Heavy Weather: A winter storm that stretches across the northern states from North Dakota to Maine and south through Illinois and Indiana is bringing snow and freezing rain. Power outages are expected in areas where rain turns to ice.

Hundreds of miles of interstate highways are closed across the Dakotas and Wyoming, and a snow emergency has been declared in Bismarck, North Dakota, where over a foot of snow fell. Heavy snow is expected in Maine.

In Transition: The incoming Trump administration is having its first scandal and they aren’t even in office yet. Jason Miller, a prominent spokesman for the Trump campaign who had been named White House communications director, abruptly withdrew, saying he needed to spend more time with his family, a sure sign of trouble.

Shortly after Miller’s appointment, fellow Trump aide AJ Delgado, tweeted, “Congratulations to the baby-daddy on being name WH Comms Director!” She also tweeted, “The 2016 version of John Edwards,” about the vice-presidential candidate who famously fathered a child with a campaign aide. Delgado said Miller needed to resign, “like yesterday.”

Miller’s wife is pregnant, and she may not be his only female companion who’s expecting.

World: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in a snit and a political bind after the UN Security Council vote to condemn Israel for continuing to build settlements in occupied Palestinian territory. Netanyahu vowed to exact a “diplomatic and economic price” from the countries that voted against Israel. Netanyahu described the UN resolution as “distorted,” “delusional,” “absurd,” and “part of the swan song of the old world that is biased against Israel.”

The US allowed the measure to pass by abstaining rather than vetoing and an angry Netanyahu summoned the US ambassador for a meeting on Christmas Day.

Isabel Kershner writes in the NY Times that a casualty of the UN vote might be the end of Netanyahu’s support for a two-state solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. Netanyahu is under increasing pressure from the Israeli right wing to abandon his support for a Palestinian state.

Keep Calm: For what may be the first time in her reign, Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II missed the traditional Christmas church service. Buckingham Palace said the 90-year-old queen was suffering a bad cold, but any break in the queen’s routine causes national speculation about her health.

Nation: A giant sinkhole in Fraser, Mich., has sucked in one house and is threatening others. A Fraser couple awoke Christmas morning to popping and creaking sounds. Two hours later they had trouble opening the doors. They grabbed what they could and left.

Authorities say the sinkhole was caused by a rupture in an 11-foot public sewer line 58 feet below the house.

The Obit Page: George Michael, the British pop star who was half the duo Wham! in the 1980s, was found dead in his home yesterday in Oxfordshire, England, at age 53. His manager said he believes Michael died of heart failure in bed.

There was a time when Michael’s songs were on the radio all the time. Wham’s big hit, “Wake Me up Before You Go-Go” was a kind of cheery bubble-gum disco tune. Michael, who also had a big solo career, wrote a string of hits including “Freedom 90” and the bluntly titled “I Want Your Sex.”

Michael was male-model handsome and came out as gay in 1998 after being arrested for lewd conduct in a Beverly Hills men’s room.

Kardashian Kristmas: Kim Kardashian’s husband Kanye West was not invited to the Kardashian family Christmas party Friday night and Kim was seen without her wedding ring. Just thought you’d be fascinated.

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