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TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Idalia became a hurricane on Tuesday, threatening to bring deadly storm surge and dangerous winds to Florida’s Gulf Coast after lashing Cuba with heavy rain.
Florida residents loaded up on sandbags and evacuated from homes in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast to prepare for a storm that the National Hurricane Center projected could have sustained winds of up to 120 mph (193 kph). That would make it a Category 3 hurricane — a potentially big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year’s Hurricane Ian.
At 8 a.m. EDT Tuesday, Hurricane Idalia was about 320 miles (515 kilometers) south-southwest of Tampa, with maximum sustained winds of 80 mph (130 kph), the hurricane center said. Idalia was moving north at 14 mph (22 kph).
The center of Idalia is forecast to reach the Gulf Coast of Florida as “an extremely dangerous major hurricane before landfall on Wednesday,” and then move over the peninsula blow through Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina on Thursday.
“Right now, the biggest hazards are storm surge,” Robbie Berg, a senior hurricane specialist at the National Hurricane Center in Miami, said Tuesday morning. “We’re expecting a surge as much as 8 to 12 feet above normal tide levels in portions of the Big Bend area of Florida.”
Idalia thrashed Cuba with heavy rain, especially in the westernmost part of the island, where the tobacco-producing province of Pinar del Rio is still recovering from the devastation caused by Hurricane Ian.
Authorities in the province issued a state of alert, and residents were evacuated to friends’ and relatives’ homes. As much as 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain fell in Cuba on Sunday, meteorological stations reported.
Idalia was expected to start affecting Florida with hurricane-force winds as soon as late Tuesday. It is the first storm to hit Florida this hurricane season and authorities urged residents to wrap up storm preparation by Tuesday morning at the latest.
Idalia is also the latest in a summer of natural disasters, including wildfires in Hawaii, Canada and Greece; the first tropical storm to hit California in 84 years, and devastating flooding in Vermont.
“Just got to prepare for these things, hope for the best, and prepare for the worst and, you know, hunker down, as they say,” said Derek Hughes as he waited to load up his car with sandbags at a city park in Tampa.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 46 counties, a broad swath that stretches across the northern half of the state from the Gulf Coast to the Atlantic Coast. The state has mobilized 1,100 National Guard members, who have 2,400 high-water vehicles and 12 aircraft at their disposal for rescue and recovery efforts.
Tampa International Airport and St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport said they would close on Tuesday, and the Sunrail commuter rail service in Orlando was being suspended.
“The property — we can rebuild someone’s home,” DeSantis said during a news conference Monday. “You can’t unring the bell, though, if somebody stays in harm’s way and does battle with Mother Nature.”
DeSantis said the Florida Department of Transportation would waive tolls on highways in the Tampa area and the Big Bend starting at 4 a.m. Tuesday to help ease any burden on people in the path of the storm.
Large parts of the western coast of Florida are at risk for storm surges and floods. Evacuation notices have been issued in 21 counties with mandatory orders for some people in eight of those counties. Many of the notices were for people in low-lying and coastal areas, for those living in structures such as mobile and manufactured homes, recreational vehicles and boats, and for people who would be vulnerable in a power outage.
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JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — A local news outlet that helped expose a wide-reaching public corruption scandal has filed its first defense against a defamation lawsuit brought by former Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant, with the news outlet arguing it engaged in constitutionally protected speech.
In Mississippi Today’s first legal response since Bryant sued the outlet and its CEO in the Circuit Court of Madison County on July 26 for allegedly defaming him in public comments on the misspending of $77 million of federal welfare funds, attorney Henry Laird outlined on Friday 19 legal defenses against the former governor’s claims.
The attorney also requested that the ex-governor’s complaint be dismissed.
“We will vigorously defend this case and ensure the people of Mississippi that the press will not be intimidated,” said Mississippi Today CEO Mary Margaret White in a statement. “We stand for press freedom and will always uphold our mission of building a more informed Mississippi.”
In addition to free speech protections, Mississippi Today’s legal defense is built around New York Times Co. v. Sullivan., a 1964 decision in which the U.S. Supreme Court greatly limited the ability of public officials to sue for defamation. It ruled that news outlets are protected against a libel judgment unless it can be proven that they published with “actual malice” — knowing that something was false or acting with a “reckless disregard” to whether or not it was true.
Bryant’s July 26 lawsuit came just over two months after Mississippi Today and one of its reporters, Anna Wolfe, won a Pulitzer Prize for her coverage of the misspending of welfare funds intended for poor Mississippians that were instead diverted to the rich and powerful.
Prosecutors have said the state’s human services department gave money to nonprofit organizations that spent it on projects such as a $5 million volleyball facility at the University of Southern Mississippi — a project for which retired NFL quarterback Brett Favre agreed to raise money.
Mississippi Auditor Shad White announced in February 2020 that criminal charges were brought against six people, including John Davis, a former Mississippi Department of Human Services executive director who had been chosen by Bryant. The announcement came weeks after Bryant, a Republican, finished his second and final term as governor. Davis and others have pleaded guilty.
Wolfe’s “The Backchannel” series shed light on the embezzlement scheme, winning a Pulitzer in May. An article published on Mississippi Today’s website announcing the honor said the outlet revealed how Bryant “used his office to steer the spending of millions of federal welfare dollars” to “benefit his family and friends.”
That announcement — and an earlier report Mississippi Today published on the impact of its coverage — are the two primary written communications Bryant says are defamatory. Also at the center of his lawsuit are comments White made at a journalism conference that, according to Bryant’s attorney William Quin II, misrepresented Bryant’s connection to the squandered welfare dollars.
In a May 11 letter, Bryant said White made a “false and defamatory” statement about him when, at a journalism conference in February, she said Mississippi Today broke the story that Bryant “embezzled” welfare money. No criminal charges have been filed against Bryant, and he has said he told the auditor in 2019 about possible misspending of money from the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families antipoverty program.
Reached by phone Monday, Quin said Mississippi Today’s response “speaks for itself” and declined to comment further.
In an amended complaint filed on Aug. 24, Quin listed nine unnamed clients from whom he claims Bryant lost almost $500,000 in business due to White’s comments at the Knight Media Forum in February. Bryant joined a private consulting firm shortly after leaving public office.
Mississippi Today published an apology from White in May, a week after Bryant threatened a lawsuit, but his attorneys have said the apology wasn’t specific enough.
Favre also has not been charged with a crime, but the Mississippi Department of Human Services, with a new director, filed a civil lawsuit last year against him, along with more than three dozen other people and businesses, to try to recover more than $20 million of the misspent welfare money.
Among the defendants in that civil suit is Nancy New, an ex-nonprofit head who pleaded guilty in April 2022 to state charges of misusing welfare money.
On Friday, the same day Mississippi Today filed its response to Bryant’s lawsuit, New’s attorneys, Gerald and Carroll Bufkin, filed a motion to quash a subpoena by the former governor. Bryant’s subpoena purports to seek documents relevant to his defamation suit, the Bufkins said.
But as a public figure, Bryant must prove that Mississippi Today and White acted with “actual malice” when they made their allegedly defamatory statements, they argued, referring to the New York Times Co. v. Sullivan legal standard. The former governor “has no legitimate basis” for believing his subpoena could uncover relevant information, they argued.
DENVER (AP) — Ronald Acuña Jr. said he was OK after fending off two fans, including one who knocked him over, in right field during the Atlanta Braves’ 14-4 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday night.
One fan got his arms against Acuña during the middle of the seventh inning. Two security people quickly grabbed the fan and, as they tried to drag him away, a third security person approached.
A second fan then sprinted toward the group, knocking down Acuña, and that fan was tackled as one of the security people chased him down.
Acuña wasn’t injured and remained in the game.
“I was a little scared at first,” Acuña said through an interpreter. “I think the fans were out there and asking for pictures. I really couldn’t say anything because at that point, security was already there and we were already kind of tangled up, but security was able to get there and everything’s OK. We’re all OK and I hope they’re OK.”
Teammate Kevin Pillar expressed relief Acuña wasn’t hurt.
“Thankfully, they weren’t there to do any harm, but you just never know during those situations,” said Pillar, who was among the teammates and coaches who rushed to Acuña’s defense. “They were extreme fans and wanted to get a picture, put their hands on him. But in no way is it appropriate for people to leave the stands, even more to put their hands on someone else.”
Acuña tied career highs with four hits and five RBIs, hitting his 29th home run and stealing two bases to increase his major league-leading total to 61. He is one homer shy of becoming the first 30/60 player.
Major league-best Atlanta (85-45) had 18 hits. The Braves have won four of five and 10 of 13. Colorado (49-82) was assured its fifth consecutive losing season.
Acuña became the fourth player with 25 or more homers and 60 or more steals, joining Hall of Famers Joe Morgan (1973, ’76) and Rickey Henderson (1986, ’90), along with Eric Davis (1986).
“He’s a special, special player, a gifted young man,” Braves manager Brian Snitker said. “Anything he’s going to do in this game is not going to surprise me. I just think he’s that talented.”
Acuña, who leads the major leagues with 119 runs, scored on Austin Riley’s third-inning homer against Austin Gomber and hit a two-run homer in the fifth off Karl Kaufmann (1-4).
Acuña singled leading off the seventh and stole second off Evan Justice, getting a huge jump and sliding into second as Justice threw vainly to first. He scored on a single by Riley, who had three RBIs.
PHOENIX (AP) — Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested Sunday that an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden was becoming more likely, calling it “a natural step forward” as Congress soon ends its summer break and House Republicans seek to expand their investigative powers.
McCarthy, R-Calif., has so far avoided committing to an impeachment vote or offering a timeline for possible action. Some House Republicans are eager to go after Biden over claims of financial misconduct involving his son Hunter, but the Democratic president has not been shown to have done anything wrong.
Meanwhile, McCarthy said passing a short-term spending bill to keep the government running past the end of September would ensure that investigations of Hunter Biden could continue, a pitch directed at conservatives worried a bipartisan deal with Senate Democrats would not cut enough spending. The stopgap measure would buy time to work out a longer-term budget deal before mandatory spending cuts that neither party prefers are imposed in the new year.
“If you look at all the information we have been able to gather so far, it is a natural step forward that you would have to go to an impeachment inquiry,” McCarthy told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
An impeachment inquiry, he said, “provides Congress the apex of legal power to get all the information they need.”
McCarthy is walking a tightrope as he faces pressure from members of his party looking to demonstrate support for Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential campaign. But the speaker also risks imperiling the GOP’s fragile House majority.
Even if Biden were to be impeached in the House, he is unlikely to be removed from office by the Senate, which is controlled by Democrats.
With the House set to return to work in mid-September, the Oct. 1 start of the next budget year is fast approaching and a spending deal would be needed to avoid a partial federal closure.
“If we shut down, all the government shuts it down, investigation and everything else. It hurts the American public,” McCarthy said.
Conservatives, including many from the House Freedom Caucus, are usually loath to get behind short-term funding measures as they push for steeper spending cuts, using the threat of a shutdown as leverage. In June, a small group of conservatives brought the House to a standstill to protest McCarthy’s leadership.
All sides had agreed to budget levels during the recent debt ceiling negotiations when Biden and McCarthy struck a deal that established topline spending levels. But McCarthy’s GOP majority rejects those amounts.
A stopgap spending bill would improve McCarthy’s negotiating position with the White House and Senate Democrats, the speaker said.
“We’re in this discussion together,” he said. “And so we have got to have a stronger hand.”
The box office results are in and Sony’s racing movie “Gran Turismo” won the weekend over “Barbie,” after all.
On Sunday, “ Gran Turismo” appeared to be neck-and-neck with Warner Bros.’ “Barbie,” now in its sixth weekend, with both hovering just over $17 million. But Monday actuals reported by the studios provided a clear winner: “Gran Turismo” ended up with $17.4 million from North American theaters against “Barbie’s” $15.1 million.
As is usually the case with new wide releases, “Gran Turismo’s” total also included earnings from Thursday night pre-shows ($1.4 million). More unconventionally, however, Sony also factored in $3.9 million from other preview screenings (or “sneaks”) held before Thursday — a less commonly used but still standard practice.
“Gran Turismo” was originally set for a wide release on Aug. 11, but with actors unable to help promote the film as the actors strike stretches on, Sony pivoted and instead opted for limited preview screenings and fan events for two weeks, leading up to a national rollout this past weekend.
It was an unusual weekend in multiplexes. U.S. movie theaters held the second annual National Cinema Day on Sunday, offering $4 tickets to all films and showtimes at nearly all of the country’s theaters. This might have been part of the reason why the Sunday estimate for “Barbie” was perhaps a bit too bullish at $7.75 million, compared to its actual Sunday total of $5.7 million.
“Barbie” may have technically sold more tickets this weekend, but studios do not report on individual admissions in North America. The day-to-day tallies show “Barbie” with the edge on Saturday and Sunday, however. On Saturday, “Barbie” made $5.4 million against “Gran Turismo” at $4.1 million. Sunday, “Barbie” also made more ($5.7 million versus compared to $4.7 million for “Gran Turismo”).
The main difference was Friday, which for “Gran Turismo” was reported to be $8.6 million (again, including the pre-show and preview totals) versus $4 million for “Barbie” on Friday (which does not include Thursday night earnings).
It’s a reminder that Sunday box office estimates are just estimates and that the movies pitted against each other in weekend “races” aren’t always operating under the same rules.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A judge on Monday set a March 4, 2024, trial date for Donald Trump in the federal case in Washington charging the former president with trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting a defense request to push back the case by years.
U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan rebuffed claims by Trump’s attorneys that an April 2026 trial date was necessary to account for the huge volume of evidence they say they are reviewing and to prepare for what they contend is a novel and unprecedented prosecution. But she agreed to postpone the trial slightly beyond the January 2024 date proposed by special counsel Jack Smith’s prosecution team.
“The public has a right to a prompt and efficient resolution of this matter,” Chutkan said.
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — LSU coach Brian Kelly sounds confident that Alabama transfer Aaron Anderson can transform the fifth-ranked Tigers’ return game from a turnover-prone liability into a game-breaking asset.
“He’s pretty dynamic,” Kelly said Monday. “It’s just a different look back there.”
Anderson, a receiver from New Orleans, was named LSU’s primary returner on Monday as the Tigers prepared to face No. 8 Florida State in Orlando this Sunday night.
It’s a rematch of a season-opener last year that saw special teams blunders by LSU — including two muffed punts — play a pivotal role in a 24-23 FSU victory that was decided on a missed extra point after the Tigers had scored a potential tying touchdown at the end of regulation.
The rematch is “going to come down to the execution of the littlest things, and as you guys know, it came down to that the last time we played,” Kelly said. “Fielding the football cleanly, executing extra points — all those things mattered and will matter again in this matchup”.
Malik Nabers, who enters this season as one of the nation’s mostly highly regarded receivers, took on punt-return duties in last season’s Labor Day weekend matchup in New Orleans. Although he’s been an exceptionally sure-handed and prolific receiver, fielding punts didn’t seem to suit him early last season. He was responsible for both muffed punts.
The 5-foot-8, 190-pound Anderson, who starred at Edna Karr High School in New Orleans’ “West Bank,” had planned to go to LSU throughout high school. But Anderson decommitted in 2021 when then-coach Ed Orgeron, who’d coached LSU to a national title in 2019, resigned during the second of consecutive non-winning seasons that followed.
Anderson took a redshirt year as a freshman last season at Alabama because of a knee injury that wiped out most of his season. Meanwhile, the Crimson Tide saw their hopes for a third-straight SEC West crown in 2022 derailed by an overtime loss at LSU last November.
The Tigers went on to secure the SEC West title in what was Kelly’s first season in Baton Rouge after coaching at Notre Dame for the previous 12.
With expectations for the Tigers soaring this past offseason, Anderson returned to his home state. In addition to working toward a regular role as a receiver who also could contribute to the perimeter running game, Anderson had been auditioning throughout training camp in August to take over as the primary returner.
Kelly has liked what he’s seen from Anderson, who as a high school track athlete posted several sub-11-second times at 100 meters.
“From a special teams standpoint, that’s what we were looking for,” he said. “Our miscues last year were evident. We didn’t field the ball very well.”
This season, Kelly said, “we think special teams should and can be a positive for us and influence games.”