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6 killed in storm that leaves 700,000 without power

(NYT) — At least six people were killed and more than 730,000 customers were without power in the Great Lakes region Monday after a spring storm brought freezing rain and sleet over the weekend.

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Three children — two siblings and a cousin — were killed after a tree struck their vehicle in Michigan on Sunday afternoon, the Kalamazoo County Sheriff’s Office said. The siblings were a 4-year-old boy and a 2-year-old girl. The cousin was an 11-year-old girl.

“At this time, it appears weather is the main contributing factor to this accident,” the office said. The identities of the children were not released.

On Sunday afternoon, severe crosswinds blew a tractor-trailer on its side in Valparaiso, Indiana, killing the driver, Jagbir Singh, 34, of Ontario, Canada, according to Sgt. Benjamin McFalls of the Porter County Sheriff’s Office.

The severe weather also caused an Amish buggy to overturn, killing its driver, Lonnie Yoder, 84, in Elkhart County, Indiana, on Sunday afternoon, according to the Elkhart County Sheriff’s Office. And in Montgomery County, Indiana, a tree that had blown onto a roadway caused a driver to swerve, resulting in a head-on collision that killed one driver, according to the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.

On Monday, the Mackinac Bridge in Michigan was closed Monday because of hazardous ice conditions, authorities said. There was no timetable for its reopening.

A National Weather Service office in Michigan posted photos on social media of trees weighed down with icicles. Accumulations of ice there ranged from half an inch to nearly an inch.

Trump to freeze funds for Planned Parenthood

(Reuters) — Reproductive health provider Planned Parenthood said on Monday the Trump administration would cut federal family planning funding as of Tuesday, affecting birth control, cancer screenings and other services for low-income people.

Planned Parenthood said that nine of its affiliates received notice that funding would be withheld under a program known as Title X, which has supported healthcare services for the poor since 1970. The Wall Street Journal reported last week the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services planned an immediate freeze of $27.5 million in family planning grants for groups including Planned Parenthood.

Planned Parenthood says more than 300 health centers are in the Title X network and Title X-funded centers received more than 1.5 million visits in 2023. It not say how much funding would be halted by the Trump administration.

The White House and HHS did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment. An HHS spokesperson said last week the department was reviewing grant recipients to ensure compliance with President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood Action Fund, predicted that cancers would go undetected, access to birth control would be severely reduced, and sexually-transmitted infections would increase as a result.

Stocks have worst month in years as new tariffs loom

(NYT) — The S&P 500 ended March with its steepest monthly decline in more than two years, driven by uncertainty about the scope of President Donald Trump’s tariffs, which investors fear could accelerate inflation, slow consumer spending and stall the U.S. economy.

Whiplash over trade policy has fueled market volatility in the first few months of the year. Trump’s next round of tariffs, set to be unveiled Wednesday, could bring additional market swings in the coming days.

More recently, Trump has acknowledged but dismissed the potential financial hit to consumers and businesses from sweeping tariffs, eroding hopes that shaky markets would cause him to reconsider his actions.

Le Pen barred from French presidential run

PARIS (NYT) — Marine Le Pen, the French far-right leader, was found guilty of embezzlement by a criminal court in Paris on Monday and immediately barred from running for public office for five years, jeopardizing her plans to compete in France’s 2027 presidential election.

The verdict was a major blow to the perennial presidential ambitions of Le Pen, an anti-immigrant, nationalist politician who has already mounted three failed bids. Looking grim and murmuring “incredible,” she walked briskly out of the courtroom before the judges had completed reading her sentence.

She did not address the dozens of camera crews that awaited her outside the courtroom, but she was expected to speak on French television later Monday evening. She had spoken of her “serenity” before the hearing but there was little evidence of that.

Le Pen is the clear front-runner in opinion polls for the 2027 election. Her ineligibility is certain to provoke strong protests from her own party, but also more broadly, there are likely to be claims that French democracy is being denied. The presiding judge, however, said nobody was entitled “to an immunity in violation of the rules of the law.”

The court also sentenced Le Pen, 56, to four years in prison, with two of those years suspended, and a fine of 100,000 euros (about $108,000). She has long denied any wrongdoing in the case, which involved accusations that her party, the National Rally, illegally used several million euros in European Parliament funds for expenses between 2004 and 2016.