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| Holiday travelers stranded as snow and wild weather heads east - NBCNews.com Posted: 26 Dec 2012 07:49 AM PST The Weather Channel's David Malkoff reports from Fishers, Ind., where snow and wind are expected to increase over the next few hours, with record-breaking snow possible for much of the Midwest. By Tracy Connor, NBC News A Christmas storm that unleashed heavy snow and deadly winds on the nation's midsection set its sights on the eastern half of the country Wednesday, creating a post-holiday travel nightmare with hundreds of planes grounded and roads covered in ice. As millions of Americans braced for snow, rain, ice or even more tornadoes, some 644 flights had been and hundreds more delayed, according to the travel website FlightAware.com. The airports most affected were Indianapolis, Dallas/Fort Worth, Chicago O'Hare and Washington Dulles. "Blizzard warnings stretch for 730 continuous miles due to Winter Storm Euclid," The Weather Channel's Tom Niziol reported. The forecast called for heavy snow from northern Ohio into northern Pennsylvania into southern New York, possibly severe thunderstorms in the Southeast Atlantic, and a tornado threat in the eastern Carolinas. In Indianapolis, seven inches of snow fell in three hours Wednesday morning, bringing post-Christmas shopping to a halt, the Indianapolis Star reported. Stephen Canter, 44, ventured out before 8 a.m., and the roads were thick with snow when he headed back 30 minutes later. "By the time I got home, the street was covered," he told the newspaper. "I don't remember snow like this since Valentine's Day of 2007." Parts of New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania are also forecast to get hit with more than a foot of snow, and New England could get up to a foot. The blizzard warning in Ohio prompted United Airlines to cancel at least 60 percent of their flights at Cleveland Hopkins Airport beginning at noon on Wednesday, according to NBC affiliate WKYC.com. The weather system, which started over the weekend, has already wreaked havoc, claimed at least three lives and knocked out power to tens of thousands of people. Wind-toppled trees killed a pickup truck driver near Houston, Texas, and a 53-year-old man in north Louisiana. NBC affiliate KJRH reported that a 28-year-old woman was killed in a crash on a snowy highway near Fairview, Okla. Witnesses report significant storm damage in Mobile, Alabama. WPMI's John Dzenitis reports. Hundreds of flights delayed, canceled as holiday storms travel across country Christmas Day tornadoes – the preliminary count was 34 -- battered southern states, some captured on dramatic home videos. And Little Rock, Ark., didn't just have a rare White Christmas – it had its snowiest day ever with nine inches on the ground. After sweeping through the Midwest with blinding snow, a major winter storm brought a rare white Christmas to parts of the South and set off damaging tornadoes. The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore reports. The storms contributed to a 21-vehicle pile-up Tuesday that shut down a major highway in Oklahoma City, as well as tens of thousands of power outages. Emergency service provider MedStar told NBCDFW.com it responded to 71 crashes in the Fort Worth area between 5 p.m. and 9:50 p.m. Tuesday evening. As it tracked east, authorities were taking the storm seriously. In Indianapolis, Mayor Greg Ballard ordered "non-essential" workers to stay home and off roads. Homeowners in coastal Long Island, ravaged by Superstorm Sandy in October, were told to take precautions to prevent flooding with seas expected to peak at 15 feet, NBCNewYork.com reported. By the time it leaves the New England coast Friday, the storm will have left snow from coast to coast – and there could be another wallop coming soon. Weather Channel meteorologist Guy Walton said a weather pattern with the potential to become winter storm Freyr is poised to enter the West Coast on Wednesday and move through the Rockies on Thursday. It could then head for the lower Mississippi Valley, the Southeast and hit the Northeast on Sunday. The Weather Channel's Jim Cantore and The Associated Press contributed to this report. More content from NBCNews.com: |
| Teetering on the cliff, WH, Congress gear up for new round of talks - CBS News Posted: 26 Dec 2012 09:03 AM PST As the nation teeters on the edge of the so-called "fiscal cliff," President Obama returns to Washington Thursday to resume negotiations with Congress over a deal to keep taxes from going up on Americans. But a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the state of play as lawmakers trickle back to Capitol Hill for a new round of talks, and voters are expressing diminishing faith in the two sides' ability to hammer out an agreement. Mr. Obama, who spent Christmas in Hawaii with his family, announced yesterday he would be returning to Washington on an overnight flight tonight. But after ongoing negotiations fell apart last week between the president and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, it's not clear if a deal will be made before a series of tax hikes and spending cuts set to go into effect next year. According to a new Gallup poll, voters are markedly less optimistic now than in recent weeks that the two parties will be able to hammer out a compromise before January 1. The survey, conducted between Dec. 21-22, indicates that 50 percent of Americans believe that a deal is likely, while 48 percent say it's doubtful; in the previous three weeks, a firm majority of Americans expressed confidence that a deal could be reached.  Americans are more scared of guns than "fiscal cliff"Congressional Republicans have indicated in recent days that they have not been in communication with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., over the makings of a possible deal, and signs indicate that Reid is crafting his own package with input from the White House. Reid's proposal would likely be a stopgap measure extending the Bush-era tax cuts on 98 percent of incomes while letting them expire for the wealthiest Americans. It could also include enough short-term spending cuts to temporarily offset across-the-board spending cuts set to go into effect on January 1, 2013, and try to tie up some year-end loose ends by extending long-term unemployment benefits, patching the alternative minimum tax, and preventing a big scheduled drop-off in Medicare reimbursement rates to doctors at the start of the year. For such a bill to reach the president's desk, however, Boehner would have to agree to take it up in the House -- a move that could incite further ire among the conservative wing of his party. If he did decide to bring a Democratic bill up for a vote on the House floor, 26 Republicans and all 191 Democrats would have to vote for it to move the process forward. Many Democrats believe they have a sufficient amount of Republican support, however, and are urging Boehner to bend to their will. "If Speaker Boehner is willing to bring to the floor of the House a bill, and just let this House work its will, Democrats and Republicans voting as their conscience determines, then I believe we can get something done," Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., told Bloomberg TV recently. Another possibility is that Republicans allow the nation to go over the cliff, at which point the Bush-era tax cuts would expire and rates would go up on all Americans, before promptly working to pass a bill in January restoring those cuts for most of the population. That outcome could increase economic uncertainty on Wall Street but would allow congressional Republicans to uphold their commitment to not raising tax rates. "I'm not sure if either side is watching very carefully, and listening to what the American people think," said Republican strategist and pollster Frank Luntz in an interview today with "CBS This Morning." "When we asked the American people, Who is the GOP fighting for and representing? The number one answer, the rich. The number two answer, big business. Well, well back is number three, hard-working taxpayers. By the republicans fighting this tax increase on the most wealthy Americans, the public looks at that and says once again the GOP is standing up for the rich." The Democrats, Luntz argued, have been equally tone deaf. "What the Democrats don't understand is that the hostility towards how much Washington spends, that this whole discussion over the last six weeks has been about raising taxes on the wealthy rather than cutting wasteful Washington spending," he said. |
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