Atlantic Monthly Contributors's Blog, page 264

December 30, 2015

'Historic' Floods in Missouri and Illinois

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Heavy flooding along parts of the Mississippi River on Wednesday has overtaken levees, inundated buildings, submerged roads, and forced hundreds of people from their homes in Missouri and Illinois.

At least 13 people in Missouri and at least five in Illinois have died his week as a result of flooding brought on by several days of torrential rains.

In some parts of the river, the water has swelled to near-record heights set by massive flooding in 1993. The National Weather Service has predicted “historic” flooding across eastern and central Missouri and central and southwest Illinois later this week.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has declared a state of emergency and called up the National Guard to aid in evacuations and monitor road closures. Officials have directed residents of West Alton and Valley Park in Missouri to evacuate and seek higher ground.

Here’s one of the scenes in Missouri, from the Chicago Tribune:

In southwestern Missouri, residents of about 150 duplexes and homes in the tourist town of Branson had to evacuate Wednesday when flooding from a manmade lake threatened. But the shopping district along the lake was still open, Fire Chief Ted Martin said, adding, "it has been packed with people, and I don’t know where all of them have come from."

Sixty miles to the north in Pleasant Hope, the emergency management director said crews are looking for a missing motorist.

“Nobody that is living has ever seen anything like this,” Rick Davis said.

And in Illinois:

Across the river, in Alton, Illinois, dozens of volunteers helped place sandbags ahead of where water is expected to rise. Mayor Brant Walker said in a statement that flooding was expected at least in the basements of the downtown business district.

The normally docile Bourbeuse River reached the roofs of a McDonald’s, QuikTrip and several other businesses in the eastern Missouri town of Union, where the river reached an all-time high Tuesday.

The rising waters of the Mississippi threaten to weaken at least 19 federal levees along its shores.

The flooding comes after several days of severe weather in multiple states. Winter storms and tornadoes killed 43 people in Missouri, Illinois, and Texas over the weekend. Garland, Texas, was among the hardest hit, with tornadoes killing at least 11 people and damaged about 600 buildings, most of them residential homes.











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Published on December 30, 2015 10:50

28 Movies to Look Forward to in 2016

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It feels like it’s been eons since anyone talked much about a movie that wasn’t Star Wars, but eventually, weeks (months?) from now, its supremacy at the box office will die down, and theaters will usher in a whole new year of movies. In 2015, the deluge of franchises, sequels, and reboots seemed notable; at this point, it’s routine. But with the Avengers sequel and Star Wars now behind us, there’s nothing quite as hotly anticipated in the year ahead. Will this give smaller fare more chance to breathe, or is that hoping too much in an industry seemingly choked by big-budget extravaganzas? Here’s a look at some of 2016’s most notable upcoming projects.

Universal

Hail, Caesar! (February 5)

What It Is: The Coen Brothers’ newest film, a wacky 1950s comedy, promises a lighter tone and a more star-studded cast than 2013’s Inside Llewyn Davis. It’s loosely based on the career of the Hollywood “fixer” Eddie Mannix (Josh Brolin), a studio executive who covered up many juicy scandals in his day. The gonzo caper seems to revolve around the kidnapping of a star (George Clooney) by a gang of pipe-smoking weirdos with Mannix hot on the case, but you never quite know what you’re going to get from the Coens.

If You Need Convincing: Even by their lofty standards, Inside Llewyn Davis was one of the best Coen Brothers movies ever, and they’ve been trying to make Hail Caesar! for years. The cast includes Tilda Swinton, Scarlett Johansson, Ralph Fiennes, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill ... and Dolph Lundgren? Impossible to resist.

Paramount

Zoolander 2 (February 12)

What It Is: Remember Zoolander? With the Blue Steel and the “MerMAN!” and the school for ants? He’s back! After 15 long years (yes, we are all old), Ben Stiller’s cult-hit fashion satire has finally gotten a sequel, and it has a nutty plot and a healthy heap of au courant celebrity cameos (Benedict Cumberbatch, Justin Bieber, Kim Kardashian, and on and on and on). Original cast members Owen Wilson and Will Ferrell have returned too, and Kristen Wiig is also involved, as mandated by the new laws of making comedy films.

If You Need Convincing: This is no tossed-off sequel: Stiller is taking 2oolander (as it’s been dubbed in promotional materials) seriously enough to helm it, and he’s got a pretty good track record from the director’s chair. More importantly, the celebrity culture lampooned by the original film has only gotten sillier and more pervasive: Perhaps we need Derek Zoolander now more than ever.

A24

The Witch (February 26)

What It Is: This 1630s-set horror film, from the first-time director Robert Eggers, caused quite a stir at Sundance in 2015—enough for the studio A24 to postpone its release in order to mount a proper campaign for what could be a breakout hit. Set in Puritan New England, the plot revolves around the disappearance of a child, accusations of witchcraft, and possible demonic possession. The 17th century was a pretty scary time, after all.

If You Need Convincing: This won the Directing Award at Sundance, and if you watch the trailer, you can get an idea of how—it’s all foreboding, visually impressive, horrifying atmosphere. Also, one of the main characters is a possibly demonic goat called Black Phillip.

Broad Green Pictures

Knight of Cups (March 4)

What It Is: Terrence Malick’s new film has been bouncing around without a release date for quite a while—it debuted at the Berlin Film Festival almost a year ago to mixed reviews, and will finally wind its way into theaters in March. It stars Christian Bale as a screenwriter consumed by the existential emptiness that comes with success, and features Natalie Portman, Cate Blanchett, Antonio Banderas, and many, many more actors you’ve heard of.

If You Need Convincing: It’s Terrence Malick, who’s an acquired taste to be sure but one of Hollywood’s most unique auteurs. His last film, To the Wonder, drew a pretty muted reaction, but he’s made enough enduring masterpieces—Badlands, Days of Heaven, The Thin Red Line—that any new project of his deserves attention.

Disney

Zootopia (March 4)

What It Is: Disney’s newest animated entry is set in a world of anthropomorphic animals, and from the trailers, it looks like a raucous comedy. There’s a wiseacre fox (voiced by Jason Bateman), a go-getter bunny rabbit cop (Ginnifer Goodwin), and a cast of furry critters likely to delight all small children in attendance. But adults may be interested too—Disney is on quite a roll of late, and the director Rich Moore was behind 2012’s thoroughly winning Wreck-It Ralph.

If You Need Convincing: The film’s first trailer focuses on a single scene set at the DMV, where all the clerks are sloths. Every time I’ve seen it play in front of an audience, it kills. Is it the only good scene in the movie, or a sign of something special?

Warner Bros.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice (March 25)

What It Is: Well, it’s a lot of things. It’s technically a sequel to Man of Steel, the 2013 Superman reboot from the director Zack Snyder. But Warner Bros. is positioning it as the start of a colossal superhero franchise using the characters of DC Comics. So Snyder’s new film has Superman (Henry Cavill) facing off with Batman (Ben Affleck), already an established hero who has his suspicions about the alien hero fanned by the villainous Lex Luthor (Jesse Eisenberg). Also, Wonder Woman (played by Gal Gadot) is there, and maybe Aquaman will pop up, and perhaps even The Flash, and Abraham Lincoln, and The Great Gazoo. (Some of those might be made up.)

If You Need Convincing: Well, there’s going to be a lot of these DC movies—the Justice League and many other spinoffs are already scheduled—so if you want to keep up, you’re going to have to see this one, I suppose.

Disney

The Jungle Book (April 15)

What It Is: After the wild success of Cinderella last year, Disney continues to plunder its vault of animated classics and turn them into mega-budgeted live-action extravaganzas. The Jungle Book, directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man) has taken Rudyard Kipling’s classic tales and added immensely realistic CGI creatures, some major action sequences, and a lot of celebrity voices.

If You Need Convincing: Bill Murray is the voice of Baloo the bear! A disturbingly realistic-looking Baloo, who might as well be mauling Leonardo DiCaprio, but it’s Bill Murray under there. Scarlett Johansson plays the hypnotic snake Kaa, Idris Elba is the tiger villain Shere Khan, and Christopher Walken is the orangutan King Louie. If nothing else, the casting seems on point.

Comedy Central

Keanu (April 22)

What It Is: Details are thin on the ground for Keanu, a brilliantly titled film starring Jordan Peele and Keegan-Michael Key, but we know it has something to do with two friends pretending to be gangsters to retrieve their stolen cat. Their stolen cat is called Keanu.  

If You Need Convincing: Watch Key & Peele’s entire run on Comedy Central. That should do it.

Disney / Marvel

Captain America: Civil War (May 6)

What It Is: The beginning of Marvel’s (slightly terrifying sounding) “phase three,” and the 13th overall installment in the comic book studio’s “cinematic universe.” That’s right, these films have become a teenager. The directors Joe and Anthony Russo, who made the well-received second Captain America film, The Winter Soldier, are looking to continue that entry’s paranoid political-thriller tone, as a schism develops in the Avengers over the proposed governmental registration of superheroes. Civil War features Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, who takes the opposing side to the Captain’s anti-registration stance.

If You Need Convincing: This film marks the first appearance of Chadwick Boseman as the Black Panther, a pioneering hero in the Marvel Universe, and The Winter Soldier was a genuinely good time at the theater.

Open Road Films

Snowden (May 13)

What It Is: Perhaps you’ve heard of Edward Snowden, a government contractor who caused some fuss in 2013 after leaking classified information about U.S. surveillance programs. His story, already told in the arresting Oscar-winning documentary Citizenfour, will be dramatized here by Oliver Stone, who has some experience making films about real-life figures of controversy.

If You Need Convincing: Stone hasn’t had a genuine hit in years—biopics like W. and Alexander were underseen, and his Wall Street sequel was a huge bomb—but this is still the man who made Platoon, JFK, and Nixon. Perhaps he has one last excoriating masterpiece in him.

Warner Bros.

The Nice Guys (May 20)

What It Is: Shane Black’s rollicking new R-rated comedy is about a private investigator (Ryan Gosling) and a hired gun (Russell Crowe) trying to find a missing girl in 1970s Los Angeles. These are two stars who rarely get to cut loose, but The Nice Guys looks like a hell of a lot of dirty, silly fun.  

If You Need Convincing: Shane Black, who wrote Lethal Weapon among other action classics, is one of Hollywood’s few remaining masters of crackling dialogue. His 2005 noir comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is an enduring cult classic, and with any luck The Nice Guys will be similarly brilliant.

Fox

X-Men: Apocalypse (May 27)

What It Is: Another X-Men movie. Counting the Wolverine stand-alones, they’ve made eight of these over the years since Bryan Singer’s 2000 original, by now a venerable grandpa in the superhero genre. After helming the decently received Days of Future Past in 2014, Singer is taking another go-round with the younger, rebooted cast (including Jennifer Lawrence, James McAvoy, and Michael Fassbender), having them confront the ancient purple villain Apocalypse (Oscar Isaac) in the 1980s.

If You Need Convincing: Jennifer Lawrence is probably not going to make another X-Men movie—her contract locked her into three films—so this will be the last time you get to see her as the shapeshifter Mystique.

Universal

Warcraft (June 10)

What It Is: Another CGI-laden spectacle to burn our brains this summer. This one’s adapted from a famous video game about a war between humans and Orcs, with lots of motion-capture performances, people riding griffins, dark portals, and who knows what else. They’re a booming industry, but video games have yet to really translate to film franchises. Will this buck the trend?

If You Need Convincing: Warcraft is directed by Duncan Jones, who made the innovative sci-fi film Moon. So maybe it’ll be good! Also, griffins!

Disney / Pixar

Finding Dory (June 17)

What It Is: A sequel to Pixar’s beloved Finding Nemo, centered on the forgetful Dory (Ellen DeGeneres), who is trying to find her lost family. It’s the first in a rather depressing cavalcade of sequels on the way from the innovative animation studio, but Nemo was such a monster hit that it’s amazing it took this long for Dory to swim into production.

If You Need Convincing: Yes, it’s a sequel, and the trailer is a little flat, but Dory is directed by Andrew Stanton—the Pixar mainstay who made Finding Nemo and WALL-E among others.  

Fox

Independence Day: Resurgence (June 24)

What It Is: If 2015 was the year of the franchise film, 2016 is the year of the incredibly late sequel. Yes, 20 years after the release of Independence Day (again, reader, you are old), comes a sequel from the same director (Roland Emmerich) and with much of the same cast (Jeff Goldblum, Bill Pullman, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox). The plot? Easy: The aliens come back! Unfortunately, Will Smith didn’t decide to do the same, so Jessie Usher (of the great Starz sports comedy Survivor’s Remorse) has been cast as his son. The square-jawed Liam Hemsworth (The Hunger Games) is also involved.

If You Need Convincing: 20th Century Fox is hoping the nostalgia factor alone will draw people into theaters, but it’s honestly been too long since Jeff Goldblum was starring in Hollywood blockbusters. After all, he was the best thing about the 1990s in film.

Disney

The BFG (July 1)

What It Is: Roald Dahl’s beloved tale of a Big Friendly Giant—a plucky orphan named Sophie; the Queen of England; the process of making and distributing dreams; and so much more—rendered by Steven Spielberg. Mark Rylance, who did such wonderful work in his Bridge of Spies this year, will play the BFG via motion-capture. Bill Hader will play the nasty Bloodbottler.

If You Need Convincing: If there’s a Dahl story Spielberg seems suited to adapting, it’s this one, which has the perfect mix of lovely and nightmarish. Also, technology may have caught up enough to properly render the tale’s 24-foot giants, though the trailer sheds less light on that front.

Columbia

Ghostbusters (July 15)

What It Is: Not a sequel, but a reboot—and an exciting one for a change, taking the original Ghostbusters premise and giving it an all-female cast (Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, Kate McKinnon). What more do you need to know? If the director and writer Paul Feig (he co-wrote with The Heat scripter Katie Dippold) nails the jokes, and the cast clicks, this should be an easy home run.

If You Need Convincing: This year, Paul Feig and Melissa McCarthy made Spy, which was simultaneously one of 2015’s most hilarious comedies and one of its best action films. There’s no one better suited to the tone Ghostbusters will surely be aiming for.

Paramount

Star Trek Beyond (July 22)

What It Is: The third entry in the rebooted Trek franchise starring Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto as Kirk and Spock. The plot’s pretty murky, but it has something to do with the U.S.S. Enterprise crashing on an alien planet, and Idris Elba plays a villain. The Prime Directive will no doubt be cited and ignored.

If You Need Convincing: Everyone involved with writing the previous two films, including the execrable Star Trek Into Darkness, is gone. Justin Lin (best known for the Fast & Furious franchise) is directing, and Simon Pegg (who doubles as Scottie) co-wrote the script.

Warner Bros.

Suicide Squad (August 5)

What It Is: After Batman v. Superman, the DC Comics universe rolls on with this twisty tale of a government team of supervillains. A lot of big names are attached to this thing—Will Smith, Margot Robbie, Viola Davis—but Jared Leto’s front and center in all the marketing, because he’s playing The Joker. His take on the Batman villain seems to involve a lot of “edgy” tattoos and has drawn some online derision, but it’ll be inescapable come August.

If You Need Convincing: This is a situation where you’re either in or you’re firmly out. Warner Bros. is hoping that people have room in their hearts for two mega-franchises about superheroes, or that Marvel will somehow wither on the vine this year.

Universal

Bridget Jones’s Baby (September 16)

What It Is: Remember what I said about long-delayed sequels? The last Bridget Jones film, The Edge of Reason, came out to bad reviews in 2004 but made a ton of money worldwide. Bridget Jones’s Baby has been rumored ever since, even though there aren’t any more Helen Fielding novels to adapt. Fielding has co-scripted this sequel with Emma Thompson (of all people!) and the novelist David Nicholls, while Renée Zellweger and Colin Firth are back as Bridget and Mark Darcy. Hugh Grant apparently wanted nothing to do with the whole thing, but Patrick Dempsey has stepped in to play the third member of their love triangle. Also Bridget is pregnant now.

If You Need Convincing: Just imagine the thinkpieces we’ll get come September!

AP / Joel Ryan

The Girl on the Train (October 7)

What It Is: Paula Hawkins’s book The Girl on the Train was the it novel of 2015, dominating The New York Times’ bestseller list, so of course it’s been turned into a movie. Tate Taylor (The Help) is directing, and the cast features Emily Blunt, Rebecca Ferguson, and Justin Theroux. I assume it’s set on a train of some sort? I didn’t read the book.

If You Need Convincing: The book has earned comparisons to Gone Girlyou’ll spend the next year wondering whether to read the book and spoil the ending, or hold out to see if the film can shock you.

Columbia

Inferno (October 14)

What It Is: Dan Brown’s Harvard professor hero Robert Langdon is back, played again by Tom Hanks, and this time he’s in Florence being hunted by the authorities, possibly framed for a crime he can’t remember. As usual, the only way to solve the mystery will be his expertise in symbology.

If You Need Convincing: Did you like the other Ron Howard/Dan Brown collaborations, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons? Because that seems almost a prerequisite.

Disney / Marvel

Doctor Strange (November 4)

What It Is: Marvel’s second 2016 entry is about as close to a genuine gamble as a superhero movie can be, charting the origins of Earth’s Sorcerer Supreme, who deals with magic, demons, and dark dimensions. How this will blend into the rest of the Marvel universe is anyone’s guess, but Benedict Cumberbatch is well-cast as an arrogant surgeon who loses the use of his hands in a car accident and goes on a mystical quest to heal them, and the horror director Scott Derrickson should provide some heady imagery for the doctor to confront.

If You Need Convincing: The supporting cast is A+: Rachel McAdams, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Mads Mikkelsen, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Tilda Swinton as The Ancient One, who teaches Doctor Strange all he knows.

Warner Bros.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (November 18)

What It Is: A new Harry Potter film—sort of. Written by J.K. Rowling and based on her “book” (in fact just a cute directory of magical creatures in her Potter universe), Fantastic Beasts might be the start of a new franchise set in the wizarding world, but this time in America in 1926. Eddie Redmayne plays Newt Scamander, an eccentric wizard visiting from Britain, who gets tangled up with some, well, fantastic beasts, and also Colin Farrell.

If You Need Convincing: J.K. Rowling won’t write another Harry Potter book (so she says), but she’s finding fun ways to expand on her franchise, and the trusty director David Yates (who made the last four Potter movies) is behind the camera again.

Disney

Moana (November 23)

What It Is: A wholly original Disney film set in the ancient South Pacific, which follows the plucky navigator heroine Moana Waialiki on an adventure with the famed demigod Maui (voiced by Dwayne Johnson). Further details are thin on the ground, but the concept art alone is arresting.   

If You Need Convincing: It’s directed by the venerable Ron Clements and John Musker—who made The Little Mermaid and Aladdin, among others.

Getty Images / Frazer Harrison

The Founder (November 25)

What It Is: If Michael Keaton can’t win an Oscar for Birdman or for Spotlight, perhaps he’ll triumph playing the inventor of McDonald’s? John Lee Hancock’s new film is about Ray Kroc, who turned McDonald’s into an ubiquitous fast-food franchise. The brilliant Robert D. Siegel, who wrote The Wrestler and Big Fan, scripted, so this probably won’t be a hagiography.

If You Need Convincing: The original McDonald brothers, who founded the first restaurant, are being played by Nick Offerman and John Carroll Lynch.

Disney

Rogue One (December 16)

What It Is: And you thought there’d be no Star Wars movies in 2016. You fool! Rogue One is billed as “a Star Wars story,” and follows the daring crew that stole the plans for the Death Star that set the original film in motion. It’s Disney’s first effort to make a Star Wars movie that isn’t a Star Wars movie—one that isn’t part of the main continuity being set up by J.J. Abrams’s The Force Awakens.

If You Need Convincing: The cast. Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Riz Ahmed, Ben Mendelsohn, Donnie Yen, Forest Whitaker, Mads Mikkelsen, Jiang Wen. It’s a diverse and exciting bunch of space spies.

AP / Joel Ryan

Passengers (December 21)

What It Is: Not sure, exactly. A science fiction film, for sure. Directed by Morten Tyldum (The Imitation Game) and written by Jon Spaihts (Prometheus). Starring Jennifer Lawrence, Chris Pratt, Michael Sheen, and Laurence Fishburne.

If You Need Convincing: Sci-fi is awesome, and J-Law and C-Pratt are arguably Hollywood’s two biggest young stars right now. Watch this space?











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Published on December 30, 2015 10:41

December 28, 2015

No Indictment in Tamir Rice Shooting

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A grand jury has declined to indict two Cleveland police officers for their role in the shooting last year of Tamir Rice, a 12-year-old black boy who was holding a pellet gun.

Tim McGinty, the Cuyahoga County prosecutor, announced the decision on Monday, saying the two officers who were involved were reasonable in their belief that Rice had a weapon. He called it a “perfect storm of human error.”

“The outcome will not cheer anyone, nor should it,” McGinty said.

Patrolman Timothy Loehmann, a rookie, and Frank Garmback, his training partner, were responding to a call in November 2014 about a man waving a gun near a city park. Loehmann shot and killed Rice within moments of the police cruiser skidding to a halt near Rice, who was holding a pellet gun. The shooting was captured on video and sparked outrage, especially as it came soon after the high-profile police-involved killings of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and Eric Garner in New York.

McGinty called Rice’s death “an absolute tragedy, but it was not, by the law that binds us, a crime.”

He said he’d informed Rice’s mother of the decision before Monday’s public announcement, calling it a “tough conversation.”

In a statement, the Rice family’s attorneys said:

It has been clear for months now that Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Timothy McGinty was abusing and manipulating the grand jury process to orchestrate a vote against indictment. Even though video shows the police shooting Tamir in less than one second, Prosecutor McGinty hired so-called expert witnesses to try to exonerate the officers and tell the grand jury their conduct was reasonable and justified.  It is unheard of, and highly improper, for a prosecutor to hire “experts” to try to exonerate the targets of a grand jury investigation.











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Published on December 28, 2015 12:00

Japan Says Sorry for Its Crimes Against Wartime 'Comfort Women'

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Japan has apologized to South Korea and will pay about $8.3 million as compensation for its use of Korean “comfort women” who were forced to work in Japanese brothels during World War II.

The deal—which was announced after a meeting in Seoul on Monday between Fumio Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister, and Yun Byung-se, his South Korean counterpart—could go a long way toward improving relations between the two countries that have been strained for decades over Japan’s wartime occupation of the Korean Peninsula. After the meeting, and a formal apology from Kishida, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe telephoned Park Geun-hye, the South Korean president, to repeat the apology.

“Japan and South Korea are now entering a new era,” Abe said later. “We should not drag this problem into the next generation.”

It’s unclear how many women served as sex slaves for the Japanese during the war, but estimates range from 20,000 to 200,000. What is clear, however, is that many of the women are now very old.

Park, the South Korean president, said Monday that nine had died this year alone. Forty-six are still alive in South Korea.

“I hope the mental pains of the elderly comfort women will be eased,” she said after the agreement was announced.

The reason why it has taken so long for the issue to be discussed is differing accounts of whether Japan had properly atoned for its wartime actions. Tokyo had long maintained that its payment of $800 million in grants or loans to South Korea in 1965 settled the issue; South Korea disagreed.

On Monday, Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister, said the $8.3 million payment was a project to restore the “dignity” of the women—a position some former “comfort women” criticized.

“I wonder whether the talks took place with the victims really in mind,” Lee Yong-soo, 88, told the BBC. “We’re not after the money. If the Japanese committed their sins, they should offer direct official government compensation.”

The BBC adds: “The dozens of surviving women have asked for a formal apology specifically addressed to themselves and direct compensation. They say past expressions of regret have been only halfway and insincere.”

Indeed, as the Korea Herald notes, the two sides are divided over whether, under Monday’s agreement, Japan took legal responsibility for its actions, and about whether South Korea would move the statue representing the women from near the Japanese Embassy in Seoul.  











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Published on December 28, 2015 07:47

The Rising Death Toll From Severe Weather

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More bad weather is being predicted for the Midwest and South after a week of severe storms left at least 43 people dead, communities devastated, and thousands without power.

The National Weather Service said more snow was expected in the southern high plains, and heavy rains and thunderstorms in the Mississippi Valley. Blizzard warnings remained in effect for parts of the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles, and winter-storm warnings were in effect from central Texas through the Midwest and Great Lakes. Winter-weather advisories and winter-storm watches were also issued for New England, and flood and flash-flood warnings for northeast Texas, the mid-Mississippi Valley, as well as the Tennessee and Ohio River Valleys.

“There will be an ongoing problem for the next 24 hours, but also for the next several days,” Texas Governor Greg Abbott said at a news conference Sunday.

The governors of Missouri and New Mexico declared states of emergencies in response to the damage. The severe weather has killed 43 people across the country: Eight people were killed in Garland, Texas, and three others in nearby areas; five in Marion County, Illinois; eight in Pulaski County, Missouri; and 19 in other parts of the Southeast.

One of the tornadoes that struck the Dallas area was an EF-4, the second-most powerful with winds of more than 200 mph, the NWS said.

The severe weather had closed off roads, grounded flights, and disrupted air travel in the affected areas.

Garland, Texas, was among the worst affected communities. Tornadoes struck the city of abut 235,000 people, which is some 20 miles from Dallas, killing eight people and causing widespread damage.

“We literally have structures that don’t exist any more,” said Officer Joe Harn, a spokesman for the Garland Police Department, told the Wall Street Journal. “We’ve had bad storms in North Texas before, but this is one of the worst ones. I’ve never seen this sort of devastation.”











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Published on December 28, 2015 07:06

A 2016 TV Preview

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2015 may have spawned the phrase “Peak TV” thanks to an onslaught of shows in every format imaginable, but 2016 isn’t going to offer much respite. In the coming months, terrestrial networks, premium cable, and streaming services will continue to pump out new series and bring back old favorites, no matter how niche their audience. Here’s a look at a fraction of what’s in store for the early months of 2016.

u  PBS / BBC

Sherlock: The Abominable Bride
Friday on PBS
Premieres January 1

As Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman have turned into major film stars, new episodes of Steven Moffat’s 21st-century Sherlock have been harder and harder to come by. But two years after the show’s third-season finale, viewers will get a one-off special that will de-modernize the show, taking it back to Victorian times with a ghost story—something Moffat says wouldn’t work as well in the present day. The 90-minute episode will premiere on PBS on New Year’s Day. Season four? You’ll have to wait until 2017.

PBS

Downton Abbey
Sundays on PBS
Returns January 3

The Masterpiece Theater showcase has been a PBS institution and Emmy favorite since its 2010 premiere. After six seasons that covered more than a decade of history, Downton Abbey will come to an end next year (though its conclusion, minus a Christmas special, has already been broadcast in Britain). Much of the original cast has already departed, but one imagines there will be plenty of shocking letters read and conversations overheard for the show’s last hurrah.

FOX

New Girl
Tuesdays on FOX
Returns January 5

Fox’s sitcom mainstay had its fifth season delayed until January, partly to accommodate Zooey Deschanel’s pregnancy. Another related tweak? Megan Fox will play a new roommate for the gang, stepping in while Deschanel is on maternity leave. There’s Schmidt and Cece’s wedding to plan and perhaps an ultimate resolution for the star-crossed Jess and Nick to look forward to. The show has struggled with consistency in recent years, so it remains to be seen whether Fox is the person to fix that.

CBS

Angel From Hell
Thursdays on CBS
Premieres January 7

This new single-camera sitcom got pushed from CBS’s fall schedule despite the presence of Jane Lynch, who plays a rabble-rousing angel assigned to protect a type-A dermatologist played by Maggie Lawson. Supernatural odd-couple hijinks will presumably ensue, and Lynch will definitely be relied on to supply sarcastic zingers.

TV Land

Younger
Wednesdays on TV Land
Returns January 13

This snarky TV Land comedy starring Sutton Foster and Hilary Duff was one of 2015’s most pleasant surprises, charting the career of a 40-year-old woman who pretends to be in her mid-20s to secure a low-level publishing gig. The premise is ridiculous, but the charm of its cast (and the creator Darren Star’s saucy one-liners) made it a joyously watchable confection. Can it maintain that energy in year two?

USA

Colony
Thursdays on USA
Premieres January 14

While the Lost writer Damon Lindelof has moved into more spiritually supernatural territory with The Leftovers, his former partner in crime Carlton Cuse is veering back toward hardcore sci-fi with this alien-invasion drama—although he insists you shouldn’t call it that. The show follows Josh Holloway (Lost) and Sarah Wayne Callies (The Walking Dead) post-alien arrival, as they’re caught between opposing forces that endorse resistance or assimilation. USA embraced more serious drama last year to acclaim with Mr. Robot, so it’s possible success could strike again.

Comedy Central

Idiotsitter
Thursdays on Comedy Central
Premieres January 14

You might not know Jillian Bell by name, but you’ve probably noticed her breakout work in Comedy Central’s Workaholics, or as one of the chief villains of 22 Jump Street, or as the aunt who fell in love with R.L. Stine in Goosebumps this year. Idiotsitter is her passion project, a sitcom about a young woman forced to babysit a rich delinquent under house arrest (Bell). After running the show as a well-liked webseries in 2014, Bell could become a household name this year—or at least a cult favorite.

Showtime

Billions
Sundays on Showtime
Premieres January 17

Damian Lewis might have left Showtime’s Homeland after its third season, but the network hasn’t forgotten about him. He stars in the new drama Billions, which focuses on a hotshot hedge-fund manager being chased by a dogged U.S. Attorney (played by Paul Giamatti). Created by the New York Times reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin and the Rounders screenwriter Brian Koppelman, the show promises to delve into the murky vagaries of the financial world, and like many Showtime series, will feature flawed male protagonists up to no good.

TBS

Angie Tribeca
Sunday on TBS
Premieres January 17

Of all the coming comedies, Angie Tribeca might be the most curious in terms of formatting. Created by the wife-husband team of Nancy and Steve Carell, and starring Rashida Jones (Parks and Recreation), Angie Tribeca is a cop-show parody about the “Really Heinous Crimes Unit” of the LAPD. It’ll air its first 10 episodes in a block on January 17, a 25-hour marathon that will show the first season five times in a row, before airing new entries once a week thereafter. (It’s a schedule as zany as the show itself.)

The CW

Legends of Tomorrow
Thursdays on The CW

Premieres January 21

The CW’s comic-book universe, centered around hits like Arrow and The Flash, has become the network’s most popular property in recent years. From their guest-star rosters comes a third spinoff that looks delightfully bonkers even by the network’s standards. Brandon Routh (who once played Superman) stars as the incredible shrinking billionaire known as the Atom, but the cast includes Wentworth Miller (as the reformed villain Captain Cold), Victor Garber as a friendly nuclear physicist , and Doctor Who’s Arthur Darvill as a roguish time traveler who gets everyone together. It’s anyone’s guess as to what’s going on here, but at the very least viewers can expect a bunch of cute quips.

FX

Baskets
Thursdays on FX
Premieres January 21

A dark comedy co-created by Zach Galifianakis, Louis C.K., and Jonathan Krisel (who worked on Portlandia and Kroll Show), Baskets is an unsurprisingly strange-looking work about a lonely man in Bakersfield, California, who decides to become a professional clown. Galifianakis stars, and Louie Anderson plays his mother. Early promos have been expectedly surreal.

Amazon

Mad Dogs
Friday on Amazon
Premieres January 22

Amazon Studios remains a fledgling network, but after a strong 2015 that included the acclaimed second season of Transparent and the virtual-history drama The Man in the High Castle, its early 2016 centerpiece is this remake of a dark British comedy about four men who get more than they bargain for on a trip to Belize. Michael Imperioli (The Sopranos), Romany Malco, Ben Chaplin, and Steve Zahn make up the ensemble.

FOX

The X-Files
Mondays on FOX
Returns January 24

Perhaps the most-anticipated returning show of 2016, The X-Files hasn’t aired a new episode since 2002. But after film projects and years gathering new young fans who binge-watched it on Netflix, the show is returning to television for six episodes that promise to feature every old favorite character imaginable, plus a shiny new conspiracy. The hype will be difficult to overcome, but if the show’s a hit, don’t be surprised by (even more) new revivals of old network favorites.  

FOX

Lucifer
Mondays on FOX
Premieres January 25

The acclaimed Sandman series of comic books by Neil Gaiman has long been mulled for film and television adaptations, with nothing panning out. But this upcoming Fox drama, starring Tom Ellis, is inspired by a supporting character in those books—Lucifer, the former king of hell, who resigns his throne in boredom to go have fun with the humans in Los Angeles. This is network TV, so he’ll be solving crimes with the LAPD, if you didn’t foresee that already.

SyFy

The Magicians
Mondays on SyFy
Premieres January 25

Lev Grossman’s popular trilogy of novels—billed as a sexier Harry Potter, set in college rather than high school—is the main entry in SyFy’s winter lineup. It will follow a bunch of annoyingly beautiful young adults as they wrestle with their wizardly abilities at the Brakebills College of Magical Pedagogy. If the books are anything to go by, things should get weird pretty quickly.

FX

American Crime Story: The People vs. OJ Simpson
Tuesdays on FX
Premieres February 2

The OJ Simpson murder trial was tailor-made for pulp fiction, and pulp fiction happens to be Ryan Murphy’s television obsession. So perhaps it’s not surprising that he’s dramatizing the 1995 “trial of the century” for his new anthology series American Crime Story. Scott Alexander and Larry Karaszewski scripted, and John Travolta, Cuba Gooding Jr., David Schwimmer, and Sarah Paulson star. Oh, and Selma Blair plays Kris Jenner. Whether the show’s good or bad, expect thinkpieces galore.

HBO

Animals
Fridays on HBO
Premieres February 5

HBO hasn’t had a great animated comedy since The Life and Times of Tim, but perhaps this strange little show, produced by the Duplass brothers (of Togetherness) will do the trick. The network has ordered two seasons of the New York-set show about anthropomorphic animals, which first made its name as a short at the Sundance Film Festival.   

Comedy Central

Not Safe With Nikki Glaser
Tuesdays on Comedy Central
Premieres February 9

For two glorious seasons on MTV in 2013, Nikki Glaser hosted a terrific late-night show with her fellow stand-up comic Sara Schaefer; sadly, it was canceled before its time. Now she’s back with a new late-night series called Not Safe, which promises to feature sketch segments, “taboo” conversations with comedians and celebrities, and some more “experimental” bits. Comedy Central variety shows vary in quality, but Glaser is at least a talent worth paying attention to.

HBO

Vinyl
Sundays on HBO
Premieres February 14

Less than two years after the finale of Boardwalk Empire, its creator Terence Winter is back with a bombastic new HBO drama, whose pilot episode will also be directed by Martin Scorsese. The Boardwalk star Bobby Cannavale stars in what promises to be a cocaine-fueled look at the ’70s record industry, and the all-star cast includes Ray Romano, Juno Temple, and Olivia Wilde. The cinematic sheen is there, but Boardwalk never quite hit it big with audiences—will this?

Hulu

11.22.63
Mondays on Hulu
Premieres February 15

This limited series, based on the book by Stephen King, is a crazy time-travel tale of one man’s efforts to stop the assassination of John F. Kennedy using a portal he discovers in a diner. James Franco, Chris Cooper, Josh Duhamel, and Cherry Jones round out an impressive cast, and Hulu is marketing the series as a blockbuster event.  

AMC

Better Call Saul
Mondays on AMC
Returns February 15

One of 2015’s best shows was burdened with the highest expectation imaginable—serving as a spinoff and prequel of Breaking Bad, one of the most acclaimed dramas of all time. But Vince Gilligan’s new show quickly found its own voice (a surprisingly tragic one) and took off partly thanks to Bob Odenkirk’s amazingly nuanced performance as a lawyer trying, and failing, to stay on the straight and narrow. Season two will have more room to further define the series, but viewers will likely be curious to see how quickly the plot begins to intertwine with that of its predecessor.

Comedy Central

Broad City
Wednesdays on Comedy Central
Returns February 17

One could argue that Broad City is, laugh for laugh, the funniest show on TV right now—and its third season will hopefully maintain that momentum with more tales of Abby and Ilana’s misadventures in New York City. If nothing else, tune into season three to see how they work in their guest star, Hilary Clinton, and whether her role will eclipse Kelly Ripa’s appearance last year.

HBO

Girls
Sundays on HBO
Returns February 21

With its fifth season on the way, Girls might seem over the hill, but last year’s episodes might have been the most consistent the show ever put out, dealing with Hannah’s grad-school crisis, her breakup with Adam, her father coming out, and Marnie’s tempestuous relationship with her fellow musician, Desi. Now Hannah is dating a new guy, Marnie is preparing for her wedding, and Shosh is living in Japan. In other words, more 20-something shenanigans await.

Netflix

Fuller House
Friday on Netflix
Premieres February 26

It has to be said: Netflix’s promo for this bizarre sitcom revival was about as creepy as possible, showing the famed empty San Francisco house waiting to be filled with laughter once again. That funereal commercial aside, it’s hard to know what to expect from this strange reboot—but almost all of the cast is on board. Except for the Olsen twins.

Netflix

House of Cards
Friday on Netflix
Returns March 4

So, Frank Underwood is still president, and according to a new promo, he’s running for re-election, but who knows what else to expect from the fourth season of Netflix’s prestige crown jewel? Monologues to camera! Icy glares from Robin Wright! Scheming! Definitely a lot of scheming. If nothing else, House of Cards features the most schemes-per-minute of any show currently on television.

ABC

Of Kings and Prophets
Tuesdays on ABC
Premieres March 8

You know what never gets adapted for television? The Bible, that’s what. For its newest event soap opera, ABC is going to the good book itself, specifically the Books of Samuel, and has crafted a drama about King Saul (Ray Winstone), his heir David (Olly Rix), and much political intrigue. NBC tried a more metaphorical take on this a few years back with the show Kings, but this is shooting for more straightforward epic territory.

ABC

The Catch
Thursdays on ABC
Premieres March 24

Shonda Rhimes remains the undisputed queen of ABC, and every new show in her Shondaland stable is guaranteed to make major waves on arrival. The Catch, created by the Hannibal writer Jennifer Schuur, stars Mireille Enos (The Killing) and Peter Krause (Six Feet Under), and centers around fraud investigation, but should feature many Shonda-esque twists and turns. Little is known so far, but ABC is doubtless hoping this will be its latest Thursday drama hit.

AMC

The Path
Wednesdays on Hulu
Premieres March 30

After collecting many Emmys and tons of critical acclaim on Breaking Bad, Aaron Paul is coming out with a new Hulu series, created by Friday Night Lights’s Jason Katims, that’s certain to be of the buzziest projects of the spring. Co-starring are Michelle Monaghan and Hugh Dancy, but plot details remain minimal—it’s a faith-based family drama based around the leadership of a cult, perhaps similar to Scientology.











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Published on December 28, 2015 05:00

Ramadi Is 'Fully Liberated'

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Updated on December 28 at 12:11 p.m. ET

Iraqi government troops, backed by some Sunni tribesman and U.S. airstrikes, have retaken the strategically vital city of Ramadi from the Islamic State group.

“The security forces have entered the governmental buildings and raised the Iraqi flags over them after killing many ISIS militants, and the rest have escaped,” Brigadier-General Yahya Rasool, an Iraqi military spokesman, said.

Colonel Steve Warren, a spokesman for the U.S. military operation against the Islamic State, tweeted an image of the Iraqi flag being raised over the government complex in Ramadi:

RAMADI SUCCESS: Coalition drone video shows ISF raising Iraqi flag over the Ramadi gov't complex. pic.twitter.com/5NYweMXmAU

— COL Steve Warren (@OIRSpox) December 28, 2015

Iraqi troops had encircled the city last month, but progress was slow. Militants had bobby trapped bridges leading to Ramadi and had positioned snipers in key areas. The operation to retake the city began last week with about 10,000 Iraqi troops, Sunni tribal fighters, and U.S. airstrikes launching an offensive against ISIS, another name for the Islamic State group. By Monday afternoon, as Rasool put it, Ramadi was “fully liberated” after ISIS fighters fled the government headquarters.

Still, pockets of resistance remain in the capital of Al-Anbar province, a Sunni stronghold in Shiite-majority Iraq. ISIS, which captured the city in May, is mostly Sunni and Ramadi was its most important prize in 2015. The group controls large portions of territory across the Iraq-Syria border and still holds major cities and provinces in both countries.   

ISIS controls the Iraqi cities of Mosul and Fallujah, as well as Raqaa, the Syrian city that serves as its capital. The retaking of Ramadi would allow the Iraqi government to cut off supplies to Fallujah, which sits about halfway between Ramadi and Baghdad, the Iraqi capital. It would also, in the words of The New York Times, provide a boost to Haider al-Abadi, the Iraqi prime minister, who  “has tried to reach out to the country’s large Sunni minority.”

The victory in Ramadi represents another setback for ISIS this year. Last month, Iraqi Kurdish fighters recaptured Sinjar from the group. ISIS is being targeted by the U.S. and its allies in Iraq as well as in Syria, where Russia is also conducting airstrikes against the group.

Despite its apparent ability to carry out large-scale attacks in cities such as Paris and Tunis, ISIS has slowly lost territory this year. Indeed, over the weekend, ISIS’s media arm released a recording of what it said was the voice of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the group’s little-seen or heard from leader, urging his fighters to “be patient.” He was last heard in a similar recording in May.











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Published on December 28, 2015 04:03

December 27, 2015

Peyton Manning Accused

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Peyton Manning, the Denver Broncos quarterback, has fiercely denied claims made in an Al Jazeera documentary that he was supplied with human growth hormone in 2011. Manning told ESPN he is “furious” about the report that names him and several other high-profile athletes linked to performance-enhancing drugs.

The Al Jazeera investigation—called “The Dark Side”—is the culmination of months of undercover reporting carried out by British hurdler Liam Collins. Al Jazeera says Collins told pharmacists he interviewed for the piece he was looking to compete in the Olympics in Rio next summer and would do “whatever it takes” to make that happen. The report is scheduled to air Sunday night, but it is already available to watch online.

Al Jazeera’s main  source in the allegations against Manning is Charlie Sly, who is identified in the documentary as a pharmacist at the Guyer Institute in Indianapolis. Sly initially told Collins—who captured the exchange via hidden camera—that he had sent human growth hormone to Manning’s home address in the name of Manning’s  wife, Ashley, in 2011 while the player was in treatment for a neck injury.

Manning says he did go to the Guyer Institute in 2011 for treatment prescribed by the trainers of his then-team the Indianapolis Colts, but says allegations he used human growth hormone are false.

"It's completely fabricated, complete trash, garbage—there's more adjectives I'd like to be able to use.” Manning told ESPN. “It really makes me sick."

The other athletes Sly names in the documentary include baseball’s Ryan Zimmerman of the Washington Nationals and Ryan Howard of the Philadelphia Phillies; both have denied the allegations.

But the accused athletes aren’t the only characters calling this story into question. Sly himself has recanted his claims to Al Jazeera in a video posted to YouTube. He also told ESPN he isn’t a pharmacist and that he wasn’t working at the Guyer Institute in 2011.

The Broncos released a statement Sunday supporting Manning.

“Knowing Peyton Manning and everything he stands for, the Denver Broncos support him 100 percent. These are false claims made to Al Jazeera, and we don’t believe the report.”

A page on Al Jazeera America, where the investigative video is posted, details all the denials and Sly’s decision to recant, but concludes “the investigation raises questions about whether medical professionals are helping athletes cross to the dark side, and whether doping in sport is reaching new levels.”









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Published on December 27, 2015 13:36

More Questions About the Police in Chicago

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Updated on December 27 at 2:46  p.m. ET

Two people were shot dead by Chicago Police on Saturday, including a woman who police say was “accidentally struck,” raising more questions about the conduct of a police department that’s already under intense scrutiny.

The Chicago Police  Department said officers responded to a domestic-disturbance call early Saturday. Quintonio LeGrier, 19, was acting strangely and carrying a bat around his father’s apartment. Relatives have since said LeGrier struggled with mental-health issues.

Police say that on the scene they were “confronted by a combative subject, resulting in the discharging of the officer’s weapon.” Bettie Jones, 55, was apparently shot when she tried to answer the front door for the officers—she was the first-floor tenant of a building that shares a front entrance.

The police released a statement late Saturday saying “the 55-year-old female victim was accidentally struck and tragically killed. The department extends its deepest condolences to the victim’s family and friends.”

But those comments are unlikely to assuage the concerns of many Chicagoans who accuse the police of violence against blacks.

“If you’re afraid of these streets to the point where you got to shoot first, you need to turn your badge in,” Betty Turner, LeGrier’s great aunt, said at a news conference Sunday.

His mother, Janet Cooksey, described LeGrier, a college student, as “happy,” but said he had started to exhibit emotional issues.

“He’s not an angry child. He’s not a violent child,” she said. “He’s a good child.”

She told WBBM-TV: “Seven bullets were put in my son. Seven.”

“Eight shots were fired. One hit an innocent lady who was just opening her door. Something is wrong with this picture.”

Both Jones and LeGrier were black. The department has declined to release the identities or races of the officers involved in the shooting.

The department has been under intense local and national scrutiny since the release of a dashboard video in November showing the shooting of 17-year-old Laquan McDonald in 2014. Jason Van Dyke, the white officer involved in that incident, has been charged with murder. The Justice Department has also launched an investigation into the use of force by police in Chicago and whether there are any racial disparities in how and when force is applied.

Another issue in this case is police use of force when mental illness may be involved. According to a Washington Post database of U.S. shootings, about one-quarter of those fatally shot in 2015 exhibited signs of mental illness.

A police spokesman told The New York Times that an investigation into Saturday’s shooting is underway. The Chicago Police Department also announced a new policy on Saturday: Officers involved in shootings will now be placed on routine administrative duties for 30 days. The Chicago Tribune reports this is a major jump from the previous policy of three days.











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Published on December 27, 2015 11:47

Tornadoes in North Texas

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Updated on December 27 at 2:38 p.m. ET

At least 11 people are dead and thousands without power as powerful tornadoes struck the north Dallas area on Saturday night. Meanwhile, five people died in a flash flood in Illinois.

Eight of the deaths occurred in Garland, Texas, near the intersection of Interstate 30 and Bush Turnpike, police spokesman Lt. Pedro Barineau said at a news conference on Sunday. The tornado that hit at about 6:45 p.m. devastated a 2-square-mile area near that intersection. About 600 buildings were damaged, many of them completely leveled, the Dallas Morning News reported.

“It is total devastation,” Barineau said at the news conference.

Photographs posted on Twitter showed multiple cars wrecked. A police spokesman told WFAA, the local ABC affiliate, that it was likely the vehicles plunged about 17 feet from a nearby bridge.

VIDEO: Part of #Garland neighborhood wiped out from #tornado. #Dallas Fire Rescue helping with search. @NBCDFW pic.twitter.com/xrjtBI5bgG

— Amanda Guerra (@AmandaNBC5) December 27, 2015

In Collin County, two people were killed in Copeville, and an infant was killed in Blue Ridge, according to county officials quoted by local media.  

About 50,000 people were without power in the region, Oncor, the local utility, said. It’s unclear when power will be restored.

Dallas Morning News reported that homes and other structures were damaged in DeSoto, in southern Dallas County. Dozens of homes and buildings, including two churches, were destroyed in Ellis County, the newspaper said.

Separately, flash flooding in Illinois killed five people, Marion County Coroner Troy Cannon said. The three adults and two children drowned when their vehicle was swept away and sank in a creek on Saturday, the AP reported.

The deaths bring to at least 34 the number of fatalities from the unusual storms that have hit the country during Christmas week. Eighteen deaths have been reported in Mississippi, Tennessee, and Arkansas.

More bad weather, including a “crippling blizzard,” has been predicted for the Texas and Oklahoma panhandles and parts of New Mexico. The warning is in effect from late Sunday morning through midday Monday.











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Published on December 27, 2015 11:38

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