cases, 28% voted for Trump; that included 30% in Arizona, 33% in Nevada and 36% in Florida.
Supporters of legal abortion still broke strongly for Harris, but partisan elasticity on the issue did not cut both ways. As Harris made abortion access a central focus of her campaign, she won only 9% of voters who said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases. In Arizona, anti-abortion voters made up 31% of the electorate and backed Trump by 95%.
“In thinking about what seems like a contradiction, research has shown that Americans — when there is an abortion ballot or abortion-protecting constitutional amendment or initiative on the ballot — they don’t see abortion as a partisan issue,” Smith said. “Americans see abortion as an issue of liberty and of freedom.”
“In 2022, 10% of voters in the state of Kentucky voted against the restrictive constitutional amendment that was on their ballot and for Rand Paul — a senator who has made his opposition to abortion rights known,” Smith said.
Trump has also told voters that there won’t be a federal abortion ban and it could be that voters were persuaded by him, Smith said.
“I don’t think that people know that a federal abortion ban would preempt state constitutional protection. So I think there could also be this sense ‘I’m voting yes on this amendment, and that means my state is fine,'” Smith said.
At least 14 states have ceased nearly all abortion services since Roe v. Wade was overturned. In total, 21 states have restrictions on abortion in effect.
Seven of the 10 states with abortion on the ballot are projected to vote in favor of abortion rights while three states are projected to uphold abortion restrictions — marking a first since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Six states previously voted in favor of abortion rights in the 2022 midterm elections.
In Florida, 57% of voters voted in favor of enshrining protections for abortion rights in the state’s constitution, but the measure failed to reach the 60% threshold it needed to pass. Still, abortion rights groups dubbed this measure a success, saying a majority of voters sided with abortion.
“Abortion won big,” said Gretchen Borchelt, the vice president for reproductive rights and health at the National Women’s Law Center, at a press conference Wednesday. “If not for the rigged rules and for the very intentional and purposeful efforts to confuse and mislead voters and change the goal post and change the rules, abortion access would have won, certainly in Florida but in Nebraska and South Dakota too.”
In Nebraska, two contradicting abortion-related amendments on the ballot confused voters, likely contributing to the failure of the initiative, Smith argued.
“There is research, outside of the abortion context, but about ballot initiatives that show that when voters are confronted with two choices on the same question, that creates a lot of confusion about what people are voting for. And in Nebraska, when signatures were being collected, there were voters who alleged that they were told they were signing the abortion rights petition and later found out they had signed the petition against abortion rights,” Smith said.
Despite the success of ballot initiatives, advocates need to make it more understandable to people that their elected officials greatly determine their ability to access reproductive healthcare like abortion, Kelly Baden, the Guttmacher Institute’s vice president of policy told ABC News in an interview.
“Women are dying from these abortion bans. And so unfortunately, to to see that that reality wasn’t sufficient for people to fully prioritize abortion rates up and down the ballot in every way possible is it’s a tough pill to swallow,” Baden said.
“Seven states did soundly declare their support for abortion, active rights via ballot measures and I think there’s a bigger conversation of how and why people are able to make that make sense in their own voting patterns. That is a problem that predates Trump,” Baden said.
(NEW YORK) — Shares in Donald Trump’s social media company spiked after the president-elect again vowed not to sell his stake in the parent company of Truth Social and called for an investigation into “market manipulators or short sellers.”
Trump Media’s stock price increased by nearly 16 percent to $32 per share on Friday, as investors reacted to the news.
In interviews with ABC News before the election, some shareholders expressed optimism about the company’s future if Trump won the election, in large part due to his potential ability to investigate and stop so-called “naked short sellers,” who they blamed for the company’s lackluster stock price.
Earlier this year, Trump Media’s CEO Devin Nunes called for Nasdaq to investigate whether the company’s stock price was manipulated by short sellers betting against the company without owning or borrowing shares.
“I’m very happy he’s the president and think he’ll do something about the short selling when he gets into office,” Todd Schlanger, a shareholder from West Palm Beach, told ABC News.
“The system seems kind of rigged,” Todd Schlanger, a shareholder from West Palm Beach, told ABC News earlier this year. “Once he becomes president, I think he’s going to fire the head of the SEC, and I think that’s going to make a big change for the company and for all companies.”
Shares in the company — which some analysts saw as a bellwether for Trump’s electoral odds — have surged since late September when the stock traded as low as $12. As Trump’s odds of winning the election improved, the stock’s value tripled in October, trading at more than $50 per share.
But the company’s long-term success remains uncertain, with the company losing more than $19 million during the last quarter while bringing in only $1 million in revenue, according to a recent SEC filing.
According to Similarweb, a data tracking site, the site only attracts 3.7 million unique monthly visitors, compared to rival X’s 461.4M monthly visitors.
As Trump heads into office and the company’s share price continues to surge, his 57 percent stake in the company is worth nearly $4 billion.
(SEATTLE) — Five people were stabbed in Seattle on Friday, marking the latest incident in a string of stabbings over the past two days in the same area, police said.
A suspect was taken into custody following Friday’s stabbing attack, which appeared to be random, Seattle Police Deputy Chief Eric Barden told reporters at a press briefing.
The suspect, whose name has not been released, is believed to be linked to several of the recent stabbing incidents, police said.
The latest stabbing incident occurred Friday afternoon in the 1200 block of South Jackson Street, in the Chinatown-International District, Seattle police said.
Four of the victims were transported to a local hospital in various conditions, including one who still had a knife in them, Barden said. A fifth victim was treated and released at the scene, police said.
A man matching a description given by witnesses was located nearby and arrested without incident, Barden said. A weapon was also recovered near the suspect, he said.
“This is a horrific tragedy, a mass casualty event,” Barden said.
In addition to the five victims in this incident, five other people have been stabbed in the area in a roughly 38-hour period, according to Seattle police.
The suspect is believed to be linked to four of those stabbings, while one is still being investigated, police said.
The first incident occurred early Thursday, in which a 52-year-old woman was stabbed eight times, police said.
Three other stabbing incidents involving male victims occurred on Thursday, police said. Two of the victims were stabbed multiple times. The other victim told police the assailant tried to stab him in the chest but he managed to block the assault, though sustained a cut to his hand, police said. The victim’s cellphone was also stolen, police said.
Another stabbing occurred early Friday, where a victim was found bleeding “heavily from the neck” and transported to a local hospital in serious condition, police said.
Barden said that beyond the robbery incident, the stabbings appeared to be “just random attacks.”
“This incident was apparently one individual over a 38-hour period of time committing random assaults. That is an aberration. That is not at all the norm,” Barden said. “With a suspect in custody, I think we are returned to normal.”
(NEW YORK) — The Chinese effort to hack prominent Americans is far more pervasive than previously reported, ABC News has learned.
Sources told ABC News that U.S. law enforcement and intelligence officials are concerned the espionage operation by the Chinese government may have been in place for well over a year — and perhaps longer — before it was recently discovered.
The Chinese appear to have been able to gather large volumes of data in a sweeping covert campaign targeting the cellphones and mobile devices of business leaders and other high profile Americans of both political parties, according to sources familiar with the investigation.
The evidence is mounting that in some cases the Chinese operation was able to tap into, or get access to, what cellphone users of Verizon, AT&T and Lumen were communicating.
Authorities are trying to determine whether the Chinese were able to listen to conversations and watch text messages in real time, as they were occurring, or if they captured the material for review at a later time.
Sources said that U.S. officials are only beginning to understand the breadth of the Chinese operation, but what they have found so far is deeply concerning and represents a massive breach of privacy on a disturbing scale.
The targets have included not only former President Donald Trump and Sen. JD Vance, but also individuals working in a number of government agencies.
The FBI is systematically contacting victims, sources said.
Salt Typhoon, the name given to an advanced, persistent threat actor run by the Chinese government, is believed to be behind the operation.
Intelligence officials suspect Salt Typhoon hackers exploited routers as a gateway to cellphones and mobile devices, and there is concern that Chinese capabilities for intrusion may have made significant advances.
In a statement issued last month, Verizon representatives said, “We are aware that a highly sophisticated nation-state actor has reportedly targeted several U.S. telecommunications providers to gather intelligence. Along with federal law enforcement, industry peers and third-party cyber experts, we have been and are working to confirm, assess and remediate any potential impact. Verizon is committed to assisting law enforcement in this investigation.”
Representatives for AT&T and Lumen declined to comment.
(WASHINGTON, D.C) — Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, in portions of a New York Times podcast interview published Friday, blamed Vice President Kamala Harris’ election loss on President Joe Biden’s late exit from the presidential race and the lack of Democratic primary.
Pelosi told Lulu Garcia-Navarro, a host of “The Interview,” that “had the president [Biden] gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” the paper said in a story about the Thursday interview. The exchange won’t be posted in full until Saturday.
“The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” Pelosi said.
“And as I say, Kamala may have, I think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward. But we don’t know that. That didn’t happen. We live with what happened. And because the president endorsed Kamala Harris immediately, that really made it almost impossible to have a primary at that time. If it had been much earlier, it would have been different,” she added.
As ABC News has reported, Pelosi worked behind the scenes to urge Biden to drop out of the presidential race following his performance at CNN’s debate.
The Times reported Pelosi also took issue with Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders saying, after Harris’ loss, that “It should come as no great surprise that a Democratic Party which has abandoned working class people would find that the working class has abandoned them.”
“Bernie Sanders has not won,” she said. “With all due respect, and I have a great deal of respect for him, for what he stands for, but I don’t respect him saying that the Democratic Party has abandoned the working-class families.”
The paper reported she suggested that cultural issues were more to blame for Democrats’ losses among working-class voters.
“Guns, God and gays — that’s the way they say it,” she reportedly said. “Guns, that’s an issue; gays, that’s an issue, and now they’re making the trans issue such an important issue in their priorities; and in certain communities, what they call God, what we call a woman’s right to choose.”
(SANTA FE, NM) — A major storm system is bringing a historic early season snowstorm to New Mexico and Colorado.
Some areas could see up to 3 to 4 feet of snow, as the storm system moves out of the Southwest and into the western Plains.
A blizzard warning has been issued for parts of northern New Mexico, where a combination of strong winds and snow could reduce visibility to near zero.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham issued two statewide emergency declarations this week in response to the storm.
“This declaration gives the state more resources to continue supporting local responders as this major snowstorm persists,” Lujan Grisham said in a statement on Thursday. “I thank every single responder who has been out in the cold since Wednesday clearing roads, escorting people to safety, and doing what needs to be done to support New Mexicans challenged by this storm.”
Since Wednesday, New Mexico State Police officers have responded to “multiple calls” to assist stranded motorists, the governor’s office said.
The state’s Department of Transportation and New Mexico National Guard have been working to clear roads.
In Colorado, several locations, from Pueblo to Colorado Springs, have already gotten 12 to 18 inches of snow as of the late morning Friday, as snow continues to fall.
A winter storm warning is in effect Friday for Denver, which could see 8 to 16 inches of snow.
Schools were canceled Friday in Denver due to the storm.
“Major” weather impacts are expected in eastern Colorado starting Friday, the Colorado Department of Transportation said.
“Conditions will worsen through the day and evening as heavy snow spreads northwest across the area,” the National Weather Service in Boulder said on social media. “Impossible travel east and southeast of Denver!”
The same storm system is also expected to bring heavy rain to parts of Texas and Oklahoma, where there is a flash flood threat Friday. Locally, at least 5 inches of rain is possible.
As the storm system moves north and east on Saturday, the heavy rain threat will move into the Mississippi River Valley, from Tennessee to Louisiana.
ABC News’ Melissa Griffin contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — A text messaging service said Friday that it discovered “one or more” of its users allegedly sent out racist text messages to phone numbers across the country and that the service quickly shut down the accounts.
A representative from TextNow, a mobile provider that allows people to create phone numbers for free, told ABC News that the company was cooperating with law enforcement and condemned the vile messages that were sent to users this week.
The texts, which tell the user they’re going to be taken to a plantation to “pick cotton,” have been reported in at least 14 states and primarily appeared to target Black users from teenagers to adults, according to investigators in several states.
The messages address the recipients by name.
The TextNow representative said once the accounts that were allegedly behind the texts were reported, their teams disabled the accounts in less than an hour.
“As part of our investigation into these messages, we learned they have been sent through multiple carriers across the US and we are working with partners and law enforcement cooperatively to investigate this attack,” the representative said in a statement.
“We do not tolerate or condone the use of our service to send messages that are intended to harass or spam others and will work with the authorities to prevent these individuals from doing so in the future,” the representative added.
One text message reviewed by ABC News read, “You have been selected to pick cotton at the nearest plantation. Be ready at 12 pm sharp with your belongings. Our executive slaves will come get you in a brown van. Be prepared to be searched down once you’ve enter the plantation. You are in plantation group W.”
As of Friday, the texts were reported by authorities in California, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and New York.
Local and federal investigators, including the FBI, said they were looking into the messages and urged anyone who received them to contact the authorities. The probes are ongoing.
A senior law enforcement official told ABC News that it has not been determined if the source of the racist texts is domestic or foreign, but efforts are underway to determine the origins of the sources.
Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill said in a video statement posted on X Friday that “some” of the racist text messages “can be traced back to a VPN in Poland.”
“At this time, they have found no original source – meaning they could have originated from any bad actor state in the region or the world. We will continue to investigate,” Murrill said.
NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson condemned the texts and said that many in the Black community are already on edge because of what he sad was a rise in racist rhetoric during the election season.
“These messages represent an alarming increase in vile and abhorrent rhetoric from racist groups across the country, who now feel emboldened to spread hate and stoke the flames of fear that many of us are feeling after Tuesday’s election results,” Johnson said.
ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Abby Cruz, Luke Barr, Pierre Thomas and Emmanuelle Saliba contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The judge in former President Donald Trump’s federal election interference case has paused all upcoming deadlines in the case, after special counsel Jack Smith filed a motion Friday requesting the pause.
As ABC News previously reported, Smith and the Justice Department are in talks about the best way to wind down the election case and his classified documents case, following Trump’s election victory on Tuesday.
The decision is based on longstanding Department of Justice policy that a sitting president cannot face criminal prosecution while in office, sources said.
“As a result of the election held on November 5, 2024, the defendant is expected to be certified as President-elect on January 6, 2025, and inaugurated on January 20, 2025,” Friday’s filing said. “The Government respectfully requests that the Court vacate the remaining deadlines in the pretrial schedule to afford the Government time to assess this unprecedented circumstance and determine the appropriate course going forward consistent with Department of Justice policy.”
“By December 2, 2024, the Government will file a status report or otherwise inform the Court of the result of its deliberations. The Government has consulted with defense counsel, who do not object to this request,” said the filing.
Trump last year pleaded not guilty to federal charges of undertaking a “criminal scheme” to overturn the results of the 2020 election in order to remain in power.
Smith subsequently charged Trump in a superseding indictment that was adjusted to respect the Supreme Court’s July ruling that Trump is entitled to immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts undertaken as president.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has been in the process of considering how the case should proceed in light of the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling,
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
