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A2 UP FRONT
Thursday 23 February 2023

Massive winter storm brings snow, strong winds, frigid cold

From Front without electricity, accord-
ing to PowerOutage.us.
By AMANCAI BIRABEN and A 1-year-old child was
JIM SALTER critically injured when a
Associated Press redwood crashed onto a
PIERRE, S.D. (AP) — A bru- home in Boulder Creek, a
tal winter storm knocked community in the Santa
out power in California, Cruz Mountains south of
closed interstate highways San Francisco, KTVU report-
from Arizona to Wyoming ed. Chief Mark Bingham
and prompted more than of the local fire protection
1,200 flight cancellations district said crews had to
Wednesday — and the cut up the tree to free the
worst won’t be over for sev- victim.
eral days. A blizzard warning was is-
Few places were un- sued for the mountains of
touched by the wild weath- Los Angeles, Ventura and
er, some at the opposite Santa Barbara counties,
extreme. effective from 4 a.m. Thurs-
Record highs were forecast day to 4 p.m. Saturday, the
from the mid-Atlantic states National Weather Service
down through Florida, with said.
some places expected to “Nearly the entire popula-
reach up to 40 degrees A pedestrian makes their way across an intersection as snow falls in Ottawa, Ontario, Tuesday, tion of CA will be able to
above normal. Feb. 21, 2023. see snow from some van-
The wintry mix was hitting Associated Press tage point later this week if
hardest in the northern they look in the right direc-
tier of the nation. Schools Minneapolis-St. Paul Inter- don’t have a winter jacket. Jeff Lea, spokesperson for tion (i.e., toward the high-
throughout the Dakotas, national Airport. They might be wearing the Metropolitan Airports est hills in vicinity),” UCLA
Minnesota and Wisconsin In Wyoming, virtually every shorts and flip-flops, just Commission, which oper- climate scientist Daniel
were called off. road was affected. thinking they’re going to ates the Minneapolis air- Swain wrote on Twitter.
Offices closed, as did the “A major winter storm and get from point A to point B port, said most airlines can- A more than 200-mile
Minnesota Legislature. multi-day closures are likely and nothing is going to go celed flights early, so trav- (320-kilometer) stretch of
South Dakota Gov. Kristi on Interstates and second- wrong,” he said. elers would know before Interstate 40 from central
Noem shut down state ex- ary roads throughout Wyo- Kelly Cross has spent his heading to the airport. Arizona to the New Mexico
ecutive branch offices in ming!” the state Transpor- entire 60 years in South “I think the airlines are try- line closed due to snow,
several parts of the state, tation Department said on Dakota, but even he tires ing to make sure that they ran and wind gusts of up
and employees worked re- Facebook. of the wintry weather that can, looking at the bigger to 80 mph (129 kph). Thou-
motely. It wasn’t much better in often spills well into spring. picture, make those can- sands were without power
Travel was difficult. Weath- neighboring states. Besides the regular snow celations so they can bet- in Arizona.
er contributed to more “Sometimes it’s physically shoveling at his Pierre store, ter respond after the storm In the northern U.S. — a re-
than 1,200 canceled flights impossible to keep up with K&C Western Wear, he’s and make a quicker recov- gion accustomed to heavy
across the country by mid- Mother Nature,” said North gone through pounds of ery,” Lea said. snow — the snowfall could
morning, according to Dakota Highway Patrol Sgt. salt to keep the walkway Powerful winds were the be historic. More than 20
tracking service FlightA- Wade Kadrmas. clear. The company of his biggest problem in Cali- inches (50.8 centimeters)
ware. About one-third of He warned those who ven- terrier, Penny, makes the fornia, toppling trees and may pile up in parts of Min-
those canceled flights — ture out to dress appropri- slog to work tolerable. power lines. By Wednes- nesota and Wisconsin, the
roughly 400 — were due to ately. Often, when motor- “She comes with me every day morning, more than National Weather Service
arrive or depart from the ists get stranded, “They day,” Cross said. 109,000 customers were said.q

Supreme Court seems to favor tech

giants in terror case

By JESSICA GRESKO and MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed skeptical Wednesday of a lawsuit
trying to hold social media companies responsible for a terrorist attack at a Turkish night-
club that killed 39 people.
During arguments at the high court several justices underscored that there was no evi-
Attorney Eric Schnapper, left, talks with Beatriz Gonzalez, right, dence linking Twitter, Facebook and Google directly to the 2017 attack on the Reina
the mother of 23-year-old Nohemi Gonzalez, a student killed nightclub in Istanbul. The family of a man killed in the attack says the companies aided
in the Paris terrorist attacks, and stepfather Jose Hernandez, and abetted the attack because they assisted in the growth of the Islamic State group,
second from right, in front of the Supreme Court, Wednesday, which claimed responsibility for the attack . A lower court let the lawsuit go forward.
Feb. 22, 2023 in Washington, after the Supreme Court heard The court's disposition of Wednesday's case and a related one it heard a day earlier is
oral arguments in Twitter v. Taamneh today which will decide important, particularly because the companies have been shielded from liability on the
whether social media companies can be sued for aiding and internet, allowing them to grow into the giants they are today.
abetting a specific act of international terrorism when the
platforms have hosted user content that expresses general If the court bars the lawsuit involving the attack in Turkey from going forward it could
support for the group behind the violence without referring to avoid a major ruling on the companies' legal immunity. That outcome would leave the
the specific terrorist act in question. current system in place, but also leave open the possibility that the justices could take
Associated Press up the issue again in a later case.q