Stormy Weather: Oklahoma, Arkansas and Tennessee all declared states of emergency as a massive snow and ice storm slides across the Midwest. Power was knocked out to tens of thousands of homes and business in North Texas as the storm laid down a layer of ice. The heavy weather is moving on today to bring freezing rain to the Mid-South, Ohio Valley, Middle Atlantic and Northeast tonight into Monday. By tomorrow, it will be snowing in Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington.

Released: North Korea deported Merrill NewmanHowever the protesters allege her government is controlled by ousted leader Thaksin Shinawatra, and have vowed to continue the demonstrations., the 85-year-old Korean War veteran who had visited as a tourist. Newman told reporters in Beijing, “I feel good. I’m glad to be on my way home.” The North Koreans had accused him of committing war crimes during his time as an infantry officer and forced him to read a clumsily written propaganda confession. He was held for seven weeks, although it’s unclear what message the North Koreans were trying to send with the incident.

National: The Obama Administration gave the wind power industry a 30-year permit to accidentally kill bald and golden eagles. Dozens of protected eagles are killed every year by the blades of wind turbines, but the president gave the industry a pardon to encourage green energy.

• Roughly 10% of the enrollment forms that go from the Obamacare website to insurance companies have errors, according to the administration. That figure may have been as high as 25% before the rush to fix the website. Nearly 4 million people visited the site this week with no major crashes.

World: Nearly 300 Christians in the Central African Republic were slaughtered by Muslims yesterday, as thousands of people sought refuge with French troops at the airport in Bangui. Decomposing bodies were reported to by lying along the roads. The French are involved because the C.A.R. is a former colony, although it has been independent for 50 years. The French also intervened in a conflict in Mali in January.

• Egypt freed 21 women, including seven minors, who were sent to prison for supporting ousted President Mohammed Morsi. Some of them had been sentenced to up to 11 years.

The Rap: The NY Yankees lost their best hitter to the Seattle Mariners in what is believed to be the third biggest baseball contract ever. All-Star second baseman Robinson Cano agreed to a 10-year, $240 million deal. But maybe the bigger headline is that Cano was represented by rapper Jay Z, Beyonce’s husband, in his first outing as a sports agent. He evidently has a good rap for business too.

Football: The US soccer team has been assigned to the “death pool” in the upcoming World Cup, facing #2 Germany and #5 Portugal in the first round. The US is ranked #14. Ghana fills out the opening foursome at #24.

Loss of Face: Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s Facebook praise for the late Nelson Mandela brought out his conservative constituents to disagree. Evidently Mandela was not everyone’s hero. Among the comments posted:

–      “sorry senator u be wrong on this one”.

–      “He is nothing or was nothing but a criminal”

–      “He was communist terrorist.”

–      “how about we light up a South African necklace in his honor?”

–       and, “ Just lost a lot of respect, Senator Cruz. A whole lot.”

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