AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EST

Forecasters warned that catastrophic damage, especially in areas pounded by ice, could rival a hurricane. Schools in Chicago and other Midwestern cities called off classes Friday, airlines canceled thousands of weekend flights, churches moved Sunday services online and the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee, decided to hold its Saturday night radio performance without fans. Carnival parades in Louisiana were canceled or rescheduled.

At least 182 million people were under watches or warnings for ice and snow and more than 210 million were under cold weather advisories or warnings. In many places, those overlapped. Utility companies braced for power outages because ice-coated trees and power lines can keep falling long after a storm has passed.

“It’s going to be a big storm,” Maricela Resendiz said as she picked up chicken, eggs and pizzas at a Dallas store to get her, her 5-year-old son and her boyfriend through the weekend. Her plans: “Staying in, just being out of the way.”

Freezing rain was already slickening roads in Lubbock, Texas, on Friday afternoon as temperatures dropped. After sliding into the South with ice and sleet, the storm was expected to move into the Northeast, dumping about a foot (30 centimeters) of snow from Washington, D.C., through New York and Boston, the National Weather Service predicted.

Police arrest protesters at airport as Minnesota gears up for anti-immigration enforcement protest

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Police arrested about 100 clergy demonstrating against immigration enforcement at Minnesota's largest airport Friday, organizers estimated, as thousands gathered, despite Arctic temperatures, in downtown Minneapolis to protest the Trump administration's crackdown.

Friday's protests are part of a broader movement against President Donald Trump's increased immigration enforcement across the state, with labor unions, progressive organizations and clergy urging Minnesotans to stay away from work, school and even shops in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

“Roughly 100 clergy” were arrested, according to Trevor Cochlin of Faith in Minnesota, a progressive advocacy group and one of the organizers the protest at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. They were protesting the deportation of immigrants from the facility. Authorities have not said how many people were detained at the airport.

Metropolitan Airports Commission spokesman Jeff Lea said the protesters were arrested outside the main terminal because they went beyond the reach of their permit for demonstrating and disrupted airline operations.

The Rev. Elizabeth Barish Browne traveled from Cheyenne, Wyoming, to participate in the rally in downtown Minneapolis.

US carries out first known strike on alleged drug boat since Maduro's capture

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military said Friday that it has carried out a deadly strike on a vessel accused of trafficking drugs in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the first known attack since the raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro earlier this month.

U.S. Southern Command said on social media that the boat was “engaged in narco-trafficking operations” and that the strike killed two people and left one survivor. It said it notified the Coast Guard to launch search and rescue operations for that person.

A video accompanying the post shows a boat moving through the water before exploding in flames. The U.S. military has focused lately on seizing sanctioned oil tankers with connections to Venezuela since the Trump administration launched an audacious raid to capture Maduro and bring him to New York to face drug trafficking charges.

The last boat strikes occurred in late December, when the military said it struck five alleged drug-smuggling boats over two days, killing a total of eight people while others jumped overboard. Days later, the Coast Guard suspended its search.

Iranian prosecutor denies Trump's claim 800 prisoners were spared execution

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s top prosecutor on Friday called U.S. President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he halted the hangings of 800 detained protesters there “completely false.” Meanwhile, the overall death toll from a bloody crackdown on nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 5,032, activists said.

Activists fear many more are dead. They struggle to confirm information as the most comprehensive internet blackout in Iran's history has crossed the two-week mark.

Tensions remain high between the United States and Iran as an American aircraft carrier group moves closer to the Middle East, something Trump likened to an “armada” in comments to journalists late Thursday.

Analysts say a military buildup could give Trump the option to carry out strikes, though so far he's avoided that despite repeated warnings to Tehran. The mass execution of prisoners had been one of his red lines for military force — the other being the killing of peaceful demonstrators.

“While President Trump now appears to have backtracked, likely under pressure from regional leaders and cognizant that airstrikes alone would be insufficient to implode the regime, military assets continue to be moved into the region, indicating kinetic action may still happen,” New York-based think tank the Soufan Center said in an analysis Friday.

Former Olympic snowboarder on FBI's most-wanted list is arrested in Mexico, faces drug charges

ONTARIO, Calif. (AP) — Former Canadian Olympic snowboarder Ryan Wedding, a top FBI fugitive accused of moving some 60 tons of cocaine from Latin America into the United States annually and orchestrating several killings, was arrested in Mexico and then flown to California, officials said Friday.

Wedding, 44, turned himself in Thursday at the U.S. embassy in Mexico City. FBI Director Kash Patel said his arrest came after U.S. investigators worked with authorities in Mexico, Canada, Colombia and the Dominican Republic for more than a year.

Officials say Wedding moved cocaine between Colombia, Mexico, Canada and Southern California, and they believe he was working under the protection of the Sinaloa Cartel, one of Mexico’s most powerful drug rings. Authorities said his aliases included “El Jefe,” “Public Enemy” and “James Conrad Kin.”

“He’s the modern-day El Chapo,” Patel told a news conference in California, comparing Wedding to the legendary former Sinaloa cartel kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who is imprisoned in the U.S. after pleading guilty to drug trafficking charges.

Wedding was previously convicted in the U.S. of conspiracy to distribute cocaine and was sentenced to prison in 2010, federal records show. He now faces charges related to running a multinational drug trafficking ring as well as the killings of a federal witness and three other people.

Judge rules Trump administration must keep funding child care subsidies in 5 states for now

A federal judge ruled Friday that President Donald Trump’s administration must keep federal funds flowing to child care subsidies and other social service programs in five Democratic-controlled states — at least for now.

The ruling Friday from U.S. District Judge Vernon Broderick extends by two weeks a temporary one issued earlier this month that blocked the federal government from holding back the money from California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York. The initial temporary restraining order was to expire Friday.

Broderick said Friday that he would decide later whether the money is to remain in place while a challenge to cutting it off works its way through the courts.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services sent the five states notices in early January informing them it would require justifications for spending the money aimed at helping low-income families. It also said it would require more documentation, including the names and Social Security numbers of the beneficiaries of some of the programs.

The programs impacted by the restrictions at the heart of this case are the Child Care and Development Fund, which subsidizes child care for 1.3 million children from low-income families nationwide; the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, which provides cash assistance and job training; and the Social Services Block Grant, a smaller fund that provides money for a variety of programs.

Haiti's transitional council deepens political chaos by voting to oust the prime minister

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Haiti’s long-running political crisis deepened Friday when the country’s transitional presidential council announced it had voted to fire Prime Minister Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, just two weeks before the panel is supposed to step down.

Edgard Leblanc Fils made the announcement at a news conference alongside fellow council member Leslie Voltaire, saying a majority of the panel took the step in a vote Thursday, defying calls from the U.S. government to maintain stability in the Caribbean country’s leadership. No other members of the panel were at the news conference.

The U.S. State Department said in a statement late Thursday that keeping Fils-Aimé on in the position was “integral” to Haiti's efforts to overcome the gangs terrorizing the country, and warned that any politicians supporting the “vicious gangs” would pay a steep cost.

Leblanc did not elaborate on the reasons why council members had turned against Fils-Aimé, who they chose for the position in November 2024. But Leblanc said the council would secure a replacement within 30 days “to find the way to fully restore security and stability and enter a cycle of development, correct the mistakes of the past and look ahead.”

“We know that the decision we make is in the interest of the country and in this sense, our friends in the international community will have to take note of our decisions,” Leblanc said.

Vance touts the Trump administration's record against abortion at a Washington rally

Vice President JD Vance on Friday encouraged anti-abortion activists to “take heart in how far we’ve come” on the quest to limit the practice, listing the Trump administration's accomplishments including an expansion of a ban on U.S. foreign aid for groups supporting abortion services.

“There is still much road ahead to travel together,” Vance told attendees at the annual March for Life demonstration, which draws tens of thousands of people annually to Washington. Attendees rallied on the National Mall before heading to the Supreme Court.

Vance, a Republican, has spent years passionately advocating for Americans to have more children. He repeatedly expressed alarm about declining birth rates as he launched his political career in 2021 with a successful bid for the U.S. Senate in Ohio, and as vice president he has continued on that mission.

“I want more babies in the United States of America," Vance said in addressing last year's March for Life.

Earlier this week, Vance and his wife, second lady Usha Vance, announced in a social media post they are expecting a son, their fourth child, in late July.

Illinois surgeon pleads not guilty to the killings of his ex-wife and her dentist husband in Ohio

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — An Illinois doctor indicted on murder charges in the December shooting deaths of his ex-wife and her dentist husband in their Columbus home pleaded not guilty to the killings in an Ohio courtroom on Friday.

Michael David McKee, 39, appeared remotely on camera from jail for his arraignment in Franklin County, where he faced four aggravated murder counts and one count of aggravated burglary while using a firearm suppressor in connection with the Dec. 30 double homicide of Monique Tepe, 39, and Dr. Spencer Tepe, 37. He was garbed in prison attire and did not speak during the brief hearing. Defense attorney Diane Menashe waived a request for bond, at least for now.

The mystery that first surrounded the case — which featured no forced entry, no weapon and no obvious signs of theft, additional violence or a motive — drew national attention. McKee, of Chicago, was arrested 11 days later near his workplace in Rockford, Illinois. He was returned to Ohio on Tuesday to face the charges against him.

McKee attended Catholic high school in Zanesville, a historic Ohio city about 55 miles (89 kilometers) east of the capital, according to the Diocese of Columbus. He enrolled at Ohio State University in September 2005 — the same semester that his future wife, then Monique Sabaturski, enrolled, university records show. Both graduated with bachelor's degrees in June 2009. Sabaturski earned a master of education degree from Ohio State in 2011, and McKee earned his medical degree there in 2014.

Sabaturski and McKee married in Columbus in August 2015 but were living apart by the time Monique filed to end in the marriage in May 2017, court records show. Their divorce was granted that June. McKee was living in Virginia at the time, court and address records show. He completed a two-year fellowship in vascular surgery at the University of Maryland Medical Center in October 2022, according to the school.

What weather apps sometimes miss about dangerous winter storm conditions

Smartphone weather apps that summarize their forecasts with eye-popping numbers and bright icons may be handy during mild weather, but meteorologists say it's better to listen to human expertise during multi-faceted, dangerous winter storms like the one blowing through the U.S.

The multistate storm's combination of heavy snow, treacherous ice and subzero temperatures shows why it's best to seek out forecasters who can explain its nuances via local TV or radio newscasts, online livestreams or detailed websites, said meteorologists interviewed by The Associated Press. The data is changing rapidly before and during the storm, and the distance of a few miles can mean the difference between snow, sleet or dangerous freezing rain.

“Weather apps are really bad at storms that have multiple types of precipitation and it really makes messaging hard,” said University of Georgia meteorology professor Marshall Shepherd, a past president of the American Meteorological Society. “Apps don’t understand the details of why snow, sleet or freezing rain happens.”

University of Oklahoma meteorology professor Jason Furtado and other experts said humans are important in these cases, especially those with local expertise.

“For extreme weather events, it is especially important to know there are human forecasters interpreting the data and making the best localized forecasts for your area," Furtado said. "Unfortunately, many of the weather forecast apps use AI methods to either make the forecast or ‘interpolate’ from larger grids to your hometown, introducing the potential for significant errors.”