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Zubrus scores twice, Devils win 7th straight

February 20, 2011 By

2a0c9db494530ac0ffb214ec571148c0 Zubrus scores twice, Devils win 7th straight

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The Devils appeared to be buried and out of the Eastern Conference playoff race months ago, but they apparently never got the memo.

Dainius Zubrus (FSY) scored goals in the first and third periods and the Devils earned their seventh straight victory by beating the 4-1 on Saturday night.

The Devils, in a desperate fight to get into playoff contention after a miserable start, are just 10 points behind the eighth-place Hurricanes after beating Carolina for the third time in 12 days.

“We took control early, for a change, because here this team is known for great starts,” Devils coach Jacques Lemaire said. “Every time they step on the ice they really skate and get on top of the other team. We were pretty lucky to get that first goal.”

*
GAME REPORT: Devils 4, Hurricanes 1

Carolina remained four points ahead of Buffalo and .

Henrik Tallinder (FSY) and Rolston (FSY) also had first-period goals, and Patrik Elias (FSY) had three assists for the 13th-place Devils (25-30-4), 15-1-2 in their past 18 games. (FSY) added an assist to stretch his point streak to 10 games (seven goals, five assists), but his four-game goal streak was snapped.

“We got beaten by a better team,” Carolina coach Paul Maurice said. “Right out of the gate, the first six or seven minutes, penalties put back on our heels. We beat the puck up pretty badly.”

Patrick Dwyer scored for Carolina in the third period to deny Johan Hedberg (FSY) a chance at consecutive shutouts on back-to-back nights. Hedberg and the Devils beat the 1-0 at Friday.

Hedberg finished with 24 saves after getting another start over Martin Brodeur (FSY), who is back on the active roster but serving as the backup as he recovers from a knee injury.

Carolina’s Cam Ward (FSY) stopped 21 shots, but only 12 of 15 in the first period.

Zubrus beat Ward just 1:14 in when he deflected Mark Fayne’s (FSY) hard shot from the right point. Tallinder made it 2-0 on a one-timer from the left point, with Kovalchuk earning the primary assist at 11:17.

“This team is always tough to play in this building,” Zubrus said. “We kind of knew that and wanted to match it and we were able to jump on top.”

Rolston pushed the advantage to three goals when he followed Elias’ shot from the right doorstep at 16:14.

Dwyer ended Hedberg’s shutout bid at 6:49 of the third when he redirected Jamie McBain’s (FSY) shot from the high slot. That made it 3-1, but Zubrus sealed ’s win with 8:17 left by beating Ward over the left shoulder from the right circle.

“We played so strong the whole game,” Hedberg said. “We didn’t give up much.”

Notes: Devils C Travis Zajac (FSY) played in his 378th straight game, 10 shy of former D Ken Daneyko’s team record…. Devils D Anton Volchenkov (FSY) earned his 100th career point with a first-period assist…. Defenseman Derek Joslin (FSY) made his Carolina debut…. Hurricanes D Joni Pitkanen (FSY) sat out with an undisclosed lower body injury.

Zubrus scores twice, Devils win 7th straight is a post from: PhatzRadio.com

Zubrus scores twice, Devils win 7th straight325472601571f31e1bf00674c368d335 Zubrus scores twice, Devils win 7th straight

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N.J. Supreme Court to Hear Too Much Media, Blogger Case on Webcast

February 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment

783b4e74872fa949c88e085f4aaeabd4 N.J. Supreme Court to Hear Too Much Media, Blogger Case on Webcast

FREEHOLD, N.J. — The State is set to hear oral arguments on Too Much Media’s long-running lawsuit against blogger Shelle Hale during a webcast Tuesday Feb. 8 at 10 a.m. EST.

The before the court is whether Hale, who operated a she claimed was intended for investigative reporting on issues of public importance and who posted information about plaintiffs on another ’s bulletin board, a journalist entitled to the protections of New Jersey’s Shield Law and the First Amendment?

Hale, a state resident, was sued by Too Much Media over statements she posted on Oprano.com, accusing the company of fraud and “illegal and unethical use of ,” violating New Jersey’s Identity Theft Protection Act.

Hale called herself a journalist and subject to New Jersey’s Shield Law when she was gathering information about an breach at the company. Hale posted on a website that Too Much Media failed to inform customers of a breach because she alleged it was making off of it.

Last April, an appellate division judge affirmed an earlier court ruling that the state’s shield law doesn’t apply to Hale and that she would have to disclose the identity of her sources at a deposition.

To listen to the hearing tomorrow, click here.

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Through Ed Sabol’s lens, the NFL and its players became mythic

February 4, 2011 By 1 Comment

9b6a0a25bfc0edc52f15072b51320d9c Through Ed Sabol’s lens, the NFL and its players became mythic

Steve and Ed Sabol, the father and son team who created the legendary NFL Films, before the 1991 Super Bowl.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Ed Sabol loved filming his only son, Steve, playing pee-wee and high school football
* Big Ed bid on 1962 NFL championship, intending to bring Hollywood feel to highlight film
* From there, NFL Films was born, using new techniques to give players god-like qualities
* On Saturday, Hall of Fame selectors will vote on Ed and 14 other candidates

(CNN) — When Steve Sabol was a fourth-grader, he loved two things: football and the movies. Well, three things: football, movies — and football.

Steve, the only son of Ed Sabol, hereafter called Big Ed, played on a team of 70-pounders in southern New Jersey in the 1950s. Big Ed, using a Bell and Howell film camera, skipped out of work and shot the games, sometimes from the roof of the school. When Big Ed was done selling overcoats for the day, the Sabol often had the other kids on the team over for apple cider and Mom’s cookies — and a private screening.

Big Ed would set up the projector and the phonograph and revel in the exploits of the little lads in their leather shoulder pads. John Philip Sousa or Stan Kenton and Woody Herman would provide the soundtrack.

“My dad, he loved to make movies, and in football he found the perfect subject,” Steve said.

As Steve grew older and became a decent high school player, Ed kept at it, capturing every snap, tackle and touchdown on film. Years later, the boys on the film were replaced by men named Hornung and Kramer and Lombardi and Bradshaw and Swann.

For in the Sabol house, the vision of NFL Films was born to a disgruntled salesman who thought football movies were fun to watch, but …

“I knew I could do better,” Ed said.

Ed Sabol is 94 now, retired and living in Arizona. His creative mind is as fertile as ever, says his son, who took over NFL Films in 1987. The elder Sabol is on the ballot for Saturday’s Pro Football Hall of Fame as a contributor. Most of the men who have been inducted as contributors were coaches who changed the game or were past commissioners.

On Saturday, voters will select five men from the 15 finalists. Big Ed is the only non-player on the final ballot.

Sports Illustrated: See the final candidates

It’s time for him to be celebrated, many NFL observers say. After all, NFL Films changed the way the league was viewed, not just by fans but by all Americans.

“Every other major sports league is envious of the because it has NFL Films to document their history and grow the game,” said Ira Kaufman of the Tampa Tribune, a Hall of Fame voter who will make the case for Big Ed on Saturday. “You’ll always have your rabid fans, but NFL Films made it easier for the casual fan to grasp pro football and embrace it.”

We took what every fan felt about the game and added music and sound, and we magnified and we glorified and we put it on a movie screen.
–Steve Sabol, NFL Films

RELATED TOPICS

* NFL Films Inc.
* NFL Football
* Super Bowl

In the early ’60s, the NFL was far from the most popular sports league in America. Baseball and the glamorous Yankees were king. College football was more popular than pro football.

Ed Sabol was selling coats. He hated it. He didn’t hate the coats; they were “very high quality,” but he wanted to do something else. He saw in the paper that the rights to film the 1962 NFL Championship were up for bid. Why not take a shot, he thought. I can do better, and if not, I’ll find someone who can help me do it.

So he bid $5,000, Steve says, and during a three-martini lunch (that turned into four) won over the of the NFL, Pete Rozelle.

Big Ed, who loved the films of director John Ford and the musicals of Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly, set out to marry the drama of the game to stirring music that elevated the men of the NFL to mythic proportions.

But that very first game was a near disaster for Big Ed, his son and the others who helped shoot it. For starters, it was brutally . Cameras broke. Film cracked. Lenses froze.

“My dad was so upset, he spent the whole second half in the (bathroom),” Steve said.

Big Ed says he just wanted to get away.

“At that particular moment, I was not interested in doing another game nor concerned about the future,” he said. “I just wanted to get out of the stadium, get and warm up.”

But weeks later, when the film, entitled “The NFL’s Longest Day,” was developed and edited, league officials loved it. And soon America would come to love the short films, too.

Big Ed calls that first film his favorite and points to the end scene as something that set his group apart. The last shot is of the empty stadium after the game. Wind blows newspapers and programs around the lonely goal posts.

“I had a saying that I always told all of our cameramen: ‘Finish like a pro,’ ” he said, “and this cameraman got this memorable shot because he finished like a pro.”

Big Ed encouraged his crew to take risks (Steve’s words) though the father says: “In my eyes, they were not risks; rather (it was) doing film the way I felt it should be done.”

He chose employees for their passion, creativity and love of the game. It made his company legendary.

No longer were football movies just a series of real-time shots of players running past would-be tacklers. The Sabols slowed it down, using multiple cameras to capture the action in the trenches and the big hits people hadn’t seen before. They showed the faces behind the masks, Kaufman says.

It took a few years, though, of learning through experimentation.

“We had to figure out what the hell we were doing,” Steve said. “The company was sustained by my dad’s personality. We were all a bunch of young kids trying to figure out how to make movies. Thank God there was one veteran (among the five staff members), a director named Dan Endy.”

Another innovation was to give voice to the game, putting microphones on the players and coaches.

One of the first coaches to wear a mic was one of the greatest of all time, Vince Lombardi. But the first time they wired up the legendary Green Bay Packers boss at a game in Minneapolis, they captured more than his gravelly tone, Steve says. The radio also picked up a nearby cab dispatcher.

“You’d hear Lombardi say, ‘What the hell is going on out here?’ Then you’d hear someone say, ‘We have a woman out here with a kid and a shopping cart; is there someone who can pick her up?’ ”

YouTube: NFL Films tribute to Vince Lombardi

But winning over Lombardi — getting him to let them follow him into meeting and onto the practice field — was a boon. Other coaches like Hank Stram followed.

By Super Bowl IV, the operation was humming, and the dialogue the Chiefs coach carried through the game and film enamored an audience that had no idea a football team could, in the words of Stram, “matriculate the ball down the field.”

Hollywood also took notice of the cinematic innovations.

”NFL highlight reels had a real impact on how movies get made, particularly montages,” two-time Academy Award winning director Ron Howard told the in 2000. ”Lots of different images. Images on images. Using the slow-motion, combined with the live action. The hard-hitting sound effects, juxtaposed against incredible music, powerful music, creating a really emotional experience for the viewer.”

Steve Sabol likes to recount how the late, great Sam Peckinpah told a Hollywood trade magazine that the epic climactic scene in “The Wild Bunch” was inspired by a football movie that used cameras ringing the action, shooting at different speeds with different perspectives.

Ron Shelton, who has directed five sports movies, said Hollywood could get away with things in those kind of films of the ’40s and ’50s that it can’t anymore.

“Once it was available on television, filmmakers had to step up their games, and the Sabols came along and said, ‘We’re going to put the bar way up here,’ ” said Shelton, who grew up loving the Los Angeles Rams. “They have great attention to every detail — to the lenses, to the speed (of the film), to the technical ability to follow a runner.”

if you watch a football movie like “Rudy” or “Brian’s Song” or even “We Are Marshall,” you’ll notice touches of NFL Films: the close-ups of the tight spiral of a pass, for example, or the key moments unfolding slowly.

The who wanted to bring a Hollywood feel to football films ended up having an impact on Hollywood.

“We took what every fan felt about the game and added music and sound, and we magnified, and we glorified, and we put it on a movie screen,” Steve said.

“We distilled what they love about the game: the fierce physical nature, the competition, the history and the traditions, and also the humor.

“We gave it a mythology.”

Steve points to the film “They Call It Pro Football” as the movie that really elevated NFL players to divine status. It was also the debut of announcer John Facenda, whose rich, firm voice led to the nickname “The Voice of God.”

YouTube: “They Call It Pro Football”

Facenda was not a sportscaster, and the NFL owners wanted a more well-known personality like or Chris Schenkel, but Big Ed insisted that it didn’t matter that Facenda knew little about the game. Once again, Big Ed had to persuade the league to take a chance.

And when Facenda read one of the first lines of the film: “It starts with a whistle and ends with a gun,” the father and son knew they were right.

One hundred Emmys later, NFL Films still finds ways to be innovative. Fancy new technology helps, but for Big Ed and Steve, it was always about finding the right people who were willing to take chances.

NFL Films has grown from a recently retired coat salesman and his kid showing movies at Kiwanis Clubs or bar mitzvahs to a company with more than 300 employees and revenue of tens of millions, with programs on six networks.

Proponents of Big Ed’s Hall bid insist that you can’t tell the history of the NFL without including Ed Sabol and NFL Films.

Yet their place in the Hall of Fame is not a sure thing, because there are a lot of great players on the ballot and on future ballots.

“I’m a little concerned that a lot of voters won’t cast a vote for any contributor with the argument that there’s a backlog of players who deserve to get in,” Kaufman said. “I’m not buying that argument. I think Sabol’s overdue.

“He’s a towering figure in this league. Let’s do this now.”

Big Ed plays down the idea of being in the Hall. He’s enjoying retirement in Scottsdale, fully satisfied with a career of bringing the drama of Sunday’s gladiators to America’s TV screens.

If he wants to reflect on it all, he’ll have no problem. It’s all there on film.

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Windy City falls under blizzard watch as winter storm revs up

January 31, 2011 By Leave a Comment

f0fc8d46b14c56dc130bf827ec2252c1 Windy City falls under blizzard watch as winter storm revs up

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* The metropolitan area is under a blizzard watch
* is preparing for a possible historic snowfall
* The system will arrive on the East Coast by Thursday
* Temperatures will plummet below zero in and

RELATED TOPICS

* National Service
* Chicago

Share your snow images with CNN iReport.
For more on this article, see CNN affiliate KSDK

(CNN) — Chicago is bracing for a snow storm of historic proportions that was expected to coat the Windy City and large sections of the country’s midsection in a thick blanket of snow.

Forecasters have issued a blizzard watch.

“Combined snow totals from the Monday afternoon through Wednesday may exceed a foot and a half across much of northern Illinois and far northwest Indiana,” the said. “Snowfall rates up to 3 inches per hour will be probable at the height of the storm Tuesday night.”

Some of the coldest air of the season will plummet southward and combine with another storm developing over the southern Plains, according to CNN meteorologist Sean Morris, before moving toward the northeast.

An intense surface low will develop over north Texas and pull abundant warm, moist air from the Gulf of into the frigid Arctic air diving southward into the Plains. In addition to blizzard conditions, the storm system is expected to spin off heavy snow, ice storms and tornadoes.

This storm appears to be one for the record books.

It could be one of the top 10 biggest snowstorms ever in the Windy City. The biggest snow storm in Chicago’s history occurred from January 26-27, 1967 when 23 inches of snow fell on the city.

According to the National Weather Service, snowstorms that drop over 15 inches of snow occur once in about every 19 years. The last time this happened was in January of 1999 when 21.6 inches of snow was recorded in Chicago.

The storm will likely extend from to Caribou, Maine, by late week, said CNN meteorologist Dave Hennen.

The National Weather Service said the “dangerous storm” will begin to affect Missouri and Illinois, which were under storm warnings, as early as Monday.

Snowfall, primarily on Tuesday, could be over 12 inches in parts of both states, the agency said.

CNN St. Louis affiliate KSDK indicated the storm could be “historic,” saying it could rival a 1982 system that left 13.9 inches of snow in St. Louis and some areas with more than 2 feet.

Very heavy snow will fall from Oklahoma northeastward through Kansas, Missouri and Illinois. Snow accumulations there will be measured in feet, not in inches.

Blizzard or near-blizzard conditions are expected as far south as Oklahoma City on Tuesday. The National Weather Service forecast office in Norman, Oklahoma, warns that a “potentially dangerous winter situation” is developing with travel becoming extremely dangerous or impossible across the state by Tuesday morning.

Accumulations of 16 to 24 inches are possible in a narrow band from Illinois into Ohio, and perhaps through St. Louis, Chicago and Detroit, Hennen said, adding it was not yet possible to pinpoint the exact location.

The peak of the storm in the Midwest should be from Tuesday into Wednesday morning, Hennen said. Snow will affect Oklahoma City; Kansas City, Missouri; St. Louis; Chicago; and into Detroit. Other cities likely to be affected during the week include Milwaukee, Cleveland, Boston and the cities of Buffalo, Syracuse and Albany.

Punxsutawney Phil, of Groundhog Day fame, may be more interested in his exposed fur than his spring forecast when the system reaches western Pennsylvania.

In total, more than 20 states fall under winter storm advisories, watches or warnings, stretching from New Mexico in the southwest to New Jersey in the northeast.

Severe thunderstorms will likely develop along a trailing cold front from a main low-pressure area. There could be a significant potential for tornadoes in Arkansas, Louisiana, , Tennessee and Alabama.

Where the warm air overrides the cold Arctic air, rain will fall into subfreezing temperatures at the surface and coat trees, power lines and roads in ice from Missouri to southern Illinois and eastward into central Indiana, Morris said. Ice accumulations of up to three-quarters of an inch will be possible, which will likely combine with gusty winds, which could cause tree branches to fall on power lines.

This will also be some of the coldest air of the season, with temperatures expected to drop well below zero in parts of the Texas Panhandle and western Oklahoma by Wednesday. Temperatures across the central and southern high Plains will be almost 50 degrees below normal in some areas. Low temperatures on Wednesday morning could be in the single digits as far south as north Texas.

Strong winds will combine with the cold temperatures to create extremely dangerous wind chills of 20 to 35 below zero across the southern Plains.

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Doctor: Teen girls misinformed on body image, sex

January 12, 2011 By Leave a Comment

10cfcf011a6c5906a045c6436cc7c7f6 Doctor: Teen girls misinformed on body image, sex

By Sally Friedman, (Cherry Hill, N.J.) Courier-Post
They are mysterious creatures, sometimes delightful and outgoing, other times dark and moody. They tell you everything or nothing.

And their souls are sometimes laid bare. .. or as tightly shut as their bedroom doors.

Teenage girls are definitely a puzzlement, yet they also are in need of guidance, wisdom and, yes, — and not necessarily the sort that comes from their peers. The between a mid-teen girl and her gynecologist or school counselor may seem an odd one to examine, but a healthy mutual respect there is increasingly necessary in a world in which is no longer just an adult concern.

It was that realization that led Dr. Jennifer Ashton, the respected CBS-TV medical correspondent who appears regularly on The Early Show and The Evening News, to do what she’s always wanted to do.

“I love to write, and after practicing gynecology and obstetrics for a few years, I realized that I had a lot to say to teens. .. and to their mothers,” Ashton says. Her 2009 book, The Body Scoop for Girls: A Straight-Talk Guide to a Healthy, Beautiful You (Avery, $18) was five years in the making. Ashton actually did much of the writing while on-call for her maternity patients.

“I was concerned that the information already out there was presented in an infantile, often condescending way, and that it wasn’t appealing either to girls or their mothers. I wanted to do something that was frank, modern and entertaining to read.”

What deeply concerns Ashton, herself the mother of a son, 12, and a daughter, 11, is the ignorance young girls have about their bodies even as they plunge into sexual activity, and their embarrassment about their changing bodies.

So she has chapters about the onset of menstruation, breast development, infections, hormones and weight obsessions. But Ashton also doesn’t dodge important teen questions about sexuality, from peer pressure to to the psychological risks of becoming sexually active too early.

“I don’t judge, and I don’t sugarcoat,” says the physician-author, who sees age 18 as the generalized definition of ‘adult,’ and as a reasonable goal to set medically for within a committed relationship. “I don’t endorse it or judge it. I’m not a parent or priest or rabbi. I’m a doctor. I worry about the psychological impact of sexuality and the potential for unwanted pregnancy, sexually transmitted diseases and, yes, emotional bruises.”

Ashton also carefully notes that in the early teen years cervical cells are still developing and sex at an early age can interfere with normal cell development. Half of all teens who have had sex before 18 wish they’d waited until they were older, according to a study the physician cites by the Kaiser Family Foundation and Seventeen magazine.

Still, nationally only 40% of girls make it to 18 before having sex, according to Ashton. That number, she notes, is even lower in urban areas. And in her practice, which is in a suburb of City, just 25% of 18- year-olds are still virgins.

Barbara Rakoczy, a student assistance counselor at Cherry Hill High School West in Cherry Hill, N.J., has worked in the district’s middle schools and high schools and started noticing a certain disconnect about the consequences of sexual behavior.

“It was not about intimacy at all,” she says.

Girls seem to want to please and often do it through sexuality.

“What I want to say to parents is not to be afraid to ask their kids the important questions and to make it clear they don’t care what their friends are doing,” Rakoczy said. “It’s all about setting limits, which may not make you popular with your kid, but may save her from making some pretty devastating mistakes.”

Tell your mother or father that you’re sexually active is a clarion call from Ashton to her patients — and readers. She bases that on a parent’s responsibility and need to know about anything that can affect the and safety of a son or daughter.

And since 1 in 4 will be sexually, emotionally or physically abused at some time during her life, according to many studies, Ashton wants teen girls to know what’s acceptable and what’s not. Ashton also recommends strongly that girls see a gynecologist for the first time when they are ages 13 to 15, to establish a relationship, knowing that confidentiality is part and parcel of that visit.

The only exceptions that break that confidentiality, she notes, are when a girl’s safety is at risk or when a diagnosis of chlamydia or gonorrhea is found, because laboratories are required to report those test results to state departments of health. An internal exam is not recommended until there has been vaginal intercourse.

Dr. Eric Grossman, who has practices in Voorhees and Turnersville, N.J., is concerned about reaching young teens who have a sense of invulnerability that belies real life.

“Girls get raped when they’re drunk or drugged, and unprotected intercourse can lead to really life-altering consequences,” says Grossman, who often sees young women who think they’re sexually sophisticated but actually carry with them loads of misinformation.

“So much of what they ‘know’ is not always right, and I have to do some pretty basic re-educating with some of our younger patients,” he says. The physician says the father of a teenage daughter is a guide to a more comfortable and appropriate sexual adjustment.

“The father is the first male role model a girl typically has. From her father, a girl often learns how she should be treated by males. And we’re learning that adolescent girls with supportive, caring fathers are less likely to experience teen pregnancies.”

Finally, on the subject of the still-new new vaccine against cervical and HPV, the virus that causes most genital warts, Ashton weighs in on the side of having the vaccine but is careful to say that the slight risks versus the benefits need to be evaluated by families.

“This is the information age and it’s all out there,” Ashton says. “The most important thing we can do is be respectful of teenage girls and help them make smart choices for their physical and emotional health.”

Grossman also is a great believer in the benefits of the cervical cancer/HPV vaccine for girls.

“A good average age for the vaccine is 14 or 15, or before many girls have been sexually active. Once they’ve been exposed to common strains of these viruses, the vaccine doesn’t help. And parents need to recognize that being in denial doesn’t help a daughter one bit.”

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Winter storm cripples South, heads north to deliver more misery

January 11, 2011 By 1 Comment

74e96906e0d2a00a756a520452c6a038 Winter storm cripples South, heads north to deliver more misery

Snow day in the southeast
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* NEW: Heavy snow and potential blizzard conditions predicted in New York and Boston
* Below-freezing temperatures will keep the ice and snow around for days
* Airlines cancel large number of flights heading out of Atlanta

Check and airport delays with our travel tracker. Our photo gallery features scenes from the Southern snowstorm.
Is it snowing where you are? Send your photos

Atlanta (CNN) — A winter storm that paralyzed the South churned up the coast Tuesday, destined to merge with another system from the Midwest and spell more misery for the Northeast.

The National Weather Service predicted 5 to 8 inches of snow in the area, 4 inches or more in northern and 2 to 6 inches in southern Delaware from Tuesday afternoon into Wednesday morning.

It will be all snow as well for the 1-95 corridor Tuesday night and Wednesday, with 8 to 14 inches predicted for the area and 9 to 15 inches for Boston.

At least 30 states were under some sort of winter storm watch or warning Tuesday, and Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia and the Carolinas were declared under states of emergencies.

As the Northeast braced for heavy accumulations of snow and potential blizzard conditions, Southern states lay crippled — covered in sheets of ice that formed on roads, pavements, cars and atop the crunchy snow.

RELATED TOPICS

* Winter Weather
* Georgia
* Philadelphia

The Southern storm brought treacherous travel conditions across the region, closing schools and government offices from Arkansas to the Atlantic. Morning commutes were no better Tuesday as temperatures remained below freezing.

Normally bustling cities like Atlanta; Birmingham, Ala.; and Charlotte, N.C., were silenced by winter, the only sound in some neighborhoods the crunch of snow boots.

Conditions, however, are not likely to improve anytime soon as an Arctic low slides into the region, bringing with it plunging temperatures. Lows are predicted in the teens in many parts of the South and in single-digits in higher elevations.

Roads resembled ice-skating rinks in Atlanta and parts of major interstates were closed. Atlanta police were dealing with so many accidents that the department announced it would only respond to those with and provided an online form for drivers to report others.

The worst problem was along Atlanta’s normally jammed southern perimeter, blocked by monster trucks that were stuck in the ice. Georgia Department of Transportation spokesman David Spear warned that “no one should be driving north of Macon.”

At Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport, the world’s busiest, arriving passengers decided to spend the night there rather than risk the drive , sharing space with stranded passengers. Airport authorities handed out blankets and amenity kits but they did little to ease frustrations.

Four out of five runways in Atlanta were operational Tuesday morning. Airport spokesman John Kennedy said the fifth runway could be operational later in the day.

Delta Airlines canceled 1,900 flights Monday and another 1,400 Tuesday and was keeping a close eye on the Northeast for late Tuesday and early Wednesday.

AirTran spokesman Christopher White said the airline would begin operations “with a greatly reduced flight schedule” and warned that flights heading to the Northeast would likely be affected at least through Wednesday.

Michael Bernardo, an AirTran command center manager, says many of the same issues hampering passengers are also affecting airline workers.

The slick roads are keeping many airline employees from getting in. Another problem is the icy conditions at the gates. While most of the runways are open, ice at the gates are making working conditions treacherous for those servicing the aircraft.

Both Delta and AirTran were offering one-time flight changes with no fees for a limited period.

In other parts of the South:

Traffic wrecks claimed two lives in Alabama, one in Lowndes County and the other in Tuscaloosa County. Parts of the state got 6 to 10 inches of snow, according to state Emergency Management spokeswoman Yasmie Richardson, and three-fourths of the state got snow or ice.

and South Carolina both expected freezing rain and sleet into Tuesday morning. Mountainous areas have already seen up to 18 inches of snowfall.

The Department of Transportation reported extremely hazardous conditions in the mountainous east, but ice and snow was also causing problems in other parts of the state.

About 2,300 homes in Louisiana and 4,000 in had lost power, according to authorities in those states, and power had been restored to most of them. Nearly 2,000 Georgia customers had lost power, according to Georgia Electric Membership Corp., and Georgia Power reported 3,000 customers out.

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Facebook? Google is the next Google

January 9, 2011 By Leave a Comment

4034db156b1547d7bdf39f980303e796 Facebook? Google is the next Google

The Buzz is now on Twitter! Follow me @LaMonicaBuzz

NEW YORK (CNNMoney) — Only in the fickle world of technology can a company with a market value of $200 billion and nearly 20% sales growth be considered yesterday’s news.

But with Wall Street, Silicon Valley and the media currently in a full-blown “all , all the time” mode, the latest is to declare that (GOOG, Fortune 500) is no longer relevant.

Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster made waves earlier this week when he said in a Bloomberg TV interview that Google has “given up” on social media and that for job seekers in tech, Facebook is what Google was five years ago. Google is now more like Microsoft (MSFT, Fortune 500), in his view.

Between the hit movie “The Social Network,” the near canonization of founder in the press and that little Goldman Sachs (GS, Fortune 500) investment valuing the company at $50 billion, it’s easy to understand why Google is an afterthought to some.

But to underestimate Google would be a colossal mistake. And interestingly enough, it looks like investors aren’t completely buying into all the “Facebook is the new Google” hype.

Google’s stock has enjoyed a happy 2011 so far, gaining about 4% this week. Shares are now less than 2% below their 52-week high.

The company wowed attendees at this week’s CES in Las Vegas with a preview of its newest tablet-friendly Android mobile operating system, dubbed Honeycomb.

The success of Android — which is being used in phones and tablets made by the likes of Motorola Mobility (MMI), Dell (DELL, Fortune 500), and HTC, to name a few — is a key reason why Google may continue to be a great growth company (and stock) for years to come.

The days of Google being almost exclusively wedded to keyword search are gone. That’s why some think the worries about Facebook supplanting Google are overblown.

“Google’s penetration is so broad, as is their flexibility. Who would have thought five years ago that Android would be such a big business?” said Stephen Lieber, portfolio manager of the Alpine Dynamic Transformations Fund, which owns Google.

“Competition from Facebook is not an issue of profound concern to me,” Lieber added.

What’s more impressive about Google making such considerable inroads in mobile is that it has done so while competing against Apple, which remains the top dog in consumer tech by a mile — even if it doesn’t feel a need to show up at CES.

Scott Kessler, head of tech sector equity for Standard & Poor’s, said that if anything, Google has to be more concerned about Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500) than Facebook.

After all, Apple’s stock keeps hitting new all-time highs and the company just passed the $300 billion market value mark. Google, despite its recent comeback, is still trading nearly 20% below its all-time peak price from October 2007.

Apple appears to be that rare beast that is not succumbing to the of large numbers. Google, on the other hand, is undeniably slowing down.

Fortune: 5 reasons why I’m not buying Facebook

Earnings are expected to increase 18% a year, on average, over the next few years. That’s impressive, but a far cry from the annual growth rates of 33% during the past five years.

Still, Google’s stock looks attractive at just 18 times 2011 earnings estimates.

And Kessler, who considers himself more of a Google skeptic, concedes that the stock is reasonably valued. He has a price target of $700 a share on Google, nearly 15% higher than current levels.

For all the Google trash talking, a vast majority of analysts still have a buy rating on Google, he pointed out.

“People are no longer outwardly bullish or as effusive about Google. It’s not at the hypergrowth phase that it was a few years ago,” he said. “But even though the commentary is negative, people are still recommending the stock.”

And with good reason.

Google generated a net profit of nearly $6 billion in the first three quarters of 2010 on sales of $20.9 billion. That’s a net margin of nearly 28.6%. Google also has a balance sheet that’s as squeaky clean as Apple’s: $33.4 billion in cash and marketable securities and no debt.

So Wall Street may be infatuated with Facebook — but it’s telling that analysts still “like” Google as an investment. It probably would be a bad idea for investors to “unfriend” Google as well.

Reader comment of the week … and a New Jersey tout! I wrote earlier this week about the break-up of Motorola. It sounds like one reader isn’t too impressed by either of them.

“So, let me get this straight. We have Motorola Mobility, which will make Cell Phones and Cable Boxes, the latter of which are not mobile at all… And Motorola Solutions, which will make Mobile 2-way Radios for Government…,” wrote Eric Hidle. “They should have called them Motorola Retail Products and Motorola Government Vacuum.”

Also, a Buzz shout-out goes to Twitter follower Matt Holdredge. (Love your Stimpy icon, by the way) I challenged my followers today to identify the band behind this apropos of Google song title: Surprise, Honeycomb.

That would be The Wrens, a group of New Jersey rock gods who may be the best band you never heard of … partly because they take their sweet time releasing albums. “Secaucus” was released in 1996 and “The Meadowlands” (notice a pattern?) dropped in 2003.

Come on guys! You’re due for a new album! And might I suggest “Ho-Ho-Kus” as a title?

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Airline passengers grapple with days-long delays in getting home

December 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment

02b946e68e7d5751b374539ecfb6aab3 Airline passengers grapple with days long delays in getting home

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* Some airline passengers are stuck with four-day delays
* AirTran will run additional flights in the Northeast on Tuesday, a spokesman says
* At least 4,155 flights were cancelled Monday because of the holiday-week storm
* As much as 32 inches of snow fell in areas, while winds gusted as high as 80 mph

(CNN) — While forecasters predict improving conditions in the Northeast for Tuesday, the news might be of little solace to the thousands of airline passengers who have been stranded since the holiday weekend — and, in some cases, will still have to wait several more days before going home.

Zarmeen Hussain and her family knew their flight home to New Jersey — scheduled for Monday evening — might get canceled. But what they didn’t expect was a delay of four days.

“We were very confused and like, oh my God,” Hussain said from an Atlanta hotel Tuesday morning. She, her and daughter were in Georgia for a college reunion and were told the earliest available flight will be on Friday.

“We were thinking of the option of driving down, but the car rental company gave us a quote of $2,000,” Hussain said, laughing. She said many rental car companies are out of vehicles.

Julie Stratton is in a similar predicament. She was scheduled to fly from New York to Indianapolis on Sunday, and ended up sleeping at LaGuardia Airport. Stratton said Monday she was told she might not be able to fly out until Thursday.

“It’s not the best of scenarios, no,” she said. “But you just have to make the best of it. There’s nothing else you can do.”

The storm that has unnerved domestic and international travelers produced blinding snow and wreaked havoc from the Carolinas to Maine. By Monday night, more than 4,155 flights had been cancelled, up to 32 inches of snow piled up in areas, and wind gusts blew as strong as 80 mph.

“This storm was one of the most challenging storms we’ve had in a decade or two,” said Thomas Bosco, general manager of LaGuardia, said Monday. “We had 25 inches several years ago, but the snow stayed in place. Today the snow piles are drifting.”

CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras said the onslaught of snow is expected to take a break.

“The good news is the snow is done falling, for the most part, but we’re still feeling the impact from the storm,” Jeras said Tuesday morning. “The strong winds will be prevalent today.”

The New York metropolitan area’s three major airports began a slow process Monday to get things back on track after being closed for nearly 24 hours, while airlines worked to get passengers to their final destinations.

One runway at LaGuardia opened by 5:45 p.m., Bosco said, though only 10 arrivals and two departures were scheduled.

John F. Kennedy Airport, further south in the same borough of Queens, and Newark Liberty International, in northern New Jersey, opened to incoming and departing traffic at 6 p.m., Port Authority spokeswoman Sara Joren said.

AirTran spokesman Christopher White said his airline didn’t plan any more cancellations Tuesday after dropping 81 on Monday. Instead, White said, AirTran planned to operate additional flights out of LaGuardia, Boston’s Logan Airport and White Plains Westchester County Airport to get people home.

And in another move back toward normalcy, New Jersey Senate President Stephen Sweeney — stepping in as acting governor — rescinded the state of emergency in that state shortly after 10 p.m. Monday. Several emergency declarations were made in states and cities as the storm barrelled up the East Coast, as officials executed emergency plans to tried to expedite assistance.

Earlier in the day, New York Mayor urged residents not to dial 911 unless calling about a life-saving emergency, as edgy travelers continue to face difficult weather conditions stemming from the fifth-largest storm in the city’s history.

Parts of Brooklyn had 24 inches of snow, according to the — shy of the 32 inches reported in Rahway, New Jersey. High winds were also a problem, including gusts as strong as 80 mph in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, .

The federal Transportation Security Administration was coordinating with airports and airlines to bolster staffing as necessary when flights resumed, according to spokeswoman Sterling Payne.

Stranded travelers slept on cots and atop luggage carousels, while less fortunate people bedded down on airport floors.

“It looked like everybody was camping inside,” said Jacob Chmielecki, who was stranded with his family at New York’s LaGuardia airport.

His father, Mike, said he “thought we were going to be on the floor.”

“The cots were an upgrade,” he said.

Antonio Christopher said he spent two nights sleeping at Heathrow Airport in London, where snow caused major delays earlier this month. On Monday, he found himself in a similar situation across the pond.

“It’s one of those things,” he said. “You have to keep up about these things. It was a blizzard. There’s nothing you can do about it.”

Stranded travelers who tried to call airline representatives to reschedule flights said getting in touch with a live human being proved difficult.

“The phone kept on ringing — it couldn’t go through,” Hussain said. “They would hang up on us. The automated system would come, and it just hung up (after saying the) volume of calls are still high. It took us a couple of hours before we got a person.”

Amtrak, which had canceled service between Boston and New York on Sunday, said Monday that it had resumed limited service between the two cities. But spokesman Cliff Cole warned that many trains may already be sold out.

The passenger-train service’s decision to cancel service on Sunday affected some 10,000 passengers.

“It was a big storm and it hit us hard,” said New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority Chairman Jay Walder, who said Long Island Railroad cancellations also left hundreds stranded at the city’s Pennsylvania railroad station.

RELATED TOPICS

* Air Travel
* Winter Weather
* National Weather Service

By early Monday evening, Amtrak trains to and from Penn Station were subject to 30-minute delays due to signal problems.

“Because of cancellations, some trains are being consolidated and some passengers may find themselves without a seat,” said Amtrak spokesman Steve Kulm.

Some regional trains also were making extra stops in an effort to accommodate passengers, he said.

New Jersey transit service also was suspended due to signal issues, according to transit spokesperson Dan Stessel.

“Real big gusts, very very cold, and the train stuck on the tracks in Secaucus Junction with no electricity (and) doors open,” said CNN correspondent Christine Romans, who waited alongside other passengers aboard a New Jersey train. “Everone’s very, very discouraged, but they’re trying figure out what is the next train they can get on.”

Travel by road was also difficult. Emergency declarations were in place Monday in , Maryland, New Jersey and Massachusetts, among other places.

Many residents were seen stocking up on food and supplies at local markets in anticipation of the weather.

“The lines went out the door and around the store,” said CNN producer Katy Byron in Weston, Connecticut.

In Massachusetts, coastal flooding was an issue. crews in Scituate, Massachusetts, had to use inflatable boats to rescue a family of four from a beachfront home after a vacant summer home next door caught , CNN affiliate WCVB-TV reported. Three other people were rescued from another home, according to the station.

Airports that normally would have been flush with activity after Christmas were largely quiet Monday as many would-be travelers stayed away, thanks in part to many airlines’ pre-emptive cancellations.

But at JFK, travel Jason Cochran said Monday that airport restaurants were running out of food — the latest blow for fellow passengers who suffered through an uncomfortable night.

“I guess the best word is dejected,” he said.

Most carriers were waiving penalties for passengers traveling Sunday and Monday to airports from North Carolina to Boston and beyond. Affected customers were being urged to contact the relevant airline either by phone or online.

In North Carolina, icy road conditions were blamed for three deaths. Still, the most pervasive impact was in the Northeast, with high winds as much as the snows leaving many without electricity Monday.

According to Connecticut Light & Power’s website, the number of its customers affected by the storm rose dramatically to 33,712 by Monday afternoon — up from 13,000 Monday morning. CL&P services 1.2 million Connecticut residents so only about 2% of customers state-wide had been affected.

“We are actually down from about 9,000 customers without power over the weekend,” said Con Edison spokeswoman D. Joy Faber. “We also have a number of trees and power lines that were knocked down, so we’re advising all of our customers to stay away from the downed lines.”

Meanwhile, the announced that a game between the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles — originally scheduled for Sunday night — had been postponed until 8:20 p.m. Tuesday. The game will the first game played on a Tuesday since 1946.

Still, the storm’s timing, coming over a holiday weekend, was fortuitous for some and disastrous for others. City and state officials predicted that the blizzard’s impact on the economy and businesses might be muted, because many people had the holiday weekend off and fewer were expected to be commuting into work than normal on Monday.

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More air travelers grounded amid snow storm in New York, New England

December 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

815146d99d357d7210a518333a29d9c7 More air travelers grounded amid snow storm in New York, New England

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* NEW: LaGuardia, JFK and Newark airports remain closed early Monday
* Passengers say they spent several hours on planes
* A blizzard warning for parts of is in effect through Monday evening
* Parts of the could get up to 16 inches of snow and wind gusts of up to 60 mph

(CNN) -- Airlines and travelers will continue grappling with the effects of delayed and canceled flights Monday as a storm system along the East Coast showed no mercy for passengers traveling over the holiday weekend.

As of Monday morning, the three major -area airports -- Newark, LaGuardia and John F. Kennedy -- remained closed, according to the Federal Aviation Administration. Newark was scheduled to reopen at noon ET, LaGuardia at 2 p.m. ET and JFK at 4 p.m. ET Monday.

American Airlines canceled 171 Monday flights in and out of major airports from Washington through Boston, airline spokeswoman Mary Sanderson said Sunday night. Those cancellations follow more than 262 flights that the airline canceled Sunday.

On Sunday night, air traffic in and out the three major airports in the New York area came to a halt.

Eric Schorr, a passenger aboard El Al Flight 002 from New York to Tel Aviv, said the plane was supposed to take off from John F. Kennedy Airport at 6 p.m. But six hours later, he was still sitting on the tarmac -- with no end in sight.

RELATED TOPICS

* Air Travel
* Winter Weather
* National Weather Service

Check weather in your part of the nation -

"What happened was they boarded us, de-iced us, taxied us ... We were ready to take off, but JFK closed when we were finally able to take off," Schorr said early Monday morning.

He said passengers have been told they were not able to go back to the terminal because the airport had cut off official movement and taxiing services on the runway. About 3 a.m. ET Monday, Schorr said the plane was back at a gate, and passengers were deplaning.

Jason Cochran, who was scheduled to fly from JFK Airport to London's Heathrow Airport on Sunday evening, said he spent several hours on a plane that was "pretty sweltering" because the air conditioning was turned off for much of the time. In addition, Cochran said, one of the lavatories wasn't working.

He said the mood aboard the plane was "pretty tense. People felt like they (had) no control over the situation."

After passengers were allowed to get off the plane, Cochran said he ended up sleeping between a vending machine and a vacuum cleaner at a JFK terminal.

The New York-area airports, like many others throughout the Northeast, had gone largely quiet by Sunday evening. Many would-be travelers avoided the airports, thanks in part to many airlines' pre-emptive cancellations.

The steady snow falling from up the East Coast on Sunday evening also affected travel on the roads and the rails.

Amtrak stopped service Sunday between New York and Portland, Maine, as well as between Newport News and Richmond, Virginia. Amtrak spokesman Cliff Cole said service would continue between New York and Washington, adding that he's "very hopeful that we'll be able to get folks between Boston and New York" starting Monday morning.

Governors declared states of emergency in Virginia, Maryland and Massachusetts on Sunday ahead of the approaching storm, a bid to get crews ready and expedite recovery funding depending on its impact.

The mayors of Philadelphia; Boston; Providence, Rhode Island; and Portland, Maine, also called snow emergencies, while launched a winter snow storm operation and encouraged people to stay off the roads by taking mass transit or staying put.

"Unfortunately, our city is directly in the path," New York City Mayor said Sunday afternoon, amid a blizzard warning that extends until 6 p.m. Monday. "It's hard to stand up in a 55-mph wind, so this really is dangerous."

The storm's timing over a holiday weekend was fortuitous for some and disastrous for others. City and state officials predicted that the blizzard's impact on the economy might be muted because many people had the holiday weekend off and fewer were expected to be commuting into work than normal on Monday.

"With the people who are staying home for the holidays, it's great, but we know a lot of people who are trying to get home," said Brett Martin. He said his hometown of Virginia Beach, Virginia, had received almost a foot of snow. "We're just playing games and hanging out by the fire."

Snow began falling in parts of the South on Christmas, where winter advisories expired Sunday evening in parts of Alabama, and the Carolinas.

But the storm system was expected to have a larger impact further north up the East Coast into Monday.

Along with the advisory for suburban New York City, blizzard warnings are in effect for Virginia and Maryland's Eastern Shore through Monday morning, with the predicting an eventual pile of snow of up to 15 inches. The New Jersey shore's warning runs through 1 p.m. Monday.

"It does appear like the worst weather will be in the vicinity of the New York City area northeastward into the Boston area," said National Weather Service meteorologist Bob Oravec. "We do expect the winds to pick up."

Metropolitan New York could see between 15 and 20 inches of accumulating snow, with sustained winds of 25 to 35 mph and sporadically stronger gusts, especially along Long Island, the weather agency predicts.

The Connecticut coast, Rhode Island, eastern Massachusetts, coastal New Hampshire and Maine also have a blizzard warning in effect through Monday evening, with expected snowfall of 12 to 16 inches and wind gusts reaching 60 mph.

Meanwhile, the NFL announced that a game between the Minnesota Vikings and the -- originally scheduled for Sunday night -- had been postponed until 8:20 p.m. Tuesday.

"It was dangerous for the players, dangerous for the fans," said Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter, who called a state of emergency in anticipation of up to 14 inches of snow. "People still have to get out of the parking lot (and get in) their cars."

Nancy White, a spokeswoman for AAA, said 93 million Americans were expected to travel between Christmas and New Year's Day -- with nine out of 10 of them doing so by car.

While the worst wasn't expected until early Monday, the Massachusetts State Police reported around 7:30 p.m. Sunday that heavy snow was already falling, including whiteout conditions in some areas. That contributed to traffic moving at a crawl in and around the Boston area, with state troopers reporting minor crashes and spinouts.

The state's governor, Deval Patrick, told reporters earlier in the day that 1,000 plows, sand and salt trucks were working to keep state roads clear and that as many as 4,000 would be deployed as the storm worsens. He also warned of possible overnight flooding along Massachusetts Bay.

"We expect visibility to be very low and travel to be extremely dangerous," Patrick said.

While specific information varies by carrier, several airlines are offering penalty waivers for passengers scheduled to travel on Monday from certain areas but have to reschedule their trips. Affected customers are urged to contact their airlines either by phone or online.

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Boston, NYC face blizzard warnings as storm system barrels north

December 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment

fcbef4f2a8e893496a5ac39e261ac5c3 Boston, NYC face blizzard warnings as storm system barrels north

Storm warnings across the U.S. meaning travelers could face long lines and cancellations at airports.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS

* NEW: Delta joins other carriers in cancelling flights, with more likely to come Sunday
* NEW: A blizzard watch is in effect for coastal and Maine
* Southern and metro NYC have a blizzard warning for Sunday and Monday
* It’s all part of a storm system that’s causing travel along the East Coast

RELATED TOPICS

* Air Travel
* Continental Airlines Inc.
* Delta Air Lines Inc.
*
* Winter Weather

iReport: Are you there? Send images, video

(CNN) — Snow fell in parts of the southeast Saturday, the leading edge of a powerful storm system that has prompted blizzard warnings in and Boston and threatened to cause major travel headaches at the tail end of the holiday week.

The National Weather Service has issued a blizzard warning for the New York City metropolitan area, from northeast New Jersey through Newark and New York, and including the entirety of both the Long Island and coasts of the Long Island Sound. That warning is in effect between 6 a.m. Sunday and 6 p.m. Monday.

Forecasters predict between 11 to 16 inches of blowing snow in much of that region, bringing visibility to near zero at times. Sustained winds as strong as 30 miles per hour could hit Sunday night, with gusts up to 55 mph in parts of central and eastern Long Island.

And, starting at noon Sunday and extending through 6 p.m. Monday, a similar warning is out for all of Rhode Island and most of eastern Massachusetts. Parts of that region could see as much as 20 inches of snow, with strong winds contributing to near blinding travel conditions and likely significant power outages.

The weather service also put out a blizzard watch from Sunday evening through Monday afternoon for coastal New Hampshire and Maine, up to the Canadian border.

All this could put a wrench in thousands of travel plans.

Continental Airlines, which is partnered with United Airlines, has canceled about 250 domestic mainline and regional departures for Sunday, spokesman Andrew J. Ferraro said.
Snow falls on drivers Saturday in St. Louis, Missouri.
Snow falls on drivers Saturday in St. Louis, Missouri.

American Airlines spokeswoman Mary Sanderson said that the airline expected minimal delays through Sunday morning, but that it plans to cancel flights in and out of several key East Coast airports starting in the afternoon.

“Customers will be contacted through the automated re-accommodation system … as early as tonight,” Sanderson said. “We’ll have a better idea tomorrow morning.”

Delta Air Lines, too, has begun cancelling some flights, though it expects to have a better handle of how many cancellations will be needed on Sunday morning “once we’ve worked through the schedule,” spokesman Kent Landers said.

Earlier, the carrier cancelled approximately 500 Christmas Day flights — including roughly 300 in and out of Atlanta — in an attempt to get ahead of the storm, Delta spokesman Morgan Durrant said.

Delta has joined Continental, United, American, AirTran Airways and other carriers in waiving penalties for travelers who have to reschedule their trips over the weekend.

While specific information varies by carrier, most are offering penalty waivers for passengers traveling on December 26 and 27 at airports from North Carolina to Boston and beyond. Affected customers are being urged to contact the relevant airline either by phone or online.

Winter storm warnings were in effect late Saturday afternoon and into Sunday in parts of Georgia north to , with the rest of the East Coast set to follow as the weekend progresses.

A band of light snowfall was moving across the Tennessee Valley and the southern Appalachians, according to the National Weather Service. Madison, Alabama, had received 2.2 inches of snow since Thursday.

Snowfall amounts of 3 to 6 inches were possible across North Carolina, and Atlanta was receiving afternoon precipitation.

Picturesque Asheville in western North Carolina was well on its way Saturday to notching up to 8 inches of snow.

Light flakes were falling in on Saturday, a precurso to heavier snowfall expected to arrive midday Sunday. Accumulations are expected to be between 2 and 4 inches.

Forecasters, too, warned of icy driving conditions across much of the East. Much of the precipitation will fall along the Interstate 95 corridor and near the coast.

CNN meteorologist Bonnie Schneider explained that the system is a Nor’easter, which gets its name from the continuously strong northeasterly winds blowing in from the ocean ahead of the storm and over the coastal areas.

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