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Dirk Shadd/Tampa Bay Times/TNS

13 days, 2 hurricanes, and incalculable anxiety in Tampa Bay

Current News / News & Features /

TAMPA, Fla. — We were still mucking the floors and ripping out drywall when we saw the first forecast.

The National Hurricane Center released the graphic, an ugly white blob over the Gulf of Mexico, at 11 a.m. last Saturday. It reached us via texts from our cousins and alerts from the local news or guys showing us their phone screen in line ...Read more

Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images North America/TNS

A crazier path to 270: Can Harris wrest Alaska away from Trump?

Current News / News & Features /

Under a cold drizzle that hints at the region’s long winter, Beverly Hoffman is busy putting up campaign signs in Bethel, a city 400 miles west of Anchorage, Alaska, only accessible by boat or plane and perhaps best known for its dog race that winds along the Kuskokwim River.

Bethel's streets are already dotted with placards for Democrat Mary...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

Google used influence, ultimatum to cut deal on California news

Current News / News & Features /

Google was negotiating to spend $110 million to support California’s struggling journalism industry, but the search giant had a demand: taxpayers would need to contribute tens of millions of dollars as well.

State Assemblywoman Buffy Wicks, the Oakland Democrat discussing a deal with Google, called California Governor Gavin Newsom’s office ...Read more

Baltimore Fire: Linden Heights fatal fire deemed accidental, cause unknown

Current News / News & Features /

BALTIMORE — Almost one year since two firefighters were killed after battling a blaze on Linden Heights Avenue, the fire has been classified as accidental, according to a news release from the Baltimore City Fire Department.

A fire broke out on Oct. 19, 2023, tearing through a group of rowhomes. Two firefighters, 31-year-old Rodney Pitts III,...Read more

Pedro Portal/Miami Herald/TNS

'Nobody came': Tampa Bay seniors go days without power after Milton

Current News / News & Features /

TAMPA, Fla. — By Friday evening, Jan Elizabeth Campbell was tired.

Tired of walking up and down 11 flights in a pitch-black stairwell to get out of her downtown St. Petersburg senior living complex, 540 Town Center.

Tired of living without air conditioning, without water, without hot food.

Tired of hauling all her devices to a nearby Wendy�...Read more

Rodger Bosch/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Tito Mboweni, South Africa's first Black central bank chief, dies at 65

Current News / News & Features /

Tito Mboweni, who was the first Black governor of the South African Reserve Bank and was heralded by financial markets and business for keeping tight fiscal controls on the nation’s public spending, has died. He was 65.

The former governor died after a “short illness,” the Office of the Presidency said late Saturday.

Mboweni served as ...Read more

Kent Nishimura/Getty Images North America/TNS

Liberal discontents look to topple Trudeau, Canadian reports say

Current News / News & Features /

A group of lawmakers within Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s governing Liberal Party is organizing to pressure him to step down, according to news reports.

Members of parliament held meetings in the capital, Ottawa, this week and have been asked to sign a document pledging to stand together in calling for a change in leadership, ...Read more

Man, 21, is accused of shoving, slapping CPD officer at University of Chicago pro-Palestine rally

Current News / News & Features /

CHICAGO — Authorities have accused a Florida man of shoving and slapping a Chicago police officer during a contentious pro-Palestine rally at the University of Chicago Friday.

A Chicago police officer attempting to disperse a group of protesters who surrounded a U. of C. police squad car said he felt someone — who was later identified as ...Read more

Human head, hands found in Colorado freezer ID'd as those of teen missing since 2005

Current News / News & Features /

The head and hands of a person found inside a freezer at a home in Colorado earlier this year are those of a teenage girl who disappeared nearly 20 years ago, authorities said Friday.

The victim has been identified as Amanda Leariet Overstreet, the Mesa County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release.

The teen, who was last seen in April 2005...Read more

Megan Varner/Getty Images North America/TNS

After Apalachee, Ga.'s Republican lawmakers split on gun safety rules

Current News / News & Features /

WASHINGTON — After four people were fatally shot last month at Apalachee High School in Barrow County, Republicans in Georgia’s state Legislature were convinced it was time to back some of the gun safety measures that have long been pushed by Democrats.

But the same shift has not happened among Republicans in Congress, where the deadliest ...Read more

Jack Dolan/Los Angeles Times/TNS

Pilot in Catalina crash that killed 5 took off after dark: like flying into a 'black hole'

Current News / News & Features /

LOS ANGELES — On Tuesday night, the pilot of a small plane sat on the runway of Catalina Island's "airport in the sky" with four passengers on board and a decision to make. Take off into the looming darkness, relying primarily on the plane's instruments, or play it safe and wait until the morning?

The pilot shoved the throttles forward and ...Read more

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images North America/TNS

McCormick narrows gap with Casey in Pennsylvania, according to new poll

Current News / News & Features /

PHILADELPHIA — Pennsylvania’s nationally watched U.S. Senate race is tightening, with Republican Dave McCormick now just 4 percentage points behind Democratic incumbent Sen. Bob Casey, according to a new poll by The Inquirer, The New York Times, and Siena College.

About 48% of respondents said they supported Casey, who is seeking a fourth ...Read more

Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images North America/TNS

Alex Salmond, champion of Scottish independence, dies at 69

Current News / News & Features /

Alex Salmond, who turned his Scottish National Party’s dream of power into reality even though he didn’t see his vision of an independent country come true, has died. He was 69.

Salmond collapsed on Saturday after delivering a speech in North Macedonia, the Times newspaper reported. No cause of death was given.

Salmond became Scotland’s...Read more

Yuri Cortez/Getty Images of North America/TNS

Mexico federal judges group votes to end strike, keep protesting

Current News / News & Features /

A Mexican federal judges association voted to end a nearly two-month strike, resuming activities on Oct. 16, as it continues to protest against former President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s judicial reform.

Members of JUFED, as the group is known, voted 684 to 572 to return to work but maintain some protest actions, according to a statement...Read more

Mark Winfrey/Dreamstime/TNS

3 nurses injured in hit-and-run as they tried to help a shooting victim outside a Philly hospital, police say

Current News / News & Features /

PHILADELPHIA — Three nurses were seriously injured after being struck by a vehicle in a hit-and-run as they tried to help a shooting victim outside Penn Presbyterian Medical Center early Saturday morning, police said.

Around 4:20 a.m., police said a driver in a silver Jeep Cherokee arrived at Penn Presbyterian’s ambulance bay area to drop ...Read more

Chandan Khanna/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Orange growers were looking for a turnaround. Then Milton came.

Current News / News & Features /

Oranges and some citrus trees are lying useless on the ground in Florida’s groves after Hurricane Milton tore through the state, setting back growers just as they hoped the worst for the struggling industry was over.

The powerful storm moved through key citrus-producing counties after making landfall in Florida Wednesday night, killing at ...Read more

Rich Pope/Orlando Sentinel/TNS

Orlando-area farms rocked by Hurricane Milton work to recover

Current News / News & Features /

ORLANDO, Fla. — Mike Garcia’s boots sank into the earth as he walked the drowned fields of Orlando’s Everoak Farm in the wake of Hurricane Milton’s violent visit. The urban oasis off Carrington Road just outside the Baldwin Park neighborhood has been serving the city for five-and-a-half years. He’s been market farming for longer than ...Read more

Joe Raedle/Getty Images North America/TNS

Hurricane Milton's floodwaters are hiding a dirty secret

Current News / News & Features /

Hurricane Milton may have dissipated over the Atlantic Ocean, but the floodwaters it left across Florida still pose a major risk to human health and safety.

Even though the risk of drowning or getting injured in rising, fast-moving water is past, standing water remains treacherous to navigate and likely harbors dangerous diseases. Walking in it...Read more

Dreamstime/Dreamstime/TNS

Desperate search underway for Broadway dancer Zelig Williams missing in South Carolina

Current News / News & Features /

NEW YORK — A desperate search is underway for Zelig Williams, a former Broadway dancer who appeared in hits like “Hamilton” and “MJ the Musical,” after he was reported missing in South Carolina.

Williams, 28, was last seen driving in the vicinity of Congaree National Park the morning of Oct. 3, the Richland County Sheriff’s ...Read more

Galo Paguay/AFP/Getty Images North America/TNS

Ecuador goes dark in a power crisis that punishes economy

Current News / News & Features /

Life without electricity is wearing on Ecuadorians, punishing their already frail economy and raising questions about the political future.

Daily blackouts stretch for 10 hours at a time, and they could get worse in the coming months as a dry spell further tests the country’s reliance on hydropower. Traffic lights are often out, internet ...Read more