At least five dead and 600,000 without power as storm hammers much of the US

Published

4 months ago

January 10, 2024

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At least five people died and hundreds of thousands were in the dark as storms covered much of the US on Tuesday.

Tornadoes swept across the midwest and south of the country, blizzards were felt in the northwest, and parts of the east of the country were threatened with flooding.

In the northeast of the country, New Jersey governor Phil Murphy declared a state of emergency and New York City officials evacuated nearly 2,000 migrants housed at a sprawling tent complex ahead of predicted wind speeds that could top 70mph.

In Maine, the governor Janet Mills delayed the opening of all state offices until noon Wednesday due to the stormy conditions.

The National Weather Service warned of possible major flooding in portions of Long Island in New York State with waves of up to almost three metres through Wednesday morning.

There was also a chance of major and minor flooding along streams and rivers throughout the three states, even though rain was expected to tail off.

Meanwhile, more than 600,000 energy customers in a contiguous path from the tip of Florida to the top of New York state were without power early Tuesday evening, according to utility tracker PowerOutage.us.

The wild weather came as portions of the northeast were still digging out from a storm that dumped more than a foot of snow in some areas over the weekend.

On Tuesday, the same weather system brought heavy rain, hail and at least three reported tornadoes to the south before moving eastward.

Rain and high winds extended into the nation’s capital Washington DC, forcing Vice-President Kamala Harris’ aircraft to divert from Joint Base Andrews to Dulles International Airport near Washington when it encountered wind shear, a sudden shift in wind direction or speed.

Near Cottonwood, in Alabama, 81-year-old Charlotte Paschal was killed when her mobile home was tossed from its foundation, the Houston County coroner said.

A suspected tornado had touched down in the area.

Police in Clayton County, south of Atlanta, said a man died during heavy rain when a tree fell on his car on a state road in Jonesboro.

More than 80 public school systems across Georgia called off classes entirely while others taught students online or delayed the start of in-person classes.

In North Carolina, one person died and two others were in critical condition after a suspected tornado struck a mobile home park in the town of Claremont, north of Charlotte, said Amy McCauley, a spokesperson for Catawba County.

A possible tornado knocked down several old brick storefronts in downtown Bamberg, South Carolina, blocking the main intersection through the city about 60 miles south of Columbia.

Thousands of bricks blocked US 301, the main road through that part of the state, and about 40 homes and businesses were damaged or destroyed, said Justin Bamberg, the Democrat who represents the area in the House of Representatives.

In southeastern Wisconsin, an SUV driver died Tuesday in a head-on collision with a semi-trailer on a slushy, snowy state highway, the authorities said.

In western Michigan, a 35-year-old woman died after she lost control of her minivan on a slushy road and it collided with an SUV, the Lake County Sheriff’s Office said.

Storm-related injuries were reported in Florida, but no deaths.

A section of Panama City Beach showed parts of roofs blown away, furniture, fences and debris strewn about, and a house that appeared tilted on its side, leaning on another home.

US

Rust weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez appeals against conviction over fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin film set

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4 hours ago

May 15, 2024

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Rust weapons supervisor Hannah Gutierrez appeals against conviction over fatal shooting on Alec Baldwin film set

The weapons supervisor for the Western film Rust is appealing against her conviction for involuntary manslaughter over the fatal shooting of a cinematographer on set, according to court documents.

Hannah Gutierrez was jailed in April after being found guilty by jurors following a trial in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the US.

She was in charge of weapons during the production of the film in October 2021, when a Colt 45 revolver fired by actor and co-producer Alec Baldwin went off during a rehearsal.

Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died, while director Joel Souza was injured.

A defence lawyer for Gutierrez, who is serving an 18-month sentence at a prison for women in New Mexico, filed a shortly worded appeal notice on Monday.

Her legal team has 30 days to submit detailed arguments. They previously requested a new trial following the verdict.

Gutierrez’s trial was told she unwittingly brought live ammunition to the set, where it was expressly prohibited, and failed to follow basic gun safety protocols.

During her sentencing hearing, she told the court she had tried to do her best while working on the production, despite not having “proper time, resources and staffing”.

Alec Baldwin case latest

Baldwin, who was a producer for the film as well as its star, has also pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter.

He maintains he pulled back the gun’s hammer – but not the trigger – before it fired, and is set to face trial in July. He denies any wrongdoing.

The 66-year-old was originally charged in January 2023, more than a year after the shooting, but those charges were dropped a few months later. He was charged again in January this year.

His legal team has filed a motion calling for the charges to be dropped. Prosecutors responded with a 32-page document claiming that footage of the star on set shows he had “absolutely no control of his own emotions” and “no concern for how his conduct” affected those around him.

Assistant director David Halls, who also faced charges, entered a plea bargain for negligent use of a deadly weapon last year, receiving a six-month suspended sentence.

Filming of Rust resumed last year in Montana – with Baldwin reprising his role as the main character – after an agreement made Ms Hutchins’s widower an executive producer.

US

Man who scooped $1.35bn lottery win ’embroiled in legal battle with his own family’

Published

6 hours ago

May 15, 2024

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Man who scooped .35bn lottery win 'embroiled in legal battle with his own family'

A man who scooped a $1.35bn lottery win is said to be embroiled in a legal battle – with his own family.

The Mega Millions winner, who has not been named but is believed to hail from the US state of Maine, won the fourth-largest jackpot in US history last year (worth around £1.07bn).

But the story has only grown more complex since then, and the man is now involved in legal proceedings with two members of his family, US media outlet The Daily Beast reports.

He is said to have sued his daughter’s mother for allegedly revealing his newfound wealth to other members of his family in what he claimed was a violation of a non-disclosure agreement.

The lottery winner has also reportedly demanded hundreds of thousands of dollars in penalties, claiming that his child’s mother told his father, sister and stepmother about his big windfall.

But in recent court filings, the woman alleged that the man himself told his father and stepmother about the win, The Daily Beast reported.

Her lawyers said this “shatters the remaining shards” of the lawsuit.

The unnamed lottery winner’s father has also now apparently become involved in the legal proceedings, alleging that his son misled him about a number of things since the win.

“I understand that my son has stated that he told me nothing about his money ‘other than the simple fact that I had won.’ That is not true,” he is quoted as saying in a declaration.

His dad adds that his son “told me a number of things he planned on doing with his money,” even though he never asked him for anything, The Daily Beast also reported.

These allegedly included building a new garage for his father as well as buying old cars to fix up.

US

Michael Cohen tells trial he lied and bullied for ex-president and was ‘knee deep’ in Trump ‘cult’

Published

16 hours ago

May 15, 2024

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Michael Cohen tells trial he lied and bullied for ex-president and was 'knee deep' in Trump 'cult'

Michael Cohen said he had been “knee deep into the cult of Donald Trump” as he testified for a second day in the ex-president’s trial.

As Trump‘s defence tried to paint the former lawyer and ‘fixer’ as a bitter and fame-hungry former acolyte, he denied being obsessed by his former boss but said he had once “admired him tremendously”.

He is testifying in the case about hush money payments to ex-porn star Stormy Daniels in an attempt to cover up an alleged sexual encounter in 2006.

Trump trial – Day 17 as it happened

Such payouts aren’t illegal, but Trump is accused of falsifying business records to hide it – a claim he denies.

He told the court on Tuesday that loyalty was the reason he kept lying about the payment when it came out in the media.

In 2016 he described Trump as kind, humble, honest and genuine.

The defence asked whether he had believed what he was saying.

“At the time, I was knee-deep into the cult of Donald Trump,” he responded, adding: “I was not lying, no, that’s how I felt.”

Mr Cohen admitted he “missed Trump” at times after he became president.

They have also pointed to hundreds of media appearances, podcasts and interviews in which the disgraced lawyer has mentioned him.

His credibility was under attack as Mr Cohen has previously admitted lying under oath.

The 57-year-old was jailed after pleading guilty in 2018 to charges relating to the hush money payment and other unrelated offences.

He said that after a FBI raid on his home the same year, Trump had messaged him: “I am the president of the United States, everything is going to be okay, stay tough”.

Donald Trump denies the liaison with Stormy Daniels and says Mr Cohen acted on his own initiative when he made the payment.

The former lawyer denied that claim in earlier evidence, saying “everything required Trump’s sign-off”.

‘I violated my moral compass’

Mr Cohen – who once said he would take a bullet for his boss – admitted at the end of questioning on Tuesday that he “violated my moral compass” while working for Donald Trump.

“I regret doing things for him that I should not have,” he told the New York court. “Lying, bullying people in order to effectuate the goal.

“I don’t regret working for the Trump Organisation – as I expressed before, [those were] some very interesting, great times,” he added.

“But to keep the loyalty and to do things that he had asked me to do, I violated my moral compass, and I suffered the penalty, as did my family. That is my failure.”

On Monday, the court heard him testify about setting up a shell company to make the $130,000 hush money out of his own money.

Prosecutors say Trump later paid the money back and covered it up by recording it as a legal retainer fee.

He faces 34 counts of falsifying business records over the claims.

Trump – who will take on Joe Biden in his bid to become president again in November – is unlikely to face a custodial sentence if found guilty.

His other cases are potentially more damaging but mired in delays.

They concern allegations of keeping stacks of secret documents after leaving office and trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat. He denies the claims.