Good morning Her Campus! With a break-neck news cycle, there is no possible way for you to stay on top of every story that comes across your feeds—we’re all only human, after all.
But, life comes at you fast. So grab a cup of coffee and settle in for this quick and dirty guide to stories you might’ve been sleeping on (like, literally. It’s early.)
At Least 8 Dead as Polar Vortex Rages On
The frigid temperatures and below-zero wind chills that the Midwest and parts of the Northeast have been experiencing this week have already caused as many as eight deaths, ABC News reports. The deaths, reportedly in connection with the cold weather, have occured in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Indiana. The National Weather Service continues to warn the 75 million people experiencing the cold to stay inside to avoid frostbite and hypothermia.
“These are some of the coldest temperatures an entire generation has ever felt, talking about the millennials,” NBC News meteorologist Kathryn Prociv said. “A lot of these temperatures will be the coldest since about 1994, when a lot of them were just being born.”
In Chicago, temperatures reached minus 23, though the wind chill was minus 52 degrees. Minneapolis was minus 28, with a wind chill of minus 55. Flights and classes at colleges and schools continue to be cancelled. The U.S. Postal Service is even suspending delivery services in many cities and states.
Sen. Rand Paul Awarded $580,000 After Attack by Neighbor
A Kentucky jury awarded Republican Senator Rand Paul more than $580,000 in damages and medical expenses on Wednesday in his lawsuit against his neighbor who tackled him and broke several of his ribs during a dispute over lawncare in 2017. According to the Associated Press, the three-day trial took place in Bowling Green, where both Paul and his neighbor, 60-year-old anesthesiologist Rene Boucher, live.
Boucher described the incident — which Paul said made him fear for his life — as “two minutes of my life I wish I could take back.” His lawyers said that they expected Paul getting a verdict in his favor, and they plan to appeal. Boucher already served 30 days in prison, but federal prosecutors are continuing to seek a longer, 21-month sentence.
Undocumented Immigrant Fired From Trump’s Club Invited by Dem Congresswoman to SOTU
After Victorina Morales, a Guatemalan native, described herself as an “undocumented worker,” to The New York Times in December, she was fired from her job at the Trump National Golf Club in New Jersey — where she’s worked for years — and is now facing deportation. But next week, Morales will be in attendance at President Trump’s State of the Union after she was invited by Democratic congresswoman, Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman of New Jersey.
“I hope that in his State of the Union address, Donald Trump will finally acknowledge the real face of immigrants in this country — women and children fleeing violence, law-abiding, tax-paying people who would do almost anything to be Americans,” Watson Coleman said in a statement on Wednesday. “And if he can’t, I’ve invited Victorina so that he may look her in her eyes to tell his lies to a familiar face.”
Morales said that getting hired by Trump’s club in 2013 was easy. She even claimed that managers helped her obtain fake documents for employment. But after Trump was elected, she said she began to experience a hostile environment and abuse from her supervisor. In addition to attending the SOTU, Morales has been on Capitol Hill this week with other former club workers. She’s pushing for an investigation into the Trump Organization’s hiring practices, as well as protection from deportation, CNN reported.
What to look for…
Cheese coffee. YUM.