4A Monday, December 10, 2018
The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
NATION
South faces wintry mess: Snow, sleet, freezing rain
CHUCK BURTON I Associated Press
A snow-covered car is parked outside a home in Greensboro, N.C.,
Sunday, Dec. 9. A massive storm brought snow, sleet, and freezing rain
across a wide swath of the South on Sunday - causing dangerously icy
roads, immobilizing snowfalls and power losses.
Associated Press
CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A mas
sive storm brought snow, sleet, and
freezing rain across a wide swath
of the South on Sunday — causing
dangerously icy roads, immobiliz
ing snowfalls and power losses to
hundreds of thousands of people.
Accidents on snow-covered
interstates caused major delays,
hundreds of flights were canceled
and drivers in North Carolina and
Virginia got stuck in snow or lost
control on icy patches. Meanwhile,
kids and the young at heart took
advantage of the early winter snow
with snowball fights, sledding and
snowmen.
Police in North Carolina and
Virginia said they’d responded to
hundreds of snow-related traffic
accidents as of Sunday afternoon.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper
strongly urged residents to stay off
the roads Sunday, asking drivers
not to put lives of first respond
ers needlessly at risk. Cooper said
emergency crews, including the
National Guard, worked overnight
to clear traffic accidents on major
roadways. One tractor trailer ran
off a road and into a river, Cooper
said.
“Stay put if you can,” Cooper
said. “Wrap a few presents, deco
rate the tree, watch some football.”
Governors and local officials in
several states declared emergen
cies ahead of the storm crossing
several Southern states, which hit
portions of North Carolina and Vir
ginia particularly hard.
Officials warned residents to pre
pare emergency kits and stay off
roads in impacted areas. Schools
districts in North Carolina and Vir
ginia announced they’ll be closed
Monday.
“Virginians should take all nec
essary precautions to ensure they
are prepared for winter weather
storm impacts,” said Virginia Gov.
Ralph Northam.
The National Weather Service
said a “prolonged period of snow”
began late Saturday and would last
until Monday in the region, with the
heaviest snow expected in north
west North Carolina and southern
Virginia. Some areas of North Caro
lina and Virginia saw more than a
foot (30 centimeters) of snow by
Sunday afternoon.
More than 300,000 power out
ages were reported across the
region with the majority of those —
about 240,000 — in North Carolina,
according to poweroutage.us. Parts
of Alabama, Georgia, South Caro
lina, Tennessee and Virginia also
saw outages.
Charlotte Douglas International
Airport, the sixth busiest airport
in the country, said American Air
lines reduced its operations, with
more than 1,000 flights canceled on
Sunday.
American Airlines also issued
a travel alert for nine airports
throughout the Carolinas, Tennes
see, and Virginia, meaning passen
gers may be able to change travel
plans without a fee.
Travelers were advised to check
their flight status before heading
to the airport. Cancellations were
reported on flights from as far as
the Midwest.
Wis. legislature may limit
incoming governor’s power
Associated Press i
STEVE APPS I Associated Press
Democratic challenger Tony Evers, left, and Wisconsin
Gov. Scott Walker, a Republican, shake hands during
gubernatorial debate in Madison, Wis., Oct. 19.
MADISON, Wis. —
Wisconsin’s Democratic
Gov.-elect Tony Evers said
Sunday he’s not optimis
tic that outgoing governor
Scott Walker will veto bills
approved by the Republi
can-dominated Legislature
that would limit the new
governor’s power.
Speaking on NBC’s
“Meet the Press,” Evers
said he talked by telephone
with Walker recently and
appealed to him to veto the
legislation, but that Walker
was noncommittal.
Evers, who will be sworn
in Jan. 7 after narrowly
defeating the two-term
Republican last month,
said Wisconsin voters did
not elect him to fight over
administrative powers with
the GOP legislative major
ity. He said the lame-duck
legislation approved by law
makers after an all-night ses
sion last week “gets us off to
a bad start. And I think that’s
a mistake.”
“But we’ll continue work
ing to get the people of Wis
consin to convince Scott
Walker to think about his
legacy and make sure that
he vetoes this language,”
Evers said.
Walker has indicated
that he generally supports
the legislation though his
office late last week said
only that he was reviewing
it. Walker has six days after
the bills are delivered to
him to either sign them into
law, allow them to become
law without his signature or
veto them. He may also be
able to line-item veto por
tions of them, depending on
how they are drafted and
whether they spend money.
If Walker signs the bills,
lawmakers can decide when
the state can withdraw from
lawsuits, and Evers would
have to request permission
to adjust programs that are
run jointly with the federal
governor, such as Medic
aid. The GOP measures also
would empower legislators,
not new Democratic Attor
ney General Josh Kaul, to
decide whether to withdraw
Wisconsin from a lawsuit
challenging the Affordable
Care act. The bills also could
make it harder for Evers
to renegotiate a $3 billion
subsidy spearheaded by
Walker for a Foxconn Tech
nology Group manufactur
ing facility in southeastern
Wisconsin.
In neighboring Michigan,
where a Democrat also won
the governor’s office this
year, Republicans are con
sidering proposals to strip
campaign-finance oversight
from the new Democratic
secretary of state. Lawmak
ers also want to have author
ity to intervene in lawsuits,
with a Democrat poised to
take control of the attorney
general’s office.
Evers said Sunday that
if Walker had won in Wis
consin, “we wouldn’t be sit
ting here talking about this
today.” The incoming gov
ernor said the GOP moves
are “directly related” to a
Democrat’s win.
Though Evers has said
he might have to sue unless
Walker vetoes the legisla
tion, he said Sunday that
“all issues are on the table”
and that he is “not making
any promises one way or the
other,”
“I need to stand up for the
people of Wisconsin,” Evers
said.
A Walker spokeswoman
did not immediately respond
to a request for comment
Sunday.
Southwestern states still haven’t
agreed how to cope with drought
BY KEN RITTER
Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — With
drought entering a second
decade and reservoirs con
tinuing to shrink, seven
Southwestern U.S. states
that depend on the over
taxed Colorado River for
crop irrigation and drinking
water had been expected to
ink a crucial share-the-pain
contingency plan by the end
of 2018.
They’re not going to
make it — at least not in
time for upcoming meet
ings in Las Vegas involving
representatives from Ari
zona, California, Colorado,
Nevada, New Mexico, Utah,
Wyoming and the U.S. gov
ernment, officials say.
Arizona has been the
holdout, with farmers, cit
ies, Indian tribes and law
makers in the state set to
be first to feel the pinch
still negotiating how to deal
with water cutbacks when a
shortage is declared, prob
ably in 2020.
“There will be cuts. We
all know the clock is ticking.
That’s what a lot of the diffi
cult negotiations have been
around,” said Kim Mitchell,
Western Resource Advo
cates water policy adviser
and a delegate to ongoing
meetings involving the Ari
zona Department of Water
Resources, Central Arizona
Project, agricultural, indus
trial and business interests,
the governor, state lawmak
ers and cities including Tuc
son and Phoenix.
In Arizona, unlike other
states, a final drought con
tingency plan must pass the
state Legislature when it
convenes in January.
Federal water manag
ers wanted a deal to sign
at the annual Colorado
River Water Users Associa
tion conference beginning
Wednesday in Las Vegas,
and threatened earlier this
year to impose unspecified
measures from Washing
ton if a voluntary drought
contingency plan wasn’t
reached.
However, Bureau of Rec
lamation Commissioner
Brenda Burman is signal
ing that the agency that
controls the levers on the
river is willing to wait. She
is scheduled to talk to the
conference on Thursday.
“Reclamation remains
cautiously optimistic that
the parties will find a path
forward,” the bureau said
in a statement on Friday,
“because finding a con
sensus deal recognizing
the risks of continuing
drought and the benefits
of a drought contingency
plan is in each state’s best
interest.”
Colorado River water
supports about 40 million
people and millions of acres
of farmland in the U.S. and
Mexico.
After 19 years of drought
and increasing demand,
federal water managers
project a 52 percent chance
that the river’s biggest res
ervoir, Lake Mead behind
Hoover Dam, will fall low
enough to trigger cutbacks
under agreements govern
ing the system.
The seven states saw
this coming years ago, and
used Colorado River Water
Users Association meetings
in December 2007 to sign a
20-year “guidelines” plan
to share the burden of a
shortage.
Contingency agreements
would update that pact,
running through 2026. They
call for voluntarily using
less to keep more water in
the system’s two main res
ervoirs, lakes Powell and
Mead.
Lake Powell upstream
from of the Grand Canyon
is currently at 43 percent
capacity; Lake Mead, down
stream, is at 38 percent.
Colorado, New Mexico,
Utah and Wyoming, the riv
er’s Upper Basin states, aim
to keep the surface of Lake
Powell above a target level
to continue water deliveries
to irrigation districts and
cities and also keep hydro
electric turbines humming
at Glen Canyon Dam.
The Lower Basin states
of California, Arizona and
Nevada aim to keep Lake
Mead above a shortage
declaration trigger point
by using less water than
they’re legally entitled to.
If Lake Mead falls below
that level, Arizona will face
a 9 percent reduction in
water supply, Nevada a 3
percent cut and California
up to 8 percent. Mexico’s
share of river water would
also be reduced.
Water officials in most
states — from the Southern
Nevada Water Authority in
Las Vegas to the Colorado
River Water Conserva
tion District in Glenwood
Springs, Colorado — have
signed off on plans in recent
weeks.
Newtown shooter described
his anger, ‘scorn for humanity’
Associated Press
HARTFORD, Conn. —
Documents from the inves
tigation into the massacre
at Sandy Hook Elementary
School in Connecticut are
shedding light on the gun
man’s anger, scorn for other
people, and deep social iso
lation in the years leading
up to the shooting.
The documents that a
court ordered Connecti
cut State Police to release
include several writings by
Adam Lanza, who gunned
down 20 children and six
educators on Dec. 14, 2012.
He fatally shot his mother
before driving to the school
and ultimately killed
himself.
Lanza wrote in what
appears to be an online com
munication with a fellow
gamer: “I incessantly have
nothing other than scorn
for humanity,” the Hartford
Courant reported. “I have
been desperate to feel any
thing positive for someone
for my entire life,” he wrote.
The criminal investiga
tion ended a year after the
massacre without determin
ing a motive. Thousands of
pages of documents were
released at the time, but
in a lawsuit brought by the
Courant, the Connecticut
Supreme Court
ruled in October
that personal
belongings of the
shooter that had
been withheld,
including jour
nals, also had to
be made public
because they were
not exempt from
open record laws.
A report by the Con
necticut child advocate
said Lanza’s severe and
deteriorating mental health
problems, his preoccupation
with violence and access
to his mother’s weapons
“proved a recipe for mass
murder.”
From the 10th grade,
Lanza’s mother kept him
at home, where he was sur
rounded by an arsenal of
firearms and spent long
hours playing violent video
games. His medical and
school records included
references to diagnoses of
autism spectrum disorder,
anxiety and obsessive com
pulsive disorder.
The newly released docu
ments were seized
by authorities dur
ing a search of
Lanza’s home. They
include writings that
had been described
or summarized by
previous investiga
tive reports such
as the “Big Book Of
Granny,” a book
describing violence against
children that he wrote with
another boy in the fifth
grade, and a spreadsheet
listing mass killings dating
back to 1786.
On one handwritten list
titled “Problems,” Lanza
details a range of grievances
including lights that are too
bright and his hair touching
his brother’s towel.
“I am unable to distin
guish between my problems
because I have too many,”
Lanza wrote.
Lanza
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