What on Earth is happening?
Good morning!🙋🏼‍♀️ I'm Nicole Fallert, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Save some green with these freebies.
Here's a glimpse at Monday's news:
- Affected Americans recoup after a weekend of deadly weather.
- U.S. wholesale egg prices are shattering records.
- The 68-team NCAA March Madness brackets are here!
Dozens dead as powerful weather crushes multiple US states
At least 37 people are dead after dozens of tornadoes, high winds and dust storms pushed across the United States over the weekend, decimating homes and other structures in several states.
Dust storms. Tornadoes. Wildfire. Snow: Deaths were reported in Kansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, Arkansas, Texas, Alabama and Missouri, where three people died Friday when an EF-3 tornado with peak winds of 140 mph hit.
- A spate of twisters: The Storm Prediction Center has logged 75 preliminary tornado reports in seven states since Friday.
- Stories of the storms are harrowing. One Alabama woman said she fell on her bed, and the roof caved in on top of her during a tornado. The winds then picked up her, the bed and the roof.
- Meanwhile, thousands of acres of wildfires are raging in Texas. Responders fought ten uncontained blazes over the weekend.
Democratic anger reaches a new boiling point
The Democratic base has turned its ire on a new target: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the nine Democratic senators who voted to advance a Republican funding bill rather than shut down the government. After days of mounting pressure – and lively intraparty fights behind closed doors – Schumer announced Thursday night that he would vote for the funding extension, clearing the path for other senators to join him. Now other House Democrats and New York politicos are urging Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., to mount a primary challenge to him when he is next up for re-election in 2028.
More news to know now
- ICE is detaining those married or engaged to U.S. citizens.
- Oil hit two-week highs on Monday, while U.S. futures slid.
- Trump and Putin are expected to talk this week.
- Are DOGE layoffs going to affect flights?
- Trump Treasury: Â "There are no guarantees" about a recession hitting the U.S.
Start your week with our crossword! Expert Sally's clue? Good Vibrations (Freestyle).
Hey neighbor, can we borrow some eggs?
America is going to its neighbors to stock the pantry. The United States has reached out to Denmark and other European nations to ask if they can export eggs as Americans face surging egg prices. The request from the U.S. Department of Agriculture coincides with a raft of new U.S. tariffs on countries, including in Europe, and the threat of more. President Donald Trump has also threatened economic sanctions unless Denmark hands over control of Greenland to the United States. The Danish Egg Association said there is no surplus of eggs in Europe.
How is it possible Girl Scout cookies may contain heavy metals?
A proposed class-action lawsuit filed earlier this week blames the Girl Scouts of the USA for the presence of heavy metals and the herbicide glyphosate in its famous cookies, citing a study that wasn't peer reviewed of a small sample size of cookies purchased in three states. In those cookies, four out of five heavy metals tested for were present in all the cookie samples, and most of the 25 cookie samples tested had all five: aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury. Experts credit more sensitive testing technology to detect contaminants in many household food products.
Today's talkers
- The laundry detergent measuring cup discourse is getting bubbly.
- Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis just got "Freakier."
- Grimes says she "tried begging" Elon Musk to keep their children off the internet.
- An influencer defended separating a baby wombat from its mother.
- Meet the college freshman behind the eerily young Miss Huang.
Time to make your brackets!
Selection Sunday revealed one of the least controversial NCAA men’s tournament brackets in recent history thanks to a bubble-bursting final stretch of the regular season. The No. 1 line has Duke, Auburn, Florida and Houston. On the No. 2 line are Michigan State, Tennessee. For the women's tournament, surprise, praise and criticism — mainly from South Carolina — came swiftly, as UCLA earned the No. 1 overall seed in the tournament. Read Paste BN Sports' recap of the men's bracket and women's bracket.
Photo of the day:Â Hello, Starliner friends!
With floating hugs and smiles all around, the two NASA astronauts who crewed the ill-fated Boeing Starliner greeted their replacements aboard the International Space Station early Sunday morning. All of the 11 astronauts now aboard the station gathered for a short ceremony.
Nicole Fallert is a newsletter writer at Paste BN, sign up for the email here. Want to send Nicole a note? Shoot her an email at NFallert@usatoday.com.