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ByDonBabwin The Associated Press CHICAGO A year after a brutally cold spell was blamed on something called the polar vortex — which was treated like a northern invasion by the media and as a conquering hero by children impressed by its power to close schools — this week's chill is little more than what meteorolo- gists like to call winter. Here are some questions — and answers — about the weather: Q : WHAT'S THE FORECAST? A : The Midwest will see the tail end of a storm that could dump as much as 6 inches of snow on Chicago by early Tuesday. That city, which awoke to sub-zero temper- atures Monday, is expected to warm to a high of 16 de- grees Tuesday before tem- peratures plummet to as low as 10 degrees below zero Wednesday morning and no higher than 5 de- grees the rest of the day. The temperatures pale in comparison to those ex- perienced in North Dakota and Minnesota, where wind chills of between negative 25 and negative 50 degrees hit Monday morning. Rainy New York City will also be struck by the cold come Thursday and "will be lucky if it hits 20" with lows near 10 degrees, ac- cording to Michael Musher with the National Weather Service's Weather Predic- tion Center. It will be unusually cold in Atlanta on Thurs- day, when temperatures are forecast to dip into the lower teens, before scram- bling up to the lower 20s on Friday. In the West, a stream of Pacific moisture that dropped as much as 7 inches of rain along the Washing- ton coast is expected to give way to clear skies thanks to high pressure moving in. That same high pressure has kept the San Francisco Bay Area — which desper- ately needs rain — dry. Q : WHAT'S CAUS- ING THE TEMPERA- TURE DROP? A : The jet stream is dipping, mean- ing cold air from Canada and other northern ar- eas is plummeting into the eastern two-thirds of the United States. Q : IS IT THE POLAR VORTEX? A : The phrase took on a life of its own last year, becoming wildly pop- ular on television news and in social media, and serving as fodder for late night comedians, not to mention Rush Limbaugh, who suggested it was an invention of liberals mak- ing their case in the de- bate over global warming. "We've been told to go around that term," said Musher, chuckling. The answer is yes and no. Yes, because as Musher noted, the cold air is com- ing from near the North Pole. But also no, because the system itself that came all the way down into the United States has so far stayed in its normal loca- tion far to the north of the U.S. border. Meteorologists say it's simply winter. Q : HOW CAN PEOPLE PREPARE? A : Chicago's history in- cludes a chapter on one mayor who was voted out of office because snow plow crews were too slow to clear the streets. In an- ticipation of perhaps 6 inches of snow late Tues- day, Mayor Rahm Eman- uel ordered a small army of snow plows be ready to hit the streets. And offi- cials in the colder regions of the country have urged residents to bundle up to guard against hypother- mia. But there don't seem to be any huge winter storms poised to strike, meaning travel in most places won't be more difficult than it usually is at this time of year. Q : WHAT'S NEXT? A : Temperatures are expected to be lower than normal for days but could rise a bit by the end of the week. "We have cold temper- atures, but it's not like it never happened before," said Bob Oravec, a meteo- rologist with the Weather Prediction Center in College Park, Maryland. "It's typical for an Arctic outbreak." Q&A Winter chills much of nation THEASSOCIATEDPRESS Miss New York City Bess Myerson waves from he float during a parade prior to competing in the Miss America pageant at Atlantic City, N.J., in 1945. By Christopher Weber The Associated Press LOS ANGELES Bess Myer- son, the first Jewish Miss America and a New York political force until a se- ries of scandals dubbed the "Bess Mess" forced her into obscurity, has died. She was 90. Myerson died Dec. 14 at her home in Santa Mon- ica, California, according to the Los Angeles coro- ner's office and Depart- ment of Public Health Vital Records Office. Her death was first reported by The New York Times. The Bronx-born Myer- son was hailed as a Jew- ish, feminist Jackie Robin- son — a groundbreaker for her religion and sex — af- ter parlaying her stunning 1945 Miss America victory into national celebrity. The 5-foot-10 dark- haired beauty, unlike her predecessors, accentuated her intelligence. Myerson landed a series of televi- sion jobs, from game show hostess to on-air reporter, before her appointment as New York City's chief con- sumer watchdog in 1969. The popular Myerson helped Ed Koch win the 1977 mayoral race, deflect- ing rumors of the bachelor candidate's homosexuality — which he neither con- firmed nor denied — with her constant presence at his side. "The immaculate deception," cynics called it after the couple shared an election night victory kiss. She made her own bid for office in 1980: an un- successful Democratic pri- mary run for U.S. Senate. Three years later, Koch ap- pointed her Cultural Af- fairs commissioner — an $83,000-a-year post as the city's liaison to the arts. "People like to read about me," she said in a 1987 interview. "They like to imagine themselves in my life." But Myerson's carefully cultivated image crumbled in the mid-1980s under a barrage of political and personal embarrassments that became known as the Bess Mess. A city background check exposed Myerson as an in- sanely jealous woman who harassed an ex-boyfriend and his new lover. She re- peatedly invoked her right against self-incrimination in a 1986 corruption probe of a subsequent boyfriend, Carl "Andy" Capasso, who was born the year Myerson was crowned. Capasso, a contractor with purported mob ties, pleaded guilty to nine counts of tax evasion. Myerson, Capasso and Judge Hortense Gabel were indicted in Octo- ber 1987 on a charge of conspiring to fix Capas- so's divorce case. Prose- cutors said Gabel's daugh- ter, Sukhreet, received a city job in return for the judge's lowering of Capas- so's alimony and child sup- port payments. Before that trial began the next year, Myerson was convicted of shoplifting nail polish and earrings from a Pennsylvania store. A 1970 shoplifting convic- tion was also made public. Although Myerson and her co-defendants were ac- quitted in the divorce-fix- ing case, the damage was done. She had already re- signed her Koch adminis- tration post, and her public career was virtually over. The Miss America Or- ganization said in a state- ment Monday that Myer- son would be remembered for her unwavering com- mitment to equality. "Bess used her Miss America title to fight anti- Semitism and racial big- otry as she traveled around the country," the organiza- tion said. Bess Myerson was born July 16, 1924, the second daughter of Russian im- migrants. Raised in a one- bedroom Bronx apart- ment, she was beloved by her housepainter father, Louis, and beleaguered by her strict mother, Bella. By age 12, Myerson was taller and thinner than her classmates — she once played Olive Oyl in a school production. Her natural beauty soon emerged, and older sister Sylvia shep- herded Myerson into the Miss New York City pag- eant in 1945. Myerson won, advanc- ing to Atlantic City for the Miss America pageant. Organizers urged her to change her name — they suggested "Betty Merrick" — but Myerson refused. Her title, captured as the horrors of the Holo- caust were coming to light, made Myerson a hero to her peers. Walking down the stage to cries of "Ma- zel tov!" from Jews in the audience, Myerson later re- called thinking, "This vic- tory is theirs." Bess Myerson, 1st Jewish Miss America, dies at 90 OBITUARY CHRIS CLAR — THE GRAND RAPIDS PRESS Anna Coles, a Michigan State University medical school student, runs on a sidewalk on Monday in Grand Rapids, Mich. By Michael Rubinkam The Associated Press MILFORD, PA. A judge on Monday ordered a self- taught survivalist to stand trial on charges he fatally shot a Pennsylvania state trooper and wounded an- other during an ambush at their barracks. The ruling came after a daylong preliminary hear- ing for Eric Frein, 31, dur- ing which Pike County prosecutors showed sur- veillance video of the mor- tally wounded trooper crumpling to the ground; a bullet striking a comrade kneeling by his side; and the comrade, his legs im- mobilized by the gunfire, crawling into the lobby on his stomach. After allegedly killing Cpl. Bryon Dickson and wounding Trooper Alex Douglass outside the ru- ral barracks in Blooming Grove, Frein led authori- ties on a 48-day manhunt through the Pocono woods before marshals captured him at an abandoned air- plane hangar. One trooper testified Monday that bullets from the Sept. 12 ambush came from Frein's rifle, which was recovered at the han- gar. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Frein's defense attorney called no witnesses and offered no ev- idence. Frein, whose hands and feet were shackled, sat quiet and still through the morn- ing session in a cavernous courtroom packed with me- dia and other spectators. At one point, he wrote a note and whispered into his at- torney's ear. Authorities say Frein confessed to what he de- scribed as an assassination designed to "wake people up" and result in a change in government. Frein was identified as a suspect shortly after the shootings when a passer-by found his vehicle partially submerged in a small pond near the barracks. The manhunt, with drew a large police force to the rural area, frightened res- idents as there were nu- merous reported sightings of Frein, an expert marks- man. A team of federal mar- shals performing a system- atic search stumbled across him about 30 miles from the scene of the shooting and were able to arrest him. PENNSYLVANIA Su sp ec t to s ta nd t ri al i n am bu sh o f st at e tr oo pe rs www.expresspros.com RespectingPeople. 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