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After bungled response to Helene, demand a squeaky-clean election
The horrors wrought by the hurricane in red counties will make it hard for people there to vote — possibly swinging the 2024 election.
nypost.com
CBS News won't discipline host after controversial Ta-Nehisi Coates interview about Israel
The prominent author's Sept. 30 interview with the "CBS Mornings" co-host led to a rare rebuke during an editorial meeting, a recording of which was leaked.
latimes.com
Hezbollah intensifica sus ataques con cohetes mientras Israel envía más tropas a Líbano
Hezbollah lanzó otra andanada de cohetes hacia Israel el martes, y el líder interino del grupo político-paramilitar prometió aumentar la presión que ha obligado a decenas de miles de israelíes a huir de sus viviendas cerca de la frontera con Líbano.
latimes.com
Fifth Cybertruck recall within the first year of the vehicle's release
Tesla recalled it's Cybertruck for a fifth time. Here's a look at the issues the truck has had within its first year on the market.
latimes.com
North Carolina Republican pushes back on hurricane misinformation
Rep. Chuck Edwards debunked some of misleading information spread by former President Donald Trump and others.
cbsnews.com
How Trump can win the popular vote: Blue-state House races hold the key
Trump's chances of success in the popular vote are intimately linked to the GOP's prospects of extending its House majority.
nypost.com
Pat Fischer, undersized NFL defensive back, dies at 84
Known for playing well beyond his physique in 17 NFL seasons, the final 10 in Washington, the cornerback perfected the “bump and run” coverage technique.
washingtonpost.com
Igor Shesterkin must now prove he’s worth it to Rangers in risky contract gambit
Considering how much leverage Shesterkin already had in these negotiations, it can only diminish or skyrocket from here.
nypost.com
Opinion: Trump Having Putin on Speed Dial Isn’t Funny, It’s Terrifying
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Reuters/GettySo, let me get this straight, according to Bob Woodward’s new book War, Donald Trump was sitting in Mar-a-Lago on a trove of stolen U.S. national secrets and while there, had Vladimir Putin on speed dial for regular private chats? After he tried to overthrow our government? And Putin is helping his campaign now by flooding our electorate with toxic disinformation? And there are people who would actually vote for this guy?What, wait, there’s more?Read more at The Daily Beast.
thedailybeast.com
‘The Office’ Star Reveals Breast Cancer Diagnosis in Emotional Post
Bravo/GettyJenna Fischer revealed to fans Tuesday that she was diagnosed with breast cancer and has since beaten it.“Last December, I was diagnosed with Stage 1 Triple Positive Breast Cancer. After completing surgery, chemotherapy and radiation I am now cancer free,” she wrote on Instagram Tuesday.Along with a snap of her smiling, The Office star posted a lengthy statement chronicling her cancer journey.Read more at The Daily Beast.
thedailybeast.com
Tampa zoo and aquarium staff to ride out Milton with the animals
Evacuation is unrealistic for many zoo and aquarium animals, so staffers are rolling out all their safety precautions as Hurricane Milton bears down.
washingtonpost.com
Richard Gere, 75, can’t keep his hands off much-younger wife Alejandra Silva, 41, at Zurich Film Festival
The activist returned the PDA by wrapping her arms around her husband's neck as they leaned into one another on the green carpet.
nypost.com
Stream It Or Skip It? ‘Citizen Nation’ On PBS, A Docuseries About Civics-Minded Teens Participating In The “We The People” Competition
These teens aren't trying to become influencers. Imagine that!
nypost.com
Harris Aide Slams ‘Emasculated’ DeSantis for Ducking Her Hurricane Call
Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/Tribune News Service via Getty ImagesFormer Rep. Cedric Richmond (D-LA), the co-chair of Kamala Harris’ presidential campaign, blasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for refusing to take a recent call with the vice president, saying in a Tuesday morning interview that “people are going to die” because of him. “When the vice president or the president calls you to see what you need on the ground, to see what you need before the storm, during the storm and after the storm,” Richmond told CNN’s Jim Acosta. “It could cost lives to not answer that call,” he added. Read more at The Daily Beast.
thedailybeast.com
Pete Rose went to doctor days before death because he was ‘acting different’
Pete Rose was sent home from the hospital with a clean bill of health just five days before he died on Sept. 30.
nypost.com
Americans are flocking to U.S. regions most threatened by climate change
The number of Americans moving to high-risk areas from low- and moderate-risk areas has doubled after the pandemic.
cbsnews.com
Afghan national arrested for plotting ISIS-related Election Day terrorist attack
Afghan national Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi was charged with planning a terrorist attack in the U.S. on Election Day.
cbsnews.com
Michigan Dem House candidate claims to be tough on the border —but cheered sanctuary cities
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — In a new ad, Democratic House candidate Curtis Hertel Jr. claims to be tough on the border. But a resurfaced clip of Hertel supporting sanctuary-city policies in Michigan’s capital tells a very different story. In the spot, the former state senator appears in a T-shirt mowing his lawn. “You wanna know what’s...
nypost.com
California officials announce settlements with L.A. Care Health Plan over fines
California officials have reached $55 million in settlements with L.A. Care, a publicly operated health plan serving Medi-Cal patients in Los Angeles County.
latimes.com
Pete Alonso sends electric Citi Field crowd into a frenzy with NLDS Game 3 homer
Pete Alonso has done it again.
nypost.com
Save on Martha Stewart’s must-haves during Prime Day — including an ‘essential’ style she has ‘in every color’
The domestic doyenne knows a good thing when she sees it.
nypost.com
De Vinicius a Dybala y Tapia: lesiones marcan pulso de eliminatorias en Sudamérica
En medio de la queja por la sobrecarga de partidos y una amenaza de huelga de futbolistas en las principales ligas de Europa, Sudamérica reanuda esta semana la eliminatoria para el Mundial 2026 con varias figuras ausentes por lesión que podrían condicionar el desempeño de sus seleccionados.
latimes.com
What’s Next After Jack Smith’s Big Jan. 6 Evidence Drop
Trump's lawyers are using two Supreme Court decisions to fight back.
slate.com
PM Update: Pleasantly cool as next cold front arrives Wednesday
Winds will kick up from the northwest behind the front as the coldest air of the season so far funnels in toward the end of the week.
washingtonpost.com
Hurricanes Helene and Milton Threaten Voter Turnout as Kamala Pulls Ahead
Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Reuters/GettyWelcome to October Surprise, the Daily Beast’s daily countdown to the biggest election of our lifetime. It’s only 28 days until Election Day and here’s what’s happening in the race to the White House between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris.THE DOWNLOADAs Donald Trump spreads misinformation about Democrats not helping people impacted by deadly Hurricane Helene, there’s a reason he may be antsy: those victims are mostly Republicans.Read more at The Daily Beast.
thedailybeast.com
Trump’s Disbarred Lawyers Have a Plan for After His 2024 Victory
It centers on installing loyal Trump lawyers from 2020 in key positions of government power.
slate.com
Eric Mangini predicted Woody Johnson would be ‘pissed off’ if Jets lost in London
Former Jets head coach and current football analyst Eric Mangini looked like Nostradamus on Tuesday.
nypost.com
Sneak peek: Who Took Our Dad? The Abduction of Ray Wright
A family man abruptly vanishes. Police tie his disappearance to a monstrous plot for revenge. "48 Hours" correspondent Natalie Morales reports Saturday, Oct. 12 at 9/8c on CBS and streaming on Paramount+.
cbsnews.com
WATCH: Timelapse video shows Hurricane Milton as seen from space
Timelapse footage captured by NASA astronaut Matthew Dominick shows Hurricane Milton as the powerful storm churned through the Gulf of Mexico toward Florida.
abcnews.go.com
D.C. violence intervention programs scrutinized amid White bribery probe
A hearing Monday focused on how the Office of Neighborhood Safety and Engagement awards lucrative grants and whether oversight needs to be strengthened.
washingtonpost.com
Kamala Harris sticks to script on migrants, dodges border questions on ‘60 Minutes,’ ‘The View’
After Harris insisted the administration had been "offering solutions," CBS' Bill Whitaker responded: "What I was asking was, was it a mistake to kind of allow that flood to happen in the first place?"
nypost.com
Disney World joins theme park closures ahead of Hurricane Milton
Hurricane Milton's approach has Disney World readying to close its doors along with other theme parks across Florida.
cbsnews.com
Love Taylor Swift’s style? These October Prime Day deals are for you
She may be a billionaire, but Swift appreciates a budget-friendly buy as much as the rest of us.
nypost.com
DOJ accuses popular gym chain of discriminating against disabled people
The Department of Justice served LA Fitness with a lawsuit on Tuesday after the chain allegedly discriminated against disabled people, which would be a violation of the ADA.
foxnews.com
Column: Trump's storm recovery lies aren't just a political disaster. They're dangerous.
When the effort to boost one’s polling numbers involves suppressing life-saving information, it’s clear that American politics have hit a cynical apex.
latimes.com
A ‘Romeo and Juliet’ that involves AI and Ron DeSantis
Folger Theatre’s new production of “Romeo and Juliet” incorporates smartphones and partisanship, with mixed results.
washingtonpost.com
Fox News Politics: Harris on '60 minutes': Joe 2.0?
The latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more Fox News politics content
foxnews.com
Hurricane Milton is gaining power as thousands evacuate Florida before ‘it’s too late’ — but there’s a glimmer of hope
Most models on Tuesday night had the storm hitting around Sarasota, which would spare the metro area, with 3.2 million people, from the worst of the storm.
nypost.com
I’ve Covered Washington for a Long Time. I’ve Never Heard Anyone in Congress Go This Far.
The hurricane conspiracy theories Greene, Trump, and Musk are pushing do not bode well for the election.
slate.com
Is FEMA messing up? An expert weighs in.
A member of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Task Force searches a flood-damaged property with a search canine in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene along the Swannanoa River on October 4, 2024, in Asheville, North Carolina. Millions of Americans are still struggling to find their bearings after Hurricane Helene made landfall last week, killing at least 230 people across six states, washing away homes, and leaving thousands without clean water or electricity for days across the southeastern United States.   For the survivors, the aftermath has been agonizing, and if past hurricanes are any indication, it will take years to fully recover. Many of the residents in afflicted communities have never experienced a disaster like this before and are now navigating layers of government bureaucracy to get supplies, relief money, and to begin rebuilding. It’s creating frustration and confusion, leaving the door open to misinformation and scams around the relief effort.  Helene is also creating a political problem as politicians look to blame each other for hiccups in the response and residents try to figure out who to hold accountable. A lot of attention has focused on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and its role in the disaster recovery. This week, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper met with FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell and military officials to discuss the recovery work underway. These dynamics are already creating a lot of pressure, and it’s poised to get even more chaotic as Hurricane Milton, which spooled up to category 5 strength this week, heads toward the Florida coast. It’s not just a matter of finger-pointing; knowing whether to press local, state, or federal officials is essential to getting help to the people who need it now, and learning from past disasters can soften the devastation from future catastrophes.  Collectively, governments around the world are actually getting better at disaster response. We’ve seen over the past century that, in general, natural disasters are killing fewer people. However, the destructive potential of something like a hurricane is growing now that more people are living in their paths. Asheville, North Carolina, which experienced extensive flooding after Helene, experienced a big population spike in the past decade.  And as average temperatures continue to rise due to climate change, extreme events like hurricanes spool up faster into monstrous storms and dish out more rainfall and drive more storm surge into coastal areas than they would otherwise.  Given that there are so many variables in natural disasters and the communities they afflict, how do you gauge whether your government is doing a good job against a force of nature? And when things go sideways, when should you blame your mayor, your governor, or your president? I posed these questions to Claire Connolly Knox, who founded the Emergency and Crisis Management program at the University of Central Florida in Orlando. She spoke to me from her home in Florida where she was making preparations for Milton’s arrival.  This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.  Umair Irfan Given how different every disaster is, it’s hard to make an apples-to-apples comparison between them. It also seems like expectations are all over the place of who should be responding to what after a disaster. What do you make of the responses to some of the recent disasters we’ve seen? I’m thinking specifically about North Carolina after Helene. What do you think is worth highlighting? Claire Connolly Knox There are a number of things. This is going to be one for the record books. One is that it highlights that so much of the conversation focuses on disasters, hurricanes specifically, and the immediately impacted area. Everyone was really concerned about Florida and the Big Bend and Tallahassee, and rightly so, because everyone primarily looks at where the eye of the storm is going and then looking at those initial brunt forces and the impacts. I think what this hurricane is teaching us is that there’s so much more to hurricanes that we sometimes forget: That’s the rain. That’s the storm surge. That is the spin-off tornadoes. Those cascading impacts we frequently do not focus on. With the Helene system going into North Carolina, the amount of rain that fell is very reminiscent of Hurricane Harvey with the amount of devastation and the flooding that took place. Umair Irfan North Carolina is a place that’s infrequently hit by hurricanes. I would expect Florida to have a lot of resources ready but maybe it’s excusable that North Carolina was caught a little bit off guard.  How would you evaluate their response? Are they graded on a curve when it comes to a disaster like this? And should FEMA have seen this coming and done more? Claire Connolly Knox Every disaster starts and ends locally, so every disaster response starts at the local level, and it ends at the local level. A lot of people don’t realize that. They think immediately of FEMA. FEMA has the purse strings, they help pay for a lot of this.  But the response is local. It goes to the state if locals can’t handle it. The state then does an emergency declaration to release additional funds. If it’s going to be more than they can handle, they go to their FEMA region. That then goes up to FEMA national, and then to the president for an emergency declaration or disaster declaration depending on which is needed.  Every state adheres to the same standards set forth by FEMA to have a comprehensive emergency management plan to train their local emergency managers to have the capacity to respond to a disaster. “Every disaster response starts at the local level, and it ends at the local level. A lot of people don’t realize that.”Claire Connolly Knox Umair Irfan So you start local, and then if you need more resources, you go to the state, and then you go to your local FEMA administrator, then you go to the federal government for an emergency declaration. Is that typically how you escalate? Claire Connolly Knox Yes, that is in the statute of the Stafford Act, the process that disaster assistance goes through. In addition to that more formal setup, you also have mutual aid agreements between local governments, between states. For example, when Hurricane Katrina happened, you had emergency management staff and first responders from other states poised and ready to enter the impacted area. You’ve seen that happening [in North Carolina], not only amongst the public sector, but also the private and nonprofit sectors. Emergency management is all about facilitating and being able to bring together everyone who can help.  Umair Irfan Is this process necessarily reactive, or is there a way that you can be proactive?  Claire Connolly Knox Both. However, you’re seeing more proactive responses. That’s really a big lesson learned from Hurricane Katrina. You saw Craig Fugate, the FEMA administrator during Superstorm Sandy, preemptively set up stuff, and he actually got criticized for that, but that has now become more of the norm, trying to be as prepared and to preemptively set up resources so that they could quickly enter and reduce the amount of lives lost. Umair Irfan What was the criticism for being preemptive there? Claire Connolly Knox The idea was they were setting up resources in advance, and some people said that was not the role of the federal government. Some said it was a waste of resources. However, on the flip side, you also had former FEMA administrator Michael Brown who was heavily criticized during Hurricane Katrina for not being responsive. There are critics on both sides of the fence. Umair Irfan If the federal government is already getting involved at the front end, then is it in charge of the disaster response at that point? Or how does the hierarchy of responsibility work? Claire Connolly Knox It’s all local. So it’s your city, county, and your state who are the leaders when it comes to a major disaster. FEMA has to be invited in. They’re not siloed though. If you look at a local city or county, their emergency operations center has seats for all of the different sectors: communications, transportation, utilities, law enforcement, fire, health. You’re going to have someone, a representative from the federal government, either virtually or someone in the room, as well. Each of FEMAs regions has staff that could be deployed to assist those local governments. Umair Irfan When a disaster strikes, how do you evaluate the response? Is there a metric? How do I know what was reasonable for emergency managers to do? How do I know if they dropped the ball? Claire Connolly Knox That’s where my research comes in. I study after-action reports, or things that went well and things that did not go well during a disaster. They frequently include an implementation plan, so taking those lessons learned, who is the lead to implement this lesson, if there’s any funding needed, and a timeline of when to expect that particular lesson to be implemented.  Unfortunately, an after-action report is not required after every disaster. What I have found is that in areas that tend to be heavily destroyed — looking at Asheville, North Carolina — I would not anticipate an after action report coming from them.  Umair Irfan It’s a lower priority? Claire Connolly Knox It tends to be. For example, after Hurricane Charlie, I reached out to local governments over in Tampa and Florida’s Gulf Coast. Their immediate response was “I’m not going to sit down and write a report. I need to be helping people.”  When you have a major disaster like this, FEMA does an after-action report, your state government does an after-action report. A lot of the lessons learned will be captured in those reports and those documents after the fact. That tends to be one of the ways in which you measure the effectiveness of response. We’ve seen over time where a lot of those lessons learned that have been documented make their way into local, state, and federal policy. After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, there was the Lewis report with 94 recommendations that changed our building codes, how we do land use planning,  emergency management. We’ve seen that happen after Katrina, Superstorm Sandy, after Harvey, Irma, Maria, etc. After all these major disasters, about a year or two later major policy changes come out. Umair Irfan How are we doing in disaster response in general in the US? Is it improving over time? Are we seeing any patterns? Are there places we still keep getting tripped up over and over? Claire Connolly Knox I really love that you asked this question. We’re really good at identifying the lessons learned. We’re really good at saying what went well and what did not go well.  However, we’re not really good at implementing those lessons learned, and we’re really not good at evaluating whether we’ve actually implemented them. And usually the test is the next disaster. It tests whether we’ve actually done what we’ve said we’re going to do.  Umair Irfan Who then is to blame, or who gets credit, during a disaster response? Is there somebody that we can hold accountable in general?  Claire Connolly Knox It’s a very, very hard question to answer. I say it depends. I think a lot of people don’t realize emergency management touches on every aspect of our life and our society, and so it makes it really hard to answer that question.  Making decisions during a crisis is not easy. You have incomplete information. You are trying your best to be able to make decisions very quickly, very rapidly, while dealing with misinformation or incomplete information. I think you’re asking a very important question, but it’s very hard to answer. Umair Irfan We’re also in an era where average temperatures are rising, and then many types of disasters are reaching greater extremes, and that more people are experiencing hazards that they may have not have experienced before. People have pointed out that North Carolina did flood like this back in 1916, but it’s a completely different world now. How do you prepare for the future when that risk profile just looks so drastically different? Claire Connolly Knox There are lots of free resources and data and models available through FEMA, through NOAA, through the National Hurricane Center to help with planning.  To cope with future disasters, we have to think more holistically. In emergency management, we teach and we practice “all hazards, whole community.” It is a networked approach to responding to a disaster, not just the public sector. You have the private sector and nonprofit sector that are engaged in the response efforts. Part of it is to be aware there are so many local jurisdictions that can only think about emergency management and disasters when it’s on their doorstep. For a mayor, I would have them find out if they know who their emergency manager is. Is it someone who is a police chief or fire chief who happens to wear the emergency management hat only when there’s a disaster? Unfortunately, in a lot of our small rural communities, there is not a single dedicated emergency manager. It’s someone who was also wearing two or three other hats. It would help to have a dedicated person networking, setting up mutual aid agreements, doing all those things that get activated when there’s an actual disaster.  Umair Irfan Are there any interesting case studies here worth highlighting, or aspects of a disaster response we tend to overlook? Claire Connolly Knox I would look at Florida’s response to Hurricane Maria. A lot of communities may prepare for a disaster themselves, but they don’t prepare a response for their neighbors getting a disaster. Being able to be a receiving community for evacuees, being able to deploy resources to your neighboring community is critical. When you look at the individuals evacuated from Puerto Rico during Hurricane Maria in 2017 here in central Florida, you had these resource centers that are now known as the national standard of how do you take care of that neighboring community.  It’s very important because, especially with climate change, we’re already seeing a shift of the population. Central Florida is the receiving community for all these coastal communities. As our coastlines change, as sea level rise increases and our vulnerability increases in these coastal zones, the interior communities need to be ready to receive them, and if they don’t do it well, that could potentially be a disaster within a disaster.
vox.com
Hurricane Milton snarls travel by air, land and sea. Here's what to know.
Hurricane Milton is scrapping hundreds of U.S. flights and forcing cruise ships to take evasive action.
cbsnews.com
New billboards in Pennsylvania urge Jews to back Donald Trump: ‘Vote wisely’
The billboards are sponsored by a new group called Jews for Safety & Security, co-founded by former Brooklyn state Assemblyman Dov Hikind.
nypost.com
A Nobel Prize for Artificial Intelligence
The award should not feed the AI-hype cycle.
theatlantic.com
CENTCOM to continue supporting Middle East operations as Hurricane Milton barrels toward Florida headquarters
CENTCOM personnel are relocating to back up sites to be able to continue supporting 24/7 operations in the Middle East and elsewhere as Hurricane Milton barrels toward its headquarters in Tampa, Florida.
foxnews.com
Shop These Prime Day Movie and Streaming Deals Before Its Too Late
Stream and save!
nypost.com
Biden undermines Harris claim that Ron DeSantis is politicizing hurricane response: 'Doing a great job'
President Joe Biden praised GOP Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for being "cooperative" and doing a "great job" in his response to Hurricanes Helene and Milton, despite Vice President Kamala Harris slamming DeSantis for "playing political games."
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foxnews.com
Taylor Swift parties with Chiefs WAGs inside Travis Kelce’s suite
The 14-time Grammy winner posed in several snaps alongside wide receiver Mecole Hardman Jr.'s fiancée, Chariah Gordon, during the Chiefs game on Monday.
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nypost.com
Michael Jackson once visited Motown legend Suzanne de Passe’s house with his pet boa constrictor hidden in a pillowcase
Michael Jackson once showed up at Motown legend Suzanne de Passe’s home with his pet boa constrictor but had to stash the snake in a pillowcase. Suzanne recounted the shocking moment, and more, during a Q&A that Page Six Senior Reporter Carlos Greer moderated in celebration of her upcoming Rock & Roll Hall of Fame induction....
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nypost.com