US Domestic News Roundup: Winter storm pulls way from Texas; Crunling Trump Plaza hotel is demolished and more

Some 2.7 million households in Texas, the largest electricity consuming state in the United States, were without heat on Wednesday as freezing temperatures in a normally temperate part of the country overwhelmed demand, causing blackouts and widespread anger.

Following is a summary of current US domestic news briefs.

Winter storm pulls away from Texas, but millions still without power

The winter storm that crippled the Texas electrical grid is moving out of the state, but freezing temperatures remain, hampering attempts to restore full power as residents struggle. With 2.7 million Texas households still without heat Thursday morning, leaders warned of the dangers with a domino effect on infrastructure.

On Jersey Shore, crumbling Trump Plaza hotel is demolished

Crowds cheered as the Trump Plaza Hotel and Casino in Atlantic City was demolished on Wednesday, the oceanfront eyesore bearing the name of the former U.S. president disappearing in a cascading collapse. Trump, a Republican who was a real estate developer before moving to the White House, opened the hotel and oceanside casino in 1984 but lost control of the property in a 2009 bankruptcy.

L.A. schools to open vaccination site specifically for school staff

A COVID-19 vaccination site specifically for educators will open soon in Los Angeles County, school officials said on Wednesday, as teachers in the area's largest school district demand vaccine access before returning to in-person learning. The site at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood, California, was announced a day after the county reached a threshold of fewer than 25 new cases per 100,000 people for five consecutive days. At that level, the state gives districts the discretion to resume in-person instruction for kindergarten through sixth grade if they have met other conditions.

Texas energy freeze stretches to sixth day, raises

Mexico's ire Texas's freeze entered a sixth day on Thursday, as the largest energy-producing state in the United States grappled with massive refining outages and oil and gas shutins that rippled beyond its borders into neighboring Mexico. The cold snap, which has killed at least 21 people and knocked out power to more than 4 million people in Texas, is not expected to let up until this weekend. The deep freeze has shut in about one-fifth of the nation's refining capacity and closed oil and natural gas production across the state.

Thousands of 'cold-stunned' sea turtles rescued off coast of

Texas The brutal cold snap that has frozen Texas hasn't only numbed unprepared people to the bone - thousands of turtles have been caught off-guard too. Thousands of sea turtles unused to the plunge in temperatures have been washing up on the beaches of South Padre Island, off the southern coast of Texas. Volunteers have brought some 4,700 of them to a convention centre, where they are being kept in tubs and enclosures before they can be released when the water is warmer.

How the battle over redistricting in 2021 could decide control of the

U.S. Congress With the rancorous 2020 U.S. election now over, Democrats and Republicans are girding for another national political battle with enormous stakes: redistricting. The once-a-decade process of redrawing electoral maps can determine which party controls Congress. Though Democrats hold power in Washington, Republicans have the redistricting advantage heading into 2021.

U.S. conservative radio provocateur and Trump ally Rush Limbaugh dies Provocative and polarizing

U.S. talk radio luminary Rush Limbaugh, a leading voice on the American political right since the 1980s who boosted, and was honored by, former President Donald Trump, has died at age 70 after suffering from lung cancer, his wife said on Wednesday. Limbaugh, who pioneered the American media phenomenon of conservative talk radio and became an enthusiastic combatant in the U.S. culture wars, disclosed in February 2020 that he had been diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. In a statement announcing his death, his wife Kathryn Adams Limbaugh said, "Rush's love for our country, and for all of you, will live on eternally."

As Texas shivers through fourth day of outage, finger-pointing begins

Widespread power outages and bone chilling cold that left millions of Texans to shiver in the dark sparked a fury this week among residents and politicians eager to uncover what - and who - was to blame for a massive failure of its energy infrastructure. As temperatures dropped and record snow fell on areas not accustomed to the cold, power generation tumbled with fuel starved plants shutting even as electricity demand surged. A projected call for 75,000 megawatts on Tuesday was met with up to 55,500 megawatts, leading to widespread outages.

Texas ranchers scramble to keep animals alive in unusual cold

Texas ranchers worked overtime to haul water and hay to cattle to keep them alive during a freak winter storm, but some cows have already succumbed to unusual icy temperatures that also killed chickens, idled meat plants and threatened crops. The deaths of baby cows in the top U.S. cattle state and struggles to care for surviving livestock are the latest challenges for ranchers who over the past year have dealt with COVID-19 cutting demand for meat at restaurants and shuttering slaughterhouses.

Texas power consumers to pay the price of winter storm

Texas residents suffering a winter storm that has left millions without power are set to face a future challenge in higher utility bills, after the days-long cold snap put an unprecedented strain on the state's power network. Some 2.7 million households in Texas, the largest electricity consuming state in the United States, were without heat on Wednesday as freezing temperatures in a normally temperate part of the country overwhelmed demand, causing blackouts and widespread anger.