Friday,  Jan. 03, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 171 • 25 of 32

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AP News in Brief
Winter storm grounds flights, cancels school and shuts down highways throughout Northeast

• BOSTON (AP) -- A blustering post-Christmas snowstorm that has dropped nearly 2 feet of snow just north of Boston, shut down major highways in New York and forced U.S. airlines to cancel thousands of flights nationwide is continuing its bitter cold journey through the Northeast.
• The brutal weather -- which brought plummeting temperatures to some areas that forecasters predicted could see highs just above zero and wind chill readings of minus 10 degrees and colder by early Friday -- dumped 21 inches of snow in Boxford, Mass., late Thursday night and 18 inches in parts of western New York near Rochester. In Central Park early Friday, the National Weather Service said just over 3 inches of snow had fallen.
• The snowfall, frigid cold and stiff winds extended Christmas break for some students while posing the first test for New York City's new mayor and perhaps the last challenge for Boston's outgoing one.
• U.S. airlines canceled more than 2,300 flights due to snowfall and low visibility.
• "It's been a tough road," said traveler Heather Krochuk, of Toronto, Canada, inside a Boston hotel Thursday night after her flight home out of Logan International Airport got canceled in what's turned into a 36-hour trip from Seattle, where she spent Christmas with her husband, Ron.
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APNewsBreak: Gov't lacks automated system for adding babies; making other health plan updates

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- There's another quirk in the Obama administration's new health insurance system: It lacks a way for consumers to quickly and easily update their coverage for the birth of a baby and other common life changes.
• With regular private insurance, parents just notify the health plan. Insurers will still cover new babies, the administration says, but parents will also have to contact the government at some point later on.
• Right now the HealthCare.gov website can't handle such updates.
• It's a reminder that the new coverage for many uninsured Americans comes with

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