Snow response in DC, NYC comes down to money, manpower
WASHINGTON (AP) — The nation’s capital and its largest city got walloped by the same near-record blizzard this weekend. But while Washington struggled to recover, New York City was mostly up and running Monday.
In the District of Columbia, schools and government offices, monuments and memorials and museums were all shut down Monday. The Metro had an extremely reduced schedule, providing free rides as a goodwill gesture. Digging out remained such a huge challenge that Mayor Muriel Bowser sought federal disaster aid.
In New York, the subway and schools were open, just a day and a half after the last flakes fell, and leaders praised themselves for getting this one right.
Meanwhile, travelers are continuing to face flight delays and cancellations in the aftermath of the massive blizzard. More than 2,500 flights were delayed or canceled Monday. That’s an improvement from Friday and Saturday.
Estimates of the storm’s economic impact are tame. Ryan Sweet and Adam Kamins, economists at Moody’s Analytics, peg the lost economic output at about $2.5 billion to $3 billion. That’s relatively small in the context of a $16 trillion economy.
EU police warn that more attacks by IS militants are likely
PARIS (AP) — Europe’s top police agency issued a stark warning Monday: Islamic State extremists will keep attempting lethal attacks on soft targets in Europe as the militant group increasingly goes global.
Some 2 1/2 months after suicide bombers and gunmen killed 130 people in Paris, the Europol agency said, “there is every reason to expect that IS, IS-inspired terrorists or another religiously inspired terrorist group will undertake a terrorist attack somewhere in Europe again, but particularly in France, intended to cause mass casualties among the civilian population.”
The sobering conclusions reached by experts from the European Union’s chief agency for law enforcement cooperation and EU member states make clear that many, perhaps virtually all in Europe, may be at risk.
“Without reliable intelligence on the intentions, activities and contacts and travels of known terrorists it is nearly impossible to exactly predict when and where the next terrorist attack will take place, and what form it will take,” the Europol report said.
Hours before the report was issued, a new video was released by the Islamic State group celebrating the killers who carried out the Nov. 13 attacks in the French capital — while also threatening fresh bloodshed.
Who’s Obama for? Clinton has reason to smile
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama hasn’t endorsed a Democratic successor, but he’s now revealed some personal pros and cons in the fight between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders.
Clinton has reason to smile.
In an interview published Monday, Obama casts his former secretary of state as a “wicked smart,” progressive pragmatist and Sanders as a “bright, shiny object” fueled by Democrats’ long-standing frustrations. He defends Clinton as burdened by her perceived front-runner status while Sanders benefits from “the luxury of being a complete long shot.”
“Her strengths can be her weaknesses,” Obama said in the interview with Politico’s “Off Message” podcast. “Her strengths, which are the fact that she’s extraordinarily experienced – and, you know, wicked smart and knows every policy inside and out – sometimes could make her more cautious and her campaign more prose than poetry. But those are also her strengths. It means that she can govern and she can start here, day one, more experienced than any non-vice president has ever been who aspires to this office.”
The comments, coming a week before the Iowa caucuses, were Obama’s most detailed yet on the unexpectedly tight contest to replace him. After months of keeping to his promise not to interfere, Obama’s analysis showed he’s been watching closely and thinking deeply about which candidate is best positioned win — and carry on his policies.
Justices won’t let North Dakota enforce tough abortion law
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Monday to review lower court rulings overturning North Dakota’s ban on abortion at six weeks of pregnancy — before many women know they’re pregnant.
The justices turned away the state’s appeal of decisions striking down the 2013 fetal heartbeat law as unconstitutional. The law never took effect, and abortion-rights supporters said it was the strictest anti-abortion measure in the country.
The high court last week rejected Arkansas’ bid to enforce its own fetal heartbeat law, banning some abortions at 12 weeks. Both measures had been struck down by a unanimous panel of three judges appointed by President George W. Bush to the St. Louis-based 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
“We knew it was unlikely and it came as no surprise,” North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem said of the high court’s refusal to review the case.
The Supreme Court gets about 7,500 requests each year but takes on fewer than 100 cases.
UK company criticized for asking migrants to wear wristbands
LONDON (AP) — A private company that required asylum-seekers to wear red wristbands says it has dropped the practice after facing heavy criticism.
A statement from Clearsprings Ready Homes said it has decided to end the practice Monday. The policy had come under fire from legislators who warned it singled migrants out for possible harassment and abuse.
Clearspring holds a government contract to provide accommodation and meals to the asylum-seekers at a facility in Cardiff, Wales. Asylum-seekers are not allowed to work or to claim welfare benefits but they are given food and shelter.
The company said in a statement it will “look for an alternative way of managing the fair provision of support” now that the wristbands have been discontinued.
Some migrants have said wearing the wristbands has exposed them to abuse from local residents.
Questions about the policy follows news last week that some migrants elsewhere in Britain had had their doors painted red, making them targets for vandalism and racial abuse.
