The Immediate Word

The brutally cold temperatures that held much of America in its icy grip last week put a major freeze on the activities of everyday life -- not only were schools shut down, but business and travel were also severely impacted. But while analysts debated just how large a hit the extreme weather delivered to the economy, their round estimates hardly accounted for the real and much more chilling human cost, measured in the suffering and even lives lost of those ill-equipped to cope of the bitter cold (like the homeless and the elderly).