This year's first winter storm is being blamed for nine deaths in the Midwest and Northeast, including a 71-year-old woman with Alzheimer's who wandered away from home in upstate New York. The blizzard hit the northeastern U.S. on Thursday and walloped Chicago earlier in the week. By Friday morning, nearly two feet of snow fell in Massachusetts, and a state of emergency was declared in New York and New Jersey. Freezing and dangerous temperatures are set to hit Friday, with wind chills in many places set to go double digits below zero. The snowstorm is the first major test for new New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who was sworn in on Wednesday—and quickly had to take the unusual step of canceling school (much to the delight of his teenage son, Dante, who allegedly told friends he was trying to convince his dad to close school).
