By JAKE OFFENHARTZ

NEW YORK (AP) — Millions across the northeastern United States on Tuesday contended with treks to school and work as they dug out from a major — and in some areas record-breaking — storm that blanketed the region with snow, canceled flights, disrupted transit and downed power lines.

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Even as the snow moved north Tuesday, giving way to sunshine in parts of the region, the National Weather Service warned another storm originating in the Great Lakes was right around the corner, though it’s not forecast to be nearly as severe.

Many large school districts remained closed, including in Boston and Hartford, Connecticut. But in New York City, more than 900,000 students in the nation’s largest public school system had a regular day, Mayor Zohran Mamdani declared, inviting kids to pelt him with snowballs over his decision.

Many students and their caregivers seemed open to taking the mayor up on that idea, as they scrambled over mountainous snow banks and dodged salt spreaders during the morning drop-off.

“We’re walking on thin ice here. One more day would’ve been fine,” said Danielle Obloj, the parent of a Brooklyn fifth grader. “They should never have let these kids come back to school.”

Others hailed the city’s efforts at snow-clearing.

“It was much better than last time — an easy commute, no problems whatsoever,” said Raul Garcia, as he exited a cab with his three school-age children. “We thought it was going to be really bad walking, but looking at the streets, they’re so clean.”

Philadelphia switched to online learning Monday and Tuesday, while districts on Long Island and elsewhere in the New York suburbs canceled school again Tuesday.

Roads are reopening and mass transit is coming back online

Monday’s storm that meteorologists are calling the strongest in a decade dumped more than 2 feet (0.6 meters) of snow in parts of the Northeast. More than 3 feet (0.9 meters) fell in Rhode Island — surpassing snow totals from the historic Blizzard of 1978 that struck the Northeast, the National Weather Service said.

By Tuesday morning, roads began to reopen, mass transportation was coming back online in some cities and power had returned for some of the hundreds of thousands who had lost electricity in Massachusetts, New Jersey, Delaware and Rhode Island.

Amtrak canceled some trains between Boston and New York and between New York and Philadelphia on Tuesday morning.

But other railroads were open, including New Jersey Transit, and the Long Island Railroad “unleashed” a snow-clearing train car known as “Darth Vader” to clear snow drifts.

Another storm is on the way

The weather service said it’s tracking another storm that could bring snow to the Great Lakes on Tuesday before pushing into the Northeast on Wednesday. The clipper storm brings the prospect of a combination of rain and up to a couple of inches of snow.

The new storm is not expected to be as strong, but even a few extra inches of snow on top of hard-hit areas could make cleanup more difficult, said Frank Pereira, meteorologist for the weather service in College Park, Maryland.

Canceled flights and a snowball fight

The weather service referred to Monday’s storm as a “classic bomb cyclone/nor’easter off the Northeast coast.” A bomb cyclone happens when a storm’s pressure falls by a certain amount within a 24-hour period.

Roughly 2,200 flights in and out of the U.S. were canceled Tuesday, according to the flight tracking website FlightAware. Most of the cancellations involved airports in New York, New Jersey and Boston.

Rhode Island’s T.F. Green International Airport paused its airport operations Monday as it dealt with nearly 38 inches (97 centimeters) of snow, according to the Weather Service, breaking a record of 28.6 inches (72.6 centimeters) set in 1978. The pause was expected to continue through Tuesday afternoon as the airport assessed conditions.

Along with the disruptions, the storm led to the creation of armies of snowmen and other sculptures as well as snowball fights.

A massivesnowball fight e rupted Monday in New York City’s Washington Square Park, but video showed two outnumbered police officers being pelted by snowballs. City police commissioner Jessica Tisch called the behavior “disgraceful” and “criminal.”

Storm strands juror as sex trafficking trial resumes

Storm-related travel disruptions even impacted the resumption of a high-profile criminal case in Manhattan federal court.

A juror in the sex trafficking trial of wealthy brothers Alon, Oren and Tal Alexander was “trapped in Miami” and wasn’t scheduled for a return flight until Friday, Juge Valerie Caproni said Tuesday.

The judge eventually dismissed the stranded juror from the case, leaving just one alternate. The trial wasn’t held last week to accommodate jurors whose children were on a school break.

“I am loath to lose another juror, but I am also loath to lose another week of trial,” Caproni said.

Associated Press writers Mike Catalini in Morrisville, Pennsylvania; Michael R. Sisak in New York; Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire; Audrey McAvoy in Honolulu; and Hallie Golden in Seattle contributed.

By SYLVIA HUI

LONDON (AP) — The former Prince Andrew and Peter Mandelson, the U.K.’s former ambassador to Washington, were arrested within days of each other for their ties to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and both are under investigation for the same offense: misconduct in public office.

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Neither of them has been charged, yet, but their high-profile arrests have shone a spotlight on an ancient law that experts say is ill-defined, too broad and direly in need of reform.

Police have not disclosed details of how they questioned Mountbatten-Windsor and Mandelson. But documents recently released by the U.S. government suggest both of them were close to Epstein and may have leaked sensitive information to him.

The trove of files suggest the former prince, now known as Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, passed confidential trade reports, among other documents, to Epstein when he was serving as the U.K.’s trade envoy from 2001 to 2011.

In the case of Mandelson, the documents suggest the veteran Labour Party politician may have shared an internal government report with Epstein and told the financier that he would lobby for a cut on tax on bankers’ bonuses when he held the title of Business Secretary around 15 years ago.

Both men previously denied wrongdoing and have not commented on the most recent allegations.

A difficult offense to prove

The Crown Prosecution Service — which conducts criminal investigations in England and Wales — defines misconduct in public office as “serious willful abuse or neglect of the power or responsibilities of the public office held.” There must be a direct link between the misconduct and an abuse of those responsibilities, it said.

The offense carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Prosecutors must investigate all the evidence gathered on the men to consider if it is enough to prove misconduct in each case.

Experts say proving the offense, which can be traced back to medieval times, is notoriously difficult.

There is no simple definition of what constitutes a “public officer.” It may be particularly difficult to prove Mountbatten-Windsor was the holder of a public office when he was the U.K.’s special representative for international trade and investment — an unsalaried role with paid travel expenses.

Prosecutors must next establish if the suspects willfully neglected to perform their duties or willfully committed misconduct.

The neglect or misconduct must also be so serious that it amounts to an abuse of public trust.

Finally, the actions must be deemed to be “without reasonable excuse of justification,” according to the prosecution service.

‘The law is in need of reform’

The Law Commission, an independent legal body that makes reform recommendations to the government, says the wording of the offense is unhelpfully vague. The commission has called for years for it to be repealed and replaced by more specific offenses.

“The law is in need of reform, in order to ensure that public officials are appropriately held to account for misconduct committed in connection with their official duties,” the Law Commission said on its website.

Another of the commission’s concerns is that most prosecutions of the offense have been directed at low- to midranking officials and staff such as police and prison officers, rather than senior managers or politicians.

Both Mountbatten-Windsor and Mandelson were released after police questioning.

Marcus Johnstone, managing director of PCD Solicitors, a law firm that is not involved in the cases, said the bar is “extremely high” to reach a conviction, and that he does not expect to see any conviction against either man. He said if either was convicted, the sentences would probably be from one to 10 years in prison.

“It must be noted that cases involving government ministers or trade envoys charged with misconduct in public office are extremely rare, and there is no real guidance as to the expected sentence,” Johnstone said.

“Although an investigation is now taking place,” he added, “we are still a long way away from a potential prosecution.”

Oh, For Sleet’s Ske and Flurrious George are the two top voter-getters in the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s Name a Snowplow contest this year. The two garnered more than 18,800 votes in February.

A total of eight winners were picked and they feature names with puns as well as references to popular music and movies.

“We’re so thankful to the Minnesotans who have helped submit and select new and creative snowplow names for our agency,” said MnDOT Commissioner Nancy Daubenberger, in a statement. “Let’s remember it’s not just the plows, it’s also about the more than 1,600 Minnesota snowplow operators who keep us safe, and our roads cleared all winter long. Please slow down and give the operators of Sled Zepplin, The Life of a Snowgirl and all of Minnesota’s other snowplows plenty of space to clear roads safely every time it snows.”

The public was invited to submit names in December. MnDOT received more than 67,500 submissions which were narrowed down by agency staff to 30 finalists.

MnDOT now has 52 named snowplows which include Plowy McPlowFace, Betty Whiteout and Taylor Drift. The 2025 winner was Anthony Sledwards, likely in honor of Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards. 48 of the snowplows have been named through the contest, with four others named by MnDOT staff in acknowledgement of highways the state plows adjacent to tribal lands.

The top eight snowplow names, in order of amount of votes received and the districts their snowplow will serve are:

• Oh, For Sleet’s Sake – District 3 (Central Minnesota).

• Flurrious George – District 6 (Southeast Minnesota).

• Sled Zeppelin – District 2 (Northwest Minnesota).

• K Pop Blizzard Hunter – District 8 (Southwest Minnesota).

• Minne-Snow-ta – District 1 (Northeast Minnesota).

• Every Day I’m Shovelin’ – District 7 (South Central Minnesota).

• O Brother, Where Art Plow? – District 4 (West Central Minnesota).

• The Life of a Snowgirl – Metro (Twin Cities).

All 30 finalists for 2026 can be found at dot.state.mn.us/nameasnowplow.

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By JOHN HANNA and JUAN LOZANO

HOUSTON (AP) — U.S. Rep. Tony Gonzales of Texas faced growing calls Tuesday from fellow congressional Republicans to resign over a report of an alleged affair with a former staffer who later died after she set herself on fire.

Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky joined Reps. Lauren Boebert of Colorado, Anna Paulina Luna of Florida and Nancy Mace of South Carolina in demanding that Gonzales step down immediately. Mace also announced that she has introduced a resolution to force the House Ethics Commission to publicly release its reports and records of allegations of sexual harassment against members of Congress.

House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters that he would talk to Gonzales on Tuesday.

Johnson said Monday that the accusations against Gonzales “must be taken seriously,” but he added, “in every case like this, you have to allow the investigation to play out and all the facts to come out.”

“If the accusation of something is going to be the litmus for someone being able to continue to serve in the House, a lot of people would have to resign or be removed or expelled from Congress,” Johnson said.

Gonzales’ office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday. He said in a social media post last week that he was being blackmailed and then suggested in another post Sunday that he is the target of “coordinated political attacks.”

“During my six years in Congress not a single formal complaint has been levied against my office,” Gonzales said in the Sunday post on X. “IT WONT WORK.”

Gonzales is in a tough race in Texas’ Republican primary on March 3, with early voting underway for more than a week. His main opponent is Brandon Herrera, a gun manufacturer and gun rights influencer who calls himself “the AK Guy” on YouTube, where his channel has nearly 4.2 million subscribers. Gonzales narrowly defeated Herrera by fewer than 400 votes in a runoff in 2024.

President Donald Trump had endorsed Gonzales for reelection in December.

The San Antonio Express-News reported last week that it had obtained text messages in which the former staffer, Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, wrote to a colleague that she had an affair with the lawmaker.

The Associated Press has not independently obtained copies of the messages. An attorney for Adrian Aviles, Santos-Aviles’ husband, has said the husband found out about the affair before his wife’s death.

Regina Ann Santos-Aviles, 35, died in September 2025 after setting herself on fire in the backyard of her Uvalde home. The Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled her death as a suicide by self-immolation.

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“Where are the other men in the GOP?” Massie asked Tuesday in a post on X in calling for Gonzales to resign, adding that Trump should revoke his endorsement.

Gonzales, whose district stretches from San Antonio to El Paso and runs along the U.S.-Mexico border, has six children with his wife.

His allegation of blackmail is based on an email from the attorney for the staffer’s husband, Robert Barrera, discussing a possible lawsuit against the lawmaker and a potential settlement with a nondisclosure agreement. The email says that the maximum recoverable amount is $300,000.

Barrera has said he was not trying to blackmail Gonzales and called the accusation an attempt by the congressman to look like a political victim.

Hanna reported from Topeka, Kansas. Also contributing was Associated Press journalist Kevin Freking in Washington.