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As his state was racked by anelectricity crisis that left millionsof people without heat in frigidtemperatures, the governor ofTexas took to television to startplacing blame.

His main target was renewableenergy, suggesting that the sys-temwide collapse was caused bythe failure of wind and solarpower.

“It just shows that fossil fuel isnecessary for the state of Texas aswell as other states to make surewe will be able to heat our homesin the winter times and cool ourhomes in the summer times,” saidGov. Greg Abbott, speaking onSean Hannity’s show on FoxNews. Other conservative talk-show hosts had already picked upthe theme.

However, wind power was notchiefly to blame for the Texasblackouts. The main problem wasfrigid temperatures that stallednatural gas production, which isresponsible for the majority ofTexas’ power supply. Wind makesup just a fraction — 7 percent orso, by some estimates — of thestate’s overall mix of power gener-ation.

As frigid weather grips the cen-ter of the nation, causing wide-spread power outages, freezingtemperatures, slippery roads andweather-related deaths, Gover-nor Abbott’s voice was among themost prominent in a chorus of po-litical figures this week to quicklyassert that green energy sourcessuch as wind and solar were con-tributing to the blackouts. Thetalking points, coming largelyfrom conservatives, reinvigorateda long-running campaign to claimthat emissions-spewing fossil fu-els are too valuable a resource togive up.

The efforts came despite thefact that the burning of fossil fuels— which causes climate changeby releasing vast amounts of plan-et-warming carbon dioxide emis-sions into the atmosphere — ishelping to drive the phenomenonof increasingly dangerous hurri-canes and other storms, as well asunusual weather patterns.

“Green energy failure” read thebanner on the bottom of thescreen of Fox News stories aboutpower outages. Social media postsmocked renewable energy as “un-

Officials Falsely HoldWindmills at Fault

By DIONNE SEARCEY

Continued on Page A22

HOUSTON — Halfway throughthe week that Texas froze over, ev-erything seemed to be in a state offrigid chaos.

Some homes had no water at allwhile others watched it gush fromburst pipes into their hallwaysand living rooms. In Galveston,where dozens had huddled onMonday and Tuesday in a county-run warming center, the newestpressing need was refrigeratedtrucks — to hold the bodies ex-pected to be found in the daysahead. And on Wednesday morethan 2.5 million people were stillwithout power, while nearly twiceas many were being told to boiltheir water.

The onslaught of winter was farfrom finished. In central Texas,where many roads have alreadybeen impassible for days, anotherbarrage of sleet and snow was ex-pected late into Wednesdayevening. The new storm was fore-cast to march toward the Mid-Atlantic, hitting parts of NorthCarolina and Virginia that are al-ready laboring under the ice fromthe last storm.

In Houston, Catherine Saenzand her family, like most of theirneighbors, have had no power orwater for days, as the city remainsin the grip of the fiercest winter inmemory. But they are fortunate:They have a fireplace.

Even fireplaces have to be fed,though, and to keep the two par-ents, two daughters and twograndmothers from freezing, herhusband has spent hours in the af-ternoon scouring the neighbor-hood for fallen trees and rottenwood.

“I never imagined that wewould be in this situation,” saidMs. Saenz, who grew up in Co-lombia but has lived in Houstonthrough Hurricanes Ike and Har-vey. “No one is prepared, it is dan-gerous and we are very vulnera-ble.”

As the storm moved east, DukeEnergy warned its customers inthe Carolinas that there could be amillion power outages in the daysahead. Maryland’s governor,Larry Hogan, gave a similarwarning, telling residents to keeptheir phones charged and to pre-pare themselves for the coming

MISERY DEEPENING IN TEXAS AS STORM MENACES THE EAST

Millions of Outages,and More Coming

This article is by Maria JimenezMoya, Campbell Robertson andAllyson Waller.

People waited in freezing rain to fill propane tanks Wednesday in Houston. Drinking water had also emerged as a major problem.DAVID J. PHILLIP/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Continued on Page A22

Rush Limbaugh, the right-wingradio megastar whose slashing,divisive style of mockery andgrievance reshaped Americanconservatism, denigrating Demo-crats, environmentalists, “femi-nazis” (his term) and other liber-als while presaging the rise ofDonald J. Trump, died on Wednes-day at his home in Palm Beach,Fla. He was 70.

His wife, Kathryn, announcedthe death at the start of Mr. Lim-baugh’s radio show, a decades-long destination for his flock ofmore than 15 million listeners. “Iknow that I am most certainly notthe Limbaugh that you tuned in tolisten to today,” she said, beforeadding that he had died that morn-ing from complications of lungcancer.

Mr. Limbaugh revealed a diag-nosis of advanced lung cancer lastFebruary. A day later, Mr. Trump

awarded him the PresidentialMedal of Freedom, the nation’shighest civilian honor, during theState of the Union address.

Since his emergence in the1980s as one of the first broadcast-ers to take charge of a national po-litical call-in show, Mr. Limbaughtransformed the once-sleepysphere of talk radio into a relent-

Agitator Who Made Talk RadioA Right-Wing Attack Machine

By ROBERT D. McFADDENand MICHAEL M. GRYNBAUM

RUSH LIMBAUGH, 1951-2021

Rush Limbaugh in 2018.DOUG MILLS/THE NEW YORK TIMES

Continued on Page A24

ALBANY, N.Y. — The Demo-cratic leaders of the New YorkState Senate are moving to stripGov. Andrew M. Cuomo of unilat-eral emergency powers grantedduring the pandemic, setting up aremarkable rebuke for the gover-nor from members of his ownparty.

The Senate’s measures, whichcould be voted on as soon as nextweek, underscore the deepeningdivision between Mr. Cuomo andstate lawmakers since the gover-nor admitted to intentionally with-holding critical data on virus-re-lated deaths from the Legislature.

The moves came even as itemerged that the F.B.I. and theU.S. attorney for the Eastern Dis-trict of New York had opened aninquiry into the Cuomo adminis-

tration’s handling of nursinghomes during the pandemic. Itwas not known whether the inqui-ry, which was confirmed by threepeople familiar with the matter,was focused on Mr. Cuomo or anyindividual, only that it was in itsearliest stages.

The inquiry was another clearindication of how the climate hasshifted dramatically for Mr.Cuomo since March, when heemerged as a prominent voice inthe health crisis, using his dailybriefings and invocations of hisfamily to inform and calm a nationof viewers who turned to him as

Democrats Aim to Strip CuomoOf Pandemic Emergency Power

By JESSE McKINLEYand LUIS FERRÉ-SADURNÍ

Federal Inquiry OpenedOver Nursing Homes

Continued on Page A8

WASHINGTON — PresidentBiden has said repeatedly that hewants to create a path to citizen-ship for all of the 11 million undoc-umented immigrants in theUnited States.

But even as he prepares to pushhard for the broadest possibleoverhaul of the nation’s immigra-tion laws, he and his aides havestarted to signal openness to moretargeted approaches that couldwin citizenship for smaller, dis-crete groups of undocumented im-migrants. At a CNN town hall onTuesday, he said such effortswould be acceptable “in the mean-time.”

In a private phone call with ac-tivists on Wednesday, top immi-gration aides to Mr. Biden saidthey supported what they called a“multiple trains” strategy, which

could target citizenship for“Dreamers,” the young immi-grants brought into the country il-legally as children; farm workerswho have toiled for years in Amer-ican fields; and others.

Smaller bills could move for-ward as the president tries tobuild support for the broader leg-islation, which is scheduled to beintroduced on Thursday, accord-ing to two people who were on thecall.

If he chooses to move step bystep, Mr. Biden appears unlikelyto anger the most powerful pro-immigration groups, which are

Biden Signals His FlexibilityOn an Immigration OverhaulBy MICHAEL D. SHEAR A Switch in Strategy

to Build Support

Continued on Page A19

JERUSALEM — The crowdsurged and swirled, like the eddiesof an ocean. Crushed against oneanother, hundreds of men stretchedtheir arms toward the rabbi’sbody, trying to touch the bier in adisplay of religious devotion.

It was the height of Israel’s thirdlockdown, in an ultra-Orthodoxdistrict near the heart of Jerusa-lem.

Gatherings were banned.Masks were mandatory. Infectionrates were spiking, particularlyamong ultra-Orthodox groups likethis one.

Yet here were hundreds of

mourners, most with mouths un-covered, attending an illegal fu-neral procession for a reveredrabbi who had himself died of thecoronavirus.

For these deeply devout Jews,attendance was a religious andpersonal duty. To briefly grip therabbi’s bier, symbolically assist-ing his passage from this world,

was a sign of profound respect forthe dead.

But for secular Israeli society,and even for some within the ul-tra-Orthodox world, this kind ofmass gathering suggested a disre-spect for the living.

“What is more important?”wondered Esti Shushan, an ultra-

As Ultra-Orthodox Defy Israel’s Rules, Virus Exacts a Grim TollPhotographs by DAN BALILTYArticle by PATRICK KINGSLEY

Ultra-Orthodox Jews at Rabbi Yitzchok Sheiner’s Jan. 31 funeral in Jerusalem. Like many in his community, he died of Covid-19.

Continued on Page A13

Adenrele Sonariwo brings her Nigeriansensibility to Los Angeles. Below,“Rhythm of Evolving Story.” PAGE C1

An African Art Gallery ArrivesWorkers brought down Trump PlazaHotel and Casino, the last vestige of thebrand in Atlantic City. PAGE A21

A Cloud of Dust and It’s Gone

Alexander Wang, known for his wildFashion Week parties, now standsaccused of sexual misconduct. PAGE D1

THURSDAY STYLES D1-6

Allegations Against a Designer“It’s a Sin,” a five-part series set in the1980s, is both heartbreaking and joyous,James Poniewozik writes. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-6

The Early Days of AIDSAs Australia moves to make the techgiants pay for news, Facebook andGoogle take different paths. PAGE B1

BUSINESS B1-7

Divergence in Big TechAmid bread shortages, the nation getsone step closer to a scientific milestone:the mass production of a coronavirusvaccine invented on the island. PAGE A6

TRACKING AN OUTBREAK A4-9

Cuba Closes In on Own VaccineTwo generals’ promotions had beendelayed over concerns the Trump WhiteHouse might block them. PAGE A21

NATIONAL A18-24

Women to Get Their 4th Star

The coronavirus crisis has promptedmany people to make their feelingsknown by sending flowers. PAGE D2

A Yearning for Bouquets

Nicholas Kristof PAGE A26

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

An investigation has revealed that intrying to avoid being caught, officialsfaked tests, forged documents and eveninvented a hospital. PAGE B10

SPORTSTHURSDAY B8-10, 12

Russia’s Doping Deceit

A pregnancy and a planned TV inter-view have Prince Harry and his wife,Meghan, back in the spotlight. PAGE A11

INTERNATIONAL A10-17

Royal Split Still a Sore Subject

David Leonhardt of The Morning news-letter looks at the need to get to threemillion shots a day in the U.S. PAGE A9

Biden’s Vaccination Goals

Stefanos Tsitsipas upset Rafael Nadal,ending his bid for a 21st Grand Slammen’s singles championship. PAGE B9

No Record in Australia

Late Edition

VOL. CLXX . . . . No. 58,973 © 2021 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 2021

Today, cloudy, snow, sleet later, diffi-cult travel, cold, high 29. Tonight,snow, sleet, low 28. Tomorrow,morning rain, sleet, snow, high 36.Weather map appears on Page B12.

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