Arctic air sweeping south over Plains shatters record temperatures in North Dakota

Arctic air sweeping south over Plains shatters record temperatures in North Dakota

By JACK DURA Associated Press

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — More than 95 million people are facing gripping cold Tuesday as a polar vortex sends temperatures plunging to record levels, closing schools, bursting pipes and forcing communities to set up more temporary shelters for the homeless.

“Some of the coldest temperatures of the entire winter season right now across the central United States,” said Andrew Orrison, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service.

The harsh cold descended on the nation’s midsection Monday on the heels of weekend storms that pummeled the Eastern U.S. killing at least 17 people. Some areas in the Midwest have wind chills as cold as -50 to -60 degrees, Orrison said.

It is so dangerous that hundreds of public school districts canceled classes or switched to online learning Tuesday in Oklahoma, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Kansas and Missouri. And in Kansas City, Kansas, dozens of tents were set up in one building to house the homeless.

The biggest batch of record-setting cold temperatures are likely to hit early Thursday and Friday, Orrison said. But North Dakota already felt more like the North Pole on Tuesday as Bismarck hit minus 39, breaking the record of minus 37 (minus 38.3 C) set in 1910 for the same date.

Stephanie Hatzenbuhler’s family has been contending with the cold in many ways on their farm and ranch west of Mandan, North Dakota, from their calving operation, to vehicles and equipment starting, to their coal-fired furnace keeping up.

“There’s always something new to learn and something new to experience. It doesn’t matter how many times you’ve done this, so you have to adapt,” said Hatzenbuhler, who called the cold spell “the Siberian experience.”

Conditions were rapidly deteriorating across northeast, east and central Oklahoma as residents in these parts of the state were dealing with freezing rain, ice and snow, according to the National Weather Service.

The Oklahoma Highway Patrol said US Highway 75 between Tulsa and Okmulgee was shut down in both directions because of the amount of vehicles and semi-tractor trailers that were stuck on the road due to ice.

“Our troopers are working to get salt and sand trucks to the area to treat the roads but it is extremely slick in that area,” the Oklahoma Highway Patrol said in post on X.

In upstate New York, a foot or more of lake-effect snow was expected to fall Tuesday in some areas east of Lake Ontario. The blowing snow created white-out conditions and prompted travel advisories.

Snowfall across the U.S. measured as much as 3 feet (0.91 meters) to 6.5 feet (1.98 meter) in southeastern Wyoming’s Snowy Range, to several inches from South Dakota to Missouri.

Kentucky braces for winter storm

In flood-battered Kentucky, the state was bracing for a winter storm that could dump a half-foot or more of snow in some parts of the state, starting Wednesday.

“This is a snowstorm in the middle of a natural disaster,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a news conference Tuesday in Frankfort, the capital city.

The weather-related death toll in Kentucky rose to 14, the governor said, with the two latest fatalities in Jefferson County, which includes Louisville. The two, an adult male and an adult female, were apparently homeless and both appeared to die from hypothermia, he said.

“So that should tell all of us that the weather conditions are as dangerous as that water is,” Beshear said.

Part of Virginia prepares for a foot of snow

Officials in Virginia prepared for up to a foot of snow in the state’s southern region, less than a week after being pummeled with snow, freezing rain and floodwaters.

“If you are not where you want to be by midnight tonight, please don’t go,” Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin said in a news conference on Tuesday.

Youngkin said the National Guard will be deployed across the state, and officials have also stockpiled water and meals for those in need. Local governments will also keep the doors of their homeless shelters open.

North Carolina governor declares a state of emergency

In North Carolina, Gov. Josh Stein declared a state of emergency on Tuesday as the National Weather Service forecast the approaching storm could bring up to 9 inches (22.9 centimeters) in far northeastern counties near the Atlantic coast.

The most populated areas of the state, including Charlotte, Raleigh and Greensboro, could see from 1 to 3 inches (2.5 to 7.6 centimeters) of snow, according to the weather service. Mountain areas still recovering from Hurricane Helene in the fall are largely expected to receive an inch or two.

Stein and state Emergency Management Director Will Ray also warned residents — particularly in east-central counties — about freezing rain and ice accumulation that could threaten power outages and make roads treacherous.

“At this time our greatest concerns are potential power outages and road safety,” Stein said at a media briefing.

Ray said more than 180 North Carolina National Guard members have been activated to help any affected communities. Over 1,300 state Transportation Department employees and contractors were preparing for the storm in part by pretreating roads.

In Tennessee, Obion County Mayor Steve Carr said on social media Monday evening that there are currently no reports of missing people or deaths after a levee failed Saturday, flooding the small community of Rives, home to around 300 people in the western part of the state.

After assessing the destruction with the sheriff, the mayor said it is “unprecedented and has profoundly impacted the community.” Rives remains under a state of emergency and more than 75% of the city has had power restored, the mayor said.

West Virginia had 3 storm-related deaths

In southern West Virginia, officials announced three flood-related deaths in McDowell County, where multiple roads were destroyed, public water systems were severed, schools remain closed and thousands were still without power Tuesday.

The county has one of the highest poverty rates in the nation.

More than 90 people have been helped from their southwest Detroit homes after a nearly century-old water main burst Monday, leaving streets and basements flooded during below-freezing temperatures. The flood waters receded later Monday morning after the break was found and the water flow stopped, according to the Great Lakes Water Authority.

What caused the break has not yet been determined. Nearly 400 homes are in the emergency flood zone, Mayor Mike Duggan told reporters Tuesday.

Scores of snow-covered vehicles were stuck in water up to their wheel wells or engine hoods. Fire and dive team crews used inflatable boats to help some people from homes. A few people were driven out in the bucket of a front-end loader.

___

Associated Press writers Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas, Julie Walker in New York, Corey Williams in Detroit, Steve Karnowski in Minneapolis, Bruce Schreiner in Louisville, Kentucky, Gary Robertson in Raleigh, North Carolina, Olivia Diaz in Richmond, Virginia, Jonathan Mattise in Nashville, Tennessee, Leah Willingham in Charleston, West Virginia, Juan Lozano in Houston, and Michael Hill in Albany, New York, contributed to this report.

Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

As egg prices soar, Trump administration plans new strategy to fight bird flu

As egg prices soar, Trump administration plans new strategy to fight bird flu

By STEVE KARNOWSKI Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — With egg prices soaring, the Trump administration is planning a new strategy for fighting bird flu that stresses vaccinations and tighter biosecurity instead of killing off millions of chickens when the disease strikes a flock.

The federal government will seek “better ways, with biosecurity and medication and so on” rather than the current standard practice of destroying all the birds on a farm when an infection is detected, Kevin Hassett, director of the National Economic Council, said Sunday on the CBS program “Face the Nation.”

Hasset said the administration planned to announce further details this week. He said they were “working with all the best people in government, including academics around the country and around the world,” to get the plan ready.

Spokespeople for the U.S. Department of Agriculture did not immediately respond to messages Tuesday seeking more information.

Normally when chickens or turkeys start dying from the disease, officials will “depopulate,” or destroy all the birds on the farm to prevent it from spreading.

But the resulting culling of millions of chickens per month has caused egg prices to skyrocket, with shortages that have led some retailers to ration sales. The average price of a dozen Grade A eggs in U.S. cities hit $4.95 in January, and the USDA predicts it will soar another 20% this year.

Hassett didn’t provide many details of how the Trump administration’s new approach would work. But he said it would involve a “better, smarter perimeter” around poultry farms. He said it doesn’t make sense to kill all the chickens inside that perimeter when the disease is being spread by wild ducks and geese.

Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told “Fox and Friends” that her first briefing after being sworn in was on bird flu.

“We are looking at every possible scenario to ensure that we are doing everything we can in a safe, secure manner but also to ensure that Americans have the food that they need,” Rollins told Fox News.

The poultry industry has long resisted vaccinating flocks against bird flu because of the potential impacts on export markets, as well as the expense. Most U.S. trading partners won’t accept exports from countries that allow vaccinations due to concerns that vaccines can mask the presence of the virus.

“We support the administration and their goals to bring down food inflation and cut regulatory red tape and hopefully eliminate this virus,” said Tom Super, spokesman for the National Chicken Council, which represents the broiler industry which produces chickens for meat. But he said in an interview that producers need ”robust trade protection” to ensure they don’t lose markets.

Leaders of the Congressional Chicken Caucus said in a letter to Rollins last week that while the egg industry has lost the most birds, the broiler industry could bear a disproportionate share of the costs of any policy change. According to USDA figures 77.5% of the nearly 159 million commercial birds lost to avian influenza since February 2022 have been layers, or over 123 million. That compares to 13.7 million broilers, or 8.6%, and 18.7 million turkeys, or 11.8%.

Avian influenza vaccines have long been available. Animal health company Zoetis announced on Friday that it had received a conditional license from the USDA for a new vaccine. But using it would be up to federal authorities in partnership with the industry, the company said in a statement. Other manufacturers are also working on them.

Dr. Carol Cardona, a bird flu expert at the University of Minnesota, said tighter biosecurity to prevent cross-contamination and limit outbreaks to one barn “requires an incredible amount of work on the ground,” she said.

‘I’ve seen it work,” Cardona said in an interview. “I’ve seen it fail dramatically in other cases.”

For “precision depopulation” to work, she said, there must be effective barriers to transmission between barns, such as ensuring that farm workers don’t carry the virus on their boots or clothes. And workers need to be alert for the earliest signs of abnormal deaths, she added.

Another barrier is the logistical difficulty in giving shots to up to 3 million birds or more at a single egg farm. Current vaccines are all injectables. Farms might opt to limit them to new pullets coming onto a farm, she said.

Vaccines that could be economically administered through a farm’s water supply would require new innovations, Cardona said. But until there’s a market for vaccines, she said, there won’t be an incentive to develop them.

“Today’s technology isn’t where were going to be for long, but it’s where we’re at,” Cardona said.

Gov Stein declares State of Emergency in advance of winter storm

Gov Stein declares State of Emergency in advance of winter storm

RALEIGH, N.C. (WPTF) — North Carolina Governor Josh Stein has declared a state of emergency as a major winter storm approaches, expected to bring snow, sleet, and freezing rain across the state starting Wednesday. State agencies, power companies, and local authorities are gearing up for potential power outages and hazardous road conditions.

“We are taking every precaution to ensure the safety of North Carolinians,” Stein said. He noted that additional power crews are arriving from other states to support Duke Energy, municipal power systems, and cooperatives already preparing for the storm.

State Emergency Management Director Will Ray warned that roads would be severely impacted by the wintry mix. “Travel will be treacherous,” Ray said, advising residents to avoid driving when possible.

Joey Hopkins, Secretary of the North Carolina Department of Transportation (DOT), confirmed that road preparations are well underway. Crews are brining major highways and critical routes in anticipation of ice and snow accumulation.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Watch for much of central and eastern North Carolina, with the heaviest snowfall expected north and west of Raleigh. Areas to the south and east have a greater chance of freezing rain and sleet, increasing the likelihood of downed power lines and travel disruptions.

Duke Energy spokesperson Jeff Brooks said the company is monitoring weather developments and is ready to respond to outages. “We have local crews on standby and are bringing in additional resources as needed,” Brooks told WPTF News.

Meteorologist Nick Pietro from the National Weather Service emphasized the potential for rapidly deteriorating conditions once the storm begins. “This will make life tough on the roads,” Pietro said, noting that the storm’s impact could extend through the rest of the week.

Residents are urged to prepare for power outages and avoid non-essential travel once the storm arrives.

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

Banana Bread

Photo by Getty Images

Banana Bread Recipe from Delish

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Serving size: 10-12 servings

Ingredients

  • Cooking spray
  • 1½ cups (180g) all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp kosher salt
  • 2 large eggs
  • ¾ cup (150g) dark brown sugar
  • 6 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 2 cups (460g) mashed ripe bananas (about 4 large)
  • 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
ingredients for banana bread on a concrete background - banana bread batter stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images
Photo by Getty Images

Directions

  1. Preheat & Prep the Pan – Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and position a rack in the center. Grease an 8½” x 4½” metal loaf pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang for easy removal.
  2. Mix Dry Ingredients – In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined.
  3. Combine Wet Ingredients – In a large bowl, whisk eggs, brown sugar, and melted butter until smooth. Stir in mashed bananas and vanilla extract until well mixed (the batter may be slightly lumpy).
  4. Incorporate Dry Ingredients – Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture until just combined. Avoid overmixing.
  5. Bake – Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
  6. Cool & Serve – Let the banana bread cool in the pan for at least 1 hour before using the parchment overhang to lift it out. Transfer to a cutting board, slice, and enjoy!
  7. A warm, moist, and flavorful banana bread perfect for breakfast or a snack! 🍌🍞✨
banana bread loaf on wooden table - banana bread stock pictures, royalty-free photos & images
Photo by Getty Images
Delta jet flips upside down on a snowy Toronto runway and all 80 aboard survive

Delta jet flips upside down on a snowy Toronto runway and all 80 aboard survive

By JOHN WAWROW and MICHAEL CASEY Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — A Delta Air Lines jet flipped on its roof while landing Monday at Toronto’s Pearson Airport, but all 80 people on board survived and those hurt had relatively minor injuries, the airport’s chief executive said.

Snow was being blown by winds gusting to 40 mph (65 kph) when the flight from Minneapolis carrying 76 passengers and four crew attempted to land at around 2:15 p.m. Communications between the tower and pilot were normal on approach and it’s not clear what went so drastically wrong when the plane touched down.

Canadian authorities held two brief news conferences but provided no details on the crash. Video posted to social media only showed the aftermath with the Mitsubishi CRJ-900LR overturned, the fuselage seemingly intact and firefighters dousing what was left of the fire as passengers climbed out and walked across the tarmac.

“We are very grateful there was no loss of life and relatively minor injuries,” Deborah Flint, CEO of Greater Toronto Airports Authority, told reporters.

Toronto Pearson Fire Chief Todd Aitken said 18 passengers were taken to the hospital. Earlier in the day, Ornge air ambulance said it was transporting one pediatric patient to Toronto’s SickKids hospital and two injured adults to other hospitals in the city.

Emergency personnel reached the plane within a few minutes and Aitken said the response “went as planned.” He said “the runway was dry and there was no cross-wind conditions.”

The crash was the fourth major aviation accident in North America in the past three weeks. A commercial jetliner and an Army helicopter collided near Reagan National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 29, killing 67 people. A medical transportation plane crashed in Philadelphia on Jan. 31, killing the six people on board and another person on the ground. And on Feb. 6, 10 people were killed in a plane crash in Alaska.

The last major crash at Pearson was on Aug. 2, 2005, when an Airbus A340 landing from Paris skidded off the runway and burst into flames amid stormy weather. All 309 passengers and crew aboard Air France Flight 358 survived the crash.

On Monday, Pearson was experiencing blowing snow and winds of 32 mph (51 kph) gusting to 40 mph (65 kph), according to the Meteorological Service of Canada. The temperature was about 16.5 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 8.6 degrees Celsius).

The Delta flight was cleared to land at about 2:10 p.m. Audio recordings show the control tower warned the pilots of a possible air flow “bump” on the approach.

“It sounds to me like a controller trying to be helpful, meaning the wind is going to give you a bumpy ride coming down, that you’re going to be up and down through the glide path,” said John Cox, CEO of aviation safety consulting firm Safety Operating Systems in St. Petersburg, Florida.

“So it was windy. But the airplanes are designed and certified to handle that,” Cox said. “The pilots are trained and experienced to handle that.”

The plane came to a rest at the intersection of Runways 23 and 15L, not far from the start of the runway. Just after the crash, tower controllers spoke with the crew of a medical helicopter that had just left Pearson and was returning to help.

“Just so you’re aware, there’s people outside walking around the aircraft there,” a controller said.

“Yeah, we’ve got it. The aircraft is upside down and burning,” the medical helicopter pilot responded.

Cox, who flew for U.S. Air for 25 years and has worked on U.S. National Transportation Safety Board investigations, said the CRJ-900 aircraft is a proven aircraft that’s been in service for decades and does a good job of handling inclement weather.

He said it’s unusual for a plane to end up on its roof.

“We’ve seen a couple of cases of takeoffs where airplanes have ended up inverted, but it’s pretty rare,” Cox said.

Among the questions that need to be answered, Cox said, is why the crashed plane was missing its right wing.

“If one wing is missing, it’s going to have a tendency to roll over,” he said. “Those are going to be central questions as to what happened to the wing and the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder. They will be found, if not today, tomorrow, and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada will read them out and they will have a very good understanding of what actually occurred here.”

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement that the Transportation Safety Board of Canada would head up the investigation and provide any updates. The NTSB in the U.S. said it is leading a team to assist in the Canadian investigation.

Delta CEO Ed Bastian said in a statement that “the hearts of the entire global Delta family are with those affected by today’s incident at Toronto-Pearson International Airport.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz said he has been in touch with Delta about the crash.

Endeavor Air, based in Minneapolis, is a subsidiary of Delta Air Lines and the world’s largest operator of CRJ-900 aircraft. The airline operates 130 regional jets on 700 daily flights to over 126 cities in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean, according to the company’s website.

The CRJ-900, a popular regional jet, was developed by Canadian aerospace company Bombardier. It’s in the same family of aircraft as the CRJ-700, the type of plane involved in the midair collision near Reagan National Airport on Jan. 29.

___

Casey reported from Concord, New Hampshire. Associated Press journalists Michael Sisak in New York, Jack Dura in Bismarck, North Dakota, Alex Veiga in Los Angeles, and Jim Morris in Vancouver, British Columbia, contributed reporting.

Mexico awaits new response from Google on dispute over Gulf of Mexico name before filing lawsuit

Mexico awaits new response from Google on dispute over Gulf of Mexico name before filing lawsuit

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico said Monday it’s awaiting a new response from Google to its request that the tech company fully restore the name Gulf of Mexico to its Google Maps service before filing a lawsuit.

President Claudia Sheinbaum shared a letter addressed to her government from Cris Turner, Google’s vice president of government affairs and public policy. It says that Google will not change the policy it outlined after U.S. President Donald Trump declared the body of water the Gulf of America.

“We will wait for Google’s response and if not, we will proceed to court,” Sheinbaum said Monday during a morning press briefing.

Mexico said Monday it’s awaiting a new response from Google to its request to fully restore the name Gulf of Mexico to its maps services before filing a lawsuit. (AP Video)

As it stands, the gulf appears in Google Maps as Gulf of America within the United States, as Gulf of Mexico within Mexico and Gulf of Mexico (Gulf of America) elsewhere. Turner in his letter said the company was using Gulf of America to follow “longstanding maps policies impartially and consistently across all regions” and that the company was willing to meet in person with the Mexican government.

“While international treaties and conventions are not intended to regulate how private mapping providers represent geographic features, it is our consistent policy to consult multiple authoritative sources to provide the most up to date and accurate representation of the world,” he wrote.

Mexico has argued that the mapping policy violates Mexican sovereignty because the U.S. only has jurisdiction over around 46% of the Gulf. The rest is controlled by Mexico, which controls 49% and Cuba, which controls around 5%. The name Gulf of Mexico dates back to 1607 and is recognized by the United Nations.

In response to Google’s letter, Mexican authorities said they would take legal action, writing that “under no circumstance will Mexico accept the renaming of a geographic zone within its own territory and under its jurisdiction.”

The renaming of the body of water by Trump has flared tensions between Mexico and the U.S. at a pivotal time for the neighboring allies.

Sheinbaum has had to walk a fine line with Trump amid threats of tariffs and Mexico and other Latin American countries have braced themselves for promised mass deportations, the brunt of which has still not been felt.

Along with the legal threat to Google, the Mexican president also announced Monday that Mexico and the U.S. would hold high-level meetings this week on trade and security in an effort to maintain a “long-term plan of collaboration” between the two countries.

It’s the latest round of talks between the two countries in which Mexico hopes to hold off a larger geopolitical crisis.

The renaming of the water body has fueled strife within the U.S. as well.

Last week, the White House barred Associated Press reporters from several events, including some in the Oval Office, saying it was because of the news agency’s policy on the name. The AP is using Gulf of Mexico to ensure that names of geographical features are recognizable around the world but also acknowledging Trump’s renaming of it as well.

Other journalistic organizations such as the White House Correspondents’ Organization and the New York Times have echoed the AP in raising alarm about press freedom violations.

Trump begins firings of FAA staff just weeks after fatal DC plane crash

Trump begins firings of FAA staff just weeks after fatal DC plane crash

By TARA COPP Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has begun firing several hundred Federal Aviation Administration employees, upending staff on a busy air travel weekend and just weeks after a January fatal midair collision at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Probationary workers were targeted in late-night emails Friday notifying them they had been fired, David Spero, president of the Professional Aviation Safety Specialists union, said in a statement.

The impacted workers include personnel hired for FAA radar, landing and navigational aid maintenance, one air traffic controller told The Associated Press. The air traffic controller was not authorized to talk to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.

A Transportation Department official told the AP late Monday that no air traffic controllers were affected by the cuts, and that the agency has “retained employees who perform critical safety functions.” In a follow-up query the agency said they would have to look into whether the radar, landing and navigational aid workers affected were considered to handle critical safety functions.

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association said in a brief statement Monday it was “analyzing the effect of the reported federal employee terminations on aviation safety, the national airspace system and our members.”

Other FAA employees who were fired were working on an urgent and classified early warning radar system the Air Force had announced in 2023 for Hawaii to detect incoming cruise missiles, through a program that was in part funded by the Defense Department. It’s one of several programs that the FAA’s National Defense Program manages that involve radars providing longer-range detection around the country’s borders.

Due to the nature of their work, staff in that office typically provide an extensive knowledge transfer before retiring to make sure no institutional knowledge is lost, said Charles Spitzer-Stadtlander, one of the employees in that branch who was terminated.

The Hawaii radar and the FAA National Defense Program office working on it are “about protecting national security,” Spitzer-Stadtlander said. “I don’t think they even knew what NDP does, they just thought, oh no big deal, he just works for the FAA.”

“This is about protecting national security, and I’m scared to death,” Spitzer-Stadtlander said. “And the American public should be scared too.”

Spero said messages began arriving after 7 p.m. Friday and continued late into the night. More might be notified over the long weekend or barred from entering FAA buildings Tuesday, he said.

The employees were fired “without cause nor based on performance or conduct,” Spero said, and the emails were “from an ‘exec order’ Microsoft email address” — not a government email address. A copy of the termination email that was provided to the AP shows the sending address “[email protected].”

The firings hit the FAA as it is facing a shortfall in controllers. Federal officials have been raising concerns about an overtaxed and understaffed air traffic control system for years, especially after a series of close calls between planes at U.S. airports. Among the reasons they have cited for staffing shortages are uncompetitive pay, long shifts, intensive training and mandatory retirements.

In the Jan. 29 fatal crash between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Airlines passenger jet, which is still under investigation, one controller was handing both commercial airline and helicopter traffic at the busy airport.

Just days before the collision, President Donald Trump had already fired all the members of the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, a panel mandated by Congress after the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie, Scotland. The committee is charged with examining safety issues at airlines and airports.

Spitzer-Stadtlander suggested he was targeted for firing for his views on Tesla and X, formerly Twitter, not as part of a general probationary-level sweep. Both companies are owned by Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency is leading Trump’s effort to cut the federal government.

Spitzer-Stadtlander is Jewish and was angered by Musk’s straight-arm gesture at Trump’s inauguration. On his personal Facebook page he urged friends to get rid of their Teslas and X accounts in response.

Spitzer-Stadtlander said that post drew the attention of a Facebook account labeled “Department of Government Efficiency,” which reacted with a laughing emoji. Soon after, he saw the same account reacting to much older posts through his personal Facebook feed.

There are at least a half-dozen Facebook accounts labeled “Department of Government Efficiency,” and it’s unclear who operates any of them. White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt wrote Monday on X, “DOGE doesn’t even have a Facebook page.”

Spitzer-Stadtlander said he was supposed to be exempted from the probationary firings because the FAA office he worked in focused on national security threats such as attacks on the national airspace by drones.

“Less than a week later, I was fired, despite my position allegedly being exempted due to national security,” Spitzer-Stadtlander wrote in a post over the weekend on LinkedIn.

He added, “When DOGE fired me, they turned off my computer and wiped all of my files without warning.”

DOGE did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The firings were first reported by CNN.

—-

Associated Press writer Ellen Knickmeyer contributed from Washington.

What is a polar vortex? US gets a taste of the Arctic this week

What is a polar vortex? US gets a taste of the Arctic this week

The term “polar vortex” usually refers to the gigantic circular upper air weather pattern in the Arctic region. It is a normal pattern that is stronger in the winter and keeps some of the coldest weather bottled up near the North Pole.

But at times some of the vortex can break off or move south, bringing unusually cold weather south and permitting warmer weather to creep up north.

This week, parts of the U.S. are experiencing the 10th and coldest polar vortex event this season. Weather forces in the Arctic are combining to push the chilly air into the U.S. and Europe.

With record snow in New Orleans last month and drought and destructive wildfires in Southern California, this winter has not been normal.

The latest projected cold outbreak will bring bone-chilling temperatures to the Northern and Central Plains for several days, starting Sunday.

Wind chills dropped to minus 60 Fahrenheit (minus 51 Celsius) in parts of North Dakota Monday and minus 50 F (minus 46 C) in parts of Montana. Wind chills were expected to dip even lower Tuesday morning.

“Frostbite and hypothermia will occur if unprotected skin is exposed to these temperatures. An extended period of freezing temperatures could cause ruptured water pipes,” the NWS warned Monday.

Meteorologists expect strong winds to make the cold feel even worse. Every U.S. state but Hawaii, California and Florida have some or all parts forecast to have a good chance of windchills of 20 degrees or below sometime next week, the National Weather Service predicted.

Some experts say disruptions to polar vortexes are happening more frequently because of a warming world. A warmer Artic gives more energy to atmospheric waves that can drive weather patterns, making the waves more likely to disrupt the vortex and move colder air south into lower latitudes.

Despite the unusually cold winter across the U.S., the world remains in an overall warming pattern. Earth’s average overall temperature set yet another monthly heat record in January. It was the 18th month of the last 19 that the world hit or passed the internationally agreed upon warming limit of 1.5 C (2.7 F) above pre-industrial times.

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