2.7 million people in Texas are without power during winter storm
15 February 2021
Over 2.7 million people across Texas are currently without power as the majority of the state faces single-digit temperatures and sub-zero wind chill, according to the national utility tracker poweroutage.us.
The big picture: Large swaths of the country, including the southeast up through the central U.S., under a winter storm warning, according to the National Weather Service. Freezing temperatures in Texas are historic and haven't been seen in decades, according to experts and the state department of transportation.
Here’s something you don’t see everyday... check out the scenes from Seawall Blvd in Galveston this morning. 🌨😱#LoveGalveston | https://t.co/uijbAAlsPD. pic.twitter.com/eLp53DPclU
— Galveston Island (@GalvestonIsland) February 15, 2021
What's happening: The Electric Reliability Council of Texas announced after 1 a.m. on Monday that it would begin rotating outages due to extreme weather to take generators offline.
- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott (R) issued a disaster declaration on Feb. 12, saying that the prolonged freezing temperatures, sleet, and heavy snow could lead to deaths, injury, and damaged property.
- There are reports of road closures throughout the state, including in Houston and San Antonio, with freezing temperatures expected for at least the next day.
"The barrage of storminess and extreme cold can be traced back to an early January disruption of the polar vortex, which allowed lobes of extreme cold to ebb south over North America, Europe and Asia," the Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang reports.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.