Boston 5.7 inches shy of snowfall record
BOSTON — After cold and snow that set February records, southern New England is entering March with another round that could push Boston over its 20-year-old snowfall record.
With 102 inches, Boston needs 5.7 more to break the 1995-1996 record of 107.6.
Snowfall of 4 to 6 inches was expected by early today across the area, with up to 8 inches in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. Less is expected in northern Massachusetts and New York state, and on Cape Cod.
“We have come this far; we might as well break the record,” said William Babcock, National Weather Service meteorologist from the office in Taunton, Mass. “We have a couple of storms to push us over the record. Once that is done we won’t complain if we don’t get any more snow.”
Since it’s early March, “we still have plenty of time,” he said.
The snow Sunday night into this morning was predicted to be wetter than those earlier in the season, continuing the concern about potential roof collapses. “If you have flat roofs, it is certainly going to add to the weight,” Babcock said.
Elsewhere, heavy snow is expected in the central Rockies and Great Basin, and heavy rain in parts of the Southwest. Snow was falling from the Ohio Valley into the Northeast, with freezing rain in the Mid-Atlantic.
Funerals to start for shooting victims
TYRONE, Mo. — Relatives will begin burying victims of a southern Missouri shooting rampage this week.
Thirty-six-year-old Joseph Jesse Aldridge killed seven people late Thursday in four homes in the unincorporated town of Tyrone before killing himself.
Elliott-Gentry Funeral Home said services are planned for Thursday morning at the First General Baptist Church in Willow Springs for 52-year-old Garold Dee Aldridge, 47-year-old Julie Ann Aldridge, 50-year-old Harold Wayne Aldridge and 48-year-old Janell Arlisa Aldridge.
Arrangements are pending for 68-year-old Darrell Dean Shriver, 46-year-old Carey Dean Shriver and 44-year-old Valirea Love Shriver while a wounded relative recovers.
Bradford Funeral Home owner Doyle Bradford said relatives are planning a private service for Joseph Aldridge and his 74-year-old mother, Alice. She was reported to have died of natural causes and was found in a home she shared with her son.
Astronauts complete spacewalk work
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Spacewalking astronauts successfully completed a three-day cable job outside the International Space Station on Sunday, routing several hundred feet of power and data lines for new crew capsules commissioned by NASA.
It was the third spacewalk in just over a week for Americans Terry Virts and Butch Wilmore, and the quickest succession of spacewalks since NASA’s former shuttle days.
The advance work was needed for the manned spacecraft under development by Boeing and SpaceX. A pair of docking ports will fly up later this year, followed by the capsules themselves, with astronauts aboard, in 2017.
Virts and Wilmore installed two sets of antennas Sunday, as well as 400 feet of cable for this new communication system. They unreeled 364 feet of cable Feb. 21 and last Wednesday.
It was complicated, hand-intensive work, yet the astronauts managed to wrap up more than an hour early Sunday, for a 5½-hour spacewalk. Their three outings spanned 19 hours.
To save money and stop being so reliant on the Russian Space Agency, NASA has hired Boeing and SpaceX to develop spacecraft capable of transporting astronauts to the space station. The two contracts are worth nearly $7 billion. SpaceX already is delivering cargo under a separate agreement with NASA.
Walker changes his mind on amnesty
WASHINGTON — Gov. Scott Walker once envisioned a world where the 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally could embark on a path to citizenship.
But now the Wisconsin Republican calls that position “amnesty” and says his view has changed.
“I don’t believe in amnesty,” Walker told Fox News Sunday. ”My view has changed. I’m flat out saying it. Candidates can say that.”
Walker said the U.S. needs to secure the border and ultimately put in place “a legal immigration system that works.”
That means, in part, putting the onus on employers and getting them the tools to do that, Walker said.
In 2013, Walker told the Wausau, Wis., Daily Herald newspaper that “it makes sense” when he was asked whether he could see a world where “those people” could get citizenship, with the right penalties, waiting periods and requirements in place.
At the time, he supported a bipartisan approach to overhauling immigration, with people waiting to get citizenship having priority and others having a legal pathway to live here legally.
— COMPILED BY DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE STAFF FROM WIRE REPORTS