| Al-Qaida in Yemen claims deadly Florida naval base shooting Posted: 02 Feb 2020 12:31 PM PST  Al-Qaida's branch in Yemen claimed responsibility Sunday for last year's deadly shooting at the Naval Air Station Pensacola by an aviation student from Saudi Arabia. The shooter, 2nd Lt. Mohammed Saeed Alshamrani, was a member of the Saudi Air Force in training at the base. Al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula, or AQAP, released a video claiming the attack.
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| Trump administration declares coronavirus emergency, orders first quarantine in 50 years Posted: 01 Feb 2020 04:17 AM PST  U.S. citizens from parts of China will undergo entry health screenings and will be monitored during a 14-day self-quarantine, officials said.
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| CBS' final state poll has Biden, Sanders locked in tie ahead of Iowa caucuses Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:20 AM PST  If you were disappointed in the cancellation of the CNN/Des Moines Register Iowa poll, have no fear.CBS News on Sunday came out with its final poll in the state ahead of the Iowa caucuses Monday, and the top two candidates are in a dead heat. Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) both received 25 percent in the survey. Their shared lead is in line with predictions that Monday will produce a tightly contested result to open up primary voting.Former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg wasn't too far behind at 21 percent, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) finished fourth at 16 percent. It wasn't a great poll for Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), who only garnered 5 percent support, despite some other recent polls indicating she's got her fair share of backers in Iowa.> Iowa poll of 2020 Dems: CBS News> > Biden 25% > Sanders 25% > Buttigieg 21% > Warren 16% > Klobuchar 5%https://t.co/oifkdVncWc pic.twitter.com/rBauGuM3Uo> > — Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) February 2, 2020The CBS News poll was conducted between January 22-31 among 1,835 registered voters in Iowa. The margin of error is 3 percentage points.More stories from theweek.com Mitch McConnell's rare blunder John Bolton just vindicated Nancy Pelosi All the president's turncoats
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| A US national security adviser says 'there is no reason for Americans to panic' about coronavirus as report claims second US plane heads to China to evacuate more Americans from Wuhan Posted: 02 Feb 2020 12:08 PM PST  A second plane is on the way to evacuate US citizens still in Wuhan in China as the death toll from coronavirus continues to rise.
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| Sri Lanka to probe aircraft deal after Airbus settlement Posted: 02 Feb 2020 05:21 AM PST  Sri Lanka's president ordered a fresh investigation Sunday into a multi-billion dollar aircraft purchase involving the island's loss-making national carrier, days after Airbus settled corruption probes in Europe and the US. A French court on Friday approved a deal allowing Airbus to pay 3.6 billion euros ($4 billion) in fines to Britain, France and the US to settle corruption cases sparked by suspicious equipment sales. One of the allegations cited in a judgement and released by a London court Friday concerned the purchase of aircraft by SriLankan Airlines.
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| Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Israel's Nuclear Weapons Posted: 01 Feb 2020 10:00 PM PST  A mighty arsenal.
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| Bloomberg Proposes Tax Plan to Raise $5 Trillion for Policies Posted: 01 Feb 2020 12:09 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Michael Bloomberg said Saturday he would raise taxes on the wealthy, increase the corporate tax rate, and curb tax-free inheritances of large estates, elements of a tax plan that he says would raise $5 trillion over a decade.Tax rates on low-income and middle-class Americans set by the 2017 Republican tax law would remain the same.Bloomberg's plan serves to show how he'd pay for an array of proposed new spending initiatives, which so far top $3 trillion. But his campaign cautioned that the tax plan could still change as the former New York mayor rolls out even more policy plans in the near future.The tax overhaul would also close loopholes that the rich can exploit, according to a summary of the plan, which would allow for more spending on education, job training, infrastructure and in other areas and fight income inequality, Bloomberg said."My tax plan will make the tax code more progressive," Bloomberg said during a campaign event Saturday in Denver. "I'm a wealthy guy, and I didn't need a tax cut.""Right now, I give nearly all of my company's profits to charity," Bloomberg said in a statement. "Under my plan, I'll continue doing that -- but I will also pay more in taxes to make sure all Americans have the same opportunities I did. That's only right."Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg, LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.Democratic ThemesBloomberg's plan touches many of the same themes that his Democratic competitors have embraced, including raising income taxes on the wealthy, taxing capital gains at the same rate as wages, increasing corporate tax rates, and bolstering the Internal Revenue Service's ability to audit.The 2020 presidential hopefuls and Democrats in Congress have seized on popular sentiment for increased taxes, particularly for the wealthy and corporations, after the 2017 Republican tax law failed to gain the public's backing and partially contributed to Democrats winning the House majority in the 2018 midterms.The Bloomberg campaign said it hasn't finalized the details of his plan, including what the threshold would be for taxing estates, because it hasn't yet designed all of Bloomberg's policy proposals and tallied their costs.$3 TrillionBloomberg has released more than 20 proposals covering health care, the economy, climate and other issues since joining the race on Nov. 24, but he hasn't provided cost estimates in most cases. The estimates he did release exceed $3 trillion over 10 years, including spending $1.2 trillion over 10 years for infrastructure and $1.5 trillion for health care. But there are dozens of other policy elements in the plans released so far, with no price-tags attached.The plan released on Saturday adopts several of the policy ideas that Bloomberg's moderate competitors, including Joe Biden and Pete Buttigieg, have touted. It stops short of some of the more progressive ideas -- such as a wealth tax or financial transaction tax -- floated by Senators Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, who've proposed tens of trillions of dollars in tax increases to pay for universal health care.Instead of a wealth tax, the Bloomberg campaign said it's looking to increase taxes on the wealthy with a 5% surtax on all income -- both wage and capital gain -- above $5 million a year. The idea is a pared-back version of an idea getting consideration in Congress that would put a 10% surtax on income greater than $2 million. This type of plan is seen as a way to raise revenue from rich taxpayers without the political and legal problems associated with a wealth tax.Bloomberg proposes reversing some of the central elements of the $1.5 trillion GOP tax law championed by President Donald Trump. He would raise the top individual tax rate to 39.6% from 37%, increase the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%, and repeal a 20% deduction for so-called pass-through income from limited liability companies and partnerships. Bloomberg has said the corporate rate needed to be lowered in the 2017 measure for competitive reasons, but went too far.The campaign said it's planning to design a mechanism so that small businesses and low-income people wouldn't be harmed by the elimination of the 20% write-off. The tax benefit helps companies ranging from small mom-and-pop businesses to large investment funds, so a full repeal of the 20% tax break would face some political opposition from both Republicans and Democrats.'Basis Step Up'The plan also would also tax capital gains income for those earning more than $1 million at the same rate as wage income -- 39.6%, according to the plan. The campaign didn't specify what happens to those below the threshold, who now pay the current long-term capital gains rate of 23.8% on the proceeds selling stocks, bonds or real estate.It would end so-called "basis step up" which allows heirs to avoid paying taxes on appreciated assets. The campaign said it would seek to prevent wealthy investors from deferring taxes on their capital-gains income, but the proposal didn't specify how it would do that.The plan also looks to restrict corporations' ability to dodge taxes offshore and would apply diplomatic pressure to tax haven countries that help companies harbor profits. It will also call for lowering the threshold at which the estate tax applies, but hasn't yet set that amount.Bloomberg would ideally want a Democratically-controlled Congress to pass a tax bill if elected, but thinks there are elements of the plan that Republicans could support, the campaign said.Bloomberg has also said that while he knows tax increases are unpopular, the public can be convinced they're necessary to pay for needed public services. As New York mayor, Bloomberg increased property taxes by 18.5% in 2003, the largest hike in city history, to generate $837 million to plug budget deficits. Bloomberg said that while his poll numbers suffered as a result, he was re-elected in 2005."I probably had the worst polls any mayor in America has ever had, and then I came back and won going away because people said, 'I didn't like spending more money, but he needed it,"' Bloomberg said in a Jan. 11 interview.(Updates with Bloomberg comment in fifth paragraph)To contact the reporters on this story: Laura Davison in Washington at ldavison4@bloomberg.net;Mark Niquette in Columbus at mniquette@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Ros KrasnyFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Mississippi inmate tries to hang self in cell, attorney says Posted: 01 Feb 2020 05:48 PM PST  An inmate tried to hang himself at a troubled Mississippi prison and was taken down by a state trooper, an attorney said in court papers filed Saturday. Casey L. Austin is one of the attorneys representing inmates in a federal lawsuit against Mississippi over conditions in the state's prisons. The lawsuit over prison conditions is funded by Team Roc, a philanthropic group connected to entertainment mogul Jay-Z's company, Roc Nation.
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| Adam Schiff Blasts Republican Senators for Scolding Trump's Ukraine Scheme While Letting Him Slide Posted: 02 Feb 2020 09:12 AM PST  Lead House impeachment manager Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) on Sunday chastised Republican senators who claimed to be bothered by President Donald Trump's Ukrainian actions as they voted against impeachment witnesses, saying it doesn't do justice to the president's behavior to merely call it "inappropriate."Appearing on CBS News' Face the Nation, the House Intelligence Committee chairman was asked what the impeachment trial had accomplished as the Senate is poised to acquit Trump after voting against hearing from witnesses about his actions. "What's remarkable is you now have Republican senators coming out and saying, yes, the House proved its case," Schiff told host Margaret Brennan. "The House proved the corrupt scheme that they charged in the articles of impeachment. The president did withhold hundreds of millions of dollars from an ally to try to coerce that ally into helping him cheat in the next election. That's pretty remarkable when you now have senators on both sides of the aisle admitting the House made its case."Schiff went on to say that the Senate now needs to move to the next step and find the president guilty and remove him from office since he's "threatening to still cheat in the next election by soliciting foreign interference," prompting Brennan to note the votes aren't there for that to happen."As you said, Senators Rubio, Alexander, Portman have all said in some way or another they found the actions of the president inappropriate, but not enough to oust him," she added. "So the bottom line here seems to be that the president will get away with what they're calling inappropriate. What are Democrats going to do? What do you do next?""Well, first of all, to call solicitation, coercion, blackmail of a foreign power, an ally at war, by withholding military aid to get help in cheating in the next election merely inappropriate, doesn't begin to do justice to the gravity of this president's misconduct," Schiff answered. "Misconduct that I think undermined our national security as well as that of our ally and threatens the integrity—the integrity of our elections."The California Democrat further noted that he's "not letting the senators off the hook" for not acting against Trump even though they've acknowledged his behavior was wrong, saying he's still going to make the case Trump needs to be removed."It will be up to the senators to make that final judgment and the senators will be held accountable for it," he stated.To Schiff's point, GOP senators appeared on the Sunday news shows and attempted to have it both ways by arguing that Trump behaved inappropriately with his Ukraine pressure scheme but that it isn't an impeachable offense. Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-TN), who voted against calling additional witnesses last week despite saying Trump made an "error in judgment," told Meet the Press' Chuck Todd that Trump' Shouldn't have done it" and "it was wrong" but that Trump's fate should be left to the ballot box and "the people." The conservative senator also confirmed that he'd vote to acquit the president.On CNN's State of the Union, meanwhile, Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) said that the president acted inappropriately but that she would inevitably vote to clear Trump of all charges."He's done it now," she told anchor Jake Tapper. "The president has a lot of latitude to do what he wants to do. Again, not what I have done, but certainly, again, going after corruption, Jake...Maybe not the perfect call."After Tapper wondered aloud what she meant by saying it was something she wouldn't have done, Ernst added: "He did it—he did it maybe in the wrong manner… But I think he could have done it through different channels. Now, this is the argument, is that he should have probably gone to the DOJ. He should have worked through those entities, but he chose to go a different route."Senate Republicans weren't the only ones trying to thread the needle on Sunday regarding the president's Ukrainian actions. Trump defense team member Alan Dershowitz, who argued last week that Trump could engage in a quid pro quo with Ukraine since his re-election is in the "public interest" and he has "mixed motives," conceded on Fox News Sunday that the pressure campaign could be "troubling.""On Election Day as a citizen I will allow that to enter into my decision," he told host Chris Wallace when asked if he was troubled by the allegations. "Of course any citizen would find that troubling if it were proved, troubling is not the criteria for impeachment.""If a president linked aid to an ally to personal benefit that was not in the public interest, that would be wrong, that would be a reason for him not to vote for him," Dershowitz added.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Kerry unloads on NBC after report he was overheard talking about 2020 bid Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:38 PM PST  "A complete and total misinterpretation," the former secretary of State fumes.
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| Coronavirus: China apologizes for comparing travel bans to treatment of Jews during Holocaust Posted: 02 Feb 2020 02:05 PM PST  The Philippines says a man from Wuhan, China, is the first death from coronavirus outside of of China, where the outbreak began.
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| 9,000 Hong Kong hospital workers are threatening to strike amid coronavirus outbreak if the government doesn't close its border with mainland China Posted: 01 Feb 2020 07:41 AM PST  Doctors, nurses, and other hospital workers voted to strike if the Hong Kong government did not close its border with China.
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| Coronavirus: Is the Media Over Hyping the Threat? Posted: 01 Feb 2020 11:38 AM PST  A contagion will happen at some point, and it's important we recognize it and react. Unless the coronavirus mutates into something far more dangerous, this isn't it. News and novelty seem to be driving policy.
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| Bolivia's Morales says he wants to go home, run for Senate Posted: 02 Feb 2020 01:45 PM PST  Exiled former Bolivian president Evo Morales said in an interview published Sunday that he wants to return home and run for senator in May elections. Morales fled the country in December after the army withdrew its support for him during violent protests over his disputed re-election to a fourth straight term. Morales, Bolivia's first indigenous president, was in power for almost 14 years.
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| Ukraine wants larger compensation for its citizens killed in plane shootdown in Iran Posted: 02 Feb 2020 11:19 AM PST ![Ukraine wants larger compensation for its citizens killed in plane shootdown in Iran]( "Ukraine wants larger compensation for its citizens killed in plane shootdown in Iran") Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that Kiev was not satisfied with a size of compensation Iran had offered to families of Ukrainians killed in the downing of a plane near Tehran last month and would seek larger payments. The airliner was struck by a missile on Jan. 8 shortly after it left Tehran en route to Kiev. Iran admitted its forces had shot down the Ukraine International Airlines plane in error, after initially denying it had a role in the incident.
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| Appeal of man who shot Army recruiters in Arkansas rejected Posted: 02 Feb 2020 01:34 PM PST ![Appeal of man who shot Army recruiters in Arkansas rejected]( "Appeal of man who shot Army recruiters in Arkansas rejected") The Arkansas Supreme Court has rejected the appeal of a man who fatally shot a U.S. Army soldier and wounded another outside a recruiting station in Little Rock. The ruling dated Thursday and first reported by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette said Abdulhakim Muhammad's appeal is without merit. Muhammad, 34, was sentenced to life without parole after pleading guilty to the 2009 fatal shooting of Pvt.
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| Why Democrats share the blame for the rise of Donald Trump Posted: 01 Feb 2020 10:00 PM PST  I was part of a Democratic administration that failed to fix a rigged system – I know our current president is a symptom of our disunion, not its only causeAn impeached president who is up for re-election will this week deliver a State of the Union address to the most divided union in living memory.But why are we so divided? We're not fighting a hugely unpopular war on the scale of Vietnam. We're not in a deep economic crisis like the Great Depression. Yes, we disagree about guns, gays, abortion and immigration, but we've disagreed about them for decades. Why are we so divided now?Part of the answer is Trump himself. The Great Divider knows how to pit native-born Americans against immigrants, the working class against the poor, whites against blacks and Latinos, evangelicals against secularists, keeping almost everyone stirred up by vilifying, disparaging, denouncing, defaming and accusing others of the worst. Trump thrives off disruption and division.But that begs the question of why we have been so ready to be divided by Trump. The answer derives in large part from what has happened to wealth and power.In the fall of 2015, I visited Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Missouri and North Carolina, for a research project on the changing nature of work. I spoke with many of the people I had met 20 years before when I was secretary of labor, as well as with some of their grown children.What I heard surprised me. Twenty years before, many said they'd been working hard and were frustrated they weren't doing better. Now they were angry – angry at their employers, the government, Wall Street.> Something very big happened, and it wasn't due to Sanders' magnetism or Trump's likeabilityMany had lost jobs, savings, or homes in the Great Recession following the financial crisis of 2008, or knew others who had. Most were back in jobs but the jobs paid no more than they had two decades before, in terms of purchasing power.I heard the term "rigged system" so often I began asking people what they meant. They spoke about flat wages, shrinking benefits, growing job insecurity. They talked about the bailout of Wall Street, political payoffs, insider deals, soaring CEO pay, and "crony capitalism".These complaints came from people who identified themselves as Republicans, Democrats and independents. A few had joined the Tea Party. A few had briefly been involved in the Occupy movement. The 2016 rebellion is ongoingWith the 2016 political primaries looming, I asked which candidates they found most attractive. At the time, the leaders of the Democratic party favored Hillary Clinton and Republican leaders favored Jeb Bush. Yet no one I spoke with mentioned Clinton or Bush.They talked instead about Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump. When I asked why, they said Sanders or Trump would "shake things up" or "make the system work again" or "stop the corruption" or "end the rigging".In the following year, Sanders – a 74-year-old Jew from Vermont who described himself as a democratic socialist and wasn't even a Democrat until the primaries – came within a whisker of beating Clinton in Iowa, routed her in New Hampshire, and ended up with 46% of the pledged delegates from Democratic primaries and caucuses.Trump – a 69-year-old egomaniacal billionaire reality-TV star who had never held elective office or had anything to do with the Republican party and who lied compulsively about everything – won the primaries and went on to beat Clinton, one of the most experienced and well-connected politicians in modern America (although he didn't win the popular vote, and had some help from the Kremlin).Something very big had happened, and it wasn't due to Sanders' magnetism or Trump's likeability. It was a rebellion against the establishment. That rebellion is still going on, although much of the establishment still denies it. They prefer to attribute Trump's rise solely to racism.Racism did play a part. But to understand why racism had such a strong impact in 2016, especially on the voting of whites without college degrees, it's important to see what drove it. After all, racism in America dates back long before the founding of the Republic, and even modern American politicians have had few compunctions about using racism to boost their standing.What gave Trump's racism – as well as his hateful xenophobia, misogyny and jingoism – particular virulence was his capacity to channel the intensifying anger of the white working class into it. It is hardly the first time in history that a demagogue has used scapegoats to deflect public attention from the real causes of distress. Democrats did nothing to change a rigged systemAided by Fox News and an army of rightwing outlets, Trump convinced many blue-collar workers feeling ignored by Washington that he was their champion. Clinton did not convince them that she was. Her decades of public service ended up being a negative, not a positive. She was indubitably part of the establishment, the epitome of decades of policies that left these blue-collar workers in the dust. (It's notable that during the primaries, Sanders did far better than Clinton with blue-collar voters.)> Trump galvanized millions of blue-collar voters in communities that faced a tidal wave of factory closingsTrump galvanized millions of blue-collar voters living in communities that never recovered from the tidal wave of factory closings. He promised to bring back jobs, revive manufacturing and get tough on trade and immigration."We can't continue to allow China to rape our country, and that's what they're doing," he said at one rally. "In five, 10 years from now, you're going to have a workers' party. A party of people that haven't had a real wage increase in 18 years, that are angry."Speaking at a factory in Pennsylvania in June 2016, he decried politicians and financiers who had betrayed Americans by "taking away from the people their means of making a living and supporting their families".Democrats had occupied the White House for 16 of the 24 years before Trump's election, and in that time scored some important victories for working families: the Affordable Care Act, an expanded Earned Income Tax Credit and the Family and Medical Leave Act, for example. I take pride in being part of a Democratic administration during that time.But Democrats did nothing to change the vicious cycle of wealth and power that had rigged the economy for the benefit of those at the top and undermined the working class. As Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg concluded after the 2016 election, "Democrats don't have a 'white working-class' problem. They have a 'working class problem' which progressives have been reluctant to address honestly or boldly."The fact is that Democrats have lost support with all working-class voters across the electorate." Clinton and Obama chose not to wrest power back from the oligarchy. Why?In the first two years of the Bill Clinton and Barack Obama administrations, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Yet both Clinton and Obama advocated free trade agreements without providing millions of blue-collar workers who consequently lost their jobs any means of getting new ones that paid at least as well. Clinton pushed for Nafta and for China joining the World Trade Organization, and Obama sought to restore the "confidence" of Wall Street instead of completely overhauling the banking system.Both stood by as corporations hammered trade unions, the backbone of the white working class. They failed to reform labor laws to allow workers to form unions with a simple up-or-down majority vote, or even to impose meaningful penalties on companies that violated labor protections. Clinton deregulated Wall Street before the crash; Obama allowed the Street to water down attempts to re-regulate it after the crash. Obama protected Wall Street from the consequences of its gambling addiction through a giant taxpayer-funded bailout, but allowed millions of underwater homeowners to drown.Both Clinton and Obama turned their backs on campaign finance reform. In 2008, Obama was the first presidential nominee since Richard Nixon to reject public financing in his primary and general election campaigns, and he never followed up on his re-election promise to pursue a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United vs FEC, the 2010 supreme court opinion opening wider the floodgates to big money in politics.Although Clinton and Obama faced increasingly hostile Republican congresses, they could have rallied the working class and built a coalition to grab back power from the emerging oligarchy. Yet they chose not to. Why? There is no longer a left or right. There is no longer a moderate 'center'My answer is not just hypothetical, because I directly witnessed much of it: it was because Clinton, Obama and many congressional Democrats sought the votes of the "suburban swing voter" – so-called "soccer moms" in the 1990s and affluent politically independent professionals in the 2000s – who supposedly determine electoral outcomes, and turned their backs on the working class. They also drank from the same campaign funding trough as the Republicans – big corporations, Wall Street and the very wealthy.A direct line connects the four-decade stagnation of wages with the bailout of Wall Street, the rise of the Tea Party (and, briefly, Occupy), and the successes of Sanders and Trump in 2016. As Eduardo Porter of the New York Times notes, since 2000 Republican presidential candidates have steadily gained strength in America's poorer counties while Democrats have lost ground. In 2016, Trump won 58% of the vote in the counties with the poorest 10% of the population. His share was 31% in the richest.By 2016, Americans understood full well that wealth and power had moved to the top. Big money had rigged our politics. This was the premise of Sanders's 2016 campaign. It was also central to Trump's appeal – "I'm so rich I can't be bought off" – although once elected he delivered everything big money wanted.The most powerful force in American politics today continues to be anti-establishment fury at a rigged system. There is no longer a left or right. There's no longer a moderate "center". There's either Trump's authoritarian populism or democratic – small "d" – populism.Democrats cannot defeat authoritarian populism without an agenda of radical democratic reform, an anti-establishment movement. Trump has harnessed the frustrations of at least 40% of America. Although he's been a Trojan Horse for big corporations and the rich, giving them all they've wanted in tax cuts and regulatory rollbacks, the working class continues to believe he's on their side.Democrats must stand squarely on the side of democracy against oligarchy. They must form a unified coalition of people of all races, genders, sexualities and classes, and band together to unrig the system.Trump is not the cause of our divided nation. He is the symptom of a rigged system that was already dividing us. It's not enough to defeat him. We must reform the system that got us here in the first place, to ensure that no future politician will ever again imitate Trump's authoritarian demagoguery. * Robert Reich, a former US secretary of labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and the author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few and The Common Good. His next book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, will be out in March. He is a columnist for Guardian US
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| Joe Biden Could Be Impeached by GOP Over Ukraine if He Wins, Iowa Senator Says Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:05 PM PST  (Bloomberg) -- Iowa Senator Joni Ernst warned Sunday that Republicans could immediately push to impeach Joe Biden over his work in Ukraine as vice president if he win the White House."I think this door of impeachable whatever has been opened," Ernst said in an interview with Bloomberg News. "Joe Biden should be very careful what he's asking for because, you know, we can have a situation where if it should ever be President Biden, that immediately, people, right the day after he would be elected would be saying, 'Well, we're going to impeach him.'"The grounds for impeachment, the first-term Republican said, would be "for being assigned to take on Ukrainian corruption yet turning a blind eye to Burisma because his son was on the board making over a million dollars a year."President Barack Obama sent Biden to Ukraine on his behalf to fight corruption, including leading the push from the U.S. and western European powers to remove prosecutor general Viktor Shokin from office. When Shokin was fired in 2016, no congressional Republicans expressed concern about the move. Eventually, though, Shokin began to argue that he was fired because he was investigating Burisma and Biden wanted to protect his son, Hunter, who was on the company's board. The claim has been debunked.Biden told a Sinclair news reporter in Iowa that her words reinforced his argument that Trump's interest in Ukraine was meant to damage his candidacy."Doesn't that make the case I'm making that from the very beginning that this was all about not wanting to run against me?" he said.Earlier this week, Ernst tied the Senate's impeachment trial of President Donald Trump to Biden's chances in Monday's Iowa Democratic caucus, suggesting that the trial could hurt his case with caucus goers. "I'm really interested to see how this discussion today informs and influences the Iowa caucus voters, those Democratic caucus goers. Will they be supporting Vice President Biden at this point? Not certain at that," she said.Biden has been sure to mention Ernst's comments during every stump speech he's made this week, drawing applause as he suggests that Ernst had "spilled the beans" about Republicans' real intention in raising the Burisma issue to damage Biden's candidacy. "You can ruin Donald Trump's night by caucusing with me and ruin Joni Ernst's night as well," he's told Iowa crowds this week.Biden communications director Kate Bedingfield responded to Ernst's latest comments by again encouraging Iowans to caucus for Biden. "Iowans have the chance tomorrow to say the words that Donald Trump and Joni Ernst fear most: I'm here to caucus for Joe Biden," she said.(Disclaimer: Michael Bloomberg is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. He is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, the parent company of Bloomberg News.)(Updates with Biden comment in fifth, sixth paragraphs)To contact the reporter on this story: Jennifer Epstein in Des Moines, Iowa at jepstein32@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Thailand sees apparent success treating virus with drug cocktail Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:14 AM PST  A Chinese woman infected with the new coronavirus showed a dramatic improvement after she was treated with a cocktail of anti-virals used to treat flu and HIV, Thailand's health ministry said Sunday. The 71-year-old patient tested negative for the virus 48 hours after Thai doctors administered the combination, doctor Kriengsak Attipornwanich said during the ministry's daily press briefing. The news comes as the new virus claimed its first life outside China -- a 44-year-old Chinese man who died in the Philippines -- while the death toll in China has soared above 300.
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| China says Wuhan coronavirus victims who die should be quickly cremated without funerals as death toll rises Posted: 01 Feb 2020 07:55 PM PST  As the Wuhan virus continues to claim lives, Chinese authorities issued regulations banning funerals for victims and requiring immediate cremation.
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| Former White House counsel: Trump thinks differently Posted: 01 Feb 2020 07:59 AM PST  A former White House counsel said President Trump thinks differently than any client he has ever had.
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| America is Making a Bad Bet on India Posted: 02 Feb 2020 02:06 PM PST  America is dangerously emboldening India's Hindu nationalist government as it nears the point of no return. Modi, whose term ends in 2024, could be succeeded by someone far more extreme.
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| Coronavirus won't turn you into a 'zombie', says Malaysia Posted: 02 Feb 2020 12:20 AM PST  The deadly coronavirus will not cause victims to act like zombies, Malaysia's government said on social media, as officials act to correct the spread of misinformation surrounding the outbreak. As medical authorities seek to contain the virus, some social media users in Malaysia made a connection between the disease and the walking dead. A number of posts in Malaysia on social media have wrongly claimed the number of deaths or infected people in the country.
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| DHS: New screening to begin amid coronavirus concerns Posted: 02 Feb 2020 01:31 PM PST  As the U.S. steps up its response to the coronavirus outbreak, the Department of Homeland Security is warning airline passengers that their flights may wind up rerouted if officials discover mid-flight that someone onboard has been in China in the last 14 days. Under the new rules, U.S. citizens who have traveled in China within the last 14 days will be re-routed to one of eight designated airports, where they will undergo enhanced health screening procedures. The eight are: John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York; Chicago O'Hare International Airport; San Francisco International Airport; Seattle-Tacoma International Airport; Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu; Los Angeles International Airport in California; Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; and Washington-Dulles International Airport in Virginia.
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| Senators will vote Wednesday to acquit or convict Trump: What we know Posted: 02 Feb 2020 12:09 PM PST  Senators decided against allowing additional testimony and set the stage for a final vote Wednesday.
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| U.S. universities set up front-line defenses to keep coronavirus at bay Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:16 AM PST  The school, with one of the highest percentages of Chinese students among U.S. universities, has suspended academic programs in China for the spring semester and banned students from traveling to the country for academic-related matters. It has advised faculty and staff to follow federal travel advisories that, as of Friday, warned against going to China. "We want to take all of the precautions we can so, in the worst-case scenario, we keep our community healthy," said Robin Kaler, associate chancellor for public affairs at the University of Illinois, 135 miles (217 km) south of Chicago, where the first human-to-human transmission of the disease in the United States was confirmed last week.
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| Klobuchar Vows to Fight On, Says No Deal With Biden’s Campaign Posted: 02 Feb 2020 09:26 AM PST ![Klobuchar Vows to Fight On, Says No Deal With Biden's Campaign]( "Klobuchar Vows to Fight On, Says No Deal With Biden's Campaign") (Bloomberg) -- Democrat Amy Klobuchar vowed to battle on for the 2020 Democratic nomination even as her support lags and said she hasn't made a deal to work in concert with Joe Biden's campaign in Iowa.The senator from Minnesota made her pitch on "Fox News Sunday," a day before the state's first-in-the-nation nominating contest. She said she's one of two presidential hopefuls from the middle of the U.S., and has been elected in the past by appealing to moderate Republicans and independents as well as Democrats."I'm going to New Hampshire no matter what," Klobuchar said, referring to the state that will hold the next nominating contest, on Feb. 11."I've got the endorsements of every major paper in New Hampshire, including the [Manchester] Union Leader, that have endorsed," she said. "And so of course I'm going there; we have a strong operation there."Klobuchar, 59, has been traversing Iowa all weekend. She and fellow Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are taking advantage of the break in Trump's impeachment trial to campaign in the state after being mostly absent for two weeks.The Iowa caucus results could make or break her campaign. She, Warren and former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg are banking on strong performances in the state to catapult them forward through the primary season.Former Vice President Biden and Sanders still far outpace their competitors in national polls.The RealClearPolitics average of Iowa polls shows Klobuchar ranked fifth with 8.8%, below the threshold that would let her pick up delegates. She's had support as high as 13% in some surveys.Klobuchar said she hadn't, as has been reported, come to an arrangement with Biden's campaign for her supporters in the caucuses to switch to Biden if she falls short of the 15% threshold required in each precinct."No deals," she said. "I am just focused on our own race here."To contact the reporter on this story: Ana Monteiro in Washington at amonteiro4@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Wendy Benjaminson at wbenjaminson@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny, Larry LiebertFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Second person linked to butterfly sanctuary found dead in Mexico Posted: 02 Feb 2020 08:57 AM PST  The body of a tour guide who worked at a famous butterfly reserve in Mexico has been discovered two days after a prominent monarch butterfly activist was found dead.Mexican authorities said they are investigating the possible murder of Raul Hernandez, whose body was found beaten and with a head injury possibly caused by a sharp object.
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| The Wuhan coronavirus is causing increased incidents of racism and xenophobia at college, work, and supermarkets, according to Asian people Posted: 02 Feb 2020 06:00 AM PST  As fears over the deadly coronavirus from China grow, so are racist incidents against Asian communities in places like the US, Canada, and Europe.
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| China seeks to boost economy as first virus death reported outside its borders Posted: 01 Feb 2020 04:44 PM PST  BEIJING/MANILA (Reuters) - The first death from the coronavirus outside of China was reported on Sunday and the Beijing government took steps to shore up an economy hit by travel curbs and business shut-downs because of the epidemic. A 44-year-old Chinese man from the city of Wuhan in Hubei province, the epicenter of the epidemic, traveled to the Philippines and died there on Saturday, the Philippines' Department of Health said. The vice governor of China's Hubei province, Xiao Juhua, said the virus outbreak was still "severe and complicated".
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| UK vows action after police kill 'convicted extremist' in terror stabbing Posted: 02 Feb 2020 02:45 PM PST  The British government promised sweeping changes to the system for dealing with convicted terrorists released from prison, after police shot dead an Islamist extremist who stabbed two people in a busy south London street on Sunday. Police said Sudesh Amman, 20, who was wearing a fake suicide vest, was shot on the busy Streatham High Road packed with shoppers at about 2:00 pm (1400 GMT). Amman was recently given early release from prison where he was serving time for terror offences.
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| Pompeo says US can supply Belarus with 100% of oil, gas Posted: 01 Feb 2020 12:52 AM PST  U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Saturday that the United States is willing and able to provide Belarus with 100% of its oil and gas, taking a slap at Russia which recently cut off supplies. Pompeo is the first secretary of state to visit Belarus in 26 years and arrived in Minsk amid new tensions between Minsk and Moscow over energy. In a meeting with authoritarian President Alexander Lukashenko, Pompeo said he hoped to help provide an opportunity for Belarus to achieve the "sovereignty" and "independence" it seeks.
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| Bill Maher Brutally Mocks Alan Dershowitz Over Creepy Jeffrey Epstein Ties Posted: 31 Jan 2020 07:52 PM PST  On Friday night, one week after fervidly defending ex-Fox News host Megyn Kelly over her firing from NBC News (this after she defended the practice of blackface on Halloween), Bill Maher returned to his HBO program Real Time. And, prior to a softball interview with Democratic presidential hopeful Pete Buttigieg, the comedian addressed the latest impeachment-trial madness from President Trump's legal defense team—namely, lawyer Alan Dershowitz's claim that, because Trump believes "his election is in the public interest… if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment." Bill Maher Defends Megyn Kelly to Her Face: You're Not a 'Racist' and 'Cancel Culture' to Blame for FiringKobe Bryant's Disturbing Rape Case: The DNA Evidence, the Accuser's Story, and the Half-Confession"You saw Alan Dershowitz, the president's chief lawyer there at the trial, say that any action taken by this president to help his re-election is, by definition, in the public interest. When did we decide that?" asked Maher. "I can commit any crime if it's good for me, because then it's good for America? That's like saying you can't arrest a car thief if he thinks he should be walking more." "Alan Dershowitz, I tell ya. What happens to these people? Alan Dershowitz used to be normal!" he continued, jokingly adding, "He came up with this idea when he was on Jeffrey Epstein's plane, which he was a lot. He was getting a massage from I'm sure a completely age-appropriate young lady, in his underwear, and he ran it by her, this theory, and she said, 'Please, don't make my job disgusting.'" (Dershowitz was a close acquaintance of Epstein's as well as on his legal defense team, and at least two of Epstein's trafficked victims say that he directed them to have sex with Dershowitz. While Dershowitz admitted to receiving a massage at Epstein's mansion, in his underwear, he's denied the claims of sex with trafficked women.) Then, Maher reacted with disgust to Sen. Lamar Alexander's (R-TN) decision to not allow witnesses in Trump's impeachment trial, thus closing the door on the Democratic pipe dream of actually, you know, allowing witnesses in a trial—instead of a show trial. "So, it's a done deal. This is gonna happen. Trump will get acquitted on Wednesday," offered Maher. "As always, with Trump, nothing will happen to him. He's had bigger slaps on the wrist from Melania. And in the future, when Trump shoots someone on Fifth Avenue, Mitch McConnell will be there to lick the blood on his shoes." "So, we're officially living in a dictatorship," he exclaimed, "and not even one with good rail service!" Read more at The Daily Beast.Got a tip? Send it to The Daily Beast hereGet our top stories in your inbox every day. Sign up now!Daily Beast Membership: Beast Inside goes deeper on the stories that matter to you. Learn more.
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| Bloomberg campaign says Trump has 'fake hair' Posted: 02 Feb 2020 01:43 PM PST  President Trump seems to have former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on his mind at the moment. And Bloomberg's campaign isn't holding back in its response.
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| Women only report harassment ‘from ugly men’, Ecuador’s president says Posted: 02 Feb 2020 03:07 AM PST  Ecuador's President Lenin Moreno has been criticised for saying women only report harassment "when it comes from an ugly person".Mr Moreno made the comment at an economics conference in the city of Guayaquil on Friday, where he also said that men are "permanently subject to the danger of being accused of harassment".
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| Tests for suspected coronavirus patients in the US don't always work, the head of the CDC said Posted: 31 Jan 2020 05:57 PM PST  "We don't know the accuracy of this test. People who came in were negative, then all of a sudden they were positive," one official said.
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| Virus deaths in China pass 360, exceeding SARS mainland toll Posted: 02 Feb 2020 04:38 PM PST  China's death toll from the coronavirus epidemic soared past 360 on Monday, with deepening global concern about the outbreak and governments closing their borders to people from China. The fresh toll came a day after China imposed a lockdown on a major city far from the epicentre and the first fatality outside the country was reported in the Philippines. Authorities in Hubei, the province at the epicentre of the outbreak, reported 56 new fatalities, with one reported in the southwestern megalopolis of Chongqing.
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| 'Please take my daughter': Mother of girl with cancer pleads at virus blockade Posted: 01 Feb 2020 06:04 PM PST !['Please take my daughter': Mother of girl with cancer pleads at virus blockade]( "'Please take my daughter': Mother of girl with cancer pleads at virus blockade") Hours ticked by on Saturday as 50-year-old Lu Yuejin struggled to get past the police checkpoint on the bridge over the Yangtze river and out of Hubei province, which is on virtual lockdown as China scrambles to control a coronavirus outbreak. Lu, a farmer from a village on the Hubei province side of the bridge, was trying to gain passage for her daughter, 26-year-old Hu Ping, who has leukaemia. "My daughter needs to go to hospital in Jiujiang," she said at the checkpoint.
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| See This Stealth Fighter? Iran Could Shoot It Down in a War Posted: 01 Feb 2020 05:11 AM PST  But it wouldn't be easy.
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| Digital footprints lead cops to Arizona fugitive in Canada Posted: 01 Feb 2020 12:28 PM PST  A man who pleaded guilty to murder before fleeing Arizona over 16 years ago to avoid being sentenced has been arrested in Canada after police followed digital footprints provided by social media posts of his family and friends, authorities said. The fugitive, 32-year-old Adan Perez Huerta, was arrested in Toronto and returned to Arizona, where he was booked into a jail Thursday. An arrest warrant was issued for Huerta after he pleaded guilty to negligent homicide but didn't appear for his sentencing in 2003.
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| George Soros: Facebook, Zuckerberg in cahoots with Trump to win 2020 election Posted: 01 Feb 2020 09:51 AM PST  George Soros is accusing Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg of conspiring with Trump to help the president win reelection. Facebook denies it.
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| In Iowa, a vote for Warren is a vote for Biden Posted: 02 Feb 2020 12:46 PM PST  Those who like both progressives should study how the caucus works and make sure they don't accidentally destroy bothLet's look at where things stand with the Democratic candidates in Iowa as of right now, according to FiveThirtyEight:> 1 Sanders: 22.0%> > 2 Biden 21.5%> > 3 Buttigieg 15.5%> > 4 Warren 14.4%> > 5 Klobuchar 10.2%> > 6 Yang 3.6%> > 7 Steyer 3.5%If you're a Bernie Sanders supporter, you might be thinking: "OK, we're in a good position. It's close but we're a little bit ahead."But even if that number holds, Sanders might actually be crushed in Iowa, thanks to the unusual voting system there and particular effect of candidate No 4. Sanders supporters need to do everything possible to keep people who like both Elizabeth Warren and their candidate from actually voting for Warren.At an Iowa caucus site, there are two rounds of voting. In the first round, a candidate must get at least 15% to stay in for the second round. If they get less than 15%, their voters are released and can support another candidate.So in the second round, candidates are hoping to pick up the voters who supported the ones who lost in the first. Delegate totals are based on the numbers from the second round.Let's assume for the moment that in one given location, all Pete Buttigieg voters have Joe Biden as their second choice, and all Warren supporters have Sanders as their second choice. I am simplifying, but this will be the trend. And let's assume that in the first round of voting, the result exactly matches FiveThirtyEight's polling.What happens? Well, Sanders, Biden and Buttigieg all break 15% and keep their votes. Warren does not crack 15% so she gets no delegates and her voters are released. Sanders picks up Warren's 14.4% while Biden picks up nothing. (Let us temporarily forget all the other candidates exist, which is not difficult.)In the second round, the result is: Sanders 36.4%, Biden 21.5%, Buttigieg 15.5%. Sanders collects the most delegates and comes out of Iowa strong.But here's the devastating thing. Because of the structure of the Iowa caucus voting system, a tiny switch could result in a completely opposite outcome.Let's say Buttigieg and Warren's vote totals are swapped. In the first round, Warren gets 15.5% and Buttigieg gets 14%. What happens in the second round? Warren's votes do not go to Sanders. Instead, Buttigieg's go to Biden: Result: Biden 35.9%, Sanders 22%, Warren 15.5%.Headline the next day: BIDEN DEFEATS SANDERS BY 13 POINTS.Never mind that Sanders was the second choice of all the Warren voters. It doesn't matter. Joe crushes the caucus, his frontrunner status is restored, people in the press stop talking about the possibility of Sanders winning the presidency, Sanders doesn't get the Nevada and South Carolina endorsements that would have come out of a strong caucus showing. The campaign limps on, and will struggle to catch up. (The state apportionment of delegates is more complicated than this, but this is how the voting itself will go.)In fact, it's even more perilous than that. Even if Warren gets 14% in the first round, if, say, enough Tom Steyer and Amy Klobuchar supporters come over to join her, she can remain viable for the second round, meaning that her voters would not go to Sanders and enough Klobuchar people might go to Biden to help him win even if together Warren and Sanders have a far higher percentage of voters. If, say, Warren got 15%, and Buttigieg's 14% and Klobuchar's 10% all went to Biden, Biden would win in a landslide.Supporting Warren therefore drastically increases the chances that Biden will be the ultimate nominee. This is what happens when progressives "split the vote". It runs the catastrophic risk of destroying the chances of having a progressive presidency, and handing the nomination to the truly awful Biden.The unique dynamics of the Iowa caucus may mean that the entire Sanders campaign is severely damaged if Warren breaks 15% and Buttigieg and Klobuchar don't. Sanders people need to persuade Iowans not to vote for Warren. (And maybe give Buttigieg a little bump, or at least don't do anything to undermine him. We need him not to drop below 15%.)Every time progressive organizations treat a vote for Warren and a vote for Sanders as equally furthering the progressive cause, or call for "unity" without rallying behind a single candidate, they make it more likely that progressives will all lose. Everyone volunteering for Warren might as well be working for Biden.To prevent a Biden nomination, the time to unite is now. Warren had a chance: Sanders amassed more volunteers, got more donations and is doing substantially better in the polls. Now that the actual voting is starting, progressives cannot afford to split their bloc. They need to unify behind Sanders.In These Times and the Nation have both run articles pushing the narrative that you can support and like both. I am sure many people do. But don't actually vote for Warren. Divided support is destroying the chances of a progressive presidency.Let's remember the stakes: there are good reasons to think Biden would not fare well against Donald Trump. But even if he was elected, nobody seriously believes he can accomplish anything meaningful. He has said as much himself: "Nothing would fundamentally change." So much for solving climate change.We cannot afford four more years of Trump. And we have an unprecedented opportunity to throw him out and replace him with something far, far better. How tragic would it be if that opportunity was destroyed because some clung to a losing candidate, dividing the movement and squandering precious votes?How will history look back on this? Will the Warren campaign's jeopardizing of this chance have seemed worth it?
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| South African Capital’s Mayor to Quit After Sex Tape Scandal Posted: 02 Feb 2020 03:55 AM PST ![South African Capital's Mayor to Quit After Sex Tape Scandal]( "South African Capital's Mayor to Quit After Sex Tape Scandal") (Bloomberg) -- The mayor of South Africa's Tshwane municipality, which includes the capital, Pretoria, said he will resign this month to end political wrangling over his continued presence in office.Stevens Mokgalapa has faced pressure to quit since a leaked audio tape indicated that he allegedly disparaged officials in a conversation with a mayoral council member and engaged in a sexual act with her in the municipality's offices. The two say the tape was tampered with.Mokgalapa is a member of the main opposition Democratic Alliance, which wrested control of Tshwane from the ruling African National Congress in 2016 with the aid of the Economic Freedom Fighters, the third-largest party.The DA placed Mokgalapa on leave in December as it investigated his conduct, while the EFF called for his removal. The ANC meanwhile threatened to place the city under the control of the administration of the central Gauteng province, but backed down after the DA said it would challenge the move in court."I wish to make clear that I have not broken any laws and am confident that I would emerge positively from any assessment of my conduct," Mokgalapa said in an emailed statement. "But in the end, I have concluded that it is best for the city if I stand down as mayor."The scandal has been yet another blow for the DA, which lost support in national elections last year, and has since seen its mayor of Johannesburg, Herman Mashaba, and its leader, Mmusi Maimane, quit the party.The DA's Gauteng leader John Moodley thanked Mokgalapa for his service and said the party would initiate the process of finding a replacement.(Updates with opposition comment in last paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Mike Cohen in Cape Town at mcohen21@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Paul Richardson at pmrichardson@bloomberg.net, Helen Nyambura, James AmottFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.comSubscribe now to stay ahead with the most trusted business news source.©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
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| Rounds of wintry weather target the Plains through midweek Posted: 02 Feb 2020 09:13 AM PST  Several storms will sweep across the center of the country over the coming days, bringing wintry weather from Iowa to Texas.After dumping inches of snow in across the Great Basin and the Rockies, a storm will move across the Plains late Monday and into Tuesday."As the storm moves eastward into Tuesday, it will lose much of its intensity," said AccuWeather Senior Meteorologist Eric Leister. While low temperatures Monday night across the central Plains are forecast to be mainly in the teens, and then only in the 20s during the day Tuesday, high snowfall totals are not expected.Most locations from North Platte, Nebraska and Colby, Kansas, on east are likely to accumulate less than 3 inches."By the time that storm reaches Iowa and northern Missouri, there may be snow falling from the sky, but no more than a thin coating is expected," Leister added.The central Plains to the Great Lakes is not the only area that may experience snow for the first half of the week.The northern side of the same storm that will spark severe weather across the Gulf Coast, will also hold back across the center of the country just enough to interact with some cooler air moving into the Plains.The snow will begin in New Mexico and western parts of Texas on Tuesday night before spreading eastward through Wednesday."Several inches of snow is possible in a swath from northern Texas to southwestern Missouri," said AccuWeather Meteorologist Adam Sadvary.A few isolated spots could end up with half a dozen inches of snow before the storm exits the region on Wednesday. Temperatures will likely be marginally low enough on the southern fringe of the snow, which may allow sleet and freezing rain to mix in with any snowflakes."The wintry precipitation accumulating on roadways will likely bring complications for travelers along Interstates 20, 35, 40 and 44, especially during the morning commute," added Sadvary.The snow may also lead to school delays or closures on Wednesday.CLICK HERE FOR THE FREE ACCUWEATHER APPFollowing both of these storms, chilly air will become entrenched in the Plains. Low temperatures early Thursday morning will be in the teens from the North Dakota-Canada border down into Oklahoma and the northern Texas Panhandle. Elsewhere, lows will be in the 20s.Temperatures are expected to rebound into the 40s and 50s across central Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Kansas on Thursday, but hold in the 20s and 30s for Iowa and Missouri. In these areas, any snowpack will likely linger longer.The same storm bringing snow to the southern Plains is expected to continue moving east, and could impact the Eastern Seaboard late in the week.Keep checking back on AccuWeather.com and stay tuned to the AccuWeather Network on DirecTV, Frontier and Verizon Fios.
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