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Tag: CTV What You Need To Know (National)

  • U.S. inflation cools again, potentially paving way for Fed to cut interest rates

    U.S. inflation cools again, potentially paving way for Fed to cut interest rates

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    Inflation in the United States cooled in June for a third straight month, a sign that the worst price spike in four decades is steadily fading and may soon usher in interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.

    What You Need To Know

    • Inflation in the United States cooled in June for a third straight month, a sign that the worst price spike in four decades is steadily fading and may soon usher in interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve

    • In a better-than-expected report from the government, consumer prices declined 0.1% from May to June after having remained flat the previous month, the government reported Thursday

    • Measured from 12 months earlier, prices were up 3% in June, down from 3.3% in May

    • The latest inflation readings could help convince the Fed’s policymakers that inflation is returning to its 2% target

    In a better-than-expected report from the government, consumer prices declined 0.1% from May to June after having remained flat the previous month, the government reported Thursday. And measured from 12 months earlier, prices were up 3% in June, down from 3.3% in May.

    The latest inflation readings could help convince the Fed’s policymakers that inflation is returning to its 2% target. A brief pickup in inflation early this year had caused Fed officials to scale back their expectations for interest rate cuts. They responded by saying they would need to see several months of mild price increases to feel confident enough enough to cut their key rate from its 23-year high.

    The June inflation data will qualify as as another installment of the more good data the Fed’s policymakers have been seeking. Should inflation remain low through the summer, many economists expect the Fed to begin cutting its benchmark rate in September.

    Even as inflation slows, though, the costs of food, rent, health care and other necessities remain much higher than they were before the pandemic — a source of public discontent and a potential threat to President Joe Biden’s re-election bid.

    Excluding volatile food and energy costs, so-called core prices climbed just 0.1% from May to June, below the 0.2% increase in the previous month. Measured from a year ago, core prices rose 3.3% in June, down from 3.4% May. Core prices are thought to provide a particularly telling signal of where inflation is likely headed.

    The Fed has kept its key rate unchanged for nearly a year after having aggressively raised it in 2022 and 2023, leading to costlier mortgages, auto loans, credit cards and other forms of consumer and business borrowing.

    Inflation is now far below its peak of 9.1% in mid-2022. Other measures suggest that the economy is healthy, though slowing: Unemployment is still relatively low, hiring remains steady and many consumers continue to travel, eat out and spend on entertainment.

    In the second half of 2023, core inflation cooled steadily, raising expectations that the Fed would cut its key rate up to six times this year. But then fast-rising costs for auto insurance, apartment rents and other services kept inflation elevated in the first three months of this year, leading Fed officials to downgrade their forecasts for rate cuts in 2024 from three to just one. Wall Street traders expect two rate cuts this year and have put the likelihood of a first cut in September at roughly 75%, according to futures prices tracked by CME FedWatch.

    The national average gas price dropped about 18 cents a gallon, to $3.42 in mid-June, according to the Energy Information Administration. (It has since climbed about 6 cents.)

    In testimony Tuesday to Congress, Fed Chair Jerome Powell noted that the job market has “cooled considerably” and is “not a source of broad inflationary pressures.” That marked a notable shift from his past comments, which had suggested that rapid wage growth could perpetuate inflation because some companies would likely raise their prices to offset their higher labor costs.

    Instead, last week’s June jobs report showed that even as hiring remained healthy, the unemployment rate rose for a third straight month to a still-low 4.1%. More Americans have started looking for work, but some have encountered trouble finding jobs. Most of the economy’s hiring in recent months has come from just three sectors: Government, health care and a category that includes restaurants, hotels and entertainment companies.

    In a statement Thursday, President Joe Biden said the report “shows that we are making significant progress fighting inflation.” But he acknowledge, “Prices are still too high.”

    “Big corporations making record profits need to do more to lower prices,” Biden said. “I’m fighting to give families more breathing room by taking on Big Pharma to cap insulin at $35 per month, taking on Big Oil to lower prices at the pump, and taking on Wall Street to make the wealthy pay their fair share.”

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    Associated Press

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  • Beryl expected to restrengthen into Hurricane, make landfall in Texas Monday

    Beryl expected to restrengthen into Hurricane, make landfall in Texas Monday

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    Tropical Storm Beryl is expected to restrengthen as a Category 1 hurricane as it heads for the Texas coast.

    It made another landfall early Friday morning on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico, just northeast of Tulum. It made its second landfall as a Category 2 storm with max winds of 110 mph. Beryl’s third landfall is forecast to be on the Texas coast early Monday.

    What You Need To Know

    • Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record

    • It moved through the Caribbean and made landfall in Mexico on Friday

    • The center of Beryl is forecast to approach the Texas coast on Sunday and then make landfall on the Texas coast on Monday


    Beryl is currently a tropical storm with max winds of 60 mph and it’s moving northwest in the Gulf of Mexico, moving away from Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

    There is an increasing risk of damaging hurricane-force winds and life-threatening stom surge in portions of the Texas coast late Sunday into Monday, where Hurricane and Storm Surge Warnings are in effect.

    Tropical storm conditions are also expected to be felt in a portion of northeastern Mexico.

    These are the following tropical alerts in place:

    Hurricane Warning

    A Hurricane Warning is now in effect for the Texas coast from Baffin Bay northward to Sargent.

    Tropical Storm Warning

    A Tropical Storm Warning is now in effect for the Texas coast north of Sargent to High Island.

    Storm Surge Warning

    A Storm Surge Warning has been issued from North Entrance of the Padre Island National Seashore northward to San Luis Pass, including Corpus Christi Bay and Matagorda Bay.

    Storm Surge Watch

    A Storm Surge Watch has been issued along the Texas coast east of High Island to Sabine Pass.

    Models have Beryl turning northwest this weekend once it moves into the Gulf of Mexico. It is expected to make another landfall early Monday around South Texas.

    Beryl so far

    Beryl formed on Friday, June 28, becoming the second named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. It became a hurricane on Saturday, June 29, and on Sunday, June 30, it became the earliest Atlantic Category 4 storm on record.

    It was the earliest major hurricane (Category 3+) to form in the Atlantic basin since 1966, and the third earliest major hurricane to form on record.

    It made landfall on Carriacou Island in Grenada on Monday, July 1, as a strong Category 4 with max winds of 150 mph. It was the earliest Category 4 storm to make landfall in the Atlantic basin on record.


    Late on Monday, July 1, Beryl moved back over the southeastern Caribbean Sea and continued to strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane. It became the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, breaking the prior record held by Hurricane Emily in 2005 by two weeks.

    With max winds of 165 mph, it also made Beryl the strongest July Atlantic hurricane on record.

    As Beryl moved across the Caribbean Sea, it brought strong winds, heavy rain and dangerous storm surge and waves to the southern coast of the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

    It moved toward Jamaica as a major hurricane, and its eyewall brushed past the southern side of the country. It didn’t make landfall on the island, but Hurricane Warnings were issued. 


    It also closely moved past the Cayman Islands after passing Jamaica. 

    Beryl made its second landfall just northeast of Tulum on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. It moved inland on the morning of July 5, as a Category 2 hurricane with max winds of 110 mph.

    We’ll continue to monitor the latest tropical development. You can see other areas with development potential here.

    Check to see how the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is going so far.

    More Storm Season Resources


    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • Hurricane Beryl now Category 2 with 110 mph winds

    Hurricane Beryl now Category 2 with 110 mph winds

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    As of the latest advisory Thursday night, Hurricane Beryl is a Category 3 hurricane as it passes southwest of the Cayman Islands. It will potentially make another landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

    Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane to form in the Atlantic Basin, and it was the earliest Category 4 to make landfall on record after passing through the southern Windward Islands on Monday, July 1.

    What You Need To Know

    • Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record; it is now Cat 3 with 115 mph winds

    • It made landfall on Carriacou Island in Grenada on Monday, July 1

    • It’s moving west-northwest across the Caribbean Sea


    Beryl is currently a Category 3 hurricane with max winds of 115 mph and it’s moving west-northwest through the Caribbean Sea. 

    It is moving closely by the Cayman Islands, bringing hurricane-force winds and damaging waves through early Thursday. Strong winds, dangerous storm surge, damaging waves and areas of flooding are expected in the Cayman Islands, where a Hurricane Warning remains in effect.

    Beryl should remain a hurricane as it approaches the Yucatan Peninsula and Belize late on Thursday. It will eventually enter the Bay of Campeche and the southwestern Gulf of Mexico this weekend.

    These are the following tropical alerts in place:

    Hurricane Warning:

    • Little Cayman and Cayman Brac
    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun

    Hurricane Watch:

    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico south of Puerto Costa Maya to Chetumal
    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico north of Cancun to Cabo Catoche

    Tropical Storm Warning:

    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico south of Puerto Costa Maya to Chetumal
    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico north of Cancun to Cabo Catoche

    Tropical Storm Watch:

    • Coast of Belize from south of Chetumal to Belize City
    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico west of Cabo Catoche to Campeche

    Beryl will continue its path west-northwest as it moves through higher wind shear, which should lead to gradual weakening, although it will remain a dangerous storm in the Caribbean Sea.

    Most models have Beryl moving back of the Bay of Campeche and the southwestern Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm this weekend.

    It’s too early to tell if Beryl will have any direct impact on the U.S., but it’s important to follow the latest updates, especially in the western Gulf of Mexico.

    Beryl so far

    Beryl formed on Friday, June 28, becoming the second named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. It became a hurricane on Saturday, June 29, and on Sunday, June 30, it became the earliest Atlantic Category 4 storm on record.

    It was the earliest major hurricane (Category 3+) to form in the Atlantic basin since 1966, and the third earliest major hurricane to form on record.

    It made landfall on Carriacou Island in Grenada on Monday, July 1, as a strong Category 4 with max winds of 150 mph. It was the earliest Category 4 storm to make landfall in the Atlantic basin on record.


    Late on Monday, July 1, Beryl moved back over the southeastern Caribbean Sea and continued to strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane. It became the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, breaking the prior record held by Hurricane Emily in 2005 by two weeks.

    With max winds of 165 mph, it also made Beryl the strongest July Atlantic hurricane on record.

    We’ll continue to monitor the latest tropical development. You can see other areas with development potential here.

    Check to see how the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is going so far.

    More Storm Season Resources


    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • Hurricane Beryl now Category 2 with 110 mph winds

    Hurricane Beryl now Category 2 with 110 mph winds

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    As of the latest advisory Thursday night, Hurricane Beryl is a Category 3 hurricane as it passes southwest of the Cayman Islands. It will potentially make another landfall on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula.

    Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane to form in the Atlantic Basin, and it was the earliest Category 4 to make landfall on record after passing through the southern Windward Islands on Monday, July 1.

    What You Need To Know

    • Beryl was the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record; it is now Cat 3 with 115 mph winds

    • It made landfall on Carriacou Island in Grenada on Monday, July 1

    • It’s moving west-northwest across the Caribbean Sea


    Beryl is currently a Category 3 hurricane with max winds of 115 mph and it’s moving west-northwest through the Caribbean Sea. 

    It is moving closely by the Cayman Islands, bringing hurricane-force winds and damaging waves through early Thursday. Strong winds, dangerous storm surge, damaging waves and areas of flooding are expected in the Cayman Islands, where a Hurricane Warning remains in effect.

    Beryl should remain a hurricane as it approaches the Yucatan Peninsula and Belize late on Thursday. It will eventually enter the Bay of Campeche and the southwestern Gulf of Mexico this weekend.

    These are the following tropical alerts in place:

    Hurricane Warning:

    • Little Cayman and Cayman Brac
    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico from Puerto Costa Maya to Cancun

    Hurricane Watch:

    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico south of Puerto Costa Maya to Chetumal
    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico north of Cancun to Cabo Catoche

    Tropical Storm Warning:

    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico south of Puerto Costa Maya to Chetumal
    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico north of Cancun to Cabo Catoche

    Tropical Storm Watch:

    • Coast of Belize from south of Chetumal to Belize City
    • The coast of the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico west of Cabo Catoche to Campeche

    Beryl will continue its path west-northwest as it moves through higher wind shear, which should lead to gradual weakening, although it will remain a dangerous storm in the Caribbean Sea.

    Most models have Beryl moving back of the Bay of Campeche and the southwestern Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm this weekend.

    It’s too early to tell if Beryl will have any direct impact on the U.S., but it’s important to follow the latest updates, especially in the western Gulf of Mexico.

    Beryl so far

    Beryl formed on Friday, June 28, becoming the second named storm of the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season. It became a hurricane on Saturday, June 29, and on Sunday, June 30, it became the earliest Atlantic Category 4 storm on record.

    It was the earliest major hurricane (Category 3+) to form in the Atlantic basin since 1966, and the third earliest major hurricane to form on record.

    It made landfall on Carriacou Island in Grenada on Monday, July 1, as a strong Category 4 with max winds of 150 mph. It was the earliest Category 4 storm to make landfall in the Atlantic basin on record.


    Late on Monday, July 1, Beryl moved back over the southeastern Caribbean Sea and continued to strengthen into a Category 5 hurricane. It became the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record, breaking the prior record held by Hurricane Emily in 2005 by two weeks.

    With max winds of 165 mph, it also made Beryl the strongest July Atlantic hurricane on record.

    We’ll continue to monitor the latest tropical development. You can see other areas with development potential here.

    Check to see how the 2024 Atlantic hurricane season is going so far.

    More Storm Season Resources


    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • Israeli officials say Netanyahu has dissolved War Cabinet

    Israeli officials say Netanyahu has dissolved War Cabinet

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    Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dissolved the influential War Cabinet tasked with steering the war in Gaza, Israeli officials said Monday, a move that comes days after a key member of the body bolted the government over frustrations surrounding the Israeli leader’s handling of the war.

    What You Need To Know

    • Israeli officials said Monday that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dissolved the influential War Cabinet that was tasked with steering the war in Gaza

    • The War Cabinet was dissolved following the departure from the government of Benny Gantz, an opposition lawmaker who had joined the coalition in the early days of the war

    • He had demanded that a small Cabinet be formed as a way to sideline far-right lawmakers in Netanyahu’s government

    • Gantz, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant were its members and made key decisions together throughout the war

    The move was widely expected following the departure of Benny Gantz, a centrist former military chief, earlier this month. Gantz’s absence from the government makes Netanyahu more dependent on his ultranationalist allies to govern and the dissolution of the War Cabinet underlines that shift as the eight-month-long war in Gaza drags on.

    The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the change with the media, said that going forward Netanyahu would hold smaller forums with some of his government members for sensitive issues surrounding the war. That includes his security Cabinet, where far-right governing partners who oppose cease-fire deals and have voiced support for reoccupying Gaza, are members.

    The War Cabinet was formed in the early days of the war, when Gantz, then an opposition party leader and Netanyahu rival, joined the coalition in a show of unity following the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on southern Israel. He had demanded that a small decision-making body steer the war, in a bid to sideline far-right members of Netanyahu’s government.

    It was made up of three members — Gantz, Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant — and together they made important decisions throughout the course of the war.

    The move to scrap the War Cabinet comes as Israel faces more pivotal decisions.

    Israel and Hamas are weighing the latest proposal for a cease-fire in exchange for the release of hostages taken by Hamas during its attack. Israeli troops are still bogged down in the Gaza Strip, fighting in the southern city of Rafah and against pockets of Hamas resurgence elsewhere. And violence continues unabated between Israel and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group — with a Biden administration envoy in the region in a bid to avert a wider war on a second front.

    Netanyahu has played a balancing act throughout the war between pressures from Israel’s top ally, the U.S., and the growing global opposition to the war and from his government partners, chief among them Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

    Both have threatened to topple the government should Israel move ahead on a cease-fire deal. The latest proposal being considered is part of the Biden administration’s most concentrated push to help wind down the war. For now, progress on a deal appears to remain elusive.

    Critics say Netanyahu’s wartime decision-making has been influenced by the ultranationalists in his government and by his desire to remain in power. Netanyahu denies the accusations and says he has the country’s best interests in mind.

    Gantz’s departure, while not posing a direct threat to Netanyahu’s rule, rocked Israeli politics at a sensitive time. The popular former military chief was seen as a statesman who boosted Israel’s credibility with its international partners at a time when Israel finds itself at its most isolated. Gantz is now an opposition party leader in parliament.

    Netanyahu’s government is Israel’s most religious and nationalist ever. In Israel’s fractious parliamentary system, Netanyahu relies on a group of small parties to help keep his government afloat and without the support of Gantz’s party, Netanyahu is expected to be more beholden to the far-right allies.

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    Associated Press

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  • Florida prepares for next round of heavy rainfall after flooding this week

    Florida prepares for next round of heavy rainfall after flooding this week

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    FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) — Forecasters warned Floridians to prepare for additional flash flooding after a tropical disturbance dumped as much as 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rainfall in the southern parts of the state, with worsening conditions expected Friday.

    What You Need To Know

    • South Florida saw more flooding on Thursday

    • Parts of Miami-Dade and Broward have seen up to 20 inches of rain this week

    • Periods of heavy rainfall could cause more flooding on Friday

    The disorganized storm system was pushing across Florida from the Gulf of Mexico at roughly the same time as the early June start of hurricane season, which this year is forecast to be among the most active in recent memory amid concerns that climate change is increasing storm intensity.

    The downpours hit Tuesday and continued into Wednesday, delaying flights at two of the state’s largest airports and leaving vehicles waterlogged and stalled in some of the region’s lowest-lying streets. On Thursday, travelers tried to salvage their plans as residents cleared debris before the next round of rain.

    This aerial view taken from video shows a flooded street in Northeast Miami-Dade County, Fla., on Thursday, June 13, 2024. A tropical disturbance brought a rare flash flood emergency to much of southern Florida the day before. Floridians prepared to weather more heavy rainfall on Thursday and Friday. (AP Photo/Daniel Kozin)

    The National Weather Service cautioned that even smaller amounts of precipitation could impact saturated areas, causing flash floods on Friday before the region has a chance to recover.

    “Looked like the beginning of a zombie movie,” said Ted Rico, a tow truck driver who spent much of Wednesday night and Thursday morning helping to clear the streets of stalled vehicles. “There’s cars littered everywhere, on top of sidewalks, in the median, in the middle of the street, no lights on. Just craziness, you know. Abandoned cars everywhere.”

    Rico, of One Master Trucking Corp., was born and raised in Miami and said he was ready for the emergency.

    “You know when its coming,” he said. “Every year it’s just getting worse, and for some reason people just keep going through the puddles.”

    Ticket and security lines snaked around a domestic concourse at Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport Thursday. The travel boards showed about half of a terminal’s flights had been canceled or postponed.

    Bill Carlisle, a Navy petty officer first class, spent his morning trying to catch a flight back to Norfolk, Virginia. He arrived at Miami International Airport at about 6:30 a.m., but 90 minutes later he was still in line and realized he couldn’t get his bags checked and through security in time to catch his flight.

    “It was a zoo,” said Carlisle, a public affairs specialist. He was speaking for himself, not the Navy. “Nothing against the (airport) employees, there is only so much they can do.”

    He used his phone to book an afternoon flight out of Fort Lauderdale. He took a shuttle the 20 miles (32 kilometers) north, only to find the flight was canceled. He was headed back to Miami for a 9 p.m. flight, hoping it wouldn’t be canceled as a result of heavy rains expected later in the day. He was resigned, not angry.

    “Just a long day sitting in airports,” Carlisle said. “This is kind of par for the course for government travel.”

    In Hallandale Beach, Alex Demchemko was walking his Russian spaniel Lex along the flooded sidewalks near the Airbnb where he has lived after arriving from Russia last month to seek asylum in the U.S.

    “We didn’t come out from our apartment, but we had to walk with our dog,” Demchemko said. “A lot of flashes, raining, a lot of floating cars and a lot of left cars without drivers, and there was a lot of water on the streets. It was kind of catastrophic.”

    On Thursday morning, Daniela Urrieche, 26, was bailing water out of her SUV, which got stuck on a flooded street as she drove home from work Wednesday.

    “In the nine years that I’ve lived here, this has been the worst,” she said. “Even in a hurricane, streets were not as bad as it was in the past 24 hours.”

    The flooding wasn’t limited to the streets. Charlea Johnson spent Wednesday night at her Hallendale Beach home barreling water into the sink and toilet.

    “The water just started flooding in the back and flooding in the front,” Johnson said.

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    Associated Press

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  • Blinken returns to Mideast as Israel-Hamas cease-fire proposal hangs in balance

    Blinken returns to Mideast as Israel-Hamas cease-fire proposal hangs in balance

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    Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned Monday to the Middle East as a proposed Israel-Hamas cease-fire deal hangs in the balance after the rescue of four Israeli hostages held in Gaza in a military raid and following the latest turmoil in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government.

    What You Need To Know

    • Secretary of State Antony Blinken returned to the Middle East on Monday as the proposed cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas hangs in the balance

    • Blinken met with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, a key mediator with the militant Hamas group, and held talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu

    • Blinken once again called on Hamas to accept the plan, which he said has wide international support


    With no firm public response yet from Hamas or Israel to the proposal they received 10 days ago, Blinken started his eighth visit to the region since the conflict began in October by meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, a key mediator with the militant Hamas group, and then talks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

    Blinken once again called on Hamas to accept the plan, which he said has wide international support.

    “If you want a cease-fire, press Hamas to say ‘yes,’” he told reporters before leaving Cairo on the trip that will take him to Israel, Jordan and Qatar. Blinken said Israel has accepted the proposal, though Netanyahu has not said so directly.

    “I know that there are those who are pessimistic about the prospects,” Blinken said, putting the onus squarely on Hamas. “That’s understandable. Hamas continues to show extraordinary cynicism in its actions, a disinterest not only in the well-being and security of Israelis but also Palestinians.”

    Blinken said the plan on the table is the “single best way” to get to a cease-fire, release the remaining hostages and improve regional security.

    While President Joe Biden, Blinken and other U.S. officials have praised the hostage rescue, the operation resulted in the deaths of a large number of Palestinian civilians and may complicate the cease-fire push by emboldening Israel and hardening Hamas’ resolve to carry on fighting in the war it started with its Oct. 7 attack into Israel.

    “It’s hard to say how Hamas will process this particular operation and what it will do to its determination about whether it will say yes or not,” Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Sunday. “We are hopeful that with enough of a chorus, the international community all speaking with one voice, Hamas will get to the right answer,” Sullivan told ABC’s “This Week.”

    In his talks with el-Sissi, Blinken also discussed plans for post-conflict governance and reconstruction in Gaza, following massive destruction there.

    “It’s imperative that there be a plan, and that has to involve security, it has to involve governance, it has to involve reconstruction,” Blinken said.

    Netanyahu and his government have resisted calls for any ‘day after’ plan that would bar Israel from having some form of security presence in the territory. Blinken said he would urge Israel to come up with alternatives that would be acceptable.

    “It would be very good if Israel put forward its own ideas on this, and I’ll be talking to the government about that,” he said. “But one way or another, we’ve got to have these plans, we’ve got to have them in place, we’ve got to be ready to go if we want to take advantage of a cease-fire.”

    The three-phase cease-fire plan calls for the release of more hostages and a temporary pause in hostilities that will last as long as it takes to negotiate the second phase, which aims to bring the release of all hostages, a “full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza” and “a permanent end to hostilities,” according to an American-drafted resolution put before the U.N. Security Council. The third phase calls for reconstruction in Gaza.

    The Security Council is to vote Monday afternoon on the resolution, which welcomes the proposal and urges Hamas to accept it.

    But Hamas may not be the only obstacle.

    Although the deal has been described as an Israeli initiative and thousands of Israelis have demonstrated in support of it, Netanyahu has expressed skepticism, saying what has been presented publicly is not accurate and that Israel is still committed to destroying Hamas.

    Netanyahu’s far-right allies have threatened to collapse his government if he implements the plan. Benny Gantz, a popular centrist, resigned on Sunday from the three-member War Cabinet after saying he would do so if the prime minister did not formulate a new plan for postwar Gaza. In the aftermath of the hostage rescue, Netanyahu had urged him not to step down.

    Blinken has met with Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Gantz and Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on nearly all his previous trips to Israel. Officials said Blinken is expected to meet with Gantz on Tuesday.

    Despite Blinken’s roughly once-a-month visits to the region since the war began, the conflict has ground on with more than 37,120 Palestinians killed, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants in its counts. Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 attack, mostly civilians, and took around 250 people hostage.

    The war has severely hindered the flow of food, medicine and other supplies to the Palestinians in Gaza, who are facing widespread hunger. U.N. agencies say more than 1 million people in the territory could experience the highest level of starvation by mid-July.

    In Jordan, Blinken will take part in an emergency international conference on improving the flow of aid to Gaza.

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    Associated Press

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  • Biden issues executive order limiting asylum

    Biden issues executive order limiting asylum

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    President Joe Biden on Tuesday issued an executive order that gives him the authority to limit crossings at the U.S.-Mexico border when a certain threshold is reached, an aggressive move to restrict encounters at the border — which have declined in recent months — and address a key issue on voters’ minds ahead of November’s election.

    The president’s actions will bar migrants who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum, shutting down the border when encounters hit a certain number, according to a senior administration official.

    What You Need To Know

    • President Joe Biden on Tuesday issued a restrictive executive order aimed at tightening security at the U.S.-Mexico border, the first actions taken since a bipartisan immigration bill was scuttled earlier this year

    • The president’s actions will bar migrants who cross the border illegally from seeking asylum, shutting down the border when encounters hit a certain number, according to a senior administration official

    • The restrictions will go into effect when the number of daily illegal crossings tops 2,500, and will stay in effect until two weeks after there are seven consecutive days of less than 1,500 daily encounters between ports of entry
    • The move was met with some support from Biden’s own party, but progressive Democrats and Republicans alike decried the action


    “We must face a simple truth, to protect America as a land that welcomes immigrants, we must first secure the border and secure it now,” Biden, flanked by members of Congress as well as local and state officials, said while announcing the executive order at a White House event on Tuesday. 

    “The simple truth is, there is a worldwide migrant crisis and if the United States doesn’t secure our border, there is no limit to the number of people who may try to come here,” he continued. 

    The restrictions will go into effect when the number of daily illegal crossings tops 2,500, and will stay in effect until two weeks after there are seven consecutive days of less than 1,500 daily encounters between ports of entry, as determined by the Secretary of Homeland Security. There are some humanitarian exceptions, including for unaccompanied children, victims of trafficking, an acute medical emergency or an imminent threat to life or safety.

    Migrants who make appointments using the CBP One app, created by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection which handles roughly 1,450 appointments per day, would also be exempt.

    Daily encounters are higher than the 2,500 figure, so it could be implemented as soon as it’s signed.

    A senior administration official said that the goal of Biden’s actions is to “significantly increase consequences for those who cross the southern border unlawfully, without authorization.”

    The president brought in members of Congress, governors and mayors who have been vocal on the issue to join him for the announcement. Among those in attendance was Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro mayorkas, about a dozen Texas mayors, a Texas sheriff, Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and Rep. Tom Suozzi, D-N.Y.

    The White House hailed the fact that “most” of the guests at Tuesday’s event are from border communities. While not on the border, New York has grappled with an influx of migrants, struggling to provide shelter and process asylum claims. 

    “They know the border is not a political issue to be weaponized,” Biden said of those he invited on Tuesday. “They don’t have time for the games played in Washington.” 

    It’s the most restrictive immigration policy put into place by any modern Democratic president, and Biden’s first major step to address border security since Republicans killed a bipartisan border security compromise earlier this year. 

    “I’ve come here today to do what the Republicans in Congress refuse to do: take the necessary steps to secure our border,” Biden said to open his remarks. 

    The legislation – negotiated over weeks by Oklahoma Sen. James Lankford, a Republican, Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, a Democrat, and Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, an independent — died after former President Donald Trump came out against it. 

    “It was the strongest  border security agreement in decades but then, Republicans in Congress – not all but – walked away from it. Why? Because Donald Trump told him to,” Biden said, adding he didn’t want to fix the issue but rather use it to attack him. 

    “That’s the height of hypocrisy and the most cynical type of politics you can possibly expect,” Suozzi told reporters of Republicans’ response to the border bill after Tuesday’s event. 

    Biden on Tuesday also did not hold back in criticizing his predecessor and 2024 competition, referencing past comments and policies of Trump. 

    “I’ll never demonize immigrants, I’ll never refer to immigrants as poisoning the blood of the country and further I’ll never separate children from their families at the border,” the president said. 

    Prior to the announcement on Tuesday, Trump’s campaign panned Biden’s plan as “mass amnesty to destroy America.” On a press call, former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thomas Homan and Trump aides Jason Miller and Stephen Miller framed the order as part of a conspiratorial scheme by Biden and Democrats to flood the country with immigrants and turn them into Democratic voters. That claim is in line with the Great Replacement Theory, a false conspiracy theory that has inspired racist mass shootings in the U.S. and elsewhere.

    “The other thing that’s very important about this plan is it is a pro-child slavery, pro-child trafficking, pro-child sexual servitude,” Trump campaign senior advisor Jason Miller said on the call prior to Biden’s announcement, citing the exceptions in the executive order for unaccompanied minors and victims of trafficking. “So the message to the cartels and the smugglers is you have the greenest of green lights to smuggle and traffick children into this country into various forms of servitude, slavery, sex trafficking, labor trafficking and other forms of abuse, imprisonment and torture.”

    The action will no doubt face legal challenges, but an administration official said that they “look forward” to defending the rule. The American Civil Liberties Union already vowed Tuesday that it would sue the Biden administration over the order, saying it puts “tens of thousands of lives at risk.”

    “This action takes the same approach as the Trump administration’s asylum ban,” the ACLU wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “We will be challenging this order in court.”

    “I would expect them to sue,” Suozzi said when asked about potential legal challenges. “That’s why Congress has to act.” He added that the White House “vetted it” and “thought it through” on how to pass legal challenges.  

    The move was met with some support from Biden’s own party, particularly from those who backed the bipartisan border bill killed by Republicans.

    At the White House on Tuesday afternoon, Kelly called the order “a very good step forward” that will “make a big difference” at the border.

    “It’s important that the president is planning to take decisive action given the fact that extreme MAGA Republicans have decided to try to weaponize the challenges at the border,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., at a press conference Tuesday morning.

    Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., chided his Republican colleagues for not taking action to enact legislation to address the border, saying that it “would have been the more effective way to go.”

    Schumer went on to say that Biden preferred to take the legislative route to address immigration, but: “given how obstinate Republicans have become, turning down any real opportunity for strong border legislation, the president is left with little choice but to act on his own.”

    The chairs of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate House Democrats, called Biden’s action an “overdue step” but said that more needed to be done in order to secure the border, calling on the White House and other members of Congress to take action.

    “This job is far from over,” declared Washington Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Pérez, Maine Rep. Jared Golden and Alaska Rep. Mary Peltola, along with North Carolina Rep. Don Davis.

    Biden on Tuesday said the executive order is “not enough” and called on Congress to approve funding to hire new border security agents, immigration judges, asylum officers and machines that can screen and stop fentanyl from being smuggled into the U.S. 

    But progressive Democrats and Republicans alike decried the action — though for wildly different reasons.

    Texas Sen. John Cornyn, a member of Senate GOP leadership, questioned the timing of why Biden waited to unveil the order before responding to his own query by charging: “The simple answer is he’s not serious.”

    House Speaker Mike Johnson expressed a similar sentiment, calling Biden’s action “window dressing” while charging that the president and Mayorkas, who his chamber impeached earlier this year, “engineered” a border crisis.

    “If he was concerned about the border, he would have done this a long time ago,” Johnson said, while acknowledging that he had not yet seen the president’s order. “The devil will definitely be in the details here, I can assure you.”

    In a joint statement, House GOP leadership chalked the move up to a “political stunt.” 

    Polls show immigration has increasingly become a main concern of voters. A recent poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found a majority of adults think Biden’s presidency has hurt the country on immigration and border security. 

    Meanwhile, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., the chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, called Biden’s actions “extremely disappointing.”

    “Democrats cannot buy into cruel enforcement-only measures that have failed for 30 years,” she wrote on social media ahead of the announcement. “We need real, humane reform that expands legal pathways.”

    “I’m disappointed that this is a direction that the President has decided to take,” California Rep. Nanette Barragan, the chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, told reporters on Tuesday. “We think it needs to be paired with positive actions and protections for undocumented folks that have been here for a long time.”

    “For those who say the steps I’ve taken are too strict, I say to you be patient,” Biden adding that in the “weeks ahead” he will speak about how the U.S. can make our immigration system more fair. 

    “Doing nothing is not an option,” he added. “We have to act.”

    Spectrum News’ Joseph Konig contributed to this report.

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    Justin Tasolides

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  • White House blocks release of Biden’s special counsel interview audio

    White House blocks release of Biden’s special counsel interview audio

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    The White House on Thursday blocked the release of audio from President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel about his handling of classified documents, arguing Thursday that Republicans in Congress only wanted the recordings “to chop them up” and use them for political purposes.

    Biden’s move to assert executive privilege came shortly before the Republican-led House committees on Judiciary and Oversight met to advance a motion to refer Attorney General Merrick Garland to his own Justice Department for a contempt of Congress charge for refusing to hand over the recording.

    The House Judiciary Panel voted along party lines to advance the referral measure on Thursday, and House Oversight Committee followed suit later that evening. 

    What You Need To Know

    • The White House on Thursday blocked the release of audio from President Joe Biden’s interview with a special counsel about his handling of classified documents, arguing Thursday that Republicans in Congress only wanted the recordings “to chop them up” and use them for political purposes

    • Biden’s move to assert executive privilege came before two House committees met Thursday to advance a motion to refer Attorney General Merrick Garland to his own Justice Department for a contempt of Congress charge for refusing to hand over the recording

    • White House counsel Ed Siskel wrote in a scathing letter to House Republicans that they were likely to edit and distort the recordings for political purposes

    • House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, argued the transcript of the interview are not sufficient in determining whether Hur acted appropriately in not recommending charges, accusing the White House of having “a track record of altering transcripts.”

    “The absence of a legitimate need for the audio recordings lays bare your likely goal — to chop them up, distort them, and use them for partisan political purposes,” White House counsel Ed Siskel wrote in a scathing letter to House Republicans.

    “Demanding such sensitive and constitutionally-protected law enforcement materials from the Executive Branch because you want to manipulate them for potential political gain is inappropriate,” Siskel added.

    Garland separately advised Biden in a letter made public Thursday that the audio falls within the scope of executive privilege, which protects a president’s ability to obtain candid counsel from his advisers without fear of immediate public disclosure and to protect confidential communications relating to official responsibilities.

    Speaking to reporters Thursday morning, Garland said: “People depend on us to ensure that our investigations and our prosecutions are conducted according to the facts and the law and without political influence. We have gone to extraordinary lengths to ensure that the committees get responses to their legitimate requests, but this is not one.”

    Garland added that the effort to hold him in contempt is the latest in “a series of unprecedented and, frankly, unfounded attacks on the Justice Department.”

    The Justice Department warned Congress that a contempt effort would create “unnecessary and unwarranted conflict,” with Assistant Attorney General Carlos Uriarte saying: “It is the longstanding position of the executive branch held by administrations of both parties that an official who asserts the president’s claim of executive privilege cannot be held in contempt of Congress.

    In a February report he submitted to Attorney General Merrick Garland, Hur wrote that his investigation “uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice presidency when he was a private citizen.”

    Justice Department policy protects a sitting president from being charged with crimes, but Hur said, even if he could, he would not recommend prosecuting Biden because the evidence did not prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, adding, “Mr. Biden would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory,” comments Republicans have seized upon.

    A transcript from the Biden interview have already been made public. But House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, argued those are not sufficient in determining whether Hur acted appropriately in not recommending charges, accusing the White House of having “a track record of altering transcripts.”

    Rep. Dan Bishop, R-N.C., said it is “an incomprehensibly absurd position” that the White House would assert executive privilege for the audio recording after the transcript has already been released.

    “That tape must be quite something if the administration of the president has decided to assert executive privilege to keep it from the committee in the course of an impeachment inquiry,” he said.

    Bishop added that the transcript does not capture “demeanor evidence” such as hesitations in answering questions.

    Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., argued that Biden’s conversation with an investigator should not be protected by executive privilege. 

    “It’s crystal clear to me that any official discussion between the president and any subordinate cannot be pierced,” he said. “But this case is very different because it’s not a conversation between the president and a subordinate over policy or the discharge of his official duties. Rather, it’s an interview in the course of a criminal investigation. To me, this is far closer to the Nixon tapes.”

    Rep. Jerry Nadler of New York, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, defended Garland, saying “substantially complied with every request” made by House Republicans about the Hur investigation.

    “The only thing that has not been produced is the recording itself, which can be easily manipulated,” Nadler said. “ … This isn’t really MAGA base and getting Donald Trump reelected.”

    Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., said Republican assertions that the transcript could not be trusted are unfounded.

    “There is no evidence whatsoever that this transcript was made up, that it’s fake, that it’s been doctored,” he said. “This transcript was produced by Robert Hur’s office. Robert Hur was appointed by Donald Trump. He is a Republican appointee. The notion that somehow this transcript is fake is a wild, insane conspiracy theory.”

    Hur was a senior official in the Trump Justice Department, but was appointed special counsel in the Biden classified documents case by Garland in January 2023.

    Siskel’s letter to lawmakers comes after the uproar from Biden’s aides and allies over Hur’s comments about Biden’s age and mental acuity, and it highlights concerns in a difficult election year over how potentially embarrassing moments from the lengthy interview could be exacerbated by the release, or selective release, of the audio.

    The transcript of the interview showed Biden struggling to recall some dates and occasionally confusing some details — something longtime aides says he’s done for years in both public and private — but otherwise showing deep recall in other areas. Biden and his aides are particularly sensitive to questions about his age. At 81, he’s the oldest ever president, and he’s seeking another four-year term.

    Hur’s report said many of the documents recovered at the Penn Biden Center in Washington, in parts of Biden’s Delaware home and in his Senate papers at the University of Delaware were retained by “mistake.”

    But investigators did find evidence of willful retention and disclosure related a subset of records found in Biden’s Wilmington, Delaware, house, including in a garage, an office and a basement den.

    The files pertain to a troop surge in Afghanistan during the Obama administration that Biden had vigorously opposed. Biden kept records that documented his position, including a classified letter to Obama during the 2009 Thanksgiving holiday. Some of that information was shared with a ghostwriter with whom he published memoirs in 2007 and 2017.

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    Associated Press

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  • Multiple rounds of severe weather to impact millions this week

    Multiple rounds of severe weather to impact millions this week

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    A large storm system crossed the Rockies over the weekend. It produced rain and snow in parts of Wyoming and Montana. On Monday it pushed east toward the Plains as a cold front developed along it.

    This system will encounter a warm moist area in the center part of the country, helping to support thunderstorm development. Simultaneously, a low pressure will ride along this front, enhancing the storms.

    Heavy rain and flooding will be possible with already saturated grounds and swollen waterways. Several weather disturbances will rotate around this larger system this week, keeping severe weather chances in play. 

    What You Need To Know

    • The month of May sees a high number of tornadoes on average from the Midwest to the Plains


    • Severe threat moves to the Ohio River Valley for Tuesday

    • With unstable air in place on Wednesday, a large severe weather outbreak is possible along the Midwest


    With storm fuel in place and the advancing system, severe thunderstorms will be possible from the Plains to the Mississippi River Valley. This will not be a one-day event. Severe weather will be possible from Tuesday through Thursday.

     

     

    Severe weather potential this week

    The severe potential pushes east into Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio during the day on Tuesday. The region is under a level 3/5 for severe weather with all threats possible. Damaging wind, large hail, tornadoes and heavy rain. 

     

    Another low pressure develops along the frontal boundary on Wednesday, enhancing the threat for Missouri, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and eastern Texas. The Storm Prediction Center already categorized the threat as a level 3/5 with all impacts expected on Wednesday afternoon into the evening. Those impacts include tornadoes, damaging winds, hail and heavy rain. 

    With the system moving off to the south and east on Thursday, the front will trigger storms for areas from New Jersey south through North Carolina and east-central Texas. While the risk for severe storms exists on Thursday, the threat is lower. 

    However, there is still the potential for damaging winds, hail and isolated tornadoes in the highlighted regions. 

    Prepare for storms

    Make sure you have a plan for if you are at work or home. Even if you could be driving. 

    Here are five ways to prepare in case the sirens go off. 

    Have a way to stay updated on weather information, including a NOAA Weather Radio and making sure notifications are turned on for your weather and news apps.

    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Meteorologist Stacy Lynn

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  • Blinken pushes Hamas to agree on Gaza cease-fire

    Blinken pushes Hamas to agree on Gaza cease-fire

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    Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Israel on Wednesday to press for a cease-fire deal in the Israel-Hamas war, saying “the time is now” and warning that Hamas would bear the blame for any failure to reach an agreement to halt the war in Gaza.

    Blinken greeted the families of Israeli hostages held in Gaza who were protesting outside a meeting between him and Israel’s president, telling them that setting their loved ones free was “at the heart of everything we’re trying to do.”

    What You Need To Know

    • Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Israeli leaders on Wednesday in his push for a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas

    • Blinken, saying “the time is now” for an agreement that would free hostages and pause fighting, contended that Hamas would bear the blame for any failure to achieve a deal

    • A truce could avert an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are sheltering

    • The current round of talks appears to be serious, but the sides remain far apart on whether the war should end as part of an emerging deal
    • Blinken said the deal would also allow much needed food, medicine and water to get into Gaza


    Blinken is on his seventh visit to the region since the war erupted in October, aiming to secure what’s been an elusive deal between Israel and Hamas that could avert an Israeli incursion into the southern Gaza town of Rafah, where some 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering.

    The current round of talks appears to be serious, but the sides remain far apart on one key issue — whether the war should end as part of an emerging deal.

    Before agreeing to an initial, short-term cease-fire and partial hostage release, Hamas wants assurances that the eventual freeing of all the hostages will bring the end of Israel’s offensive and its full withdrawal from Gaza. Israel has offered only a pause after which it would resume its offensives until Hamas is destroyed. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeated his determination to attack Rafah in talks with Blinken on Wednesday.

    Blinken put pressure on Hamas, saying it would bear the blame for any failure to get a deal. Hamas said in a statement it would likely reply to the latest proposal on Thursday.

    “We are determined to get a cease-fire that brings the hostages home and to get it now, and the only reason that that wouldn’t be achieved is because of Hamas,” Blinken told Israel’s ceremonial President Isaac Herzog at a meeting in Tel Aviv.

    “There is a proposal on the table, and as we’ve said, no delays, no excuses. The time is now,” he said.

    Blinken said the deal would also allow much needed food, medicine and water to get into Gaza, where the war has sparked a humanitarian crisis and displaced much of the territory’s population.

    Blinken later Wednesday visited the Port of Ashdod, located south of Tel Aviv, where American flour — enough for one-and-a-half million Palestinians — arrived to be transported to Gaza. The United States’ top diplomat hailed the “real, demonstrable progress” made in getting increased aid to the people of Gaza, but said that “given the immense need in Gaza, it needs to be accelerated” and “sustained.”

    But Netanyahu’s vow to carry out a military operation in Rafah, which Israel says is the last major Hamas stronghold showed the remaining challenges in the talks.

    “The operation in Rafah doesn’t depend on anything. The prime minister made this clear to Secretary Blinken,” Netanyahu’s office said after the two met Wednesday. A day earlier, Netanyahu pledged to move on Rafah “with or without” a cease-fire deal.

    The United States has staunchly supported Israel’s campaign of bombardment and ground offensives in Gaza since Hamas’ unprecedented attack on Oct. 7 into southern Israel. But it has grown increasingly critical of the staggering toll borne by Palestinian civilians and has been outspoken against an assault on Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has packed in and around the town after fleeing fighting elsewhere in the territory.

    Washington says it opposes a major offensive but that if Israel conducts one it must first evacuate civilians.

    In Rafah, Palestinians terrified of a potential Israeli invasion clung to hope that, after months of reported near-deals, this time a cease-fire would be sealed. Hundreds of thousands are living in vast tent camps filling the once empty areas around Rafah

    Salwa Abu Hatab, a woman who fled Khan Younis, said she wants to go home. “Do you think we like life in tents? We are tired and suffering,” she said. “Every day they say there is a truce and negotiations, and in the end it fails. We hope they will succeed this time.”

    “If the invasion happens, we do not know where to go,” said Enas Syam, a woman from Gaza City carrying her child in the camp. “There is no safe place left.”

    In his talks with Netanyahu, Blinken urged him to build on what he said has been the “improvement” in the delivery of aid to Gaza over the past month. Bowing to U.S. pressure to increase aid deliveries, Israel re-opened its Erez crossing into the northern Gaza Strip on Wednesday for the first time since it was damaged in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack.

    Throughout his regional visit, with previous stops in Saudi Arabia and Jordan, Blinken urged Hamas to accept the latest cease-fire proposal, calling it “extraordinarily generous” on Israel’s part.

    The proposal — brokered by the U.S., Egypt and Qatar — would put a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza up for discussion, according to leaked details confirmed by an Egyptian official and a Hamas official.

    The proposal lays out three stages of six to seven weeks each with a detailed timetable of steps. The first phase would bring a pause during which Hamas would release some hostages, particularly civilian women, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

    Israeli troops would withdraw from a coastal road in Gaza to facilitate passage of aid and the return of displaced people to the north, then the troops would withdraw from central Gaza. In the meantime, talks would start on restoring “a permanent calm,” the Egyptian official said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss the internal negotiations.

    The next stage would bring implementation of the calm, including Hamas’ release of all remaining hostages – soldiers and civilians – and a withdrawal of Israeli forces out of Gaza.

    The last stage would see the release of bodies of dead hostages and the start of a five-year reconstruction plan. The plan says that Hamas would agree not to rebuild its military arsenal. The details were first reported in the Lebanese newspaper Al-Akhbar, which is close to Hamas and the Lebanese Hezbollah militant group.

    The Egyptian official said Hamas wanted the language of the second phase to be strengthened to specify a “complete Israeli withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip” to avoid different interpretations. It also wants clearer terms for the unconditional return of displaced people to the north of Gaza, since the current outline didn’t fully explain who would be allowed back, the official said.

    Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes in Gaza continued. Late Tuesday, a strike hit a house in Rafah — where strikes have been continual despite the masses of Palestinians taking refuge there — killing at least two children, according to hospital authorities. An Associated Press journalist saw the children’s bodies at Abu Yousef al-Najjar hospital as their relatives mourned the deaths.

    On Wednesday, Israel’s military said it was operating in central Gaza, where it said jets struck militants, including one said to be setting up explosives.

    The Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the unprecedented Oct. 7 raid into southern Israel in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250 hostages. Israel says the militants are still holding around 100 hostages and the remains of more than 30 others.

    The war in Gaza has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials. The war has driven around 80% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million from their homes, caused vast destruction in several towns and cities and pushed northern Gaza to the brink of famine.

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    Associated Press

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  • Milk is safe, despite bird flu fragments, FDA says

    Milk is safe, despite bird flu fragments, FDA says

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    The Food and Drug Administration said the U.S. milk supply is safe, despite this week’s finding of bird flu fragments in 20% of commercial milk samples.

    The majority of milk samples that tested positive for the strain of avian flu known as H5N1 were in areas with infected dairy herds.

    What You Need To Know

    • The Food and Drug Administration said the U.S. milk supply is safe

    • Testing earlier this week found bird flu fragments in 20% of commercial milk samples

    • The FDA said pasteurization and the diversion or destruction of milk from sick cows has kept the U.S. milk supply safe

    • The agency continues to conduct tests

    “To date, the retail milk studies have shown no results that would change our assessment that the commercial milk supply is safe,” the FDA said Thursday.

    The FDA and U.S. Department of Agriculture said pasteurization and the diversion or destruction of milk from sick cows has kept the U.S. milk supply safe.

    On Tuesday, the USDA said it had found the H5N1 virus in livestock in Idaho, Kansas, Michigan, New Mexico and Texas.

    Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza, also known as bird or avian flu, can be transmitted by wild birds to domestic poultry and other bird and animal species, the FDA said. They do not normally infect humans, though sporadic infections in people have occurred.

    The FDA is currently conducting egg inoculation tests to determine if infectious virus is present in milk. Early research from the National Institutes of Health indicates there is no infectious virus in milk sold commercially.

    “Positive results do not necessarily represent actual virus that may be a risk to consumers,” the FDA said in a statement on its website. “Additional testing is required to determine whether intact pathogen is still present and if it remains infectious, which would help inform a determination of whether there is any risk of illness associated with consuming the product.”

    The Centers for Disease Control has not found any cases of H5N1 beyond the one known case related to direct contact with infected cattle.

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    Susan Carpenter

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  • Super Tuesday could push Biden, Trump to verge of nominations

    Super Tuesday could push Biden, Trump to verge of nominations

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    More than a third of all delegates in the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries will be up for grabs Tuesday as voters in 15 states and one territory head to the polls for Super Tuesday.

    What You Need To Know

    • More than a third of all delegates in the Republican and Democratic presidential primaries will be up for grabs Tuesday as voters in 15 states and one territory head to the polls for Super Tuesday

    • Democratic President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, a Republican, are expected to move to the verge of clinching their parties’ nominations

    • Contests for both parties are being held in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia

    • Alaska is holding its Republican caucuses Tuesday, and American Samoa is holding its Democratic caucuses

    Democratic President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump, a Republican, are expected to move to the verge of clinching their parties’ nominations. 

    Biden faces only long-shot challengers Rep. Dean Phillips of Minnesota and author and activist Marianne Williamson, who reentered the race last week.

    Meanwhile, Trump’s only major competition is former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, who has struggled to close the wide gap between her and her former boss.

    The contests

    Contests for both parties are being held in Alabama, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont and Virginia. 

    Alaska is holding its Republican caucuses Tuesday, and American Samoa is holding its Democratic caucuses. 

    Also Tuesday, the results of Iowa’s Democratic mail-in caucuses, held in January, will be announced.

    Republicans

    Trump holds a commanding lead over Haley in the delegate count, 244-43. Another 865 delegates will be awarded Tuesday.

    To win the Republican nomination, a candidate must secure 1,215 delegates. 

    Haley is coming off her first primary victory Sunday, in the District of Columbia. Trump has soundly beat her in every other primary contest in which they’ve squared off, including a Saturday sweep of Idaho, Michigan and Missouri. 

    “If every single conservative, Republican and Trump supporter in these states shows up on Super Tuesday, we will be very close to finished with this primary contest,” Trump said in a video posted Friday on his Truth Social platform. “Republicans will then be able to focus all of our energy, time and resources on defeating crooked Joe Biden, the worst president in the history of our country.”

    Haley has remained defiant against pressure from within the party to step aside. 

    “We have literally been in 10 states in the past week,” Haley said at a campaign event Monday in Spring, Texas. “We are anywhere and everywhere trying to let people know what their choice is tomorrow. And the choice comes down to this: We can either have more of the same, or we can go in a new direction. More of the same as not just Joe Biden; more of the same as Donald Trump.”

    If Haley has any chance of winning the nomination, it would require a seismic shift in voting Tuesday. But she’s trailing Trump in virtually all polls — and by a wide margin in the vast majority of survey. Regardless, her campaign signaled Monday it’s looking beyond it, announcing its leadership team for Louisiana, which does not hold its primary until March 23. 

    On Friday, Haley picked up her first two endorsements from current U.S. Senate members when Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Susan Collins, R-Maine, announced their support. Their states are among those voting Tuesday. 

    Trump secured a major victory on the eve of Super Tuesday, as the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously Monday that Colorado could not block Trump from its ballot after the state’s high court found in December that the former president was disqualified from serving as president over his efforts leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, storming of the U.S. Capitol.

    Colorado and Maine, whose secretary of state had also booted Trump from the ballot under the insurrection clauses, are two of the states voting Tuesday. Because the matter had been unsettled, his name was already set to appear on both states’ ballots.

    “I think it will go a long way towards bringing our country together, which our country needs,” Trump said Monday of the Supreme Court ruling. “While most states were thrilled to have me, there were some that didn’t. And they didn’t want that for political reasons. They didn’t want that because of poll numbers, because the poll numbers are very good. We’re beating President Biden in almost every poll.”

    Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally Saturday, March 2, 2024, in Richmond, Va. (AP Photo/Steve Helber)

    Since outlasting everyone but Trump in the Republican field, Haley has sharpened her attacks of her former boss.

    In California’s case, it could be longer. Mail-in votes there must be postmarked by Tuesday and received by county elections office by March 12. 

    On Monday, she hit Trump for the federal government’s spending during his administration, for his comments that he would encourage Russian President Vladimir Putin to attack NATO countries that had not met their financial obligations to the alliance and for his opposition to a bipartisan border and immigration deal.

    “Congress needs to get in a room, figure it out and pass a strong border bill, and Donald Trump needs to stay out of it,” Haley said. “We can’t wait.”

    Trump on Sunday criticized Haley, calling her “Birdbrain” and “a loser.” 

    The posts on his Truth Social platform followed Haley’s comments on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” in which she said she’s no longer obligated to honor her pledge of endorsing Trump if he is the GOP nominee.

    “I enjoy watching the Bird disavow her PLEDGE to the RNC and her statement that she would NEVER run against President Trump (‘A great President’),” Trump wrote. “Well, she ran, she lied, and she LOST BIG!”

    Democrats

    To date, Biden has secured 206 of 208 delegates, with two going to “uncommitted.” Another 1,420 delegates will be awarded Tuesday, and 1,968 are needed to lock up the nomination.

    With the exception of the New Hampshire primary — in which Biden’s name had to be written in and the contest was not sanctioned by the party — no challenger has received more than 3% of the vote in a primary. 

    The Biden campaign has not paid much mind to Phillips and Williamson and instead has been in general election mode. It has focused its efforts on attacking Trump, most recently on issues including in vitro fertilization, abortion and the bipartisan border deal he helped kill.

    President Joe Biden delivers remarks during a visit to the southern border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

    President Joe Biden delivers remarks during a visit to the southern border, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024, in Brownsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

    While he’s expected to cruise to the Democratic nomination, Biden was hit with a wave of concerning polls in recent days.

    Among them, separate polls by New York Times/Sienna College and CBS News had Trump leading Biden by four percentage points in a general election matchup, and an Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll found that 63% of U.S. adults say they’re not confident in Biden’s mental stability to serve effectively as president. (Fifty-seven percent said that Trump lacks the memory and acuity for the job.)

    In an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Biden’s campaign co-chair, downplayed the polls.

    “We have consistently, as Democrats, overperformed polls, not just in the special election that just happened in Long Island, in the midterms in ’22, but in election after election,” he said.

    Down-ballot races

    The presidential race might be the headliner, but there are key races lower on the ballot in some states with national implications.

    Among them:

    • California is holding the primary for U.S. Senate to fill the seat formerly held by Dianne Feinstein, who died in September. The candidates include Democratic Reps. Barbara Lee, Katie Porter and Adam Schiff, and former Major League Baseball star Steve Garvey, a Republican. In California, the top two vote-getters, regardless of party affiliation, advance to the general election. Schiff and Garvey have been leading in most recent polls. Gov. Gavin Newsom appointed Laphonza Butler, president of the abortion-rights group Emily’s List, to serve until the special election. Butler is not seeking a full term.
    • North Carolina is holding its gubernatorial primary to replace term-limited Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein and Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson are the favorites to advance to the general election.
    • In Texas, nine Democrats are vying to take on Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who is seeking a third term, in November. The field includes U.S. Rep. Colin Allred, state Sen. Roland Gutierrez and state Rep. Carl Sherman Sr.

    Closing time

    The polls begin closing at 7 p.m. Eastern, in Vermont and Virginia.

    Because of the number of states and wide geographical range, it could be well into the night for some before results are in. 

    In California, mail-in ballots must be postmarked by Tuesday but can still be received up until March 12, meaning some close races might not be settled for days.

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    Ryan Chatelain

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  • Israel-Hamas war: Latest updates

    Israel-Hamas war: Latest updates

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    Get the latest updates on the war between Israel and Hamas.

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • Trump sweeps Nevada Republican caucuses

    Trump sweeps Nevada Republican caucuses

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    Donald Trump swept Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday, The Associated Press projected, a widely expected result for the former president in a race where he faced no real competition.

    Nevada’s caucuses were an unusual contest that also featured a nonbinding primary in the state earlier this week.

    What You Need To Know

    • Former President Donald Trump, as expected, swept Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday, according to a projection from The Associated Press

    • The caucuses were held just two days after Nevada held a nonbinding primary, which saw Trump’s only remaining major competition, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, lose to the option of “none of these candidates” by more than 30 points

    • The dual contest stems from a split between recent state law requiring primary elections and Nevada’s Republicans wanting to keep their caucuses they have been holding since the 1980s

    • On the Democratic side, meanwhile, President Joe Biden cruised to an easy victory on Tuesday, winning the contest and the state’s 36 delegates with nearly 90% of the vote
    • The Nevada contest came after Trump clinched a win in the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Republican caucus earlier Thursday


    Trump’s supporters waited in long lines on Thursday to cast their votes for the GOP frontrunner. One site, a Reno-area elementary school, saw nearly 1,000 people waiting in line to try and help the former president win another primary contest on his road to a third Republican presidential nomination.

    At a watch party in Las Vegas, Trump hailed “tremendous turnout” and the “enthusiasm” of his supporters in the Silver State contest.

    “Is there any way we can call the election for next Tuesday? That’s all I want,” he added.

    The contest came after Trump clinched a win in the U.S. Virgin Islands’ Republican caucus, giving him another four delegates. Trump beat his only remaining major GOP rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, with nearly 74% of the vote.

    “I want to thank you all. We had a tremendous victory,” he said by phone to supporters in St. Thomas. “We expected to win, but we didn’t expect to win by that much. You are incredible people I will never forget.”

    The nature of the Silver State’s dueling contests stems from a split between recent state law requiring primary elections and Nevada Republicans wanting to keep their caucuses they have been holding since the 1980s.

    The result? A pair of contests, one which sees the frontrunner Trump in the caucuses — with just little-known long shot candidate Ryan Binkley on the ballot with all 26 of the state’s delegates at stake — and the other a state-sanctioned primary on Tuesday that yielded no delegates.

    Haley, who participated in Tuesday’s contest, sought to downplay the results, which saw her lose to the option of “none of these candidates” by more than 30 points.

    “Nevada, it’s such a scam,” she said in an interview with FOX 11 Los Angeles in California on Wednesday, adding: “We knew months ago that we weren’t going to spend a day or a dollar in Nevada because it wasn’t worth it.”

    “We didn’t even count Nevada,” she said. “That wasn’t anything we were looking at. We knew it was rigged from the start, our focus is on South Carolina, Michigan and Super Tuesday.”

    Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney echoed those claims earlier this week: “We have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada. We aren’t going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity to participate in a process that is rigged for Trump. Nevada is not and has never been our focus.”

    Nevada State Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid pushed back on those criticisms, per ABC News, calling Haley’s remarks “baseless allegations.”

    Haley, DeGraffenreid said, “deliberately chose to not compete with the leading candidates and now wants a scapegoat,” per the outlet.

    On the Democratic side, meanwhile, President Joe Biden cruised to an easy victory, winning the contest and the state’s 36 delegates with nearly 90% of the vote over “none of these candidates” (5.8%) and Marianne Williamson, who suspended her campaign on Wednesday after her loss in Nevada.

    While Republicans could vote in both contests, Trump recently urged his supporters to keep their eyes on the prize: “Don’t worry about the primary, just do the caucus thing.”

    Republicans are increasingly converging behind Trump while he faces a deluge of legal problems, including 91 criminal charges in four separate cases. Trump is flexing his influence both in Congress — where Republicans rejected a border security deal after he pushed against it — and at the Republican National Committee, as chairwoman Ronna McDaniel could resign in the coming weeks after he publicly questioned whether she should stay in the job.

    Trump still faces unprecedented jeopardy for a major candidate. A federal appeals panel ruled this week that Trump can face trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting his claims that he is immune from prosecution. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday heard arguments in a case trying to keep Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The justices sounded broadly skeptical of the effort.

    But none of those developments seem to be hurting his standing among Republicans, including in Nevada.

    Spectrum News’ Joseph Konig and The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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    Justin Tasolides

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  • Arctic blast brings the chill across the U.S. this weekend

    Arctic blast brings the chill across the U.S. this weekend

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    We have one more day of this arctic chill across the parts of the United States. 

    The jackets, scarves, and beanies won’t be needed from Midwest to the Northeast after Sunday. 

    What You Need To Know

    • Cold air covers the central and eastern U.S. through the weekend

    • Dozens of record cold temperatures have been broken

    • This kind of cold can be dangerous

    The arctic air wraps up from the Northeast and Southeast Sunday morning. 

    Parts of Florida will wake up to freezing temperatures on Sunday. 

    Highs will reach 15 to 25 degrees below the average for numerous spots, although this arctic surge won’t be as powerful as the previous one.

    And by Monday, temperatures should be closer to normal for this time of the year.

    What we saw

    The arctic air has been enough to tie or break dozens of record cold temperatures over the past few days–not just morning lows, but afternoon highs.

    Sunday morning saw temperatures as low as -20 to -40 degrees in northern and northeast Montana. Saco, Mont., dropped to -51 degrees, and subzero lows reached as far south as Kansas, Missouri, Illinois and parts of Indiana, according to Zack Taylor, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in College Park, Maryland.

    The Associated Press reports the winter weather over the past two weeks is blamed for at least 45 deaths. That includes 14 in Tennessee alone, where 9 inches of snow fell around Nashville. Three people in Oregon were electrocuted by a live power line that fell on a car, and five people in Seattle died from exposure to cold.

    Brutal cold earlier in the week made Monday’s Iowa caucuses the coldest ever, and heavy lake-effect snow and intense wind gusts forced the Steelers-Bills NFL game to be postponed from its original kickoff. A storm system on the leading edge of the cold dropped accumulating snow as far south as Arkansas and northern Mississippi, whereas much as six inches fell.

    This week’s arctic waves have easily been the coldest of the season so far. Check your local forecast to see how cold you’ll get, and take a look at the stories below to be ready for the bitter blast.

    Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.

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    Spectrum News Weather Staff

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