3. Blizzard's deadly aftermath
The winter storm that assaulted much of the country has left dozens dead, including at least 27 in Buffalo region of western New York. Weather authorities expected the snow to continue through much of Tuesday in Erie County, New York. While Buffalo and its surrounding area are used to rough wintry conditions, officials called this blizzard, with its four-plus feet of snow and arctic temperatures, “generational” and “one for the ages.” The storm came as many Americans set out to travel for the Christmas weekend, but the weather prompted the cancellation of several thousand flights (more on that below) and left many stuck without power.
4. Southwest slammed for cancellations
The U.S. Department of Transportation said it would look into Southwest Airlines’ large rate of flight cancellations as the country contends with the aftermath of a large, deadly blizzard. Southwest canceled 70% of its flights Monday and warned it was on pace to operate only a third of its schedule for several more days as it works to fix things. Southwest’s problems came as other airlines started to stabilize. “USDOT is concerned by Southwest Airlines’ disproportionate and unacceptable rate of cancellations and delays as well as the failure to properly support customers experiencing a cancellation or delay,” the Transportation Department said late Monday.
5. Mysterious firm pops up in FTX case
North Dimension, one of dozens of obscure firms within Sam Bankman-Fried’s collapsed crypto empire, is drawing more attention than it was probably intended to. According to an SEC filing last week, investors looking to trade on FTX were told to wire money to North Dimension in an alleged attempt to hide from customers that the money was actually going to an account controlled by Alameda Research, FTX’s sister firm. There’s more to it, though, and it’s weird. According to an NBC News investigation, North Dimension also had a now-defunct and possibly phony website that purported to sell electronics. It didn’t mention any connections to SBF’s businesses, but it did share a Berkeley, California, address with FTX US. Read more from NBC News.
— CNBC’s Mike Calia wrote this newsletter. Sarah Min, Evelyn Cheng and Leslie Josephs contributed.
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