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Two Highland, Illinois sisters are safe after one of them shot an attacking intruder. It happened about 3:30 Sunday morning at the Senior Plaza Apartments on Eagle Way Drive.

Fifty-five year old Debbie Keeny told police that she'd stepped outside for a smoke and when she turned to go back inside, a man forced his way into her apartment. She says he pushed her to the floor and then attacked her sister, 47 year old Donna Carlyle. The man reportedly choked Carlyle and demanded money.

Keeny says she grabbed her derringer pistol and warned the man that she'd shoot if he didn't let go of her sister. The man didn't stop, so she fired a warning shot. When he still didn't let go, she shot him in the back.

Police say the 33 year old suspect, a man from Troy, Illinois, is in critical condition with two gunshot wounds.

Police believe robbery was the motive, since several of the sister's neighbors at the Senior Plaza Apartments report hearing someone jiggle their doorknobs shortly before the attack.

BOSTON (AP) - Schools across New England have closed and thousands of flights have been scratched as the Northeast hunkers down for a storm poised to dump up to 2 feet of snow.

The snow is expected to start this morning, with the heaviest amounts falling at night and into Saturday. Wind gusts could reach 75 mph. Widespread power failures were feared, along with flooding in coastal areas still recovering from Superstorm Sandy in October.

Boston could get more than 2 feet of snow, while New York City was expecting 10 to 14 inches. To the south, Philadelphia was looking at a possible 4 to 6 inches.

Amtrak says its Northeast trains will stop running this afternoon.

In New England, it could prove to be among the top 10 snowstorms in history.

WASHINGTON (AP) - A small, bipartisan group of senators is quietly trying to reach a compromise on expanding the requirement for background checks to cover nearly all gun purchases. A deal could give political momentum to one of the key elements of President Barack Obama's gun-control plan.

The private talks involve liberal Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, who is the No. 3 Senate Democratic leader, and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a National Rifle Association member and one of the Senate's more moderate Democrats.

On the Republican side, participants are Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma, another NRA member and one of the more conservative lawmakers in Congress, and moderate Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois.

The NRA says expanding background checks would do little good because criminals largely get their guns illegally.