Midday Roundup: East Coast digs out after record-busting blizzard

Winter’s weekend. Snowblowers are still busy up and down the eastern United States in the aftermath of the weekend blizzard. The storm dumped record amounts of snow and lashed the coastline with hurricane-force winds. At least 25 deaths, many of them the result of heart attacks while shoveling snow, are blamed on the storm. A busload of Catholic high-schoolers from Kentucky returning from Friday’s March for Life in Washington, D.C., was stuck on Interstate 76 for 14 hours Saturday. Chaperone Tina Edge said they made the best of it: “We prayed and we came together and we actually remained calm.” The students took in other stranded motorists to warm up in the bus and offered them extra food and water. The National Weather Service’s Jim Hayes said West Virginia’s panhandle got hit the worst. Shepherdstown, W.Va., recorded 40.5 inches of snow.New York City received 26.8 inches, Philadelphia got 22.4, and Washington, a city that’s usually paralyzed by even an inch of snow, is still digging out from about 18 inches.

A terrifying farewell. ISIS released a video Sunday with farewell messages from nine people who purportedly participated in the November terror attacks in Paris. Many of the terrorists in the video are pictured killing a prisoner after speaking into the camera. The video also appears to threaten the United Kingdom. It shows footage from the House of Commons during last year’s vote to join the international coalition against ISIS.

Texas chums. Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry said today he supports Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Perry’s endorsement comes as Cruz follows close behind Donald Trump in polls ahead of next week’s Iowa caucuses. Cruz reportedly campaigned hard for Perry’s favor, and Perry’s disdain for Trump could have played a role in his deciding to support his fellow Texan, whom he has criticized in the past according to Politico.

Jailbreak. Police are searching for three men who pulled off an elaborate escape from the Orange County, Calif., jail three days ago. Jonathan Tieu, 20, Bac Duong, 43, and Hossein Nayeri, 37, slipped through a hole in the wall and navigated through the jail’s plumbing system, the Los Angeles Times reported. They emerged on the roof and rappelled down four stories using bed sheets and spare cloth. The men are charged with violent crimes, including murder, and are presumed armed.

Super Bowl–bound. The National Football League held its conference championships Sunday, with the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos advancing to Super Bowl 50 on Feb. 7. The Panthers won decisively over the Arizona Cardinals 49-15 in the NFC title game, while the Broncos battled the powerhouse New England Patriots to win the AFC championship 20-18. The Broncos-Patriots game revived the rivalry between two of the NFL’s best-ever quarterbacks, New England’s Tom Brady and Denver’s Peyton Manning, who struggled this season with injuries. As the 39-year-old Manning prepares for his fourth Super Bowl appearance, sports commentators are drawing comparisons between him and Hall of Fame quarterback and current Denver general manager John Elway, who wrapped up his NFL career in the 1990s with back-to-back Super Bowl titles for the Broncos.

WORLD Radio’s Jim Henry contributed to this report.