The highway sits closed as emergency crews finish cleaning following accidents caused by ice and low temperatures in Richardson, Texas, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2021. A winter storm brought a coating of ice to parts of Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)
At least five people were killed Thursday in a massive crash involving 75 to 100 vehicles on an icy Texas interstate, police said, as a winter storm dropped freezing rain, sleet, and snow on parts of the U.S.
The number of injured was still unknown as police were still working the accident on Interstate 35 near downtown Fort Worth, police said. Police set up a reunification center for family members at a community center.
Farther south, in Austin, more than two dozen vehicles were involved in a pileup on an icy road, and one person was injured, emergency officials said.
Elsewhere, ice storm warnings were in effect from Arkansas to Kentucky, while another winter storm was predicted to bring snow to Mid-Atlantic states, the National Weather Service said.
More than 125,000 homes and businesses were without electricity Thursday morning, largely in Kentucky and West Virginia, according to the website poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
Meanwhile, officials in central Kentucky were urging people to stay home due to icy conditions.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said state offices would be closed due to the weather. He declared a state of emergency, which he said would free up funding and help agencies coordinate as they respond to reports of slick roads and downed power lines.
Crews were responding to numerous calls of downed icy tree limbs and power lines, Lexington police said in a tweet that urged people not to travel “unless absolutely necessary.”
Country music star Dolly Parton just set three new Guinness World Records, including longest span of No. 1 hits on US Top Country Albums chart for a female artist, most top 10 entries on the US Top Country Albums chart for a female artist, and most studio albums released by a female country singer.
“That '70s Show” star Danny Masterson was led out in handcuffs from a Los Angeles courtroom Wednesday and could get 30 years to life in prison after a jury found him guilty on two of three counts of rape at his second trial, in which the Church of Scientology played a central role.
The trial of the man charged in the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history opened Tuesday with his own lawyer acknowledging that he planned and carried out the 2018 massacre at a Pittsburgh synagogue and made hateful statements about Jewish people.
In celebration of Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month, Anne del Castillo, commissioner of the NYC Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment (MOME), joined Cheddar News to discuss her role in helping bring back the city's entertainment industry after the pandemic.
