News Wrap: Winter storm piling up snow in Sierra Nevada range

Amna Nawaz:

Also today, a major winter storm is piling up snow in the mountains of Northern California and hitting much of the rest of the state with heavy rain and strong winds. In the Sierra Nevada, nearly a foot of snow had fallen by this morning, and forecasters say there is plenty more on the way.

Much of California is under winter storm warnings through Wednesday, and in those upper elevations, forecasters expect up to eight feet of snow.

In the meantime, residents in the center of the country are facing a very different problem, with fire warnings due to higher-than-expected temperatures, gusty winds, and dry conditions.

In Georgia, a trial is under way for a man whose teenage son allegedly killed four people in a school shooting in 2024. It's the latest instance of officials trying to hold parents accountable for the actions of their children. During opening statements today, prosecutors said Colin Gray knew his son, then 14 years old, had an obsession with school shooters and suffered from deteriorating mental health.

Brad Smith, Barrow County, Georgia, District Attorney:

This case is about this defendant and his actions, his actions in allowing a child that he has custody over access to a firearm and ammunition after being warned that that child was going to harm others.

Amna Nawaz:

Despite the warning signs, prosecutors say the elder Gray still gifted his son a gun for Christmas. He's pleaded not guilty to 29 counts, including second-degree murder and cruelty to children. Two students and two teachers were killed in the shooting at Apalachee High School in September of 2024.

Ukrainian and Russian officials are gathering in Geneva this week for the latest U.S.-brokered talks aimed at ending the war. The Kremlin said today that the negotiations will involve what it called the main issues, such as the delicate question of how much territory it wants Ukraine to give up.

Meanwhile, in Kyiv today...

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT):

Mr. President, good to see you. Thank you.

Amna Nawaz:

... Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed two Democratic U.S. senators and thanked them for Washington's support in the talks. This comes as the attacks from both sides continue.

This weekend, Russian strikes in Ukraine's Odesa region killed at least one person, with both Ukraine and Russia reporting further military attacks today.

Meanwhile, supporters of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny have been marking two years since his death in an Arctic penal colony. In Moscow, mourners laid flowers at his grave, as representatives from several European embassies paid their respects. The tributes come just days after five European nations released a joint statement saying that Navalny was poisoned with a rare toxin linked to poisoned dart frogs.

Navalny's mother, Lyudmila Navalnaya, says it proves he was murdered and called for accountability.

Lyudmila Navalnaya, Mother of Alexei Navalny (through interpreter): Two years have passed and we already know what he was poisoned with. Of course, we want justice to prevail and for us to know all of their names.

Amna Nawaz:

The Kremlin denied the latest poisoning allegations, calling them -- quote -- "biased and unfounded."

And the world of cinema has lost two giants. We start with documentary filmmaker and producer Frederick Wiseman.

In his directorial debut, "Titicut Follies," in 1967, Wiseman took an unsparing look at conditions inside a mental hospital in Massachusetts. The title comes from the variety show put on by inmates. The film was banned for years, but eventually aired on PBS in the early 1990s once that ban was lifted.

Wiseman went on to create dozens of films over a nearly six-decade career that explored and sometimes exposed America's social and cultural institutions. He worked well into his 90s, and in 2016 he received an honorary Academy Award. His family announced his passing through Zipporah Films, the distribution company he founded in 1971. Frederick Wiseman was 96 years old.