A heartless stranger tossed scalding liquid at a homeless man’s face outside a bank just steps from the Port Authority Bus Terminal early Thursday, cops said.
The 40-year-old victim was outside the Chase Bank on Eighth Avenue near West 40th Street around 4 a.m. when another man walked up to him and threw an unknown liquid in his face without saying a word, police said.
The victim was taken to Weill Cornell Medical Center with burns to his face, cops said.
His injuries are considered non-life-threatening.
The suspect took off after the attack, and cops were still looking for him hours later.
A member of a Queens community board was booted from office after referring to COVID-19 as the “Wu-Flu” in a public meeting.
Community Board 5 member Richard Huber, during the remote Jan. 11 meeting, said, “When all you ever heard about the vaccine — these so-called vaccines — for the ‘Wu-Flu.’”
He was questioning the effectiveness of coronavirus vaccines and antiviral drugs amid an increase in COVID-19 amid a new contagious Omicron strain.
Board member Derek Evers responded, “I’m not going to comment on the unhinged anti-vaxx rant we just heard. But I would just like to condemn the racist language that was used and I don’t think the community board is any place for that.”
Queens has the largest Asian-American population in the US.
Borough President Donovan Richards immediately removed Huber from CB 5 — which covers the neighborhoods of Maspeth, Ridgewood, Glendale and Middle Village — citing the code of conduct for planning board members that bars discrimination. The borough president appoints members to the community board in consultation with City Council members and has the power to remove them with cause.
“For the last three years, our Asian-American neighbors in New York City have experienced a surge in bias and violence against their community, and I will not tolerate a community board member using language that has fueled that wave of bigotry and hate,” Richards said in a statement to The Post, which he later tweeted a variation of.
Queens Community Board 5 member Richard Huber was removed from office for calling COVID-19 the “Wu-Flu.” CB5 Queens
“Therefore, I have removed this individual from Queens Community Board 5 for cause.”
Huber’s remarks were first reported by the Queens Ledger.
But there’s been extensive reporting indicating that COVID-19 may have originated from a lab in Wuhan, China.
Former President Donald Trump often called COVID-19 the “China virus” or “Chinese virus” and believed it spread from Wuhan.
Richard Huber said his comment “was not intended as a slur.”CB5 Queens
Queens Councilman Robert Holden — whose wife is Japanese-American and has been subjected to anti-Asian discrimination — appointed Huber to CB5. But he said Huber’s ouster by the borough president smacks of cancel culture run amok.
He said BP Richards should have counseled Huber and given him a chance to explain himself or apologize and complained that Richards, who is black, is quick to racialize issues, including against him. Holden is white.
“I am married to an Asian-American. Anti-Asian violence is real,” Holden said.
“I also know that Richard Huber has a big heart and has done a lot of good things in the neighborhood. There’s a body of work that Richard Huber has done for decades that should be considered,” Holden said.
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards ousted Richard Huber from Community Board 5, claiming his “Wu-Flu” comment violated the standard of conduct barring discrimination. Stephen Yang
“Donovan Richards just cancels people.”
Huber told The Post that his remark was “extemporaneous” and “was not intended as a slur…..I said it. I live with it.”
He said he believes COVID-19 “did originate in the Wuhan laboratory” in China.
Huber, a long-time community advocate and member of the Queens Kiwanis Club, likened it to the measles being referred to as the “German Measles” because of the early cases first recorded in that country.
People gather at a rally against the COVID-19 vaccine mandate on Sunday, Oct. 31, 2021, on Staten Island. James Keivom
He asked that his “Wu-Flu” comment be heard in the context of his overall remarks, in which he praised doctors and nurses and lamented some left the profession over COVID-19 policies. He also complained that so many people are infected with COVID variants after getting vaccinated and boosted and warned about the side effects of anti-viral drugs.
“All you ever heard about the vaccine — the so-called vaccines — for the ‘Wu-Flu.’ It was only safe and effective and would prevent transmission, and it would prevent you from catching it. That doesn’t seem exactly true,” Huber said.
Public health studies show those who are vaccinated and boosted are far less likely to be hospitalized or die from COVID-19 if they are infected or re-infected.
But New York City health officials also recently reported that the latest omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 was more likely to infect residents who were vaccinated or who were previously hit with COVID-19.
Mayor Eric Adams has a stacked schedule Sunday in El Paso, Texas — where he’ll set eyes on the border crisis that has his own city stretched to the absolute limit.
Hizzoner will spend the day visiting migrant shelters, touring a border patrol processing facility and meeting with local officials including El Paso Mayor Oscar Leeser before flying back home to the Big Apple.
He and Leeser — who’s bussed thousands of migrants to New York City — will meet to discuss how the border crisis has affected the local community there, according to Adams’ office.
Adams will visit a local migrant shelter, a facility that provides services to them and a Customs and Border Protection processing facility. He’ll also visit the southern border.
Adams will then hold a press conference later in the day.
His jaunt to the Lone Star State comes two days after he projected the migrant crisis would cost New York City as much as $2 billion — double what he initially estimated.
Over 36,000 migrants have landed in New York City since the spring.James Keivom
“We have to ask ourselves, where we [were] already dealing with a potential $5, $6 billion budget deficit in the outyears. Where does that money come from?” said Adams during a Caribbean Power Jam Radio interview on Friday, a day after he announced cuts to just about every city agency.
“That money comes from our schools. It comes from our public safety, our hospitals, our infrastructure, our ACS services, those are our tax dollars that it’s coming from and we got to see an impact in every service we have in the city,” Adams continued, calling it “irresponsible” that there has been no federal response to the border crisis yet.
Adams said last week that over 36,000 migrants have landed in New York City since the spring.
Adams estimated the migrant crisis could cost NYC up to $2 billion.Paul MartinkaA child is passed over a chain-link fence at the southern border.James Keivom
On Friday, he called on Gov. Kathy Hochul — who not once mentioned the migrant crisis in her State of the State address last week — to immediately take 500 migrants off his hands via an “emergency mutual aid request.”
“We are at our breaking point. Based off our projections, we anticipate being unable to continue sheltering arriving asylum seekers on our own,” Adams said.
The Adams administration has been forced to pay $275 million in a contract with the Hotel Association of New York City to house at least 5,000 migrants as waves of asylum seekers continue to land in the city from the southern border.
The “emergency” agreement between the city Department of Homeless Services and the Hotel Association puts the city on the hook for as much as $55,000 per migrant.
A New Jersey woman was sentenced to three years in state prison on Friday for her role in a $400,000 GoFundMe scam in which she and her then-boyfriend lied about helping a homeless veteran in Philadelphia.
Katelyn McClure, 32, was not present at her sentencing in Burlington County as she is already serving her one-year federal term in the case in a Connecticut prison, according to the Burlington County Prosecutor’s Office.
Her state sentence will run concurrently and the former New Jersey Department of Transportation worker will be permanently barred from ever working as a public employee in the state.
In 2017, McClure and her then-boyfriend, Mark D’Amico, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud after they invented a heartwarming but bogus story claiming that a homeless vet, Johnny Bobbitt Jr., had just spent his last $20 to help McClure fill up her gas tank while she was stranded on I-95 in Philadelphia.
McClure during a court appearance back in 2019, where she pleaded guilty to the state charge.AP
The pair launched a GoFundMe campaign titled “Paying it Forward,” which donors believed was to get Bobbitt off the streets and into a home.
The story quickly gained traction as McClure and D’Amico did interviews with local and national media outlets. In less than one month, they had defrauded more than 14,000 donors out of $400,000.
A picture of McClure, Mark D’Amico, and Johnny Bobbitt Jr. is displayed during a 2018 news conference about the scam.AP
The funds were transferred from GoFundMe to the couple’s personal accounts. The two blew most of the money over the next three months on personal expenses.
The couple told Bobbitt about the fake tale they’d spun and the money — which he had previously been unaware of. In December 2017, officials say D’Amico opened a bank account for Bobbitt and the two deposited $25,000 into the account.
D’Amico, 43, pleaded guilty in December 2019 and was sentenced to five years in state prison, a term also running concurrently with an earlier federal term. He and McClure have both been ordered to fully reimburse GoFundMe.
Bobbitt was sentenced to probationary federal and state terms.
MEXICO CITY, Jan 7 (Reuters) – At least one person was killed and 57 were injured in a train collision on Mexico City’s metro early on Saturday, local authorities said.
The person killed in the morning accident was a young woman, city security head Omar Garcia told local media Grupo Milenio.
Garcia shared an updated list of the injured later on Saturday, and the city’s mayor, Claudia Sheinbaum, said on Twitter that she was at the site.
Four others who were trapped on one wagon on Line 3 were rescued and are in good health, Garcia said earlier.
A variety of accidents have taken place on the metro in recent years. The most serious was the May 2021 collapse of a rail overpass on Line 12 that killed 26 people and injured more than 60.
Maintenance shortcomings were identified as one of that accident’s causes.
Reporting by Lizbeth Diaz in Mexico City;
Writing by Julia Symmes Cobb;
Editing by Leslie Adler
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
The gloomy and misty weather didn’t deter thousands from flooding Times Square to watch the ball drop for the first unrestricted New Year’s Eve party since 2020.
The massive annual extravaganza was the first in two years to have zero COVID-19-related restrictions – no masks, no vaccines and no social distancing.
The lift on limited capacity rules meant the popular tourist destination was packed again with revelers eager to get back to normal.
Most had packed into the midtown square early Saturday morning to claim their prime spots.
Michelle Strunk, 48, of Shickshinny, PA, told The Post she had come prepared for the hours-long wait — after watching the ball drop for the first time when she was 19 years old.
She, her husband and her two sons packed their pockets with granola bars and water, but the boys declined to follow her lead and wear a diaper.
“I guarantee 75 percent of people have one on,” she speculated. “Listen I’ve cranked out two kids … It’s only for emergency purposes. I don’t plan on using it but it’s only there for emergency purposes.”
Onlookers cheered as confetti filled the air to mark the beginning of the new year. AFP via Getty Images
The extravaganza was the first in two years to have zero COVID-19-related restrictions. AFP via Getty Images
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Thousands flooded Times Square to watch the ball drop. AFP via Getty Images
A couple kissed to celebrate the new year in Times Square. AP
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Jurate Samiene, 59, and husband Rimas Samis, 62, of Branford, Connecticut planted their feet at 7 a.m. and abstained from eating or drinking all day to celebrate their third time at the event.
“We decided to put our minds to come here and come to Times Square. Rain or not, it doesn’t matter. We decided rain is better than cold,” Samiene told The Post.
But for others, the wait wasn’t so easy.
Pearl Vaval, a 63-year-old Bronx resident and MTA bus operator, claimed her spot at 7 a.m. to watch the ball drop for the first time since moving to the city 39 years ago.
“It’s on my wish list and never again,” Vaval told The Post. “I’m too old. I can’t stand here for too long.”
Vaval said she “sacrificed” drinking water all day to cross the feat off her bucket list, but is looking forward to starting the new year off by making new friends.
Ryan Seacrest wants to host the next “Rockin’ Eve” with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Christopher Sadowski
Ryan Seacrest hosted Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve 2023 in Times Square. Christopher Sadowski
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“I’m just enjoying life right now at my age … Every day is like a gift,” she told The Post.
Samiene said her resolutions for the new year were to “do better in everything… and of course, peace in the world.”
The New Year’s Eve revelers were treated to a number of live performances throughout the night, featuring a lineup of Chelsea Cutler, JVKE, Ava Max, Osmani Garcia, New Edition, Chesca and Duran Duran.
Just before the strike of midnight, Cutler performed a rendition of John Lennon’s “Imagine” that had thousands singing along as they welcomed 2023.
New York City Mayor Eric Adams was given the honor of pushing the button starting the 60-second descent of the Waterford Crystal New Year’s ball, complete with neon lights and fireworks as the crowd roared the final countdown.
A few notes of the New Year’s classic ballad “Auld Land Syne” played on the loudspeakers as partiers shared smooches before blasting Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” as confetti rained down.
A man was stabbed in the neck with scissors near Times Square Saturday as revelers packed the streets watch the ball drop and ring in the new year, cops and witnesses said.
The slashing occurred around 8:45 p.m. New Year’s Eve when a fight broke out between two men on West 42nd Street and 6th Avenue, police said.
A tourist visiting from San Diego to watch the New Year’s Eve festivities for the first time told The Post the victim grabbed a pair of scissors from his backpack when the attacker landed a punch, knocking him out.
The knifeman then knocked the weapon from the other man’s hands and stabbed him.
“A guy with a book bag got knocked out. He was digging through his book bag. The guy with the bag was holding scissors. He pulled 2-inch scissors out of his bag. The guy who hit him knocked the scissors out of his hand and jabbed him in the neck three times,” the man, who only wanted to be identified by his first name, Brandon, said.
“He was bleeding pretty bad in his neck. He did damage when he stabbed him with the scissors … When I saw him digging through the bag, we moved away.”
Cops reportedly arrested the attacker and transported the victim to the hospital.
Brandon’s girlfriend Bailey said the brawling duo both looked drunk. The attacker had been sitting with a girl and a case of beer, she said.
The attacker had been sitting with his girlfriend and a case of beer, a witness said.Robert Mecea
Another witness, Gabriel, 22, said there was a lot of blood.
“I was staring at the ball and I saw a big commotion and I saw someone do this like three times to someone’s neck,” Gabriel said, making a stabbing gesture.
“I saw a bunch of blood so I’m assuming he got stabbed. Everybody was yelling ‘yo it’s not worth it!”
Brandon and Bailey said the bloody New Year’s Eve attack would stop them from visiting the Big Apple again for the celebration.
The stabbing was the second in the square on Saturday.Robert Mecea
“When people ask me how the ball dropped, I’ll tell them that story … I will say I saw some guy get stabbed in the neck in New York City. Very typical New York City,” Bailey told The Post.
“I probably won’t see the ball drop again.”
The scissor stabbing was the second in Times Square on New Year’s Eve.
A man was stabbed “about eight times” at 11 a.m. near Seventh Avenue and West 40th Street
The night before, a man was knifed a few blocks away from Times Square at West 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue.
Some federal insiders don’t buy embattled Rep.-elect George Santos’ excuse that dozens of strange $199.99 campaign expenses he filed were the result of a “database” error.
The newly-elected Long Island Republican has come under a hailstorm of criticism and probes by both the Nassau County district attorney and federal prosecutors after he came clean to The Post about fabricating key details of his personal and professional life.
More revelations came this week, including that Santos’ campaign committee recorded 37 expenditures between April 2021 and February 2022 — each totaling exactly $199.99. The figure is one cent below the minimum amount at which federal law requires receipts.
Rooms at the Hyatt Orlando Hotel and the W Hotel South Beach and office supply run to Staples and Target were all among the curious $199.99 expenses. There were also Ubers, airline flights, Amtrak tickets, parking at John F. Kennedy Airport, and meals at The Little Neck, Queens restaurant Il Bacco Ristorante.
Several of the Santos campaign’s questionable payments went for stays in luxury hotels in Florida Getty Images/iStockphoto
The Santos camp blamed paperwork problems.
“This reporting issue is the result of a database error and amendments were filed with the FEC. We believe that accurate information has been provided to the FEC,” a rep for Santos’ campaign emailed The Post.
But the purchases and their strange prices remain publicly viewable on the Federal Election Commission website.
Stores like Target and Staples were among the curious expenses. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
“I don’t believe it,” said Ann Ravel, former FEC chairwoman, of Santos’ explanation. “There are too many expenditures for the $199 that were filed.
“If they did provide an amending filing to the FEC to change it, and if the FEC agrees that it was a database error, the FEC would have already changed the website,” she said.
Christian Hillard, a rep for the FEC added that “any amended transactions and filings submitted by committees would be reflected in the data through the FEC website.”
Other expenses included Amtrak tickets, airline and flights.AFP via Getty Images/LUKE SHARRETTUber rides and parking at John F. Kennedy Airport were also found on Santos’ expenses. Christopher Sadowski
Santos’ biggest New York donors are taking a wait-and-see approach to the ballooning scandal.
“It’s complicated. I am still sorting out my feelings,” said Josh Eisen, an entrepreneur who gave a maximum of $2,900 in contributions to both Santos’ primary campaign and his general election fund. “Considering the gravity of sitting in Congress, I surely hope that one of those many prosecutors will be able to inform the people about how we should feel before he is sworn in.”
John Catsimatidis, the billionaire owner of Gristedes supermarkets, suggested he cut a $2,900 check to Santos reluctantly. “My daughter had a fundraiser for him and I always support daughters,” he said.
Josh Eisen, a top campaign donor, says the Santos situation is “complicated”
Cats said the Santos situation made him “a little woozy,” but he is “taking the position of letting all the truth come out. Let the US attorney do his job, and let’s find out the truth.”
Santos also listed expenditures far north of $199, including more than $1,000 for apparel at Brooks Brothers. Another $713 went to “food and beverages” for an event at The Breakers, an ultra-luxe hotel in Palm Beach.
Santos also wined and dined his donors at some of New York and Washington D.C. trendiest spots including Il Mulino and Joe’s Stone Crab, dropping $660 and $710 respectively, FEC forms show.
Long Island Rep.-elect George Santos came clean to The Post on Monday, admitting that he lied on the campaign trail about his education and work experience — but insisting that the controversy won’t deter him from serving out his two-year term in Congress.
“I am not a criminal,” Santos said at one point during his exclusive interview. “This [controversy] will not deter me from having good legislative success. I will be effective. I will be good.”
Santos’s professional biography was called into question earlier this month after the New York Times reported that he misrepresented a number of claims, including where he attended college and his alleged employment history with high-profile Wall Street firms.
“My sins here are embellishing my resume. I’m sorry,” Santos said on Monday.
Santos confessed he had “never worked directly” for Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, chalking that fib up to a “poor choice of words.”
The 34-year-old now claims instead that a company called Link Bridge, where he worked as a vice president, did business with both of the financial giants.
“I will be clearer about that. It was stated poorly,” Santos said of the lie.
At Link Bridge, Santos said, he helped make “capital introductions” between clients and investors, and Goldman Sachs and Citigroup were “LPS, Limited Partnerships” that his company dealt with.
He also admitted that he never graduated from any college, despite previously claiming to have received a degree from Baruch in 2010.
Long Island Rep.-elect George Santos admitted to The Post that he lied about details of his life while campaigning.AP Photo/Mary Altaffer, File
“I didn’t graduate from any institution of higher learning. I’m embarrassed and sorry for having embellished my resume,” he said. “I own up to that … We do stupid things in life.”
Santos, elected to Congress in Nov. 8 to represent the Long Island- and Queens-based 3rd District, was also accused of lying about his family history, saying on his campaign website that his mother was Jewish and his grandparents escaped the Nazis during World War II.
Santos now says that he’s “clearly Catholic,” but claimed his grandmother told stories about being Jewish and later converting to Catholicism.
“I never claimed to be Jewish,” Santos said. “I am Catholic. Because I learned my maternal family had a Jewish background I said I was `Jew-ish.’”
Santos, the first openly gay non-incumbent Republican elected to the House, also faced accusations that he lied about his sexual orientation, with the Daily Beast reporting last week that he was previously married to a woman until shortly before he launched his unsuccessful 2020 campaign against Democrat Tom Suozzi.
The soon-to-be lawmaker confirmed to the Post on Monday that he was indeed married to a woman for about five years, from 2012 until his divorce in 2017, but insisted that he is now a happily married gay man.
Santos said a “poor choice of words” made it seem like he worked for Goldman Sachs.REUTERS/Andrew Kelly/File Photo
“I dated women in the past. I married a woman. It’s personal stuff,” Santos said, adding that the relationship “got a little toxic.”
“I’m very much gay,” he says now. “I’m OK with my sexuality. People change. I’m one of those people who change.”
Santos also acknowledged being a deadbeat tenant in Sunnyside, Queens, where The Times reported he was ordered by a judge to pay more than $12,000 to a former landlord who claimed non-payment of several months of rent — as well as that Santos had tried to pass a check that bounced.
On Monday, Santos claimed that at the time of the lawsuit, his family was deep in medical debt from his mother’s cancer battle.
“We were engulfed in debt,” he said. “We had issues paying rent at the time. It’s the vulnerability of being human. I am not embarrassed by it.”
Santos said his mother died of cancer on Dec. 23, 2016, after living with him at the Queens apartment and acknowledged the judgement against him.
Santos also admitted to lying when he claimed that he owned 13 different properties, saying he now resides at his sister’s place in Huntington but is looking to purchase his own place.
Santos admitted that he didn’t graduate from CUNY Baruch or any other college.Photo by: Photographer name/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
“George Santos does not own any properties,” he said.
Santos was defiant on one point — denying an allegation raised by The Times that he had an unspecified criminal charge filed against him in Brazil.
“I am not a criminal here – not here or in Brazil or any jurisdiction in the world,” Santos said. “Absolutely not. That didn’t happen.”
The incoming congressman dismissed concerns that his lies will impact his effectiveness representing New Yorkers in the lower chamber in the new year.
“I campaigned talking about the people’s concerns, not my resume,” Santos told The Post.
“I intend to deliver on the promises I made during the campaign — fighting crime, fighting to lower education, improving education,” he added, saying that “The people elected me to fight for them.”
Santos said the lies won’t prevent him from being an “effective” congressman. AP Photo/John Locher, File
“I came to DC to bring results on those issues and that’s what I’m going to do.”
Senior House Republicans were apparently aware of the inaccuracies and embellishments in the rep-elect’s resume, and the topic became a “running joke,” multiple insiders close to House GOP leadership told The Post over the weekend.
“As far as questions about George in general, that was always something that was brought up whenever we talked about this race,” said one senior GOP leadership aide. “It was a running joke at a certain point. This is the second time he’s run and these issues we assumed would be worked out by the voters.”
Last week, the top Republican in Nassau County demanded that Santos explain himself after his web of lies began to unravel.
“While I have indicated that the congressman-elect deserves a reasonable amount of time to respond to the media, voters deserve a sincere accounting from Mr. Santos,” said Nassau County Republican Committee Chairman Joseph Cairo. “I will be listening attentively, and I want to hear meaningful remarks from George Santos.”
That same day, Santos, broke his three-day silence since reports of his fibbing emerged, tweeting: “To the people of #NY03 I have my story to tell and it will be told next week. I want to assure everyone that I will address your questions and that I remain committed to deliver the results I campaigned on; Public safety, Inflation, Education & more.”
Most of New York is going to have a dreary Christmas weekend.
Gov. Kathy Hochul on Thursday declared a state of emergency for the entirety of New York in preparation for the massive storm that’s forecast to wallop the northeast over the holiday weekend.
The measure will go into effect at 6 a.m. Friday when Winter Storm Elliott — dubbed a “once-in-a-generation” weather event by the National Weather Service — is expected to bear down on the area.
“With Mother Nature throwing everything she has at us this weekend, I encourage New Yorkers who are considering traveling for the holidays to do so before Friday or after Sunday to stay safe,” Hochul said in a statement.
A so-called bomb cyclone, when atmospheric pressure drops very quickly in a strong storm, was predicted to develop late Thursday night into Friday near the Great Lakes.
Blizzard warnings, coastal flood warnings, high wind warnings, wind chill warnings and winter storm warnings are all in effect throughout New York.
A pedestrian waits at a street corner as a bomb cyclone develops late Thursday night into Friday near the Great Lakes. Getty Images
A 41-year-old homeless man stands next to a donated tent near the expressway where he is living on Dec. 22, 2022 in Chicago. Getty Images
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Pedestrians navigate snow-covered streets on Dec. 22, 2022 in Chicago. Getty Images
Blizzard warnings, coastal flood warnings and high wind warnings are all in effect throughout New York. WGRZ
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The state is placing a full commercial vehicle ban on I-90 from Rochester to the Pennsylvania Border, a roughly 135-mile stretch. Several roads in Erie County, which expects to get hit with 3 feet of snow Monday, will also be closed.
More than 5,000 flights have already been canceled ahead of the winter storm expected to bring blizzard conditions and record-setting temperature drops.
Parts of upstate New York will be slammed with snow while areas closer to the coast, including New York City, will face a drenching rain for most of Friday, forecasters said.
More than 5,000 flights have already been canceled ahead of the winter storm.WGRZ
From Friday to Saturday, winds will likely reach up to 60 miles per hour as temperatures quickly plummet by up to 35 degrees in some regions, causing freezing, below-zero wind chills and icy road conditions.
“This is not like a snow day when you were a kid,” President Joe Biden said Thursday. “This is serious stuff.”
Other states have already felt the effects of the moving storm.
In Wyoming, highway patrol troopers responded to over 100 wrecks within 12 hours during a massive whiteout that the agency compared to Antarctic conditions.
One person died in Kansas City, Missouri after their car overturned into an icy creek, police said.
Denver hit its lowest temperatures in 32 years on Thursday, morning when the temperature dropped to minus 24.
