Storm Death Toll Tops 50; Hundreds Of Thousands Shiver In Powerless Homes
More record lows are forecast this week as the frigid misery continues across many states. More news is on the immigration crisis in Minneapolis; health-based standards for smoke contamination in California; lingering mental health concerns from the Challenger disaster; and more.
AP:
Winter Storm Deaths Rise And Power Outages Drag On
Three Texas siblings who perished in an icy pond were among several dozen deaths in U.S. states gripped by frigid cold as crews scrambled Tuesday to repair hundreds of thousands of power outages in the shivering South and forecasters warned the winter weather is expected to get worse. Brutal cold lingered in the wake of a massive storm that dumped deep snow across more than 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) from Arkansas to New England and left parts of the South coated in treacherous ice. Freezing temperatures hovered Tuesday as far south as Tennessee, Arkansas and North Carolina and were forecast to plunge again overnight. (Bates, Hall and Bynum, 1/28)
On the crisis in Minnesota —
Politico:
Ilhan Omar Sprayed With Liquid At Minneapolis Town Hall
Minnesota Rep. Ilhan Omar was attacked by a man who sprayed a liquid while lunging at her before being detained at a town hall in Minneapolis on Tuesday. Omar was speaking to constituents in her district, which includes much of Minneapolis, about the turmoil in the city in the wake of federal immigration agents shooting Alex Pretti, the second U.S. citizen killed by federal agents in the city in less than a month. (Pellish, 1/27)
Politico:
Alex Pretti Was Shot By 2 CBP Agents, Not Just 1, Report Finds
Authorities believe two federal officers fired their weapons in the shooting that killed Alex Pretti as he was wrestled to the ground in Minneapolis, according to a preliminary Homeland Security report to Congress. (Pellish and Carney, 1/27)
In news from California, Georgia, and elsewhere —
AP:
TikTok Settles As Social Media Giants Face Landmark Trial Over Youth Addiction Claims
TikTok agreed to settle a landmark social media addiction lawsuit just before the trial kicked off, the plaintiff’s attorneys confirmed. The social video platform was one of three companies — along with Meta’s Instagram and Google’s YouTube — facing claims that their platforms deliberately addict and harm children. A fourth company named in the lawsuit, Snapchat parent company Snap Inc., settled the case last week for an undisclosed sum. Details of the settlement with TikTok were not disclosed, and the company did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Huamani and Ortutay, 1/27)
The New York Times:
Who Decides When A Home Is Safe? A California Bill Says Science, Not Insurers.
Following a Times investigation, a state lawmaker is proposing the first health-based standards for assessing smoke contamination after wildfires. (Callimachi and Migliozzi, 1/27)
CalMatters:
Residents Of A Polluted California Town Pinned Hopes On New State Rules. They’re Still Waiting
Residents of Kettleman City live surrounded by pollution. Farms spray pesticides on almond and pistachio trees in this farmtown. A composting facility handles human sewage waste nearby. Particulate matter and diesel fumes from heavy freeway traffic fill the air. And the West Coast’s largest hazardous waste landfill is just a few miles away from town. “There is a lot of cumulative burden from living next to, not just a landfill, but so many other polluting sources,” said community advocate Miguel Alatorre. When it comes to identifying why residents get sick, it’s impossible to point to any one cause. (Reyes-Velarde, 1/27)
San Francisco Examiner:
SF Homeless Count Methodology Changes Worry Some Advocates
San Francisco is set to significantly change how it counts The City’s homeless population, leading some advocates for the homeless to say they worry the new method will make it more difficult to compare its numbers with those from previous tallies. (Gurevich, 1/26)
AP:
Stanford Settles Wrongful Death Lawsuit With Katie Meyer's Family, Announces Mental Health Initiative
Stanford and the family of Katie Meyer have settled a wrongful death lawsuit filed against the university following the star soccer player’s suicide in 2022. When she died, the 22-year-old Meyer was distraught over the prospect of disciplinary action from the university for “defending a teammate on campus over an incident,” her father, Steve Meyer, told NBC’s “Today” soon after her death. (1/27)
KFF Health News:
When Suicidal Calls Come In, Who Answers? Georgia Crisis Line Response Rates Reveal Gaps
Kaitlin Cooke of Cartersville, Georgia, was contemplating suicide when she started calling a statewide mental health crisis line in 2018. She said she would sneak outside and call the hotline behind her car, where her boyfriend would not hear her. The counselors who answered her calls were there for her when no one else was, she said. Each time she called, they spoke to her for at least 45 minutes. And they told her that life “does get better.” “If it weren’t for this resource, I might have been a statistic,” said Cooke, now 31, who found a local therapist. (Miller and Grapevine, 1/28)
If you need help —
Dial 988 for 24/7 support from the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline. It's free and confidential.
KFF Health News:
Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
Arielle Zionts reads the week’s news: Some states are cutting public funding for a type of autism therapy, and older adults are more likely than younger ones to stop taking GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic. (1/27)
Today is the 40th anniversary of the Challenger explosion in Florida —
NPR:
40 Years After Challenger: Lingering Guilt And Lessons Learned
Forty years after the Challenger disaster, NPR explores the engineers' last-minute efforts to stop the launch, their decades of guilt and the vital lessons that remain critical for NASA today. (Berkes, 1/25)
