The Latest on snowstorm: Red Cross calls for blood donors
(AP) – The Latest on the massive snowstorm that hit the East Coast. (all times local):
10:25 a.m.
The American Red Cross is declaring an emergency need for blood and platelet donors to boost a supply diminished in part by last weekend’s record-setting snowstorm in the eastern and southeastern United States.
The nonprofit said in a statement Tuesday that more than 300 Red Cross blood drives in 20 states were canceled by the storm.
The storm followed the November-December holiday season, when blood donations typically drop off because regular donors are busy with holiday activities and travel.
The Red Cross is encouraging people 17 and older who are in good health to give blood as soon as possible to help ensure that blood products are available for patients.
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10:25 a.m.
If you want to look at the snow blanketing the nation’s capital from atop the Washington Monument, you’ll get your chance starting at noon.
The National Park Service announced Wednesday that all the monuments and memorials on the National Mall will open at noon. Many, including the Washington Monument, had been closed since Friday.
The District of Columbia received nearly 2 feet of snow. Wednesday was the first day that federal offices reopened, albeit with a 3-hour delay.
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8 a.m.
Officials have postponed plans to close an 86-mile stretch of the Pennsylvania Turnpike because workers need more time to prepare to retrieve a tractor-trailer that went over an embankment during the weekend’s snow storm.
Instead of closing Wednesday, the westbound lanes will close for approximately three hours starting about 9 a.m. Thursday from Breezewood to New Stanton. Traffic will be detoured onto Interstates 70 and 68 to U.S. Route 119, where vehicles can re-enter the toll road at New Stanton.
Turnpike officials say the more than 100-mile detour is necessary because of the volume of traffic being re-routed.
The same eastbound stretch of turnpike had to be closed Sunday so crews could remove more than 500 snowbound vehicles from the westbound lanes.
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7:50 a.m.
In the Washington area, Metro says service is restored on all rail lines and all 91 stations, but service will be slightly modified.
Metro says trains will run every eight minutes on each line Wednesday. Usually during rush hour, trains run every six minutes. In the downtown core of the system, trains will serve stations about every four minutes.
Rush Plus yellow line service between Franconia-Springfield and Greenbelt is not operating Wednesday, but blue line trains will run every eight minutes to compensate.
Bus service will also still be restricted, although the number of routes in service will double from Tuesday.
Metro spokesman Dan Stessel says ridership was down by roughly 60 percent Tuesday from a normal weekday, largely because the federal government was closed. Metro expects lower-than-normal ridership on Wednesday, too.
