More than half the US threatened with ice, snow and cold in massive winter storm

DALLAS (AP) — It was too cold for school in Chicago and other Midwestern cities Friday as a huge, dayslong winter storm began to crank up that could bring snow, sleet, ice and bone-chilling temperatures as well as extensive power outages to about half the U.S. population from Texas to New England.

Forecasters warned that the damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival a hurricane. At least 177 million people were under watches or warnings for ice and snow and more than 200 million were under cold weather advisories or warnings. In many places they overlapped. Utility companies braced for power outages because ice-coated trees and power lines can keep falling long after a storm has passed.

Maricela Resendiz picked up chicken, eggs and pizzas at a store Friday to get her, her 5-year-old son and her boyfriend through the weekend.

“It’s going to be a big storm,” she said, adding her weekend plans are “staying in, just being out of the way.”

Ice and snow could begin falling later Friday in Texas and Oklahoma. The storm was expected to slide into the South with freezing rain and sleet. Then it will move into the Northeast, dumping about a foot (30 centimeters) of snow from Washington, D.C., through New York and Boston, the National Weather Service predicted.

Boston declared a cold emergency through the weekend with wind chills predicted to dip well below zero.

Arctic air that spilled down from Canada prompted Chicago Public Schools and others in the Midwest to cancel classes Friday. With wind chills predicted to be as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 Celsius) frostbite could set in within 10 minutes, making it too dangerous to walk to school or wait for the bus.

In Bismarck, North Dakota, where the wind chill was minus 41 Fahrenheit (minus 41 Celsius) on Friday morning, Colin Cross cleaned out an empty unit for the apartment complex where he works.

“I’ve been here a while and my brain stopped working,” said Cross, bundled up in long johns, two long-sleeved shirts, a jacket, hat, hood, gloves and boots.

Ice, snow and sleet will start later Friday in places like Oklahoma, where Department of Transportation workers pretreated roads with salt brine. The Highway Patrol canceled days off for troopers and was partnering with the National Guard to send teams out to help stranded drivers.

Texas was bracing too. Frigid temperatures closed Houston schools Friday. Utility companies brought in thousands and employees to help keep the power on.

“It’s all hands on deck,” Houston Mayor John Whitmire posted online. “We’re hoping for the best, but prepared for the worst.”

More than 1,000 flights nationwide were delayed or canceled Friday, with well over half of them in Dallas, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. The website listed more than 1,400 cancellations for Saturday, when the worst weather could start in busy Atlanta.

Once ice and snow end, the frigid air from the north will head south and east. It will take a while to thaw out, an especially dangerous prospect in places where ice and snow weighs down tree branches and power lines and cuts electricity, perhaps for days.

Ice can add hundreds of pounds to power lines and branches and make them more susceptible to snapping, especially if it's windy.

In at least 11 Southern states from Texas to Virginia, a majority of homes are heated by electricity, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

A severe cold snap five years ago took down much of the power grid in Texas, leaving millions without power for days and resulting in hundreds of deaths. Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday that won't happen again.

Pipes are also at risk.

In Atlanta, where temperatures could dip to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 12 Celsius) and stay below freezing for 36 hours, M. Cary & Daughters Plumbing co-owner Melissa Cary ordered all the pipe and repair supplies she could get. She said her daily calls could go from about 40 to several hundred.

“We’re out there; we can’t feel our fingers, our toes; we’re soaking wet,” Cary said. “I keep the hot chocolate and soup coming.”

In Atlanta, Eliacar Diego was looking for a warm place after sleeping under a bridge to stay out of the rain. News of the storm hadn't found its way to many of the homeless people with him. He planned to find one of the warming centers that the city opens during bitterly cold weather.

“I’ve just got to get through this weekend,” Diego said.

At the University of Georgia in Athens, sophomore Eden England decided to stay on campus and ride out the weather with her friends, even as the school encouraged students to leave dorms and go home because of concerns that ice could leave the residence halls without power.

“I was texting my parents and we kind of just realized that whether I’m here or at home, it’s going to suck either way,” England said. “So I’d rather be with my friends, kind of struggling together if anything happens.”

Megnien reported from Atlanta and Collins reported from Columbia, South Carolina. Associated Press writers around the country contributed to this report.

A person walks through the cold on the Campau Promenade in Grand Rapids, Mich. on Friday, Jan. 23, 2026. (Joel Bissell/Kalamazoo Gazette via AP)

Ice forms along the shore of Lake Michigan, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

Doug Kunde watches as steam is seen over Lake Michigan as frigid temperatures for the day are not expected to reach zero degrees Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

People walk on an ice covered beach along the shore of Lake Michigan, Friday, Jan. 23, 2026, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato)

A Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

Austin Felts of the Nashville Department of Transportation drives a truck deploying salt brine on roadways Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

A pedestrian bundles up as she crosses a street during a cold weather day in Evanston, Ill., Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

A Nashville Department of Transportation truck applies salt brine to a roadway Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026, in Nashville, Tenn. ahead of a winter storm expected to hit the state over the weekend. (AP Photo/George Walker IV)

NEW YORK (AP) — Luigi Mangione ’s federal murder trial in the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson will begin with jury selection Sept. 8, a judge said Friday.

U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett said scheduling of the rest of the trial, including opening statements and testimony, is contingent on whether she allows prosecutors to seek the death penalty. It's one of several issues the judge is weighing.

If the death penalty is still in play, the next phase of the trial will begin Jan. 11, 2027, Garnett said. That's more than four months after the start of jury selection. If it's not, opening statements will be held Oct. 13. Capital cases are typically more complex and take more time to prepare.

Mangione, 27, has pleaded not guilty to federal and state murder charges, which carry the possibility of life in prison. The state trial has not been scheduled.

Garnett set the dates as Mangione returned to court for a hearing on procedures governing the police seizure of his backpack after his Dec. 9, 2024, arrest in Altoona, Pennsylvania. The city is about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of the Manhattan sidewalk where Thompson was killed five days earlier.

Mangione’s lawyers want Garnett to bar prosecutors from using certain items found in the backpack, including a gun police said matched the one used to kill Thompson and a notebook in which Mangione purportedly described his intent to “wack” a health insurance executive.

Separately, Garnett is considering a defense request to bar prosecutors from seeking the death penalty. Mangione's lawyers argue that the charges enabling prosecutors to seek capital punishment are technically flawed and that the government prejudiced Mangione by publicly declaring its intent before obtaining an indictment.

Friday’s hearing is limited to the backpack issue, with just one witness testifying: Altoona Police Department Deputy Chief Nathan Snyder.

Garnett called the hearing because she wanted to hear from a police official “about the established or standardized procedures in use” at the time of Mangione’s arrest “for securing, safeguarding, and, if applicable, inventorying the personal property of a person arrested in a public place."

Prosecutors said Snyder, who was promoted to the post three weeks ago, was not involved in Mangione’s arrest, had no involvement in the Altoona police investigation of Mangione and has not had substantive conversations with officers who participated in the arrest about their actions that day.

Mangione is also scheduled to be in court again in the federal case on Jan. 30 for a status conference.

Echoing their arguments at a recent state court hearing, Mangione’s lawyers contend the Altoona Police Department’s search of his backpack was illegal because police had not yet obtained a warrant. The judge in the state case said he’ll rule on evidence issues in May.

Garnett said she would allow Mangione’s lawyers to quiz Snyder about procedures, but warned: “I’m not going to allow this to turn into some extension of the state hearing by proxy.”

Thompson was killed Dec. 4, 2024, as he walked to a Manhattan hotel for UnitedHealth Group’s annual investor conference. Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting him from behind.

Officers began searching the backpack at the McDonald’s restaurant where Mangione was arrested while eating breakfast. Prosecutors say officers searched the bag legally because Altoona police protocols require promptly searching a suspect’s property at the time of arrest for dangerous items and police later obtained a warrant.

Among the items found at the McDonald’s, according to officer testimony at a recent court hearing, was a loaded gun magazine.

Officers continued searching the bag at a police station and found the gun and silencer. They performed what’s known as an inventory search and found the notebook and other notes, including what appeared to be to-do lists and possible getaway plans, according to testimony.

That search, which involves cataloging every piece of a suspect’s seized property, is also required under Altoona police policy, prosecutors said. Laws concerning how police obtain search warrants are complex and often disputed in criminal cases.

As part of her inquiry, Judge Garnett ordered federal prosecutors to provide her with a copy of the affidavit submitted to obtain a federal search warrant in the matter.

Mangione’s lawyers have sought to provide her with other documents, including a police department general order effective Feb. 1, 2016, regarding arrest, search and seizure procedures, and a prisoner log for the date of his arrest.

Mangione’s lawyers contend that searching the backpack before getting a warrant may have influenced how the affidavit was written, but prosecutors say no specific details about items, such as the notebook writings, were mentioned in the document.

In this courtroom sketch, Luigi Mangione, center, flanked by his attorneys Karen Agnifilo, left and Marc Agnifilo, right, during his court appearance in Manhattan federal court, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in New York. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Karen Friedman Agnifilo, right, and Marc Agnifilo, left, attorneys for Luigi Mangione, leave Manhattan federal court, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

FILE - Luigi Mangione appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for an evidence hearing, Dec. 18, 2025, in New York. (Shannon Stapleton/Pool Photo via AP, File)