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  • Opinion: Miami is one step closer to the implosion of its crypto dreams | CNN

    Opinion: Miami is one step closer to the implosion of its crypto dreams | CNN

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    Editor’s Note: Jake Cline is a writer and editor in Miami whose work has appeared in The Washington Post, The Atlantic and other national outlets. He was a member of the team that won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Public Service for the South Florida Sun Sentinel’s coverage of the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. The opinions expressed here are his own. Read more opinion on CNN.



    CNN
     — 

    Thanks in large part to bitcoin evangelism by top officials in Miami, the city has spent the past couple of years in full-blown cryptomania.

    In the vision of Mayor Francis Suarez – the city’s chief cheerleader for digital currency – Miami will one day become the national capital for cryptocurrency.

    Two years ago, Miami published its “Bitcoin White Paper” – a blueprint for its transformation into a 21st century city. Around the same time, prominent crypto figures began relocating to the city, and Miami began hawking its own digital currency, MiamiCoin.

    As the fever quickened, cryptocurrency exchanges began advertising on Miami billboards. Bitcoin ATMs were installed at neighborhood gas stations and convenience stores.

    And perhaps the most visible symbol allowing Miami to flex its crypto bragging rights was the announcement in March of 2021 by Miami-Dade County that it had sold naming rights for its main sports arena – home of the beloved Miami Heat NBA franchise – to FTX, the now bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange founded by disgraced crypto entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.

    That partnership, which is not even two years old, came to an unhappy end last week. On Wednesday, the beleaguered company and Miami’s local government finalized an agreement to terminate the deal and remove the now tarnished FTX logo from the sports venue.

    Over the past few months, as the scale of Bankman-Fried’s alleged fraud became clear, some city elders and the business community scrambled to unwind what many of us had suspected from the start was a simply terrible business deal. Bankman-Fried, who has maintained his innocence, pleaded not guilty to federal fraud charges during a court appearance in New York earlier this month.

    We now know just what a fiasco Miami’s love affair with crypto has been. The financial costs of last year’s crypto crash have been enormous for the many thousands of investors who invested – and then lost funds they could ill afford to forgo.

    But my own reservations were not rooted in certain knowledge that crypto would crumble, although its collapse was far swifter and more spectacular than even most skeptics anticipated.

    My opposition to crypto is based on its deleterious effects on the environment. The fact that Miami, considered “the most vulnerable major coastal city in the world,” would go all in for a currency created by a climate-wrecking technology always seemed to me to be a particular kind of madness.

    Many people don’t understand how a currency that exists largely in the digital space can have real-life destructive impacts on our environment. Bitcoin mining uses vast amounts of resources. As the New Yorker’s Elizabeth Kolbert wrote in an April 2021 article, “bitcoin-mining operations worldwide now use … about the annual electricity consumption of the entire nation of Sweden.”

    Citing data scientist Alex de Vries’ Digiconomist website, Kolbert reported that “a single bitcoin transaction uses the same amount of power that the average American household consumes in a month.” Similar reporting could be found at The New York Times, The Washington Post and CNN.

    Bitcoin mining hardware has ramped up as the cryptocurrency’s popularity has increased. Between January 1, 2016, and June 30, 2018, the mining operations for four major cryptocurrencies released an estimated three to 15 million metric tons of carbon dioxide, according to a study in the research journal Nature Sustainability.

    Even China, the world’s largest polluter, banned bitcoin mining in 2021, citing its high carbon emissions. Now we are in what has been called “crypto winter” after enthusiasm has plummeted for cryptocurrencies worldwide. Nevertheless, the carbon footprint of bitcoin, still the world’s most valuable digital currency, continues to be enormous.

    This past September, a report from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy found that crypto mining in the United States emits as much greenhouse gas as the nation’s railroads and cautioned that “depending on the energy intensity of the technology used, crypto-assets could hinder broader efforts to achieve net-zero carbon pollution consistent with U.S. climate commitments and goals.”

    But despite all that data, Suarez remains convinced that it’s possible to produce bitcoin in an environmentally friendly way.

    “I’d love to sort of dispel some of the, I think, myths — I call them myths — of [crypto] mining as a not-environmentally-friendly activity,” the mayor said during his Crypto Conference, a live-streamed event held in June 2021.

    And because there are renewable-energy sources in South Florida, his argument goes, crypto miners could eventually be incentivized to stop contributing to the destruction of our planet. He has argued, in effect, that because renewable energy sources exist, miners might just in the future opt to use them. It’s an extraordinarily weak argument. It would be a wonderful outcome, if only we could interest bitcoin miners in abandoning their pursuit of cheap and dirty energy sources.

    But he’s not wrong – it is entirely possible to mine bitcoin responsibly, as bitcoin’s leading competitor, ethereum, proved last year. A decentralized global network used for verifying billions of dollars of cryptocurrency transactions, ethereum in September completed a system-wide transformation known as the Merge.

    Essentially, ethereum moved to a mining process, known as proof of stake, that requires significantly less computing power than bitcoiners’ preferred process, proof of work. In doing so, ethereum appears to have reduced its worldwide energy consumption by more than 99%.

    While some bitcoin miners say they want their industry to go green, the majority resist calls to adopt the proof of stake system over fears it would eat into their profits. Meanwhile, residents of Miami seem torn on environmental matters. According to a survey conducted by Yale University, as well as George Mason University, they believe that local officials, and state officials, including the governor “should do more to address global warming.”

    But Miami voters helped to propel a “red wave” that installed Republican supermajorities in both chambers of the Florida legislature — a body that under GOP control allows fossil-fuel companies to write its bills.

    Residents of Miami-Dade County this past November also voted to reelect Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has said that while he doesn’t consider himself a “climate change denier” he hopes never to be mistaken for a “climate change believer.”

    And despite everything that has happened with the digital currency’s plummeting value, Suarez, who is also president of the United States Conference of Mayors, remains a bitcoin believer.

    Miami-Dade County will once again play host later this year to Bitcoin 2023, the next installment of the annual conference. And Suarez told a Miami TV station that he continues to receive his government salary in bitcoin, as he has since November 2021.

    Some dreams, it would seem, die hard.

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  • More rain is on the way for weather-beaten California, where storms have flooded communities and left at least 19 dead | CNN

    More rain is on the way for weather-beaten California, where storms have flooded communities and left at least 19 dead | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Storm-battered California – still reeling from weeks of deadly flooding, mudslides and rescues – is being hit with more rainfall over the weekend.

    An unrelenting string of atmospheric rivers – long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that can carry moisture thousands of miles – have turned communities into lakes, crippled highways and prompted thousands of evacuations, including earlier this week. At least 19 people have died as a result of the storms.

    Two more are pummeling the state this weekend.

    “This isn’t over; we must remain vigilant. Stay safe, make the necessary preparations, and limit non-essential travel,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement. “Floods, landslides, and storms don’t care who you are or where you live – it’ll hit you just the same. We have lost too much – too many people to these storms and in these waters.”

    More than 8 million people were under flood watches Saturday night across much of California’s central coastline, as well as the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys.

    A marginal risk of excessive rainfall is in place along the California coast from San Francisco down through San Diego, as well as the mountain ranges of southern California, where up to 2 inches of additional rainfall could lead to flooding and mudslides, the National Weather Service said.

    Residents in Monterey County, on California’s Central Coast, were ordered to evacuate low-lying areas of the Carmel River Saturday afternoon. Sacramento County officials ordered residents of the Wilton area to flee – once again – due to an anticipated rise in the Cosumnes River.

    “People are fatigued about evacuation orders. People are fatigued by seeing those Caltrans signs saying ‘detour’ – they’re just fatigued generally,” Newsom said, speaking from a flood evacuation shelter at the Merced County Fairgrounds.

    President Joe Biden on Saturday approved California’s request for a disaster declaration, freeing up federal aid to supplement recovery efforts in areas of the state affected by storms, flooding and mudslides since December 27, the White House said.

    “This federal aid is key to recovery efforts so Californians can get back on their feet faster,” Newsom said in a tweet thanking Biden for approving the declaration.

    The first system of the weekend arrived at California’s coast Saturday afternoon and was expected to move inland, bringing heavy rain across the state “as another surge of Pacific moisture streams ahead of the main cold front,” the National Weather Service said.

    Lighter rainfall is expected to continue Sunday morning, before another “ramp-up” late Sunday into early Monday ahead of a second system, the weather service said.

    The new round of heavy rainfall comes after numerous areas already saw 50% to 70% of the amount of precipitation that they would usually get in a whole year in 16 days.

    San Francisco has recorded one of its top 15 wettest winters on record.

    Newsom said it was just weeks ago that authorities in Southern California extended a drought emergency to millions of residents. Now, the state is inundated with rain.

    “By some estimates 22 to 25 trillion gallons of water have fallen over the course last 16-17 days – the stacking of these atmospheric rivers the likes of which we’ve not experienced in our lifetimes,” the governor said. “The reality is this is just the eighth of what we anticipate will be nine atmospheric rivers.”

    Though this weekend’s rainfall totals will be less than in previous storms, the threshold for flooding is much lower now because the ground is too saturated to absorb any more water in many areas.

    “The challenges will present themselves over the course of the next few days rather acutely, particularly because everything’s saturated, particularly because the grounds are overwhelmed.” Newsom said. “What may appear less significant in terms of the rainfall may actually be more significant in terms of the impacts on the ground and the flooding and the debris flow.”

    Widespread rainfall totals through Monday will range between 2 to 3 inches along the coast and interior valleys, with 4 to 6 inches possible for the San Francisco Bay area and the nearby Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia mountains. This will likely lead to a few instances of flooding as well as mud, rock and landslides.

    River flooding is also a major concern, particularly around the Russian River in Northern California and the Salinas River near Monterey.

    Monterey County officials warned this week that flooding from the rising Salinas River could turn the area into an island and cut it off from essential services.

    To the east, in Merced County, crews rushed to place rocks in the Bear Creek area ahead of the storm’s arrival, worried that high-water conditions could continue to erode the levee and eventually lead to levee failure in the downtown area of Merced.

    National Guard troops, sheriff's office personnel and firefighters search for missing 5-year-old Kyle Doan Thursday near San Miguel, California.

    The storm is hampering the continued search for 5-year-old Kyle Doan, who was pulled from his mother’s hands by rushing floodwater on Monday.

    “The water levels continue to rise in the area and the weather conditions are unsuitable for any type of search activity today … The search will continue when weather and conditions allow,” the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said Saturday.

    The child and his mother were on the way to school Monday when floodwater overwhelmed their SUV. The mother managed to remove Kyle from his car seat and held onto him but their hands slipped and they were separated.

    The mother was later pulled safely out of the water. But Kyle has not been found.

    Members of the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office Dive Team, the Sheriff’s Search and Rescue Team, and California Highway Patrol air units were looking for the boy. Troops from the National Guard were previously involved with the search but have since been released from the mission.

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  • Chester Zoo announces birth of critically endangered Western chimpanzee | CNN

    Chester Zoo announces birth of critically endangered Western chimpanzee | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Extremely rare – and extremely adorable.

    The Chester Zoo in Cheshire, England, has welcomed the birth of a Western chimpanzee, the most endangered subspecies of chimpanzees.

    The zoo announced the baby boy’s birth in a Thursday news release. The little one, born to mother ZeeZee, will join a troop of 22 Western chimpanzees at the British zoo.

    “We’re incredibly proud to see a precious new baby in the chimpanzee troop,” said Andrew Lenihan, team manager at the zoo’s primate section, in the release. “Mum ZeeZee and her new arrival instantly bonded and she’s been doing a great job of cradling him closely and caring for him.”

    Lenihan said that the baby is already quickly becoming accepted by his extended family.

    “A birth always creates a lot of excitement in the group and raising a youngster soon becomes a real extended family affair,” Lenihan went on. “You’ll often see the new baby being passed between other females who want to lend a helping hand and give ZeeZee some well-deserved rest, and that’s exactly what her daughter, Stevie, is doing with her new brother. It looks as though she’s taken a real shine to him, which is great to see.”

    Additionally, the tiny baby is an essential asset to the critically endangered population.

    “He may not know it, but ZeeZee’s new baby is a small but vital boost to the global population of Western chimpanzees, at a time when it’s most needed for this critically endangered species,” Lenihan added.

    Following a decades-old tradition, Chester Zoo’s newborn will be named after a famous rock star, according to the news release.

    The Western chimpanzee is the only chimpanzee subspecies categorized as “critically endangered” by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, which indicates they are facing “an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.” The species has gone extinct in Benin, Burkina Faso and Togo, but still lives in some parts of West Africa, with the largest population remaining in Guinea.

    The subspecies has faced an 80% population decline over the last 25 years, according to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature. The ape’s numbers have plummeted due to habitat destruction, poaching, and disease.

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  • California cleans up from one storm as it prepares for another | CNN

    California cleans up from one storm as it prepares for another | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Days after California was hit by “the most impressive storm in nearly 20 years,” the state – fully saturated in many places – is gearing up this weekend for yet another series of atmospheric river events, with flooding, hail, powerful wind gusts and even funnel clouds possible in spots.

    TRACK THE STORMS HERE >>

    Another round of heavy rain already is falling Saturday on the Golden State, where extreme drought fueled by the climate crisis has given way in recent weeks to massive flooding amid a catastrophic sequence of ultra-wet atmospheric rivers – long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that transport moisture thousands of miles. Recent storms have killed at least 18 people and left tens of thousands at a time without power.

    Over 25 million people again are under flood watches across much of California’s central coastline, as well as the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys. Though this weekend’s rain tally will be lower than previous storms, the threshold for flooding also is much lower because the ground is fully saturated in many areas.

    “This atmospheric river is more progressive than some of the other atmospheric rivers that have occurred in recent weeks, which should help to limit the extent of the flooding potential,” the Weather Prediction Center said. “All that being said, just about all of California; from the coast and both the Shasta and Sierra Nevada on south to the Transverse Range feature soil moisture percentiles greater than 95%.”

    “Portions of the state have picked up 15-20+” of rain and >600% of normal rainfall in the last two weeks,” they added.

    And unfortunately, the rain chances don’t end there: Yet another storm will bring renewed rain chances and flooding to much of the state Sunday afternoon through Monday morning before drier conditions finally set in later next week.

    “A more intense surge of moisture is expected on Saturday ahead of a stronger Pacific storm system that will move inland through the day,” the prediction center said. “A broader slight risk of excessive rainfall is in place for both coastal northern California, where rainfall will continue from Friday, as well as upslope regions of the Sierra.”

    Rain and snow are also forecast to spread into the Pacific Northwest and Intermountain West Saturday into Sunday.

    Widespread rainfall totals through Monday will range between 2 to 3 inches along the coast and interior valleys, with 4 to 6 inches possible for the San Francisco Bay area and the nearby Santa Cruz and Santa Lucia mountains. This will likely lead to a few instances of flooding as well as mud, rock and landslides.

    “Rain is a certainty with (rain chances at) 100% areawide and with deep moisture and ample rainfall expected, flooding once again becomes a concern,” the National Weather Service office in San Francisco said.

    San Francisco already has recorded one of the top 15 wettest winters on record with more than a month to go. If it does end up picking up 4 to 6 inches of rain over the next three days, the city easily will crack the top five.

    A slight risk of excessive rainfall – Level 2 out of 4 – alert is in place, mainly due to extremely wet conditions preceding the forecast rainfall and leading to increased flooding concerns.

    “Forecast soundings have been showing quite a bit of instability over the Central Valley behind the front later Saturday afternoon and into the evening with hail likely to accompany stronger storms, and maybe some funnel clouds,” the weather service office in Sacramento said.

    River flooding is also a big concern, especially around the Russian River in Northern California and the Salinas River near Monterey. “Plan on additional disruptions to travel and mountain recreation through the weekend as periods of heavy snow return to the Sierra,” the weather service office in Reno said.

    Very heavy snow is also forecast for the Sierra, with 1 to 2 feet possible on Saturday and an additional 2 to 3 feet through Monday. “Heaviest snowfall days will be Saturday and Monday with less intense snow showers in between,” the weather service office in Reno said.

    Strong winds will also accompany this system, gusting up to 40 to 50 mph in the Sacramento Valley and up to 60 mph in the mountains. This could lead to downed trees and power lines staked in now-extremely saturated soils.

    “The system will be packing a decent amount of south winds and a high wind watch is in effect for the mountains of San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties – the same strong winds will move into Ventura and LA counties Saturday evening,” the weather service office in Los Angeles said.

    The good news is that by week’s end, the forecast calls for much drier conditions across all of California, which will allow for the ground to dry out and river levels to recede.

    “It’s been a long time since California residents were happy to see an extended forecast of below-average precipitation,” CNN Meteorologist Brandon Miller said. “But after the past three weeks, they certainly are.”

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  • White House Covid-19 Response Team’s chief science officer to retire | CNN Politics

    White House Covid-19 Response Team’s chief science officer to retire | CNN Politics

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    CNN
     — 

    Dr. David Kessler, chief science officer for the White House Covid-19 Response Team, is retiring, according to a statement from the US Department of Health and Human Services.

    “For decades, Dr. Kessler has worked tirelessly to address our nation’s most challenging public health issues, and his work during the COVID-19 pandemic has been no different,” HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra said in the statement Friday.

    “Whether he was leading our effort to develop and distribute safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines and treatments, or sharing his perspective during daily strategy sessions and data deliberations, Dr. Kessler’s contributions to our COVID-19 response have helped save lives. I am grateful for the wisdom he has shared with us and wish him the best in his future endeavors,” Becerra continued.

    Kessler’s government career began when President George H.W. Bush appointed him to lead the US Food and Drug Administration in 1990; he oversaw the rollout of the agency’s iconic Nutrition Facts label on packaged foods and helped streamline its drug approval process. After stepping down from the FDA in 1997, he became dean of the Yale School of Medicine and then joined the University of California, San Francisco.

    President Joe Biden chose Kessler for the Covid-19 response team in 2021. He was also co-chair of the Biden transition’s coronavirus task force and that administration’s head of Operation Warp Speed, the group formed under President Donald Trump to speed vaccine development and distribution.

    “Every day for two years, David has been laser focused on ensuring we had enough vaccines and treatments for the American people,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the response team coordinator, said Friday on Twitter. “An extraordinary public servant. We will miss him.”

    Ron Klain, the White House chief of staff, tweeted, “There has been no more valued and trusted wise advisor to the @POTUS on scientific and medical matters than Dr. Kessler. He will be GREATLY missed.”

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  • More than 30 tornadoes reportedly hit several states as severe weather swept across the South, leaving at least 6 people dead in Alabama | CNN

    More than 30 tornadoes reportedly hit several states as severe weather swept across the South, leaving at least 6 people dead in Alabama | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Severe storms swept across the South on Thursday, where ferocious winds sent residents running for cover, blew roofs off homes and killed at least six people in Alabama.

    Damaged powerlines, severed tree limbs and debris littered streets in Alabama, Georgia and Kentucky, where at least 34 preliminary tornado reports were recorded as of Thursday evening, according to the Storm Prediction Center.

    Six people died in hard-hit Autauga County in central Alabama, where search efforts will continue Friday, county coroner Buster Barber told CNN.

    “My prayers are with their loved ones and communities,” Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said in a tweet. “We are far too familiar with devastating weather, but our people are resilient. We will get through it and be stronger for it.”

    In Selma, Alabama – known for its role in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s and home to about 17,000 people – the storms left behind a trail of widespread destruction.

    One Selma resident, Krishun Moore, said her house was torn up when the storm swept across her neighborhood. Moore and her mother sheltered in their bathroom, she said, and no one was injured.

    “All we heard was wind and the whole house was shaking,” Moore told CNN.

    At a Selma tax office, Deborah A. Brown said she and others had to rush to safety after seeing what looked like a tornado rolling down the street.

    “We could have been gone, y’all,” Brown says in a Facebook video. “We had to run for cover. We had to go run and jump in the closet.”

    The storms inflicted damage throughout the Southeast region, with more than 130 damaging wind reports recorded across states from Mississippi to Virginia. Governors in Alabama and Georgia both declared states of emergency in stricken areas to assist with rescue and cleanup efforts.

    “We always keep in mind that while weather events are intriguing from a scientific perspective, they can result in deep and lasting impacts to people. Our thoughts are with those impacted by today’s severe weather,” the National Weather Service in Birmingham said in a tweet.

    Due to the storms’ extensive impact on some roads in Georgia, 15 students at a middle school in an southern Atlanta suburb have been unable to go home and remained sheltered on school grounds Thursday night, according to their school system.

    “Many of these remaining students live in areas not yet accessible due to debris in roadways,” Griffin-Spalding County School System said in a social media post late Thursday.

    “They will be supervised and cared for until reunited with their families,” who may pick them up from the district’s central office after showing identification, the district said.

    Spalding County, where the school district is located, declared a state of emergency Thursday due to a reported tornado in the community, officials said on Facebook, urging residents to shelter in place.

    “When you start getting onto the roads, there’s going to be no way to get to where you’re going,” said T.J. Imberger, Spalding County public works director.

    The Griffin-Spalding School District will be closed Friday as the area recovers from the severe storms.

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  • US government has received more than 350 new UFO reports | CNN Politics

    US government has received more than 350 new UFO reports | CNN Politics

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    Washington
    CNN
     — 

    The US government has received over 350 new reports of what the US government terms “unidentified aerial phenomenon,” commonly known as UFOs, since March of 2021 – roughly half of which are so far unexplained, according to a report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence released on Thursday.

    According to the report, the Pentagon office responsible for tracking and studying the sightings has preliminarily identified 163 of the reports as “balloon or balloon-entities.” A handful of other reports have been attributed to drones, birds, weather events or airborne debris like plastic bags.

    But “initial characterization does not mean positively resolved or unidentified,” the report cautioned. And the remaining 171 reported sightings of UAPs or UFOs continue to be unexplained by the US government.

    “Some of these uncharacterized UAP appear to have demonstrated unusual flight characteristics or performance capabilities and require further analysis,” the report found.

    In short, the intelligence community and the Pentagon still appear to have no explanation for at least some of a series of mysterious flying objects that have been seen moving through restricted military airspace over the last several decades. The majority of the new reports came from US Navy and Air Force pilots and operators “who witnessed UAP during the course of their operational duties and reported the events,” according to the report.

    Although the report warned that UAP “pose a safety of flight and collision hazard to air assets” that could require pilots to “adjust flight patterns,” the report stated that there have been no reported collisions between US aircraft and UAP to date.

    The Defense Department, under pressure from Congress to investigate so-called UFO or UAP sightings, has actively encouraged pilots and other personnel to report unexplained sightings. The intelligence community released its first report on the matter in 2021.

    That report examined 144 reports of UAPs, only one of which investigators were able to explain by the end of the study. Investigators found no evidence that the sightings represented either extraterrestrial life or a major technological advancement by a foreign adversary like Russia or China, but acknowledge that is a possible explanation.

    Congress in its year-end defense spending bill then required the Pentagon and the intelligence community to study and report on the matter.

    The Thursday report showed a dramatic increase in reported incidents since the 2021 report was issued, an increase that investigators attribute in part to “a better understanding of the possible threats that UAP may represent, either as safety of flight hazards or as potential adversary collection platforms” and in part due to “reduced stigma surrounding UAP reporting.”

    Although some of the 366 newly identified reports cover incidents that occurred in the 17 years prior to March of 2021, 250 of the recorded sightings have taken place since that date.

    The Thursday report acknowledged the ongoing possibility that the sightings may represent a foreign intelligence-collection platform, but investigators do not appear to have amassed any evidence to support that conclusion.

    “UAP events continue to occur in restricted or sensitive airspace, highlighting possible concerns for safety of flight or adversary collection activity,” the report said. “We continue to assess that this may result from a collection bias due to the number of active aircraft and sensors, combined with focused attention and guidance to report anomalies.”

    The Pentagon and the intelligence community “will continue to investigate any evidence of possible foreign government involvement in UAP events,” the report said.

    California Democratic Rep. Adam Schiff, the former House Intelligence Committee chair, welcomed the release of the report.

    “I appreciate the effort undertaken by the ODNI to study and characterize unidentified aerial phenomena reports, and their commitment to ensuring transparency by releasing an unclassified summary to the American public. … Unidentified aerial phenomena remain a national security matter, and I will continue to support thorough investigations of all UAP reports and oversight by the Congress.”

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  • ‘A very significant emergency’: California’s deadly, record-setting storms are about to get an encore | CNN

    ‘A very significant emergency’: California’s deadly, record-setting storms are about to get an encore | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The historic storms devastating much of California have turned entire neighborhoods into lakes, unleashed sewage into floodwater and killed at least 18 people.

    And there’s more to come. About 5 million people were under flood watches Wednesday as yet another atmospheric river is bringing more rain to California.

    “The state has been experiencing drought for the last four years, and now we have storm upon storm,” California Lt. Gov. Eleni Kounalakis said Wednesday.

    “We’ve had six storms in the last two weeks. This is the kind of weather you would get in a year and we compressed it just into two weeks.”

    It had already been “one of the deadliest disasters in the history of our state,” Brian Ferguson, California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services spokesman said Wednesday before the 18th death was reported.

    “Yesterday, we had perhaps more air rescues than we’ve ever had on any other single day in the state’s history,” Ferguson said, adding that the Golden State is not out of the woods yet.

    “While there is a bit of a break today, we continue to see additional storms prepared to come onshore in the next two days,” he said. “We’re continued to be concerned about our streams, our culverts and some of the areas that are prone to mudslides, particularly along our central coast.”

    The flood watches Wednesday are primarily in Northern and Central California, including Sacramento, the North Bay and Redding. That barely leaves enough time for residents in flood-ravaged neighborhoods to assess the devastation before the next storm.

    “It’s just brown water everywhere. And it’s just rushing through – it was going fast,” Fenton Grove resident Caitlin Clancy said.

    “We had a canoe strapped up, that we thought if we needed to, we could canoe out. But it was moving too fast.”

    The onslaught of recent storms came from a parade of atmospheric rivers – long, narrow regions in the atmosphere that can carry moisture thousands of miles.

    “We have had five atmospheric rivers come into California over two weeks,” Kounalakis said.

    “Everything is wet. Everything is saturated. Everything is at a breaking point, and there is more rain coming.”

    In fact, four more atmospheric rivers are expected to hit California in the next 10 days.

    Residents scramble to collect belongings Wednesday before floodwater rises in Merced, California.

    Here’s what’s in store as another round of ferocious weather barrels down on the West Coast:

    • The heaviest rain over the next seven days is expected in northern parts of California, where the National Weather Service predicts an additional 5 to 10 inches. On Wednesday, Northern California got a radar-estimated 1-2 inches of rain, with some higher elevations getting around 3 inches.

    • The rain shifted north Wednesday afternoon, giving Central California a brief pause. There’s a slight risk – level 2 of 4 – for excessive rainfall Thursday for the northwest coast, and a marginal risk – level 1 of 4 – along the Pacific Northwest coast.

    • Precipitation pushed inland to the Sierra Nevada Wednesday afternoon, dumping more snow. Snow was still falling Wednesday evening.

    Another round of atmospheric moisture is expected to come onshore Friday, but less severe than earlier ones. A slight risk for excessive rainfall has been issued for the northwest coast of the state, with a marginal risk south, including the hard-hit Bay Area and San Luis Obispo.

    Rescue crews in San Luis Obispo County are scrambling to find 5-year-old Kyle Doan, who was swept away from a truck near the Salinas River Monday morning.

    Kyle Doan, 5, was last seen Monday in San Miguel, San Luis Obispo County.

    National Guard members arrived Wednesday to help with the search, and more will be arriving Thursday, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said in a tweet Wednesday.

    The sheriff’s office earlier urged the public to leave the search operation to the professionals to avoid the risk of volunteers needing to be rescued themselves.

    As another storm looms, many residents are still grappling with devastation to their communities.

    Rachel Oliviera used a shovel to try to push out some of the floodwater and thick mud enveloping her Felton Grove home.

    “It’s backbreaking labor,” Oliviera said, visibly emotional.

    But she was more concerned about her neighbors, whose homes were also covered in thick mud.

    “A lot of us that live here in the neighborhood are elderly, and can’t actually physically do the cleanup.”

    In the Los Angeles neighborhood of Chatsworth, several people had to be rescued after a sinkhole swallowed two vehicles Tuesday. In Malibu, a massive boulder came crashing down, shutting down a key roadway.

    In parts of Santa Barbara County, “the storm caused flows through the sewer system to exceed capacity, resulting in the release of sewage from the system to the street,” County Supervising Environmental Health Specialist Jason Johnston said Monday evening.

    The local health department warned the water could increase the risk of illnesses.

    Another sinkhole was reported Monday in Santa Barbara County’s Santa Maria, where 20 homes were evacuated, CNN affiliate KEYT reported.

    “The storms hit us like a water balloon exploding and just dropped water down through our rivers and creeks. So it’s been this excessive amount of flooding – it’s been the cycles over and over again,” Santa Cruz County spokesman Jason Hoppin told CNN.

    Hoppin said 131 homes in the county received significant damage, but could be salvaged, while five others are not salvageable.

    Trees have been toppling, claiming lives and causing property destruction and roadway obstructions. Sacramento officials estimate that about 1,000 trees have fallen since New Year’s Eve, Sacramento Department of Public Works spokeswoman Gabby Miller told CNN on Wednesday, adding that staff and crews have been working around the clock on cleanup.

    In San Francisco, the public works department has logged about 1,300 tree-related incidents, which include downed trees, but also just limbs and branches, according to Rachel Gordon, director of policy and communications at San Francisco Public Works.

    Parks that are home to some of the state’s iconic redwoods haven’t been spared, according to California State Parks spokesperson Adeline Yee.

    “At Redwood National and State Parks and Big Basin Redwood State Park, we’ve seen some downed trees that are blocking roads and trails,” Yee said. “At this time, most of the trees that have come down are not the old-growth redwoods.”

    In the state park system, 54 park units were closed as of Wednesday morning, and 38 were partially closed.

    The recent atmospheric river storm system also has left dozens of state travel routes inoperable, and at least 40 are closed, according to Caltrans spokesman Will Arnold.

    “Caltrans has activated our 12 Emergency Operations Centers throughout the state and more than 4,000 crews are running 24/7 maintenance patrols for road hazards like downed trees, flooded roads, mudslides/rockslides,” Arnold said.

    The recent storms turned fatal after trees crashed onto homes and cars, rocks and mud cascaded down hillsides and floodwater rapidly rose.

    At least 18 people have died in California storms in just the past two weeks. The latest victim was a 43-year-old woman, whose body was recovered Wednesday from inside a vehicle that had been washed into a flooded Sonoma County vineyard, officials said. Divers found the vehicle submergd in 8 to 10 feet of water.

    “That’s more than we’ve lost in the last two years of wildfires,” the lieutenant governor said. “So this is a very significant emergency.”

    Rebekah Rohde, 40, and Steven Sorensen, 61, were both found “with trees on top of their tents” over the weekend, the Sacramento County Coroner said. Both were unhoused, according to the release.

    In the San Joaquin Valley, a tree fell on a pickup truck on State Route 99 in Visalia on Tuesday, killing the driver. A motorcyclist also died after crashing into the tree, the California Highway Patrol said.

    Another driver died after entering a flooded roadway in Avila Beach Monday, the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office said.

    “It only takes six inches of water to lose control of a car to be knocked over. In 12 inches, cars start floating away,” Kounalakis said this week.

    “You’ve heard that creeks that have risen 14 feet just in the last day and in certain areas we’ve had over a foot of rain – just in the last 48 hours. So it is unbelievable.”

    Rescue crews help stranded residents Tuesday in Merced, California.

    Several areas across the state have registered 50% to 70% of their average annual rainfall just since the parade of atmospheric river events began to impact the state on December 26, according to the National Weather Service. Oakland got 69% of its annual average, Santa Barbara 64%, Stockton 60%, and downtown San Francisco 59%.

    Downtown San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Barbara have each gotten more than a foot of rain, according to the NWS.

    Though none of the coming storms are expected to individually be as impactful as the most recent ones, the cumulative effect could be significant in a state where much of the soil is already too saturated to absorb any more rain.

    And the state’s ongoing drought has parched the landscape so much, the soil struggles to absorb the incoming rainfall – which can lead to dangerous flash flooding.

    Scientists have warned the climate crisis is having a significant effect on California’s weather, increasing the swings between extreme drought and extreme rain.

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  • A galactic merger brought a pair of supermassive black holes together | CNN

    A galactic merger brought a pair of supermassive black holes together | CNN

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    Sign up for CNN’s Wonder Theory science newsletter. Explore the universe with news on fascinating discoveries, scientific advancements and more.



    CNN
     — 

    Two supermassive black holes have been spotted feasting on cosmic materials as two galaxies in distant space merge — and are the closest to colliding black holes astronomers have ever observed.

    Astronomers spotted the pair while using the Atacama Large Millimeter/Submillimeter Array of telescopes, or ALMA, in northern Chile’s Atacama Desert, to observe two merging galaxies about 500 million light-years from Earth.

    The two black holes were growing in tandem near the center of the coalescing galaxy resulting from the merger. They met when their host galaxies, known as UGC 4211, collided.

    One is 200 million times the mass of our sun, while the other is 125 million times the mass of our sun.

    While the black holes themselves aren’t directly visible, both were surrounded by bright clusters of stars and warm, glowing gas — all of which is being tugged by the holes’ gravitational pull.

    Over time, they will start circling one another in orbit, eventually crashing into one another and creating one black hole.

    After observing them across multiple wavelengths of light, the black holes are located the closest together scientists have ever seen — only about 750 light-years apart, which is relatively close, astronomically speaking.

    The results were shared at the 241st meeting of the American Astronomical Society being held this week in Seattle, and published Monday in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

    The distance between the black holes “is fairly close to the limit of what we can detect, which is why this is so exciting,” said study coauthor Chiara Mingarelli, an associate research scientist at the Flatiron Institute’s Center for Computational Astrophysics in New York City, in a statement.

    Galactic mergers are more common in the distant universe, which makes them harder to see using Earth-based telescopes. But ALMA’s sensitivity was able to observe even their active galactic nuclei — the bright, compact regions in galaxies where matter swirls around black holes. Astronomers were surprised to find a binary pair of black holes, rather than a single black hole, dining on the gas and dust stirred up by the galactic merger.

    “Our study has identified one of the closest pairs of black holes in a galaxy merger, and because we know that galaxy mergers are much more common in the distant Universe, these black hole binaries too may be much more common than previously thought,” said lead study author Michael Koss, a senior research scientist at the Eureka Scientific research institute in Oakland, California, in a statement.

    “What we’ve just studied is a source in the very final stage of collision, so what we’re seeing presages that merger and also gives us insight into the connection between black holes merging and growing and eventually producing gravitational waves,” Koss said.

    If pairs of black holes — as well as merging galaxies that lead to their creation — are more common in the universe than previously thought, they could have implications for future gravitational wave research. Gravitational waves, or ripples in space time, are created when black holes collide.

    It will still take a few hundred million years for this particular pair of black holes to collide, but the insights gained from this observation could help scientists better estimate how many pairs of black holes are close to colliding in the universe.

    “​​There might be many pairs of growing supermassive black holes in the centers of galaxies that we have not been able to identify so far,” said study coauthor Ezequiel Treister, an astronomer at Universidad Católica de Chile in Santiago, Chile, in a statement. “If this is the case, in the near future we will be observing frequent gravitational wave events caused by the mergers of these objects across the Universe.”

    Space-based telescopes like Hubble and the Chandra X-ray Observatory and ground-based telescopes like the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope, also in the Atacama Desert, and the W.M. Keck telescope in Hawaii have also observed UGC 4211 across different wavelengths of light to provide a more detailed overview and differentiate between the two black holes.

    “Each wavelength tells a different part of the story,” Treister said. “All of these data together have given us a clearer picture of how galaxies such as our own turned out to be the way they are, and what they will become in the future.”

    Understanding more about the end stages of galaxy mergers could provide more insight about what will happen when our Milky Way galaxy collides with the Andromeda galaxy in about 4.5 billion years.

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  • Chinese rocket startup Galactic Energy sends five satellites into space | CNN Business

    Chinese rocket startup Galactic Energy sends five satellites into space | CNN Business

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    Hong Kong
    CNN
     — 

    Galactic Energy, a rocket startup in China, launched five satellites into orbit on Monday, boosting the private company’s ambition to become the Chinese rival to SpaceX.

    Galactic Energy’s Ceres-1 rocket lifted off Monday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China, sending five commercial satellites into their intended orbits, the Beijing-based company said in a statement on the same day.

    The five satellites will be used for telecommunication, weather forecasts and scientific research for government agencies in the country, the company added.

    The mission marks the fifth launch of the Ceres-1 rocket — a small solid fuel orbital rocket designed by the company, Galactic Energy said. So far, it has successfully put 19 commercial satellites into space, setting a record for a private Chinese firm.

    “It sounds the trumpet for us to start a high-density orbital launch in 2023,” it said, adding that it plans to complete 8 to 10 missions for this year.

    Galactic Energy conducted the first Ceres-1 launch on November 7, 2020, which makes it the second Chinese private company to launch a satellite into low Earth orbit. A Beijing-based startup, i-Space, was the first to do so in 2019.

    Many Chinese commercial satellite launch providers are currently using small solid-propellant rockets like Ceres. But some firms are developing or testing reusable liquid-propellant rocket engines, which allow precise control of the thrust after ignition.

    Last year, Galactic Energy successfully tested its liquid-propellant Welkin engine for its next-generation rockets. Its founder Liu Baiqi said that they want to build the Chinese version of the Merlin engine, which was developed by SpaceX.

    Founded in 2018, Galactic Energy has received several rounds of financing from private equity investors and venture capitalists, worth more than $250 million in total. Major investors include the investment arm of Aviation Industry Corporation of China, a state-owned aerospace and defense conglomerate.

    China’s commercial space industry has expanded rapidly since 2015, when the government began encouraging private companies to enter the space sector. Before that, launching rockets and satellites had been the monopoly of state-owned aerospace companies.

    Over the past few years, more than 170 private companies have entered the space industry, according to a 2020 research report by Future Space Research, a research institute based in Beijing.

    The successful launch by the Chinese startup came on the same day that Virgin Orbit suffered failure on its first rocket launch from the United Kingdom.

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  • Thousands urged to flee their homes as storm wallops California, closing down roads, prompting water rescues and leaving 1 dead | CNN

    Thousands urged to flee their homes as storm wallops California, closing down roads, prompting water rescues and leaving 1 dead | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A powerful storm battering California has forced thousands to evacuate – including an entire community – and prompted dozens of water rescues as floodwater inundated roadways, swept away vehicles and caused widespread damage.

    Streets turned into rivers, trees came crashing down, homes lost power, rivers swelled and major roadways were shuttered as the storm unleashed powerful winds and heavy downpours. Parts of the Pacific Coast Highway, a key sea-side California highway, were closed in Southern California due to the flooding, officials said.

    One driver died after entering a flooded roadway in Avila Beach, according to the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office.

    Elsewhere in the county, a 5-year-old child was swept away in flood waters near the Salinas River in San Miguel Monday morning. The hourslong search for the child was suspended in the afternoon “because the weather had become too severe and it was not safe anymore for first responders to be conducting the search,” San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office public information officer Tony Cipolla told CNN.

    More than 34 million people were under flood watches early Tuesday after parts of the central California coast received 1 to 1.25 inches of rain per hour Monday, the Weather Prediction Center said.

    As of late Monday, 2 to 7 inches of rain had fallen across lower elevations and up to 10 inches in the mountains over a 24-hours period, preliminary rainfall reports showed. Montecito received a whopping 9.89 inches over 24 hours, while Fillmore got 6.24 inches and Santa Barbara got 6.13 inches.

    The threat isn’t over yet. The storm is trekking South, shifting the risk of mudslides, flooding and severe storms to the Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose and Los Vegas areas on Tuesday.

    More than 30 million people across the Southwest were under a marginal threat of severe weather Tuesday.

    “Isolated strong to severe thunderstorms capable of producing damaging winds and perhaps a brief tornado may occur today across parts of southern/central California,” warns the Storm Prediction Center. “Thunderstorms capable of isolated severe gusts will also be possible across parts of southeast Nevada, northwest Arizona, and southwest Utah.”

    In central California, heavy downpours unleashed significant flooding, mudslides and debris flows, prompting calls for residents to flee.

    The entire community of Montecito in Santa Barbara County was ordered to evacuate Monday, along with residents in parts of Carpinteria, Summerland and the City of Santa Barbara.

    “LEAVE NOW! This is a rapidly evolving situation,” Santa Barbara County officials said. Officials warned residents to “be prepared to sustain yourself and your household for multiple days if you choose not to evacuate.”

    Montecito – locked between the Santa Ynez Mountains and the Pacific Ocean – received the evacuation orders on the five-year anniversary of a mudslide in 2018 that killed 23 people as mud and boulders the size of houses plowed down the Santa Barbara hillsides, splintering more than 100 homes and rupturing a gas main, according to the state’s Office of Emergency Services.

    Video from CNN affiliate KEYT showed cars traversing flooded streets as water raged in a nearby creek in Montecito and mud oozed down a hillside.

    Santa Barbara city officials reported dangerous road conditions with numerous roadways impacted by boulders, debris and flooding.

    Farther north in Santa Clara County, about 32,000 people were under evacuation orders Monday afternoon and more people could be asked to leave Tuesday.

    In nearby Santa Cruz County, Felton resident Rachel Oliveira said she chose to stay home as water from the nearby San Lorenzo River rose, flooding her home.

    “It just came really quick,” Oliveira said. “Like within a matter of minutes it was from across the street all the way into our yard and it went really fast.”

    The storm is the latest in an unrelenting parade of atmospheric rivers to plague the West Coast in recent weeks, leaving California soils too saturated to absorb any more rain, and setting the stage for intense flooding and mudslides.

    Warning that with the “worst of it still in front of us,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Sunday asked the White House for an emergency declaration to support response and recovery efforts. President Joe Biden later approved the declaration.

    A Caltrans worker directs traffic at a freeway entrance as the U.S. Freeway 101 is closed near Montecito, California, Monday.

    Santa Barbara County Sheriff Bill Brown asked county residents to shelter in place Monday evening as travel became a nightmare with rockslides, flooded roads and closed highways.

    Crews in Santa Barbara County have responded to more than 200 incident calls due to the heavy rains, according to Captain Scott Safechuck, spokesperson for a Santa Barbara County Incident Management Team.

    Around 10 to 15 homes were damaged due to flooding in the county on Monday, according to Santa Barbara County Fire, which released images showing a flooded neighborhood and a sinkhole that developed.

    To the north, Santa Cruz County saw widespread damage, according to images from Cal Fire. The San Lorenzo River swelled 14 feet in just over four hours Monday morning as heavy rain pounded the region, putting the river in major flood stage.

    Fast moving water in Santa Cruz knocked out a bridge and flooded state parks, video showed.

    A view of damage on the road after heavy rain in the Santa Cruz Mountains above Silicon Valley in California Monday.

    The National Weather Service reported a “possible levee breach” along the Pajaro River Monday morning and warned of “life threatening flash flooding.”

    Meanwhile, farther south in San Luis Obispo County, authorities urged residents south of the Arroyo Grande Creek Levee to evacuate to higher ground immediately Monday evening.

    The deluge prompted numerous water rescues throughout the state Monday, as rising waters trapped drivers.

    In Southern California, at least 18 people were rescued by Ventura County Fire Department, including multiple people who were stranded on an island in the Ventura River, fire officials said.

    As the rainfall intensified Monday night, officers in Ventura County’s Moorpark were working to rescue stranded drivers on State Route 126, according to the California Highway Patrol. State Route 126 was closed from Fillmore City limits to Fairview Canyon.

    In Monterey County in central California, the sheriff’s office and the Coast Guard rescued two people and a dog who were trapped by flood waters, the sheriff’s office said in a post on Facebook.

    Ahead of the storm’s arrival, California Emergency Services Director Nancy Ward warned that “floods kill more individuals than any other natural disaster.”

    “We’ve already had more deaths in this flood storm since December 31 than we had in the last two fire seasons of the highest fire acreage burned in California,” Ward said during a news conference Sunday.

    In an aerial view, floodwaters fill fields Monday in Santa Rosa, California.

    The rains dropped into Southern California Monday night, threatening flash flooding and mudslides from Los Angeles to San Diego – particularly across fire-scarred areas.

    Flash flooding will be likely in many areas in and around Los Angeles through much of the day, tapering off in the late afternoon and evening. Parts of downtown Los Angeles have already seen between 1-3 inches of rainfall with the higher elevations around the city seeing 2-5 inches by early Tuesday.

    While storm-battered areas of central and Northern California will see some respite from the heavy rains early Tuesday, “it will be short lived as the next in the seemingly never ending parade of strong wet Pacific systems pushes more heavy precipitation across all of California on Tuesday,” the National Weather Service warned.

    The additional heavy rainfall on Tuesday is expected to exacerbate ongoing flooding, according to the Weather Service.

    “Nearly all of California has seen much above average rainfall totals over the past several weeks, with totals 400-600% above average values,” the Weather Service said. “This has resulted in nearly saturated soils and increasingly high river levels.”

    Downtown Santa Barbara received 6.37 inches as of early Tuesday – the wettest day on record for the downtown area.

    San Luis Obispo McChesney Field also had its wettest day on record, with daily rainfall of 4.10 inches surpassing the previous record of 3.68 inches. Meanwhile, Moorpark had its second rainiest day on record with 4.02 inches.

    The rain is expected to wind down Tuesday night across much of the state, before another batch of heavy precipitation moves into Northern California and the coastal Pacific Northwest Wednesday.

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  • 90% of Californians are under flood watches as another storm threatens mudslides, power outages and deadly inundation | CNN

    90% of Californians are under flood watches as another storm threatens mudslides, power outages and deadly inundation | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Much of California can’t soak up another drop of rain. Yet the state is getting pummeled again with torrential downpours and ferocious winds, causing power outages and treacherous travel conditions.

    More than 34 million Californians were under a flood watch Monday – about 90% of the state’s population and 10% of the US population.

    Parts of the central California coast got walloped with 1 to 1.25 inches of rainfall per hour, the Weather Prediction Center said. Extensive rainfall there Monday triggered significant flooding, mudslides, debris flows and closed roadways.

    Widespread rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches have been observed from just south of San Francisco to just north of Los Angeles. Isolated amounts of 6 to more than 10 inches have been observed in the higher terrain near the coast.

    As the rain shifted slowly to the south Monday toward Los Angeles, the National Weather Service there warned of the risk of flooding, debris flow in land scarred by recent wildfires and an increased risk of rock and mudslides in mountains and on canyon roads.

    And hurricane-force wind gusts topping 74 mph thrashed states across the western US. More than 37 million people were under wind alerts Monday in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, Utah, Arizona and Wyoming.

    A 132-mph wind gust lashed Oroville, California. Residents in Washoe City, Nevada, were hit with a 98-mph gust, the Weather Prediction Center said.

    TRACK THE STORMS

    “Expect widespread power outages, downed trees and difficult driving conditions,” the National Weather Service in Sacramento tweeted. “Now is the time to prepare if you have not already!”

    Almost 92,000 homes, businesses and other power customers had no electricity Monday evening, according to PowerOutage.us.

    And the central California coast could be at risk of a tornado, CNN Meteorologist Dave Hennen said.

    The severe weather is part of a relentless parade of atmospheric rivers slamming the West Coast.

    California is now extremely vulnerable to flooding because much of the state has been scarred by historic drought or devastating wildfires – meaning the land can’t soak up much rainfall.

    And after an onslaught of storms since late December led to deadly flooding, Gov. Gavin Newsom warned Sunday: “We expect to see the worst of it still in front of us.”

    Two bouts of major rainfall are expected to hammer the West Coast over the next few days – without much of a break between events for the water to recede.

    The system is part of an atmospheric river – a long, narrow region in the atmosphere that can transport moisture thousands of miles, like a fire hose in the sky.

    The atmospheric river slamming California on Monday could result in a 1-in-50 year or 1-in-100 year rainfall event near Fresno, the Weather Prediction Center said.

    A moderate risk – level 3 of 4 – of excessive rainfall covers over 26 million people in California, including in San Francisco, Sacramento, Los Angeles and Fresno, where rain could fall at 1 inch per hour.

    Owners of a restaurant in Aptos, California, place sandbags in front of their establishment Monday.

    The San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz County has risen 14 feet in just over four hours and is in major flood stage. Parts of the county will experience “widespread flooding at shallow depths,” and the city of Santa Cruz will have serious flooding, according to data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and US Geological Survey.

    The threat will shift further south Tuesday, with a level 3 of 4 risk centered over Los Angeles.

    “While some of the forecast rain totals are impressive alone, it is important to note that what really sets this event apart are the antecedent conditions,” the National Weather Service office in San Francisco said.

    “Multiple systems over the past week have saturated soil, increased flow in rivers and streams, and truly set the stage for this to become a high impact event.”

    In Sacramento County, officials warned “flooding is imminent” and issued evacuation orders for the Wilton community near the Cosumnes River before roads become impassable.

    Wilton residents also had to evacuate during last week’s storm, when exit routes flooded quickly, officials said.

    A man wades through a flooded street in Aptos Monday.

    El Dorado, Monterey, Santa Cruz and Santa Clara and Alameda counties have issued evacuation warnings or recommendations for some areas due to possible flooding and other safety risks as forecasters warned of swelling rivers.

    Residents in all all areas of Montecito, parts of Santa Barbara and Summerland are being ordered to evacuate immediately due to the threat of the ongoing storm, the local fire department announced Tuesday.

    Montecito is a haven for the rich and famous, including Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan, Duchess of Sussex; Oprah Winfrey and Ellen Degeneres. Monday marks exactly five years since heavy rains in the area caused deadly mud- and landslides.

    Santa Barbara County authorities are advising residents to “be prepared to sustain yourself and your household for multiple days if you choose not to evacuate, as you may not be able to leave the area and emergency responders may not be able to access your property in the event of road damage, flooding, or a debris flow.”

    A section of a parking lot sits sunken Sunday after a storm at Seacliff State Beach in Aptos, California.

    Newsom on Sunday asked the White House for an emergency declaration to support response and recovery efforts.

    “We are in the middle of a deadly barrage of winter storms – and California is using every resource at its disposal to protect lives and limit damage,” Newsom said in a statement. “We are taking the threat from these storms seriously, and want to make sure that Californians stay vigilant as more storms head our way.”

    San Francisco Mayor London Breed on Monday issued a Local Proclamation of Emergency due to the ongoing series of winter storms that began New Year’s Eve, according to a news release from his office.

    This storm system arrives on the heels of a powerful cyclone that flooded roads, toppled trees and knocked out power last week to much of California. Earlier, a New Year’s weekend storm system produced deadly flooding.

    At least 12 Californians have died from “storm-related impacts” such as flooding since late December, the governor’s office said.

    In San Luis Obispo County, dive teams from the sheriff’s office and Cal Fire rescuers were searching Monday for a 5-year-old child reported to have been swept away in flood waters near the Salinas River in San Miguel.

    “Floods kill more individuals than any other natural disaster,” California Emergency Services Director Nancy Ward said Sunday. “We’ve already had more deaths in this flood storm since December 31 than we had in the last two fire seasons of the highest fire acreage burned in California.”

    Flood-related deaths can happen when drivers attempt to cross standing water.

    “Just a foot of water and your car’s floating. Half a foot of water, you’re off your feet. Half foot of water, you’re losing control of your vehicle,” Newsom said.

    “We’re seeing people go around these detours because they don’t see any obstacles – they think everything is fine, and putting their lives at risk or putting first responders lives at risk.”

    For anyone who doesn’t need to travel during the peak of this storm, “please don’t,” California Secretary of Natural Resources Wade Crowfoot said. “Be prepared for power outages and other interruptions. Have those flashlights, the candles, batteries, charge cell phones at the ready.”

    Already, flooded roads, toppled trees and downed power lines are making travel difficult, California Highway Patrol said. Some fallen trees crushed cars and homes over the weekend. On Monday, portions of the Pacific Coast Highway – US 101, a major north-south highway, were closed.

    The Santa Barbara Airport, a tri-county regional airport, is closed because of flooding airport officials said Monday.

    Crane operator Ricky Kapuschinsky prepares to lift uprooted trees Sunday in Sacramento, California.

    California is experiencing “weather whiplash,” going from intense drought conditions to now contending with its fifth atmospheric river, Newsom said.

    Much of the state has already seen 5 to 8 inches of rain over the last week. Two to 4 more inches of rain are expected across the coasts and valleys – and even more in mountains and foothills through Tuesday.

    Rising from swelling rivers could spill over and inundate communities.

    The rainfall over the weekend brought renewed flood concerns for streams, creeks and rivers. The Colgan Creek, Berryessa Creek, Mark West Creek, Green Valley Creek and the Cosumnes River all have gauges that are either above flood stage or expected to be in the next few days.

    “The cumulative effect of successive heavy rainfall events will lead to additional instances of flooding. This includes rapid water rises, mudslides, and the potential for major river flooding,” the National Weather Service said Monday.

    The moisture is expected to sink southward Monday night, making flooding “increasing likely” over the Southern California coastal ranges Tuesday, the weather service said. Fierce winds are expected to accompany the storm as it pushes inland.

    “Valley areas will likely see gusts as high as 45-50 mph, with gusts greater than 60 mph possible in wind prone areas,” the National Weather Service in Reno said. The Sierra Ridge could receive peak gusts between 130 to 150 mph Monday.

    For those at higher elevations, intense snow and ferocious winds will be the biggest concerns.

    Parts of the higher elevations in the Sierra Nevada have gotten more than 100” – or 8.3 feet – of snow in just the past few weeks, the Weather Prediction Center said.

    Now, another 6 feet of snow is expected in some parts of the Sierra.

    As the storm pushes inland, more than 5 feet of snow could fall along the Sierra Crest west of Lake Tahoe, the weather service said.

    The heavy snow and strong winds could lead to near whiteout conditions on roads.

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  • Lightning in the ‘cataclysmic’ Tonga volcano eruption shattered ‘all records’ | CNN

    Lightning in the ‘cataclysmic’ Tonga volcano eruption shattered ‘all records’ | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    When the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano erupted in January 2022, it sent shockwaves around the world. Not only did it trigger widespread tsunami waves, but it also belched an enormous amount of climate-warming water vapor into the Earth’s stratosphere.

    Now researchers in a new report have unveiled something else: the eruption set off more than 25,500 lightning events in just five minutes. Over the course of just six hours, the volcano triggered nearly 400,000 lightning events. Half of all the lightning in the world was concentrated around this volcano at the eruption’s peak.

    The “cataclysmic eruption” shattered “all records,” according to the report from Vaisala, an environmental monitoring company that tracks lightning around the world.

    “It’s the most extreme concentration of lightning that we’ve ever detected,” Chris Vagasky, meteorologist and lightning expert at Vaisala, told CNN. “We’ve been detecting lightning for 40 years now, and this is really an extreme event.”

    The annual report by Vaisala found that 2022 was a year of extremes for lightning. Lightning increased in the US in 2022, with more than 198 million lightning strokes — 4 million more than what was observed in 2021, and 28 million more than 2020.

    “We are continuing an upward trend in lightning,” Vagasky said.

    The World-Wide Lightning Location Network, another lightning monitoring network led by the University of Washington, which is not involved with the report, said Vaisala’s findings about global lightning as well as the Hunga volcano are consistent with their own observations.

    “We can do this because the stronger eruptions generate lightning, and lightning sends detectable radio signals around the world,” Robert Holzworth, the director of the network, told CNN. “The Hunga eruption was absolutely impressive in its lightning activity.”

    Researchers have used lightning as a key indicator of the climate crisis, since the phenomenon typically signals warming temperatures. Lightning occurs in energetic storms associated with an unstable atmosphere, requiring relatively warm and moist air, which is why they primarily occur in tropical latitudes and elsewhere during the summer months.

    But in 2022, Vaisala’s National Lightning Detection Network found more than 1,100 lightning strokes in Buffalo, New York, during a devastating lake-effect snowstorm that dumped more than 30 inches of snow in the city, but piled historic totals in excess of 6 feet in the surrounding suburbs along Lake Erie. Lake-effect snow occurs when cold air blows over warm lake water, in this case from the Great Lakes. The large difference in temperature can cause extreme instability in the atmosphere and lead to thunderstorm-like lightning even in a snow storm.

    More than 1,100 lightning strokes were detected in Buffalo, New York, during a devastating lake-effect snowstorm that dumped more than 30 inches of snow in the city, but piled historic totals in excess of 6 feet in the surrounding suburbs along Lake Erie.

    The report noted that many of these lightning events happened near wind turbines south of Buffalo, which Vagasky said was significant. He explained that the ice crystal-filled clouds were lower to the ground than usual, scraping just above the blades of the turbines.

    “That can cause what is known as self-initiated upward lightning,” Vagasky said. “So the lightning occurs because you have charged at the tip of this wind turbine blade that is really close to the base of the cloud, and it’s really easy to get a connection of the electric charge.”

    This is an area of ongoing research, he said, as the country turns to more clean energy alternatives.

    “We’re seeing bigger and bigger wind turbines, and certainly as we’re putting in more and more wind energy and renewable energy, lightning is going to play a role in that,” he said.

    The report comes after an unusual year in 2021, when they found lightning strokes increased significantly in the typically frozen Arctic region, which scientists say is a clear sign of how the climate crisis is altering global weather.

    “Lightning in polar regions wasn’t mentioned [in this year’s Vaisala report], but our global lightning network shows a trend for much more lightning in the northern polar regions,” Michael McCarthy, research associate professor and associate director of the World Wide Lightning Location Network, told CNN. “That trend closely tracks the observed average temperature changes over the northern hemisphere.

    “This close tracking suggests, but does not prove, a climate change effect,” McCarthy added.

    Vagasky said lightning in colder areas will only amplify as the planet warms, noting that meteorologists and climatologists have been collecting more data to not only make the climate connections clear but also keep people safe.

    “That’s why they’ve named lightning as an essential climate variable,” he said, “because it’s important to know where it’s occurring, how much is occurring, and so you can see how thunderstorms are trending as a result of changing climates.”

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  • More extreme weather on tap for California as series of atmospheric river events arrive | CNN

    More extreme weather on tap for California as series of atmospheric river events arrive | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    California has been battered by heavy snow, damaging winds and flooding this week – and now another round of storms is set to hit the West Coast this weekend.

    “Relentless parade of cyclones from the Pacific will bring more flooding rains and mountain snows to the West Coast with main focus across northern California,” the Weather Prediction Center said Saturday.

    Multiple storms will reach the West Coast over the next few days. The concern is not just the rain, snow and wind, but there will be not much of a break in between events for the water to recede or cleanup to be completed.

    “We do expect an even stronger storm to impact the state Sunday night through Tuesday than the one we will see early on this weekend,” said Matt Solum, Meteorologist with the National Weather Service’s Western Region Headquarters. “We encourage everyone to take the time over the weekend to make any needed preparations for the next storm coming in.”

    The next storms come on the heels of a powerful cyclone which flooded roads, toppled trees and knocked out power to most across California. Earlier, a New Year’s weekend storm system also produced flooding.

    This weekend the main concerns for the coastal communities will be widespread flooding, gusty winds, and dangerous beach and marine conditions. In the higher elevations it will be heavy snow and strong winds leading to near whiteout conditions for anyone traveling on the roads.

    TRACK THE STORMS HERE >>>>

    Winds are forecast to be around 40-50 mph in the valleys and up to 70 mph in the mountains, which is lower than the storm earlier this week, but still nothing to brush off.

    “While these winds won’t be on the order of the previous/stronger system it really won’t take much to bring trees down given saturated conditions and weakened trees from the last event,” the weather service in San Francisco posted Friday.

    Even a 40 mph wind can do damage when the ground is so saturated from record rainfall earlier this week and the cumulative effect of the new rainfall expected this weekend.

    “Impacts to infrastructure include but are not limited to; river flooding, mudslides, power outages & snow load,” the prediction center said in a tweet.

    The most widespread concern over the next week will certainly be flooding thanks to several atmospheric river events. Atmospheric rivers are a narrow band of concentrated moisture in the atmosphere.

    The Center for Western Weather and Water Extremes, which monitors atmospheric river events, is now forecasting a level 5 atmospheric river event – the highest level possible – in the next several days. While the focal point of this event will be near Monterey and Big Sur, California, intense moisture will also spread into the surrounding areas of San Francisco and San Jose where a level 4 atmospheric river event is forecast.

    Earlier this week, San Francisco experienced its wettest 10-day period on record for downtown since 1871. So far they have had more than a foot of rain just since December 1, and the forecast calls for an additional 4-6 inches of rain in the next five days.

    Sacramento is also expected to see significant rainfall totals of 4-7 inches in the valleys and 6-12 inches in the foothills.

    “Additional rain on already saturated soils will contribute to additional flooding concerns across much of the state,” Solum told CNN. “There will continue to be an increased risk of rock slides and mud slides across much of the state as well.”

    More than 15 million people are under flood watches across the state of California this weekend. There is also a slight-to-moderate risk of excessive rainfall across much of northern and central California Saturday and Sunday. It increases to a more widespread moderate risk by Monday.

    The rainfall over the weekend will bring renewed concerns for local streams, creeks, and rivers. The Colgan Creek, Berryessa Creek, Mark West Creek, Green Valley Creek, and the Cosumnes River all have gauges either currently above flood stage or expected to be in the next few days.

    “Tuesday is probably the day where you’ll likely need to keep a really close eye on the weather as the potential for widespread flooding of rivers, creeks, streams and roadway and urban flooding will be at its highest during the next week as all the runoff and heavy precipitation comes together resulting in a mess,” the weather service office in Sacramento said.

    In addition to heavy rain, there will be significant amounts of snow across the higher elevations.

    “Snow totals are looking to be 1-2 feet with some of the higher elevations seeing 3 feet or more leading to significant travel impacts,” the weather service office in Sacramento said.

    We are currently under a La Niña advisory for the winter months before transitioning back to a more neutral pattern by the spring.

    El Niño and La Niña forecast patterns put out by the Climate Prediction Center give guidelines on what the overall forecast can be during a seasonal time period.

    “During a La Niña, typically the Pacific Northwest sees wetter than normal conditions and Southern California sees drier than normal conditions,” Marybeth Arcodia, a postdoctoral researcher at Colorado State University said. “This is due to the jet stream being pushed farther north and having a wavier pattern. “

    The problem is, Mother Nature hasn’t exactly been following the anticipated norms for a La Niña winter so far this year.

    “However, in the past three months, Oregon has been slightly drier than normal and California has been slightly wetter than normal (the opposite of what is expected),” Arcodia told CNN. While El Niño and La Niña patterns typically have a large influence on seasonal conditions in the West Coast, “there are always additional factors at play,” she added.

    One such factor has been multiple atmospheric river events pummeling California with intense amounts of moisture.

    “Atmospheric rivers typically form during the winter months and can occur during El Niños or La Niñas,” Arcodia said, noting their strength, frequency, and landfall location can be influenced by the larger patterns in the Pacific.

    Michael Tippett, a professor of physics and mathematics at Columbia University, points out that the forecast patterns are not meant to be used on a day-to-day forecast scale but rather the entire season as a whole. This is why researching the patterns is so important.

    “There is an element of randomness that is not explained by the patterns,” Tippett told CNN. “This might help us understand why one year is different than the other.”

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  • Arrest of Idaho students murder suspect brings ‘a great sense of relief’ to university campus before a return to classes this week, provost says | CNN

    Arrest of Idaho students murder suspect brings ‘a great sense of relief’ to university campus before a return to classes this week, provost says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Following the stabbing deaths of four students in November, the tight-knit University of Idaho community was shaken for weeks, but the recent arrest of a suspect may allow the campus to regain a sense of security as students return to classes this week.

    “I think I speak for many in our community that there’s a great sense of relief, but it’s bittersweet because this is still a horrible tragedy,” the university’s provost and executive vice president Torrey Lawrence told CNN Friday.

    Bryan Kohberger, 28, is charged with the murders of students Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, who were found brutally stabbed to death in an off-campus home in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13.

    The gruesome killings rattled the campus community and city of Moscow, which had not seen a murder since 2015. Anxieties only worsened as weeks passed without a named suspect, leading some students to leave campus and complete the semester remotely.

    Classes resume on Wednesday following the winter break, and though students who are still uncomfortable being on campus have the option to attend remotely, most students are planning to return, Lawrence said.

    “The timing of this for our students was probably good,” the provost said, adding, “Hopefully we can really just be focused on classes starting and on that student experience that we provide.”

    Security will remain heightened on campus, he said, though some measures such as a state patrol presence are no longer in place.

    Still, the “very peaceful, safe community” students enjoyed before the killings has experienced a “loss of innocence,” he said.

    Kohberger, who is the sole suspect, was pursuing a PhD in criminal justice at nearby Washington State University at the time of the killings and lived just minutes from the scene of the killings, according to authorities.

    Investigators say phone records indicate Kohberger was near the victims’ home at least 12 times between June 2022 and the present day, according to an affidavit detailing the evidence against him. The records also show the suspect was near the residence on the morning of the killings, court documents say.

    DNA recovered from the the Kohberger family’s trash was linked to DNA found on a tan leather knife sheath found on the bed of one of the victims, according to the affidavit. The DNA in the trash is believed to belong to the biological father of the person whose DNA was found on the sheath, the document says.

    The suspect’s white Hyundai Elantra was also seen close the victims’ home around the time of the killings, according to investigators. Kohberger received a new license plate for the car five days after the killings, Washington state licensing records and court documents reveal.

    Kohberger had his initial court appearance in Idaho on Thursday and did not enter a plea at the hearing.

    Before Kohberger’s arrest, authorities noted that the suspect thoroughly cleaned his vehicle and was seen wearing surgical gloves repeatedly outside his family’s Pennsylvania home, a law enforcement source tells CNN.

    The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was briefed on observations made by investigators during four days of surveillance leading up to Kohberger’s arrest at his family home.

    Kohberger “cleaned his car, inside and outside, not missing an inch,” according to the law enforcement source.

    A surveillance team assigned to Kohberger was tasked with two missions, according to multiple law enforcement sources: keep eyes on Kohberger so they could arrest him as soon as a warrant was issued, and try to obtain an object that would yield a DNA sample from Kohberger, which could then be compared to DNA evidence found at the crime scene.

    Kohberger was seen multiple times outside the Pennsylvania home wearing surgical gloves, according to the law enforcement source.

    In one instance prior to Kohberger’s arrest, authorities observed him leaving his family home around 4 a.m. and putting trash bags in the neighbors’ garbage bins, according to the source. At that point, agents recovered garbage from the Kohberger family’s trash bins and what was observed being placed into the neighbors’ bins, the source said.

    The recovered items were sent to the Idaho State Lab, per the source.

    Last Friday, a Pennsylvania State Police SWAT team then moved in on the Kohberger family home, breaking down the door and windows in what is known as a “dynamic entry” – a tactic used in rare cases to arrest “high risk” suspects, the source added.

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  • Western Australia in grip of ‘devastating’ flood emergency, PM says | CNN

    Western Australia in grip of ‘devastating’ flood emergency, PM says | CNN

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    Reuters
     — 

    Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Saturday his government was ready to provide whatever support was needed to residents of Western Australia state as record-breaking floods isolated far-flung communities there.

    The crisis in the Kimberley – an area almost three times the size of the United Kingdom – was sparked this week by severe weather system Ellie, a former tropical cyclone that brought heavy rain to the vast region.

    Among the worst-hit locations was Fitzroy Crossing, a town of around 1,300 people where supplies were being airlifted in due to the flooding, which authorities have said is the state’s worst on record.

    Albanese said his Labor government was “working constructively” with the Western Australia government on the crisis in the sparsely populated region that also includes the resort town of Broome.

    “These floods are having a devastating impact, many of these communities … are communities that do it tough, and the resources simply aren’t there on the ground,” Albanese told reporters in the city of Geelong, in Victoria state. “My government stands ready to provide whatever support is requested.”

    Western Australia emergency authorities said Australian Defence Force aircraft were being used to assist flood-hit communities, and Chinook helicopters were en-route to help relocated impacted residents.

    The nation’s weather forecaster said severe weather was no longer occurring in the state but that “the situation will continue to be monitored and further warnings will be issued if necessary.”

    The emergency in the country’s far northwest comes after frequent flooding in Australia’s east over the last two years due to a multi-year La Nina weather event, typically associated with increased rainfall. Some regions have endured four major flood crises since last year.

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  • Idaho suspect in student murders thoroughly cleaned vehicle, also seen wearing surgical gloves multiple times outside family home, source says | CNN

    Idaho suspect in student murders thoroughly cleaned vehicle, also seen wearing surgical gloves multiple times outside family home, source says | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    The man accused of murdering four University of Idaho students in November had thoroughly cleaned the interior and exterior of his car and was also seen wearing surgical gloves multiple times before being apprehended, a law enforcement source tells CNN.

    Bryan Kohberger, 28, is currently the sole suspect in the gruesome stabbings of students Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, who were found dead inside their off-campus house in Moscow, Idaho, on November 13.

    Kohberger, who was pursuing a PhD in criminal justice at Washington State University at the time of the killings, “cleaned his car, inside and outside, not missing an inch,” according to the law enforcement source.

    The source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, was briefed on observations made by investigators during four days of surveillance leading up to Kohberger’s arrest at his family’s Pennsylvania home on December 30.

    As Kohberger now remains behind bars in Idaho awaiting his January 12 status hearing, new details have emerged elucidating some of the suspect’s movements in the days leading up to his arrest.

    A surveillance team assigned to Kohberger was tasked with two missions, according to multiple law enforcement sources: keep eyes on Kohberger so they could arrest him as soon as a warrant was issued, and try to obtain an object that would yield a DNA sample from Kohberger, which could then be compared to DNA evidence found at the crime scene.

    Kohberger was seen multiple times outside the Pennsylvania home wearing surgical gloves, according to the law enforcement source.

    In one instance prior to Kohberger’s arrest, authorities observed him leaving his family home around 4 a.m. and putting trash bags in the neighbors’ garbage bins, according to the source. At that point, agents recovered garbage from the Kohberger family’s trash bins and what was observed being placed into the neighbors’ bins, the source said.

    The recovered items were sent to the Idaho State Lab, per the source.

    Last Friday, a Pennsylvania State Police SWAT team then moved in on the Kohberger family home, breaking down the door and windows in what is known as a “dynamic entry” – a tactic used in rare cases to arrest “high risk” suspects, the source added.

    On Thursday, Kohberger had his initial court appearance in Idaho after he was booked into the Latah County jail Wednesday night following his extradition from Pennsylvania.

    Kohberger is charged with four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary. He did not enter a plea at the hearing.

    Steve Goncalves, whose daughter Kaylee was among those killed, he told CNN’s JIm Sciutto in an interview that aired Friday morning.

    “Nobody understands exactly why but he was stalking them, he was hunting them,” Goncalves said. “He was a person looking for an opportunity and it just happened to be in that house. And that’s hard to take.

    “She had her phone right next to her and she couldn’t call 911. So these were just girls that went to sleep that night and a coward, you know, a hunter that went out and he picked his little opponent that was girls, that’s probably why the house was targeted.”

    Goncalves was in the courtroom for Kohberger’s appearance.

    “He knows I want him to look me in the eye. So he didn’t. He didn’t give me that opportunity,” Goncalves said. “He’s scared to look at me in the eyes and start to understand what’s about to happen to him. You know, he picked the wrong family.”

    Authorities spent nearly two months investigating before they were able to name publicly a suspect, a task that grabbed national attention and rattled the victims’ loved ones as well as the community – which had not recorded a murder in years.

    Still, the public’s view of the case remains mired with questions. As of late Thursday, it remains unclear what motivated the killings. It’s also unclear how the suspect entered the house after authorities said there was no sign of forced entry or why two roommates who were inside the residence at the time of the killings survived the attacks.

    Here’s how investigators narrowed the search to Kohberger:

    • DNA: Trash recovered from Kohberger’s family home revealed that the “DNA profile obtained from the trash” matched a tan leather knife sheath found “laying on the bed” of one of the victims, according to a probable cause affidavit released Thursday. The DNA recovered from the trash “identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father” of the suspect whose DNA was found on the sheath. “At least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father,” the affidavit said.
    • Phone records: Authorities found the suspect’s phone was near the victims’ Moscow, Idaho, home at least a dozen times between June 2022 to the present day, according to the affidavit. The records also reveal Kohberger’s phone was near the crime scene hours after the murders that morning between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m, the document says. The killings were not reported to authorities until just before noon.
    • A white sedan: A Hyundai Elantra was seen near the victims’ home around the time of their killings. Officers at Washington State University identified a white Elantra and later learned it was registered to Kohberger. The same car was also found at the suspect’s Pennsylvania family home when he was arrested last Friday. The suspect’s university is about a 10-minute drive from the Idaho crime scene.

    One of two roommates who were not harmed in the attacks said she saw a masked man dressed in black inside the house on the morning of the killings, according to the probable cause affidavit.

    Identified as D.M. in the court document, the roommate said she “heard crying” in the house that morning and also heard a man’s voice say, ‘It’s OK, I’m going to help you.’” D.M. said she then saw a “figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her,” the affidavit continued.

    “D.M. described the figure as 5’ 10” or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” the affidavit says. “The male walked past D.M. as she stood in a ‘frozen shock phase.’

    “The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. D.M. locked herself in her room after seeing the male,” the document says, adding the roommate did not recognize the male.

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  • Key takeaways from court documents in case against Bryan Kohberger and some questions that remain | CNN

    Key takeaways from court documents in case against Bryan Kohberger and some questions that remain | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    DNA allegedly found on a knife sheath recovered at the murder scene.

    A roommate described a masked figure with “bushy eyebrows.”

    Phone records showed the suspect was near the victims’ residence numerous times in the months before the killings.

    Nearly two months after the killings of four University of Idaho students captivated the country and sowed fear in the small community of Moscow, Idaho, an affidavit released Thursday offered a look at the investigative work that went into identifying Bryan Kohberger as the suspect.

    The 28-year-old PhD student in criminal justice was extradited to Idaho Wednesday from his home state of Pennsylvania. Facing four counts of first-degree murder and one count of burglary, Kohberger did not enter a plea during his initial court appearance Thursday.

    The suspect was arrested in Pennsylvania December 30, nearly seven weeks after Kaylee Goncalves, 21; Madison Mogen, 21; Xana Kernodle, 20; and Ethan Chapin, 20, were found fatally stabbed in an off-campus home.

    Here are key takeaways from the court documents – which include the probable cause affidavit used to support Kohberger’s arrest and obtain a warrant – and some questions that remain.

    Trash recovered from the Pennsylvania home of Kohberger’s family late last month and sent to the Idaho State Lab for DNA testing revealed that the “DNA profile obtained from the trash” matched a tan leather knife sheath found “laying on the bed” of one of the victims, according to the probable cause affidavit.

    The DNA in the trash “identified a male as not being excluded as the biological father” of the suspect whose DNA was found on the sheath.

    “At least 99.9998% of the male population would be expected to be excluded from the possibility of being the suspect’s biological father,” the affidavit said.

    One of two roommates who were not harmed told investigators she saw a masked man dressed in black in the house the morning of the attack, according to the probable cause affidavit.

    Identified in the document as D.M., the roommate said she “heard crying” in the house that morning and a male voice saying, ‘It’s OK, I’m going to help you.’”

    D.M. told investigators she saw a “figure clad in black clothing and a mask that covered the person’s mouth and nose walking towards her,” according to the affidavit.

    “D.M. described the figure as 5’ 10” or taller, male, not very muscular, but athletically built with bushy eyebrows,” the affidavit said. “The male walked past D.M. as she stood in ‘frozen shock.’”

    “The male walked towards the back sliding glass door. D.M. locked herself in her room after seeing the male,” according to the document, which said the roommate did not recognize the male.

    Authorities reviewed local surveillance footage and were drawn to a white sedan, later identified as a Hyundai Elantra, according to the affidavit.

    The vehicle was seen in the area around the home where the killings took place.

    By November 25, local law enforcement had been notified to be on the lookout for the vehicle, the affidavit said.

    Days later, officers at nearby Washington State University, where the suspect was a PhD student in criminal justice, identified a white Elantra and found it was registered to Kohberger.

    Kohberger’s driver’s license information was consistent with the description the unharmed roommate gave investigators, according to the affidavit.

    The document specifically noted Kohberger’s height and weight – 6 feet and 185 pounds – and that he has bushy eyebrows.

    Kohberger received a new license plate for his Elantra five days after the killings, the affidavit said, citing records from the Washington State Department of Licensing.

    At the time of Kohberger’s arrest last week, a white Elantra was found at his parents’ house in Pennsylvania, according to Monroe County Chief Public Defender Jason LaBar, who said Kohberger had gone home for the holidays.

    Phone records show Kohberger’s phone was near the victims’ residence at least 12 times since June, according to the court documents.

    “All of these occasions, except for one, occurred in the late evening and early morning hours of their respective days.”

    Additionally, records show Kohberger’s phone was near the murder scene – 1122 King Road – between 9:12 a.m. and 9:21 a.m. – hours after the killings, according to the court documents.

    A review of phone records showed Kohberger’s phone left his home at approximately 9 a.m. and traveled to Moscow, the affidavit said, and that the same phone traveled “back to the area of the Kohberger Residence … arriving to the area at approximately 9:32 a.m.”

    Kohberger applied for an internship with the Pullman Police Department in Washington in the fall of 2022, court documents show.

    “Pursuant to records provided by a member of the interview panel for Pullman Police Department, we learned that Kohberger’s past education included undergraduate degrees in psychology and cloud-based forensics,” according to an affidavit.

    “These records also showed Kohberger wrote an essay when he applied for an internship with the Pullman Police Department in the fall of 2022. Kohberger wrote in his essay he had interest in assisting rural law enforcement agencies with how to better collect and analyze technological data in public safety operations.”

    Nearly two months after the killings, however, a number of questions remain.

    It’s not clear why the unharmed roommate did not immediately call 911, or why the roommates were spared.

    The motive for the crime also remains a mystery, and police have said they are still looking for the murder weapon.

    The documents released Thursday shed no light on whether Kohberger had any other reason to be in the area at the time of the killings.

    Why wasn’t Kohberger arrested until more than six weeks after the victims were found dead?

    And authorities have not said publicly whether Kohberger knew any of the victims.

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  • Major storm leaves trail of destruction as it barrels across Central US with powerful tornadoes, flooding and heavy snow | CNN

    Major storm leaves trail of destruction as it barrels across Central US with powerful tornadoes, flooding and heavy snow | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    A major, multi-hazard storm is leaving a trail of destruction as it barrels across the country on Tuesday and continues to bring the risk of strong tornadoes and flooding to the South, and ice and snow to the Plains and Upper Midwest.

    The storm, which triggered deadly floods in California over the weekend, has tracked east and is pulling moisture from the Gulf of Mexico into the South, where above-normal temperatures have set the stage for severe thunderstorms.

    Nearly 30 million people are under some sort of severe weather threat in the South, with the highest risk near the Gulf Coast. Southeast Louisiana and southern Mississippi and Alabama were under a level 3 out of 5 “enhanced” risk of severe weather. Places like Baton Rouge, Montgomery and Gulfport could all see strong storms. A level 2 out of 5 “slight” risk of severe weather covered Nashville, New Orleans and Atlanta.

    The National Weather Service began issuing tornado watches Tuesday morning for millions of people from Louisiana to Tennessee as temperatures warmed and conditions became more favorable for violent storms. Multiple waves of severe weather are possible in this region through the day, the Storm Prediction Center warned, “with the risk expected to persist well into the night across much of the area.”

    Track the storm: Radar, weather alerts, travel delays and more

    Strong tornadoes, large hail and wind gusts topping 70 mph are possible in the most extreme thunderstorms.

    “Severe convection with all three modes (tornadoes, hail and damaging winds) is likely,” the National Weather Service office in Mobile warned.

    Heavy rainfall associated with these thunderstorms could also trigger significant flash flooding across the South. Southeastern Alabama and Southwest Georgia are under a level 3 out of 4 “moderate” risk of excessive rainfall. Portions of Southeast Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia are also under a level 2 out of 4 “slight” risk of excessive rainfall.

    Rainfall totals could reach 2 to 4 inches across the South through Wednesday, while some areas could see up to 6 inches.

    Since Monday night there have already been several tornado reports. One of the tornadoes that was reported was in Jonesboro, Louisiana, where large trees were knocked downed and damaged. The other was reported in Haywood, Tennessee.

    Damage was also reported after a possible tornado in Jessieville, Arkansas, according to Garland County officials.

    “Damage was sustained to areas of (a) school due to trees, and power lines. The school was currently in session at the time, however all students have been accounted for and reports of no injury,” the Garland County Sheriff’s Office said in a release.

    Ashley Shaver says she's never seen flooding like this at her house in Fountain Hill, Arkansas. This area received around 3 inches of rain over the course of 12 hours, according to the National Weather Service.

    In Jackson Parish, Louisiana, residents were told to stay off the roads as the severe weather toppled trees and covered roadways with water. Jackson Parish Sheriff’s Department said tarps will be given out to those whose homes are damaged.

    “We are trying to work to get to houses that are damaged and clear roads,” the Sheriff’s Department said.

    As the risk persists, forecasters have been concerned about tornadoes forming at night, according to Brad Bryant of the National Weather Service office in Shreveport, Louisiana.

    “You can’t see them coming. A lot of the time, people are asleep and not paying attention to the weather,” Bryant said. “Many areas around here don’t have good cell phone coverage and storm alerts are not as effective in those areas, especially once people are asleep.”

    Anyone in areas at risk of tornadoes should seek safe shelter immediately, Bryant said.

    “If you wait around for a warning to be issued, it is too late,” Bryant said Monday. “You need to have a safe shelter plan in place in advance of these storms.”

    Damage reports were also coming from across northern Louisiana, including several transmission highline towers being damaged in the Haile community in Marion. One of the towers was knocked over and several others are damaged, according to the National Weather Service in Shreveport.

    A wind gust of 81 mph was reported in Adair, Oklahoma – a gust equivalent to a Category 1 hurricane.

    As the South braces for floods and tornadoes, the storm continues to bring heavy snow, sleet and freezing rain across the Plains and Upper Midwest on Tuesday, significantly impacting travel.

    Over 15 million people are under winter weather alerts from the Plains to the Great Lakes.

    Residents in parts of Nebraska, South Dakota and Minnesota are likely to see intense snow rates of 1 to 3 inches per hour.

    01 weather snow US

    National Weather Service Sioux Falls SD/Twitter

    Blowing and drifting snow on Tuesday may result in snow-covered roads and make it “hazardous, if not impossible” to travel, the weather service warned.

    Road conditions were already deteriorating Monday night in northwestern Iowa, northern Nebraska and eastern South Dakota, according to the weather service in Omaha. Portions of northern Nebraska have already reported nearly a foot of snow and could get an additional 12 to 18 inches on Tuesday, according to the weather service.

    Roughly 200 miles of eastbound Interstate 80 in Wyoming, from Evanston to Rawlins, are closed due to the ongoing impacts of the storm, according to the Wyoming Department of Transportation. The department said westbound traffic is further blocked from the Rawlins section of I-80 to the Interstate-25 junction in Cheyenne, which covers more than 120 miles.

    “Snow (and) blowing snow to impact Wyoming roads into tonight,” an agency Facebook post read. “A high wind event will then create blowing (and) drifting snow, poor visibility and possible whiteout conditions Tuesday afternoon through Wednesday afternoon for sections of I-80, I-25, South Pass and various secondary roads!”

    “If you can, please stay home. If you must travel, ensure you have an emergency kit in your car,” the weather service in Sioux Falls told residents, saying travel will become difficult to impossible by Tuesday morning.

    A vehicle winter emergency kit includes snacks and water, a battery-powered weather radio, flashlights and batteries, a first aid kit, a shovel and ice scraper, a jumper cable and other items.

    Significant ice accumulations from freezing rain are expected, possibly over a quarter inch, from northeastern Nebraska through northwestern Iowa into southern Minnesota.

    The freezing rain poses a significant hazard to those on foot. Even a light glaze can make for slippery sidewalks and driveways. Accumulations more than 0.25 inches can cause scattered power outages and break tree limbs, the weather service says.

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  • Flight disruptions: Florida hit by air traffic control issue; Denver by freezing fog | CNN

    Flight disruptions: Florida hit by air traffic control issue; Denver by freezing fog | CNN

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    CNN
     — 

    Two far-apart states are seeing fresh air travel problems on Monday.

    Air traffic control issues triggered hours-long flight delays to Florida airports, the Federal Aviation Administration told CNN. And the main airport in Denver, Colorado, is seeing substantial cancellations and delays because of a fresh round of winter weather.

    Late Monday afternoon, the FAA told CNN that the issue in Florida was resolved.

    “The FAA is working toward safely returning to a normal traffic rate in the Florida airspace,” the agency said in a statement.

    Earlier in the day, the FAA told CNN that it had “slowed the volume of air traffic into Florida airspace due to an air traffic computer issue.”

    A publicly available airspace status notice showed flight delays early Monday afternoon averaging nearly three hours with a maximum delay up to six hours.

    The FAA said the issue was with the En Route Automation Modernization (ERAM) system at the Miami Air Route Traffic Control Center.

    That center is responsible for controlling millions of cubic miles of airspace for commercial flights over Florida.

    A spokesperson for Miami International Airport attributed delays there to a Florida-wide “FAA computer system issue.”

    The FAA said earlier that Monday would be a busy post-Christmas travel day with 42,000 flights scheduled, “with possible heavier volume from south to north.”

    Some of Florida’s key airports serving tourists have been affected by the air traffic computer problem, according to flight tracking site FlightAware.

    They include Miami International Airport (MIA), Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport (FLL) and Orlando International Airport (MCO).

    About 750 flights originating or destined for the Denver International Airport were either delayed or canceled Monday because of inclement weather, according to FlightAware.

    As of 4:20 p.m. ET, about 285 flights set to depart Denver International were delayed, and almost 130 flights were canceled, FlightAware said. Almost 215 flights set to arrive, were delayed and just over 130 were canceled.

    According to CNN Weather, Denver has been reporting freezing fog with temperatures in the 20s since 6 a.m. local time.

    Visibility has been at or below a quarter of a mile all day. Light snow fell overnight, but the primary reason for the delays and cancellations is the freezing fog and low visibility.

    The airport at Denver was particularly hard hit last week during Southwest’s service meltdown.

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