>> i think this is a test run for the entire country. >> and dianne gallagher is with us now.e, thank you for that report, and tell us what happened with this board of elections meeting tonight. sounds like it got pretty heated and came to an abrupt end. >> yes, brianna, so this was supposed to be the meeting where they voted on this consolidation proposal. a lot of members of the community over the past couple of weeks, because of that petition, people going around and also because of local news coverage, are now familiar with the plan, and they showed up to the meeting to voice their frustrations. they ended up tabling that because of the petition that was delivered by reverend freeman and the other activists. but the community still wanted to speak out about it. this was not a public hearing, the board kept trying to say that, the people kept speaking anyway. they got a few of their comments in, the board started talking back, and people yelled suggestions and ideas at them and they abruptly ended the meeting, saying they would have another meeting that the public could att

we go first to cnn's dianne gallagher who is in charlotte, north carolina. dianne, i know north carolina is seeing some ice. walk us through the situation there right now. >> reporter: jessica, in the mountain area there's some snow, but for the most part in north carolina it's a tale of freezing rain, sleet and that ice on the ground, and that's what makes this so potentially dangerous for the people who live here. talking about the roads at this point. we're seeing a few cars out right now. we want to show you some live footage of our drone that's how the on the highways here on the outside of charlotte, north carolina, in the uptown area, and they have gone through and plowed some of these streets. that's something that the governor has warped is not something that happen quickly across the states saying they are down manpower due to staffing issues. it may take longer to get to the roads to clear them. that's why they are asking people to basically stay off the roads until this system passes. >> for today, the best way to avoid a car accident or getting s

cnn's dianne gallagher is in charlotte, north carolina. polo sandoval is live from pittsburgh. we begin with polo. it's a tough mix, right, because you have the snow, it melts, turns to ice. tell us what the conditions are like this morning. >> reporter: and the good thing, jim, is that people are mostly heeding those warnings by officials to simply stay home, especially with a holiday, no school, but you see folks driving out and about. you see cars get stuck, people trekking through snow. you have millions of americans affected by this storm right now throughout the northeast, parts of the south, which you'll hear about in just a moment. there is a unique set of si circumstances and challenge for the city of pittsburgh. they were expected to deliver 17 trucks to assist with snow removal operations. their current fleet is aging according to city officials and it's really making them struggle to keep up with snow removal operations. because of supply chain woes due to covid, those trucks weren't delivered. that's basically left the city of pittsburgh fighting an uphill battle t

dianne gallagher in shrcharlotta major airline hub. how has that been affected? >> reporter: it's icy in north carolina, as it is across much of the country. we are looking at nearly 1,300 flights that have been canceled across the country today. believe it or not, that's an improvement from sunday where it was 3,000 flights. and the majority of that on sunday was out of charlotte-douglas international airport. 90% of the flights from that airport yesterday were canceled. today looking a little bit better with more than 400 flights canceled. the roadways also pretty treacherous across the state of north carolina. ice making it hard to drive and fly. officials asking everyone to stay home if you can. >> where is it all going now? jennifer gray in the weather center. where is this storm? >> reporter: well, john, this is making its way up the i-9 5 corridor, northeast, new england. you can see massive amounts of snow. snow across the appalachians and new england. 95 is the dividing line between the rain and the snow. most of the snow is well inland. just a cold mise

cnn's dianne gallagher has more details. >> reporter: reverend denise freeman is on a mission. >> howr to door. >> i didn't know you stayed here. >> reporter: gathering signatures from voters. >> have you signed the petition? >> reporter: in an effort to stop the new board of elections from replacing all seven of the county's voting precincts with just one voting center, the complex in lincolnton, for the entire rural county. >> this is a huge county. people live so far away. we don't have public transportation. we don't have access to lyft or uber or taxicab. we have nothing. >> reporter: just about 7700 people live in the east georgia county where donald trump won more than 68% of the vote in 2020. notices for public hearings went out last september, advertising a move to make voting, quote, easier and more accessible. >> well, we probably had about 15 to 20 people at each public hearing. >> reporter: election director bolton says the board pitched the reconciliation center as being big enough to support social distancing and voting equipment while also allowing the county to reduce

our national correspondent dianne gallagher is joining us from brunswick, georgia, right now.porter: whether these three men should get the opportunity to seek parole after serving 30 years. that's because georgia law requires a life sentence with these charges. now, they're going to have the opportunity if they wish to speak in their own defense. they're going to be able to -- their attorneys to call character witnesses, and the family of ahmaud arbery is expected to speak as well. wanda cooper jones, the mother of ahmaud arbery, of course, this is coming up on the two-year anniversary of his murder, she is going to speak and give that victim impact statement. she says she doesn't think that the judge should give them the opportunity to seek parole. >> ahmaud didn't get a chance to live. so with that being said, travis should not get a chance to live as a free man. travis should go to prison for life, without parole. and that being said, he should remain in prison forever. >> reporter: once the judge makes that determination on whether or not they should get the chance to see

dianne gallagher, it's the ice, the heavy snow wreaking travel havoc there this morning. what are you seeing? >> reporter: you mentioned travel havoc, jim, look, yesterday out of charlotte's international airport, 90% of the flights were canceled. a little bit better today with just over a third canceled but significant travel issues threw the carolinas. this is why. you see this slick ice on the ground, you can hear it, a little bit of snow on top but throughout the state, ice, freezing rain, sleet, fell all day on sunday. there was snow afterward and the western part of the state in the mountains they were completely dumped on with snow but that ice has caused traffic snarls all throughout the state. the roads here in charlotte the main thorough fares have been cleared off. we saw the plows out this morning, resalting the roads. the concern of course is a refreeze. they had more than 400 traffic collisions that they had to across the state respond to yesterday. they're asking people still to kind of stay off the roads especially those neighborhood roads, the secondary r

. >> let's go to our national correspondent dianne gallagher on the scene for us in brunswick, georgia, for us this morning. set the scene for us. what do we expect? >> reporter: well, wolf, as things get under way inside that courtroom here, we expect for it to be a day of hearing statements, both from the defense and from the state. wanda cooper jones, the mother of ahmaud arbery, is expected to speak. she's going to give that victim impact statement to the court. we think we'll be hearing from ahmaud arbery's father today. the defendants will have the opportunity to speak as well. whether they choose to do that is yet to be seen as their attorneys present whatever evidence they choose to, and arguments to the judge who has to determine whether or not these three men should get the opportunity to seek parole at 30 years. there is a required life sentence with these charges, wolf. the attorney for one of these men, william "roddie" bryan, says that he has already filed motions and believes that the judge will have mercy in his words on his client. >> the evidence is clear he neither k

let's bring in cnn's dianne gallagher, outside the courthouse, with me, criminal defense attorney, paige pate, first, your reaction to the sentences. >> i'm not surprised by the ultimate sentence. i have appeared in front of judge wamsley before, and i think he handled this entire tri st trial, including the sentencing hearing. it was important to the court, and the jury, the absolute lack of remorse from these defendants with the possible exception of william bryan, not just in court when we heard the testimony of travis mcmichael but right after the incident happened. they turned their backs on ahmaud arbery like he was an animal in the street, and i think ultimately that's what led the judge to impose these sentences, life without the possibility of parole for the two mcmichaels. >> and page, the use of silence here in this sentencing where judge wamsley said that he was going to be silent for a minute, chchs just a fifth, he said, of the time that ahmaud arbery was being chased in that satilla shores neighborhood, your thought on that use. >> victor, trial lawyers love to do that, i

cnn's dianne gallagher is live outside the courthouse in georgia, with this breaking news as this is unfolding before us. what has happened in courts so far? what are we looking at? >> reporter: so, kate, so far what we basically heard from is the attorney of one of the defendants, william "roddie" bryan, offering motions, attempting to get the motions accepted by the judge before the hearing for the sentencing could actually begin. the judge denied the motions and we have just in the past couple of minutes moved on to the state presenting its case, if you will. whatever new evidence it may want to present, and to determine -- explain why they believe that the sentence is applicable and really here in the situation, what is important to know is that life in prison is the sentence that goes with the charges, these three men were convicted of. what is in question today, what the judge will decide, is whether or not any of these three men will have the opportunity to seek parole after 30 years. and that would then be up to a parole board at that time. so the argument that we are expecti