Multiple Crises Unfold Across the U.S.: Government Shutdown, Severe Weather, Health Concerns, and Violence
Washington D.C. – The United States faced a confluence of crises Sunday, ranging from a partial government shutdown to severe weather, a measles outbreak at an immigration detention center, and a fatal shooting of a police officer.
Dozens of federal agencies experienced a lapse in funding at 12 a.m. Saturday, triggering a partial government shutdown. According to CBS News, the Senate passed a bipartisan funding package late Friday, but it requires approval from the House, which is expected to return to Washington on Monday. The agreement involves passing five long-term spending bills while extending funding for the Department of Homeland Security for two weeks to allow for talks over immigration enforcement reforms. Democrats and the White House reached a deal after Democrats raised objections about funding for immigration agencies.
Meanwhile, a powerful winter storm, described as a "bomb cyclone," continued to impact the East Coast. Blizzard-like conditions brought heavy snow to the Southeast and frigid temperatures to much of the East Coast, according to CBS News. Coastal flooding, high winds, and bitter cold remained a concern through Sunday afternoon as the storm moved into the Atlantic. Approximately 150 million people were under cold weather alerts. The storm followed another icy storm from the previous week that left tens of thousands of homes and businesses without power and was blamed for dozens of weather-related deaths. Charlotte, North Carolina, experienced one of its heaviest snowfalls in years, with some areas receiving a foot or more of snow.
In Texas, the Department of Homeland Security reported that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) halted "all movement" at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center after two detainees were confirmed to have "active measles infections," according to CBS News. The cases were detected Friday. Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a statement to CBS News that ICE Health Services Corps "immediately took steps to quarantine and control further spread and infection, ceasing all movement within the facility and quarantining all." The facility houses parents and children taken into federal custody over alleged violations of immigration law. The center is located in south Texas, roughly an hour's drive from San Antonio.
In international news, tensions remained high in the Middle East. Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warned that any attack on the country by the United States would spark a "regional war," according to CBS News. Khamenei's comments, made while speaking to a crowd at his compound in Tehran and as quoted by the Tasnim news agency, represent the most direct threat he has made since the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier group arrived in international waters off Iran, in the Persian Gulf.
In Georgia, a police officer was killed and another critically wounded in a shooting at a hotel in suburban Atlanta, according to the Associated Press. The shooting occurred early Sunday after two officers were dispatched on a call reporting fraud at a hotel near Stone Mountain, about 25 miles northeast of Atlanta. Gwinnett County police said in a statement that the officers encountered a person who drew a gun and shot both officers. The officers returned fire, wounding the suspect.
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