Solemnly Swear: Progressive Bill de Blasio took the oath as mayor of New York with a vow to fight what he called the “quiet crisis” of inequality. “We are called to put an end to economic and social inequalities that threatened to unravel the city we love,” he said to a freezing crowd of 5,000. “Its urgency is read on the faces of our neighbors and their children, as families struggle to make it against increasingly long odds.” De Blasio is the first liberal to occupy New York’s city hall in 20 years.

Old Man: A major winter storm is moving into the Northeast today. It’s blizzarding in Chicago. Parts of New York and New England could get up to a foot of snow. NY City is in line for 3 to 7 inches, Mayor de Blasio’s first test. A deep freeze is expected to follow early next week.

The Whistler: The NY Times today published an editorial saying that NSA leaker Edward Snowden should be treated as a whistleblower, not a criminal. The Times urges a plea bargain or clemency that would allow Snowden to come home from exile in Russia. The editorial says, “Mr. Snowden deserves better than a life of permanent exile, fear and flight. He may have committed a crime to do so, but he has done his country a great service.”

Nation: An explosion and fire in a 10-unit Minneapolis apartment building injured 14 people. Most of the injured suffered burns and broken bones after they either jumped or were blown out of second and third story windows. Six of the injured are in critical condition. The building was left coated in ice after firefighters put out the fire.

• Former civil rights lawyer Lynne Stewart was released from her 10-year prison sentence because she’s been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Stewart was a crusader until she was accused of passing messages between one of her clients, the convicted terrorist Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, and his followers. Abdel-Rahman is the so-called “blind sheik” involved in the first plot to bomb the World Trade Center. Stewart was initially given 28 months, but a judge bumped it up to 10 years when he discovered she had lied during her trial.

World: Former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is reported to be near death after being in a coma for nearly eight years. Sharon had a stroke in 2006 and has been in a vegetative state ever since.

• A helicopter has pulled passengers from a Russian research vessel trapped in Antarctic ice. They were ferried to an Australian icebreaker. The 22 crewmembers on the research ship are staying aboard to free their ship when conditions are more favorable.

Small Screen: ESPN hired out-of-work quarterback Tim Tebow to be an analyst on its new college football network SEC, which kicks off next season. Tebow, who’s better known for praying than scoring in the NFL, says he still wants to make it back to the bigs and will continue training. And, presumably, praying.

Separated at Birth: Two mothers in Washington, DC and Toronto each gave birth to twins born in separate years. In Washington a girl was born in the last moments of 2013, and minutes later her brother entered the world in 2014. In Toronto one girl was born at 11:52 pm, and her twin sister arrived 38 seconds into the new year.

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