TRUCKEE, Calif. >> A major highway was closed and ski resorts were shut down Sunday as the effects of a powerful blizzard continued to cause problems across the Sierra Nevada, and forecasters warned that more heavy snow was on the way for Northern California.

Sections of Interstate 80 to the west and north of Lake Tahoe were made impassable by blowing snow piling up in lanes, with no estimate for reopening, the California Highway Patrol said.

The CHP office in South Lake Tahoe warned motorists that tire chains for improved traction are required on routes through the mountains, where more than 7 feet of snow fell over the weekend. The online warning Sunday was accompanied by a photo of a big rig without chains stuck in whiteout conditions on a local road.

“Trying to bypass chain control, no no no!!” the agency said on X, formerly Twitter. “Dangerous and not smart.”

A blizzard warning was in effect until midnight for some areas above 6,500 feet, while lower elevations were under a winter storm warning with another 2 feet of snow possible, the National Weather Service office in Sacramento said. “Mountain travel is HIGHLY discouraged!” the office warned.

The multiday storm caused traffic backups and closures on I-80 and many other roadways, shut down ski resorts and left thousands of homes and businesses without power.

Harris leads marchers for Bloody Sunday

SELMA, Ala. >> Vice President Kamala Harris told thousands gathered for the 59th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday attacks on civil rights marchers in Selma, Alabama, that fundamental freedoms, including the right to vote, are under attack in America even today.

Harris joined those gathered at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge, where voting rights activists were beaten back by law enforcement officers in 1965. The vice president praised the marchers’ bravery for engaging in a defining moment of the civil rights struggle.

“Today, we know our fight for freedom is not over, because in this moment we are witnessing a full on attack on hard-fought, hard-won freedoms, starting with the freedom that unlocks all others, the freedom to vote,” Harris said.

She criticized attempts to restrict voting, including limits on absentee voting and early voting, and said the nation is again at a crossroad.

Congressional leaders work on budget deals

Congressional leaders on Sunday came out with a package of six bills setting full-year spending levels for some federal agencies, a step forward in a long overdue funding process beset by sharp political divisions between the two parties as well as infighting among House Republicans.

The release of the text of legislation over the weekend was designed to meet the House’s rule to give lawmakers at least 72 hours to study a bill before voting. And it’s a promising sign that lawmakers will avoid a partial shutdown that would kick in at 12:01 a.m. Saturday for those agencies covered under the bill, such as Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, Transportation, Justice and others.

Congressional leaders hope to complete votes on the package this week and continue negotiations on the remaining six annual spending bills to pass them before a March 22 deadline. The price tag for the package out Sunday comes to about $460 billion, representing less than 30% of the discretionary spending Congress looks to approve for this year. The package still being negotiated includes defense spending.

Pakistanis make Sharif new prime minister

ISLAMABAD >> Lawmakers in Pakistan’s National Assembly on Sunday elected Shehbaz Sharif as the country’s new prime minister for the second time as allies of imprisoned former premier Imran Khan in parliament shouted in protest, alleging rigging in last month’s election.

Khan is currently serving prison terms in multiple cases and has been barred from seeking or holding office. Sharif replaced him as prime minister after his ouster in a no-confidence vote in parliament in April 2022.

Speaker Ayaz Sadiq said Sharif secured 201 votes, defeating Omar Ayub of the Sunni Ittehad Council who got 92 votes. The winner only needs 169 votes to get a majority.

Measles cases are on the rise across Europe

Cases of measles, a highly contagious but easily preventable disease, have begun to crop up in clusters as the number of children getting the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine has declined globally.

The trend worsened after the coronavirus pandemic because of a lack of access and hesitancy among some groups. The measles virus can cause serious illness and, in the most extreme cases, death.

Across Europe, measles cases rose more than 40-fold in 2023 compared with a year earlier — from less than 1,000 to more than 40,000 — according to the World Health Organization.

And while much of that increase was concentrated in lower-income nations like Kazakhstan, more prosperous nations, where higher vaccination rates had long made cases of measles rare, are also experiencing worrying outbreaks.

U.S., S. Korea conduct military exercises

South Korea and the United States began large annual military exercises Monday to bolster their readiness against North Korean nuclear threats after the North raised animosities with an extension of missile tests and belligerent rhetoric earlier this year.

The South Korean and United States forces began a computer-simulated command post training called the Freedom Shield exercise and a variety of field exercises for an 11-day run, the South Korean Defense Ministry said.

North Korea had no immediate response to the major annual drills it regards as a rehearsal for invasion. The North has staged provocative weapons tests in the past in reaction to its adversaries’ joint drills.

South Korea’s military said last week that it would conduct 48 field exercises with the U.S. forces this spring, twice the number conducted last year, and that they would involve live-firing, bombing, air assault and missile interception drills.

Ex- Bank of Beijing chairman facing prove

The former chairman of the state-owned Bank of Beijing is under investigation for corruption, the latest in a series of graft investigations focused on the country’s financial sector.

Yan Bingzhu, who led the bank since its establishment in 1996 and until he retired in 2017, is among several top officials being probed for “seriously violating discipline and the law,” according to a notice published on the city of Beijing’s official website on Friday.

He is the latest official to be probed for graft as part of President Xi Jinping’s decade-long anti-corruption campaign that critics say has been used partly to remove his political rivals.

Yan had not appeared in public for more than six months.

Georgia teen critical after Six Flags shooting

AUSTELL, Ga. >> A 15-year-old boy was critically injured in a shooting near Six Flags Over Georgia, a popular amusement park in suburban Atlanta, after police exchanged gunfire with a group of people, authorities said Sunday.

Cobb County Police Department officers were assisting with crowd control near the amusement park’s entrance on Saturday “after several fights had taken place” among people who were leaving the park, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation said in a press release.

“At some point, multiple people began shooting, hitting an unoccupied CCPD marked patrol car,” the statement said. “As officers identified where the shots were coming from, they ran after people who had run into the woods. During the incident, one CCPD officer fired his weapon, hitting one minor.”

Authorities said the 15-year-old was taken to Grady Hospital and determined to be in critical condition.

Trader Joe’s recalls soup over dumplings

More than 61,000 pounds of steamed chicken soup dumplings sold at Trader Joe’s are being recalled for possibly containing hard plastic, U.S. regulators announced Saturday.

The Agriculture Department’s Food Safety and Inspection Service noted that the now-recalled dumplings, which are produced by the California-based CJ Foods Manufacturing Beaumont Corp., may be contaminated with foreign materials — “specifically hard plastic from a permanent marker pen.”

The recall arrives after consumers reported finding hard plastic in the Trader Joe’s-branded products, FSIS said. To date, no related illnesses or injures have been reported.

Voice of ‘Star Wars’ character dies at 64

Mark Dodson, who voiced strange puppet creatures in “Star Wars,” including Salacious B. Crumb, the cackling monkey-lizard pet of Jabba the Hutt, and “Gremlins” films, died Saturday. He was 64.

His death was confirmed in statements on social media by his agent, Peter DeLorme, and the Evansville Horror Con, the Indiana fan convention where he had been scheduled to appear over the weekend. No cause of death was given.

Dodson’s career began in 1983 on “Star Wars: Return of the Jedi,” when he voiced Salacious B. Crumb, the court jester of Jabba the Hutt that was known for its maniacal laugh.

Dodson continued working in both franchises, voicing characters in the 1985 television movie “Ewoks: The Battle for Endor” and “Gremlins 2: The New Batch” (1990).

— From news services