People bundled up in their hooded jackets wait for a a bus in subzero temperatures along 2nd Street Southwest Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2019, in downtown Rochester, Minn. (Joe Ahlquist/The Rochester Post-Bulletin via AP)
CHICAGO (AP) — The Latest on a major snowstorm and frigid weather in the Midwest (all times local):
6:30 a.m.
Among the things the arctic cold is freezing up temporarily in Illinois are the wheels of justice.
Along with numerous schools and businesses, many federal and state courthouses are closed in Illinois on Wednesday as dangerously cold weather hits parts of the Midwest.
Kane County courts are among those closing. The chief judge for the circuit courts in suburban Chicago cited the “dangerous cold” for the decision to close both Wednesday and Thursday.
The chief judge of the Circuit Court of Cook County, home to Chicago, also ordered its courts closed both days. He says he wants to ensure “nobody is placed in danger while traveling to and from court” in “anticipated historic cold temperatures.”
The federal judicial district for northern Illinois is closing its courthouses in Chicago and Rockford on Wednesday.
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12 a.m.
A deadly arctic deep freeze has enveloped the Midwest, forcing widespread closure of schools, businesses, government offices, and prompting the U.S. Postal Service to take the rare step of suspending mail delivery to a wide swath of the region.
Many normal activities are shutting down and residents are huddled inside as the National Weather Service forecast plunging temperatures from one of the coldest air masses in years. The bitter cold is the result of a split in the polar vortex that allowed temperatures to plunge much further south in North America than normal.
Officials throughout the region are focused on protecting vulnerable people from the cold, including the homeless, seniors and those living in substandard housing.
At least four deaths have been linked to the weather system.
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