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Tag: gulf coast news

  • Tropical Storm Fernand pulls away from US

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    Tropical Storm Fernand pulls away from US

    Tropical Storm Fernand is now rumbling through the Atlantic

    >> JUST GETTING IN THE LATEST INFORMATION FROM THE 05:00AM ADVISORY ON TROPICAL STORM FAIR. NOT NOW. THIS IS REALLY JUST MAINTAINING STRENGTH, BUT IT’S OVER 300 MILES NOW EAST-NORTHEAST OF EVEN BERMUDA. SO THIS IS JUST OVER THE OPEN ATLANTIC AND IT IS MOVING TO THE NORTH-NORTHEAST AT 12 MILES PER HOUR. SO NOT LOOKING ALL TOO IMPRESSIVE. AND WITH THE LATEST SPAGHETTI PLOTS, WE DO HAVE A REALLY GOOD CONSENSUS THAT HIGH PUNCHING THAT THIS CONTINUES TO TRACK NORTHEAST HEADING TOWARD THE FAR NORTHERN SUBTROPICAL ATLANTIC WHERE I DO EXPECT IT TO EVENTUALLY DISSIPATE BY THE END OF THE WEEK. SO THE LATEST FORECAST CONE SHOWING THAT WHAT WE COULD SEE SOME WOBBLES IN INTENSITY, PERHAPS SOME OCCASIONAL STRENGTHENING, NOT FOR LONG. WE DO NOT EXPECT THIS TO REACH HURRICANE STATUS OF HER. AND WE EXPECT THIS TO EVENTUALLY ON WEDNESDAY TRANSITION TO A POST-TROPICAL CYCLONE MEETING. IT WILL HAVE LOST ALL OF ITS TROPICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND IT POSES NO THREAT TO THE U.S.. THAT IS, OF COURSE NOT. THE ONLY THING I’M MONITORING THIS MORNING ON TOP OF TROPICAL STORM FAIR NON-LOCAL INTO THE SOUTH OVER THE WINDWARD ISLANDS THIS MORNING. A DISTURBANCE WITH LOW ODDS FOR DEVELOPMENT. WE’RE TALKING HAD DECREASED OVER THE WEEKEND TO JUST 10%. SO OVER THE NEXT 2 DAYS, EVEN THE NEXT WEEK, LOW ODDS TO SEE SOME SORT OF TROPICAL DEVELOPMENT. HOWEVER, REGARDLESS OF DEVELOPMENT, THIS IS STILL PRODUCING DISORGANIZED SHOWERS AND STORMS. EVEN THOUGH THE COVERAGE IS DECREASING A BIT THIS MORNING AND FOR THE WINDWARD ISLANDS, AT LEAST SOME GUSTY WINDS AND HEAVY RAIN POSSIBLE THROUGHOUT E DAY TODAY, EVEN INTO TOMORROW AS THIS TROPICAL WAVE MOVES WEST. SO AS OF NOW, NOT SEEING HIGH LIKELIHOOD THAT THIS EVER ACTUALLY DEVELOPS. BUT WE’RE GOING TO BE STAYING ON TOP OF IT, OF COURSE, AT THIS POINT IN HURRICANE SEASON. WE’RE ALSO 3RD THROUGH OUR STORM NAMES LIST. THE NEXT NAME ON THE LIST. GABRIEL AND THEN UMBERTO. SO WE’RE GONNA BE WATCHING FOR THAT. AND KEEP IN MIND, WE’RE JUST ABOUT 2 WEEKS OUT FROM THE STATISTICAL PEAK OF HURRICANE SEASON. ALL RIGHT, LIVE RADAR, SWEEPING, CLEAR WATCHING SOME OF THOSE SPOTTY SHOWERS JUST OFF THE COAST OF CHARLOTTE COUNTY. BUT MOST OF US IN GREAT SHAPE AFTER A VERY SOGGY WEEKEND, HOWEVER, WITH EVEN SOME FLOODING CONCERNS FOR PARTS OF LEE COUNTY. SO WHO IS FAVORED TO SEE THE RAIN AGAIN TODAY? WHILE COASTAL SPOTS, SOME SPOTTY SHOWERS AND STORMS INTO THE MORNING HOURS. AND WE’RE LOOKING AT THAT POSSIBLE HEADING INTO THE AFTERNOON. SCATTERED STORM. SO WE DO NOT EXPECT THE COVERAGE TO BE NEARLY AS HIGH AS WHAT WE SAW SATURDAY OR SUNDAY. HOWEVER, YOU ARE STILL GOING TO WANT THE UMBRELLA HANDY. WE’RE LOOKING AT A RINSE AND REPEAT PATTERN STILL EVERY SINGLE DAY OVER THE NEXT WEEK. SO NOT SEEING THE RAINY SEASON WEAKENING ANYTIME SOON. IN FACT, THE RAINY SEASON DOESN’T COME TO AN END UNTIL USUALLY THE MIDDLE OF OCTOBER. SO WE STILL HAVE QUITE A WAYS TO GO TEMPERATURE NO RELIEF THERE. LOW TO MID 90’S EVERY SINGLE DAY MORNINGS WILL BE IN THE MID TO UPPER 70’S. SO PRETTY SEASONAL. I DON’T EXPECT RECORD HEAT, BUT WE’RE ALSO NOT GETTING IN ON ANY SORT OF COOL DOW

    Tropical Storm Fernand pulls away from US

    Tropical Storm Fernand is now rumbling through the Atlantic

    Updated: 2:28 AM PDT Aug 25, 2025

    Editorial Standards ⓘ

    The Atlantic Basin remains active as Tropical Storm Fernand spins over the open Atlantic and a disturbance near the Windward Islands has a low chance for development.Tropical Storm Fernand At 5 a.m. Monday, Tropical Storm Fernand maintained strength with sustained winds at 50 mph. It’s currently 360 miles east-northeast of Bermuda and moving north-northeast at 12 mph.It is forecast to head toward cooler sea surface temperatures and high wind shear, making a transition to post-tropical by Wednesday.Fernand poses no threat to the U.S. and is expected to dissipate by Thursday.Invest 99LNear the Windward Islands, the National Hurricane Center has designated a tropical wave as Invest 99L in the region highlighted in yellow. Chances for development have decreased to only 10% as the system tracks west. Regardless of development, heavy rainfall and gusty winds are the main threats in the Windward Islands over the next two days.As 99L pushes deeper into the Caribbean, there is potential that it could reach an area of more favorable development conditions later this week. Count on the Gulf Coast Storm Team to keep you informed.

    FORT MYERS, Fla. —

    The Atlantic Basin remains active as Tropical Storm Fernand spins over the open Atlantic and a disturbance near the Windward Islands has a low chance for development.

    Tropical Storm Fernand

    At 5 a.m. Monday, Tropical Storm Fernand maintained strength with sustained winds at 50 mph. It’s currently 360 miles east-northeast of Bermuda and moving north-northeast at 12 mph.

    Tracking the tropics

    hurricane

    It is forecast to head toward cooler sea surface temperatures and high wind shear, making a transition to post-tropical by Wednesday.

    Fernand poses no threat to the U.S. and is expected to dissipate by Thursday.

    Invest 99L

    Near the Windward Islands, the National Hurricane Center has designated a tropical wave as Invest 99L in the region highlighted in yellow.

    Area of Interest

    Chances for development have decreased to only 10% as the system tracks west. Regardless of development, heavy rainfall and gusty winds are the main threats in the Windward Islands over the next two days.

    As 99L pushes deeper into the Caribbean, there is potential that it could reach an area of more favorable development conditions later this week. Count on the Gulf Coast Storm Team to keep you informed.

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  • Florida man’s arrest wiped from record after AI software leads police to wrong suspect

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    A wrongful arrest has now been wiped from a Lee County man’s record. Gulf Coast News first exposed the injustice months ago. The arrest happened after artificial intelligence facial recognition led police to the wrong suspect. “They say in life, everything happens for a reason. I can’t for the life of me figure out this one,” Robert Dillon, the man wrongfully arrested, told Gulf Coast News earlier this year. ‘How did this happen?’ One year ago, right outside his home in San Carlos Park, Dillon was arrested for a crime he never committed. His stunned reaction was captured on the body camera of the deputy who’d knocked on his door. “I’m thinking, ‘How in the hell did this happen. How did this happen?’” Dillon recalled. Dillon was accused of trying to lure a child at a fast-food restaurant more than 300 miles away in Jacksonville Beach. Investigators there submitted restaurant surveillance photos of the suspect to an AI-assisted facial recognition program, which identified Dillon as a 93% match. Beyond that, and a witness who picked his photo out of a lineup, there was no evidence tying him to it.As Dillon first explained months ago, he’s never been to Jacksonville Beach. “Out of the blue. They pick some guy that lives six and a half hours away and says, ‘This is you.’ It blew my mind,” Dillon said earlier this year. Case dropped, arrest wiped from recordOnce Dillon and his attorney provided evidence to show that he did not commit the crime, the state attorney’s office in Jacksonville dropped the case.When Gulf Coast News first reported on it, a spokesman for the state attorney’s office said they were submitting paperwork to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for the case to be stricken from Dillon’s record. Now, the spokesman confirmed Dillon is no longer in their system. His arrest mugshot — and his case file — are nowhere to be found online. Not the first time…”This is a technology that’s really dangerous, because it often gets it wrong. But police often treat it like it has to be right,” Nate Wessler said of facial recognition programs. Wessler is an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. He focuses on government and police use of new technology, like the facial recognition in Dillon’s case. “Now that we know about it, we want to dig deeper,” Wessler said of the case. “This is a real miscarriage of justice. And it’s the latest in a series of wrongful arrests we know of around the country after police relied on incorrect results from face recognition technology.” In 2020, Robert Williams was wrongfully arrested in front of his home by Detroit police. His wife and two daughters watched it happen. “I can’t really put it into words. It was one of the most shocking things I’ve ever had happen to me,” Williams said in an interview with the ACLU after his arrest. A surveillance photo of a man stealing from a watch store was run through face recognition technology by investigators and identified Williams — who was nowhere near the store at time — as a possible match. Wessler was part of the legal team that sued the city of Detroit on Williams’ behalf. “The way to avoid this kind of travesty of justice is to either take this technology out of the hands of police, or lock it down really seriously with a set of policies and restrictions,” Wessler said. Detroit PD changes policy after wrongful arrestWilliams’ lawsuit led to a settlement, which included not only a payout for him but also sparked a policy change within the Detroit PD. In Williams’ case, much like Robert Dillon’s, police relied on two pieces of evidence: the face recognition match and someone picking his photo out of a lineup. Now, in Detroit, more evidence is required to make an arrest. “When you go straight from a face recognition result right to a photo lineup, there’s a high, high likelihood of tainting the reliability of that lineup,” Wessler explained. “You’re going to populate it with an innocent lookalike, plus five people who don’t look much like the suspect. And now you’ve just created this totally suggestible situation, where even a well-meaning witness is going to be tricked.”Months later, Dillon still hopes to get justiceRobert Dillon is relieved the arrest is off his record, but he wants to file a lawsuit to fight back against the injustice. After all, he said he can never get back the sleepless nights wondering if he’d serve time for a crime he never committed. “You cannot wrongfully imprison somebody. No matter who you are. Everybody’s got rights,” Dillon said. Gulf Coast News reached out to the Jacksonville Beach Police Department again, but they still refuse to answer any questions about their investigation.

    A wrongful arrest has now been wiped from a Lee County man’s record.

    Gulf Coast News first exposed the injustice months ago.

    The arrest happened after artificial intelligence facial recognition led police to the wrong suspect.

    “They say in life, everything happens for a reason. I can’t for the life of me figure out this one,” Robert Dillon, the man wrongfully arrested, told Gulf Coast News earlier this year.

    ‘How did this happen?’

    One year ago, right outside his home in San Carlos Park, Dillon was arrested for a crime he never committed. His stunned reaction was captured on the body camera of the deputy who’d knocked on his door.

    “I’m thinking, ‘How in the hell did this happen. How did this happen?’” Dillon recalled.

    Dillon was accused of trying to lure a child at a fast-food restaurant more than 300 miles away in Jacksonville Beach.

    Investigators there submitted restaurant surveillance photos of the suspect to an AI-assisted facial recognition program, which identified Dillon as a 93% match.

    Beyond that, and a witness who picked his photo out of a lineup, there was no evidence tying him to it.

    As Dillon first explained months ago, he’s never been to Jacksonville Beach.

    “Out of the blue. They pick some guy that lives six and a half hours away and says, ‘This is you.’ It blew my mind,” Dillon said earlier this year.

    Case dropped, arrest wiped from record

    Once Dillon and his attorney provided evidence to show that he did not commit the crime, the state attorney’s office in Jacksonville dropped the case.

    When Gulf Coast News first reported on it, a spokesman for the state attorney’s office said they were submitting paperwork to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for the case to be stricken from Dillon’s record.

    Now, the spokesman confirmed Dillon is no longer in their system. His arrest mugshot — and his case file — are nowhere to be found online.

    Not the first time…

    “This is a technology that’s really dangerous, because it often gets it wrong. But police often treat it like it has to be right,” Nate Wessler said of facial recognition programs.

    Wessler is an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union. He focuses on government and police use of new technology, like the facial recognition in Dillon’s case.

    “Now that we know about it, we want to dig deeper,” Wessler said of the case. “This is a real miscarriage of justice. And it’s the latest in a series of wrongful arrests we know of around the country after police relied on incorrect results from face recognition technology.”

    In 2020, Robert Williams was wrongfully arrested in front of his home by Detroit police. His wife and two daughters watched it happen.

    “I can’t really put it into words. It was one of the most shocking things I’ve ever had happen to me,” Williams said in an interview with the ACLU after his arrest.

    A surveillance photo of a man stealing from a watch store was run through face recognition technology by investigators and identified Williams — who was nowhere near the store at time — as a possible match.

    Wessler was part of the legal team that sued the city of Detroit on Williams’ behalf.

    “The way to avoid this kind of travesty of justice is to either take this technology out of the hands of police, or lock it down really seriously with a set of policies and restrictions,” Wessler said.

    Detroit PD changes policy after wrongful arrest

    Williams’ lawsuit led to a settlement, which included not only a payout for him but also sparked a policy change within the Detroit PD.

    In Williams’ case, much like Robert Dillon’s, police relied on two pieces of evidence: the face recognition match and someone picking his photo out of a lineup.

    Now, in Detroit, more evidence is required to make an arrest.

    “When you go straight from a face recognition result right to a photo lineup, there’s a high, high likelihood of tainting the reliability of that lineup,” Wessler explained. “You’re going to populate it with an innocent lookalike, plus five people who don’t look much like the suspect. And now you’ve just created this totally suggestible situation, where even a well-meaning witness is going to be tricked.”

    Months later, Dillon still hopes to get justice

    Robert Dillon is relieved the arrest is off his record, but he wants to file a lawsuit to fight back against the injustice.

    After all, he said he can never get back the sleepless nights wondering if he’d serve time for a crime he never committed.

    “You cannot wrongfully imprison somebody. No matter who you are. Everybody’s got rights,” Dillon said.

    Gulf Coast News reached out to the Jacksonville Beach Police Department again, but they still refuse to answer any questions about their investigation.

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