US News Roundup: Chicago teachers face work stoppage in COVID-19 safety plan dispute; Major storm barreling toward New York City, 20 inches could fall on midtown and more

The third-largest school district in the United States told the parents of 62,000 elementary and middle school students who opted to begin taking some of their classes in their schools on Monday to stay home, saying it hopes to resume in-person classes for those students on Tuesday.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Chicago teachers face work stoppage in COVID-19 safety plan dispute

Chicago teachers appeared headed on Monday for a strike or lock-out over their latest dispute with the third-largest U.S. school district after the two sides failed to come to an agreement on a novel coronavirus safety plan. The Chicago Public Schools (CPS) late on Sunday told the parents of 67,000 pre-kindergarten, special education, elementary and middle school students, who were scheduled to attend in-person classes on Monday, to keep their children at home after it could not reach an agreement with the Chicago Teachers Union (CTU).

Major storm barreling toward New York City, 20 inches could fall on midtown

New York, Boston and other cities in the northeast could be blanketed with nearly two feet (60.96 cm) of snow on Monday, as a "long duration" major winter storm headed toward the U.S. coast, the National Weather Service said. Snow is expected to begin late Sunday night across a wide swath of the northeast, with "in excess of 20 inches of snow in parts of eastern Pennsylvania, northern New Jersey, southern New York, and into southern New England," the NWS said in bulletin.

Republicans press Biden to scale back $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief plan

Ten moderate Republican U.S. senators urged President Joe Biden on Sunday to significantly downsize his sweeping $1.9 trillion COVID-19 relief package to win bipartisan support as Democrats in Congress prepared to push ahead with his plan this week. Biden responded by inviting the Republican lawmakers to the White House this week for talks, spokeswoman Jen Psaki said, even as he continues to seek a comprehensive, large-scale measure.

Once united in support of Biden, environmentalists and unions clash over pipelines

Environmentalists and labor unions that threw their support behind U.S. President Joseph Biden now find themselves on the opposite sides of a battle over the construction of big pipeline projects between Canada and the United States. The United States is the world's largest producer of oil and gas. Biden's administration aims to transition the U.S. economy towards net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, and his initial moves towards that goal included cancelling a permit for the Keystone XL crude oil pipeline (KXL) and reducing oil-and-gas leasing.

Chicago schools postpone in-person classes over COVID-19 safety plan

Chicago Public Schools on Sunday delayed the resumption of in-person classes for thousands of elementary and middle school students by at least a day as the district and teachers failed to reach an agreement on a COVID-19 safety plan. The third-largest school district in the United States told the parents of 62,000 elementary and middle school students who opted to begin taking some of their classes in their schools on Monday to stay home, saying it hopes to resume in-person classes for those students on Tuesday.

Kushner, Berkowitz nominated for Nobel peace prize for Israel deals

Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his deputy, Avi Berkowitz, were nominated by a friendly attorney on Sunday for the Nobel Peace Prize for their role in negotiating four normalization deals between Israel and Arab nations known as the "Abraham Accords." The deals were announced in a four-month span between mid-August and mid-December and were the most significant diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East in 25 years as the region girds for a prolonged confrontation with Iran.

Trump faces Tuesday deadline to deliver formal response to impeachment as trial looms

Former U.S. President Donald Trump's unprecedented second impeachment trial takes shape this week, as Democrats outline their case and Trump scrambles to prepare a defense amid disarray on his legal team. Trump is due to file a response to the impeachment charge on Tuesday but replaced his lead legal counsel over the weekend.

U.S. patients scramble for appointments for second COVID-19 vaccine dose

As the number of Americans ready for their second COVID-19 vaccine shot grows, some are falling through the cracks of an increasingly complex web of providers and appointment systems. While many people are getting the required second doses, the process is taking a toll on some of the most vulnerable - older adults who in many cases rely on family members or friends to navigate complex sign-up systems and inconvenient locations.

Super Bowl security officers prep for triple threat of pandemic, politics and hometown crowds

At the stadium and behind the scenes, security officials in Tampa are bracing for a daunting range of potential threats to the Super Bowl this year, from COVID-19 and domestic terror attacks to unruly crowds cheering on their home team. The National Football League championship, which requires security coordination from some 70 local, state and federal agencies, will be played under unprecedented threat conditions with a national domestic terrorism advisory in place following the U.S. Capitol siege on Jan. 6 and the COVID-19 pandemic raging. It will also be the first Super Bowl matchup featuring a team - the Tampa Bay Buccaneers - on its home turf.

Exclusive: Dozens of former Bush officials leave Republican Party, calling it 'Trump cult'

Dozens of Republicans in former President George W. Bush's administration are leaving the party, dismayed by a failure of many elected Republicans to disown Donald Trump after his false claims of election fraud sparked a deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol last month. These officials, some who served in the highest echelons of the Bush administration, said they had hoped that a Trump defeat would lead party leaders to move on from the former president and denounce his baseless claims that the November presidential election was stolen.