(NEW YORK) — The mild air continues to build across the Central U.S. and will expand into the parts of the East Coast on Tuesday.
On Monday, many cities across the Central U.S. were nearly 20 degrees or higher above average. Chicago hit 62 degrees — a full 19 degrees above their average — while Kansas City hit 73 degrees, which is 21 degrees above average for the city. Denver reached 69 degrees, which is 17 degrees above average, and Sioux Falls made it to 66 degrees, just shy of their record of 69 degrees.
Record highs are possible Tuesday across the upper Midwest and into parts of the high Plains from the Texas Panhandle to northern Minnesota.
Afternoon temperatures could be up to 30 degrees above average with widespread temperatures in the 70s and even the 80s expected in the Central U.S. and even northern locations like Minneapolis and Chicago will be in the 60s.
On Tuesday, the mild air expands into parts of the East and there is a forecast high of 62 in New York. The last time New York was in the low 60s was in December.
For the Northeast, however, this is only the beginning. Temperatures will head into the upper 60s, and maybe even some 70s, on Thursday and Friday making this easily the warmest air since November for the region.
Unfortunately, the stretch of mild and relatively calm weather across the U.S. is about to end as a Pacific storm will bring much needed rain and snow to California on Tuesday.
Locally, over 1 inch of rain will be possible in Los Angeles through Thursday which could cause some flooding and debris flows in the area.
In the Southern California mountains, locally up to foot of snow will be possible.
As this storm slowly moves inland, it will spread snow into other parts of the intermountain West with locally over a foot of snow possible across the mountains.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday and into Thursday, a new storm will quickly develop and race north in the Central U.S.
This storm will bring snow to parts of the northern Plains, including places that are in the 60s and low 70s Tuesday. All snow should stay north and west of Sioux Falls, South Dakota and Minneapolis.
The storm will also set off some severe weather across parts of Kansas and northern Oklahoma on Wednesday evening and gusty winds and hail will be possible.
Then on Friday and Saturday, the storm from California will move into the southern Central U.S. and likely become a wide ranging impactful storm.
The impacts include a potential major snowstorm for Colorado where temperatures Tuesday are well into the 60s across the front range.
Additionally, there will likely be a multi-day severe weather threat in the southern Plains, including the threat for tornadoes while more rounds of rain will spread across Oklahoma to Indiana which could cause flooding.
The Black Conservative PreacherBY: OLIVIA RUBIN, AARON KATERSKY, AND ALEXANDER MALLIN, ABC NEWS
(NEW YORK) — A New York man with ties to the Oath Keepers militia group and former President Donald Trump’s longtime adviser Roger Stone has been arrested and charged in connection with the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Roberto Minuta, of Newburgh, New York, was seen in a video first unearthed by ABC News flanking Roger Stone on the morning of Jan. 6 outside a Washington, D.C., hotel.
In the video, Minuta can be seen standing with Stone wearing a baseball hat and military-style vest branded with the Oath Keeper logo.
Minuta, who was spotted on video later that day in the gathering crowd approaching the Capitol, has been charged with obstruction of Congress and unlawful entry.
“Minuta and others affiliated with the Oath Keepers breached the U.S. Capitol grounds, where Minuta aggressively berated and taunted U.S. Capitol police officers responsible for protecting the Capitol and the representatives inside of the Capitol,” according to charging documents.
The FBI arrested Minuta in Newburgh on Saturday, the official told ABC News.
In February, Minuta’s wife confirmed to ABC News that her husband had gone to the Capitol on the day of the insurrection, but said that he never went inside the Capitol building.
He was “another patriot outside the Capitol Building … standing up for freedom,” she said.
Attempts to reach her Monday were unsuccessful.
Federal prosecutors characterized Minuta as a dangerous flight risk and requested that he be held until trial. They also referenced a May episode in which Minuta opened his tattoo parlor in Newburgh in defiance of state coronavirus restrictions.
“There’s evidence this man does not respect the law,” said assistant U.S. Attorney Ben Gianforti.
But defense attorney Sam Gold said Minuta has strong ties to the community and that “this is not someone who is going to leave his family, leave his children, to evade these charges.”
Magistrate Judge Andrew Krause ultimately ordered Minuta released on bail, saying, “Mr. Minuta was not engaged in any acts of violence on Jan. 6. I think it is an overstatement of the situation to say that because Mr. Minuta was wearing particular gear he is predisposed to particular acts of violence.”
Gianforti also said Minuta had provided “freelance security for various high profile individuals” on the morning of the insurrection.
Stone, in a statement to ABC News, said that he does not know Minuta, nor was he “familiar with his name prior to his being identified in earlier media stories where it was alleged that he was involved in illegal events up at the Capitol.”
“If he was indeed among those who volunteered to provide security while I visited Washington DC I was unaware of it,” Stone said.
The longtime GOP operative has maintained that he played “no role whatsoever in the Jan. 6 events” and has repeatedly said that he “never left the site of my hotel until leaving for Dulles Airport” that afternoon. He has also decried attempts to ascribe to him the motives of the people around him.
Stone also said that while he has acknowledged that the Oath Keepers provided security for him on Jan. 5, they did so for a number of speakers that day, and “that does not in any way provide proof or evidence” that he was involved in or had advance knowledge “of the illegal acts at the Capitol on January 6.”
“I could not even tell you the names of those who volunteered to provide security for me, required because of the many threats against me and my family,” Stone previously told ABC News.
Oath Keepers were known to be providing security for Stone during his D.C. visit. Reports surfaced in January that militia members were traveling with Stone on the day before the Capitol assault as the Trump loyalist helped set the stage for the “Stop the Steal” events that were intended to give a forum to the president’s false claims that the 2020 election had been rigged.
Minuta’s arrest comes as the Department of Justice continues to pursue individuals who participated in the Jan. 6 Capitol attack. Dozens of individuals with ties to extremist groups have been arrested for their role, including at least five people associated with the Oath Keepers — three of whom have been charged with conspiracy.
The FBI said in one court filing that some members of the Oath Keepers “took steps to plan an operation to stop, delay, and hinder Congress’ certification of the Electoral College vote.”
Courtesy Ben Crump LawBy ALEX PEREZ, ANDY FIES and WHITNEY LLOYD, ABC News
(MINNEAPOLIS) — The video showing former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin pinning George Floyd under his knee for more than 9 minutes as Floyd begs for his life and onlookers scream for the officer to relent may appear damning. But is what Chauvin did criminal? And is that video enough to prove him guilty of the murder and manslaughter charges he faces when he goes on trial?
Legal professionals who have followed the pre-trial filings and maneuverings say that even with that stunning and difficult-to-watch visual evidence, the case against Chauvin is anything but a slam dunk.
While Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison is bringing the state’s case against Chauvin before Judge Peter Cahill, the lead prosecutor in court is assistant attorney general Matthew Frank. Frank will face difficult challenges posed by the requirements of the law. For instance, in order for Chauvin to be guilty of the most serious charge — second degree unintentional murder — prosecutors must first prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he caused Floyd’s death. But autopsy results will complicate that task.
The county medical examiner’s autopsy report found that the 46-year-old Floyd died of a combination of causes including “cardiopulmonary arrest complicating law enforcement subdual, restraint, and neck compression” and that his system showed “fentanyl intoxication; recent methamphetamine use.” Although the report called the manner of death “homicide,” it’s not clear how much weight that carries in court. The report states this “is not a legal determination of culpability or intent.”
Meanwhile, an independent autopsy ordered by Floyd’s family also reported he died by homicide but said it was “caused by asphyxia due to neck and back compression that led to a lack of blood flow to the brain.” Floyd family attorney, Ben Crump, also criticized the medical examiner’s autopsy for including toxicology results, saying, “The cause of death was that he was starving for air. It was lack of oxygen. And so everything else is a red herring to try to throw us off.”
So there is likely to be a “battle of the experts” at the trial over what exactly caused Floyd’s death, according to Minneapolis criminal defense attorney Mike Brandt. Those testifying about the autopsies “are going to be up on that stand for a long time getting into heavy duty scientific stuff about the different mechanisms of what was going on in George Floyd’s body at the time the knee was on the neck.” He said defense attorneys will raise questions like whether “the lack of oxygen occurred because he had a cardiac incident?” Or was his death brought about from “some combination of controlled substances?”
Such autopsy arguments, suggests Brandt, could muddy the picture of what exactly caused Floyd’s death.
University of Minnesota law professor Richard Frase agrees, stressing that “on any element of the prosecution’s case, the defense just has to raise a reasonable doubt or at least get one juror to say, ‘I’m not convinced beyond a reasonable doubt that they’ve proved causation here.’”
But Frase believes that even with these arguments over physiological mechanics, the prosecution has the edge because they can argue Floyd “wouldn’t have died as soon as he did if the police hadn’t been stressing him physically and emotionally. And as long as they accelerate his death, that’s causation.”
Another challenging requirement of the second degree murder charge is that prosecutors must prove Chauvin caused Floyd’s death “while committing or attempting to commit a felony offense.” In this case, that offense is third degree felony assault defined as someone intentionally inflicting or attempting to inflict bodily harm.
Did Chauvin commit an assault when he restrained George Floyd or was he justifiably acting as a police officer is trained to do in such a situation?
Here, Brandt foresees a second “battle of the experts,” this time use-of-force specialists. He predicts those on the defense side will say that the restraint Chauvin used on Floyd was reasonable and even authorized by the Minneapolis police training manual, filed as an exhibit in the case. They will argue, Brandt says, such restraint was warranted because “these are unpredictable situations. His feet were still free. His head was still free he could head butt you. He can do any number of things. And it’s dangerous, particularly somebody who has got controlled substances in them.”
Joseph Daly, professor emeritus at Mitchell Hamline School of Law in Minneapolis, suggests Chauvin will try to dodge the assault element by asking the court to look more closely at the video.
“[Chauvin is] gonna say, ‘I never knelt on his neck for nine minutes. If you look carefully, you’ll see my knee on his shoulder. Sometimes my knee is on his back. I’m not kneeling on his neck all the time. I had no intention of assaulting this guy. I had no desire to assault him. And I wasn’t assaulting him. I was trying to get him under control using techniques that I was taught in the Minneapolis police department to use,’” said Daly.
Frase predicts expert witnesses for the prosecution will testify that Chauvin’s use of force was unreasonable and, even if authorized, it went well beyond that same police manual. It apparently permits the restraint Chauvin used but only when suspects are “actively resisting.” Frase says that’s key because Floyd is clearly unconscious and not resisting well before Chauvin finally removes his knee. Yet the officer “kept up the force,” notes Frase, and “the prosecution can say any use of force has to be necessary and no force, even non-deadly force, was necessary anymore when he passed out.”
Some legal observers believe the lesser charge of second degree manslaughter is going to be easier for the prosecution. It requires proof that Chauvin caused Floyd’s death through, according to the statute, “culpable negligence,” meaning that he created an “unreasonable risk and consciously takes chances of causing death or great bodily harm.” Brandt believes “there’s a lot more room for the prosecution under that charge.” He notes that the length of time Chauvin spent with his knee on Floyd’s neck or back makes it clear he was creating an unreasonable risk or taking a chance of death or harm. He thinks prosecutors will say, “Come on, what else would happen by doing this?”
A recent development could mean third degree murder will be added to the charges against Chauvin. That’s what he was initially charged with following Floyd’s death, until Judge Cahill dismissed that charge in October. An appellate court ruling on Friday means Cahill must now reconsider allowing the charge.
If he does reinstate the third degree murder charge, as prosecutors want, Frank’s team would have to prove Chauvin caused Floyd’s death “by perpetuating an act eminently dangerous to others and evincing a depraved mind, without regard for human life,” according to the statute.
The maximum penalties for all of the charges are severe — 40 years for second degree murder, 25 years for third degree and 10 years for the manslaughter charge. But these are also misleading and are another area where expectations may conflict with reality.
Presiding Judge Cahill is required by Minnesota law to follow sentencing guidelines. Under these, the penalty for both second degree unintentional murder and third degree is about 10 to 15 years. For the manslaughter charge, the common sentence under the guidelines is four years. While prosecutors have asked for an “upward departure” allowing Cahill to impose a longer sentence, legal experts interviewed by ABC News all believe it very unlikely that he would hand down anything close to that 40-year maximum for the most serious charge. Chauvin has pleaded not guilty.
Three weeks have been set aside for jury selection. But will finding impartial jurors be possible, particularly given how widely viewed the video was and the weeks of protests and violence that impacted Minneapolis after the incident? Frase acknowledges it’s a difficult task, but not an impossible one, noting that potential jurors could be drawn from rural areas “that really don’t pay much attention to Minneapolis” and may hold views that would balance those of its residents.
The jurors will serve anonymously, but the verdict they render will be widely scrutinized. Daly says this “might be one of the most important cases ever in the United States.” For those paying attention, he says it means re-examining “the power of the police and the use of force and how police are trained. Are they the guardians of the people? Are they warriors against the people? What is the function of the police?”
These are the sorts of questions this trial may prompt many to consider both in the courtroom and across the country.
Matthew Jonas/MediaNews Group/Boulder Daily Camera via Getty ImagesBY: BILL HUTCHINSON, ABC NEWS
(DENVER) — An out-of-control street party near the campus of the University of Colorado, Boulder, on Saturday drew up to 800 people, most appearing to be college-aged, prompting violent clashes with SWAT police who deployed at least one armored vehicle to disperse the crowd, according to authorities.
The bedlam ensued in the University Hill neighborhood as hundreds of people took to the streets just blocks from the university campus, most dispensing with COVID-19 social distancing rules and mask wearing, according to a social media post authenticated by ABC News shows.
During the several hours of chaos, rowdy revelers shooting off fireworks are alleged to have thrown bricks and rocks at police, flipped over a private car and caused heavy damaged to a police armored vehicle and a fire truck, according to a spokesperson for the Boulder Police Department. Three Boulder SWAT team members suffered minor injuries, the spokesperson said.
“Regarding what happened tonight on University Hill, the Boulder Department is reviewing all body worn camera footage and shared social media videos/photos to identify the individuals involved in damaging property and assaulting first responders,” the Boulder Police Department said in a tweet early Sunday.
Colorado University, Boulder, officials condemned the conduct and threatened to permanently expel any student found to have attacked police and other first responders during the mayhem.
“It is unacceptable and irresponsible, particularly in light of the volume of training, communication and enforcement the campus and city have dedicated to ensuring compliance with COVID-19 public health orders. CU Boulder will not tolerate any of our students engaging in acts of violence or damaging property,” the university’s statement said.
Police started receiving complaints about 7 p.m. of a large gathering at the intersection of Pennsylvania Avenue and 10th Street, about five blocks west of the university campus. At round 8:30 p.m., a SWAT team in an armored vehicle rolled into the neighborhood and a police officer on a loud speaker was heard ordering the crowd to disperse, saying, “This is an unlawful assembly.”
“Due to riot conditions, you are ordered to leave the area. You must leave the area immediately. If you fail to leave, you will be subject to arrest and the use of tear gas,” the police announced.
It was not immediately clear if police used tear gas on clear the street.
By 9 p.m., most of the revelers had cleared out.
“Detectives will review every lead we have to identify and arrest those responsible for this reprehensible and unacceptable behavior,” Boulder Police Chief Maris Herold said in a tweet.
Boulder County District Attorney Michael Dougherty released a statement on Sunday, saying his office is working with police detectives to identify suspects who “should be held fully responsible for their outrageous actions.”
“Our community was put at risk last night by the individuals involved in the incident in the Hill area. Their callous disregard for our community’s safety and well-being is shameful,” Dougherty’s statement said. “There is no excuse for this conduct, especially while the people of this community endure the pandemic.”
The episode erupted as police and prosecutors were already investigating possible criminal and civil violations stemming from an off-campus party at an apartment building in the same University Hill neighborhood that occurred over the previous weekend, according to ABC affiliate station KMGH-TV in Denver. A screen recording of a Snapchat video taken by someone at the party was shared on social media, showing dozens of people at the event with no social distancing going on or masks being worn, according to KMGH.
In October, the City of Boulder issued a mandatory two-week quarantine for four properties in the neighborhood, city officials told KMGH, adding most are associated with fraternities.
ABC News’ Jeffrey Cook contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — The warmest air in four months will spread across the Central and Eastern U.S. this week.
On Sunday afternoon, widespread temperatures in the 60s and 70s are expected across the much of the central U.S. and even northern locations like Minneapolis will reach 60 degrees or higher today when just 3 weeks ago, Minneapolis wasn’t getting above zero degrees.
The warmer weather will start to approach Chicago on Sunday as well, but even warmer weather will be arriving over the coming days.
Record highs will be possible on both Monday and Tuesday as temperatures soar to nearly 30 degrees above average in spots.
By Tuesday, parts of the Central and Eastern U.S. could approach or exceed 70 degrees and some parts of the Plains could reach 80 degrees or better.
Additionally, Minneapolis, Chicago and New York City will all be in the 60s and see lots of sun.
The warm and mild air will bring temperatures in the mid-60s and almost near 70 degrees in parts of the eastern U.S., including near Philadelphia and New York City by the end of the week.
The combination of the warmest air in months and sunshine will make for truly delightful weather this week for millions of Americans.
However, this does not mean winter has had its last gasp and there is an indication that a more turbulent weather pattern will return in the near future.
The West will remain unsettled for the next few days, with heavy and snow and rain expected on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Much of this rain and snow will head into California and into southern parts of the state and much of the region, but especially Los Angeles, could really benefit from this precipitation.
This storm will arrive in the central U.S. by next weekend and could potentially develop into a significant system that would bring snow to parts of the central U.S., heavy rain to the Ohio and Mississippi River valley, and perhaps our first shot of organized spring severe weather.
Behind this system, a cooler weather pattern will spread across the country as we head into the middle of the month.
ABC NewsBy DANIEL MANZO, ABC News
