Frigid air, high winds sweep the Northeast; at least 6 dead
CONCORD, N.H. — Falling temperatures replaced the weekend’s falling snow Monday as bitter cold and gusty winds swept across the eastern United States.
The National Weather Service had forecast that temperatures would be more than 20 degrees below normal across the Northeast, with wind gusts up to 30 mph and wind chills approaching minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 40 degrees Celsius) in northern New York and Vermont.
Atop the Northeast’s highest mountain, the temperature fell to minus 23 degrees (minus 31 Celsius) Monday morning and dropped to minus 31 (minus 35 Celsius) later in the afternoon, according to the Facebook page for Mount Washington Observatory, in New Hampshire. Wind chills were hovering around minus 80 (minus 62 Celsius).
In New York, Coast Guard crews moved quickly to rescue a 21-year-old man left stranded on an island in the Navensink River after his small boat broke down. The Coast Guard said two members waded through 34-degree (1 Celsius) water to bring the man to safety. The air temperature was 7 degrees (minus-14 Celsius) degrees with 30 mph wind.
The weather contributed to multiple deaths over the long Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.
UK prime minister unveils Brexit Plan B
LONDON — British Prime Minister Theresa May unveiled her Brexit Plan B on Monday — and it looks a lot like Plan A.
May launched a mission to resuscitate her rejected European Union divorce deal, setting out plans to get it approved by Parliament after securing changes from the EU to a contentious Irish border measure.
May’s opponents expressed incredulity: British lawmakers last week dealt the deal a resounding defeat, and EU leaders insist they won’t renegotiate it.
Opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party accused May of being in “deep denial” about her doomed deal.
“This really does feel a bit like ‘Groundhog Day,’” he said, referring to the 1993 film starring Bill Murray, in which a weatherman is fated to live out the same day over and over again.
Venezuela quells soldiers’ revolt, top court blasts congress
CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuela plunged deeper into turmoil Monday as security forces put down a pre-dawn uprising by national guardsmen that triggered violent street protests, and the Supreme Court moved to undercut the opposition-controlled congress’ defiant new leadership.
Socialist party chief Diosdado Cabello said 27 guardsmen were arrested and more could be detained as the investigation unfolds.
The mutiny struck at a time when opposition leaders have regained momentum in their efforts to oust President Nicolas Maduro. They have called for a nationwide demonstration Wednesday, urging Venezuelans — especially members of the armed forces — to abandon Maduro.
The uprising triggered protests in a poor neighborhood just a few miles (kilometers) from Venezuela’s presidential palace. It was dispersed with tear gas as residents set fire to a barricade of trash and chanted demands that Maduro leave power.
The military said in a statement said that it had recovered all the weapons and captured those involved in what it described as “treasonous” acts motivated by “obscure interests tied to the far right.”
At Sundance, powerhouse documentaries will be everywhere
LOS ANGELES — For documentary filmmakers, there’s no place like the Sundance Film Festival.
The mountainside festival which kicks off Thursday in Park City, Utah, has become known for launching nonfiction films to box office successes and awards, and this year is shaping up to be no different. The slate boasts a wide array of films about fallen titans, from Harvey Weinstein to Theranos’ Elizabeth Holmes, music legends Miles Davis and David Crosby, two of Michael Jackson’s sexual abuse accusers, the Cambridge Analytica/Facebook scandal, Apollo 11, Mike Wallace, Toni Morrison and Dr. Ruth.
In the past five years, three of the best documentary feature Oscar winners got their start at Sundance — “Icarus,” ”O.J.: Made in America” and “20 Feet from Stardom.” And most of this year’s Oscars shortlist premiered and won special honors at last year’s festival (like “Shirkers,” ”On Her Shoulders,” ”Of Fathers and Sons,” ”Dark Money,” ”Crime + Punishment” and “Hale County This Morning, This Evening”) and some are considered shoo-ins for a nomination, like “Three Identical Strangers,” ”RGB,” ”Minding the Gap” and “Won’t You Be My Neighbor?”
“Sundance is the greatest launching pad,” said filmmaker Julia Reichert. “I can’t think of another festival that shows fiction and documentaries that puts as much honor, respect and spotlight on the documentary.”
The three-time Oscar nominee returns this year with “American Factory,” looking at what happened when a Chinese billionaire bought a closed General Motors factory outside of Reichert’s hometown of Dayton, Ohio and created 2,000 manufacturing jobs in an area still suffering from the plant’s initial closure.
