New Jersey: Winter storm sweeps through Northeast

A fast-moving storm surprised much of the Northeast on Friday, dumping nearly 10 inches of snow that disrupted travel and closed hundreds of schools in at least four states.

The storm, which began Thursday night over Virginia and Maryland, intensified as it swept north into Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

Eight inches of snow fell in Manahawkin, N.J., where a tour bus crashed on the Garden State Parkway, killing two people. Authorities said they didn’t think the weather was a factor in the crash.

About 7 inches of snow fell on Washington, D.C., Philadelphia and Baltimore, causing regionwide airport and rail delays. In the New York area, more than 160 flights departing from LaGuardia Airport were canceled, while the Newark airport reported nearly 100 cancellations.

All of Philadelphia’s schools shut down. In Maryland, the snow caused 24 school districts to close.

Kentucky: Artificial-heart patient dies after 17 months

The longest-living recipient of a self-contained artificial heart died Friday after nearly 17 months with the plastic-and-titanium device pumping in his chest.

Tom Christerson was 71 and died at Jewish Hospital. He became the second recipient of the AbioCor artificial heart in a surgery Sept. 13, 2001. Two other recent recipients of the device remain alive.

When he received the device, Christerson was given little chance of surviving more than a month with his own failing heart.

“I didn’t have any idea it would last this long,” Christerson said in September as his one-year anniversary approached.

The artificial heart is powered by batteries. It has no wires or tubes sticking through the skin, a technological leap from earlier mechanical hearts that were attached to machinery outside the body.

A statement from the hospital said the cause of death was the “wearout of an internal membrane.”