Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Deep South digging out of deep freeze
ATLANTA — Snowfall shrouding much of the Deep South began tapering off early Saturday, but freezing temperatures kept roads slick, and thousands of people were without electricity throughout the region.
Forecasters warned that moisture on the roadways could freeze and cause black ice to form.
The low temperatures behind a cold front combined with moisture off the Gulf of Mexico to create unusual wintry weather in parts of the South.
Preliminary reports to the weather service showed up to 10 inches of snowfall in northwest Georgia, with 7 inches of accumulation in parts of metropolitan Atlanta. Another 10 inches of snow was reported in Anniston, Ala., while up to 7 inches were reported in Mississippi. Rare flurries were even reported in New Orleans.
“It’s very, very abnormal and rare that we would get totals like that this time of year,” said Sid King, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service in the Atlanta area. “It’s really not even winter yet. I would not be surprised if we broke a lot of records.”
But the snow wasn’t expected to outlast the weekend. King said higher temperatures and sunny skies should melt most of it in time for shivering Southerners to return to work and school Monday.
More than 334,000 homes and businesses were still without electricity Saturday afternoon in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana. About 235,000 of those still in the dark were in Georgia.
N.M. school, site of shooting, in limbo
AZTEC, N.M. — A northwestern New Mexico high school where a deadly shooting occurred last week will remain closed until further notice, the school district superintendent said, according to the Daily Times in Farmington.
Authorities say 21-year-old William Atchison, a former student at Aztec High School, shot and killed two students at random Thursday before killing himself.
School district Superintendent Kirk Carpenter said counseling services will be available Monday as Aztec High School staff members meet at another school for a “family gathering” and debriefing.
The Daily Times reported Friday that Carpenter declined to comment on damage done to the building but that he said it could be a while before students and staff members can return to their classrooms.
Ex-anchor says Trump tried to kiss her
NEW YORK — A former Fox News news anchor claims President Donald Trump tried to kiss her on the lips in an elevator at Trump Tower over a decade ago.
Juliet Huddy, who left a local Fox News station after accusing Bill O’Reilly of sexual misconduct, told New York radio host Bill Schulz that Trump tried to kiss her after taking her out to lunch in 2005 or 2006 at his skyscraper. The incident reportedly occurred around the time Trump married his third wife, Melania.
“He said goodbye to me in an elevator while his security guy was there,” Huddy recalled. “Rather than kiss me on the cheek, he leaned in to kiss me on the lips. I wasn’t offended. I was kind of like, ‘Oh my God.’”
Huddy said she didn’t feel “threatened” by Trump but called the interaction a “weird moment.”
The White House did not respond to a request for comment from The New York Daily News.
Trump, who was once caught on a live mic bragging about being able to “grab women by the p***y,” has been accused of sexually harassing or assaulting nearly two dozen women. He has denied all the allegations.
Years after the alleged elevator incident, Trump appeared on Huddy’s Fox News show and made light of what he called, “hitting on her.”
Chicago to pay four falsely imprisoned men
CHICAGO — The city of Chicago has agreed to pay $31 million to four men imprisoned for 15 years for a rape and murder they didn’t commit.
The sum to settle their police-misconduct lawsuits appeared Friday in agenda notes of the City Council’s finance committee. It will discuss the settlement Monday.
Michael Saunders, Vincent Thames, Harold Richardson and Terrill Swift were freed after 2011 tests matched DNA from the victim’s body to another man who was killed in 2008.
An FBI report unsealed this year accused investigators of pressuring the then-teenagers during the investigation of the 1994 rape and killing of 30-year-old Nina Glover. It cited an ex-prosecutor describing how investigators coached witnesses and manipulated the defendants into giving false confessions.