The U.S. at a glance ... NEWS 7
Washington, D.C.
White House resignation:
Deputy White House press
secretary TJ Ducklo resigned
last week after threatening to
“destroy” a reporter working
on a story about a potential
conflict of interest in his roman-
tic relationship with another
reporter who had covered President
Biden’s campaign. On Jan. 20, Ducklo
called Politico reporter Tara Palmeri
after learning she was working on an
article about him and his girlfriend, Alexi
McCammond, an Axios.com reporter.
Ducklo reportedly called Palmeri “trash”
during the call, accused her being “jeal-
ous” of McCammond, and said he would
“come after” her if she followed through
with the story. Ducklo, who has stage IV
lung cancer, was initially suspended for a
week without pay but then resigned after
the story became public and pressure
mounted on the Biden administration to
respond with harsher steps. Biden himself
had earlier issued an edict
to his staff warning that
if “you are ever working
with me and I hear you
treat another colleague
with disrespect,
talk down to
someone, I
promise you I
will fire you
on the spot.
No ifs, ands,
or buts.”Central U.S.
Deadly polar vortex:
A once-in-a-generation
Arctic blast sent tem-
peratures to historic lows
across much of the U.S.
this week as authorities
reported at least 31 dead
and millions left with-
out heat or power. In Texas, Gov. Greg
Abbott called the winter storm “unprec-
edented” in state history as temperatures
plunged into the single digits and snow
fell as far south as San Antonio. In Dallas,
temperatures reached minus 2 degrees.
In North Platte, Neb., temperatures
went down to minus 29 degrees, and in
Hibbing, Minn., minus 38. In Brunswick,
N.C., the storm brought on a tornado that
killed three people. Researchers cited cli-
mate change as a factor in the Arctic blast,
noting a weakening of the jet stream that
usually keeps polar vortexes from creeping
south of the Arctic Circle.In Texas, 4.1 million people
were forced to endure the
frigid temperatures with-
out electricity, as the grid
failed under overwhelming
demand, prompting roll-
ing blackouts stretching
past two days. Prices on
Texas’ wholesale power
market skyrocketed 100-fold. Republicans
blamed frozen wind turbines, though only
10 percent of the state’s winter power
comes from wind. Two-thirds of the gen-
erating capacity lost in Texas came from
coal, gas, and nuclear plants not weather-
ized against the extreme cold, as well as
from shortages of natural gas caused by
frozen pipes. The combination of black-
outs and extreme cold terrified Texans. “I
was afraid of not making it through the
night,” said Esteban Ramirez, a 19-year-
old from Del Rio, who hugged his grand-
parents and mother on a sofa after they
lost power in the night hours.Albany, N.Y.
Covid deception:
Gov. Andrew Cuomo
conceded this week that
he “should have provided
more information faster”
about the number of
nursing-home residents
who died from Covid-
19 in the state, after
a top aide admitted
that his administration
hid the true number from the legislature.
Secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa
apologized to Democratic lawmakers
during a video call for having with-
held the data, explaining that they had
received an inquiry from former President
Trump’s Justice Department for the same
information. “We froze,” she said, add-
ing they were afraid the data would “be
used against us.” The state did eventually
provide the information to the Justice
Department in September, but continued
reporting publicly until January that only
8,500 nursing-home residents had
died of Covid-19. The official
tally is now 15,000-plus.
“There was a delay,” said
Cuomo, who has written a
book about his leadership during
the pandemic.Palm Beach, Fla.
Deceased: Rush Limbaugh, the conserva-
tive talk radio host who mocked “femi-
nazis” and liberals and whose frequent
disdain for mainstream media and facts
helped shape modern American politics,
died this week after a battle with lung
cancer. Limbaugh, 70, first announced his
illness in February 2020, the same month
that former President Trump awarded
him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Limbaugh continued broadcasting to an
audience of 15 million until early this
month, on a three-hour daily show for
which he was paid $40 million a year. He
was beloved by conservatives and loathed
by liberals, who called him a bigot.
Limbaugh repeatedly mocked gays dur-
ing the AIDS crisis and compared NFL
games to a battle “between the Crips and
the Bloods.” Limbaugh shrugged off his
critics, saying, “I won’t stop until every-
one agrees with me.”Bethesda, Md.
Unreported crisis: President Trump
had extremely depressed oxygen lev-
els and was close to being placed on a
ventilator after contracting Covid-19 in
October, even though his staff down-
played the severity of his illness at the
time. The New York Times cited four
people with knowledge of the former
president’s medical condition last week
in reporting that his status was far more
dire than he and his physician, Dr. Sean
Conley, had let on. After Trump was
admitted to the Walter Reed National
Military Medical Center, Conley
announced that his condition was “noth-
ing of any major clinical concern.”
According to the Times, though,
Trump’s blood oxygen levels
slipped into the 80s and he
suffered from “lung infil-
trates,” substances such
as fluid or bacteria that
indicate an inflamma-
tion of the lungs. Such
infiltrates are a sign of an
acute case of Covid-19,
as are oxygen levels in the
low 90s or below. Trump
left Walter Reed after three
AP days of treatment.
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Record cold in Oklahoma CityCuomoDucklo: Press aide resigns. Acute case