Cleanup begins after huge snow in Buffalo
Cleanup begins after huge snow in Buffalo
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Beth Bragg’s home was spared the worst of a lake-effect storm that buried parts of the Buffalo area under more than 7 feet of snow. But she was still out first-thing Saturday with her shovel — along with hundreds of other volunteers.
“I know that people really need to get shoveled out, especially some of the older folks, so I’m just doing my part to help out,” said the bank manager and “shovel brigade” member.
The weekend offered the region a chance to dig out before a flood watch was to take effect because of rising temperatures and rain. And Buffalo was living up to its nickname, “The City of Good Neighbors.”
“They’re like angels,” said Kevin Masterson, 61, after a handful of volunteers swarmed in to free his and his brother-in-law’s cars from the drifts. “I was out shoveling and … all of the sudden I had all these people.”
One of the volunteers, Greg Schreiber, said he’d keep gong “until the back gives out.”
Seneca Street in south Buffalo was jammed with dump trucks, military vehicles and front loaders rumbling through the streets as they hauled away the canyon walls of snow.
“It’s just a war zone here,” said Eric Ginsburg, standing outside of his store, Ginzy’s. “All the military here, the police. It’s just crazy. Most snow I’ve ever seen.”
With roughly the equivalent of six inches of rain tied up in the snowpack, the National Weather Service issued a flood watch for 1 p.m. today through 7 a.m. Wednesday. Temperatures were expected to be near 50 degrees on Sunday and near 60 on Monday.
Gambling nuke official tied to fake poker chips
WASHINGTON (AP) — The admiral fired last year as No. 2 commander of U.S. nuclear forces may have made his own counterfeit $500 poker chips with paint and stickers to feed a gambling habit that eventually saw him banned from an entire network of casinos, according to a criminal investigative report obtained by The Associated Press.
Although Rear Adm. Timothy M. Giardina’s removal as deputy head of U.S. Strategic Command was announced last year, evidence of his possible role in manufacturing the counterfeit chips has not previously been revealed. Investigators said they found his DNA on the underside of an adhesive sticker used to alter genuine $1 poker chips to make them look like $500 chips.
Nor had the Navy disclosed how extensively he gambled.
The case is among numerous embarrassing setbacks for the nuclear force. Disciplinary problems, security flaws, weak morale and leadership lapses documented by The Associated Press over the past two years prompted Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Nov. 14 to announce top-to-bottom changes in how the nuclear force is managed that will cost up to $10 billion.
The records obtained by the AP under the Freedom of Information Act show Giardina was a habitual poker player, spending a total of 1,096 hours — or an average of 15 hours per week — at the tables at the Horseshoe casino in Council Bluffs, Iowa, in the 18 months before being caught using three phony chips in June 2013.