'Snowicane' cripples Northeast
NEW YORK, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Blowing snow crippled travel in the Northeastern United States Friday in what meteorologists have dubbed a "snowicane."
Swirling snow stretched from Indiana to the East Coast and from Kentucky to New Brunswick, Canada, Accuweather.com reported. As much as three feet of snow fell in some areas with snowdrifts topping six feet and an addition six to 12 inches expected through Saturday.
High winds and heavy snow cut power for tens of thousands.
"Impact from the snowicane was severe in New England … due to high winds, heavy rain and coastal flooding. Here, thousands of trees were downed …," Accuweather.com reported.
More snow is expected next week.
Schools were closed in New York City, and those commuters who tried to get to work Friday faced long delays, The New York Times reported. New Jersey Transit suspended all bus service in the northern and central part of the state until noon.
Philadelphia has already been hit hard by a series of storms in the mid-Atlantic region, making this winter the snowiest on record.
"It's pretty stationary," Matt Scalora, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Upton, N.Y., said of the storm front.
A snow-covered tree limb in New York's Central Park snapped Thursday, killing a man and prompting the city's Parks Department to warn residents to stay away from city parks, CNN reported.
Air travel was disrupted from Philadelphia to Boston, the Times said. Hundreds of flights were canceled at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey and LaGuardia in New York.
Blizzard hits Scotland; England may flood
LONDON, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Heavy snow and high winds in Scotland Friday forced schools to close and left drivers stranded on a major highway for 17 hours.
Rail service in the Highlands was disrupted by the blizzard, The Daily Telegraph reported.
About 45,000 homes were without power Thursday but electricity was restored to all but 5,000 by Friday morning.
The A9, the major road to the north, was closed in several places. Hundreds of people spent a frigid night on a 25-mile section of the highway in Perthshire, stuck for 17 hours overnight.
Operators at the Glencoe Mountain ski center in Scotland reported the resort had a heavier fall of new snow this week than any other ski resort worldwide.
South of the border in England, forecasters warned heavy rains predicted for the weekend could cause river flooding. Warnings were issued for two rivers in Northern England, but the weather service said flooding was likely to be worse in the south.
High tides combined with stormy weather put the east coast and some of the south coast of England at risk of coastal flooding, forecasters said.
Biden proposes new retirement-fund rules
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. Vice President Joe Biden Friday proposed revising 401(k) and IRA regulations to help ensure workers are protected from conflicts of interest.
Biden announced the Labor Department initiative as he discussed the first report of the White House Middle Class Task Force, which he oversees.
The new regulations are important in the administration's efforts to provide a secure retirement system for middle-class workers and their families, Biden said in a release. The regulations would protect workers from conflicts of interest and expand opportunities for employers to offer workers expert investment advice.
Under the proposed revisions, retirement investment advisers and money managers may provide financial advice if they don't get commissions for guiding workers into funds with which they are affiliated, or if their advice is based on a computer model that independent experts certified as unbiased.
"A secure retirement is essential to workers and the nation's economy," said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Labor Seth Harris, who attended the presentation. "These rules will strengthen America's private retirement system by ensuring workers get good, objective information."
The task force's report recapped the panel's work during the past year, examining the challenges facing the middle class and what President Barack Obama's administration is doing to address the issue.
"The goal of this task force has been clear from the start: to make sure the middle class emerges from this recession able to grow stronger and more secure than before it began," Biden said. "We've spent the past year traveling the country talking about the economic challenges facing the middle class. As a result, the initiatives we lay out in this report offer specific solutions to improve the quality-of-life for middle class families everywhere."
1.2M jobless could lose benefits Sunday
WASHINGTON, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- About 1.2 million of the jobless stand to lose unemployment benefits if the U.S. Senate fails to approve an extension by Sunday, officials say.
The House has already passed a 30-day extension, but Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., blocked Majority Leader Harry Reid's effort to bring the bill to a vote Thursday in the upper house, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported. Reid, D-Nev., called for the 30-day extension as a short-term measure to give Congress more time to work out legislation that would extend unemployment benefits by as much as a year.
The extension also affects COBRA, the program allowing laid-off workers to buy into their previous health insurance.
The National Employment Law Project predicted 5 million people could be without work and without unemployment benefits by June if nothing is done. While economists say the recession has bottomed out, job losses remain high and new jobs, few, with the Labor Department reporting 496,000 people filed new claims for unemployment last week, up 22,000 from the previous week.
"Long-term unemployment is unlikely to loosen its grip on our economy anytime soon," said Christine Owens, executive director of the National Employment Law Project.
Gov. Paterson ends election bid
ALBANY, N.Y., Feb. 26 (UPI) -- New York Gov. David Paterson, saying he was being "realistic," said Friday he would end his campaign for a full term as the state's chief executive.
Sometimes, he said during a news conference, it's important for public servants "not to strive for service but to step back. .... Today I'm announcing I am ending by campaign for governor for the state of New York."
Paterson, a Democrat, has been under fire recently for getting in touch with a woman who had accused one of his aides of domestic violence.
The latest controversy surrounding his administration wasn't the determining factor, Paterson said. Rather, "it's been an accumulation of obstacles."
"I'm being realistic," he said. "Up until the last few days, I was looking forward" to participating in the election.
Squelching speculation that he would step down, Paterson said he had 308 days left and "I will spend every one of them fighting for the people of the state of New York."
Also, he said he found it difficult to balance running a campaign and managing the state's business. Besides being hit by a series of scandals, Paterson has struggled with a recession that has hit New York hard.
Paterson said he looked forward to a full investigation of actions taken by himself or his office.
"I have never abused my office, not now, not ever," Paterson swore, raising his right hand. "When the facts are reviewed ... the truth will prevail."
The first black governor of New York, Paterson was lieutenant governor when he replaced Eliot Spitzer, who resigned in March 2008 after a federal investigation into his use of escort services became public.
"I hope that history will remember that I fought the good fight," Paterson said, "and put the people first."
State Attorney General Andrew Cuomo, son of former Gov. Mario Cuomo, is also a candidate for governor.
