Midday Roundup: Pro-life activists stare down epic blizzard

Rain, sleet, snow, or shine. As a blizzard closed in on Washington, D.C., pro-life activists assembled today for the annual March for Life, a protest against abortion on the anniversary of the Supreme Court’s 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. A record-busting winter storm blanketed Arkansas, Tennessee, and Kentucky with snow Thursday night and was moving northeast Friday. The National Weather Service predicted a 100 percent chance of precipitation in the nation’s capital starting Friday afternoon. From 12 to 30 inches of snow were forecast in Maryland, Virginia, and southern Pennsylvania. Organizers of the March for Life, which drew tens of thousands of participants last year, said the rally would continue as always, regardless of the weather. “This movement to end abortion in this country is bigger than us and it is bigger than a weather event,” March for Life president Jeanne Mancini said. “This is a cause that is worth our best efforts and dedication, despite difficult circumstances.”

Sharing the blame. A regional director of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) resigned Thursday in connection with the drinking water crisis in Flint, Mich. The agency’s chief has issued an emergency order directing state and city officials to take actions to protect public health. Much of the blame for the toxic water problem in Flint has been directed at Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and his administration, but critics also say the EPA took too long to respond to the crisis and should have put more pressure on Michigan to fix the problem sooner. The EPA announced Thursday that Susan Hedman, head of the agency’s regional office in Chicago whose jurisdiction includes Michigan, would step down Feb. 1.

Felony force. A grand jury indicted a white Atlanta-area police officer Thursday for felony murder in the shooting of an unarmed mentally ill African-American veteran. Officer Robert Olsen fatally shot Anthony Hill on March 9 while responding to a call of a naked man behaving erratically outside a suburban Atlanta apartment complex. Hill’s family said he was a U.S. Air Force veteran who struggled with mental-health problems. The felony murder counts mean Olsen is accused of killing someone during the commission of another felony, in this case aggravated assault or violation of his oath of office, DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James said. James accused Olsen of violating the department’s use-of-force policy and lying during the investigation, falsely saying Hill hit him in the chest before the shooting.

Marred beachscape. Islamic extremists with the terror group al-Shabaab attacked a beachside restaurant in Mogadishu on Thursday evening, killing about 20 people. The white sand beach normally draws hundreds of swimmers and surfers and had become a symbol of growth and rebirth in the Somali capital in recent years. The attack came a week after al-Shabaab overran a Kenyan army base in Somalia, signaling the group’s resilience despite military setbacks inflicted by a U.S.-backed regional force operating in the country.

Ongoing crisis. About 45 people, including 17 children, drowned Friday in the Aegean Sea when two boats smuggling migrants from the Middle East sank off different Greek islands. The Greek coast guard and other boats saved more than 70 people from the wreckage. The new drownings follow hundreds over the past year as Europe faces its worst immigration crisis since the end of World War II. More than a million people have entered Europe in 2015—most through Greece, coming across the sea in small boats from Turkey. Several countries have blocked or restricted migrants from entering due to the lack of resources for both helping refugees and maintaining security. In the meantime, Germany, where most immigrants are heading, has welcomed those it considers refugees.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.