Olympics opening ceremony, winter storm, January jobs report: 5 things to know Friday – USA TODAY
The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics officially start Friday with the opening ceremony at the National Stadium, known as the Bird’s Nest, the same stadium that hosted the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2008 Beijing Summer Games. Although competition is already underway in several sports, the opening ceremony will mark the ceremonial start when the Olympic flame is officially lit. More than 150 U.S. athletes are expected to participate in the fanfare, which includes the illustrious Parade of Nations, where athletes and officials march into the Bird’s Nest with their country’s flag. Curler John Schuster and speedskater Brittany Bowe will be the flag-bearers for the U.S. Bowe replaces bobsledder Elana Meyers Taylor, who remains in isolation after testing positive Saturday for COVID-19. The opening ceremony was scheduled to start at 7 a.m. ET. Coverage began at 6:30 a.m. ET on NBC and Peacock.
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One of the men convicted of murder in the chase and fatal shooting of Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old Black man, says he plans to stand trial for a second time in the killing rather than plead guilty to a federal hate crime. Greg McMichael reversed course late Thursday on a planned guilty plea, days after a U.S. District Court judge rejected terms of a plea deal that he and his son, Travis McMichael, had negotiated with prosecutors. That deal was met with passionate objections by Arbery’s parents. Travis McMichael was scheduled to appear in court Friday morning to announce his decision. The McMichaels and a neighbor, William “Roddie” Bryan, were convicted of murder in a Georgia state court in 2021 and sentenced to life in prison. Separate from that case, the three white men were also indicted on charges that they violated Arbery’s civil rights and targeted him because he was Black.
A massive winter storm was expected to bring snow, sleet and freezing rain to millions from the Rockies to the Northeast through Friday evening, according to forecasts. Parts of the Midwest and Northeast could see up to 18 inches of snow, and up to an inch of ice was possible in isolated areas around Kentucky and Tennessee, forecasts said. Schools were closed, flights were canceled and power was knocked out in some areas on Thursday as more than 100 million people were under some form of a winter weather alert, according to the National Weather Service. The latest storm comes after a nor’easter recently pummeled the East Coast with blizzard conditions.
U.S. employers unexpectedly added a booming 467,000 jobs in January even as COVID’s omicron variant kept millions of Americans out of work. The unemployment rate rose from 3.9% to 4%, the Labor Department said Friday. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg had estimated a modest 150,000 jobs were added last month but many projected an outright decline.
After a one-year hiatus brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the NHL All-Star Game returns this weekend, with festivities kicking off Friday night in Las Vegas with the skills competition (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). Many of the classic events are back, including hardest shot, fastest skater, accuracy contest, save streak contest and the breakaway challenge, which is returning for the first time since 2016 and will feature celebrity goalies in actor Wyatt Russell and women’s hockey trailblazer Manon Rheaume. There will also be two events that take advantage of Sin City: The “Fountain Face-off” and the “Las Vegas NHL 21 in ’22.” The former is a target shooting competition taking place on the water of the Bellagio fountains. The “21 in ’22” event will see players on “The Strip” trying to shoot a puck at an oversized deck of cards trying to get 21.
Contributing: The Associated Press
