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  • Hurricane Season 2024: a look at how well the models performed

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    The 2024 Atlantic Hurricane season was expected to be one for the record books. Early forecasts had a record number of storms developing in the Atlantic basin because of favorable environmental conditions.

    What You Need To Know

    • The GFS model did well with several tropical systems this season from formation to dissipation

    • Hurricane Hunters happen to be at the right place to survey Hurricane Oscar

    • Models don’t do well with precursor small-scale tropical systems


    But no one could have predicted how the actual season would pan out, with five storms making landfall in the United States, three of them in Florida, with these storms causing fatalities and massive destruction.

    The forecast in May predicted “the highest number of named storms NOAA had ever issued” in its pre-season outlook.” Thanks to a waning El Niño transitioning to a La Niña during peak season, environmental conditions were expected to become conducive for development, and that it did.

    First half of the season

    The season officially began on June 19 with Tropical Storm Alberto. It was followed by Beryl, Chris, Debby and Ernesto.

    Beryl and Debby became the most notable storms during the first half of the season, as both made landfall in the U.S. Beryl made the history books, reaching Category 5 status earlier in the season than any other storm.

    Late summer lull

    After Ernesto dissipated on Aug. 20, there seemed to be a quiet period. With hurricane activity in the Atlantic subsiding near the peak of hurricane season, the validity of seasonal forecasts was in doubt. 

    It’s important to note that it’s not that there wasn’t any activity. Hurricane Francine developed in the Caribbean Sea and moved into the Gulf of Mexico before landfall in Louisiana on Sept. 11.

    “As is often the case with seasonal hurricane activity, there isn’t usually just one cause for it being active or quiet,” says Meteorologist Craig Setzer, a Certified Consulting Meteorologist and Hurricane Preparedness Specialist.

    He adds, “This year, it appeared to be a combination of very dry air and an increase in Saharan dust outbreaks along with warmer than normal air temperatures in the middle-and-upper parts of the atmosphere that created the mid-seasonal lull.” Less unstable conditions existed and tropical cyclones need instability for development.

    “The long range forecast tended to be right for all of the wrong reasons,” says Spectrum Bay News 9’s Chief Meteorologist Mike Clay. “A very active Cape Verde season was expected, which didn’t happen. Instead, the Central American Gyre was very active late in the season giving us several significant hurricanes.”

    Mid-September activity increases

    As soon as the climatological peak of hurricane season was reached (Sept. 10), tropical activity seemed to awaken. Tropical Storm Gordon formed on Sept. 13 in the central-eastern Atlantic, but remained over the open Atlantic and never surpassed tropical strom strength.

    Mid-Sept. also brought the formation of Helene, one of the costliest and deadliest storms this season. Helene would make landfall near Perry, Florida on Sept. 26.

    Models and forecast track cones

    From tropical storm to landfall was only a matter of days for Hurricane Helene, and knowing the track of the storm was vital to protect lives and property. Various data models assist meteorologists in forecasting, and the National Hurricane Center (NHC) uses these models to create a forecast track cone.

    “The National Hurricane Center relies heavily on global and regional (hurricane) models, which they call ‘guidance’ or ‘aides’ to help create a forecast track,” says Setzer.

    National Hurricane Center

    One specific model did relatively well with several storms this season, from development to landfall. “The Global Forecast System or GFS is a global model which has shown improved skill in predicting tropical cyclone development well ahead of other models.” 

    However, just because it does well with one storm, doesn’t mean it will accurately predict all storms. Setzer says, “It has a high false alarm bias, so it also tends to overpredict development that ends up not happening.”

    In this age of social media, where folks might be heightened aware of tropical development, this bias could create a panic with the model showing a land-falling hurricane ten days out only for the storm to not develop or dissipate well before land.

    Regional forecasting models

    Another type of model the NHC uses to refine its forecast tracks is the regional hurricane model. Referred to as regional because, as Setzer says, “They don’t cover the whole globe, just the region of a hurricane.” This model became vital during Hurricane Milton.

    Adding, “The Hurricane Analysis Forecast System (HAFS) version B did a good job not only predicting Milton’s intensity but also predicting when it would strengthen and weaken based on internal storm dynamics.”

    However, that was after Milton had already formed. Before development, the models struggle. This was the case with both Hurricanes Milton and Oscar.

    Models aren’t exact

    The NHC releases outlooks every six hours during the season for the tropical basins, including the Atlantic. Those include both a two-day graphical tropical weather outlook and a seven-day graphical tropical weather outlook. This year, both Hurricanes Milton and Oscar precursor storms were given low odds of development, only to then form within 12 to 24 hours.

    An area of disturbed weather that would eventually become Milton was given low odds to develop two days before Milton formed. (NHC)

    “Milton was fairly well predicted after the area of convection started to consolidate in the western Gulf of Mexico. Prior to that, there were several areas the models seemed to focus on for development, but it didn’t occur,” explains Setzer.

    Adding, “Oscar was such a small system, it likely was underrepresented in the data going into the model, and then the model has difficulty in the handling of a very small atmospheric feature.”

    Oscar ended up being the smallest hurricane on record, with a hurricane wind field of five or six miles. The Hurricane Hunters, scientists and pilots who fly into tropical systems to investigate conditions happened to be at the right place at the right time. Due to its Oscar’s proximity to land, they flew into the storm.  

    Would the same designation have been given if the storm was in the far eastern Atlantic?

    “It’s a good question.”

    He explains. “While our satellites are very good, they currently cannot resolve small-scale storm intensity. It is likely Oscar would have been only designated a tropical storm had it remained in the open ocean away from aircraft reconnaissance. “

    Overall, the models did well with all 18 named storms this season. “I’m hopeful this trend in model improvement will bring us better predictions, resulting in more specific warnings and storm preparation areas in the near future,” says Setzer.

    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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  • Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is visible tonight; here’s how to best see it

    Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas is visible tonight; here’s how to best see it

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    The rare comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas will be visible again tonight after making its closest approach to Earth on Saturday. It will be the optimal night to observe it, as its position in the night sky will be away from the sun’s glare. 

    What You Need To Know

    • The rare comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas continues to appear in the night sky

    • Tuesday night will be optimal viewing conditions of the comet with the naked eye

    • The comet will be visible in the night sky through late Oct.


    Astronomers say it should be bright enough to see with the naked eye, although telescopes and binoculars will give a better view. 

    What is a comet?

    A comet is a group of ice and dust particles leftover from the solar system’s formation. These particles heat up as they approach the sun, releasing their characteristic streaming tails.

    This comet, also designated C/2023 A3, was discovered last year and is named for the observatories in China and South Africa that spied it.

    It came from what’s known as the Oort Cloud, well beyond Pluto. After making its closest approach about 44 million miles (71 million kilometers) of Earth, it won’t return for another 80,000 years — assuming it survives the trip.

    In 2023, a green comet that last visited Earth 50,000 years ago zoomed by the planet again. Other notable flybys included Neowise in 2020, and Hale-Bopp and Hyakutake in the mid to late 1990s.

    How to see it

    Those hoping to spot it should venture outside soon after sunset and look to the west. Several comets are discovered every year, but many burn up near the sun or linger too far away to be visible without special equipment. This comet you will see with the naked eye tonight. 

    The comet will be located 30 degrees from the sun, which means it will be relatively easy to see fairly high in a dark sky. As long as you have a clear view of the western horizon after sunset, you should be able to see it. 

    According to sky and telescope, you’ll begin to see it 45 minutes after sunset but it will be brightest an hour to two hours post sunset. Find Venus and look “two and a half fists” to the upper right of the planet and you should see the comet. 

    Check your forecast here to see if the skies will be clear and if you capture pictures of Tsuchinshan-Atlas, submit your photos on the Spectrum News App!

    Comet Tsuchinshan-Atlas will be visible through Oct. 21, but you will likely need a telescope or binoculars to see it after tonight. 

    Check out some of the photos captured by our viewers. 

    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, Associated Press

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  • Northern lights could be visible across U.S. on Thursday night

    Northern lights could be visible across U.S. on Thursday night

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    NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center has forecasted a strong (G4) geomagnetic storm, meaning the northern lights, or aurora borealis, could be visible for much of the Mid-latitudes across the United States Thursday night through Friday morning.

    What You Need To Know

    • The northern lights could be visible in the northern U.S. on Thursday

    • A severe geomagnetic (G4) storm is forecasted Thursday night into Friday morning

    • The sun is currently in an upswing of its 11-year solar cycle producing more solar storms


    A coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred earlier in the week. This eruption of solar material will arrive on Earth today, becoming a severe geomagnetic  storm (G4) and could make the northern lights visible as far south as the Mid-Latitudes.

    Aurora Borealis

    The sun is currently in an upswing of its 11-year solar cycle. Scientists notice more sunspots as they migrate toward the equator of the sun, and when their magnetic fields tangle, solar storms erupt.

    Earth’s magnetic field acts as a buffer to keep particles and energy ejected from the sun at bay. However, if the solar storm is strong enough, those particles can penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere, giving off light, the auroras we see.

    With such intense CMEs expected to arrive on Earth Thursday night, the severe storm might make the northern lights visible in Missouri, Oklahoma and even North Carolina. However, the better chance of viewing will be at higher latitudes. 

    The geomagentic storm magnitude is categorized by the K-index or the Planetary K-index. Kp is used by the Space Weather Prediction Center to send alerts and a good predictor of locations of the aurora borealis. A G4 storm can give off a Kp value of 8 or 9.

    NOAA Weather Space Center

    Tonight’s forecast

    Here is tonight’s forecast from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. The northern lights are likely to be visible on Thursday night and early Friday morning for areas shaded in green, and they could be visible on the horizon for areas shaded in yellow.

    To ensure the best chance at getting a look at the northern lights tonight, look toward the northern horizon. The best viewing conditions are under cloud-free skies and away from bigger cities with light pollution.

    The best time to view the aurora borealis is 8 p.m and 3 a.m. Use the long exposure option on your phone or camera to get the best pictures. 

    This event could end up being similar to the northern lights event back in May of this year. 

    If you see the northern lights tonight, be sure to submit your photos on the Spectrum News App!

    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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  • Northern lights could be visible across U.S. on Thursday night

    Northern lights could be visible across U.S. on Thursday night

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    NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center has forecasted a strong (G4) geomagnetic storm, meaning the northern lights, or aurora borealis, could be visible for much of the Mid-latitudes across the United States Thursday night through Friday morning.

    What You Need To Know

    • The northern lights could be visible in the northern U.S. on Thursday

    • A severe geomagnetic (G4) storm is forecasted Thursday night into Friday morning

    • The sun is currently in an upswing of its 11-year solar cycle producing more solar storms


    A coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred earlier in the week. This eruption of solar material will arrive on Earth today, becoming a severe geomagnetic  storm (G4) and could make the northern lights visible as far south as the Mid-Latitudes.

    Aurora Borealis

    The sun is currently in an upswing of its 11-year solar cycle. Scientists notice more sunspots as they migrate toward the equator of the sun, and when their magnetic fields tangle, solar storms erupt.

    Earth’s magnetic field acts as a buffer to keep particles and energy ejected from the sun at bay. However, if the solar storm is strong enough, those particles can penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere, giving off light, the auroras we see.

    With such intense CMEs expected to arrive on Earth Thursday night, the severe storm might make the northern lights visible in Missouri, Oklahoma and even North Carolina. However, the better chance of viewing will be at higher latitudes. 

    The geomagentic storm magnitude is categorized by the K-index or the Planetary K-index. Kp is used by the Space Weather Prediction Center to send alerts and a good predictor of locations of the aurora borealis. A G4 storm can give off a Kp value of 8 or 9.

    NOAA Weather Space Center

    Tonight’s forecast

    Here is tonight’s forecast from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. The northern lights are likely to be visible on Thursday night and early Friday morning for areas shaded in green, and they could be visible on the horizon for areas shaded in yellow.

    To ensure the best chance at getting a look at the northern lights tonight, look toward the northern horizon. The best viewing conditions are under cloud-free skies and away from bigger cities with light pollution.

    The best time to view the aurora borealis is 8 p.m and 3 a.m. Use the long exposure option on your phone or camera to get the best pictures. 

    This event could end up being similar to the northern lights event back in May of this year. 

    If you see the northern lights tonight, be sure to submit your photos on the Spectrum News App!

    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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  • Northern lights could be visible across U.S. on Thursday night

    Northern lights could be visible across U.S. on Thursday night

    [ad_1]

    NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center has forecasted a strong (G4) geomagnetic storm, meaning the northern lights, or aurora borealis, could be visible for much of the Mid-latitudes across the United States Thursday night through Friday morning.

    What You Need To Know

    • The northern lights could be visible in the northern U.S. on Thursday

    • A severe geomagnetic (G4) storm is forecasted Thursday night into Friday morning

    • The sun is currently in an upswing of its 11-year solar cycle producing more solar storms


    A coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred earlier in the week. This eruption of solar material will arrive on Earth today, becoming a severe geomagnetic  storm (G4) and could make the northern lights visible as far south as the Mid-Latitudes.

    Aurora Borealis

    The sun is currently in an upswing of its 11-year solar cycle. Scientists notice more sunspots as they migrate toward the equator of the sun, and when their magnetic fields tangle, solar storms erupt.

    Earth’s magnetic field acts as a buffer to keep particles and energy ejected from the sun at bay. However, if the solar storm is strong enough, those particles can penetrate the Earth’s atmosphere, giving off light, the auroras we see.

    With such intense CMEs expected to arrive on Earth Thursday night, the severe storm might make the northern lights visible in Missouri, Oklahoma and even North Carolina. However, the better chance of viewing will be at higher latitudes. 

    The geomagentic storm magnitude is categorized by the K-index or the Planetary K-index. Kp is used by the Space Weather Prediction Center to send alerts and a good predictor of locations of the aurora borealis. A G4 storm can give off a Kp value of 8 or 9.

    NOAA Weather Space Center

    Tonight’s forecast

    Here is tonight’s forecast from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. The northern lights are likely to be visible on Thursday night and early Friday morning for areas shaded in green, and they could be visible on the horizon for areas shaded in yellow.

    To ensure the best chance at getting a look at the northern lights tonight, look toward the northern horizon. The best viewing conditions are under cloud-free skies and away from bigger cities with light pollution.

    The best time to view the aurora borealis is 8 p.m and 3 a.m. Use the long exposure option on your phone or camera to get the best pictures. 

    This event could end up being similar to the northern lights event back in May of this year. 

    If you see the northern lights tonight, be sure to submit your photos on the Spectrum News App!

    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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  • Walmart recalls Great Value apple juice for arsenic

    Walmart recalls Great Value apple juice for arsenic

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    Walmart is recalling more than 9,500 cases of apple juice for elevated levels of inorganic arsenic, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

    The FDA said the affected product could cause some health effects, but it’s unlikely to cause serious illness. Short-term exposure to inorganic arsenic can cause some symptoms, such as nausea, vomiting, bruising and numbness or burning sensations in the hands and feet, according to the FDA. Arsenic is present in places where food can be grown, so the FDA monitors arsenic levels in case they are above the normal standard. 

    The recall is for the Great Value brand 8-ounce, six-pack apple juice, which is packaged in PET plastic bottles with UPC 0-78742-29655-5.

    The affected packages of apple juice were sold in several states, including Alabama, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Maryland, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, North Carolina, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, Vermont, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.

    It was also sold in Puerto Rico, the FDA said. 

     

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    Lydia Taylor

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  • Phil Donahue, pioneering daytime talk show host, has died

    Phil Donahue, pioneering daytime talk show host, has died

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    Phil Donahue, whose pioneering daytime talk show launched an indelible television genre that made household names of Oprah Winfrey, Montel Williams, Ellen DeGeneres and many others, has died. He was 88.

    What You Need To Know

    • NBC’s “Today” show said Donahue died Sunday after a long illness

    • Dubbed “the king of daytime talk,” Donahue was the first to incorporate audience participation in a talk show, typically during a full hour with a single guest

    • The format set “The Phil Donahue Show” apart from other interview shows of the 1960s and made it a trendsetter in daytime television

    • Donahue also co-directed the 2006 documentary “Body of War,” which was nominated for an Oscar

    NBC’s “Today” show said Donahue died Sunday after a long illness.

    Dubbed “the king of daytime talk,” Donahue was the first to incorporate audience participation in a talk show, typically during a full hour with a single guest.

    “Just one guest per show? No band?” he remembered being routinely asked in his 1979 memoir, “Donahue, my own story.”

    The format set “The Phil Donahue Show” apart from other interview shows of the 1960s and made it a trendsetter in daytime television, where it was particularly popular with female audiences.

    Later renamed “Donahue,” the program launched in Dayton, Ohio, in 1967. Donahue’s willingness to explore the hot-button social issues of the day emerged immediately, when he featured atheist Madalyn Murray O’Hair as his first guest. He would later air shows on feminism, homosexuality, consumer protection and civil rights, among hundreds of other topics.

    The show was syndicated in 1970 and ran on national television for the next 26 years, racking up 20 Emmy Awards for the show and for Donahue as host, as well as a Peabody for Donahue in 1980. It included radio-style call-ins, which Donahue greeted with his signature, “Is the caller there?”

    The show’s last episode aired in 1996 in New York, where Donahue was living with his wife, actress Marlo Thomas, at the time of his death. The two had been married since 1980. Donahue had five children, four sons and a daughter, from a previous marriage.

    Donahue returned briefly to television in 2002, hosting another “Donahue” show on MSNBC. The station canceled it after six months, citing low ratings.

    He was born Phillip John Donahue on Dec. 21, 1935, part of a middle-class Irish Catholic family in Cleveland. They moved to Centerville, Ohio, when Donahue was a child, where he lived across the street from Erma Bombeck, the future humorist and syndicated columnist.

    Donahue was in the first graduating class of St. Edward High School, a Catholic all-boys preparatory school in Lakewood, in 1953 and graduated from the University of Notre Dame with a degree in business administration in 1957. He later rebelled against, and left, the church, though he poignantly recalled in his book that “a little piece” of his faith would always be with him.

    After a series of early jobs in radio and TV, Donahue was invited to move an earlier radio talk show to Dayton’s WLWD television station in 1967. It moved in 1974 to Chicago, where it stayed for years, then ended its run in New York.

    The show featured discussions with spiritual leaders, doctors, homemakers, activists and entertainers or politicians who might be passing through town. He said striking upon the show’s winning formula was a happy accident.

    “It may have been a full three years before any of us began to understand that our program was something special,” Donahue wrote. “The show’s style had developed not by genius but by necessity. The familiar talk-show heads were not available to us in Dayton, Ohio. …The result was improvisation.”

    That lent a freedom to the show that persisted as it grew to No. 1 status in its class.

    With an amiable style and a head of salt-and-pepper hair, Donahue boxed with Muhammed Ali. He played football with Alice Cooper. His guests gave cooking lessons, taught break dancing and, more controversially, described “mansharing,” being a mistress, lesbian motherhood or — with the help of gathered video that got shows banned in certain cities — how natural childbirth, abortion or reverse vasectomies worked.

    A stop on “Donahue” became a must for important politicians, activists, athletes, business leaders and entertainers, from Hubert Humphrey to Ronald Reagan, Gloria Steinem to Anita Bryant, Lee Iacocca to Ray Kroc, John Wayne to Farrah Fawcett.

    Outside of his famous talk show, Donahue pursued several other projects.

    He partnered with Soviet journalist Vladimir Posner for a groundbreaking television discussion series during the Cold War in the 1980s. The U.S.-Soviet Bridge featured simultaneous broadcasts from the United States and the Soviet Union, where studio audiences could ask questions of one another. Donahue and Posner also co-hosted a weekly issues roundtable, Posner/Donahue, on CNBC in the 1990s.

    Donahue also co-directed the 2006 documentary “Body of War,” which was nominated for an Oscar.

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    Associated Press

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  • The bioluminescent beetles and how we can protect them

    The bioluminescent beetles and how we can protect them

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    It’s summer, and you might spend your days at the pool, or hiking on the trails, but popular nighttime activities include catching those glowing beetles. Whether you refer to them as fireflies or lightning bugs, the glow of these insects becomes magical.  

    What You Need To Know

    • Lightning bugs and fireflies are the same beetle, just have different names depending on your location

    • The biggest threat to the beetles right now is habitat loss

    • Lightning bugs (fireflies) are flying, bioluminescent insects


    The ideal weather for these beetles is warm and humid. Unlike most humans, they thrive under these conditions. That’s why summer is when they are present.

    Bioluminescence

    “Fireflies use a trick called bioluminescence to create their amazing light,” says Dan Zarlenga, with the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC).

    The insects contain an enzyme called luciferase, which produces light, yet very little heat. The glow we see, he adds, “is similar to the chemical reactions much like we see in glow sticks.”

    Remi Lynn holds a lightning bug on a warm summer night. (Spectrum News/Stacy Lynn)

    Is it a firefly or lightning bug?

    One could guess how they got their name, but why do some refer to them as fireflies and others say they are lightning bugs? “Lightning bug and firefly are just different popular names for the same type of insect,” says Zarlenga. But the naming convention comes down to location.

    About ten years ago, Joshua Katz, then a PhD candidate from the NC State Department of Statistics, mapped out results from a survey he created on the name of these insects. The results showed nearly 40% of participants used the terms firefly and lightning bug interchangeably, whereas around 30% only referred to them as lightning bugs and the other 30% only considered them fireflies.  

    Based on his map, areas to the west of the Rockies are more likely to call them fireflies, whereas the Midwest, Mid-Atlantic and South are more inclined to refer to them as lightning bugs. New England, Florida and Texas use the terms interchangeably.

    Small but mighty

    You can find beetles in less developed areas, like forests or meadows or even your backyard, anywhere that contains wood or leaf litter. “The females lay their eggs late summer in wet soil, rotting wood and damp leaf litter,” explains Zarlenga. 

    The larvae, known as glowworms, live in this damp environment. The worms may be wingless, but he says these larvae are “voracious predators with jaws containing toxins to overpower snails, slugs and other prey.”

    Once they reach the mature or adult stage, usually in late spring, they can fly. However, they only last for approximately two months. The light they emit is a means of communication, especially for mating.

    When done mating, some females will flash their light for their next meal. They will attract additional males to consume.

    Habitat loss

    These beetles thrive in warm weather with minimal light pollution. What is threatening their population is habitat loss, says Zarlenga. “Such as paving over fields and forests where they live and the use of pesticides and herbicides, which hurt their numbers by killing them too.”

    Excess light pollution isn’t good for lightning bugs either. “It confuses and disrupts their flashes used in communication and mating activities,” he adds.

    He says to help the fireflies, “We urge people to limit or avoid the use of these chemicals in their yards, leave some leaf litter and portions of tall grass as habitat, and reduce the use of artificial light.”

    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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  • Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns

    Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns

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    Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at his rally in Pennsylvania last week.

    What You Need To Know

    • Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump

    • In an email to staff on Tuesday announcing her resignation, Cheatle admitted that the agency “fell short” on its mission to protect the country’s leaders

    • The announcement comes hours after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader announced a bipartisan task force to investigate the attack, and one day after congressional lawmakers grilled Cheatle over security lapses at a contentious hearing
    • President Joe Biden said in a statement that he “will plan to appoint a new Director soon”; Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Tuesday that Secret Service Deputy Director Ronald Rowe will take over as the head of the agency in an acting capacity



    On July 13, a 20-year-old man perched on a nearby warehouse rooftop fired several shots at Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, striking the former president in the right ear. One rallygoer was killed, and two others were wounded. The gunman was fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper.

    Several investigations have been launched into the attack. In addition to congressional inquiries, the FBI is conducting a criminal probe and the Secret Service is performing an internal investigation, Cheatle told Congress on Monday.

    In the days that followed, Cheatle faced numerous calls for clarity about how such an attack could have happened, including a dramatic hallway confrontation with Republican U.S. Senators at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week.

    In an email to staff on Tuesday announcing her resignation, Cheatle admitted that the agency “fell short” on its mission to protect the country’s leaders.

    “The scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases,” Cheatle wrote. “As your Director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse.”

    The embattled Secret Service chief faced bipartisan calls for her resignation. The announcement comes hours after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader announced a bipartisan task force to investigate the attack, and one day after congressional lawmakers grilled Cheatle over security lapses at a contentious hearing.

    “I’m glad she did the right thing,” Johnson said at a press conference on Tuesday. “The immediate reaction to her resignation is that it is overdue. She should have done this at least a week ago. I’m happy to see that. I’m happy to to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats.”

    “Now we have to pick up the pieces,” he continued. “We have to rebuild the American people’s faith and trust in the Secret Service. As an agency, it has an incredibly important responsibility in protecting presidents, former presidents and other officials in the executive branch, and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

    The message of “overdue” appeared to be one echoed by lawmakers in Washington, particularly among House Republicans, who were planning legislative efforts to force Cheatle’s ouster.

    “The resignation of USSS Director Cheatle is long overdue,” New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House GOP conference chair, wrote on social media. “The failure to answer basic questions over the last ten days and at yesterday’s Congressional hearing was a disgrace. House Republicans will not rest until we have 100% transparency and accountability.”

    “This is 10 days overdue,” wrote New York Rep. Mike Lawler on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This was a colossal failure on the part of the agency and requires transparency and accountability. Director Cheatle provided neither in her testimony yesterday.”

    “Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation is welcome but overdue,” said Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy. “This is only the beginning of accountability for an incredible failure to protect a former president and leading candidate for that office.”

    In a post on social media after the news broke, Trump did not specificaly address Cheatle’s resignation, but accused the Biden administration of failing to “properly protect” him.

    “I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy,” he wrote on Truth Social. “IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!”

    In a statement, President Joe Biden, who immediately ordered an independent security review into the shooting after it took place, expressed gratitude for Cheatle’s “decades of public service” and said it “takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service.”

    “The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” the president said. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again. As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best, and I will plan to appoint a new Director soon.”

    Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Tuesday that Secret Service Deputy Director Ronald Rowe will take over as the head of the agency in an acting capacity.

    In a House Oversight Committee hearing Monday, members of both parties called for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign. 

    “Today, you failed to provide answers to basic questions regarding that stunning operational failure and to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned its lessons and begun to correct its systemic blunders and failures,” committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a statement following Monday’s hearing. 

    “In the middle of a presidential election, the Committee and the American people demand serious institutional accountability and transparency that you are not providing,” they continued. “We call on you to resign as Director as a first step to allowing new leadership to swiftly address this crisis and rebuild the trust of a truly concerned Congress and the American people.”

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    Ryan Chatelain

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  • Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns

    Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle resigns

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    Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump at his rally in Pennsylvania last week.

    What You Need To Know

    • Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle has resigned after the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump

    • In an email to staff on Tuesday announcing her resignation, Cheatle admitted that the agency “fell short” on its mission to protect the country’s leaders

    • The announcement comes hours after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader announced a bipartisan task force to investigate the attack, and one day after congressional lawmakers grilled Cheatle over security lapses at a contentious hearing
    • President Joe Biden said in a statement that he “will plan to appoint a new Director soon”; Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Tuesday that Secret Service Deputy Director Ronald Rowe will take over as the head of the agency in an acting capacity



    On July 13, a 20-year-old man perched on a nearby warehouse rooftop fired several shots at Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, striking the former president in the right ear. One rallygoer was killed, and two others were wounded. The gunman was fatally shot by a Secret Service sniper.

    Several investigations have been launched into the attack. In addition to congressional inquiries, the FBI is conducting a criminal probe and the Secret Service is performing an internal investigation, Cheatle told Congress on Monday.

    In the days that followed, Cheatle faced numerous calls for clarity about how such an attack could have happened, including a dramatic hallway confrontation with Republican U.S. Senators at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee last week.

    In an email to staff on Tuesday announcing her resignation, Cheatle admitted that the agency “fell short” on its mission to protect the country’s leaders.

    “The scrutiny over the last week has been intense and will continue to remain as our operational tempo increases,” Cheatle wrote. “As your Director, I take full responsibility for the security lapse.”

    The embattled Secret Service chief faced bipartisan calls for her resignation. The announcement comes hours after Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and House Democratic Leader announced a bipartisan task force to investigate the attack, and one day after congressional lawmakers grilled Cheatle over security lapses at a contentious hearing.

    “I’m glad she did the right thing,” Johnson said at a press conference on Tuesday. “The immediate reaction to her resignation is that it is overdue. She should have done this at least a week ago. I’m happy to see that. I’m happy to to see that she has heeded the call of both Republicans and Democrats.”

    “Now we have to pick up the pieces,” he continued. “We have to rebuild the American people’s faith and trust in the Secret Service. As an agency, it has an incredibly important responsibility in protecting presidents, former presidents and other officials in the executive branch, and we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

    The message of “overdue” appeared to be one echoed by lawmakers in Washington, particularly among House Republicans, who were planning legislative efforts to force Cheatle’s ouster.

    “The resignation of USSS Director Cheatle is long overdue,” New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, the House GOP conference chair, wrote on social media. “The failure to answer basic questions over the last ten days and at yesterday’s Congressional hearing was a disgrace. House Republicans will not rest until we have 100% transparency and accountability.”

    “This is 10 days overdue,” wrote New York Rep. Mike Lawler on X, formerly known as Twitter. “This was a colossal failure on the part of the agency and requires transparency and accountability. Director Cheatle provided neither in her testimony yesterday.”

    “Kimberly Cheatle’s resignation is welcome but overdue,” said Louisiana Sen. John Kennedy. “This is only the beginning of accountability for an incredible failure to protect a former president and leading candidate for that office.”

    In a post on social media after the news broke, Trump did not specificaly address Cheatle’s resignation, but accused the Biden administration of failing to “properly protect” him.

    “I was forced to take a bullet for Democracy,” he wrote on Truth Social. “IT WAS MY GREAT HONOR TO DO SO!”

    In a statement, President Joe Biden, who immediately ordered an independent security review into the shooting after it took place, expressed gratitude for Cheatle’s “decades of public service” and said it “takes honor, courage, and incredible integrity to take full responsibility for an organization tasked with one of the most challenging jobs in public service.”

    “The independent review to get to the bottom of what happened on July 13 continues, and I look forward to assessing its conclusions,” the president said. “We all know what happened that day can never happen again. As we move forward, I wish Kim all the best, and I will plan to appoint a new Director soon.”

    Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas announced Tuesday that Secret Service Deputy Director Ronald Rowe will take over as the head of the agency in an acting capacity.

    In a House Oversight Committee hearing Monday, members of both parties called for Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to resign. 

    “Today, you failed to provide answers to basic questions regarding that stunning operational failure and to reassure the American people that the Secret Service has learned its lessons and begun to correct its systemic blunders and failures,” committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., and ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a statement following Monday’s hearing. 

    “In the middle of a presidential election, the Committee and the American people demand serious institutional accountability and transparency that you are not providing,” they continued. “We call on you to resign as Director as a first step to allowing new leadership to swiftly address this crisis and rebuild the trust of a truly concerned Congress and the American people.”

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    Ryan Chatelain

    Source link

  • Widespread Microsoft outage disrupts flights, banks, and companies worldwide

    Widespread Microsoft outage disrupts flights, banks, and companies worldwide

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    A global technology outage grounded flights, knocked banks and hospital systems offline and media outlets off air on Friday in a massive disruption that affected companies and services around the world and highlighted dependence on software from a handful of providers.

    What You Need To Know

    • Escalating disruptions continued hours after Microsoft said it was gradually fixing an issue

    • The website DownDectector, which tracks user-reported internet outages, recorded growing outages in services at Visa, ADT security and Amazon, and airlines including American Airlines and Delta

    • Meanwhile, major disruptions reported by airlines and airports grew; the FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded

    Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike said that the issue believed to be behind the outage was not a security incident or cyberattack — and that a fix was on the way. The company said the problem occurred when it deployed a faulty update to computers running Microsoft Windows.

    But hours after the problem was first detected, the disarray continued — and escalated.

    Long lines formed at airports in the U.S., Europe and Asia as airlines lost access to check-in and booking services at a time when many travelers are heading away on summer vacations. News outlets in Australia — where telecommunications were severely affected — were pushed off air for hours. Hospitals and doctor’s offices had problems with their appointment systems, while banks in South Africa and New Zealand reported outages to their payment system or websites and apps.

    President Joe Biden has been briefed on the outage and members of his administration have been in touch with CrowdStrike and other impacted entities.

    Biden’s team “is engaged across the interagency to get sector by sector updates throughout the day and is standing by to provide assistance as needed, per the White House.

    “We’re continuing to address effects on transportation systems from today’s widespread tech outage,” Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg wrote on social media. “Many flights are impacted as systems recover—passengers should check with their airline for updates and visit our website for more on passenger protections.”

    Some athletes and spectators descending on Paris ahead of the Olympics were delayed as was the arrival of their uniforms and accreditations, but Games organizers said disruptions were limited and didn’t affect ticketing or the torch relay.

    A disturbing reminder of vulnerability

    “This is a very, very uncomfortable illustration of the fragility of the world’s core internet infrastructure,” said Ciaran Martin, a professor at Oxford University’s Blavatnik School of Government and former Head of Britain’s National Cyber Security Centre.

    DownDectector, which tracks user-reported disruptions to internet services, recorded that airlines, payment platforms and online shopping websites across the world were affected — although the disruption appeared piecemeal and was apparently related to whether the companies used Microsoft cloud-based services.

    Cyber expert James Bore said real harm would be caused by the outage because systems we’ve come to rely on at critical times are not going to be available. Hospitals, for example, will struggle to sort out appointments and those who need care may not get it.

    “There are going to be deaths because of this. It’s inevitable,’’ Bore said. “We’ve got so many systems tied up with this.”

    Microsoft 365 posted on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, that the company was “working on rerouting the impacted traffic to alternate systems to alleviate impact” and that they were “observing a positive trend in service availability.”

    The company did not respond to a request for comment.

    CrowdStrike said in an emailed statement that the company “is actively working with customers impacted by a defect found in a single content update for Windows hosts.”

    It said: “This is not a security incident or cyberattack. The issue has been identified, isolated and a fix has been deployed.”

    The Austin, Texas-based company’s Nasdaq-traded shares were down nearly 15% in premarket trading early Friday.

    A recording playing on its customer service line said, “CrowdStrike is aware of the reports of crashes on Microsoft ports related to the Falcon sensor,” referring to one of its products used to block online attacks.

    Broadcasters go dark, surgeries delayed, ‘blue screens of death’

    Meanwhile, governments, officials and companies across the world scrambled to respond.

    New Zealand’s acting prime minister, David Seymour, said on X that officials in the country were “moving at pace to understand the potential impacts,” adding that he had no information indicating it was a cybersecurity threat.

    The issue was causing “inconvenience” for the public and businesses, he added.

    On the Milan stock exchange, the FTSE MIB index of blue-chip Italian stocks could not be compiled for an hour, though trading continued.

    Major delays reported at airports grew on Friday morning, with most attributing the problems in booking systems of individual airlines.

    In the U.S., the FAA said the airlines United, American, Delta and Allegiant had all been grounded.

    Airlines and railways in the U.K. were also affected, with longer than usual waiting times.

    In Germany, Berlin-Brandenburg Airport halted flights for several hours due to difficulties in checking in passengers, while landings at Zurich airport were suspended and flights in Hungary, Italy and Turkey disrupted.

    The Dutch carrier KLM said it had been “forced to suspend most” of its operations.

    Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport warned that the outage was having a “major impact on flights” to and from the busy European hub. The chaotic morning coincided with one of the busiest days of the year for Schiphol.

    Widespread problems were reported at Australian airports, where lines grew and some passengers were stranded as online check-in services and self-service booths were disabled — although flights were still operating.

    In India, Hong Kong and Thailand, many airlines were forced to manually check in passengers. An airline in Kenya was also reporting disruption.

    Australia bears brunt of outages in Asia

    While the outages were being experienced worldwide, Australia appeared to be severely affected by the issue. Disruption reported on the site DownDetector included the banks NAB, Commonwealth and Bendigo, and the airlines Virgin Australia and Qantas, as well as internet and phone providers such as Telstra.

    National news outlets — including public broadcaster ABC and Sky News Australia — were unable to broadcast on their TV and radio channels for hours. Some news anchors went on air online from dark offices, in front of computers showing “blue screens of death.”

    Hospitals in several countries also reported problems.

    Britain’s National Health Service said the outage caused problems at most doctors’ offices across England. NHS England said in a statement said the glitch was affecting the appointment and patient record system used across the public health system.

    Some hospitals in northern Germany canceled all elective surgery scheduled for Friday, but emergency care was unaffected.

    Israel said its hospitals and post office operations were disrupted.

    In South Africa, at least one major bank said it was experiencing nationwide service disruptions as customers reported they were unable to make payments using their bank cards in stores. The New Zealand banks ASB and Kiwibank said their services were down as well.

    Shipping was disrupted too: A major container hub in the Baltic port of Gdansk, Poland, the Baltic Hub, said it was battling problems resulting from the global system outage.

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    Associated Press

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  • Full buck moon peaks on Sunday morning

    Full buck moon peaks on Sunday morning

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    This month when the full moon peaks on Sunday at 6:17 a.m. Eastern Time, it will be the climax of the full buck moon, aptly named for those furry, even white-tailed, creatures who possess the woods and fields alike.

    What You Need To Know

    • Full July moon peaks Sunday morning but will be visible this weekend

    • Named the full buck moon for male deer that shed their antlers

    • Origins come from several sources, including Native Americans


    The origins of the name come from several sources, including Native Americans, early American settlers and even European foundations. According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac, it gets its name from the time of the year when male deer or bucks shed their antlers.

    Other names include the Berry Moon, Thunder Moon, Halfway Summer Moon, Salmon Moon and Feather Molting Moon.

    You can download the moon app to see when the moon will rise from your location. 

    Does the full moon make people or animals act differently? Here are five myths about the full moon.

    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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  • Shannen Doherty, ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ star, dies at 53

    Shannen Doherty, ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ star, dies at 53

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    LOS ANGELES — Shannen Doherty, the “Beverly Hills, 90210” star whose life and career were roiled by illness and tabloid stories, has died at 53.

    What You Need To Know

    • Shannen Doherty died Saturday, according to a statement from her publicist, Leslie Sloane

    • Doherty had had breast cancer for years

    • Her illness was publicly revealed in a lawsuit filed in 2015 against her former business managers, in which she alleged they mismanaged her money and allowed her health insurance to lapse

    • In 1990, the doe-eyed, dark-haired actor won her breakout role as Brenda Walsh in producer Aaron Spelling’s hit teenage melodrama set in posh Beverly Hills

    After years with breast cancer, Doherty died Saturday, according to a statement from her publicist, Leslie Sloane.

    “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace,” Sloane said Sunday. The news was first reported by People magazine.

    Her illness was publicly revealed in a lawsuit filed in 2015 against her former business managers, in which she alleged they mismanaged her money and allowed her health insurance to lapse. She later shared intimate details of her treatment following a single mastectomy. In December 2016, she posted a photo of her first day of radiation, calling the treatment “frightening” for her.

    In February 2020, Doherty revealed that the cancer had returned and she was at stage four. She said she came forward because her health conditions could come out in court. The actor had sued insurance giant State Farm after her California home was damaged in a fire in 2018.

    “I have no idea how long I’m going to be on the chemo for. … That’s not something that I can predict, it’s not something my doctors can predict. And it’s scary, it’s like a big wake-up call,” Doherty said on a late June episode of her podcast “Let’s Be Clear,” adding that a recent change in the shape of her cancer cells meant there were new treatment protocols for her to try. “For the first time in a couple months probably, I feel hopeful because there are so many more protocols now, whereas before I was hopeful — but I was still getting prepared.”

    A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Doherty moved to Los Angeles with her family at age 7 and, within a few years, became an actor.

    “It was completely my decision,” she told The Associated Press in a 1994 interview. “My parents never pushed me into anything. They support me. It really wouldn’t matter if I was a professional soccer player — they’d still be as supportive and loving.”

    As a child star, she worked steadily in such TV series as “Little House on the Prairie,” in which she played Jenny Wilder. She detoured as a teenager to the big screen in “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (1985) and “Heathers.”

    In 1990, the doe-eyed, dark-haired actor won her breakout role as Brenda Walsh in producer Aaron Spelling’s hit teenage melodrama set in posh Beverly Hills. She and Jason Priestley’s Brandon, Brenda’s twin brother, were fish-out-of-water Midwesterners.

    But Doherty’s fame came with media scrutiny and accounts of outbursts, drinking and impulsiveness — the latter most notably after a very brief marriage to actor George Hamilton’s son, Ashley. Doherty’s second marriage, in 2002, was to Rick Salomon and was annulled within a year. In 2011, Doherty married photographer Kurt Iswarienko. She filed for divorce in April 2023.

    She left “Beverly Hills, 90210” at the end of its fourth season in 1994 (the show aired until 2000), reportedly removed by Spelling because of conflicts with her co-stars and chronic lateness.

    But in her 1994 AP interview, Doherty described her life as peaceful.

    “It must be, if you pick up the Enquirer and find the only thing they can write about me is that I installed a pay phone next to my house and was seen at Stroud’s (a discount bed-and-bath chain) buying $1,400 worth of bed linens and wouldn’t go to an expensive store,” she said. “It must be calm if they’re pulling that stuff out of their heads.”

    Three years later, in 1997, Doherty was sentenced to anger-management counseling by a Beverly Hills Municipal Court judge after she allegedly smashed a beer bottle onto a man’s windshield during a quarrel. After a 2001 drunken driving arrest, she pleaded no contest and was ordered to serve five days in a work-release program.

    Doherty reunited with Spelling when he cast her in 1998 as Prue Halliwell in “Charmed.” In an AP interview that year, the actor expressed regrets about her past.

    “I did bring a lot of it on myself,” Doherty said. “I don’t think I can point fingers and say, ‘Oh, YOU’RE to blame.’ And I don’t do that with myself, either. Because I was just growing up.”

    Her personality was “grotesquely misconstrued” by the media, Doherty added.

    Spelling said at the time that their relationship was never as bad as some made it seem.

    “We had a few bumps along the road, but golly, who doesn’t?” said Spelling, who died in 2006. “Everything Shannen did was blown out of proportion by the rag sheets.”

    Doherty starred with Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano in “Charmed” from 1998-2001, at which point her character was replaced by one played by Rose McGowan. Doherty appeared in the “90210” sequel series seven years later and competed on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2010. She also worked on the third “Beverly Hills, 90210” reboot, “BH90210,” a meta send-up that reunited most of the original cast and aired for one season in 2019.

    She also appeared in a tribute episode of “Riverdale” dedicated to that show’s star — and her late “Beverly Hills, 90210” on-screen love interest — Luke Perry.

    Doherty struggled to recapture her “Beverly Hills, 90210” star status, but worked in big-screen films including “Mallrats” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and in such TV movies as “A Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story,” in which she played the “Gone with the Wind” author. A nadir was “Blindfold: Acts of Obsession,” an erotic thriller opposite Judd Nelson.

    Doherty’s lawsuit against her ex-business managers was settled in 2016. She was open about the toll that cancer was taking. She posted photos that showed the baldness that followed treatment and, in an August 2016 interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” shared her fears.

    “The unknown is always the scariest part,” she said. “Is the chemo going to work? Is the radiation going to work?” she said. “Pain is manageable, you know living without a breast is manageable, it’s the worry of your future and how your future is going to affect the people that you love.”

    Doherty advocated for cancer awareness and care, and spoke to the AP in 2021 about how spending years with the disease affected her life and sense of optimism.

    “When you get something like cancer, your tolerance for drama is zero. I don’t like people wasting my time. I don’t like negativity,” she said. “It’s odd because I think if you look back, you’re like, ‘Oh, gosh, it’s so much drama around her,’ but I don’t think I was necessarily into the drama. I just think if we took young 18-year-old Shannon, 19-year-old Shannon, and we took her and planted her like right now, I would be a nerd and nobody would be writing about me.”

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    Associated Press

    Source link

  • Shannen Doherty, ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ star, dies at 53

    Shannen Doherty, ‘Beverly Hills, 90210’ star, dies at 53

    [ad_1]

    LOS ANGELES — Shannen Doherty, the “Beverly Hills, 90210” star whose life and career were roiled by illness and tabloid stories, has died at 53.

    What You Need To Know

    • Shannen Doherty died Saturday, according to a statement from her publicist, Leslie Sloane

    • Doherty had had breast cancer for years

    • Her illness was publicly revealed in a lawsuit filed in 2015 against her former business managers, in which she alleged they mismanaged her money and allowed her health insurance to lapse

    • In 1990, the doe-eyed, dark-haired actor won her breakout role as Brenda Walsh in producer Aaron Spelling’s hit teenage melodrama set in posh Beverly Hills

    After years with breast cancer, Doherty died Saturday, according to a statement from her publicist, Leslie Sloane.

    “The devoted daughter, sister, aunt and friend was surrounded by her loved ones as well as her dog, Bowie. The family asks for their privacy at this time so they can grieve in peace,” Sloane said Sunday. The news was first reported by People magazine.

    Her illness was publicly revealed in a lawsuit filed in 2015 against her former business managers, in which she alleged they mismanaged her money and allowed her health insurance to lapse. She later shared intimate details of her treatment following a single mastectomy. In December 2016, she posted a photo of her first day of radiation, calling the treatment “frightening” for her.

    In February 2020, Doherty revealed that the cancer had returned and she was at stage four. She said she came forward because her health conditions could come out in court. The actor had sued insurance giant State Farm after her California home was damaged in a fire in 2018.

    “I have no idea how long I’m going to be on the chemo for. … That’s not something that I can predict, it’s not something my doctors can predict. And it’s scary, it’s like a big wake-up call,” Doherty said on a late June episode of her podcast “Let’s Be Clear,” adding that a recent change in the shape of her cancer cells meant there were new treatment protocols for her to try. “For the first time in a couple months probably, I feel hopeful because there are so many more protocols now, whereas before I was hopeful — but I was still getting prepared.”

    A native of Memphis, Tennessee, Doherty moved to Los Angeles with her family at age 7 and, within a few years, became an actor.

    “It was completely my decision,” she told The Associated Press in a 1994 interview. “My parents never pushed me into anything. They support me. It really wouldn’t matter if I was a professional soccer player — they’d still be as supportive and loving.”

    As a child star, she worked steadily in such TV series as “Little House on the Prairie,” in which she played Jenny Wilder. She detoured as a teenager to the big screen in “Girls Just Want to Have Fun” (1985) and “Heathers.”

    In 1990, the doe-eyed, dark-haired actor won her breakout role as Brenda Walsh in producer Aaron Spelling’s hit teenage melodrama set in posh Beverly Hills. She and Jason Priestley’s Brandon, Brenda’s twin brother, were fish-out-of-water Midwesterners.

    But Doherty’s fame came with media scrutiny and accounts of outbursts, drinking and impulsiveness — the latter most notably after a very brief marriage to actor George Hamilton’s son, Ashley. Doherty’s second marriage, in 2002, was to Rick Salomon and was annulled within a year. In 2011, Doherty married photographer Kurt Iswarienko. She filed for divorce in April 2023.

    She left “Beverly Hills, 90210” at the end of its fourth season in 1994 (the show aired until 2000), reportedly removed by Spelling because of conflicts with her co-stars and chronic lateness.

    But in her 1994 AP interview, Doherty described her life as peaceful.

    “It must be, if you pick up the Enquirer and find the only thing they can write about me is that I installed a pay phone next to my house and was seen at Stroud’s (a discount bed-and-bath chain) buying $1,400 worth of bed linens and wouldn’t go to an expensive store,” she said. “It must be calm if they’re pulling that stuff out of their heads.”

    Three years later, in 1997, Doherty was sentenced to anger-management counseling by a Beverly Hills Municipal Court judge after she allegedly smashed a beer bottle onto a man’s windshield during a quarrel. After a 2001 drunken driving arrest, she pleaded no contest and was ordered to serve five days in a work-release program.

    Doherty reunited with Spelling when he cast her in 1998 as Prue Halliwell in “Charmed.” In an AP interview that year, the actor expressed regrets about her past.

    “I did bring a lot of it on myself,” Doherty said. “I don’t think I can point fingers and say, ‘Oh, YOU’RE to blame.’ And I don’t do that with myself, either. Because I was just growing up.”

    Her personality was “grotesquely misconstrued” by the media, Doherty added.

    Spelling said at the time that their relationship was never as bad as some made it seem.

    “We had a few bumps along the road, but golly, who doesn’t?” said Spelling, who died in 2006. “Everything Shannen did was blown out of proportion by the rag sheets.”

    Doherty starred with Holly Marie Combs and Alyssa Milano in “Charmed” from 1998-2001, at which point her character was replaced by one played by Rose McGowan. Doherty appeared in the “90210” sequel series seven years later and competed on “Dancing with the Stars” in 2010. She also worked on the third “Beverly Hills, 90210” reboot, “BH90210,” a meta send-up that reunited most of the original cast and aired for one season in 2019.

    She also appeared in a tribute episode of “Riverdale” dedicated to that show’s star — and her late “Beverly Hills, 90210” on-screen love interest — Luke Perry.

    Doherty struggled to recapture her “Beverly Hills, 90210” star status, but worked in big-screen films including “Mallrats” and “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back” and in such TV movies as “A Burning Passion: The Margaret Mitchell Story,” in which she played the “Gone with the Wind” author. A nadir was “Blindfold: Acts of Obsession,” an erotic thriller opposite Judd Nelson.

    Doherty’s lawsuit against her ex-business managers was settled in 2016. She was open about the toll that cancer was taking. She posted photos that showed the baldness that followed treatment and, in an August 2016 interview with “Entertainment Tonight,” shared her fears.

    “The unknown is always the scariest part,” she said. “Is the chemo going to work? Is the radiation going to work?” she said. “Pain is manageable, you know living without a breast is manageable, it’s the worry of your future and how your future is going to affect the people that you love.”

    Doherty advocated for cancer awareness and care, and spoke to the AP in 2021 about how spending years with the disease affected her life and sense of optimism.

    “When you get something like cancer, your tolerance for drama is zero. I don’t like people wasting my time. I don’t like negativity,” she said. “It’s odd because I think if you look back, you’re like, ‘Oh, gosh, it’s so much drama around her,’ but I don’t think I was necessarily into the drama. I just think if we took young 18-year-old Shannon, 19-year-old Shannon, and we took her and planted her like right now, I would be a nerd and nobody would be writing about me.”

    [ad_2]

    Associated Press

    Source link

  • FBI identifies suspect in Trump assassination attempt

    FBI identifies suspect in Trump assassination attempt

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    Former President Donald Trump was whisked off the stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night after a shooting that killed at least one rally attendee. The former president said he was “shot with a bullet” that pierced part of his ear.

    The FBI early Sunday identified the suspected shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa. He was killed by the United States Secret Service.

    “The FBI has identified Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pennsylvania, as the subject involved in the assassination attempt of former President Donald Trump on July 13, in Butler, Pennsylvania,” the FBI said in a statement, asking for anyone with more information to come forward.

    What You Need To Know

    • Former President Donald Trump was whisked off the stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday night after a shooting that killed at least one rally attendee
    • Trump said in a statement later Saturday night that he was “shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear”
    • The FBI identified the suspected shooter as Thomas Matthew Crooks, 20, of Bethel Park, Pa. He was killed by the United States Secret Service
    • President Joe Biden condemned the attack on his presumptive rival in November’s election, adding that he is “grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well”



    Law enforcement officials told Spectrum News on Sunday that explosive devices were found inside Crooks’ vehicle. Two law enforcement officials told The Associated Press there were also bomb-making materials found at his home.

    Not much is known about the suspect, save for that he was registered as a Republican voter in Pennsylvania. He did, however, donate $15 to a progressive political action committee on the day of President Joe Biden’s inauguration on Jan. 20, 2021, according Federal Election Commission records.

    Early on in his speech, Trump was showing off a chart of border crossing numbers when banging sounds started ringing through the crowd. Someone could be heard saying “get down, get down” and directing Trump to the ground. The ex-president could be seen reaching with his right hand toward his neck. There appeared to be blood on his face.

    He quickly ducked behind the podium as agents from his protective detail rushed the stage and screams rang out from the crowd. The bangs continued as agents tended to him on stage. Trump could be heard on microphones asking about his shoes.

    The crowd cheered as he got back up and pumped his fist. Police began vacating the fairgrounds shortly after Trump left the stage.

    Officials said that one spectator was killed, and two others were critically injured.

    According to a spokesperson for the Secret Service, a suspected shooter “fired multiple shots toward the stage from an elevated position outside of the rally venue.”

    Secret Service spokesperson Anthony Guglielmi said that agents “neutralized” the suspected shooter and took protective measures to secure scene and get the former president to safety.

    “The incident is currently under investigation and the Secret Service has formally notified the Federal Bureau of Investigation,” Guglielmi added. The FBI said later Saturday that assumed the lead in the investigation into the incident.

    A source told The Associated Press that an AR-style rifle was recovered by law enforcement at the scene of the shooting.

    In a statement on his Truth Social platform on Saturday night, Trump thanked the Secret Service and law enforcement for their “rapid response” and expressed his condolences to the family of the person who was killed at the rally, as well as his thoughts for another person who was “badly injured.”

    “It is incredible that such an act can take place in our Country,” Trump said. “Nothing is known at this time about the shooter, who is now dead. I was shot with a bullet that pierced the upper part of my right ear.”

    “I knew immediately that something was wrong in that I heard a whizzing sound, shots, and immediately felt the bullet ripping through the skin,” he added. “Much bleeding took place, so I realized then what was happening. GOD BLESS AMERICA!”

    Trump traveled back to his New Jersey golf club to spend the night. His campaign and the Republican National Committee said in a statement Saturday night that the Republican National Convention will continue as planned in Milwaukee next week.

    “Thank you to everyone for your thoughts and prayers yesterday, as it was God alone who prevented the unthinkable from happening. We will FEAR NOT, but instead remain resilient in our Faith and Defiant in the face of Wickedness,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Sunday morning. “Our love goes out to the other victims and their families. We pray for the recovery of those who were wounded, and hold in our hearts the memory of the citizen who was so horribly killed.”

    He went on to write that it was “more important than ever” that Americans “stand United, and show our True Character,” ending his post by saying “I truly love our Country, and love you all, and look forward to speaking to our Great Nation this week from Wisconsin.”

    In remarks to the nation from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, President Joe Biden said he reached out to Trump, but the ex-president is “with his doctors” and said he’s hoping to speak to him soon. Biden expressed gratitude about Trump’s condition and condemned the attack, calling for unity.

    “There’s no place in America for this kind of violence,” Biden said. “It’s sick. It’s sick. It’s one of the reasons we have to unite this country.”

    “We cannot allow for this to be happening,” Biden said. “We cannot be like this. We cannot condone this.”

    Biden hailed the Secret Service and local law enforcement for their efforts to protect Trump and secure the scene.

    “The bottom line is: The Trump rally … he should’ve been able to conduct peacefully without any problem,” the president said. “But the idea, the idea, that there’s political violence or violence in America like this, it’s just unheard of. It’s just not appropriate. And everybody must condemn it. Everybody.”

    “So far it appears that he’s doing well,” Biden said of Trump. The two spoke later Saturday night, per the White House. Biden also spoke with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro and Butler, Pennsylvania, Mayor Bob Dandoy. The president left Delaware to return to Washington, and will receive an updated briefing from homeland security and law enforcement officials on Sunday morning.

    When asked by reporters if he believes it’s an assassination attempt, Biden declined to weigh in: “I have an opinion, but I don’t have any facts.”

    A Biden campaign official said that his reelection effort “is pausing all outbound communications and working to pull down our television ads as quickly as possible.”

    In a statement earlier Saturday, Biden condemned the attack on his presumptive rival in November’s election, adding that he is “grateful to hear that he’s safe and doing well.”

    “I’m praying for him and his family and for all those who were at the rally, as we await further information,” Biden said. “Jill and I are grateful to the Secret Service for getting him to safety. There’s no place for this kind of violence in America. We must unite as one nation to condemn it.”

    Biden received multiple briefings on the incident, including one with Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Homeland Security Advisor Liz Sherwood-Randall, the White House said. The president and Vice President Kamala Harris were expected to recieve another briefing from homeland security and law enforcemnet officials on Sunday morning.

    Mayorkas said in a statement Saturday night that the Department of Homeland Security is “engaged with President Biden, former President Trump, and their campaigns, and are taking every possible measure to ensure their safety and security.”

    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro was also briefed on the incident.

    “Violence targeted at any political party or political leader is absolutely unacceptable,” Shapiro wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “It has no place in Pennsylvania or the United States.”

    Amid prayers for Trump and condemnations for political violence from world leaders and politicians on both sides of the aisle, some of his congressional allies called for investigations. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said on NBC News’ “Today” on Sunday that Congress would launch a full investigation and that he spoke with Mayorkas on Saturday night and “asked him some pointed questions.”

    “Political violence in all forms is unamerican and unacceptable,” House Oversight Chairman James Comer said in a statement. “There are many questions and Americans demand answers. I have already contacted the Secret Service for a briefing and am also calling on Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to appear for a hearing. The Oversight Committee will send a formal invitation soon.”

    One Republican lawmaker, Rep. Mike Collins of Georgia, even went as far as to say that Biden “sent the orders,” referencing comments reportedly made by the Democrat about putting Trump “in a bullseye” in terms of a campaign strategy. 

    Ohio Sen. JD Vance, a possible Trump running mate contender, also condemned rhetoric from Biden and Democrats and directly blamed them for the incident.

    “Today is not just some isolated incident. The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance charged. “That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”

    This is a developing story. Check back later for updates.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • Recap: Biden, Trump face off in first debate of 2024 election

    Recap: Biden, Trump face off in first debate of 2024 election

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    By

    Spectrum News Staff

    Atlanta

    UPDATED 11:30 PM ET Jun. 27, 2024
    PUBLISHED 11:22 AM ET Jun. 27, 2024
    PUBLISHED 11:22 AM EDT Jun. 27, 2024

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    Spectrum News Staff

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  • Supreme Court upholds ban on domestic violence offenders owning guns

    Supreme Court upholds ban on domestic violence offenders owning guns

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    The Supreme Court on Friday upheld a ban on domestic abusers owning firearms, the high court’s first major Second Amendment ruling since a 2022 case that drastically expanded gun rights.

    What You Need To Know

    • In an 8-1 decision, the Supreme Court upheld a ban on domestic abusers owning firearms

    • It was the high court’s first major Second Amendment ruling since a 2022 case that drastically expanded gun rights

    • Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the nearly unanimous majority

    • Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the 2022 gun case ruling, was the lone dissent



    Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the opinion for the nearly unanimous majority. Conservative Justice Clarence Thomas, who authored the 2022 gun case ruling, was the lone dissent.

    “An individual found by a court to pose a credible threat to the physical safety of another may be temporarily disarmed consistent with the Second Amendment,” Roberts wrote in the 8-1 majority opinion. 

    The case was brough by Zackey Rahimi, a Texas man who was accused of striking his girlfriend during an altercation in a parking lot after an argument and later threatening to shoot her in 2019. Rahimi was issued a restraining order in 2020, but he “repeatedly violated” the order, the federal government wrote in its brief in the case, including being involved in five separate shooting incidents. Police secured a warrant after Rahimi was found to be a suspect in the shootings, and upon a search of his house, officers “found a .45-caliber pistol, a .308-caliber rifle, magazines, ammunition, and a copy of the protective order.”

    Rahimi argued that the federal government was violating his Second Amendment rights by refusing to allow him to have a firearm. But in oral arguments last year, the Biden administration argued that the 1994 restriction at the center of the case — which bans firearms for people under restraining orders to stay away from their spouses or partners — was consistent with the longstanding practice of disarming dangerous people.

    “When a restraining order contains a finding that an individual poses a credible threat to the physical safety of an intimate partner, that individual may—consistent with the Second Amendment—be banned from possessing firearms while the order is in effect,” Roberts wrote in his ruling. “Since the founding, our Nation’s firearm laws have included provisions preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms.”

    “Taken together, the surety and going armed laws confirm what common sense suggests: When an individual poses a clear threat of physical violence to another, the threatening individual may be disarmed,” he added.

    At the arguments last year, some justices voiced concern that a ruling for Rahimi could also jeopardize the background check system that the Biden administration said has stopped more than 75,000 gun sales in the past 25 years based on domestic violence protective orders.

    Thomas, who authored the landmark 2022 decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association, Inc. v. Bruen that struck down the state’s requirement to show “proper cause” for a concealed carry permit, argued that “not a single historical regulation justifies the statute at issue.”

    “The Framers [of the U.S. Constitution] and ratifying public understood ‘that the right to keep and bear arms was essential to the preservation of liberty,’” Thomas wrote. “Yet, in the interest of ensuring the Government can regulate one subset of society, today’s decision puts at risk the Second Amendment rights of many more.”

    Several justices penned concurring opinions, including liberal Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who wrote that Friday’s ruling “correctly concludes that ‘the Second Amendment permits the disarmament of individuals who pose a credible threat to the physical safety of others,’” while criticizing Thomas’ dissent.

    “The dissent reaches a different conclusion by applying the strictest possible interpretation of Bruen,” Sotomayor, joined by fellow liberal Justice Elena Kagan, wrote. “It picks off the Government’s historical sources one by one, viewing any basis for distinction as fatal.”

    “If the dissent’s interpretation of Bruen were the law, then Bruen really would be the ‘one-way ratchet’ that I and the other dissenters in that case feared, ‘disqualify[ing] virtually any ‘representative historical analogue’ and mak[ing] it nearly impossible to sustain common-sense regulations necessary to our Nation’s safety and security,’” she continued. “Thankfully, the Court rejects that rigid approach to the historical inquiry.”

    Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Ketanji Brown Jackson also penned concurring opinions.

    “Despite its unqualified text, the Second Amendment is not absolute,” Barrett wrote. “It codified a pre-existing right, and preexisting limits on that right are part and parcel of it. Those limits define the scope of ‘the right to bear arms’ as it was originally understood; to identify them, courts must examine our ‘historical tradition of firearm regulation.’”

    In this case, Barrett noted, “the Court settles on just the right level of generality: ‘Since the founding, our Nation’s firearm laws have included provisions preventing individuals who threaten physical harm to others from misusing firearms.’”

    Despite the favorable ruling, President Joe Biden’s campaign warned of the “startling reality” behind the case’s consideration in the first place.

    “No American should overlook the startling reality behind today’s decision: Protecting domestic abuse survivors from gun violence should never be a question, but the fact it even had to be considered shows just how extreme Donald Trump and the gun lobby are,” a senior Biden campaign advisor said in a statement to Spectrum News. “There’s only one candidate in this race fighting to save lives from gun violence and that’s Joe Biden.”

    The high court last week struck down a federal ban on bump stocks — gun attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire rapidly like machine guns — that was put into place by the administration of then-President Donald Trump after the 2017 Las Vegas massacre. But that case was not determined by the Second Amendment; rather, it centered around the authority of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives to enact that restriction.

    Advocates for domestic violence victims and gun control groups had called on the court to uphold the law.

    Firearms are the most common weapon used in homicides of spouses, intimate partners, children or relatives in recent years, according to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Guns were used in more than half, 57%, of those killings in 2020, a year that saw an overall increase in domestic violence during the coronavirus pandemic.

    Seventy women a month, on average, are shot and killed by intimate partners, according to the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety.

    The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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    Justin Tasolides

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  • The summer solstice’s impact on June’s full strawberry moon

    The summer solstice’s impact on June’s full strawberry moon

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    Most of the country has experienced summer-like temperatures this week, with nearly 85% seeing readings above 90 degrees. The official astrological start to summer happens Thursday afternoon.

    What You Need To Know

    • Summer officially arrives Thursday afternoon

    • It is the earliest solstice in the northern hemisphere since George Washington was president

    • Full strawberry moon will appear larger and brighter since it occurs so close to the solstice


    It takes the Earth 365 ¼ days to revolve around the sun. The sphere of the Earth does not wobble perpendicular to the plane it is moving, it is tilted by 23.5 degrees.

    It’s thanks to this tilt that we have seasons. The northern and summer hemispheres will be tilted toward and away from the sun at different intervals of the year.

    Summer solstice occurs when a hemisphere is turned toward the sun.

    Summer solstice

    The summer solstice occurs in the northern hemisphere annually on June 20 or 21. It is when the sun is directly over the Tropic of Cancer and is located the farthest north in the sky.

    The days closest to the summer solstice have the most daylight and are known as the year’s longest days. This year summer will begin in the northern hemisphere on June 20 at 4:51 p.m. EST, marking it the earliest start to the season since 1796, when George Washington was president, according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.

    Full strawberry moon

    The full strawberry moon is expected to peak Friday evening and will appear brighter and larger than usual, says Spectrum News’ Space Expert Anthony Leone.

    This will be the first time since 1988 that the first June full moon occurs during summer. However, two years in recent history came close.

    June 2016’s full moon occurred on the date of the solstice, but during the morning hours so not officially summer, since the solstice did not happen until that night. June 1996 had two full moons that month; technically, one of those moons occurred during the summer.

    But two full moons in a month categorize the second one as a blue moon (that’s where the saying, “once in a blue moon” comes from), meaning 1996’s strawberry moon occurred early in the month during late spring.

    Nomenclature

    One would think that if it’s nick-named “strawberry” moon, it should appear with a reddish hue, but it depends on where you live, says Leone.

    The name of the moon was deemed as such thanks to the Native American Algonquian tribes that lived in the northeast part of the United States. It was to mark the time when the fruit, strawberries, were ripe.

    Other tribes, such as the Ojibwe, Dakota and Lakota, reflect this as well. According to NASA, an old European name for this moon is the Mead or Honey Moon to account for the harvest of honey. Some even say that’s where the term “honeymoon” came from because of the custom of marrying in June.

    Appearance

    The full moon is opposite the sun and will rise just as the sun is setting and inversely set when the sun is rising. With the sun at the highest point north, this means the moon will be at the lowest, making it appear larger.

    The Old Farmers’ Almanac refers to this as the “Moon Illusion.” Thanks to its low position, it will have more atmosphere to pass through, says Leone. 

    “Depending on where you are in the world, the moon could appear reddish, like a strawberry, when it is close to the horizon.” Adding, “the best time to see it is when it is rising, before it becomes its usual goldish or silvery color as it climbs the evening sky.”

    He recommends downloading the app “Moon” to find out when it rises from your location. The full strawberry moon will rise Friday at 10:07 p.m. EST.

    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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  • Jerry West, a 3-time Hall of Fame selection and the NBA logo, dies at 86

    Jerry West, a 3-time Hall of Fame selection and the NBA logo, dies at 86

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    Jerry West, who was selected to the Basketball Hall of Fame three times in a storied career as a player and executive and whose silhouette is considered to be the basis of the NBA logo, died Wednesday morning, the Los Angeles Clippers announced.

    He was 86.

    What You Need To Know

    • Legendary basketball player, coach and executive Jerry West died Wednesday at 86, the Los Angeles Clippers announced

    • West, nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his late-game exploits as a player, went into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and again as a member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic Team in 2010; he will be enshrined for a third time later this year as a contributor

    • He was an All-Star in all 14 of his NBA seasons, a 12-time All-NBA selection, part of the 1972 Lakers team that won a championship, an NBA Finals MVP as part of a losing team in 1969 and was selected as part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team

    • West was general manager of eight NBA championship teams with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping build the “Showtime” dynasty; he also worked in the front offices of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors and the Clippers


    West, nicknamed “Mr. Clutch” for his late-game exploits as a player, went into the Hall of Fame as a player in 1980 and again as a member of the 1960 U.S. Olympic Team in 2010. He will be enshrined for a third time later this year as a contributor.

    West was “the personification of basketball excellence and a friend to all who knew him,” the Clippers said in announcing his death. West’s wife, Karen, was by his side when he died, the Clippers said.

    He was an All-Star in all 14 of his NBA seasons, a 12-time All-NBA selection, part of the 1972 Lakers team that won a championship, an NBA Finals MVP as part of a losing team in 1969 and was selected as part of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team.

    West was general manager of eight NBA championship teams with the Los Angeles Lakers, helping build the “Showtime” dynasty. He also worked in the front offices of the Memphis Grizzlies, the Golden State Warriors and the Clippers. Among his many, many highlights as an executive with the Lakers: he drafted Magic Johnson and James Worthy, then brought in Kobe Bryant and eventually Shaquille O’Neal to play alongside Bryant.

    Even in the final years of his life, West was considered basketball royalty. He routinely sat courtside at Summer League games in Las Vegas, often watching many games in a day while greeting long lines of players — LeBron James among them — who would approach to shake his hand and pay him respect.

    “The game transcends many things,” West said while attending Summer League last year. “The players change, the style of play may change, but the respect that you learn in this game never changes.”

    He’s 25th on the NBA’s all-time scoring list, and while the league has never confirmed that West was in fact the model for its logo — a player dribbling a ball, set against a red-and-blue background — the league has never said otherwise, either.

    “While it’s never been officially declared that the logo is Jerry West,” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in 2021, “it sure looks a lot like him.”

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    Associated Press

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  • Northern lights could be visible across U.S. on Friday night

    Northern lights could be visible across U.S. on Friday night

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    A strong geomagnetic storm is impacting the Earth. 

    NOAA’s Space Weather Prediction Center has observed extreme (G5) geomagnetic conditions for the first time since Oct. 2003, meaning the northern lights, or aurora borealis, could be visible for much of the northern United States on Friday night and early Saturday morning.

    It may be visible low on the horizon further south, from Southern California east across the Southern U.S.

    What You Need To Know

    • The northern lights could be visible in the northern U.S. on Friday night

    • Extreme (G5) geomagnetic conditions have been observed for the first time since 2003

    • Further south, the northern lights may be visible on the horizon

    According to the Space Weather Prediction Center, several coronal mass ejections (CMEs) have reached Earth, leading to extreme geomagnetic activity. A CME is an eruption of solar material, and G5 conditions are very rare.

    Geomagnetic storming could continue through the weekend, with more CMEs on the way to Earth. Under clear skies, the northern lights should be visible across much of the northern U.S. on Friday night and early Saturday morning. Further south, they could be visible on the horizon.

    Tonight’s forecast

    Here is tonight’s forecast from the University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. The northern lights are likely to be visible on Friday night and early Saturday morning for areas shaded in green, and they could be visible on the horizon for areas shaded in yellow.

    To ensure the best chance at getting a look at the northern lights tonight, look toward the northern horizon. The best viewing conditions are under cloud-free skies and away from bigger cities with light pollution.

    If you see the northern lights tonight, be sure to submit your photos on the Spectrum News App!

    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 Reid Lybarger

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