5 things you need to know Wednesday
1. 'Modern Family' takes a high-tech digital leap
Don't be fooled: Convincing as it is, the computer screen featured in Modern Family's Wednesday episode isn't real. Editors and special-effects producers took months constructing the digital pieces that appear to show Claire Dunphy's digital handiwork as she jumps online from FaceTime to Facebook to instant-message as she tries to track down her daughter, Haley (Sarah Hyland). The episode, Connection Lost (ABC, 9 p.m. ET/PT), was shot using iPhones, iPads and a MacBook Pro. Gadget enthusiast Levitan says the show contacted Apple, which provided equipment for filming and editing, including the iPhones and a monster 12-core Mac Pro. Not a bad deal for Apple considering it's getting some prime-time product placement.
2. Muslim's case looks at Abercrombie & Fitch policy
Samantha Elauf didn't look like a typical Abercrombie & Fitch sales associate, or "model," when she applied in 2008 for a job in Tulsa, Okla. That much was clear from the retailer's "look policy." But whether the preppy clothier's refusal to hire the 17-year-old girl was due to her Muslim religion or simply because she wore a black hijab, or head scarf, during the interview is still being fought out seven years later. On Wednesday, it will be up to the Supreme Court to decide.
3. CDC: Deaths soared as narcotic painkillers grew popular
Deaths from prescription narcotic painkillers have soared as the opioid drugs became more popular and powerful, a new federal study found. Four out of five people who used a prescription narcotic painkiller in 2011 to 2012 took pills equal to or stronger than morphine, according to statistics made public Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control National Center for Health Statistics. The percentage of people who took painkillers stronger than morphine, which include such drugs as fentanyl, hydromorphone, methadone and oxycodone, grew from 17% in 1999 to 37% in 2012, the study found.
4. More snow headed for southern cities
The South is in store for another round of wintry weather, with snow, ice, sleet and freezing rain expected from Texas to the Carolinas. Accumulating snow is forecast in cities such as Little Rock, Atlanta and Charlotte and hundreds of flights have already been canceled. States of emergency have been declared across the region and many schools closings have been announced, because as the video below says, there's no such thing as just a little snow in the South.
5. Wisconsin Senate is in for a long, nasty debate
The Wisconsin Senate plans to take up a Republican right-to-work bill Wednesday afternoon, and the session looks like it could be long and ugly. Democrats are seething after Republicans on the Senate labor committee cut a public hearing on the bill short Tuesday evening. Dozens of people who had waited all day to speak flew into a rage, hurling profanities at the three GOP lawmakers on the panel. Right-to-work laws, in place in 24 states, prohibit private-sector companies from reaching labor agreements in which workers have to pay fees to the unions as a condition of employment.
And, the essentials:
Weather: More winter weather east of the Rockies.
Stocks: U.S. stock futures were mixed before the opening bell.
TV Tonight: Wondering what to watch tonight? TV critic Robert Bianco looks at Modern Family, Survivor and The Amazing Race.
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Contributing: The Associated Press