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A4 U.S. NEWS
Wednesday 1 February 2023
Winter weather cancels flights, leads to death in Texas

By PAUL J. WEBER pled cab of a semi-trailer.
and JEFF MARTIN The department respond-
Associated Press ed to two bad wrecks and
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Win- about 15 other crashes
ter weather brought ice Tuesday morning, Division
to a wide swath of the Chief Jeremy Sharp said by
United States on Tuesday, telephone.
causing the cancellation In many of the crashes, the
of more than 1,600 flights drivers pick up speed on
nationwide, bringing traf- the highway but run into
fic to a standstill on an in- trouble when they reach a
terstate through Arkansas bridge, he said.
and knocking out power to “They hit the ice and they
thousands of Texans. start wrecking,” he said.
As the ice storm advanced “When I-40 shuts down like
eastward on Tuesday, that, that can be hours of
watches and warnings waiting,” said John Gad-
stretched from the western berry, who lives in Colt,
heel of Texas all the way Arkansas, not far from the
to West Virginia. Several highway.
rounds of mixed precipi- “I-40 is usually one of the
tation including freezing first things that freezes over
rain and sleet were in store due to its slight elevation.”
for many areas through By late Tuesday morning,
Wednesday, meaning A vehicle rests on a barricade as the driver lost control and slid off Highway 6 on Tuesday Jan. 31, I-40 was cleared and traffic
2023 in Waco, Texas.
some regions could be hit Associated Press had resumed, the Arkansas
multiple times, the federal Department of Transporta-
Weather Prediction Center International Airport and Republican Gov. Greg Ab- rious injuries after being tion announced. The inter-
warned. more than 250 to or from bott said following a brief- struck by a driver who lost state connects Little Rock,
Numerous auto collisions Dallas Love Field were can- ing in Austin on the wors- control of their vehicle, said Arkansas, to Memphis, Ten-
were reported in Austin, celed or delayed Tuesday, ening conditions. He em- Steve McCraw, director of nessee.
Texas, with at least one fa- according to the track- phasized the outages were the Texas Department of The storm began Monday
tality according to the Aus- ing service FlightAware. At due to factors such as ice Public Safety. as part of an expected
tin Fire Department. Dallas-Fort Worth, a major on power lines or downed “The roadways are very “several rounds” of win-
In Travis County, Texas, U.S. airport hub, more than trees, and not the perfor- hazardous right now. We try precipitation through
which includes Austin, po- 40% of the flights had been mance of the Texas power cannot overemphasize Wednesday across Texas,
lice and sheriff’s deputies canceled. grid that buckled for days that,” Abbott said. Oklahoma, Arkansas and
have been responding to Dallas-based Southwest during a deadly winter In Arkansas, Interstate 40 Tennessee, according to
new crashes about every Airlines has canceled more storm in 2021. Tuesday morning was ice- National Weather Service
three minutes since 8 a.m., than 500 flights and de- Fleets of emergency ve- coated and “extremely meteorologist Marc Che-
according to the Austin- layed more than 250 more, hicles were fanned out hazardous” in the Forrest nard. “Generally light to
Travis County Traffic Report FlightAware reported. among 1,600 roads im- City area, according to the moderate freezing rain re-
Page. About 7,000 power outag- pacted by the freeze. city’s fire department. sulting in some pretty sig-
More than 700 flights to es in Texas were reported One Texas state trooper Pictures posted on social nificant ice amounts,” Che-
or from Dallas-Fort Worth as of late Tuesday morning, was hospitalized with se- media showed the crum- nard said. q

Indiana justices won’t hear 2nd abortion case for now

By ARLEIGH RODGERS ana’s high court said it will on the argument that the in the appeals court. abortion clinic operators.
Associated Press/Report for not immediately consider law violates some people’s The American Civil Liberties The court has maintained
America a challenge to the state’s religious freedoms, leaving Union of Indiana filed the a block on the abortion
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — Indi- abortion ban that is based that decision to an appeals lawsuit in September on be- ban while it considers the
court, at least for now. half of those residents who case, after a county judge
The state Supreme Court is- hold Muslim, Jewish and in September initially found
sued an order Monday say- other faiths after Repub- the law likely violated pri-
ing the state Court of Ap- lican state lawmakers en- vacy protections under the
peals will first consider the acted the ban last summer. state constitution. While
case, after a lower court The ACLU did not immedi- Indiana’s ban is blocked,
judge in December sided ately reply to a request for abortion will remain legal
with residents who claim comment Tuesday. in the state up to 20 weeks
the state’s abortion ban Indiana’s ban, which was post-fertilization.
infringes on their religious signed into law by Repub- After the U.S. Supreme
beliefs. lican Gov. Eric Holcomb, Court overturned Roe v.
The state attorney gener- goes against those resi- Wade in June, religious
al’s office appealed that dents’ religious values re- freedoms lawsuits against
decision and asked the garding when they believe states’ abortion bans have

Abortion-rights protestors march between the Indiana high court to take up the the treatment is accept- sprouted across the coun-
Statehouse and the Indiana State Library where Vice President case in December, saying able, the lawsuit argues. try, where abortion-rights
Kamala Harris was meeting with Indiana legislators to discuss in a statement Tuesday that Earlier in January, the state supporters are aiming to
reproductive rights in Indianapolis on July 25, 2022. it would “keep defending Supreme Court heard argu- protect access to abortion
Associated Press the law and fighting for life” ments in a lawsuit filed by and defend their beliefs.q