What to Know

Get the top headlines of the day in your morning briefing from NBC 4 New York, Monday through Friday. Sign up for our newsletterhere.

GOP Claims Momentum as Health Bill Clears Hurdles

Republican leadersdrove their long-promised legislation to dismantle Barack Obama's health care law over its first big hurdles in the House, claiming fresh momentum despite cries of protest from right, left and center. After grueling sessions, the Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committees both approved their portions of the bill along party-line votes. The legislation, strongly supported by President Trump, would eliminate the unpopular tax penalties for the uninsured under the Affordable Care Act, replacing Obama's law with a conservative blueprint likely to cover far fewer people but Republicans hope increase choice. "This is the closest we will ever get to repealing and replacing Obamacare," Speaker Paul Ryansaid at a press briefing.

Legal Challenges to Trump's Travel Ban Mount From States

Legal challenges against President Trump'srevised travel banmounted as Washington state said it would renew its request to block the executive order. It came a day after Hawaii launched its own lawsuit, and Washington state Attorney General Bob Ferguson said both Oregon and New York had asked to join his state's legal action. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said the state is consolidating legal efforts and joining fellow states in challenging the revised travel ban. Trump's revised ban bars new visas for people from six predominantly Muslim countries: Somalia, Iran, Syria, Sudan, Libya and Yemen. It also temporarily shuts down the U.S. refugee program.

2 Die in Protests After South Korean President Ousted

In a unanimous ruling, South Korea's Constitutional Court formally removed impeachedPresident Park Geun-hye, the country's first female leader who rode a wave of lingering conservative nostalgia for her late dictator father to victory in 2012, from office over a corruption scandal that has plunged the country into political turmoil and worsened an already-serious national divide, prompting rowdy protests and celebrations that led to the death of two people. The ruling by the eight-member panel opens her up to possible criminal proceedings and makes her South Korea's first democratically elected leader to be removed from office since democracy replaced dictatorship in the late 1980s.

EPA Chief: CO2 Not Major Contributor to Warming

Environmental Protection Agency AdministratorScott Pruitt saidhe did not believe carbon dioxide was a primary contributor toglobal warming, a view contradicted by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NBC News reported. It is also at odds with Pruitt's own promises during his nomination hearing before the U.S. Senate. But if Pruitt doubts the global scientist consensus that carbon dioxide is causing the Earth to warm, he did pledge during his confirmation hearing to regulate it in accordance with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling and an EPA finding that it was threatening public health.

Can Changing Weather Make You Sick?

Can the weather truly be to blame when you "feel under the weather?" "In a sense, yes,"says Dr. Michael Robinson, a family medicine resident at Louisiana's Lake Charles Memorial Health System. "Thecolder weathercauses people to go inside and be in closer proximity to each other, but as far as just becoming sick, the weather doesn't affect it." That means germs are spreading more indoors when the weather is less inviting outdoors. Still, some viruses replicate more easily in cooler weather, like the agents causing the common cold and influenza that spreads best when the air is cold and dry.

California Wants to Repeal HIV Laws

Exposing a person to HIV is treated more seriously under California law than infecting someone with any other communicable disease, a policy some lawmakers say is a relic of the decades-old AIDS scare that unfairly punishesHIV-positive peoplebased on outdated science. Several lawmakers are promoting a bill that would make it a misdemeanor instead of a felony to intentionally expose someone to HIV, the virus that causes the immune system-weakening disease AIDS. The change would treat HIV like other communicable diseases under California law.

Zuckerberg, Wife Expecting 2nd Girl

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan are expecting a second baby girl, theFacebook founderannounced in a post that paid tribute to his and his wife's sisters. In announcing his second daughter, Zuckerbergshared childhood family photosof their families and said what their sisters taught them: "to learn from smart, strong women" in Zuckerberg's case, "the importance of family, caring for others and hard work" in Chan's case.

Nicole Kidman Explains 'Seal Clap' at Oscars

Let's give Nicole Kidman a round of applause. Rather than come up with some excuse for her weird clapping during the 2017 Oscars, the "Lion" actress confirmed her Harry Winston rings were to blame. Kidman, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress, wore119 caratsworth of Harry Winston diamonds, which included a cluster diamond ring. "It was really awkward!"she saidon "Kyle and Jackie O Show." "I was like, 'Gosh, I want to clap.' I don't want to not be clapping, which would be worse, right? 'Why isn't Nicole clapping?'"

Published 54 minutes ago | Updated 43 minutes ago

Link:

Happening Today: Health Care, South Korea, Travel Ban, EPA, Zuckerberg - NBC New York