ATLANTA -- Anita Alston sleeps on an air mattress because she can't afford a bed yet. Just up the road, Katrina Lawson is using bed sheets for curtains until she can buy the real thing.

Associated Press Writer

A storm spread a blanket of snow up to a foot thick across much of the Northeast on Friday, snarling commutes, closing schools and piling up the flakes so fast that shovel crews could barely keep up.