AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EST

Snow, ice, wind and bitter cold pummels the northern US in dangerous winter storm

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A dangerous winter storm swept the northern U.S. on Friday, with blinding snow in some places, freezing rain in others, and bitter cold temperatures and whipping winds across several states.

The massive storm continues a week of strong winter weather for much of the U.S. that has led to deadly avalanches and treacherous ice-covered roads. On Friday, a man was believed dead in an avalanche in the Idaho backcountry. A Wisconsin man died while snow-blowing his driveway.

Political leaders in Illinois implored Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to stop sending migrants to Chicago, which is on the verge of dangerous weather. Abbott refused.

Authorities announced Friday that a suburban Chicago man died of cold exposure, apparently becoming the first cold-related death of the season. The man, whose identity wasn’t released, was found Thursday in the suburb of Schiller Park, the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

An autopsy performed Friday found that the man’s death was weather-related, and the medical examiner’s office ruled it an accident.

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US military strikes another Houthi-controlled site after warning ships to avoid parts of Red Sea

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military early Saturday struck another Houthi-controlled site in Yemen that it had determined was putting commercial vessels in the Red Sea at risk, two U.S. officials said, a day after the U.S. and Britain launched multiple airstrikes targeting Houthi rebels.

Associated Press journalists in Sanaa, Yemen’s capital, heard one loud explosion.

The first day of strikes Friday hit 28 locations and struck more than 60 targets. However, the U.S. determined the additional location, a radar site, still presented a threat to maritime traffic, one official said. The officials spoke anonymously to the AP to discuss an operation that hadn’t yet been publicly announced.

President Joe Biden had warned Friday that the Houthis could face further strikes.

The latest strike came after the U.S. Navy on Friday warned American-flagged vessels to steer clear of areas around Yemen in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden for the next 72 hours after the initial airstrikes. The warning came as Yemen’s Houthis vowed fierce retaliation, further raising the prospect of a wider conflict in a region already beset by Israel’s war in Gaza.

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Israel defends itself at the UN’s top court against allegations of genocide in Gaza

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, Israel insisted at the United Nations’ highest court Friday that its war in Gaza was a legitimate defense of its people and that it was Hamas militants who were guilty of genocide.

Israel described the allegations leveled by South Africa as hypocritical and said one of the biggest cases ever to come before an international court reflected a world turned upside down. Israeli leaders defend their air and ground offensive in Gaza as a legitimate response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, when militants stormed through Israeli communities, killing some 1,200 people and taking around 250 hostage.

Israeli legal advisor Tal Becker told a packed auditorium at the ornate Palace of Peace in The Hague that the country is fighting a “war it did not start and did not want.”

“In these circumstances, there can hardly be a charge more false and more malevolent than the allegation against Israel of genocide,” he added, noting that the horrible suffering of civilians in war was not enough to level that charge.

On Friday afternoon, Germany said it wants to intervene in the proceedings on Israel’s behalf, saying there was “no basis whatsoever” for an accusation of genocide against Israel.

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Austin ordered strikes from hospital where he continues to get prostate cancer care, Pentagon says

WASHINGTON (AP) — From his hospital room, Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin first orchestrated and then watched in real time as the U.S. retaliatory attack on Yemen-based Houthi militants unfolded Thursday night.

Austin’s hospital-room leadership was the latest in a series of actions the defense chief has carried out from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where he has been recovering from complications due to treatments for prostate cancer. Austin only revealed he had prostate cancer on Tuesday — the same day that the Houthis launched their most aggressive onslaught to date of 18 drones and missiles at commercial and military vessels in the Red Sea. That attack that set the stage for Thursday’s military operation.

Austin is now in his 12th day of hospitalization at Walter Reed and the Pentagon does not know what day he will be released.

On Friday, President Joe Biden said it was a lapse in judgment for Austin to keep his hospitalization and prostate cancer diagnosis a secret, but said he still has confidence in the Pentagon chief.

In the days since, Austin has turned his room into a secure communications suite. He’s called top military leaders, talked to the president, considered options and later ordered the strikes, Pentagon press secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said Friday.

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Some Americans will get their student loans canceled in February as Biden accelerates his new plan

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration will start canceling student loans for some borrowers in February as part of a new repayment plan that’s taking effect nearly six months ahead of schedule.

Loan forgiveness was originally set to begin in July under the new SAVE repayment plan, but it’s being accelerated to provide faster relief to borrowers, President Joe Biden said Friday. It’s part of an effort “to act as quickly as possible to give more borrowers breathing room” and move on from their student debt, the Democratic president said in a statement.

Borrowers will be eligible for cancellation if they are enrolled in the new SAVE plan, if they originally borrowed $12,000 or less to attend college, and if they have made at least 10 years of payments. The Education Department said it didn’t immediately know how many borrowers will be eligible for cancellation in February.

Biden announced the new repayment plan last year alongside a separate plan to cancel up to $20,000 in loans for millions of Americans. The Supreme Court struck down his plan for widespread forgiveness, but the repayment plan has so far escaped that level of legal scrutiny. Unlike his proposal for mass cancellation — which had never been done before — the repayment plan is a twist on existing income-based plans created by Congress more than a decade ago.

Republicans in Congress tried unsuccessfully to block the new repayment plan through legislation and a resolution last year.

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State trooper plunges into icy Vermont pond to save 8-year-old girl

CAMBRIDGE, Vt. (AP) — A Vermont state trooper plunged into a frigid pond and pulled out an 8-year-old girl who had fallen through the ice while playing with siblings. The child survived and fully recovered after a brief hospital stay.

The girl and her younger sister fell through the thin ice on the pond on private property in the town of Cambridge on Dec. 17, state police said in a news release Friday. The 80-year-old homeowner was able to pull the younger girl to shore but couldn’t reach the older girl, so called 911, officials said.

Trooper Michelle Archer was nearby and arrived less than five minutes later, police said. She pulled a rope and flotation device from her cruiser, ran to the pond and swam to the girl, according to body camera video released by state police. She swam back to shore with the girl, and a second trooper who arrived as she was bringing her out of the water carried the child to a waiting ambulance.

The girl was taken to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington for treatment of injuries that at first were thought to be life-threatening, police said. She has made a complete recovery and returned home.

Vermont State Police leadership have commended Troopers Archer and Keith Cote and the homeowner “for their selfless, heroic conduct, and all three have been recommended to receive the agency’s Lifesaving Award,” state police said.

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Prosecutors to seek death penalty for white supremacist who killed 10 at Buffalo supermarket

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — Federal prosecutors said Friday that they will seek the death penalty against a white supremacist who killed 10 Black people at a Buffalo supermarket.

Payton Gendron, 20, is already serving a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole after he pleaded guilty to state charges of murder and hate-motivated domestic terrorism in the 2022 attack.

New York does not have capital punishment, but the Justice Department had the option of seeking the death penalty in a separate federal hate crimes case. Gendron had promised to plead guilty in that case if prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty.

The decision marks the first time that President Joe Biden’s Justice Department has authorized a new pursuit of the death penalty.

Gendron drove more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from his home in rural Conklin, New York, to a Tops Friendly Market in Buffalo’s largely Black East Side neighborhood, where he shot eight supermarket customers, the store security guard and a church deacon who drove shoppers to and from the store with their groceries. Three people were wounded but survived.

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US intensifies oversight of Boeing, will begin production audits after latest mishap for planemaker

The Federal Aviation Administration says it will increase oversight of Boeing and audit production of the 737 Max 9 jetliner after a panel blew off an Alaska Airlines plane in midflight last week, the latest in a string of mishaps at the troubled aircraft maker.

The FAA said Friday that it would judge whether Boeing and its parts suppliers followed approved quality procedures.

Amid reports of continued manufacturing problems, the FAA also said it’s reconsidering a longstanding practice of relying on employees at aircraft manufacturers to perform some safety analysis of planes. Members of Congress criticized the practice of deputizing Boeing employees as inspectors after two deadly crashes involving Boeing 737 Max 8 planes in 2018 and 2019.

“It is time to re-examine the delegation of authority and assess any associated safety risks,” said new FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker. “The FAA is exploring the use of an independent third party to oversee Boeing’s inspections and its quality system.”

Whitaker suggested that the FAA might find “a technical, nonprofit organization” to help oversee Boeing’s work. The agency also said it will increase monitoring of problems reported on Max 9 flights.

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Are divorce albums breaking new ground? Miley Cyrus, Kelly Clarkson, Kelsea Ballerini make the case

LOS ANGELES (AP) — When the 2024 Grammy nominations were announced, one thing was immediately apparent: Women outpaced men in the major categories.

The leading artists — superstars like SZA, Taylor Swift, and Olivia Rodrigo — reflect an incredible diversity of skill with acclaimed albums that mine all corners of the human experience.

One such corner: divorce.

An influx of new releases from Kelly Clarkson, Miley Cyrus and Kelsea Ballerini reimagine the divorce album in all its complexity. While the music industry has long been youth-obsessed, there may be something to the fact that these musicians are all women in their 30s and 40s and consequently possess a kind of self-assuredness and rich, emotional maturity. In a culture where relatability is currency, relationship stories with the weight and wisdom of age register as fresh. If all popstars are teenaged, where does that leave the rest of us? Perhaps the depth of a breakup ballad is felt more acutely when a public split plays out in tabloid headlines — and there’s a lot more to lose.

Cyrus’ malleable pop “Flowers,” one of AP’s picks for best songs of 2023, is a pep talk-turned-empowerment banger — the sound of a woman learning about herself again after a decadelong relationship ended in divorce. She’s raked in five nominations, including album of the year for “Endless Summer Vacation.”

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Patriots name Jerod Mayo as next head coach, Bill Belichick’s successor

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. (AP) — Jerod Mayo spent his entire professional football career learning from Bill Belichick, first as a player and then as an assistant.

He’ll now have the weighty task of succeeding the future Hall of Famer and leading a New England Patriots team as its first new voice in more than two decades.

The Patriots named Mayo to succeed Belichick as the franchise’s 15th head coach on Friday. Mayo is the first Black head coach in team history.

He will be formally introduced at a news conference on Wednesday, the team announced.

Mayo played eight NFL seasons and won a Super Bowl ring with the Patriots during the 2014 season. He has been an assistant under Belichick since 2019, serving primarily as the Patriots linebackers coach. He’ll become the NFL’s youngest head coach at age 37.