TAMPA, Fla. — It wasn’t just the coastline, though it took most of the blow.

As Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida on Wednesday, the beach towns were the first to go as water and winds up to 150 mph decimated paradise towns from Fort Myers Beach to Punta Gorda — a city familiar with disaster, taking close to a decade to recover from ...Read more

MIAMI — Florida officials estimate there may be more than 50 deaths across eight counties linked to Hurricane Ian.

At least 18 of the people who died drowned. Three died when their oxygen machines stopped working due to power outages.

The youngest fatality confirmed by the Florida Medical Examiners Commission was a 22-year-old woman in ...Read more

WASHINGTON — Hurricane Ian is “likely to rank among the worst in the nation’s history” and is posing a crisis to the nation, President Joe Biden said on Friday, addressing the powerful storm that devastated Florida this week and reconstituted Friday in the Atlantic for a second U.S. landfall in South Carolina.

“It’s not just a ...Read more

North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles Saturday, adding to one of its biggest weekly barrages that marked a return to provocations as global attention was diverted to Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Two short-range suspected ballistic missiles were fired from an area near Pyongyang’s main international airport into waters off its east ...Read more

The political pleasantries didn’t last long.

Immediately after appearing together in public for the first time Friday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., took aim at Mayor Adams’ plan to erect a migrant tent camp in her district, charging that there’s a “better solution” to be had.

The progressive congresswoman, who’s had a ...Read more

LOS ANGELES — A jury awarded a female Los Angeles police captain $4 million in damages Friday in her sexual harassment lawsuit against the city over a nude photograph that was doctored to look like her and shared around the department.

In reaching the verdict after a day of deliberations, the Los Angeles County Superior Court jurors found ...Read more

Ian is no longer a hurricane.

The now-post tropical cyclone has brought heavy rains, flash flooding and high winds to the Carolinas since reaching the coast Friday afternoon.

Ian previously left a stretch of the Southwest Florida coast in ruins as a Category 4 and crossed the state as a tropical storm. It later gained strength and became a ...Read more

North Korea fired two suspected ballistic missiles Saturday, adding to its most recent series of launches that started in late September.

Two short-range suspected ballistic missiles were fired from Pyongyang, Yonhap reported, citing South Korea’s military. The missiles landed outside Japan’s exclusive economic zone, Kyodo said, citing an ...Read more

DETROIT — Richard Harvey, who shot an 84-year-old anti-abortion canvasser outside his Ionia County home after she was involved in a heated exchange with his wife, turned himself in to law enforcement Friday after a three-count warrant was issued against him.

After an investigation by the Michigan State Police, Ionia County Prosecutor Kyle ...Read more

Cubans in several neighborhoods in Havana and other cities took to the streets again on Friday, banging pots and pans and demanding the restoration of electrical service as they had done Thursday, after a failure in Cuba’s dilapidated power grid left the country in near total darkness since Tuesday.

Cuba’s Electrical Union blamed Hurricane ...Read more

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A southwest Missouri prosecutor said the attorney general wanted him to file dozens more charges against Agape Boarding School employees, but he didn’t believe restraining students violated the law.

Cedar County Prosecuting Attorney Ty Gaither said parents have the right and discretion – according to Missouri law – to...Read more

Shasta County, California, officials are warning residents about a group of people impersonating election officials who are questioning voters about their registration.

Members of the group wear reflective vests and claim to be part of a "voter task force," said County Clerk and Registrar of Voters Cathy Darling Allen. She said her office has ...Read more

As gas prices in California soar, Gov. Gavin Newsom on Friday called on lawmakers to introduce a windfall tax on "rip off" oil companies and urged state air regulators to allow refineries to produce cheaper winter-blend gasoline to help boost supplies and cut prices.

"Crude oil prices are down. Oil industry profits are up. Yet gas prices in CA ...Read more

MIAMI — Florida officials estimated more than 40 deaths across eight counties linked to Hurricane Ian, including from drowning and disconnected oxygen machines due to power outages.

The Florida Medical Examiners Commission on Friday reported seven drowning victims across Volusia and Collier counties, ranging in age from 64 to 91. The youngest...Read more

SAN JOSE, Calif. — Two days after an Oakland school shooting left six people injured, police continue to search for the gunmen who stormed the campus before fleeing in a getaway car.

As the manhunt pushed past 48 hours on Friday, police offered no new details about the three suspects – two shooters and a driver – who entered the front ...Read more

RALEIGH, N.C. — Hurricane Ian has hampered blood collection throughout the Southeast, and agencies say they’re hoping people will come out to donate once the storm has passed.

The Red Cross and the Blood Connection say they sent blood to Florida in advance of Ian to help with an expected shortfall in collections there. Now that the storm ...Read more

BALTIMORE — A federal judge could sanction Baltimore State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby because her attorneys included prospective juror information in a filing in her perjury and mortgage fraud case.

Mosby’s attorneys were responding Thursday evening to a request from federal prosecutors to instate a gag order in the case prohibiting ...Read more

SEATTLE — Six of the 10 victims of the Whidbey Island floatplane crash have been recovered and five have been identified, Island County Emergency Management said Friday afternoon.

Deputy director Eric Brooks confirmed that four additional victims had been identified along with 29-year-old Gabby Hanna, whose body was found shortly after the ...Read more

WASHINGTON — The war in Ukraine lurched into a volatile new phase Friday as Russian President Vladimir Putin signed decrees declaring the annexation of four Ukrainian regions, drawing widespread international condemnation and triggering punitive new economic measures from Washington and its Western allies.

Ukraine responded to the Russian ...Read more