NATION
Friday, February 22, 2019
East Oregonian
A7
Snowman pops up in Vegas as city sees rare winter weather
By KEN RITTER and
MICHELLE L. PRICE
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — Winter storms in the
U.S. Southwest brought rare snowfall
Thursday to the Las Vegas Strip, dusting
casino marquees and prompting revelers to
erect a snowman near the famous “Welcome
to Fabulous Las Vegas” sign.
The National Weather Service reported
the first significant snowfall at McCarran
International Airport in a decade with 0.8
inches falling by Thursday afternoon.
“We expected cold, but not snow,” tour-
ist Lila de Guerrero said after taking a photo
at the Las Vegas sign wearing a puffer coat
and hat.
De Guerrero, who is visiting from El Sal-
vador, said it was the first time she had ever
seen snow.
German tourist Daniela Huber said she
was surprised that her vacation to the desert
wasn’t much of an escape from winter.
“We thought it was strange because we
came from Germany, where it snows all the
time,” she said.
Some suburban foothill areas near Las
Vegas were pillowy white after getting sev-
eral inches of snow. On the casino-lined Las
AP Photo/John Locher
A man, who declined to give his name, takes a picture of a small snowman at the “Welcome to
Fabulous Las Vegas” sign along the Las Vegas Strip on Thursday in Las Vegas.
Vegas Strip, the snow was fleeting, melting
faster than a bad gamblers’ luck.
Outside the city, authorities closed por-
tions of the main routes from Las Vegas to
Los Angeles and Phoenix because of snow,
ice and limited visibility.
About 50 miles of Interstate 15 closed
from Primm, Nevada, to Baker, California.
The Nevada Department of Transpor-
tation reported a 22-mile line of cars and
trucks backed up on U.S. 93 between Boul-
der City, Nevada, and Kingman, Arizona.
Snowstorms also blanketed other parts of
the Southwest, further easing drought con-
ditions while clogging traffic in California,
and forcing the closure of Interstate 40 and
an airport in Flagstaff, Arizona.
Barney Helmick, director of the Flagstaff
Pulliam Airport, said its only runway closed
when the visibility level hit zero. Intense
snow also forced the closure of schools and
businesses in the region.
Snow coated large areas of the desert out-
side Los Angeles and left traffic stalled near
Joshua Tree National Park. Wet weather this
winter has almost washed drought condi-
tions out of California, according to the U.S.
Drought Monitor.
In Nevada, snow delayed flights at McCa-
rran airport and traffic on highways.
“We don’t have snowplows,” airport
spokeswoman Christine Crews said as she
tallied about 100 flight cancellations because
of snow and ice. “But we have airfield main-
tenance vehicles and sweepers ready to go.”
Some flight delays reached more than
two hours, the Federal Aviation Adminis-
tration said.
BRIEFLY
Judge imposes gag order
on Trump confidant
Stone after post
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge
issued a broad gag order forbidding Roger
Stone to discuss his criminal case with any-
one and gave him a stinging reprimand on
Thursday over the longtime Trump confi-
dant’s posting of a photo of the judge with
what appeared to be crosshairs of a gun.
She promised to throw him behind bars if
he violates the court order in any way.
U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jack-
son said that it would be “foolhardy” for her
not to take any action over the Instagram
post and that Stone would “pose a danger”
to others in the case if the conditions of his
release weren’t modified to include a gag
order.
“Roger Stone fully understands the
power of words and the power of symbols
and there’s nothing ambiguous about cross-
hairs,” the judge said. “How hard was it
to come up with a photo that didn’t have a
crosshairs in the corner?” she quipped at
one point.
Stone has pleaded not guilty to charges
he lied to Congress, engaged in witness
tampering and obstructed a congressio-
nal investigation into possible coordination
between Russia and Donald Trump’s 2016
presidential campaign. The charges stem
from conversations he had during the cam-
paign about WikiLeaks, the anti-secrecy
group that released material stolen from
Democratic groups, including Hillary Clin-
ton’s campaign.
New election ordered
in disputed North Carolina
House race
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Caroli-
na’s elections board Thursday ordered a new
election in the nation’s last undecided con-
gressional race after the Republican can-
didate conceded his lead was tainted by
evidence of ballot-tampering by political
operatives working for him.
The State Board of Elections voted 5-0
in favor of a do-over in the mostly rural 9th
Congressional District but did not immedi-
ately set a date.
In moving to order a new election, board
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chairman Bob Cordle cited “the corruption,
the absolute mess with the absentee ballots.”
The board action came after GOP can-
didate Mark Harris, in a surprising turn,
dropped his bid to be declared the winner
and instead called for a new election. He
reversed course on the fourth day of a board
hearing at which investigators and wit-
nesses detailed evidence of ballot fraud by
operatives on his payroll.
“Through the testimony I’ve listened to
over the past three days, I believe a new
election should be called,” Harris said. “It’s
become clear to me that the public’s confi-
dence in the 9th District seat general elec-
tion has been undermined to an extent that a
new election is warranted.”
Threat allegations keep
Coast Guard officer jailed
GREENBELT, Md. (AP) — A Coast
Guard officer suspected of drawing up a hit
list of top Democrats and network TV jour-
nalists spent hours on his work computer
researching the words and deeds of infa-
mous bombers and mass shooters while also
stockpiling weapons, federal prosecutors
said Thursday.
Lt. Christopher Paul Hasson, 49, was
ordered held without bail on drug and gun
charges while prosecutors gather evidence
to support more serious charges involving
what they portrayed as a domestic terror
plot by a man who espoused white-suprem-
acist views.
Hasson, a former Marine who worked at
Coast Guard headquarters in Washington
on a program to acquire advanced new cut-
ters for the agency, was arrested last week.
Investigators gave no immediate details on
how or when he came to their attention.
Federal agents found 15 guns, includ-
ing several rifles, and over 1,000 rounds of
ammunition inside his basement apartment
in Silver Spring, Maryland.
In court papers this week, federal prose-
cutors said he compiled what appeared to be
a computer-spreadsheet hit list that included
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Demo-
cratic Leader Chuck Schumer and presiden-
tial hopefuls Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Eliz-
abeth Warren, Cory Booker and Kamala
Harris. Also mentioned were such figures
as MSNBC’s Chris Hayes and Joe Scar-
borough and CNN’s Chris Cuomo and Van
Jones.
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- THANK YOU -
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