holiday. freeze warnings still in effect in several states at this hour. blizzard conditions, at least 26 people have died in the actic blast, across eight state. in a hard-hit erie county, new york, roads remain impassable. still, a very dangerous situation. driving bans are still in place. this was the first time in buffalo fire history that they were unable to respond to calls. we want to remind everybody, there was a period hours straight in which we could not send out emergency service crews, because it was too dangerous. we will talk to that official in just a few minutes. plus, bitter-cold icing over the christmas celebrations in the midwest, east coast and southeast, even florida is feeling the chill, much of the state experiencing its coldest christmas since 1983. let s start in buffalo, new york. polo sandoval is braving is the cold temperatures there. merry christmas. reporter: merry christmas. it is in a recovery process right now, the sun finally came o
incoming republican congressman george santos now says he s ready to address mount ago questions about his life story, he ll do so later this week. this comes after news outlets found real discrepancies when it comes to his past. more now from cnn s jason gerald. look, as i always joke, i m jew-ish. reporter: republican congressman elect george santos would refer to himself as half jewish or a latino jew often telling his grandparents story. how he says they survived the holocaust as ukrainian jewish refugees. and converted to catholicism, changing the sir name to survive. here is how he explained it last month in an interview. i m very proud of my grandparent story. my grandfather fleeing ukraine, avoiding persecution, going to belgium and finding refuge there.
this morning there are more questions about incoming republican congressman george santos life story. genealogy records show his claim that his grandparents fled the holocaust are not true. it comes with him inflating his resume about where he went to school, worked, a nonprofit helping pets. jason carol has looked. reporter: throughout his campaign george santos would refer to himself as half jewish or a latino jew. telling his grandparents story how he says they survived the holocaust as ukrainian jewish refugees, and converting to catholicism. here s how he explained it last month. i m proud of my grandparents story. my grandfather fleeing ukraine,
of incoming republican congressman george santos and it is not where he said he went to school or where he said he worked. now there are real questions about whether or not his grandparents fled the holocaust as he s claimed. jason carroll has more. look, as i always joke, i m jewish. reporter: throughout his campaign, he referred to himself as half jewish or a latino je wef. telling his grandparents story how they survived the holocaust as ukrainian jewish refugees and converted to catholicism, changing their surname to survive. here is how he explained last month in an interview with the jewish news syndicate. my grandfather fleeing ukraine and fleeing stalin persecution and going to find refugee and married my grandmother and fleeing hitler,