Isaias strengthens into Category 2 hurricane on collision course with the US Gulf Coast
MIAMI (AP) — Isaias strengthened into a Category 2 hurricane as it barreled toward the U.S. Gulf Coast on Thursday, prompting orders for tourists to abandon beaches for safer spots inland, sending locals scurrying for gas and groceries and leading fishing crews to secure their boats before the potentially destructive storm’s arrival.
The first hurricane of the Atlantic season was forecast to intensify rapidly and cause dangerous conditions in the Florida Panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi when it makes landfall late Friday or early Saturday. Heavy rain and flooding were possible into the weekend as far north as Tennessee and North Carolina.
“We are expecting Isaias to be a dangerous hurricane when it makes landfall,” said Michael Brennan, director of the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
He added: “Today is the day to prepare and get ready and be in your safe place by tomorrow as conditions will rapidly deteriorate along the northern Gulf Coast as Isaias approaches.”
Isaias had maximum sustained winds of 105 mph (165 kph), according to the hurricane center, surpassing the 96 mph (154 kph) threshold for a Category 2 storm.
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Christa Pike is walking with help and eating after failed execution attempt, her attorneys say
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Christa Pike has begun walking and eating again at a hospital a week after surviving Tennessee’s attempt to execute her with lethal drugs, her attorneys said Thursday.
Pike, 50, survived two doses of pentobarbital as the state sought to giver her a lethal injection eight days ago for the 1995 beating and stabbing death of classmate Colleen Slemmer. The drug didn’t kill her, and her arms were left burned and blistered, according to her lawyers. For the first few days of her hospitalization, Pike was unconscious and on a ventilator.
Her first steps on Wednesday were “limited” and she required some assistance as she walked on Thursday, her lawyers said in a statement. She is also regaining mobility in her arms, and she was able to eat for the first time.
But the lawyers warned uncertainty remains about her physical recovery and her legal standing after the attempt to carry out her death sentence.
The failed execution on Sept. 30 has renewed scrutiny of how states carry out the death penalty. Texas on Wednesday carried out the first execution in the U.S. since the Tennessee attempt.
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The long-deployed USS Lincoln returns home to San Diego Bay
CORONADO, Calif. (AP) — After more than 10 months at sea, thousands of sailors Thursday poured out of the the USS Lincoln on San Diego Bay to thunderous cheers, streaming tears and emotional hugs, marking a homecoming that included new dads who met babies born while they were away on a historic deployment supporting the Iran war.
The reunion followed an emotional rollercoaster for families who described crying and losing sleep after hearing reports of supply shortages and deteriorating mental health among the crew during the deployment that spent a record 265 days of uninterrupted time at sea. Many said they only could communicate with family via the occasional email or rare WhatsApp calls.
Abel Ramirez, 20, was glad to have that all behind him. He walked off the carrier with a big grin, overjoyed that his first deployment was over.
“It feels amazing,” he said while headed out to search for his parents who traveled from Texas. “There was a certain point when I never thought I would come off.”
Cassity Garduque, 14, waved as her mom in her sailor uniform frantically waved back from the top deck after the ship docked at the pier.
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Pentagon says the firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed
WASHINGTON (AP) — The firing squad execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan will be livestreamed, the Pentagon said Thursday, a stunning revelation about plans for the first military execution in more than 65 years after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had described it as being “public.”
The Army announced this week that the execution would take place at Fort Hood on Dec. 3 after Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting at the military base in 2009.
Hegseth, speaking to the conservative TV outlet Real America’s Voice on Wednesday, said, “We’ll make sure that people are able to watch it, that it’s public.” Officials in the Pentagon clarified Thursday that the execution would be livestreamed and that more details would follow.
The revelation from Hegseth about the public nature of the execution — let alone one as violent as a firing squad — has raised further questions about how the death penalty is carried out in the U.S., especially after the botched lethal injection of Christa Pike in Tennessee.
Hasan could choose to resist execution and file a habeas petition — a legal request to review the legality of a detention — in civilian court, which could significantly delay the execution, experts said.
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The Trump administration is suspending Microsoft from a green card program, alleging fraud
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump's administration announced Thursday it was suspending Microsoft and several other firms from a program allowing foreign workers to apply for green cards, as it also lashed out at universities that bring international students to the U.S. on exchange programs.
The announcement by Vice President JD Vance marks the latest swing from the Trump administration at employers and universities that welcome foreign students and workers into the country.
Such programs have frequently been targeted by some Trump supporters who argue they undercut American students and workers. Supporters say they allow the U.S. to attract the best talent from around the world and fill important hiring gaps.
Supporters of the Republican president have long argued that various programs like H-1B visas — which Vance accused Microsoft of abusing — essentially empower American companies to recruit foreign workers for jobs that end up undercutting Americans. In the wide-ranging announcement, Vance and other top administration officials also called out universities over their use of J-1 visas for international students and information technology outsourcing firms.
The announcement came hours before Trump awarded the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, part of an event at which he granted some of the nation’s most prestigious science and technology awards to his tech billionaire allies.
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Trump says US will not resume military strikes on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump said Thursday that he will not order a resumption of military strikes on Iran before the Nov. 3 midterm elections in the United States.
Trump, while stumping for Republicans this week, has hinted that he was confident that an endgame to the war could come in the days before or after the election, while also hinting that he remained open to resuming full-scale military operations against Iran.
For weeks, Trump has been threatening that a post-midterm election escalation in the seven-month-old war remains a viable option, despite his initial promises to Americans of a military campaign that would last a matter of weeks.
But Trump in a social media post on Thursday said the U.S. “will not be attacking Iran at any time prior to the Midterm Elections to be held in the United States on November 3rd.”
Trump added that his team has been “having productive discussions with the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
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New US indictment charges Maduro with overseeing machine of repression, torture of Americans
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. prosecutors unveiled sweeping new criminal charges against former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday, accusing him and his wife of heading a state-sponsored system of repression responsible for beating, asphyxiating, and delivering electric shocks to scores of victims, including several Americans.
The torture charges add to pressure on the ousted authoritarian leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were seized from their Caracas home by the U.S. military in January to face drug trafficking charges in New York.
The updated indictment “alleges conduct that is truly unthinkable,” U.S. Attorney Jamie McDonald said outside the Manhattan courthouse where the case is being handled. “This is the epitome of corruption.”
Maduro denies the charges and “looks forward to his day in court,” lawyer Barry Pollack said. Flores’ attorney said he hadn’t yet had time to review the new allegations.
The indictment claims Maduro suggested torture methods, sought and received updates on specific victims’ treatment, watched a video of a forced confession and personally threatened the killing of one prisoner’s child “as a form of psychological torture.” On occasion, he would laugh after hearing about the abuse of prisoners, prosecutors allege.
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Army finds systemic failures behind DC midair collision and calls for safety fixes
The U.S. Army found systemic safety breakdowns behind last year’s midair collision between an American Airlines jet and a Black Hawk helicopter near Washington, D.C., and recommended changes to prevent future tragedies.
The Army report — completed in May and released publicly Thursday after months of pressure from the victims' families — identified failures involving air traffic control, helicopter routes, training and safety practices. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report hours before it was released.
The deadliest plane crash on U.S. soil in over two decades happened when the helicopter collided with the descending airliner as it approached the runway, sending both plummeting into the icy Potomac River and killing 67.
The Army report highlighted how the air traffic controller at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport could have prevented the crash, but it also acknowledged the military’s own failings and other contributing factors.
Tim Lilley, a former Army Black Hawk pilot whose son Sam Lilley was the airliner's first officer, said the report leaves important questions unanswered. Parts were redacted, and responsibility for the Army's failures was assigned broadly rather than to individuals.
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MLB proposes shortening regular season to 154 games in 2029, expanding Division Series to best-of-7
NEW YORK (AP) — Major League Baseball proposed to shorten the regular season to 154 games from 162 starting in 2029 and to expand the Division Series to best-of-seven in a plan given to players during collective bargaining Thursday.
Owners also proposed adding nine additional days off to the current postseason format, extending it to a maximum 42 days in a move that would give top starting pitchers potential to appear more often.
MLB would allow higher-seeded teams in the first two rounds of the postseason to pick their opponents beginning next year and would make most regular-season Mondays a day off for the vast majority of teams starting in 2029 except for those in up to two nationally broadcast games.
Cutting regular-season games would reduce the opportunity for players to set season and career records.
“Returning to a 154-game schedule would allow us to introduce a weekly off day, which is good for player health, while also creating a new national broadcast window to showcase our most exciting teams and players," MLB spokesman Glen Caplin said in a statement.
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Hayden Panettiere's ex Wladimir Klitschko gets legal status to protect their daughter's inheritance
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actor Hayden Panettiere's ex-fiancé, former boxer Wladimir Klitschko, was granted legal authority by a California court Thursday to protect Panettiere's property for their 11-year-old daughter after the television star's accidental overdose death left the girl as her sole heir.
Klitschko had filed the urgent petition last week, saying that pieces of Panettiere's property were being taken by federal law enforcement agents investigating her death and by an unnamed nonfamily member looking to sell them, with no one in a position to try to recover them for her daughter.
Klitschko, a Ukrainian former world champion boxer, has had full custody of the girl, Kaya, for most of her life, and she has lived with him in Ukraine. The father and daughter appeared in Los Angeles County court remotely via videoconference. They spoke only to introduce themselves at the brief hearing with only Kaya visible on camera, sitting at a table in front of curtains.
Judge Stephanie Santoro granted Klitschko the status of temporary guardian of Kaya's estate until a long-term administrator can be appointed.
Santoro asked Klitschko's lawyer, Diane Park, why the matter was urgent. Park said they believed a person described only as a nonrelative had taken items after Panettiere's death and had tried to sell some of her jewelry at a pawn shop. And she said assets were in danger of going unaccounted for during the death investigation. Court documents said authority was needed to deal with both the pawnshop owner and police agencies. Panettiere’s taxes also need to be filed this month, the lawyer said. Santoro, satisfied with the explanation, approved the move.
