New normal: Fence is up, National Guard on standby for State of Union

WASHINGTON (AP) — The fencing around the U.S. Capitol is back up for the president’s State of the Union address on Tuesday. Police cars with flashing lights are stationed at major intersections and highways. The U.S. National Guard is on standby.

It’s the new normal.

While there are no specific or credible threats related to President Joe Biden’s speech, law enforcement officials are taking no chances following the events of Jan. 6, 2021, when a violent mob caught the District of Columbia by surprise and successfully stormed the U.S. Capitol, briefly disrupting the certification of Biden’s 2020 presidential victory.

Since then, the U.S. Capitol Police, charged with protecting lawmakers and anyone else in and around the Capitol, has beefed up security for planned protests in the area. And this time, officials are also preparing for trucker convoys that are planning protests against pandemic restrictions beginning this week, though officials aren’t concerned about serious security issues with the possible protests.

Modeled after recent trucker protests in Canada, separate truck convoys have been planned through online forums. Many have different starting points, departure dates and routes, though some may arrive in time for the State of the Union address. Others may arrive afterward.

At least two of the announced trucker convoys have fizzled due to to a lack of participation. But the largest, known as the People’s Convoy, had reached Oklahoma and was heading east on Monday with the intention of reaching the capital by Saturday, March 5.

The State of the Union address is designated as a “national special security event,” which clears the way for communication, funding and preparation between multiple agencies in Washington, including the Capitol Police, Pentagon, Homeland Security and District-area police. Other such events are the Super Bowl and the Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The U.S. Secret Service is in charge of the event.

The event takes months to plan and officials begin discussing how to improve security as soon as the previous year’s event ends. Law enforcement officials never go into too much detail so would-be attackers aren’t tipped off. But law enforcement officials always take into account recent events — from the insurrection to trucker protests and other free speech demonstrations.

This work includes enhanced intelligence sharing and operational planning, a Critical Incident Response Plan for the U.S. Capitol, and a regional security assessment. Police in the nation’s capital have mobilized additional officers and put the department’s civil disturbance unit on alert for at least the next week, two law enforcement officials told the AP. The officials could not publicly discuss details of the preparations and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Investigators have been monitoring online chatter, which includes an array of general threats against elected officials but there are no specific or credible threats against the event, the officials said.

U.S. Capitol Police Chief Thomas Manger said Sunday the fencing is being erected around the Capitol grounds “out of an abundance of caution.”

The fence had been a stark symbol of the fear that many in the Capitol felt after the Jan. 6 mob pushed its way past overwhelmed police officers, broke through windows and doors and ransacked the Capitol. It remained up for several months, a reminder of how divided the nation was, and how much work Biden had before him in trying to repair the damage.

The fencing greatly disrupted the daily lives of residents living near the Capitol, and Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, Washington’s non-voting delegate in the House of Representatives, has said she doesn’t want the fence to stay up indefinitely this time.

“I will ensure that the fencing comes down as soon as possible to restore freedom of movement for District of Columbia residents and the general public,” Norton said in a statement last week.

Since the fence first came up and went down, it’s been re-installed once, briefly, for a rally in September that was organized to support people who remained jailed in connection with the insurrection. Law enforcement officers and members of the media vastly outnumbered the protesters and only a few incidents were reported. But Manger and other law enforcement officials said they’d rather take heat for being over-prepared than relive the nightmare of being vastly outnumbered by a violent mob.

Manger said Capitol Police have also requested additional assistance from outside law enforcement agencies before Tuesday’s address, in addition to the request for help from the National Guard.

Metropolitan Police Department Chief Robert Contee said Monday that his department is closely monitoring the shifting information and would be devoting additional policing in a rolling state of heightened alert over the next few weeks.

“We regularly handle peaceful demonstrations and welcome all to the nation’s capital to exercise their First Amendment rights,” Contee said. But he warned that the multiple security departments were “prepared to take swift law-enforcement actions for violations of our local and federal laws, if necessary.”

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By COLLEEN LONG and MICHAEL BALSAMO Associated Press

Associated Press writer Ashraf Khalil contributed to this report.

from Courthouse News

J&J, distributors finalize $26B landmark opioid settlement

CAMDEN, N.J. (AP) — Drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and three major distributors finalized nationwide settlements over their role in the opioid addiction crisis Friday, an announcement that clears the way for $26 billion to flow to nearly every state and local government in the U.S.

Taken together, the settlements are the largest to date among the many opioid-related cases that have been playing out across the country. They’re expected to provide a significant boost to efforts aimed at reversing the crisis in places that have been devastated by it, including many parts of rural America.

Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson announced the settlement plan last year, but the deal was contingent on getting participation from a critical mass of state and local governments.

Friday was the deadline for the companies to announce whether they felt enough governments had committed to participate in the settlement and relinquish the right to sue. The four companies notified lawyers for the governments in the case that their thresholds were met, meaning money could start flowing to communities by April.

“We’re never going to have enough money to immediately cure this problem,” said Joe Rice, one of the lead lawyers who represented local governments in the litigation that led to the settlement. “What we’re trying to do is give a lot of small communities a chance to try to change some of their problems.”

While none of the settlement money will go directly to victims of opioid addiction or their survivors, the vast majority of it is required to be used to deal with the epidemic. The need for the funding runs deep.

Kathleen Noonan, CEO of the Camden Coalition of Healthcare Providers, said a portion of the settlement money should be used to provide housing to people with addictions who are homeless.

“We have clients who have a hard time staying clean to make it in a shelter,” she said. “We would like to stabilize them so we can help them recover.”

Dan Keashen, a spokesman for Camden County government, said officials are thinking about using settlement money for a public education campaign to warn about the dangers of fentanyl. They also want to send more drug counselors into the streets, put additional social workers in municipal courts and pay for anti-addiction medications in the county jail.

Officials across the country are considering pumping the money into similar priorities.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s proposed budget calls for using $50 million of the state’s expected $86 million share this year for youth opioid education and to train treatment providers, improve data collection and distribute naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses.

In Florida’s Broward County, home to Fort Lauderdale, the number of beds in a county-run detoxification facility could be expanded from 50 to 70 or 75, said Danielle Wang French, a lawyer for the county.

“It’s not enough, but it’s a good start,” she said of the settlement.

With fatal overdoses continuing to rage across the U.S., largely because of the spread of fentanyl and other illicitly produced synthetic opioids, public health experts are urging governments to use the money to ensure access to drug treatment for people with addictions. They also emphasize the need to fund programs that are proven to work, collect data on their efforts and launch prevention efforts aimed at young people, all while focusing on racial equity.

“It shouldn’t be: ready, set spend,” said Joshua Sharfstein, a former secretary of the Maryland Department of Health who is now a vice dean of public health at Johns Hopkins University. “It should be: think, strategize, spend.”

In a separate deal that also is included in the $26 billion, the four companies reached a $590 million settlement with the nation’s federally recognized Native American tribes. About $2 billion is being set aside for fees and expenses for the lawyers who have spent years working on the case.

New Brunswick, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson has nine years to pay its $5 billion share. The distributors — Conshohocken, Pennsylvania-based AmerisourceBergen; Columbus, Ohio-based Cardinal Health; and Irving, Texas-based McKesson — agreed to pay their combined $21 billion over 18 years. To reach the maximum amounts, states have to get local governments to sign on.

The settlements go beyond money. J&J, which has stopped selling prescription opioids, agrees not to resume. The distributors agree to send data to a clearinghouse intended to help flag when prescription drugs are diverted to the black market.

The companies are not admitting wrongdoing and are continuing to defend themselves against claims that they helped cause the opioid crisis that were brought by entities that are not involved in the settlements.

The requirement that most of the money be used to address the opioid crisis contrasts with a series of public health settlements in the 1990s with tobacco companies. In those cases, states used big chunks of the settlement money to fill budget gaps and fund other priorities.

The amount sent to each state under the opioid settlement depends on a formula that takes into account the severity of the crisis and the population. County and local governments also get shares of the money. A handful of states — Alabama, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Washington and West Virginia — have not joined all or part of the settlement, mostly because they have their own deals or are preparing for trial.

In Camden, Lisa Davey, a recovery specialist for Maryville Addiction Treatment Center, was at a needle exchange this week handing out naloxone, a drug that reverses overdoses, and asking people if they wanted to start treatment.

Davey said she wants to see detoxification and treatment programs receive more funding to keep people in them for longer. As it is, she said, users can detox and be back out on the streets in search of drugs within days.

“They need more time to work their recovery,” she said.

A man picking up clean needles who asked to be identified only as Anthony P. said he was 46 and had struggled with addiction since he was a teenager. He said he’d like to see an effort to cut off fentanyl and related synthetic opioids that are driving overdose death rates from the drug supply.

“Fentanyl’s got to go,” he said.

Martha Chavis, president and CEO of Camden Area Health Education Center, which runs the needle exchange, said one need is offering services like hers in more places. Now, users from far-flung suburbs travel into Camden to get clean needles and kits to test their drugs for fentanyl.

The settlement with J&J and the three distributors marks a major step toward resolving the vast constellation of lawsuits in the U.S. over liability for an epidemic that has been linked to the deaths of more than 500,000 Americans over the past two decades.

Other companies, including business consultant McKinsey and drugmakers Endo, Mallinckrodt and Teva, have reached national settlements or a series of local ones. OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and a group of states are in mediation through U.S. Bankruptcy Court to try to reach a nationwide settlement.

The crisis has deepened during the coronavirus pandemic, with U.S. opioid-related deaths reaching a high of more than 76,000 in the 12 months that ended in April 2021, largely because of the spread of fentanyl and other lab-made drugs. A recent report from a commission by The Lancet medical journal projected that 1.2 million Americans could die of opioid overdose between 2020 and 2029 without policy changes.

John F. Kelly, a professor of psychiatry in addiction medicine at Harvard Medical School, said he wants to see money from the settlements go not just for treatment, recovery and support efforts but also to build systems designed to prevent this sort of epidemic from happening again.

“Some kind of national board or organization could be set up … to prevent this kind of lack of oversight from happening again — where industry is allowed to create a public health hazard,” he said.

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By GEOFF MULVIHILL Associated Press

from Courthouse News

Oklahoma executes man for role in 2005 quadruple slaying

McALESTER, Okla. (AP) — Oklahoma executed a man Thursday for his role in a quadruple slaying in 2005.

Gilbert Ray Postelle, 35, received a lethal injection at the Oklahoma State Penitentiary in McAlester and was declared dead by prison officials at 10:14 a.m. It was Oklahoma’s fourth execution since October, when the state resumed lethal injections following a nearly seven-year hiatus.

During a clemency hearing in December, Postelle did not deny his involvement in the Memorial Day 2005 shooting deaths of James Alderson, Terry Smith, Donnie Swindle and Amy Wright. But Postelle’s attorney, Robert Nance, argued that his client suffered from a learning disability, the abandonment of his mother at a young age and had begun abusing methamphetamine on a nearly daily basis beginning at age 12.

“He’s a different man than he was,” Nance told the Pardon and Parole Board. “I think he needs a certain amount of forgiveness because he grew up in an environment that was almost exclusively negative.”

Postelle himself also testified via video link from the prison that he had been using meth for days before the killings and remembered little about the crimes.

“I do understand that I’m guilty and I accept that,” he said. “There’s nothing more that I know to say to you all than I am truly sorry for what I’ve done to all these families.”

Prosecutors say Postelle, his brother David Postelle, father Brad Postelle and another man carried out the killings in a “blitz attack” motivated by their belief that Swindle was responsible for a motorcycle accident that left Brad Postelle seriously injured. But prosecutors said there was no evidence that Swindle was involved in the crash.

Gilbert Postelle received two death sentences for the killings of Wright and Alderson after evidence showed he pursued the two as they were trying to flee and shot them from behind with a rifle.

“In her final moments, Amy Wright was screaming and clawing the ground to escape from Gilbert Postelle,” Assistant Attorney General Julie Pittman told the board.

The board also heard powerful testimony from one of the victim’s mothers, Mary Joe Swindle, who said she never got to see her son’s body because it was so riddled with bullets. The panel ultimately voted 4-1 to deny clemency for Postelle.

Oklahoma once had one of the busiest death chambers in the country, but all executions were put on hold in 2015 after a botched lethal injection in 2014 and drug mix-ups that led to one inmate being executed with the wrong drug. Another inmate was just moments away from being led to the death chamber before prison officials realized the same wrong drug had been delivered for his execution.

In 2020, Oklahoma’s then-Attorney General Mike Hunter said the state had secured a source of drugs, fine-tuned its lethal injection protocols and was prepared to resume executions using a three-drug combination that includes the sedative midazoloam, vecuronium bromide, a paralytic, and potassium chloride, which stops the heart.

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By SEAN MURPHY Associated Press Writer

from Courthouse News

A country of snitches

Today’s Republican Party’s model of government is the East German Stasi.

What else can we think when Virginia Governor Glenn the Great Pumpkin Youngkin sets up a state-supported snitch line for parents, students — anyone, anywhere — to report public schoolteachers for teaching about “divisive” “concepts.”

For instance: Slavery existed in this land for more years than it did not (1619-1863 v. 1863-2022).

Q: “Class, which is greater, or rather, larger: 244 years or 159 years?

A: “No, I’m sorry, José, 159 is greater than 244. So sit down and shut up.”

But as Plato wrote, we must “give the palm” (cough up some money) to snitches in Texas who inform on their neighbors — and daughters, wives, sons and cab drivers — who assist, in any way, a woman who seeks an abortion, even if she would die without it.

And Texans’ tax money pays the snitches $10,000 a pop for it. Great deal, Gov. Abbott: Break up families by giving them financial incentives to inform on one another.

Imagine this, Gov. Greg Sturmfűhrer: An abusive, alcoholic husband with five kids beats them and his wife almost religiously; then the wife gets pregnant again and contracts endometriosis, suffers terrible pain, needs operations to save her life, and the husband beats all five of his kids into turning their mom in to Greg Abbott for seeking an abortion, which, with the husband’s testimony, will net that dysfunctional family $60,000, minimum, from the state — tax money. $10,000 apiece for turning in their mom, and another $10,000 for the husband: Money for snitches, while their mother dies at the hands of their father.

It could happen. And this fine Texas dad could be rewarded for it.

Meanwhile, one of Gov. SnitchMeister’s Gruppenfűhrers, state Rep. Matt Krause, has demanded that Texas public schools tell him whether they have any of 850 books on his list that he thinks have no business in school libraries. 

Would it surprise you to know that virtually all of these books are by or about Black folks and other people of color, and/or mention sex, in any way at all? According to the Dallas Morning News: “Krause is refusing to give details about how he generated the list and what could happen to districts that carry the titles.”

Five-term Republican Krause, chairman of the Texas state House General Investigating Committee — in common parlance, Gruppenfűhrer — told the Morning News he “doesn’t believe he’s read any of the books” on his burn list, which include William Styron’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “The Confessions of Nat Turner,” Joseph Conrad’s classic “Heart of Darkness,” Shirley Jackson’s short story “The Lottery,” Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale” (available anywhere you’ve got a TV), and nonfiction titles such as “The Legal Atlas of the United States,” and “Teen Legal Rights.”

One book series that already has been burned is — get ready for this — Harry Potter.

What’s next, Gruppenfűhrer Krause? Should we prevent middle- and high-school teachers from whispering about Art. 1, Sec. 2, of the U.S. Constitution, which counts Black slaves as “three fifths” of a person?

Should we prohibit teaching Article 1, Section 2, in public schools, Herr Gruppenfűhrer? It might make three-fifths of a Black child uncomfortable.

Gruppenfűhrer Krause, by the way, is a paid speaker for WallBuilders, which is “educating the nation concerning the Godly foundation of our country’ and providing information to elected officials ‘as they develop public policies which reflect Biblical values.”

Good on ya, Gruppenfűhrer: Now, since you so godly and all, why’ntcha you g’wan out there and slay them damn Democrats with the jawbone of an ass. Or is you doing that already?

But snitching on neighbors and strangers is not the Republicans’ only plan for turning the United States into a godly police state. The Party also wants to learn us (as Mark Twain would say) about their perverted “understanding” of history.

Consider Oklahoma House Bill 1775, which prohibits public schools from teaching that “one race is the unique oppressor in the institution of slavery” or that “another race is the unique victim in the institution of slavery.” 

Damn. Now our kids will never learn about all those horrible Black plantation owners who whipped their White slaves and made them pick cotton. Such a shame our kids might never learn about this.

Now let us consider (sigh) Florida, where Gov. Mini-Him is exerting all of his tiny brain power to pass a bill that, the Associated Press reported, would “prohibit public schools and private businesses from making white people feel ‘discomfort’ when they teach students or train employees about discrimination in the nation’s past.”

Wow. Talk about some white snowflakes.

Here’s a short quiz: 

Q: When did President Harry Truman desegregate the U.S. Armed Forces by executive order?

A: 1948.

Q: When did interracial marriage become legal in California?

A: 1948.

Q: Who were Emmett Till, Andrew Goodman, Michael Schwerner and James Chaney?

A: Do tell.

Q: Where were the Nov. 2, 1920, Ocoee Election Day massacre, the 1923 Rosewood massacre, and Ax Handle Saturday of 1960; and, after Mississippi, which state had the most per capita lynchings of Black people from 1880 to 1940?

A: Florida, Florida, Florida, Florida.

Q: Feeling any “discomfort” yet, Gruppenfűhrer de Santiti? (Little governor-Nazi saint).

A: O yeah? So what?

But let’s get back to East Germany and the Stasi (born Feb. 8, 1950 — died Jan. 13, 1990). At its dissolution after the fall of the Soviet Union, the Stasi had 91,015 “regular employees” and 174,000 “informal employees,” aka snitches: i.e., nearly twice as many patriotic snitches as paid government snitches. The actual number of “informal” snitches was almost certainly far greater.

This seems to be Republicans’ notion of an ideal state. More than 20 million people work for our federal, state and local governments today. If the Sturmfűhrerspersuade enough of us to live down to the ideals of the Stasi, we could have more than 40 million snitches spying on us. In addition to Facebook.

Wouldn’t that be efficient? With all of us spying upon one another, lured by money and Patriotism merit badges, wouldn’t it help reduce the “government spending” the Republicans are always whining about? 

Did a seventh-grade social studies teacher say something “divisive”? Haul her in. Did she mention a dangerous “concept”? Fire her.

Did a cabbie or a Lyft driver drop a woman off at a Planned Parenthood office, and did her husband pick her up 90 minutes later and drive her home? Bust all of them, and cash in on it.

This is sick. This is perverted. “Family values” my ass.

from Courthouse News

Push to ban lawmakers from stock trading gets Pelosi’s nod

WASHINGTON (CN) — Calling on Democrats to study legislation that would ban lawmakers from trading stocks during their time in office, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday marked an about-face from her previous and public opposition to the idea.

Back in December, Pelosi responded to questions about her support for stock trading by noting that lawmakers should be able to participate in the free market.

Demonstrating a decisive shift in a press conference Wednesday morning, however, Pelosi announced an order for the House Administration Committee to review legislation on the issue being worked on by members of her party.

Scrutiny of politicians’ financial portfolios took new heights during the pandemic, fueled by timely stock trades that several lawmakers made after closed-door briefings in the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Along with Democratic Senator Diane Feinstein of California, three Republicans, Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina and Senator Kelly Loeffler of Georgia and Senator Jim Inhofe of Oklahoma, all faced anticlimactic investigations into stocks they offloaded after a classified Covid-19 briefing at the start of the pandemic. The investigation of Burr lasted the longest but sputtered out this past January.

While the 2012 Stock Act placed some regulations on Congress members’ financial dealings, requiring disclosures and banning the use of insider information in trading, the act is rarely enforced and when it is, sanctions are often minimal.

In addition to new reforms, Pelosi said any legislation should include stronger fines for anyone found in violation of the Stock Act.

Pelosi herself has been the target of some public criticism. Although she does not hold stocks herself, her husband is a venture capitalist and investor with millions invested in the stock market.

The speaker made clear that she supports reform that would not only target lawmakers, but the judiciary as well.

“It has to be government-wide,” Pelosi said. “The third branch of government, the judiciary, has no reporting. The Supreme Court has no disclosure, it has no reporting of stock transactions and it makes important decisions every day. I do believe in the integrity of people in public service, I want the public to have that understanding. We have to do this to deter something that we see as a problem, but it is a confidence issue and if that’s what the members want to do, then that’s what we will do.”

Pelosi’s support comes as more than two dozen lawmakers from both sides of the aisle have called on congressional leadership to back reform.

While there has been some bipartisan support behind the push for sanctions on stock trading among lawmakers, there are several bills and proposals floating around Congress about how to do so.

Senator Jon Ossoff, a Democrat from Georgia, and Senator Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, introduced legislation that would require lawmakers and family member to put stocks in a blind trust, where an independent trustee would be responsible for selling and buying on the market.

This measure has drawn support from Representative Chip Roy, a Republican from Texas, who co-sponsored a similar proposal with Democrat Representative Abigail Spanberger of Virginia early last year.

Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri introduced a bill similar to the Ossoff0Kelly proposal, but that would not apply to lawmakers’ spouses or dependents.

Some Democrats are calling for stricter reforms that would ban lawmakers and their spouses from owning or trading individual stocks at all, only allowing them to hold diversified portfolios such as mutual funds.

Early Wednesday, Representative Andy Kim, a Democrat from New Jersey introduced a bill that would go beyond previous proposals, banning individual stock ownership among members of Congress, the executive and federal judges.

Democrats will need to sort through these proposals to draft legislation they can get support for in the 50-50 Senate.

“What we’re trying to build is consensus,” Pelosi said, noting that Democrats will announce a united proposal “pretty soon.”

from Courthouse News

Unemployment programs

Read the opinion here.

from Courthouse News

Cold snap tests Texas’ electric grid improvements

HOUSTON (CN) — Heaters are cranked up and fireplaces are crackling across Texas Thursday night with a polar front dropping temperatures into the teens.

Yet state officials have assured residents they will not see a repeat of February 2021 when Winter Storm Uri pushed the state’s electric grid to the brink of collapse, and set off widespread, lengthy blackouts that left 246 dead, according to the state’s official tally, more than 60%from hypothermia.

The Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the state’s grid manager, has issued a Winter Weather Watch through Feb. 6, but says it is well-positioned to handle a spike in demand.

The state’s grid had reserves of 6,784 megawatts of electricity, enough to power more than 1.3 million homes, as of 7:30 p.m. Thursday, according to ERCOT’s real-time data tracker.

Those reserves are sure to dwindle as the National Weather Service in Fort Worth has warned of hypothermia-inducing wind chills of -5 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit from Thursday night to Friday morning, and more than 5 inches of snow has fallen in Haskell, pop. 3,195, near the Oklahoma border.

“I just hope it’s not like last year. That was horrible,” a Houston court clerk was overheard telling a coworker Thursday afternoon.

Governor Greg Abbott has tried to tamp down Texans’ fears about another grid disaster.

The Republican governor is running for a third term this year and pundits say more blackouts like the ones a year ago that shut off the power in bitter cold temperatures to millions of Texas homes and businesses, some for as long as four days, could irrevocably damage his reelection bid.

In the fallout of Winter Storm Uri, state lawmakers passed legislation requiring the Public Utility Commission of Texas, which oversees ERCOT, with implementing new weatherization rules for power plant operators, and raised the maximum penalty for those who do not comply to $1 million per day.

The commission tasked ERCOT with inspecting the plants. And ERCOT on Jan. 18 filed a winter readiness report stating 321 out of 324 electric generation units and transmission facilities had fully passed the PUC’s new regulations.

Still, Abbott warned early this week that isolated outages will occur and early Thursday 70,000 Texas homes and businesses were without electricity due to heavy winds and downed trees damaging power lines.

The number of customers without power in Texas had fallen to around 24,000 around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, according to poweroutage.us.

And the governor says downed lines will be quickly repaired.

“More than 10,000 linemen are already on the ground to assist with power issues and almost 2,000 more linemen are being deployed from outside of the state. Governor Abbott has issued a disaster declaration for 17 counties most affected by the icy conditions. This includes waiving regulations to ensure these additional linemen can more rapidly make repairs to power lines,” his office said in a statement.

The Texas Division of Emergency Management says those who lose power can also seek refuge at one of 185 warming centers. It has an online map with info about each site.

Dozens of Texas school districts have canceled classes Friday as officials are warning people to stay off the roads.

Temperatures in the state are expected to rise from highs of 35 to 43 degrees on Friday to 41 to 53, with the lowest of those temps in the Dallas area.

And by Sunday McAllen, Texas, near the Mexico border, will reach a relatively balmy 61 degrees, according to AccuWeather meteorologists.

from Courthouse News