October 8, 2024 5:19 pm
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Florida communities near Tampa Bay were devastated when Hurricane Helene made landfall two weeks ago about 100 miles (160 kilometers) to the north. Now Milton is forecast to make a direct hit on the low-lying region that has a population of more than 3.3 million people. That means as bad as Helene was, Milton could be much deadlier and destructive. Storm surge causes more deaths than high winds and can remain powerful even if winds weaken, potentially leveling homes and businesses like a battering ram. Officials say the only way people living near the coast can assure their safety is to move to higher ground. To that end, thousands of people are streaming out of the Tampa Bay region ahead of what could be a once-in-a-century direct hit. Crews are working furiously to prevent furniture, appliances and other waterlogged wreckage from Florida’s last big storm from becoming deadly projectiles in this one. The preparations marked the last chance for millions of people in the Tampa metro area to prepare for killer storm surges, ferocious winds and possible tornadoes in a place that has narrowly avoided a head-on blow from a major storm for generations.
October 8, 2024 4:48 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to uphold a Biden administration regulation on ghost guns, the difficult-to-trace weapons found at crime scenes in increasing numbers. Key conservative justices seemed open to the government’s argument that kits for quickly making nearly untraceable guns at home can be regulated like other firearms, with background checks and serial numbers. The court previously allowed the rule to go into effect, and ghost gun numbers have since dropped in several cities. But manufacturers and gun rights groups argue the Biden administration overstepped by trying to regulate gun parts that had long been legal with hobbyists.
October 8, 2024 4:46 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris is calling former President Donald Trump “incredibly irresponsible” for spreading falsehoods about the federal response to Hurricane Helene’s destruction. Harris on Monday offered especially sharp words as a new storm bears down on Florida with just weeks until Election Day. She said, “There’s a lot of mis- and disinformation being pushed out there by the former president.” Trump has made false claims since Helene, including saying the federal government is intentionally withholding aid to Republican disaster victims. He also falsely claimed that the Federal Emergency Management Agency had run out of money because all of it had gone to programs for immigrants in the country illegally.
October 8, 2024 2:56 am
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has declined to step in and immediately decide issues related to mail-in ballots in the commonwealth with early voting already under way in the few weeks before the November 5th election. The commonwealth’s highest court on Saturday night rejected a request by voting rights and left-leaning groups to stop counties from throwing out mail-in ballots that lack a handwritten date or have an incorrect date on the return envelope, citing earlier rulings pointing to the risk of confusing voters so close to the election.“This Court will neither impose nor countenance substantial alterations to existing laws and procedures during the pendency of an ongoing election,” the unsigned order said Chief Justice Debra Todd dissented, saying voters, election officials and courts needed clarity on the issue before Election Day. The lawsuit’s plaintiffs contend that multiple courts have found that a voter-written date is meaningless in determining whether the ballot arrived on time or whether the voter is eligible, so rejecting a ballot on that basis should be considered a violation of the state constitution. The parties won their case on the same claim in a statewide court earlier this year but it was thrown out by the state Supreme Court on a technicality before justices considered the merits.
October 8, 2024 2:16 am
Cecil Township Supervisors enacted an ordinance that officially established the Cecil Township Department of Fire and Emergency Services. It was a first step to reorganize and combine the township’s three independent volunteer fire departments under one set of operational guidelines. A committee consisting of members from all three departments have been working together for several months to achieve the cooperation goal. Fire Chief Ted Wolford said that the cooperation of the departments will be a precise process and will not be rushed. His first goal is to enhance the training of all firefighters in the township. Supervisor Chairman Tom Casciola pointed to the ability of firefighters to access equipment in all three stations at any time and the elimination of territorialism that had existed in past years between the departments as benefits to township residents. Wolford said that October has been busy with Fire Prevention Month. They have been to several daycares in the township teaching fire safety. They also have been working with North Strabane Township and Canonsburg Fire Departments in teaching fire prevention and running fire drills in the Canon-McMillan School District.
October 7, 2024 8:52 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — No one is likely to be happy with the projected higher deficits laid out in a new analysis of Kamala Harris’ and Donald Trump’s economic plans. The analysis released Monday by the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget suggests a Harris presidency could increase the national debt over 10 years by $3.5 trillion. That’s even though the vice president’s campaign insists her proposed investments in the middle class and housing would be offset by higher taxes on corporations and the wealthy. The same analysis says former President Trump’s ideas could heap another $7.5 trillion onto the debt and possibly as much as $15.2 trillion.
October 7, 2024 5:30 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States has spent a record of at least $17.9 billion on military aid to Israel since the war in Gaza began and led to escalating conflict around the Middle East. That’s according to a report by Brown University’s Costs of War project released Monday on the anniversary of Hamas’ attacks on Israel. The report says an additional $4.86 billion has gone into stepped-up U.S. military operations in the region since the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks, including the costs of a Navy-led campaign to quell strikes on commercial shipping by Yemen’s Houthis. It’s one of the first tallies of these estimated U.S. costs. The research was completed before Israel opened a second front against Hezbollah in Lebanon.
October 7, 2024 5:29 am
WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. government’s top disaster relief official says false claims and conspiracy theories about the federal response to Hurricane Helene, which are being spread most prominently by Donald Trump, are “demoralizing” aid workers and creating fear in people who need recovery assistance. Deanne Criswell of the Federal Emergency Management Agency tells ABC that “it’s frankly ridiculous, and just plain false. This kind of rhetoric is not helpful to people.” She says the unfounded allegations have created a sense of fear and mistrust from residents against the thousands of FEMA employees and volunteers on the ground.
October 7, 2024 5:28 am
RE’IM, Israel (AP) — Israelis are holding vigils and somber ceremonies to mark a year since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, the deadliest in the country’s history, an attack that sparked the war in Gaza and scarred Israelis indelibly. The surprise attack, which caught Israel unprepared on a major Jewish holiday, shattered Israelis’ sense of security and shook their faith in their leaders and their military. Its aftershocks still ripple one year later. In Gaza, which is still buckling under the weight of the ongoing war, no formal commemorative event was planned. Israelis are expected to flock to ceremonies and cemeteries around the country on Monday.
October 7, 2024 5:27 am
BELLEAIR BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Milton strengthened rapidly into a Category 5 hurricane on a path toward Florida. The system is threatening the densely populated Tampa area with a potential direct hit and menacing the same stretch of coastline that was battered by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. The center of the storm could come ashore Wednesday in the Tampa Bay region, which has not endured a head-on hit by a hurricane in more than a century. Scientists expect the system to weaken slightly before landfall, though it is still forecast to hit as a Category 3 hurricane or higher.
