Longtime ABC News Anchor and pioneering broadcast journalist Barbara Walters died at age 93, the network reported Friday evening.

Walters, who became the first female anchor on a network evening news program, later co-hosted newsmagazine shows and launched the long running program The View.

ABC broke into network program Friday evening to announce Walters passing.

The cause of death was not known.

Barbara Walters passed away peacefully in her home surrounded by loved ones. She lived her life with no regrets. She was a trailblazer not only for female journalists, but for all women, said publicist Cindi Berger in a statement.

Generations of viewers came to know Barbara Walters as a legendary journalist breaking barriers in the news industry on the anchor desk and starting national conversations through her network specials and one-on-one interviews with newsmakers.

Then a new generation of viewers came to know Walters after launching The View on ABC, a successful program she appeared on until 2014 but remained as an executive producer.

Walters made history as the first female co-anchor of ABC's evening newscast in October of 1976.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

At least 50 people were evacuated and two firefighters were hurt after a 5-alarm fire tore through an apartment building in Philadelphia.

The fire broke out early Monday morning in the Overbrook section of the city. More than 100 firefighters battled the blaze and it took hours for crews to bring it under control. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

The Philadelphia Fire Department tweeted at 6 a.m. that the blaze was under control and they would continue to put out hot spots.

The fire at 63rd & Jefferson is under control, but firefighters will be here for a while continuing to put out hot spots. pic.twitter.com/ewxSOqyjqF

The brunt of the storm may have passed, but North Carolina residents still face perilous conditions after record-setting snow walloped the state.

"With a mix of snow, ice and rain still coming down in some areas, conditions remain treacherous in many parts of our state," Gov. Roy Cooper said Monday.

The storm, which pummeled the Southeast over the weekend, killed at least one person in North Carolina and grounded thousands of flights in the region, including more than 500 flights on Monday.

PHOTOS: As southeastern winter storm fades, canceled flights and icy roads remain

About 144,000 North Carolina households are still without power Monday morning, the governor said.

In South Carolina, emergency officials said more than 56,000 power customers are without electricity Monday.

With frigid conditions and widespread power outages, Cooper asked residents to check on vulnerable loved ones and the elderly, if possible. He said 15 emergency shelters have opened across North Carolina.

About 3,000 flights were canceled over the weekend due to the storm, but more travel misery is expected, CNN meteorologist Chad Myers said.

Many of the flights were canceled at North Carolina's Charlotte Douglas International Airport and Raleigh-Durham International Airport, as well as Richmond International Airport in Virginia.

"If you are flying today, even if you're flying out of Tampa, your plane may be stuck in Raleigh, so this is going to be a dreadful day to fly," Myers said Monday.

Up to 24 inches of snow covered parts of the Appalachian Mountains region over the weekend, CNN meteorologist Pedram Javaheri said.

Cooper said while the worst of the storm has passed North Carolina, "we need to stay vigilant. We're not out of the woods yet."

"This storm dropped staggering amounts of snow, ice and rain across our state," the governor said. "A year's worth of snowfall or more fell on some places in a little more than a day."

Javaheri said snow showers could remain until mid-afternoon Monday.

And with temperatures dropping below freezing overnight into Tuesday, the threat of icy roads will linger. North Carolina State Highway Patrol warned that even after streets are treated, they can freeze over again.

"Watch out for deadly black ice, especially tonight and tomorrow morning," Cooper said.

A terminally ill woman on hospice care died when the oxygen concentrator in her Haywood County home stopped working after a power outage, the governor's office said.

In the Charlotte suburb of Matthews, a tree fell on a vehicle, causing the car to careen and crash into a church, police said. The driver died, and the passenger was taken to a hospital with minor injuries.

In total, 672 crashes were reported during the storm, North Carolina State Highway Patrol said.

The Durham County Sheriff's Office tweeted a photo of a damaged patrol car, warning drivers should be prepared for hidden dangers.

"Another example of the unpredictable happening while driving in #winterweather," the department tweeted. "A chunk of ice fell from an overpass and cracked a deputy's windshield. Thankfully he was ok. If you can't stay home, stay alert. #ncwx #DurhamWeather," the tweet read.

State highway patrol said anyone who must drive should leave twice as much following space as normal behind the next car, in case that vehicle loses control.

Virginia was also bombarded with snow, and a winter storm warning remains in effect for most of the state until to 2 p.m. ET Monday, CNN meteorologist Gene Norman said.

Over the weekend, the Richmond area got about 9 inches of snow, said the National Weather Service in Wakefield, Virginia. Areas south of Richmond got 6 to 8 inches of snow, Norman said.

Like its neighboring states to the south, Virginia also suffered thousands of power outages and dozens of vehicle crashes.

As of Monday morning, at least 33,000 customers had no electricity, Dominion Energy Virginia said.

And just like in North Carolina, roads are still dangerous in Virginia.

Virginia State Police reported 1,177 crashes since Sunday morning and asked residents to stay off the roads Monday.

State police said it's important to keep streets clear so Department of Transportation workers can access roads.

It has been more than two weeks since the Camp Fire devastated parts of California, especially the community of Paradise, but for one pet owner, not all was lost. 

Andrea Gaylord had to go several weeks not being allowed to return home due to the fire, which was the deadliest in California history. When Gaylord returned home on Wednesday, her dog was there waiting for her. 

According to KXTV, lost her home in the Camp Fire. But she considers herself fortunate. 

"You could never ask for a better animal," Gaylord told KXTV. "You really couldn't."

Gaylord had some assistance from an animal rescue volunteer who was allowed inside of the evacuation zone. Shayla Sullivan took care of Gaylord's other dog Miguel, which is also Madison's brother. 

Sullivan would leave food and water at what was left of Gaylord's home in hopes that Madison would come around. 

Gaylord said when she pulled up to her home in Paradise, Madison was there waiting for her. 

"Imagine the loyalty of hanging in in the worst of circumstances and being here waiting," Gaylord told KXTV "It was so emotional."

Former FBI Director James Comey, under aggressive questioning from Republicans Friday, declined to answer questions about a range of matters because of special counsel Robert Mueller's ongoing investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 elections, according to members from both parties.

Republicans tried to press Comey to divulge information about the FBI's efforts to surveil former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page as well as details about the genesis of the Russian investigation. But a Justice Department attorney seated next to Comey repeatedly said he would not be able to answer those questions, according to Rep. Darrell Issa, a Republican from California.

Comey left the meeting just after 4:30 p.m. ET and told reporters he'd agreed to come back to speak with Congress in a couple weeks.

Comey had fought the congressional subpoena in court, pushing for a public hearing before settling for some concessions. A transcript of the interview with members of the House Judiciary Committee will be released as soon as possible, perhaps in the next 24 hours.

Emerging from the closed interview, House Democrats said Comey took strong exception to President Donald Trump's attacks over the FBI, saying it hurts morale at the department.

Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi said that the mood was "a little bit tense" but said it was appropriate for Comey not to answer questions related to the investigation. He also said Comey's testimony is consistent with his book and previous Hill testimony.

Democrats grilled his handling of the Clinton email probe and his decision to reopen the inquiry days before the 2016 elections. He defended his move saying he didn't want to conceal info that could impact a presidency, according to Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, Democrat of Texas.

He was "consistent" in his comments about whether Trump obstructed justice in firing Comey, she said. He has consistently stopped short of saying Trump obstructed justice

Comey said that he wouldn't have handled the Russia or Clinton probes differently than he did, according to Rep. Jimmy Gomez, a California Democrat.

Comey was pressed by members about leaks that may have came from the US Attorney's office in the Southern District of New York to Rudy Giuliani. And he said he personally ordered an investigation into New York field agents and whether any leaks came from them, according to a source in the meeting. He said he didn't know if anyone was held accountable from that probe. Comey has previously said he ordered an IG investigation into apparent leaks into the Southern District of New York.

After leaving the interview, Rep. Darrell Issa, Republican of California, told reporters that Comey is not answering some questions at the direction of a Justice Department attorney who is accompanying the former FBI director.

"We will be demanding that he come back and be able to answer," said Issa.

When asked why they did not want Comey to testify in public as he requested, North Carolina Republican Rep. Mark Meadows, who took part in the questioning, said they often discuss classified intelligence. "We would be giving him a pass that I don't think he deserves," added Meadows.

Today wasn't a search for truth, but a desperate attempt to find anything that can be used to attack the institutions of justice investigating this president. They came up empty today but will try again. In the long run, it'll make no difference because facts are stubborn things.

Meadows said he had 14 pages of questions to ask Comey and that he expected the interview to go for several hours. He said Republicans felt it was important to call him in for questioning before Democrats took control of the House and committees' gavels next year.

"For us to just pack it up and go home is not what the American people deserve and for the most part, it's not what they expect," Meadows said.

New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called the panel's investigation into the FBI a "waste of time," and would end it when he becomes chairman next year. He added there wasn't evidence of political bias at the FBI.

Gomez said he asked Comey if William Barr, Trump's pick to be the next attorney general, should recuse himself from overseeing the special counsel investigation, given Barr's past comments criticizing the political donations of some of Mueller's prosecutors. "I would have liked to see him have more balance on this group," he told the Washington Post last year.

In a Post op-ed last year, Barr also criticized Comey's decision to announce the outcome of the FBI's investigation into Clinton's use of a private email server while secretary of state, rather than presenting his findings to a senior Department of Justice official.

Comey said he has respect for Barr, but if Barr determines he is biased, then Barr should step aside, according to Gomez.

"(Comey) said that we need to make sure that any appearance of bias, that we move away from it," Gomez said.

Trump fired Comey in May 2017, a move that led the Justice Department to appoint Robert Mueller special counsel to investigate Russian interference in the 2016 election, including potential collusion between Trump's campaign associates and Russian officials.

Since he was fired, Comey has publicly testified on Capitol Hill, spoken to the media numerous times and released a book on "ethical leadership" and his FBI career.

Over the summer, the Department of Justice inspector general released an extensive report criticizing Comey's handling of the Clinton email investigation, calling some of his actions "extraordinary and insubordinate" but did not find that he was motivated by political bias.

That same report was harshly critical of Peter Strzok, a FBI agent involved in the bureau's Clinton email and Russia investigations. He was later fired after the agency found that he exchanged anti-Trump text messages with former FBI lawyer Lisa Page. But the inspector general report found no evidence "that these political views directly affected the specific investigative decisions that we reviewed."

Before the interview with Comey Friday, Krishnamoorthi, a Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, called it a "complete farce" since members could select and leak bits of information to bolster their case until the transcript is released.

"Going forward, I will be advocating for full, open public hearings on issues of this magnitude," he said.

Federal prosecutors Friday requested that Donald Trump's former personal attorney Michael Cohen receive "a substantial term of imprisonment" for various finance-related crimes.

In separate filings, prosecutors from special counsel Robert Mueller's office and the Southern District of New York outlined their cases for Cohen's future.

In August, Cohen pleaded guilty to eight federal crimes after being charged by Manhattan federal prosecutors. Those included tax fraud, making false statements to a bank and campaign-finance violations tied to his work for Trump, including payments Cohen made or helped orchestrate that were designed to silence women who claimed affairs with the then-presidential candidate. Trump has denied those claims.

Cohen was subsequently charged last week by the special counsel's office with one count of lying to Congress.

"After cheating the IRS for years, lying to banks and to Congress, and seeking to criminally influence the Presidential election, Cohen's decision to plead guilty -- rather than seek a pardon for his manifold crimes -- does not make him a hero," prosecutors for the southern district wrote.

In its filing, Mueller's office says that Cohen took "significant steps" to help the investigation and has accepted responsibility for his crimes. It argues any sentence he serves should run concurrently.

In pleading guilty, Cohen disclosed that talks about the proposed Trump Tower project in Moscow had extended through June 2016, after Trump had become the presumptive Republican nominee for president, and that both Trump and his family members had been briefed on the discussions. Cohen also acknowledged pursuing plans to send Trump and himself to Russia in service of the project and discussing the proposed development directly with a representative of the Kremlin.

In the special counsel case, Cohen was given a cooperation agreement, with prosecutors agreeing to alert US District Court Judge William Pauley III to "the nature and extent of the defendant's cooperation with this office."

Special counsel prosecutors indicated in court papers that Cohen had met with their office seven times, and Cohen's attorneys later disclosed in their own filing that Cohen had also met twice with New York federal prosecutors to assist in their ongoing investigative efforts, as well as with the New York attorney general's office on two matters, including its lawsuit against the Donald J. Trump Foundation. Additionally, they said, he assisted with requests for information from the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance, which has been examining the Trump Organization.

The Cohen cases are being considered together for sentencing purposes. In the New York federal case, the stipulated guideline range of Cohen's prison term is between 46 and 63 months with a range of fines of between $20,000 and $1 million, although that was determined before Cohen had received a cooperation agreement from the special counsel's office.

The judge can deviate from the guidelines when he determines Cohen's sentence. Cohen's attorneys have asked the court to give him no prison time.

In a filing, Cohen's attorneys emphasized that his cooperation required exceptional "fortitude" due to the unusual circumstance in which the inquiry he has been seeking to assist -- the special counsel's investigation -- has been routinely condemned by Trump.

"Michael is cooperating in a setting in which the legitimacy of the [special counsel's] investigation -- and the rationale for its very existence -- is regularly questioned publicly and stridently by the President of the United States," Cohen's attorneys wrote.