The nation in brief

A shopper pushes a full grocery cart through heavy snow Saturday in a parking lot in Marlborough, Mass.
(AP/Bill Sikes)
A shopper pushes a full grocery cart through heavy snow Saturday in a parking lot in Marlborough, Mass. (AP/Bill Sikes)

Foot of snow forecast in New England

WARREN, Mass. -- The first big wintry storm of the season began dropping what forecasters say could be more than a foot of wet, heavy snow Saturday on parts of the Northeast, making travel treacherous and cutting off power to thousands.

Morning rain gave over to snow in the afternoon in New England. Accidents littered the Massachusetts Turnpike, where speed limits were reduced to 40 mph. Massachusetts and New Hampshire utilities quickly reported thousands of customers without power.

Forecasters warned that the windy nor'easter could result in near-blizzard conditions and dump a foot of snow on suburban Boston.

Authorities in Connecticut urged drivers to be careful.

"Troopers are responding to accidents all over the state," state police tweeted. "We ask motorists, if they can stay home please do. And if you have to go out please drive slow and ditch all distractions."

Unitil Corp., an electric and gas utility in New England, reported that crews stood ready to respond to power outages.

"The chief hazards with the current forecast include hazardous driving conditions in the early hours, the volume of wet snow forecasted to fall and possible gusty winds in coastal areas," said spokesperson Alec O'Meara.

In some areas, snowfall of 3 inches per hour was possible, said National Weather Service meteorologist Michael Clair in Gray, Maine.

Georgian first Black leader of Ag panel

ATLANTA -- Democratic U.S. Rep. David Scott will become the first Georgian and the first Black man to lead the U.S. House Agriculture Committee.

The House Democratic Caucus on Thursday ratified the choice of Scott to lead the panel.

"I was born on my grandparents' farm in rural Aynor, South Carolina, during the days of segregation, and the hardships of those, on whose shoulders I now stand," Scott said in a statement. He represents a suburban district south and west of Atlanta.

The committee oversees the U.S. Department of Agriculture as well as food stamps, school meals, and soil and water conservation.

Scott says he wants to focus on climate change's threat to the nation's food supply and other issues.

He replaces Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn., who lost his bid for reelection.

Scott was a Georgia state representative from 1975-82 and a state senator from 1983 until 2002, when he was first elected to Congress. He defeated Republican Becky Hites last month to win a 10th two-year term.

U.S. ends 5 China exchange programs

WASHINGTON -- The Trump administration has ended five cultural-exchange programs with China that it says were being used for Chinese propaganda and had no benefit to the United States.

The terminations follow new visa restrictions announced by Washington limiting stays in the U.S. by members of China's Communist Party and signal further erosion in relations with Beijing in the final weeks of President Donald Trump's time in office.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the exchange programs he ended were fully paid for and operated by the Chinese government "as soft power propaganda tools." They provided "carefully curated access to Chinese Communist Party officials, not to the Chinese people, who do not enjoy freedoms of speech and assembly," he said in a statement late Friday.

The State Department terminated the Policymakers Educational China Trip Program, the U.S.-China Friendship Program, the U.S.-China Leadership Exchange Program, the U.S.-China Transpacific Exchange Program, and the Hong Kong Educational and Cultural Program. Each program allowed U.S. officials to travel in China at Beijing's expense.

Pompeo said the U.S. welcomes "the reciprocal and fair exchange of cultural programs" with China, and mutually beneficial ones will continue.

Flames gut 1892 church in Manhattan

NEW YORK -- A historic church in lower Manhattan that houses New York's Liberty Bell and whose congregation dates to the city's earliest days was gutted by fire early Saturday that sent flames shooting through the roof.

The Middle Collegiate Church in the East Village burned before dawn after flames spread from a five-story vacant building adjacent to the church around 5 a.m.

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"We are devastated. We are gutted like our building is gutted; our hearts are crushed like our doors are crushed," said the Rev. Jacqueline Lewis. "But we know how to be the church, and we know that God is God, yesterday, today and tomorrow."

The Fire Department said in an Instagram post that there were four minor injuries to firefighters and that marshals were investigating the blaze.

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Built in 1892, the church is home to the oldest congregation of the Collegiate Churches of New York. The bell tower houses New York's Liberty Bell, which pealed to mark the birth of the nation in 1776 and has since been rung for the inaugurations and deaths of American presidents.

Lewis believed the bell survived the fire but was not certain.

Firefighters work to extinguish a fire Saturday at Middle Collegiate Church in New York. More photos at arkansasonline.com/126eastvillage/. Video at arkansasonline.com/126churchfire/.
(AP/Yuki Iwamura)
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire Saturday at Middle Collegiate Church in New York. More photos at arkansasonline.com/126eastvillage/. Video at arkansasonline.com/126churchfire/. (AP/Yuki Iwamura)

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