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Sunday November 24, 2024
Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida’s west coast Wednesday night as a Category 3 hurricane. The monster storm roared ashore with life-threatening storm surge, powerful winds and flooding rains.
Here’s how the news is developing.
4 killed in tornadoes in St. Lucie County
Four people were killed by tornadoes in St. Lucie County on Florida’s east coast, county officials said.
“Numerous homes” have “suffered significant damage,” officials added.
25 minutes ago
Roof of Tropicana Field rips off
Wind gusts climbed to 97 mph in Tampa and 102 mph at the Sarasota Bradenton International Airport as Milton slammed the coast.
Milton’s powerful winds even ripped part of the roof off of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays.
A drone image above Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, show the shredded roof of the dome an…
Tampa Bay Times/ZUMA Press Wire via Shutterstock
View of the damaged roof of Tropicana Field stadium, the home of Major League Baseball’s Tampa Bay Rays…
Octavio Jones/Reuters
Tampa hit with 1 foot of rain
Hurricane Milton’s heavy rains sparked a flash-flood emergency for the Tampa Bay area.
Tampa has recorded 1 foot of rain, while Lakeland — about 35 miles inland from Tampa — saw 10 inches of rain.
Fifteen people, including young children, were rescued from a Tampa home Wednesday night when a tree fell on top of the house and water rushed inside, Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said.
Tampa Mayor Jane Castor on Thursday is urging residents to stay inside and off the roads, warning, “It’s not over.”
Over 2,200 flights canceled, at least 6 airports closed
Over 2,200 flights have been canceled across the country on Thurssday as Hurricane Milton pummels Florida.
The St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, Tampa International Airport, Orlando International Airport, Orlando Sanford International Airport, Palm Beach International Airport and Sarasota Bradenton International Airport all closed for the storm.
The Florida Division of Emergency Services said it has partnered with Uber to provide free rides to and from shelters.
Daytona Beach, Cape Canaveral experiencing flash flooding
More than 8 inches of rain pummeled Daytona Beach on Florida’s east coast overnight, causing flash flooding Thursday morning.
The flooding and hurricane-force wind gusts are ongoing from Daytona Beach to Cape Canaveral.
At least 36 tornadoes reported
At least 36 tornadoes were reported across Florida on Wednesday as Hurricane Milton came ashore.
There were 133 tornado warnings issued in South Florida — the most on record for the state and the second-highest for any state in one day.
Multiple fatalities were reported at a St. Lucie County retirement community following a suspected tornado, Sheriff Keith Pearson told ABC News.
Across the state, at least 125 homes have been destroyed, according to Kevin Guthrie, the head of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.
A damaged home after a tornado touched down before Hurricane Milton’s arrival, Oct. 9, 2024, in Fort Myers, Florida.
WZVN
More than 3 million without power in Florida
More than 3 million customers were without power in Florida Thursday morning.
Milton passing into Atlantic Ocean
Hurricane Milton is now heading out into the Atlantic Ocean as a Category 1 hurricane, having completed its swing across Florida.
The eye of the storm is now passing past Cape Canaveral, having taken less than eight hours to make its way across the Florida peninsula.
Wind speed remains at around 85 mph, with movement northeast at 18 mph.
-ABC News’ Kenton Gewecke
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday cut its benchmark interest rate by an unusually large half-point, a dramatic shift after more than two years of high rates that helped tame inflation but also made borrowing painfully expensive for American consumers.
The rate cut, the Fed’s first in more than four years, reflects its new focus on bolstering the job market, which has shown clear signs of slowing. Coming just weeks before the presidential election, the Fed’s move also has the potential to scramble the economic landscape just as Americans prepare to vote.
The central bank’s action lowered its key rate to roughly 4.8%, down from a two-decade high of 5.3%, where it had stood for 14 months as it struggled to curb the worst inflation streak in four decades. Inflation has tumbled from a peak of 9.1% in mid-2022 to a three-year low of 2.5% in August, not far above the Fed’s 2% target.
The Fed’s policymakers also signaled that they expect to cut their key rate by an additional half-point in their final two meetings this year, in November and December. And they envision four more rate cuts in 2025 and two in 2026.
In a statement, the Fed came closer than it has before to declaring victory over inflation: It said it “has gained greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably toward 2%.â€
Though the central bank now believes inflation is largely defeated, many Americans remain upset with still-high prices for groceries, gas, rent and other necessities. Former President Donald Trump blames the Biden-Harris administration for sparking an inflationary surge. Vice President Kamala Harris, in turn, has charged that Trump’s promise to slap tariffs on all imports would raise prices for consumers even further.
Rate cuts by the Fed should, over time, lower borrowing costs for mortgages, auto loans and credit cards, boosting Americans’ finances and supporting more spending and growth. Homeowners will be able to refinance mortgages at lower rates, saving on monthly payments, and even shift credit card debt to lower-cost personal loans or home equity lines. Businesses may also borrow and invest more. Average mortgage rates have already dropped to an 18-month low of 6.2%, according to Freddie Mac, spurring a jump in demand for refinancings.
In an updated set of projections, the Fed’s policymakers now collectively envision a faster drop in inflation than they did three months ago but also higher unemployment. They foresee their preferred inflation gauge falling to 2.3% by year’s end, from its current 2.5%, and to 2.1% by the end of 2025. And they now expect the unemployment rate to rise further this year, to 4.4%, from 4.2% now, and to remain there by the end of 2025. That’s above their previous forecasts of 4% for the end of this year and 4.2% for 2025.
The Fed’s next policy meeting is Nov. 6-7 — immediately after the presidential election. By cutting rates this week, soon before the election, the Fed is risking attacks from Trump, who has argued that lowering rates now amounts to political interference. Yet Politico has reported that even some key Senate Republicans who were interviewed have expressed support for a Fed rate cut this week.
The central bank’s officials fought against high inflation by raising their key rate 11 times in 2022 and 2023. Wage growth has since slowed, removing a potential source of inflationary pressure. And oil and gas prices are falling, a sign that inflation should continue to cool in the months ahead. Consumers are also pushing back against high prices, forcing such companies as Target and McDonald’s to dangle deals and discounts.
The Fed’s decision Wednesday drew the first dissent from a member of its governing board since 2005. Michelle Bowman, a board member who has expressed concern in the past that inflation had not been fully defeated, said she would have preferred a quarter-point rate cut.
Yet after several years of strong job growth, employers have slowed hiring, and the unemployment rate has risen nearly a full percentage point from its half-century low in April 2023 to a still-low 4.2%. Once unemployment rises that much, it tends to keep climbing. Fed officials and many economists note, though, that the rise in unemployment this time largely reflects an influx of people seeking jobs — notably new immigrants and recent college graduates — rather than layoffs.
At issue in the Fed’s deliberations is how fast it wants to lower its benchmark rate to a point where it’s no longer acting as a brake on the economy — nor as an accelerant. Where that so-called “neutral†level falls isn’t clear, though many analysts peg it at 3% to 3.5%.
LAS VEGAS — Casino company Wynn Resorts Ltd. has agreed to pay $130 million to federal authorities and admit that it let unlicensed money transfer businesses around the world funnel funds to gamblers at its flagship Las Vegas Strip property.
The publicly traded company said a non-prosecution settlement reached Friday represented a monetary figure identified by the U.S. Justice Department as “funds involved in the transactions at issue†at the Wynn Las Vegas resort.
In statements to the media and to the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said the forfeiture wasn’t a fine and findings in the decade-long case didn’t amount to money laundering.
U.S. Attorney Tara McGrath in San Diego said the settlement showed that casinos are accountable if they let foreign customers evade U.S. laws. She said $130 million was believed to be the largest forfeiture by a casino “based on admissions of criminal wrongdoing.â€
Wynn Resorts said it severed ties with all people and businesses involved in what the government characterized as “convoluted transactions†overseas.
“Several former employees facilitated the use of unlicensed money transmitting businesses, which both violated our internal policies and the law, and for which we take responsibility,†the company said in a statement Saturday to The Associated Press.
In its news release, the Justice Department detailed several methods it said were used to transfer money between Wynn Las Vegas and people in China and other countries.
One, dubbed “Flying Money,†involved an unlicensed money agent using multiple foreign bank accounts to transfer money to the casino for use by a patron who could not otherwise access cash in the U.S.
Another involved having a person referred to as a “Human Head†gamble at the casino at the direction of another person who was unwilling or unable to place bets because of anti-money laundering and other laws.
The Justice Department said one person, acting as an independent agent for the casino, conducted more than 200 money transfers worth nearly $18 million through bank accounts controlled by Wynn Las Vegas “or associated entities†on behalf of more than 50 foreign casino patrons.
Wynn Resorts called its agreement with the government a final step in a six-year effort to “put legacy issues fully behind us and focus on our future.†The SEC filing noted the investigation began about 2014.
It did not use the name of former CEO Steve Wynn. But since 2018, the parent company has been enmeshed with legal issues surrounding his departure after sexual misconduct allegations against him were first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Wynn attorneys in Las Vegas did not respond Saturday to messages about the company settlement.
Wynn, now 82 and living in Florida, has said he has no remaining ties to his namesake company. He has consistently denied committing sexual misconduct.
The billionaire developer of a luxury casino empire in Las Vegas, Massachusetts, Mississippi and the Chinese gambling enclave of Macao resigned from Wynn Resorts after the reports became public, divested company shares and quit the corporate board.
Last year, in an agreement with Nevada gambling regulators, he agreed to cut links to the industry he helped shape in Las Vegas and pay a $10 million fine. He admitted no wrongdoing.
In 2019, the Nevada Gaming Commission fined Wynn Resorts a record $20 million for failing to investigate claims of sexual misconduct made against him before he resigned. Massachusetts gambling regulators fined the company and a top executive $35.5 million for failing to disclose the sexual misconduct allegations against Wynn while it applied for a license for its Encore Boston Harbor resort. The company made no admissions of wrongdoing.
Wynn Resorts agreed in November 2019 to accept $20 million in damages from Wynn and $21 million from insurance carriers to settle shareholder lawsuits accusing company directors of failing to disclose misconduct allegations.
The Justice Department said Friday that as part of its investigation, 15 people previously admitted money laundering, unlicensed money transmission or other crimes, paying criminal penalties of more than $7.5 million.
Wynn Resorts noted in its statement on Friday that its non-prosecution agreement with the government did not refer to money laundering.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The man identified as the shooter in the apparent assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump was a 20-year-old from a Pittsburgh suburb not far from the campaign rally where one attendee was killed.
Investigators were working Sunday to gather more information about Thomas Matthew Crooks of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, who they say opened fire at the rally before being killed by Secret Service days before Trump was to accept the Republican nomination for a third time.
An FBI official said late Saturday that investigators had not yet determined a motive. Two spectators were critically injured, authorities said.
Relatives of Crooks didn’t immediately respond to messages from The Associated Press. His father, Matthew Crooks, told CNN late Saturday that he was trying to figure out “what the hell is going on†but wouldn’t speak about his son until after he talked to law enforcement.
A blockade had been set up Sunday preventing traffic near Crooks’ house, which is in an enclave of modest brick houses nestled in the hills of blue-collar Pittsburgh.
Crooks’ political leanings were not immediately clear. Records show Crooks was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania, but federal campaign finance reports also show he gave $15 to a progressive political action committee on Jan. 20, 2021, the day President Joe Biden was sworn in to office.
Public Pennsylvania court records show no past criminal cases against Crooks.
The FBI released his identity early Sunday morning, hours after the shooting. Authorities told reporters that Crooks was not carrying identification so they were using DNA and other methods to confirm his identity.
Law enforcement recovered an AR-style rifle at the scene, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.
An AP analysis of more than a dozen videos and photos from the scene of the Trump rally, as well as satellite imagery of the site, shows the shooter was able to get close to the stage where the former president was speaking.
A video posted to social media and geolocated by the AP shows the body of a person wearing gray camouflage lying motionless on the roof of a building at AGR International Inc., a manufacturing plant just north of the Butler Farm Show grounds where Trump’s rally was held.
The roof where the person lay was less than 150 meters (164 yards) from where Trump was speaking, a distance from which a decent marksman could reasonably hit a human-sized target. For reference, 150 meters is a distance at which U.S. Army recruits must hit a scaled human-sized silhouette to qualify with the M-16 rifle.
Investigators believe the weapon was bought by the father at least six months ago, two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.
The officials said federal agents were still working to understand when and how Thomas Crooks obtained the gun. The officials were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity
Prayers for the former president are also coming from his political opponents.
“I am horrified by what happened at the Trump rally in Pennsylvania and relieved that former President Trump is safe. Political violence has no place in our country,†said Sen. Chuck Schumer in a statement.
“We should all condemn what happened today and I am hoping for the health of the former president and everyone else at the rally,†Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy posted on the social platform X.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a post on X that his “thoughts and prayers are with former President Trump†and expressed thanks “for the decisive law enforcement response.â€
LONDON — The host of a news conference about WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s extradition fight wryly welcomed journalists last week to the “millionth†press briefing on his court case.
Deborah Bonetti, director of the Foreign Press Association, was only half joking. Assange’s legal saga has dragged on for well over a decade but it could come to an end in the U.K. as soon as Monday.
Assange faces a hearing in London’s High Court that could end with him being sent to the U.S. to face espionage charges, or provide him another chance to appeal his extradition.
The outcome will depend on how much weight judges give to reassurances U.S. officials have provided that Assange’s rights won’t be trampled if he goes on trial.
Here’s a look at the case:
Assange, 52, an Australian computer expert, has been indicted in the U.S. on 18 charges over Wikileaks’ publication of hundreds of thousands of classified documents in 2010.
Prosecutors say he conspired with U.S. army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning to hack into a Pentagon computer and release secret diplomatic cables and military files on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
He faces 17 counts of espionage and one charge of computer misuse. If convicted, his lawyers say he could receive a prison term of up to 175 years, though American authorities have said any sentence is likely to be much lower.
Assange and his supporters argue he acted as a journalist to expose U.S. military wrongdoing and is protected under press freedoms guaranteed by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
Among the files published by WikiLeaks was video of a 2007 Apache helicopter attack by American forces in Baghdad that killed 11 people, including two Reuters journalists.
“Julian has been indicted for receiving, possessing and communicating information to the public of evidence of war crimes committed by the U.S. government,†his wife, Stella Assange, said. “Reporting a crime is never a crime.â€
U.S. lawyers say Assange is guilty of trying to hack the Pentagon computer and that WikiLeaks’ publications created a “grave and imminent risk†to U.S. intelligence sources in Afghanistan and Iraq.
While the U.S. criminal case against Assange was only unsealed in 2019, his freedom has been restricted for a dozen years.
Assange took refuge in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London in 2012 and was granted political asylum after courts in England ruled he should be extradited to Sweden as part of a rape investigation in the Scandinavian country.
He was arrested by British police after Ecuador’s government withdrew his asylum status in 2019 and then jailed for skipping bail when he first took shelter inside the embassy.
Although Sweden eventually dropped its sex crimes investigation because so much time had elapsed, Assange has remained in London’s high-security Belmarsh Prison while the extradition battle with the U.S. continues.
His wife said his mental and physical health have deteriorated behind bars.
“He’s fighting to survive and that’s a daily battle,†she said.
A judge in London initially blocked Assange’s transfer to the U.S. in 2021 on the grounds he was likely to kill himself if held in harsh American prison conditions.
But subsequent courts cleared the way for the move after U.S. authorities provided assurances he wouldn’t experience the severe treatment that his lawyers said would put his physical and mental health at risk.
The British government authorized Assange’s extradition in 2022.
Assange’s lawyers raised nine grounds for appeal at a hearing in February, including the allegation that his prosecution is political.
The court accepted three of his arguments, issuing a provisional ruling in March that said Assange could take his case to the Court of Appeal unless the U.S. guaranteed he would not face the death penalty if extradited and would have the same free speech protections as a U.S. citizen.
The U.S. provided those reassurances three weeks later, though his supporters are skeptical.
Stella Assange said the “so-called assurances†were made up of “weasel words.â€
WikiLeaks Editor-in-Chief Kristinn Hrafnsson said the judges had asked if Assange could rely on First Amendment protections.
“It should be an easy yes or no question,†Hrafnsson said. “The answer was, ‘He can seek to rely on First Amendment protections.’ That is a ‘no.’ So the only rational decision on Monday is for the judges to come out and say, ‘This is not good enough.’ Anything else is a judicial scandal.â€
If Assange prevails, it would set the stage for an appeal process likely to further drag out the case.
If an appeal is rejected, his legal team plans to ask the European Court of Human Rights to intervene. But his supporters fear Assange could possibly be transferred before the court in Strasbourg, France, could halt his removal.
“Julian is just one decision away from being extradited,†his wife said.
Assange, who hopes to be in court Monday, has been encouraged by the work others have done in the political fight to free him, his wife said.
If he loses in court, he still may have another shot at freedom.
President Joe Biden said last month that he was considering a request from Australia to drop the case and let Assange return to his home country.
Officials have no other details but Stella Assange said it was “a good sign†and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the comment was encouraging.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Tuesday contacted the families of victims of two fatal Boeing 737 Max crashes as it nears a crucial decision over whether the company violated a 2021 deal that allowed it to escape criminal prosecution over the incidents, according to a letter obtained by ABC News.
The letter, sent by the department’s fraud section, invited families to attend a May 31 meeting where they will be informed of the DOJ’s decision as to whether the company breached the deferred prosecution agreement, or DPA.
If prosecutors believe they can make the case that Boeing violated the agreement’s terms — which demanded the company’s continued cooperation with the government, a requirement it disclose any allegations of fraud, and avoid committing any felony offenses — it would pave the way for a historic criminal prosecution of the aerospace giant that could have widespread impacts on the country’s aviation industry.
“The DOJ has been very nontransparent in disclosing to the families how they are going about making the determination of compliance or breach,” said Robert Clifford, a lawyer representing families of Max crash victims. “That has been a very disappointing feature of the department’s contact and communication with the families. But, in fairness to the department, prosecutors seldom discuss the details of their investigations, so this is not out of the ordinary.”
The meeting will be the fourth conferral session between the Justice Department and the families of passengers who died in the 2018 and 2019 crashes of two 737 Max airplanes who for years have accused the DOJ of cutting a “sweetheart deal” with Boeing that should be thrown out.
Attorneys for the victims have pointed to numerous allegations of potential wrongdoing since the deal was cut — such as claims from whistleblowers, which Boeing has denied — that the company flouted regulations and measures meant to protect its customers’ safety, as well as the January door plug incident on an Alaska Airlines flight that is now the subject of a federal criminal investigation.
“From a prosecutorial point of view, I believe they likely have enough evidence to prove Boeing violated the DPA,” said Mark Lindquist, an attorney representing a number of victims’ families. “In plain language, the main point of a deferred prosecution agreement is this: Don’t screw up again. Boeing screwed up again. The door plug blowout on the Max 9 is just one example.”
The letter from the DOJ on Tuesday states that families will meet with attorneys from the department’s fraud section over a period of seven hours on May 31, where they’ll be told of the DOJ’s decision “and potential next steps, and to hear your input and views on the same.”
ABC News has reached out to Boeing for comment.
A DOJ spokesperson did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment on the letter.
“I firmly believe that entering into this resolution is the right thing for us to do — a step that appropriately acknowledges how we fell short of our values and expectations,” David Calhoun, Boeing president and CEO, said in a note to employees after the company was charged by the DOJ in 2021. “This resolution is a serious reminder to all of us of how critical our obligation of transparency to regulators is, and the consequences that our company can face if any one of us falls short of those expectations.”
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