Part of our “News That Matters” Series, “Midweek Update” is a weekly feature that offers brief overviews of important news that you may have overlooked in the course of a busy week. Here’s what you might have missed in the period January 20 through January 22, 2025.
@WEATHER AND TRAVEL
Snow Belt Now Iced: Severe Winter Storm in the South Unleashes Extreme Weather From Texas to Florida
A deadly winter storm stretching at least 1,500 miles (2,414 km) and is blanketing the South in snow from Texas to Florida has killed at least ten people. The storm is leaving record-breaking snowfall in a region largely unaccustomed to such cold winter weather.
A first-ever Blizzard Warning was issued for parts of the Gulf Coast, including southeast Texas and southern Louisiana.
Also in Louisiana, highway officials shut down an additional 100-mile (161-km) stretch of Interstate 10 because of deteriorating road conditions. Officials there had previously closed a 50-mile (80-km) stretch between Baton Rouge and Lafayette, and another 50 miles (80 km) in and around New Orleans since early Tuesday.
As of 8 a.m. ET Wednesday morning, parts of Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi – paralleling the Interstate 10 corridor – had seen more than 7” (17.8 cm) of snow, while New Orleans’ Louis Armstrong International Airport reported 8″ (20.3 cm) of powder.
The storm has thus far resulted in tens of thousands of flight delays and cancellations, leaving innumerable travelers either stranded at their destinations or departure cities, or at airport terminals waiting for their flights.
On Tuesday, 2,346 flights within, into, or departing from the United States were cancelled, and an additional 4,462 flights were delayed, according to FlightAware, a service that tracks such information.
On Tuesday, George Bush Intercontinental Airport in Houston cancelled 96% of outbound flights and posted the greatest number of flight delays and cancellations in both the United States and globally, followed by Atlanta Hartsfield-Jackson International, William P. Hobby (Houston’s other airport), and Louis Armstrong International.
Meanwhile, United Airlines, Southwest Airlines, and Delta Air Lines experienced the greatest number of delays and cancellations.
Already as of 6:15 p.m. ET on Wednesday, there have been 1,852 flight cancellations and an additional 3,804 delays in the country. In addition, there have already been 425 flight cancellations listed for Thurseday.
An American Airlines A321 at JFK during an earlier storm
Dangerously Cold Weather to Continue for Remainder of Week in Eastern U.S.
Behind the monster storm battering the South from Texas to Florida and beyond, Arctic air will continue encompassing the eastern two-thirds of the nation throughout the week. Expect an extremely slow return to normal temperatures by Sunday.
The weather in New York City this week will include a low temperature of 9° F (-12.8° C) and a high of 19° F (-7.2° C), although a warming trend will gradually result in a daily high temperature increase to 40° F (4.4° C) by Sunday.
In Minneapolis, correspondent Jesse Sokolow reported that officials had taken steps to prepare for the extreme coldearlier in the week, while Rachel Sayre, the director of the city’s Emergency Management Department, reminded city residents that, with wind chills, the temperatures – which reached a low of -19° F (-28.3° C) on Tuesday – put people at risk for frostbite and even hypothermia.
The extreme fluctuation in temperatures is also bringing a new set of climate change risks and hazards to a hardy population used to extremes. On Wednesday, the temperature will hit a high of 27° F (-3° C) with a low of 0° F (-27° C). The thermometer will then not get above 10° F (-12° C) on Thursday, and the low will also be 0° F (-27° C). Only by next Monday are temperatures expected to get above the freezing mark, with a high of 33° F (0.6° C).
“We’re sorry, but the data connection to the World Health Organization has been lost. Please check the number and try your call in another administration.”
@IN DEPTH
TRUMP WITHDRAWS U.S. FROM WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
In the flurry of activity that marked President Donald Trump’s first day in office, the president took steps to withdraw the United States from the World Health Organization.
Public health experts say U.S. withdrawal from the WHO would undermine the nation’s standing as a global leader in health and make it harder to fight any next pandemic.
Trump signed an executive order approximately eight hours after taking the oath of office. He cited numerous reasons for the withdrawal, including the WHO’s “mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic,” and the “failure to adopt urgently needed reforms.” In addition, he said the agency demands “unfairly onerous payments” from the United States, and complained that China pays less.
This was not the first time Trump has taken such steps. In July 2020, after publicly attacking the agency over its handling of SARS-CoV-2, he took the formal steps necessary to withdraw. The withdrawal, however, never happened. Because these processes take many months, the United States was still part of the WHO when Joseph Biden became the 46th president. Biden then blocked Trump’s order from going into effect.
If and when the United States will exit the WHO is a question mark: It will take many months for the country to withdraw. The U.S. is required to give a year’s notice and pay its financial obligations to the organization for the current fiscal year should the process move forward, as per a joint resolution adopted by the U.S. Congress at the time of the WHO’s founding, addressing the steps necessary to withdraw.
Corpus Christi Bay, inlet of the Gulf of, wait, what name does the Gulf of Mexico have today?
@BRIEFLY NOTED
Trump Inauguration Ratings Nosedive
President Donald Trump was disheartened to learn that television viewership of his inaguration this past Monday reached only 26.05 million, a number 32% less than both his previous inauguration in 2017, as well as Biden’s in 2021.
Trump Announces Name Change for the Gulf of Mexico
During his inaugural address, Donald Trump mentioned that he would soon sign an executive order to rename the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” Because the area is considered international waters, it is not at all clear whether a U.S. president has the authority to rename it.
Vivek Ramaswamy Ditches DOGE on Day One
Entrepreneur and former 2024 presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, who was tapped alongside Tesla CEO Elon Musk to run Trump’s commission to “dismantle government bureaucracy,” is in fact reducing federal government bureaucracy himself, by stepping down to run for governor of Ohio instead. He is well known for having made certain outrageous recommendations for policy changes, including abolishing the FBI, raising the voting age to 25, banning children from using social media, supporting the end of birthright citizenship, and ending the H-1B visa system, which is used by employers to hire skilled foreign workers in the United States.
So Long, Red Dye No. 3
The dye often responsible for the red color you find in many foods, drinks, and even medicine, has now been banned. FD&C Red No. 3 is a synthetic food dye that gives foods and drinks a bright, cherry-red color. It is largely banned in the European Union. Mars Inc., which famously removed red candies from M&M packages in 1976 because they were colored with the now-banned Red Dye No. 2, only to bring them back using a mix of Red 3 and Red 40 in 1987, has since dropped Red Dye No. 3 from the ingredient list.
“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives.”
@DEADLINE
Bishop Confronts President Trump at National Cathedral Prayer Service
At a sermon given at Washington National Cathedral, Rev. Mariann Budde challenged many of the executive orders issued by Trump on his first day in office as well as the ideas behind the orders. She asked him to “have mercy” on people who are “scared,” including immigrants and LGBTQ children.
Budde, a prelate of the Episcopal Church, and Bishop of Washington since 2011, used her sermon to direct a plea to Trump, taking advantage of a situation in which the president had to remain begrudgingly and uncharacteristically docile and silent.
Trump sat stone-faced but seemingly chastened in a front pew. Noting how he had told the nation during his swearing in – during which he conspicuously did not lay his hand on the Bible, as is tradition – that he had “felt the providential hand of a loving God,” by virtue of his surviving two assassination attempts, Budde invoked the compassion and mercy of God as she called on Trump “to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.”
“There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families, some who fear for their lives,” she told the once far more liberal president.
(Photos: Accura Media Group)
