Associated Press Headline News

NYC, NEW ENGLAND BRACE FOR UP TO 3 FEET OF SNOW

BOSTON (AP) -- Snow was falling around the Northeast on Friday, ushering in what's predicted to be a massive, possibly historic blizzard, and sending residents scurrying to stock up on food and gas up their cars ahead of the storm poised to dump up to 3 feet of snow from New York City to Boston and beyond.

Even before the first snowflake had fallen, Boston, Providence, R.I., Hartford, Conn., and other towns and cities in New England and upstate New York towns canceled school Friday, and airlines scratched more than 3,700 flights through Saturday, with the disruptions from the blizzard certain to ripple across the U.S.

"This one doesn't come along every day. This is going to be a dangerous winter storm," said Alan Dunham, meteorologist for the National Weather Service in Taunton, Mass. "Wherever you need to get to, get there by Friday afternoon and don't plan on leaving."

The heaviest snowfall was expected Friday night and into Saturday. Wind gusts could reach 75 mph.

HUNT FOR EX-COP GOES ON AMID CALIF. SNOWSTORM

BIG BEAR LAKE, Calif. (AP) -- A Los Angeles police official says investigators are keeping all options open in the manhunt for the former LAPD officer suspected of three murders.

Searchers are combing a snowy mountain east of Los Angeles where Christopher Dorner's truck was found Thursday, but Deputy Chief Kirk Albanese says it's not known if he's on foot either on or off the mountain.

Albanese says a package sent by Dorner to CNN's Anderson Cooper is being reviewed by the LAPD, and that another media source may have been similarly contacted.

The LAPD fired Dorner in 2008. Albanese says it's not known why the violence is occurring now.

HACKER GAINS ACCESS TO BUSH FAMILY EMAILS, PHOTOS

HOUSTON (AP) -- A hacker apparently accessed private photos and emails sent between members of the Bush family, including both former presidents, and the Secret Service is investigating.

The Smoking Gun website said the hacker, who went by the online moniker "Guccifer," gained access to emails, photos, private telephone numbers and addresses of Bush family members and friends.

The website displayed photos it said came from the hacker, including one that purported to show the elder Bush during his recent stay in a Houston hospital, where the 88-year-old spent almost two months being treated for complications from a bronchial infection.

The authenticity of the photos and other details on the website could not immediately be confirmed. A spokesman for former President George H.W. Bush declined to comment on the reports.

9 THINGS APPLE COULD DO WITH $137B

Apple Inc. came under attack Thursday from an influential investor for its practice of stockpiling cash. Its hoard totaled $137 billion at the end of last year, and it keeps growing.

The money belongs to shareholders, so Apple is limited in what it can legally do with it. Leaving legality aside, here are some things Apple could do with $137 billion:

-Give every American a check for $437.

-Buy 213 million iPhones at the average wholesale price, enough for every American who lives east of the Mississippi River, plus Texas.

-Based on market value at Thursday's close, Apple could acquire Facebook, Groupon, LinkedIn, Netflix, Pandora, Research In Motion (Blackberry), Yahoo, Yelp, Zillow and Zynga -and have more than $2 billion left to spare.

-Create a stack of dollar bills 9,300 miles high, 38 times higher than the orbit of the International Space Station.

-Buy 100,000 luxury Manhattan apartments, enough to house the population of Omaha.

-Foot the bill for U.S. federal spending on education for two years.

-Give every Apple employee a bonus of $1.7 million.

-Double U.S. foreign economic aid to the developing world for three and half years.

-Provide shareholders with a one-time dividend of $145 per share. (The stock closed Thursday at $456.95)