Midwest shivers in frigid cold
CHICAGO, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Frigid cold invaded the U.S. Midwest Friday after a storm blanketed a wide region with snow that snarled traffic and was blamed for at least one death.
Officials across Illinois and Wisconsin reported snow accumulations of 2-8 inches from the storm that moved across the region Thursday, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Police said a woman died Thursday in Oswego, Ill., when her vehicle crossed into oncoming traffic and struck a semitrailer truck.
Frigid temperatures and wind were forecast to move in behind the storm, with a possibility of lake-effect snow in northwest Indiana, the National Weather Service said.
In Chicago, NWS meteorologist Jamie Enderlen said temperatures would rise only to the teens.
Both major Chicago airports reported delays and cancellations into Thursday night, the Tribune said.
New Englanders braced for rapidly changing weather conditions, AccuWeather.com reported.
Temperatures were expected to rapidly drop by as much as 20 degrees, creating a flash freeze and dangerous travel conditions, forecasters said.
Perry, in new ad, vows not to quit
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Texas Gov. Rick Perry says he's never quit before and doesn't plan to quit now in the race to be the Republican presidential nominee.
"I have never quit a day in my life," Perry said in his latest Web ad titled "Champion."
"I have never quit in the face of adversity and I'm not just about to quit on the future of America. I am going to stay in this race and stay in this fight because our children and this country are worth the fight."
Perry had a poor showing last week in the Iowa caucuses and finished last in Tuesday's New Hampshire primary. He decided to cut short his stumping in New Hampshire to focus on the Jan. 21 primary in more conservative South Carolina.
The new ad includes images of Babe Ruth swatting a home run, close-ups of handshakes and children playing as military planes in formation fly overhead, with sweeping music in the background.
Obama to seek ability to shrink government
WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- President Obama plans to ask Congress to give him the power to reorganize the federal government, a White House official said.
Obama was to speak Friday about reforming government, looking to merge six trade and commerce agencies, a senior administration official told The Hill.
"The president will speak at the White House about keeping the promise he made at last year's State of the Union address to make our government leaner, smarter and more consumer-friendly," the official said.
Obama was expected to ask Congress to grant him authority to propose the mergers, The Hill said. If it grants Obama the authority, Congress would decide whether to approve his proposed mergers.
Space station dodges super-fast debris
HOUSTON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- The International Space Station dodged a small but super-fast piece of orbiting communication debris Friday, NASA said.
The crew fired the Zvezda service module thrusters at 11:10 a.m. EST to avoid a 4-inch piece of a former communications satellite orbiting at very high speed in the space station's general direction that had "the potential of a collision," the space agency said.
The engine-burn moved the station slightly to take it out of range of the piece of broken satellite that was due to pass between 0.6 and 15 miles of the station, SPACE.com reported.
Contact with the object, once used for voice and data communication from hand-held satellite phones, could have punctured the six-story high, 24-story-long and 36-story wide station, officials said.
The orbital modification marked the 13th time since 1998 the low-Earth-orbit station has had to take evasive action to avoid debris, NASA said.
The maneuver eliminated the need to boost the station's altitude next week for the launch and docking this month of a Russian unmanned Progress resupply cargo ship, NASA said.
