Storm dumps snow, freezing rain on wide swath of South; NEWS BRIEFING; Staff and news services; Pence aid declines Trump’s offer to be his chief of staff; N.C. voting rights activist dies at 97; fought Jim Crow laws; British man poisoned by nerve agent fears he’ll die in 10 years; Dozens turn out for funeral of Baby Jane Doe; Polish leader, Jews light menorah at Warsaw palace

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - A massive storm brought snow, sleet, and freezing rain across a wide swath of the South on Sunday - causing dangerously icy roads, immobilizing snowfalls and power losses to hundreds of thousands of people. Snow also fell in southern Maryland.

Accidents on snow-covered interstates caused major delays, hundreds of flights were canceled and drivers in North Carolina and Virginia got stuck in snow or lost control on icy patches. Meanwhile, kids and the young at heart took advantage of the early winter snow with snowball fights, sledding and snowmen. Police in North Carolina and Virginia said they'd responded to hundreds of snow-related traffic accidents as of Sunday afternoon, as cars, trucks and tractor-trailers struggled with the snow and ice.

North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper strongly urged residents to stay off the roads Sunday, asking drivers not to put lives of first responders needlessly at risk. Cooper said emergency crews, including the National Guard, worked overnight to clear traffic accidents on major roadways.

A dive team searched the Neuse River in Kinston, N.C., for a missing truck driver Sunday after a tractor-trailer ran off a road and into the river.

Governors and local officials in several states declared emergencies ahead of the storm crossing several Southern states, which hit portions of North Carolina and Virginia particularly hard.

The National Weather Service said a "prolonged period of snow" began late Saturday and would last until Monday in the region.

More than 300,000 power outages were reported across the region. Parts of Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Virginia also saw outages.

Pence aid declines Trump's offer to be his chief of staff

WASHINGTON - President Donald Trump's top pick to be his next chief of staff, Nick Ayers, will not take the job and instead leave the White House at the end of the year.

Four other candidates are now believed to be in the running to direct Trump's White House, administration officials said Sunday. Ayers, a longtime operative who is currently Vice President Mike Pence's chief of staff, said in a tweet that after departing he "will work with the #MAGA team to advance the cause."

Trump's new list of potential chiefs includes Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney and Rep. Mark Meadows, R-N.C., a leader of the House Freedom Caucus, a White House official said.

Sources said Ayers would work with the super PAC set up to assist the president's re-election.

N.C. voting rights activist dies at 97; fought Jim Crow laws

LOUISBURG, N.C. - African-American North Carolina voting rights activist Rosanell Eaton has died at age 97.

Eaton's daughter, Armenta Eaton, says her mother died Saturday at home in Louisburg.

Rosanell Eaton was a poll worker or precinct judge for decades who registered to vote as a young woman in rural Franklin County despite Jim Crow restrictions.

Her daughter says white men told her she had to recite the preamble to the U.S. Constitution before she could register to vote, which she did from memory.

In her 90s, Rosanell was a lead plaintiff in a lawsuit successfully challenging voting restrictions supported by North Carolina Republicans.

Eaton was honored at the White House by President Obama in 2016.

British man poisoned by nerve agent fears he'll die in 10 years

LONDON - A British man who was exposed to the deadly nerve agent Novichok says he is struggling with his eyesight and mobility, and fears the poison will kill him within a decade.

Charlie Rowley, 45, fell ill in June near Salisbury, England, after coming into contact with the nerve agent that was used months earlier to attack former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter. Rowley, Skripal and his daughter survived, but Rowley's partner Dawn Sturgess, who was also exposed, died in the hospital.

Rowley told the Sunday Mirror newspaper that he was back in the hospital for treatment because he was going blind and unable to use one arm. He added: "I'm still worried the Novichok could kill me if I get any sort of virus again."

Dozens turn out for funeral of Baby Jane Doe

CORONA, Calif. - Dozens of people bearing flowers or stuffed animals attended a funeral for a newborn girl found dead last summer along a Southern California highway.

Authorities in Riverside County continue to investigate the death of the baby whose identity remains a mystery.

The service on Thursday was organized in part by police officers and firefighters, the Press-Enterprise reported.

Jon Castillo, a Corona police chaplain, led about 70 people in prayer near the tiny, flower-draped casket.

The girl known as "Baby Jane Doe" was discovered on July 27 in a cardboard box near Interstate 15 in Corona, about 50 miles southeast of Los Angeles. She was wrapped in a t-shirt.

Officials said detectives are asking for the public's help

Polish leader, Jews light menorah at Warsaw palace

WARSAW, Poland - Polish President Andrzej Duda and Jewish community members have lit a menorah at the Presidential Palace to jointly mark Hanukkah.

A part of democratic Poland's tradition is highlighting the long history and role of the Jewish nation in Poland. Hanukkah candles are lit each year at the palace in Warsaw.

Duda, former Israeli ambassador to Poland, Shevah Weiss, along with the leaders and young members of Warsaw's Jewish community lit the marble-and-crystal menorah.

Accompanied by first lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, the president told the gathering of a few dozen people that he was happy at the joint meeting of a "community of people who jointly build up the Polish society, who want to be together."

In Mexico: Mexico's Human Rights Commission is calling on the state of Veracruz to improve security after masked gunmen killed a Guatemalan migrant and injured three others. Reports said one of the injured is a 3-year-old boy and the group was traveling to the U.S. in a truck used to haul livestock.

In Yemen: A leader of Yemen's Houthi rebels has called for an investigation after the AP found evidence of torture in Houthi-run lockups. Thousands have been held. An AP investigation found some detainees were scorched with acid, forced to hang from their wrists or had their faces smashed with batons.

Caption: A Duke Energy lineman uses a bucket truck Sunday to approach a transformer in Durham, N.C. Power is out in many areas after a late fall snowstorm hit North Carolina.

Chuck Liddy/The News & Observer