Republicans oust Rep. Ilhan Omar from committee, cold weather hits Northeast: 5 Things podcast

On today's episode of the 5 Things podcast: Republicans oust Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee

Republicans have removed Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee, citing her comments on Israel. Plus, USA TODAY Education Reporter Alia Wong looks into a rise in autism diagnoses, a Chinese spy balloon was spotted over the U.S., dangerously cold weather hits the Northeast, and NFL EVP Peter O'Reilly talks about the logistics behind the Super Bowl.

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Hit play on the player above to hear the podcast and follow along with the transcript below. This transcript was automatically generated, and then edited for clarity in its current form. There may be some differences between the audio and the text.

Taylor Wilson:

Good morning. I'm Taylor Wilson and this is 5 Things you need to know Friday, the 3rd of February 2023. Today, how Congresswoman Ilhan Omar got removed from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Plus, a look at rising autism rates, and a peak behind the curtain at how the Super Bowl is run.

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The Republican-led House yesterday voted along party lines to remove Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar from the House Foreign Affairs Committee. Republicans say the move is over Omar's previous comments about Israel that members of both parties viewed as anti-Semitic. She's long been a fierce critic of the country's treatment of Palestinians, and she's faced backlash for a number of comments, including at a 2019 town hall when she suggested Israel demands allegiance from US lawmakers saying, "A lot of our Jewish colleagues, a lot of our constituents, a lot of our allies think that everything we say about Israel is anti-Semitic because we are Muslim." In a 2021 tweet, Omar also grouped the US and Israel with Hamas and the Taliban. Still, she said the House vote yesterday to remove her was more about silencing her voice.

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar:

My voice will get louder and stronger, and my leadership will be celebrated around the world as it has been.

Taylor Wilson:

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy promised to strip Omar of her Foreign Affairs seat if he was elected speaker.

Kevin McCarthy:

We're not removing her from other committees. We just do not believe when it comes to Foreign Affairs, especially the responsibility of that position around the world, with the comments that she make. She shouldn't serve there. If it was tit for tat, we would've picked people, took them off all committees, and said nothing about it. We don't believe in that.

Taylor Wilson:

The move to oust her comes after McCarthy blocked Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell and Adam Schiff from continuing to serve on the House Intelligence Committee. That was seen as a form of political payback after Democrats stripped Republicans Marjorie Taylor Greene and Paul Gosar of their committee assignments.

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A new study found that autism rates are surging, but why? What does this mean for schools? To help answer that, I caught up with USA TODAY Education Reporter Alia Wong. Alia, thanks for coming on 5 Things.

Alia Wong:

Thanks for having me.

Taylor Wilson:

So this recent study found that autism diagnosis rates have surged in recent years. What did this study specifically find?

Alia Wong:

So the study, which was by researchers at Rutgers, looked at thousands of eight-year-olds in the New York and New Jersey metro area. These kids were identified as having autism. And it found that overall diagnosis rates have tripled between 2000 and 2016. It also found that the increases were particularly pronounced among autistic children without intellectual disabilities. So these are kids with average, or even above average IQs, and rates of autism in these children have increased five-fold.

Notably, children in affluent areas were 80% more likely than their peers in underserved areas to be identified as having autism spectrum disorder without an intellectual disability. So really this underscores the deep inequities that persist in access to the appropriate medical and educational resources.

Taylor Wilson:

Why is autism becoming more common, Alia? Is this just that the cases are being diagnosed more efficiently, or are cases of autism actually on the rise?

Alia Wong:

More people are aware of it. More people are, in turn, recognizing it. Also, improvements in diagnostic tools, so we just have better science that allows us to identify it. But it does seem like its prevalence is growing too, that it's not just a matter of better diagnosis. One reason could be genetic factors. Some research has shown a correlation between certain environmental issues and autism spectrum disorder. It's a growing body of research. We still have very little conclusive answers. What we can say quite definitively, contrary to some information that's been floating around for years, is that it is not attributable to vaccines.

Taylor Wilson:

What does an uptick in autism diagnoses then mean for schools, Alia?

Alia Wong:

So we've heard about all the teacher shortages ravaging parts of the country, and special education is consistently an area that sees some of the worst shortages. It's really hard to hire for special education, particularly to hire people who are qualified. So this growing prevalence of autism has coincided with the decimation of the special education teaching force, and we can only imagine the consequences of that.

Another implication this poses for schools is that, particularly during the pandemic, we saw that access to early intervention services decreased. They weren't in classrooms as much where they would have access to people who could maybe sense that something was going on that needed to be diagnosed, and experts say that early intervention can be really key to enabling these children to achieve their full potential.

Taylor Wilson:

All right. Alia Wong covers education for USA TODAY. Great insight. Thanks so much.

Alia Wong:

Thank you.

♦

Taylor Wilson:

A Chinese spy balloon has been spotted drifting over the Northern United States. Officials said the balloon is designed for surveillance but is unlikely to be able to collect more information than spy satellites. Still, the Pentagon says it considered shooting it down. A defense department official said the decision not to do so was made because of concerns that debris might injure people on the ground or destroy property. The balloon was over Montana when the US considered destroying it. US officials have protested the balloon airspace invasion with Chinese authorities.

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An Arctic blast is expected to slam the northeast to start the weekend, bringing dangerously cold temperatures and high winds. The wind chill in Boston over the next couple of days could feel as low as 40 below zero, and it'll feel like 20 below zero in New York City. Other places affected by the severe cold range from Maine to Maryland, and across the upper Midwest, to Illinois and Wisconsin. Meanwhile, an ice storm in Texas is winding down today, but not before it left hundreds of thousands without power earlier this week.

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We're just over a week away from the Super Bowl, and while tens of millions of Americans watch at parties and on their couches, Peter O'Reilly will be making sure everything runs smoothly. He's an executive vice president at the NFL and in charge of logistics for the big game. USA TODAY Sports Senior Producer Larry Berger caught up with him during preparations.

Larry Berger:

So, Peter, you're in charge of all of the logistics at the Super Bowl. I'm sure it must be an incredibly difficult, intricate task. Tell me about some of the responsibilities that you have.

Peter O'Reilly:

I am one of many. It takes a huge army to put on the Super Bowl. It's a multi-year process. So we're typically four years out from a Super Bowl, and you're spinning different Super Bowl plates as you get towards the one that's right in front of you. Ultimately, when you get to that week, it's about a 20,000-person credentialed group who's coming together to create what is so much more than a game on Sunday, but really a week-long celebration of our game for fans. All of the behind-the-scenes, the security, the operations, the pieces that, hopefully, is all done in the shadows in order for the 100 million+ people around the country and beyond that, around the world, to experience the Super Bowl.

Larry Berger:

Do you ever take a step back and think about what you are looking to, and what you have accomplished?

Peter O'Reilly:

Not that often, but I do often think about the predecessors in the role. This would be Super Bowl LVII in the 103-year history of the NFL, and just the people like Jim Steeg who built the Super Bowl, and my predecessor, Frank Supovitz, and the work and the foundation and the shoulders we're standing on because it wasn't always this. As you all know, it's grown and grown and grown and you want to do right by that legacy. You want to do right by fans. You want to do right by the core two teams in there, but this is a big cultural moment that's been built over time. So you take that into consideration when you're making daily decisions.

Larry Berger:

What is the craziest thing that a halftime performer has asked for?

Peter O'Reilly:

The first Super Bowl that I was in this role on was Super Bowl XLIX in Arizona, and that was a Katy Perry halftime show, and that was a spectacular show. That's the most-viewed Super Bowl of all time. When that creative started to come together and you saw the sketch of this massive lion that she was going to ride in on, down the center of the field, we all looked at each other, "How is this going to work?" It's a grass field in Arizona, "How are we going to make this work and navigate the football side of it?" So that was an interesting one. Little did we know that people loved the lion, but the Left Shark was going to be what everyone was talking about at the end of the day.

I don't know if I should tell us one, but I'll tell this one. This is a selfless request and not a self-centered request, but it's Super Bowl LI, Lady Gaga, in pre-game, not long before the teams were about to take the field, we're all in our Super Bowl control room. And we got a call-up from the field that the Gaga would like to deliver good luck roses to the two participating teams in the game, which is the sweetest thought ever and so considerate of her, but not exactly where the two teams in the locker room are focused at the moment, as they are about to charge down the tunnel and play the game. So that was an interesting request in the moment. Incredibly thoughtful. It made us chuckle in terms of, they're about to play the biggest games of their lives and she wants to deliver good luck roses.

Larry Berger:

What are the specific aspects of putting on a Super Bowl that provide you with the most stress?

Peter O'Reilly:

The halftime show is one of them because of the components that need to come together in such a unique way to make that work, and that team and our partners at Roc Nation are coming together to put on what is, in many respects, we say humbly, the biggest concert of the year while you're in the middle of the biggest annual sporting event of the year. So how do those things come together? Because you've got two, in some ways, diametrically opposed forces - one of whom is solely focused on the football game and one is solely focused on putting on the greatest show, and you need to strike the right balance.

Larry Berger:

Using the past Super Bowls as a barometer, what do you think you're going to be feeling at this Super Bowl after it's done?

Peter O'Reilly:

You're in that mode for a little while. You're waking up, how did it rate? What's going on? But there is that point of reflection where there's always that desire to create a really unifying moment for the country and the world without being overstating or chest pounding. They're not that many things that bring us together in a really unified way like the NFL and frankly, like the Super Bowl can do. So did we create a unifying opportunity for the country on their couch, in the bar, in their stadium, to come together and feel connected in a powerful way? It's a great game and a close game that comes down to the wire, but the things that we can control, how do you create that unifying feeling that carries with people and delivers some good beyond that Sunday?

Taylor Wilson:

Thanks for listening to 5 Things. You can find us every day of the week right here, wherever you're listening right now. I'm back tomorrow with more of 5 Things from USA TODAY.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rep. Omar removed from committee, behind Super Bowl 57: 5 Things podcast