High School Playbook Game of the Week Poll: Oct. 24, 2025
Where should KCRA 3 go for the Game of the Week for Week 10 on Friday, Oct. 24?
High school football is back for 2025 and we could use your help, once again, to produce our High School Playbook show. Where should KCRA 3 go for the Game of the Week for Week 10 on Friday, Oct. 24? The games for consideration are:El Camino vs. Casa RobleInderkum vs. Rio AmericanoWheatland vs. CenterPleasant Grove vs. Elk GroveThe poll below closes at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21.(Mobile users, click here if you don’t see the poll.)| MORE | Share your Fan Fits at games all season long. Watch our High School Playbook show Fridays on the KCRA 3 News at 11 p.m.
High school football is back for 2025 and we could use your help, once again, to produce our High School Playbook show.
Where should KCRA 3 go for the Game of the Week for Week 10 on Friday, Oct. 24?
The games for consideration are:
El Camino vs. Casa Roble
Inderkum vs. Rio Americano
Wheatland vs. Center
Pleasant Grove vs. Elk Grove
The poll below closes at 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Katie Porter, under fire for recently emerged videos showing her scolding a reporter and swearing at an aide, expressed remorse for her behavior on Tuesday in her first public remarks since the incidents were publicized.
“I think I’m known as someone who’s able to handle tough questions, who’s willing to answer questions,” Porter told Nikki Laurenzo, host of Inside California Politics and anchor on Fox40 in Sacramento. “I want people to know that I really value the incredible work that my staff can do. I think people who know me know I can be tough. But I need to do a better job expressing appreciation for the amazing work my team does.”
Last week, a video emerged of Porter telling a separate television reporter that she doesn’t need the support of the millions of Californians who voted for President Trump, and brusquely threatening to end the interview because the reporter asked follow-up questions. The following day, a second video emerged of Porter telling a young staffer “Get out of my f—ing shot!” while videoconferencing with a member of then-President Biden’s cabinet in 2021.
Porter on Tuesday said that she had apologized to the staffer. She repeatedly sidestepped Laurenzo’s questions about whether other videos could emerge.
“What I can tell you … is that I am taking responsibility for the situation,” Porter said.
Porter’s behavior in the videos underscored long-standing questions about her temperament and high staff turnover while she served in Congress.
The most recent polls showed that Porter held a narrow lead in the competitive race to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is serving his second and final term as governor. After the videos emerged last week, several of Porter’s rivals criticized her behavior, including former state Controller Betty Yee, who said she should drop out of the race.
On Tuesday, Yee argued that Porter’s temperament could imperil Democrats’ efforts to pass Proposition 50, the Nov. 4 ballot measure to redraw congressional districts in California to boost their party’s numbers in the House.
Yee, a former vice chair of the state Democratic party, warned that a Republican could potentially win the governor’s race and Democrats could lose the U.S. House of Representatives because of Porter’s “demeanor.”
“I don’t relish picking a fight, and it’s not even a fight,” Yee said during a virtual press conference. “I’m doing what’s best for this party.”
Porter is also expected to address the issue Tuesday night during a virtual forum with the California Working Families Party.
Prior to her statements on Tuesday, Porter had released one statement about the 2021 video, saying, “It’s no secret I hold myself and my staff to a high standard, and that was especially true as a member of Congress. I have sought to be more intentional in showing gratitude to my staff for their important work.”
The UC Irvine law professor has not responded to multiple interview requests from the Times.
Mehta reported from Los Angeles and Smith reported from Sacramento.
The new policy, from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, is a dramatic departure from historic standards at the department, which previously required credentialed reporters to sign a simple, single-page document laying out safety protocols.
Replacing that document is a 21-page agreement that warns reporters against “soliciting” information, including unclassified material, without the Pentagon’s official authorization, characterizing individuals who do so as a “security risk.”
The policy would force journalists and media organizations to refrain from publishing any material that is not approved by the military — a clear violation of 1st Amendment protections to free speech, lawyers for media outlets said.
Major news organizations including the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal, as well as right-leaning outlets such as Newsmax and the Washington Times, have refused to sign the document, with only one far-right outlet — the cable channel One American News — agreeing to do so.
The Los Angeles Times also will not agree to the policy, said Terry Tang, the paper’s executive editor.
In a rare joint statement, ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC said that the policy “is without precedent and threatens core journalistic protections.”
“We will continue to cover the U.S. military as each of our organizations has done for many decades, upholding the principles of a free and independent press,” the news outlets said.
But Hegseth, who has aggressively pursued leaks and sources of unfavorable news stories since the start of his turbulent tenure as secretary, has doubled down in recent days, posting emojis on social media waving goodbye as media organizations have issued statements condemning the policy. Journalists were given a deadline of 2 p.m. PDT on Tuesday to either sign the document or relinquish their credentials.
It is unclear whether it will be viable for the Pentagon to maintain the policy, leaving the secretary without a traveling press corps to highlight his official duties or public events. And it is also uncertain whether President Trump approves of the extreme measure.
At a White House event Tuesday, Hegseth said that the policy was “common sense” and that he was “proud” of it. He said credentials should not be given to reporters who will try to get officials “to break the law by giving them classified information.”
Asked last month whether the Pentagon should control what reporters gather and write, Trump said “no.”
But Trump said Tuesday that he understands why Hegseth is pushing for the new policy.
“I think he finds the press to be very destructive in terms of world peace and maybe security for our nation,” Trump said. “The press is very dishonest.”
The widespread revolt has generated a show of solidarity from the White House and State Department correspondents associations, which characterized the Pentagon policy in a joint statement Monday as an attack on freedom of the press.
“Access inside the Pentagon has never been about convenience to reporters,” the statement reads. “The public has a right to know how the government is conducting the people’s business. Unfettered reporting on the U.S. military and its civilian leadership provides a service to those in uniform, veterans, their families and all Americans.”
Beyond the restrictions on media outlets, the Pentagon has taken a series of steps this year to try and identify officials who are deemed disloyal or who provide information to reporters.
In April, the Pentagon dismissed three top officials after an investigation into potential leaks related to military operational plans. That same month, Hegseth’s team began subjecting officials to random polygraph tests, a practice that was temporarily halted after the White House intervened, according to the Washington Post.
Then, in October, the Pentagon drafted plans to renew the use of polygraphs and to require thousands of personnel to sign strict nondisclosure agreements that would “prohibit the release of non-public information without approval or through a defined process.” The nondisclosure agreements include language that is similar to what reporters are being asked to sign by Tuesday.
Notably, many of Hegseth’s plans to target leaks have been leaked to news outlets, probably contributing to the Defense secretary’s suspicion about whom he can trust.
The timing of his efforts are also noteworthy, as they gained traction after he personally shared sensitive details about forthcoming strikes in Yemen in a private Signal group chat that mistakenly included a reporter from the Atlantic. Hegseth also shared information about the attacks in a separate Signal chat that included his wife, a former Fox News producer who is not a Defense Department employee.
Hegseth denied that any classified information was shared in the chat. Yet the situation led to an internal review of whether the disclosures were in violation of Defense Department policies.
The Pentagon has taken an even more aggressive approach to restricting reporters’ access than the White House, which months ago took control over press operations from the White House Correspondents Assn. — an independent group that had organized the White House press corps for decades.
Still, the White House has refrained from implementing changes to the briefing room seating chart, evicting outlets from workspaces within the White House complex or revoking press passes, after facing a legal challenge over an attempt to bar one major outlet — the Associated Press — from covering some presidential events at the beginning of Trump’s second term.
Trump, meanwhile, has continued to single out individual outlets he dislikes. On Tuesday, for example, the president refused to take questions from ABC News because he said he did not like how a news anchor had treated Vice President JD Vance.
“You’re ABC Fake News,” Trump said at a public appearance in the White House. “I don’t take questions from ABC Fake News!”
The KCRA 3 weather team continues to monitor a storm system that will bring rain and some high-elevation snow to Northern California at the start of next week.Monday and Tuesday are now KCRA 3 weather Impact Days. Precipitation is expected to start during the day Monday and it could be heavy at times through Tuesday.Leer en español. Rain forecastRain will be widespread for the Valley and Foothills. Places like Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto could pick up a half inch to an inch of rain Monday through Tuesday. The Foothills are now expected to see higher totals ranging between one and two and a half inches.These rain totals could lead to some ponding on roads, especially in areas where drains are blocked. Stream flooding is not currently expected. This rain will also put pause on fire season for much of the region. It is important to note that forecast models continue to shift as the storm approaches. The KCRA 3 weather team will provide updates as those changes come in. Snow forecastA Winter Storm Watch will go into effect Monday for places above 6,500 feet in the Sierra.Next week’s storm track is currently unfavorable for big snow totals around Lake Tahoe, there should still be enough accumulation for chain controls at times on Highway 50, Interstate 80 and Highway 88 Monday night through Tuesday. Bigger totals are expected in Alpine and Mono County. Caltrans has said that Monitor, Ebbetts and Sonora passes will be temporarily closed because of the snow between October 13th and 16th. Snow levels are expected to hover between 6,000 and 7,000 feet throughout the duration of the storm.The rest of next weekBeyond Tuesday, the forecast continues to look cooler than normal for mid-October. REAL-TIME TRAFFIC MAPClick here to see our interactive traffic map.TRACK INTERACTIVE, DOPPLER RADARClick here to see our interactive radar.DOWNLOAD OUR APP FOR THE LATESTHere is where you can download our app.Follow our KCRA weather team on social mediaMeteorologist Tamara Berg on Facebook and X.Meteorologist Dirk Verdoorn on FacebookMeteorologist/Climate Reporter Heather Waldman on Facebook and X.Meteorologist Kelly Curran on X.Meteorologist Ophelia Young on Facebook and X.Watch our forecasts on TV or onlineHere’s where to find our latest video forecast. You can also watch a livestream of our latest newscast here. The banner on our website turns red when we’re live.We’re also streaming on the Very Local app for Roku, Apple TV or Amazon Fire TV. See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
The KCRA 3 weather team continues to monitor a storm system that will bring rain and some high-elevation snow to Northern California at the start of next week.
Monday and Tuesday are now KCRA 3 weather Impact Days. Precipitation is expected to start during the day Monday and it could be heavy at times through Tuesday.
Rain will be widespread for the Valley and Foothills. Places like Sacramento, Stockton and Modesto could pick up a half inch to an inch of rain Monday through Tuesday.
The Foothills are now expected to see higher totals ranging between one and two and a half inches.
Hearst Owned
The KCRA 3 weather team has been increasing the expected rainfall totals for Monday and Tuesday. Ponding on roads and slow travel should be expected, especially Monday evening and Tuesday morning.
These rain totals could lead to some ponding on roads, especially in areas where drains are blocked. Stream flooding is not currently expected. This rain will also put pause on fire season for much of the region.
It is important to note that forecast models continue to shift as the storm approaches. The KCRA 3 weather team will provide updates as those changes come in.
Snow forecast
A Winter Storm Watch will go into effect Monday for places above 6,500 feet in the Sierra.
Next week’s storm track is currently unfavorable for big snow totals around Lake Tahoe, there should still be enough accumulation for chain controls at times on Highway 50, Interstate 80 and Highway 88 Monday night through Tuesday.
Hearst Owned
There will be enough snow for chain controls and long travel delays over Donner and Echo Summit next week. Ebbetts Pass, Sonora Pass and Monitor Pass will all be closed temporarily.
Bigger totals are expected in Alpine and Mono County. Caltrans has said that Monitor, Ebbetts and Sonora passes will be temporarily closed because of the snow between October 13th and 16th.
Snow levels are expected to hover between 6,000 and 7,000 feet throughout the duration of the storm.
The rest of next week
Beyond Tuesday, the forecast continues to look cooler than normal for mid-October.
The NFL has fined Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones $250,000 for making an obscene gesture which Jones said was “inadvertent” and meant to be a thumbs up at MetLife Stadium following a game against the New York Jets on Sunday.The news was first reported by NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero on Tuesday and confirmed by the NFL to CNN Sports on Wednesday.In a video which was widely shared on social media, Jones could be seen giving a thumbs-up to the crowd from a box before raising his middle finger and pointing lower in the crowd while mouthing a few indiscernible words. The gesture occurred late in the Cowboys’ 37-22 road win over the Jets.Jones has until Friday to appeal the decision and, though neither the Cowboys nor Jones have yet formally done so, it is likely he will, according to Pelissero. The three-time Super Bowl-winning owner offered his explanation for the “unfortunate” fan interaction on Dallas radio show 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday.“I just put up the wrong show on the hand, but that was inadvertently done,” Jones said. “The intention was thumbs up.”When asked about the exchange, Jones said it occurred in front of Cowboys fans, not Jets fans, amidst the excitement after quarterback Dak Prescott threw a four-yard pass to Javonte Williams for Dallas’ final touchdown of the game.“There was a swarm of Cowboy fans out in front, not Jets fans, Cowboy fans,” Jones emphasized. “That was inadvertent on my part because that was right after we’d made our last touchdown and we were all excited about it.“There wasn’t any antagonistic issue or anything like that.”This is not the first time Jones has faced a fine from the league. He faced his first fine in 2008 for criticizing a referee and another in 2009 for violating an order from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to stop executives and owners from discussing league labor issues.
The NFL has fined Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones $250,000 for making an obscene gesture which Jones said was “inadvertent” and meant to be a thumbs up at MetLife Stadium following a game against the New York Jets on Sunday.
The news was first reported by NFL Network Insider Tom Pelissero on Tuesday and confirmed by the NFL to CNN Sports on Wednesday.
In a video which was widely shared on social media, Jones could be seen giving a thumbs-up to the crowd from a box before raising his middle finger and pointing lower in the crowd while mouthing a few indiscernible words. The gesture occurred late in the Cowboys’ 37-22 road win over the Jets.
Jones has until Friday to appeal the decision and, though neither the Cowboys nor Jones have yet formally done so, it is likely he will, according to Pelissero.
The three-time Super Bowl-winning owner offered his explanation for the “unfortunate” fan interaction on Dallas radio show 105.3 The Fan on Tuesday.
“I just put up the wrong show on the hand, but that was inadvertently done,” Jones said. “The intention was thumbs up.”
When asked about the exchange, Jones said it occurred in front of Cowboys fans, not Jets fans, amidst the excitement after quarterback Dak Prescott threw a four-yard pass to Javonte Williams for Dallas’ final touchdown of the game.
“There was a swarm of Cowboy fans out in front, not Jets fans, Cowboy fans,” Jones emphasized. “That was inadvertent on my part because that was right after we’d made our last touchdown and we were all excited about it.
“There wasn’t any antagonistic issue or anything like that.”
This is not the first time Jones has faced a fine from the league. He faced his first fine in 2008 for criticizing a referee and another in 2009 for violating an order from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to stop executives and owners from discussing league labor issues.
WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court justices on Tuesday heard a free-speech challenge to state laws against “conversion therapy” and sounded likely to rule the measures violate the 1st Amendment.
California and more than 20 other states have adopted laws to forbid licensed counselors from urging or encouraging gay or transgender teens to change their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The laws were adopted in reaction to a history of dangerous and discredited practices, including treatments that induced nausea and vomiting or administered electric shocks.
Lawmakers and medical experts said such efforts to “cure” LGBTQ+ teens were cruel and ineffective and caused lasting harm. But these “talk therapy” laws have been challenged by a number of Christian counselors who believe they can help young people who want to talk about their feelings and their sexual identity.
The court on Tuesday heard an appeal from Kaley Chiles, a counselor from Colorado Springs, Colo. She says she is an evangelical Christian, but does not seek to “cure” young people of a same-sex attraction or change their gender identity.
She sued, alleging the state law seeks to “censor” her conversations and threatens her with punishment.
She lost before a federal judge and a U.S. appeals court, both of whom said the state has the authority to regulate the practice of medicine and to prevent substandard healthcare.
But the Supreme Court voted to hear her appeal.
“This law bans voluntary conversations, censoring widely held views on debated moral, religious and scientific questions,” her attorney James Campbell said in his opening.
The justices, both conservative and liberal, appeared to agree the Colorado law violated the 1st Amendment guarantee of free speech.
“What’s being regulated here is pure speech,” said Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr.
Moreover, he said, the state law enforces a double standard. It would punish a licensed counselor who agrees to talk to a teenage client who wants to “overcome same-sex attractions,” but not if she encourages the teen to accept or affirm those attractions.
Justice Elena Kagan said she too saw a potential 1st Amendment violation. And Justice Sonia Sotomayor said there was less evidence that talk therapy alone has caused real harm.
She also questioned whether the Colorado counselor had standing because she was not charged with violating the law. But none of the others endorsed that idea.
In defense of the law, Colorado state solicitor Shannon Stevenson said the law applies only to licensed counselors. It does not extend to others, including religious ministers.
The practice of medical care “is a heavily regulated area. A doctor doesn’t have a 1st Amendment right to give wrong advice to patients,” she said.
But most of the justices said the 1st Amendment does not permit the state to punish counselors because their views do not align with the state’s.
What about the era when “homosexuality was professionally considered to be a mental health disorder?” asked Justice Neil M. Gorsuch. Could the state by law have punished a “regulated licensed professional for affirming homosexuality?”
The state’s attorney agreed that may have been possible based on the standard of care at the time.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett and others suggested counselors could still face a medical malpractice lawsuit, even if the court rules the state law violates the 1st Amendment.
The Trump administration joined the case on the side of the Colorado counselor and urged the court to rule for her on free-speech grounds.
In 2012, California was the first state to adopt a ban on conversion therapy for minors. In signing the measure, Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. referred to such therapy as “junk science” that led to depression and suicide.
The measure was challenged on free-speech grounds, but the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld it on the basis that it regulated medical treatment by professionals.
But the 1st Amendment has been used repeatedly to challenge laws involving LGBTQ+ people.
Twice in recent years, the Supreme Court has ruled for Colorado business owners who objected to providing service for a same-sex wedding.
One designed custom wedding cakes, and the other designed websites for weddings. They sued seeking an exemption from the state civil rights law that required businesses to provide equal service to customers without regard to sexual orientation.
They were represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, a Christian legal group that also represents Chiles.
In June, the court’s conservative majority ruled for Tennessee and upheld red-state laws that prohibit the use of puberty blockers and sex hormones for transgender teens.
The court’s opinion said it was deferring to the states because there was sharp debate over the proper treatment for young people with gender dysphoria.
The case heard Tuesday — Chiles vs. Salazar — was the first of two this term involving LGBTQ+ rights. In December, the justices will hear arguments on whether West Virginia may bar transgender school athletes from competing on girls’ sports teams.
The man who opened fire in a Michigan church and killed four people while setting it ablaze long harbored hatred toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to longtime friends, and told a stranger who showed up at his door days before that attack that Mormons were the “Antichrist.” The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, began making those sentiments known years ago following his return from Utah, where he dated but later broke up with a girlfriend who was a member of the Mormon faith, two childhood friends said Tuesday. Sanford had moved to Utah after leaving the Marines and told his friends he had become addicted to methamphetamines.No longer the happy-go-lucky kid who was voted class clown of their graduating class, Sanford routinely spouted off about his grievances against the church, his friends said. The first time they heard it was at a wedding 13 years ago.”We were like, ‘Come on, we don’t want to hear this,’” said Bobby Kalush, who grew up down the road from Sanford. “When he came back from Utah, he was a completely different person.”Just six days before Sunday’s attack, those grudges were still boiling at the surface, said Kris Johns, a city council candidate who described a bizarre brush with Sanford while door-knocking for his campaign.The two were speaking at Sanford’s home in Burton about gun rights when Sanford physically leaned in, Johns said, and asked, “What do you know about Mormons?”For close to 15 minutes, Sanford spoke in controlled and calm tones about the Mormon faith, saying he was concerned about their beliefs while expressing that he was a Christian. Sanford then said he believed that Mormons are the “Antichrist,” according to Johns.”That’s something I’ll never forget,” he said.Police have released very few details about Sanford, who died after being shot by officers, and have refused to discuss what might have motivated the attack at the church, which was reduced to rubble in Grand Blanc Township, about 60 miles north of Detroit.On Tuesday, Sanford’s family released a statement through a lawyer, expressing condolences. “No words can adequately convey our sorrow for the victims and their families,” they said. Sanford served four years in the Marine Corps after enlisting in 2004 and deployed once to Iraq for seven months, according to military records. His commander during the deployment, David Hochheimer, said the unit never saw combat or incoming fire. “It was a relatively quiet time,” he said on Tuesday.Sanford moved to Utah shortly after leaving the military. His friends said they noticed a change after he moved back home, thinking his battle with addiction was to blame. Kalush said his friend was no longer the “short, stocky ball of energy” who once bought dozens of flowers to give out to girls before the homecoming dance.Around bonfires with friends, it wasn’t unusual for Sanford to start talking about how Mormons were going to take over, said Frances Tersigni, who along with his twin brother was among Sanford’s best friends.”It was just so random. It was like, ‘Why Mormons dude?’” Tersigni said. “It’s hard to explain. We didn’t take it serious.” But there were no signs that he was a threat to anyone, Tersigni said. An avid hunter, Sanford was married now and raising a child at home.”He never once, never, said ‘I’ve got to do something,’” he said. “There’s a Jake we all knew, and there was one who was hidden. It wasn’t apparent to us.” Federal investigators remained at the church Tuesday as heavy machinery began moving debris from the church.Authorities have not yet released the names of the four people who died or the eight people — ages 6 to 78 — who were wounded and expected to survive. Among the wounded were a father and his young son, according to a GoFundMe post.One of those who died was being remembered as a grandfather who adored spending time with his family. John Bond, a Navy veteran, was well-known in the community and loved golfing and trains, according to friends organizing fundraising for the family.Another victim was identified online by family as Pat Howard.”Uncle Pat was so many things. … In my mind I see him mid conversation, his eyebrows raised, his eyes bright and a smile just starting to show,” niece Maureen Seliger said on Facebook. Jeffrey Schaub, bishop of the Grand Blanc church, said in a video posted Monday that the attack has left the community reeling.”As you can expect, our members are quite shaken in spirit and in body,” he said. “And it hurts.”There has been an outpouring of support from different faith communities, he said. “It was very humbling to see how much good there is in the world today and that, above all, we are all children of the same Father in heaven,” he said, with a tremor in his voice.Sanford drove his truck into the church’s brick wall while members were gathered inside Sunday morning. He apparently used gas to start the fire and also had explosive devices, said James Dier of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.Flames and smoke poured from the church for hours after the attack.Jerry Eaton, 78, who lives across the street, sheltered seven people who fled the church, including a mother with her four young children. He was watching television when he heard the shooting.”I’ve done a lot of hunting, so I know the sound of gunfire,” he said. “As much as I didn’t want to believe it, that’s exactly what it sounded like.” White reported from Detroit. Associated Press reporter John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.
GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP, Mich. —
The man who opened fire in a Michigan church and killed four people while setting it ablaze long harbored hatred toward the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, according to longtime friends, and told a stranger who showed up at his door days before that attack that Mormons were the “Antichrist.”
The suspect, identified as 40-year-old Thomas Jacob Sanford, began making those sentiments known years ago following his return from Utah, where he dated but later broke up with a girlfriend who was a member of the Mormon faith, two childhood friends said Tuesday. Sanford had moved to Utah after leaving the Marines and told his friends he had become addicted to methamphetamines.
No longer the happy-go-lucky kid who was voted class clown of their graduating class, Sanford routinely spouted off about his grievances against the church, his friends said. The first time they heard it was at a wedding 13 years ago.
“We were like, ‘Come on, we don’t want to hear this,’” said Bobby Kalush, who grew up down the road from Sanford. “When he came back from Utah, he was a completely different person.”
Just six days before Sunday’s attack, those grudges were still boiling at the surface, said Kris Johns, a city council candidate who described a bizarre brush with Sanford while door-knocking for his campaign.
The two were speaking at Sanford’s home in Burton about gun rights when Sanford physically leaned in, Johns said, and asked, “What do you know about Mormons?”
For close to 15 minutes, Sanford spoke in controlled and calm tones about the Mormon faith, saying he was concerned about their beliefs while expressing that he was a Christian. Sanford then said he believed that Mormons are the “Antichrist,” according to Johns.
“That’s something I’ll never forget,” he said.
Police have released very few details about Sanford, who died after being shot by officers, and have refused to discuss what might have motivated the attack at the church, which was reduced to rubble in Grand Blanc Township, about 60 miles north of Detroit.
On Tuesday, Sanford’s family released a statement through a lawyer, expressing condolences. “No words can adequately convey our sorrow for the victims and their families,” they said.
Sanford served four years in the Marine Corps after enlisting in 2004 and deployed once to Iraq for seven months, according to military records. His commander during the deployment, David Hochheimer, said the unit never saw combat or incoming fire. “It was a relatively quiet time,” he said on Tuesday.
Sanford moved to Utah shortly after leaving the military. His friends said they noticed a change after he moved back home, thinking his battle with addiction was to blame. Kalush said his friend was no longer the “short, stocky ball of energy” who once bought dozens of flowers to give out to girls before the homecoming dance.
Around bonfires with friends, it wasn’t unusual for Sanford to start talking about how Mormons were going to take over, said Frances Tersigni, who along with his twin brother was among Sanford’s best friends.
“It was just so random. It was like, ‘Why Mormons dude?’” Tersigni said. “It’s hard to explain. We didn’t take it serious.”
But there were no signs that he was a threat to anyone, Tersigni said. An avid hunter, Sanford was married now and raising a child at home.
“He never once, never, said ‘I’ve got to do something,’” he said. “There’s a Jake we all knew, and there was one who was hidden. It wasn’t apparent to us.”
Federal investigators remained at the church Tuesday as heavy machinery began moving debris from the church.
Authorities have not yet released the names of the four people who died or the eight people — ages 6 to 78 — who were wounded and expected to survive. Among the wounded were a father and his young son, according to a GoFundMe post.
One of those who died was being remembered as a grandfather who adored spending time with his family. John Bond, a Navy veteran, was well-known in the community and loved golfing and trains, according to friends organizing fundraising for the family.
“Uncle Pat was so many things. … In my mind I see him mid conversation, his eyebrows raised, his eyes bright and a smile just starting to show,” niece Maureen Seliger said on Facebook.
Jeffrey Schaub, bishop of the Grand Blanc church, said in a video posted Monday that the attack has left the community reeling.
“As you can expect, our members are quite shaken in spirit and in body,” he said. “And it hurts.”
There has been an outpouring of support from different faith communities, he said. “It was very humbling to see how much good there is in the world today and that, above all, we are all children of the same Father in heaven,” he said, with a tremor in his voice.
Sanford drove his truck into the church’s brick wall while members were gathered inside Sunday morning. He apparently used gas to start the fire and also had explosive devices, said James Dier of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Flames and smoke poured from the church for hours after the attack.
Jerry Eaton, 78, who lives across the street, sheltered seven people who fled the church, including a mother with her four young children. He was watching television when he heard the shooting.
“I’ve done a lot of hunting, so I know the sound of gunfire,” he said. “As much as I didn’t want to believe it, that’s exactly what it sounded like.”
White reported from Detroit. Associated Press reporter John Seewer in Toledo, Ohio, contributed to this report.
Hurricane Imelda is intensifying as it nears Bermuda on Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center. The hurricane, which formed in the Atlantic on Tuesday, has moved away from the Florida coast and is now bringing significant risks to Bermuda. The NHC said it is bringing hurricane-force winds, damaging waves and the risk of flash flooding to Bermuda. According to the 8 p.m. Wednesday advisory, Imelda was moving east-northeast at 24 mph and was located approximately 100 miles west-southwest of Bermuda.On the forecast track, the core of the hurricane will closing in on Bermuda with hazardous winds expected to increase tonight. Hurricane force winds, damaging waves, and flash flooding are expected over Bermuda into early Thursday Maximum sustained winds: 100 mphMinimum central pressure: 971 mbHurricane Imelda is now a Category 2 storm. Imelda is expected to transition into an extratropical low within a few days, followed by a gradual weakening afterward. Watches/warnings A hurricane warning is in effect for Bermuda.Tropical storm warnings have been discontinued along the Florida coast.Surfers hit Cocoa BeachHurricane season 2025The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Stay with WESH 2 online and on air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.>> More: 2025 Hurricane Survival GuideThe First Warning Weather team includes First Warning Chief Meteorologist Tony Mainolfi, Eric Burris, Kellianne Klass, Marquise Meda and Cam Tran.>> 2025 hurricane season | WESH long-range forecast
Hurricane Imelda is intensifying as it nears Bermuda on Wednesday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The hurricane, which formed in the Atlantic on Tuesday, has moved away from the Florida coast and is now bringing significant risks to Bermuda.
The NHC said it is bringing hurricane-force winds, damaging waves and the risk of flash flooding to Bermuda.
According to the 8 p.m. Wednesday advisory, Imelda was moving east-northeast at 24 mph and was located approximately 100 miles west-southwest of Bermuda.
On the forecast track, the core of the hurricane will closing in on Bermuda with hazardous winds expected to increase tonight. Hurricane force winds, damaging waves, and flash flooding are expected over Bermuda into early Thursday
Maximum sustained winds: 100 mph
Minimum central pressure: 971 mb
Hurricane Imelda is now a Category 2 storm.
Imelda is expected to transition into an extratropical low within a few days, followed by a gradual weakening afterward.
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Watches/warnings
A hurricane warning is in effect for Bermuda.
Tropical storm warnings have been discontinued along the Florida coast.
Surfers hit Cocoa Beach
Hurricane season 2025
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Stay with WESH 2 online and on air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.
When ABC executives told Jimmy Kimmel last month that his show was being pulled off the air, the late-night show’s audience was seated, a guest chef had already started making food, the musical guest had performed a warm-up act, and Kimmel was in the bathroom.”It was about 3:00; we tape our show at 4:30,” Kimmel told Stephen Colbert on an episode of “The Late Show” Tuesday. “I’m in my office, typing away as I usually do. I get a phone call. It’s ABC. They say they want to talk to me. This is unusual: They, as far as I knew, didn’t even know I was doing a show previous to this.”Kimmel said he had five writers in his office at the time, and the only private place where he could take the call was the bathroom.”So I go into the bathroom, and I’m on the phone with the ABC executives. and they say, ‘Listen, we want to take the temperature down. We’re concerned about what you’re going to say tonight, and we decided that the best route is to take the show off the air.’”The audience booed, and Kimmel joked: “That’s what I said: I started booing.””I said, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ and they said, ‘Well, we think it’s a good idea.’ Then there was a vote, and I lost the vote.”Kimmel said he called some of the show’s executive producers into his office to share the news, and he turned white.”I thought, that’s it. It’s over, it’s over. I was like, I’m never coming back on the air.”Kimmel said the show had to send the seated audience home. Chef Christian Petroni’s prepared meatballs and polenta that he had been cooking before the taping went to waste. Future musical guest Howard Jones, however, taped a song for a future episode: “Things Can Only Get Better,” which Kimmel acknowledged was ironic.ABC suspended Kimmel’s show in mid-September for a few days after a controversial monologue that mentioned Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer – and the right-wing reaction to Kirk’s murder. Two days later, FCC Chair Brendan Carr, on a conservative podcast, threatened to pull ABC affiliate broadcast licenses in response. Then Nexstar — the station group which airs “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in approximately two dozen markets — announced they would not air the show. Another affiliate, Sinclair, followed suit. And hours later, Kimmel took ABC executives’ call in the bathroom.Kimmel returned to the air the following Tuesday with an emotional monologue — and mega-ratings.Colbert couldn’t get the line outColbert, who also appeared as a guest on Brooklyn taping of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Tuesday, said he could empathize with Kimmel. The CBS star said executives had made the decision to end his show while Colbert was on vacation. His manager, James Dixon, whom he shares with Kimmel, waited until Colbert returned to share the news.Recounting his desire to tell his audience about the news immediately — despite the fact that “Late Night” is set to run through the spring of 2026 — Colbert told Kimmel that at the end of the following show, he asked his audience to remain in their seats for one more segment. But he had trouble delivering his lines and flubbed the line — twice.”I was so nervous about doing it right, ’cause there was nothing in the prompter. I was just speaking off the cuff,” Colbert said. “They started going, ‘Come on Stephen, you can do it,” because I always messed up on the sentence that told them what was happening. And then I got to the sentence that actually told them what’s happening, and they didn’t laugh.”Although CBS owner Paramount said the cancellation of “The Late Show” was strictly a business decision, many media critics — and Kimmel — questioned that rationale, and some have said it was likely a political decision to appease the Trump administration that needed to approve Paramount’s merger with Skydance.Both Colbert and Kimmel have been frequent and unabashed critics of President Donald Trump and his administration. Trump publicly celebrated when Colbert was canceled, saying in a social media post that Kimmel and NBC’s Seth Meyers were “next.” Trump again celebrated when Kimmel was pulled off the air but criticized — and threatened — ABC when it brought him back on.Meyers made an appearance on Kimmel’s show Tuesday, and the three late night hosts posed for a photograph posted to Instagram. Kimmel added the caption: “Hi Donald!”Kimmel joked with Colbert that Tuesday’s taping was, “The show the FCC doesn’t want you to see.” He introduced Colbert as, “The Emmy-winning late-night talk show host who, thanks to the Trump administration, is now available for a limited-time only.”Kimmel quipped that he was “so honored to be here with my fellow no-talent, late-night loser.” As for the rationale for inviting Colbert onto his program: “We thought it might be a fun way to drive the president nuts.”
CNN —
When ABC executives told Jimmy Kimmel last month that his show was being pulled off the air, the late-night show’s audience was seated, a guest chef had already started making food, the musical guest had performed a warm-up act, and Kimmel was in the bathroom.
“It was about 3:00; we tape our show at 4:30,” Kimmel told Stephen Colbert on an episode of “The Late Show” Tuesday. “I’m in my office, typing away as I usually do. I get a phone call. It’s ABC. They say they want to talk to me. This is unusual: They, as far as I knew, didn’t even know I was doing a show previous to this.”
Kimmel said he had five writers in his office at the time, and the only private place where he could take the call was the bathroom.
“So I go into the bathroom, and I’m on the phone with the ABC executives. and they say, ‘Listen, we want to take the temperature down. We’re concerned about what you’re going to say tonight, and we decided that the best route is to take the show off the air.’”
The audience booed, and Kimmel joked: “That’s what I said: I started booing.”
“I said, ‘I don’t think that’s a good idea,’ and they said, ‘Well, we think it’s a good idea.’ Then there was a vote, and I lost the vote.”
Kimmel said he called some of the show’s executive producers into his office to share the news, and he turned white.
“I thought, that’s it. It’s over, it’s over. I was like, I’m never coming back on the air.”
Kimmel said the show had to send the seated audience home. Chef Christian Petroni’s prepared meatballs and polenta that he had been cooking before the taping went to waste. Future musical guest Howard Jones, however, taped a song for a future episode: “Things Can Only Get Better,” which Kimmel acknowledged was ironic.
ABC suspended Kimmel’s show in mid-September for a few days after a controversial monologue that mentioned Charlie Kirk’s suspected killer – and the right-wing reaction to Kirk’s murder. Two days later, FCC Chair Brendan Carr, on a conservative podcast, threatened to pull ABC affiliate broadcast licenses in response. Then Nexstar — the station group which airs “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” in approximately two dozen markets — announced they would not air the show. Another affiliate, Sinclair, followed suit. And hours later, Kimmel took ABC executives’ call in the bathroom.
Colbert, who also appeared as a guest on Brooklyn taping of “Jimmy Kimmel Live” Tuesday, said he could empathize with Kimmel. The CBS star said executives had made the decision to end his show while Colbert was on vacation. His manager, James Dixon, whom he shares with Kimmel, waited until Colbert returned to share the news.
Recounting his desire to tell his audience about the news immediately — despite the fact that “Late Night” is set to run through the spring of 2026 — Colbert told Kimmel that at the end of the following show, he asked his audience to remain in their seats for one more segment. But he had trouble delivering his lines and flubbed the line — twice.
“I was so nervous about doing it right, ’cause there was nothing in the prompter. I was just speaking off the cuff,” Colbert said. “They started going, ‘Come on Stephen, you can do it,” because I always messed up on the sentence that told them what was happening. And then I got to the sentence that actually told them what’s happening, and they didn’t laugh.”
Although CBS owner Paramount said the cancellation of “The Late Show” was strictly a business decision, many media critics — and Kimmel — questioned that rationale, and some have said it was likely a political decision to appease the Trump administration that needed to approve Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
Both Colbert and Kimmel have been frequent and unabashed critics of President Donald Trump and his administration. Trump publicly celebrated when Colbert was canceled, saying in a social media post that Kimmel and NBC’s Seth Meyers were “next.” Trump again celebrated when Kimmel was pulled off the air but criticized — and threatened — ABC when it brought him back on.
Meyers made an appearance on Kimmel’s show Tuesday, and the three late night hosts posed for a photograph posted to Instagram. Kimmel added the caption: “Hi Donald!”
Kimmel joked with Colbert that Tuesday’s taping was, “The show the FCC doesn’t want you to see.” He introduced Colbert as, “The Emmy-winning late-night talk show host who, thanks to the Trump administration, is now available for a limited-time only.”
Kimmel quipped that he was “so honored to be here with my fellow no-talent, late-night loser.” As for the rationale for inviting Colbert onto his program: “We thought it might be a fun way to drive the president nuts.”
A federal judge on Tuesday temporarily halted a Trump administration plan to reduce disaster relief and anti-terrorism funding for states with so-called sanctuary policies for undocumented immigrants.
U.S. District Judge Mary S. McElroy granted the temporary restraining order curtailing the cuts at the request of California, 10 other states and the District of Columbia, which argued in a lawsuit Monday that the policy appeared to have illegally cost them hundreds of millions of dollars.
The states said they were first notified of the cuts over the weekend. McElroy made her decision during an emergency hearing on the states’ motion in Rhode Island District Court on Tuesday afternoon.
California Atty. Gen. Rob Bonta cheered the decision as the state’s latest win in pushing back against what he described as a series of unlawful, funding-related power grabs by the Trump administration.
“Over and over, the courts have stopped the Trump Administration’s illegal efforts to tie unrelated grant funding to state policies,” Bonta said. “It’s a little thing called state sovereignty, but given the President’s propensity to violate the Constitution, it’s unsurprising that he’s unfamiliar with it.”
Neither the White House nor the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the funding and notified the states of the cuts, immediately responded to a request for comment Tuesday.
Sanctuary policies are not uniform and the term is imprecise, but it generally refers to policies that bar states and localities — and their local law enforcement agencies — from participating in federal immigration raids or other enforcement initiatives.
The Trump administration and other Republicans have cast such policies as undermining law and order. Democrats and progressives including in California say instead that states and cities have finite public safety resources and that engaging in immigration enforcement serves only to undermine the trust they and their law enforcement agencies need to maintain with the public in order to prevent and solve crime, including in large immigrant communities.
In their lawsuit Monday, the states said the funding being reduced was part of billions in federal dollars annually distributed to the states to “prepare for, protect against, respond to, and recover from catastrophic disasters,” and which administrations of both political parties distributed “evenhandedly” for decades before Trump.
Authorized by Congress after events such as Sept. 11 and Hurricane Katrina, the funding covers the salaries of first responders, testing of state computer networks for cyberattack vulnerabilities, mutual aid compacts between regional partners and emergency responses after disasters, the states said.
Bonta’s office said California was informed over the weekend by Homeland Security officials that it would be receiving $110 million instead of $165 million, a reduction of its budget by about a third. The states’ lawsuit said other blue states saw even more dramatic cuts, with Illinois seeing a 69% reduction and New York receiving a 79% reduction, while red states saw substantial funding increases.
Bonta on Tuesday said the administration’s reshuffling of funds based on state compliance with the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement priorities was illegal and needed to be halted — and restored to previous levels based on risk assessment — in order to keep everyone in the country safe.
“California uses the grant funding at stake in our lawsuit to protect the safety of our communities from acts of terrorism and other disasters — meaning the stakes are quite literally life and death,” he said. “This is not something to play politics with. I’m grateful to the court for seeing the urgency of this dangerous diversion of homeland security funding.”
Homeland Security officials have previously argued that the agency should be able to withhold funding from states that it believes are not upholding or are actively undermining its core mission of defending the nation from threats, including the threat it sees from illegal immigration.
Other judges have also ruled against the administration conditioning disaster and public safety funding on states and localities complying with federal immigration policies.
Joining California in Monday’s lawsuit were Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington, as well as the District of Columbia.
Turning Point USA’s college tour will return to Utah on Tuesday for its first event in the state since its founder, Charlie Kirk, was assassinated on a college campus earlier this month.The stop, at Utah State University in Logan, is about two hours north of Utah Valley University, where Kirk was killed Sept. 10 by a gunman who fired a single shot through the crowd while Kirk was speaking.The assassination of a top ally of President Donald Trump and one of the most significant figures in his Make America Great Again movement has galvanized conservatives, who have vowed to carry on Kirk’s mission of encouraging young voters to embrace conservatism and moving American politics further right. Kirk himself has been celebrated as a “martyr” by many on the right, and Turning Point USA, the youth organization he founded, has seen a surge of interest across the nation, with tens of thousands of requests to launch new chapters in high schools and on college campuses.Tuesday’s event, which was scheduled before Kirk’s death, will showcase how Turning Point is finding its path forward without its charismatic leader, who headlined many of its events and was instrumental in drawing crowds and attention.The college tour is now being headlined by some of the biggest conservative names, including Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Glenn Beck. Tuesday’s event will feature conservative podcast host Alex Clark and a panel with Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Andy Biggs, former Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Gov. Spencer Cox.And it will further a pledge his widow, Erika Kirk, made to continue the campus tour and the work of the organization he founded. She now oversees Turning Point along with a stable of her late husband’s former aides and friends.‘Nothing is changing’Erika Kirk has sought to assure her husband’s followers that she intends to continue to run the operation as her late husband intended, closely following plans he laid out to her and to staff.“We’re not going anywhere. We have the blueprints. We have our marching orders,” she said during an appearance on his podcast last week.That will include, she said, continuing to tape the daily podcast.“My husband’s voice will live on. The show will go on,” she said, announcing plans for a rotating cast of hosts. She said they intended to lean heavily on old clips of her husband, including answering callers’ questions.“We have decades’ worth of my husband’s voice. We have unused material from speeches that he’s had that no one has heard yet,” she said.Erika Kirk, however, made clear that she does not intend to appear on the podcast often, and so far seems to be assuming a more behind-the-scenes role than her husband.Mikey McCoy, Kirk’s former chief of staff, said Erika Kirk is in daily contact with members of the Trump administration, and has described her as “very strategic” and different from her husband.The events have served as tributes to KirkThe events so far have served as tributes to the late Kirk, with a focus on prayer, as well as the question-and-answer sessions that he was known for.At Virginia Tech last week, the state’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, urged the crowd to carry Kirk’s legacy forward.“The question that has been asked over and over again is: Who will be the next Charlie? And as I look out in this room and I see thousands of you, I want to repeat the best answer that I have heard: You will be the next Charlie,” he said. “All of you.”He also praised Erika Kirk as an “extraordinary” leader.“Over the course of the last two weeks, Erika Kirk has demonstrated that she not only has the courage of a lion, but she has the heart of a saint. We have grieved with her and her family. We have prayed for her and her family,” he said. “Is there anyone better to lead Turning Point going forward than Erika Kirk?”He then turned the stage over to Kelly, who said Charlie Kirk had asked her to join the tour several months ago. She said she knew appearing onstage carried risk, but felt it was important to be there “to send a message that we will not be silenced by an assassin’s bullet, by a heckler’s veto, by a left-wing, woke professor or anyone who tries to silence us from saying what we really believe,” she said to loud cheers.At another event at the University of Minnesota last week, conservative commentator Michael Knowles gave a solo speech in lieu of the two-man conversation with Kirk that was originally planned. Then he continued Kirk’s tradition of responding to questions from the audience, which ranged from one man quibbling about Catholic doctrine to another arguing that the root of societal problems stems from letting women vote. (To the latter, he responded that women aren’t to blame because “men need to lead women.”)As Knowles spoke, a spotlight shined on a chair left empty for Kirk.Knowles said Kirk was instrumental in keeping together disparate conservative factions, and he worries about the MAGA movement fracturing without Kirk doing the day-to-day work to build bridges between warring groups.“Charlie was the unifying figure for the movement. It’s simply a fact,” he said. “There is no replacing him in that regard.”“The biggest threat right now is that without that single figure that we were all friends with, who could really hold it together, things could spin off in different directions,” Knowles said. “We have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
The stop, at Utah State University in Logan, is about two hours north of Utah Valley University, where Kirk was killed Sept. 10 by a gunman who fired a single shot through the crowd while Kirk was speaking.
The assassination of a top ally of President Donald Trump and one of the most significant figures in his Make America Great Again movement has galvanized conservatives, who have vowed to carry on Kirk’s mission of encouraging young voters to embrace conservatism and moving American politics further right. Kirk himself has been celebrated as a “martyr” by many on the right, and Turning Point USA, the youth organization he founded, has seen a surge of interest across the nation, with tens of thousands of requests to launch new chapters in high schools and on college campuses.
Tuesday’s event, which was scheduled before Kirk’s death, will showcase how Turning Point is finding its path forward without its charismatic leader, who headlined many of its events and was instrumental in drawing crowds and attention.
The college tour is now being headlined by some of the biggest conservative names, including Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Glenn Beck. Tuesday’s event will feature conservative podcast host Alex Clark and a panel with Sen. Mike Lee, Rep. Andy Biggs, former Rep. Jason Chaffetz and Gov. Spencer Cox.
And it will further a pledge his widow, Erika Kirk, made to continue the campus tour and the work of the organization he founded. She now oversees Turning Point along with a stable of her late husband’s former aides and friends.
‘Nothing is changing’
Erika Kirk has sought to assure her husband’s followers that she intends to continue to run the operation as her late husband intended, closely following plans he laid out to her and to staff.
“We’re not going anywhere. We have the blueprints. We have our marching orders,” she said during an appearance on his podcast last week.
That will include, she said, continuing to tape the daily podcast.
“My husband’s voice will live on. The show will go on,” she said, announcing plans for a rotating cast of hosts. She said they intended to lean heavily on old clips of her husband, including answering callers’ questions.
“We have decades’ worth of my husband’s voice. We have unused material from speeches that he’s had that no one has heard yet,” she said.
Erika Kirk, however, made clear that she does not intend to appear on the podcast often, and so far seems to be assuming a more behind-the-scenes role than her husband.
Mikey McCoy, Kirk’s former chief of staff, said Erika Kirk is in daily contact with members of the Trump administration, and has described her as “very strategic” and different from her husband.
The events have served as tributes to Kirk
The events so far have served as tributes to the late Kirk, with a focus on prayer, as well as the question-and-answer sessions that he was known for.
At Virginia Tech last week, the state’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, urged the crowd to carry Kirk’s legacy forward.
“The question that has been asked over and over again is: Who will be the next Charlie? And as I look out in this room and I see thousands of you, I want to repeat the best answer that I have heard: You will be the next Charlie,” he said. “All of you.”
He also praised Erika Kirk as an “extraordinary” leader.
“Over the course of the last two weeks, Erika Kirk has demonstrated that she not only has the courage of a lion, but she has the heart of a saint. We have grieved with her and her family. We have prayed for her and her family,” he said. “Is there anyone better to lead Turning Point going forward than Erika Kirk?”
He then turned the stage over to Kelly, who said Charlie Kirk had asked her to join the tour several months ago. She said she knew appearing onstage carried risk, but felt it was important to be there “to send a message that we will not be silenced by an assassin’s bullet, by a heckler’s veto, by a left-wing, woke professor or anyone who tries to silence us from saying what we really believe,” she said to loud cheers.
At another event at the University of Minnesota last week, conservative commentator Michael Knowles gave a solo speech in lieu of the two-man conversation with Kirk that was originally planned. Then he continued Kirk’s tradition of responding to questions from the audience, which ranged from one man quibbling about Catholic doctrine to another arguing that the root of societal problems stems from letting women vote. (To the latter, he responded that women aren’t to blame because “men need to lead women.”)
As Knowles spoke, a spotlight shined on a chair left empty for Kirk.
Knowles said Kirk was instrumental in keeping together disparate conservative factions, and he worries about the MAGA movement fracturing without Kirk doing the day-to-day work to build bridges between warring groups.
“Charlie was the unifying figure for the movement. It’s simply a fact,” he said. “There is no replacing him in that regard.”
“The biggest threat right now is that without that single figure that we were all friends with, who could really hold it together, things could spin off in different directions,” Knowles said. “We have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
ACCURATE FORECAST IN MINUTES. WELL TROPICAL STORM IMELDA IS CAUSING, AS WE MENTIONED, SOME DANGEROUS CONDITIONS AT OUR BEACHES TODAY. AND WESH 2’S BOB HAZEN IS IN COCOA BEACH WHERE BIG WAVES ARE EXPECTED. THE CONDITIONS HERE IN COCOA BEACH HAVE BEEN KEEPING SOME FOLKS OUT OF THE WATER, BUT FOR OTHERS IT’S LURING THEM IN. NIA, TIA AND HER FAMILY CAME TO COCOA BEACH FROM TAMPA, HOPING TO CATCH WAVES A LOT BIGGER THAN THEY’RE USED TO. IT’S FUN, BUT IT’S DEFINITELY PRETTY CHOPPY. THE STORMS FAR OFFSHORE ARE EXPECTED TO BRING WAVES AS HIGH AS TEN FEET TO SOME PARTS OF OUR COASTLINE. THAT ENTICED A LOT OF SURFERS TO COME OUT FIRST THING IN THE MORNING TO RIDE THE SWELLS, BUT WITH THOSE WAVES ARE POWERFUL RIP CURRENTS. IT’S PRETTY ROUGH TODAY, HONESTLY, WITH THE NORTH WINDS COMING IN, THEY’RE MESSING UP THE FORM OF THE WAVES, SO IT’S NOT THE BEST STORMY, BUMPY CONDITIONS. IT’S A LOT OF FUN THOUGH. SOME FUN DROPS. JONATHAN BROUGHT OUT HIS BOOGIE BOARD FOR THE SAME REASON. HE SAYS AS LONG AS HE’S ON THE BOARD, HE DOESN’T MIND THE RIP. THAT’S GOOD FOR ME. IT GETS ME OUT IN THE WATER QUICKER. BUT OBVIOUSLY IF YOU HAD A KID OR YOU’RE NOT FAMILIAR WITH THE WATER, DON’T BE OUT HERE TODAY. WE SHOULD SEE SOME OF THE WORST CONDITIONS. STRONG, GUSTY WINDS. OFFICIALS SAY THE RIP CURRENTS CAN BE LIFE THREATENING, SO PEOPLE SHOULD NOT GET INTO THE WATER. BRIAN STAPLETON WAS PLANNING TO GO SURF FISHING, BUT TOLD ME THE CHURNING OCEAN WILL KEEP HIM ON THE SAND. USUALLY WE’LL WALK OUT, CHEST HIGH IN THE WATER, THROW THE BAIT OUT, BUT A DAY LIKE TODAY, PROBABLY NOT A GOOD IDEA. COVERING BREVARD COUNT
Humberto, Imelda expected to bring big waves, rough surf to Cocoa Beach
Tropical Storm Imelda and Hurricane Humberto continue to churn in the Atlantic.Swells and high surf from both Humberto and Imelda are expected to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along the east coast of Florida and the Georgia coast through Monday, NHC says.Surfers in Florida are taking to the waves to enjoy the first storm swells of the year, despite warnings from emergency officials to stay off the beach due to high surf and rip current risks.”To me, it’s very good. I have two years without surf, so to me it’s amazing,” one surfer said.County officials are advising people to stay off the beach and out of the water until the rip current risk and high surf conditions subside. The consensus among surfers is that only those with experience should attempt to surf in these conditions.”It was a little too strong for me to go outside,” a young girl said, referring to the main waves breaking outside.She enjoyed the beach safely, accompanied by her experienced surfer dad.”He’s having fun, he did a really cool air, and it’s two to three foot, and it’s really fun to catch the white water,” she said.Another surfer described the conditions as “some chest-high waves and dumping really hard, so fun for me.”The surf is expected to increase on Monday and Tuesday as the storm passes, leaving choppy waters behind.”By Tuesday, of course, it’s going to be good surfers only,” a surfer said.
CENTRAL FLORIDA, USA —
Tropical Storm Imelda and Hurricane Humberto continue to churn in the Atlantic.
Swells and high surf from both Humberto and Imelda are expected to cause life-threatening surf and rip current conditions along the east coast of Florida and the Georgia coast through Monday, NHC says.
Surfers in Florida are taking to the waves to enjoy the first storm swells of the year, despite warnings from emergency officials to stay off the beach due to high surf and rip current risks.
“To me, it’s very good. I have two years without surf, so to me it’s amazing,” one surfer said.
County officials are advising people to stay off the beach and out of the water until the rip current risk and high surf conditions subside. The consensus among surfers is that only those with experience should attempt to surf in these conditions.
“It was a little too strong for me to go outside,” a young girl said, referring to the main waves breaking outside.
She enjoyed the beach safely, accompanied by her experienced surfer dad.
“He’s having fun, he did a really cool air, and it’s two to three foot, and it’s really fun to catch the white water,” she said.
Another surfer described the conditions as “some chest-high waves and dumping really hard, so fun for me.”
The surf is expected to increase on Monday and Tuesday as the storm passes, leaving choppy waters behind.
“By Tuesday, of course, it’s going to be good surfers only,” a surfer said.
The Phoenix Mercury have turned seizing home-court advantage into their postseason identity.
The Mercury gained the upper hand in their WNBA semifinal series against the top-seed Minnesota Lynx with a Game 2 road victory Tuesday, and they will begin defense of their home floor in the third game of the best-of-five series Friday.
The Mercury overcame a 20-point deficit in the final 16 minutes of regulation and scored the first six points of overtime while evening the series with an 89-83 victory.
‘This is a battle-tested team,’ Phoenix coach Nate Tibbetts said of the Lynx. ‘We haven’t done anything yet. We needed to get one there (Minneapolis). We did our job.’The Lynx, who have won four league titles and lost in the finals last year, took Game 1 82-69 at home by outscoring the Mercury by 13 in the fourth quarter. Game 4 is in Phoenix on Sunday.
‘It’s a resilient team,’ Lynx coach Cheryl Reeve said of her group. ‘It’s a team that responds. There are problem-solvers. Nobody said this stuff was going to be easy. It’s all part of the journey.
‘Now we have to beat a really good team at their place. That’s a tall order. We’ll do all we can to do it.’
The Mercury took home court from defending champion New York in the second game of their first-round series and clinched it with a win in Game 3 at home.
Lynx point guard Courtney Williams has 43 points, 16 assists and 15 rebounds in this series. Napheesa Collier, the runner-up in league MVP voting, has 42 points and 15 rebounds.
Pressured by Alyssa Thomas, Collier missed a 16-footer at the buzzer after the Mercury’s Sami Whitcomb hit a 3-pointer with 4.3 seconds remaining to send Tuesday’s game into overtime.
‘This is what it’s all about,’ Thomas said. ‘You play the whole season for the playoffs and moments like these. I’ve been chasing a championship for a long time. I think this is our time.’
Thomas, who spent her first 11 seasons with Connecticut, directs Tibbetts’ free-flowing offense from the foul-line extended. The Mercury went small in their comeback Tuesday.
Thomas, third in MVP voting, led the league with a career-high 9.2 assists per game in the regular season. Williams was second at 6.2. Thomas has eight triple-doubles and is averaging 18.5 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in the series.
Phoenix’s Satou Sabally had 24 points, including five 3-pointers, and nine rebounds in Game 2.
After making 3 of 23 threes in Game 1, the Mercury were 13 of 32 in the second game.
When ‘Sa’ makes threes, she’s pretty good,’ Tibbetts said. ‘They have a decision to make, right? They are either going to take away the paint or take away threes. It’s really hard to do both.’
Kelsey Mitchell appears to be on a mission to prove that the longer her season lasts, the stronger she gets. On Tuesday, she’s out to give the Indiana Fever a commanding lead in the WNBA semifinals.A finalist for the MVP award, Mitchell outplayed the actual MVP winner on Sunday to get a jump on A’ja Wilson and the Las Vegas Aces in Game 1 of the best-of-five series. Game 2 is in Las Vegas on Tuesday.Mitchell scored 34 points in the 89-73 Game 1 victory at Las Vegas and will attempt to repeat that performance to help steal a second road game in the series before the matchup shifts to Indianapolis for Game 3 on Friday.’Kelsey is just a tough shot-maker,’ said Fever head coach Stephanie White. ‘She’s always in constant motion, she’s fast as all get out (and) probably the fastest player in the league with the ball in her hands. … There have been multiple times this season when she’s put us on her back.’In four games so far in the playoffs, Mitchell has averaged 26.0 points on 48.6 percent shooting from the floor and 50.0 percent from 3-point range.
The eighth-year pro finished the regular season averaging a career-best 20.2 points per game. She averaged 21.2 points per game over the final 22 games of the season that Caitlin Clark missed with a groin injury and a bone bruise on her left ankle.Odyssey Sims added 17 points in Game 1 while Natasha Howard had 12. Both Howard and Aliyah Boston delivered 11 rebounds.The Indiana defense also left its mark. Wilson was held to 16 points, well under her WNBA-best average of 23.4 per game during the regular season. Wilson was 6 of 22 (27.2 percent) from the floor after shooting 50.5 percent in the regular season.’We wanted to come in and be the aggressor right away to make sure we were dictating on the defensive end and dictating from a pace standpoint,’ White said. ‘They’re champions for a reason and we knew they were going to make runs.’After trailing by as many as 14 points, Las Vegas pulled within 58-55 with 2:51 remaining in the third quarter before Indiana closed the period on an 11-0 burst. Jackie Young had 19 points for the Aces while Dana Evans had 14. Wilson finished with 13 rebounds.The Aces, though, do know how to make a statement after a tough loss. Las Vegas was thrashed 111-58 by the Minnesota Lynx on August 2 before finishing the regular season on a 16-game winning streak that included a revenge victory over the Lynx.After the Aces saw their 17-game winning streak snapped in an 86-83 Game 2 loss in their best-of-three opening-round series against Seattle, they came back to advance with a 74-73 victory behind 38 points from Wilson.’We were in the huddle (Sunday) talking about how we didn’t really have a pep to us,’ Young said, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. ‘You saw the pace that they were playing with and the pep that they had in their step. And we just didn’t have that. It’s on us to change that next game.’–Field Level Media
Hurricane Gabrielle continues to strengthen as it moves across the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center. Gabrielle is anticipated to strengthen into a Category 3 storm by Tuesday. Meanwhile, the NHC is monitoring two more tropical waves in the Atlantic. Hurricane GabrielleHurricane Gabrielle is currently located southeast of Bermuda and moving north-northwest at 10 mph. Gabrielle has maximum sustained winds of 90 mph and a minimum central pressure of 978 mb.By Tuesday, Gabrielle is forecast to be a Category 3 storm. ImpactsHurricane Gabrielle isn’t expected to hit the U.S., but the swells generated by the storm will affect Bermuda for a few days. These swells are now reaching the east coast of the United States from North Carolina northward. Central tropical waveA tropical wave is producing showers and thunderstorms west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, according to the NHC.Environmental conditions are not favorable for initial development over the next day or two but are expected to gradually become more favorable by the middle to latter part of this week, NHC says.A tropical depression could form as the system moves west-northwestward across the central AtlanticFormation chance through the next 48 hours: 20%Formation chance through the next 7 days: 70% East of Windward IslandsNHC is monitoring another tropical wave located east of the Lesser Antilles Islands.The development is producing a small area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms as it moves quickly westward. Environmental conditions appear only marginally conducive for further development over the next several days.By the latter part of this week, the system is expected to slow down and turn more northwestward, moving north of Hispaniola, according to the NHC.Formation chance through the next 48 hours: 10%Formation chance through the next 7 days: 40%Hurricane season 2025The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Stay with WESH 2 online and on air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.>> More: 2025 Hurricane Survival GuideThe First Warning Weather team includes First Warning Chief Meteorologist Tony Mainolfi, Eric Burris, Kellianne Klass, Marquise Meda and Cam Tran.>> 2025 hurricane season | WESH long-range forecast
Hurricane Gabrielle continues to strengthen as it moves across the Atlantic Ocean on Monday, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Gabrielle is anticipated to strengthen into a Category 3 storm by Tuesday. Meanwhile, the NHC is monitoring two more tropical waves in the Atlantic.
Hurricane Gabrielle
Hurricane Gabrielle is currently located southeast of Bermuda and moving north-northwest at 10 mph.
Gabrielle has maximum sustained winds of 90 mph and a minimum central pressure of 978 mb.
By Tuesday, Gabrielle is forecast to be a Category 3 storm.
Impacts
Hurricane Gabrielle isn’t expected to hit the U.S., but the swells generated by the storm will affect Bermuda for a few days.
These swells are now reaching the east coast of the United States from North Carolina northward.
Central tropical wave
A tropical wave is producing showers and thunderstorms west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands, according to the NHC.
Environmental conditions are not favorable for initial development over the next day or two but are expected to gradually become more favorable by the middle to latter part of this week, NHC says.
A tropical depression could form as the system moves west-northwestward across the central Atlantic
Formation chance through the next 48 hours: 20%
Formation chance through the next 7 days: 70%
East of Windward Islands
NHC is monitoring another tropical wave located east of the Lesser Antilles Islands.
The development is producing a small area of disorganized showers and thunderstorms as it moves quickly westward.
Environmental conditions appear only marginally conducive for further development over the next several days.
By the latter part of this week, the system is expected to slow down and turn more northwestward, moving north of Hispaniola, according to the NHC.
Formation chance through the next 48 hours: 10%
Formation chance through the next 7 days: 40%
Hurricane season 2025
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1 through Nov. 30. Stay with WESH 2 online and on air for the most accurate Central Florida weather forecast.
BEIRUT — Cascades of condemnation from friend and foe alike. An array of international organizations and rights groups leveling accusations of genocide and war crimes. Boycotts across a range of sectors and fields.
As Israel begins its ground offensive to occupy Gaza City, defying international and domestic pressure to negotiate a ceasefire with Hamas, it skirts ever closer to becoming a pariah state.
“Israel is entering diplomatic isolation. We will have to deal with a closed economy,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at a finance ministry conference on Monday, giving a rare admission of the war’s effect on Israel’s international standing.
Netanyahu engaged in damage control on Tuesday, saying he was talking specifically about Israel’s defense industry and that the wider economy was “strong and innovative.” But by then his words had already spooked markets, spurring a sharp fall in the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange and a raft of enraged statements from his political enemies.
“We are not Sparta — this vision as presented will make it difficult for us to survive in an evolving global world,” the Israel Business Forum, which represents the heads of around 200 of the Israeli economy’s largest companies, said in a statement. “We are marching towards a political, economic, and social abyss that will endanger our existence in Israel.”
Netanyahu has forged ahead with the ground operation despite repeated warnings from allies and adversaries that it would trigger a humanitarian catastrophe for hundreds of thousands of people remaining in what was the enclave’s largest urban center.
Visiting the U.S. in July, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, posed alongside Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), Sen. Jim Risch (R-Ida.) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
(Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images)
Even as tanks and armored vehicles streamed into Gaza City’s western neighborhoods, an independent U.N. commission released a report Tuesday concluding that “Israeli authorities and security forces have the genocidal intent to destroy, in whole or in part, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
It was the most recent of a number of international organizations and rights groups accusing Netanyahu’s government of committing genocide. The Israeli government dismissed the commission’s report as “falsehoods.”
The European Commission on Wednesday decided on a partial suspension of a trade agreement between the European Union and Israel. The move could involve imposing tariffs on Israeli goods entering the union.
The measure, said EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas in a statement Tuesday on X, is aimed at pressuring Israel’s government to change course over the war in Gaza.
Western governments — including some of Israel’s most loyal supporters — castigated the decision to invade, with Germany’s foreign minister slamming it as “the completely wrong path” and France saying the campaign had “no military logic.”
Yvette Cooper, Britain’s foreign secretary, said it was “utterly reckless and appalling,” while Irish President Michael Higgins, a routinely vociferous critic of Israel, said the U.N. must look to exclude countries “practicing genocide and those who are supporting genocide with armaments.”
Meanwhile, many nations — including traditional U.S. allies such as Australia, Britain, Canada and others — are expected to recognize Palestine at the United Nations General Assembly in defiance of intense diplomatic pressure from Washington.
Pope Leo XIV weighed in Wednesday on the carnage in Gaza, expressing his “deep solidarity” with Palestinians “who continue to live in fear and survive in unacceptable conditions, being forcibly displaced once again from their lands.” He called for a ceasefire.
Relatives of Palestinians who died following Israeli attacks mourn as the bodies are taken from Al-Shifa Hospital for funerals in Gaza City on Wednesday.
(Khames Alrefi / Anadolu / Getty Images)
Israel’s military pressed on with the offensive Wednesday, leveling buildings in Gaza City’s ’s north, west and south, residents and local reporters said. Palestinian health authorities in the enclave said 50 people had been killed since dawn Wednesday, adding to a death toll that has exceeded 65,000 since Oct. 7, 2023. It will take months to fully occupy Gaza City, Israel military leaders say.
It’s unclear if the U.S. supports the ground invasion. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Trump prefers a negotiated settlement, but seemed reluctant to exert any pressure to stop Israel’s incursion. Trump, after professing “I don’t know too much” about the offensive, threatened Hamas if it used hostages as human shields.
Israel’s Arab neighbors perceive the ground operation as the latest in a series of moves over the last two years that demonstrate it has little interest in peace, pointing to Israel’s bombing this month of Arab countries — the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Syria, Qatar and Yemen — to say it has become as destabilizing a player in the region as Iran has long been.
Prospects for Saudi Arabia to join the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements between some Arab states and Israel forged during Trump’s first term, appear dimmer than ever. And the United Arab Emirates, a founding and enthusiastic member of the accords, has said they are under threat if Netanyahu goes ahead with plans to annex the occupied West Bank.
The fallout has spread to the cultural arena.
On Tuesday, Spain joined Ireland, the Netherlands and Slovenia in saying it would boycott the Eurovision contest if Israel were to join. Last week, Flanders Festival Ghent, a Belgian music festival, withdrew its invitation for the Munich Philharmonic to play there because the orchestra’s conductor is Lahav Shani, who is also music director of the Israeli Philharmonic. In August, Israeli actor Gal Gadot blamed “pressure” on Hollywood celebrities to “speak out against Israel” for the paltry box office returns of “Snow White.”
Even Israel’s much-vaunted arms industry, which has used the war in Gaza as proof-of-concept for its wares and has proven to be relatively resistant to opprobrium, is being affected.
Though the U.S. remains by far Israel’s largest supplier of weapons, a number of European governments have imposed complete or partial arms embargoes and prevented Israeli arms makers from participating in defense expos. This week, organizers for the Dubai Air Show, one of the world’s largest aerospace trade events, were reported to have barred Israeli defense firms from taking part — reversing a policy in recent years that saw them take pride of place in similar events.
Similarly, beginning next year, Israelis will not be able to attend programs at the Royal College of Defence Studies, in London, a prestigious defense college that allows enrollment from the British armed services and roughly 50 U.K. partner nations.
“U.K. military educational courses have long been open to personnel from a wide range of countries, with all U.K. military courses emphasizing compliance with international humanitarian law,” the Ministry of Defence in London said in a statement Monday. It said the Israeli government’s decision to escalate in Gaza “is wrong.”
“There must be a diplomatic solution to end this war now,” the statement said, “with an immediate ceasefire, the return of the hostages and a surge in humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza.”
Two humpback whales came dangerously close to a boat off the coast of New Hampshire on Tuesday.An exclusive video sent to News 9 shows the whales breaching before one surfaced for air and swam directly under the vessel. Captain Dale Sprague and his first mate, Matt Hamilton, said they were haddock fishing about six or seven miles past the Isles of Shoals when they spotted the whales.”Just really kind of bottom fishing, so sitting around, and whales were all over the place, and then they started to get a little bit closer, it seemed,” Hamilton said.Both said they have seen whales before, but being this close was rattling.”Pretty good-sized whale jumping to the right of us. And then as that one landed, another one kind of to the left, very close to the boat. And then as we looked behind, we could see one kind of coming at us. And that’s when I got a little freaked out,” Hamilton said. The fishermen’s boat was a fraction of the whale’s size. “That whale seemed to be about probably three times the size of what we had,” Sprague said. The team quickly pulled in their lines and moved farther away. “It definitely will rattle you, to go get some life jackets and think about what can actually happen,” Sprague said. Experts said seeing humpbacks breach is rare.”You’re considered lucky if you see it,” said Ashley Stokes, director of Marine Mammal Conservation. “They’ll sometimes do it as a method of play and then on top of that, they may also be doing it to rid themselves of parasites or skin irritants.”While breaching is not a sign of aggression, Stokes advises anyone out on the water to stay aware of whales in the area.Despite the close encounter, Sprague and Hamilton said it won’t keep them off the water.Last July, a humpback whale crashed into a boat in Portsmouth Harbor. Both of the fishermen on board had to be rescued by people nearby. They were uninjured.
Two humpback whales came dangerously close to a boat off the coast of New Hampshire on Tuesday.
An exclusive video sent to News 9 shows the whales breaching before one surfaced for air and swam directly under the vessel.
Captain Dale Sprague and his first mate, Matt Hamilton, said they were haddock fishing about six or seven miles past the Isles of Shoals when they spotted the whales.
“Just really kind of bottom fishing, so sitting around, and whales were all over the place, and then they started to get a little bit closer, it seemed,” Hamilton said.
Both said they have seen whales before, but being this close was rattling.
“Pretty good-sized whale jumping to the right of us. And then as that one landed, another one kind of to the left, very close to the boat. And then as we looked behind, we could see one kind of coming at us. And that’s when I got a little freaked out,” Hamilton said.
The fishermen’s boat was a fraction of the whale’s size.
“That whale seemed to be about probably three times the size of what we had,” Sprague said.
The team quickly pulled in their lines and moved farther away.
“It definitely will rattle you, to go get some life jackets and think about what can actually happen,” Sprague said.
Experts said seeing humpbacks breach is rare.
“You’re considered lucky if you see it,” said Ashley Stokes, director of Marine Mammal Conservation. “They’ll sometimes do it as a method of play and then on top of that, they may also be doing it to rid themselves of parasites or skin irritants.”
While breaching is not a sign of aggression, Stokes advises anyone out on the water to stay aware of whales in the area.
Despite the close encounter, Sprague and Hamilton said it won’t keep them off the water.
BEIRUT — Israel began a ground offensive into Gaza City, military officials said Tuesday, slow-rolling into the beleaguered city from multiple directions despite international opprobrium and even as hundreds of thousands of Palestinian residents remain within Gaza’s devastated confines.
Weeks of intense bombardment that all but leveled the Gaza Strip’s largest urban center made way for what Israeli military officials said was the ground maneuver phase of the operation to occupy the city.
“We are operating in the depths of the territory… Our aim is to deepen the blows to Hamas until its defeat,” said the Israeli military’s chief of staff, Lt. Gen. Eyal Zamir, in a video statement said to be from the border with Gaza on Tuesday.
“All our operations are carried out according to an orderly plan, with the release of the hostages and the defeat of Hamas before our eyes.”
Two divisions — comprising tens of thousands of soldiers — began entering the city late Monday from its western flank. Another is supposed to join in the coming days, while two other divisions encircle the city. Some 130,000 reservists are expected to be mobilized, the Israeli military said.
The Israeli military insists Hamas is using Gaza City as “the central hub” of its military and governing power, according to a briefing from its spokesman, Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin. He added the Palestinian group has turned the city “into the largest human shield in history.”
“We estimate it will take several months to secure the city and its centers of gravity, and additional months to clear the city fully due to deep and entrenched infrastructure,” Defrin said.
In a statement later on Tuesday, Hamas characterized Israel’s accusation that it uses human shields as “a blatant attempt at deception.” It added that Israel is “continuing to perpetrate brutal massacres against innocent civilians.”
Residents reached by messaging apps reported “insane” amounts of bombardment while others said the Israeli military dispatched what they called “booby-trapped robots” — armored personnel carriers filled with explosives repurposed as unmanned drones — into city neighborhoods.
Military officials quoted in Israeli media say troops are proceeding with caution, with the expectation of some 2,000 Hamas fighters bunkered in the city.
Running concurrently with its ground offensive, the Israeli warplanes struck Hodeidah, a vital port city in Yemen controlled by Houthi rebels. The Houthis began firing missiles on Israel in 2023 in a bid to pressure the government into a ceasefire with Hamas.
The Gaza operation went ahead despite widespread condemnation from Israel’s European allies and accusations internationally that it was committing genocide, according to a U.N. commission report released on Tuesday. Israel rejected the commission’s findings.
Kaja Kallas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief, wrote on X that Israel’s ground offensive “will mean more death, more destruction & more displacement.” She added the European Commission will present measures on Wednesday aimed at pressuring the Israeli government to change course.
Germany, one of Israel’s staunchest supporters, excoriated the decision to occupy Gaza City. It is “the completely wrong path,” German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said in a news conference.
Wadephul appealed to the Israeli government to instead return “to the path of negotiations for a ceasefire and an agreement” on the release of captives held in Gaza.
In Israel, the decision to launch the offensive — taken by the Cabinet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in August — continues to be a contentious matter that has divided the military leadership and spurred demonstrations against Netanyahu. On Tuesday morning, families of hostages kidnapped by Hamas protested in front of Netanyahu’s house in Jerusalem.
Despite the pummeling and repeated warnings that the roughly 1 million Gaza City residents should flee south to so-called humanitarian areas, more than two-thirds remain, according to Israeli military estimates. Health authorities in Gaza said more than 100 people have been killed since the offensive began; they added that the few remaining operational hospitals are overcrowded and suffering catastrophic shortages in medications and blood units.
“We are seeing massive killing of civilians in a way that I do not remember in any conflict since I am Secretary-General,” said U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a news conference. Israel, he said, did not appear “interested in a serious negotiation for a ceasefire and release of hostages” and that it was determined to “go up to the end.”
Christoph Lockyear, secretary-general of Doctors Without Borders, known as MSF, said that even those Gazans who survived the bombardment on their journey to southern Gaza would “find neither safety nor the basics they need to exist.”
Israeli soldiers work on their tanks and armored personnel carriers at a staging area on the border with the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, on Tuesday.
(Leo Correa / Associated Press)
“What is happening in Gaza is not just a humanitarian catastrophe, it is the systematic destruction of a people. MSF is clear: Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, and doing so with absolute impunity,” he said.
Many residents also say they cannot afford to go to al-Mawasi encampment, the area south of the enclave designated by the Israeli military as a safe zone, with drivers charging more than $1,000. Even for those who could pay such sums, overcrowding means there’s no shelter to be found or even a space for tents; and Israeli strikes have hit safe zones in the past.
Nevertheless, news broadcasts on location on the coastal highway south of Gaza City showed a deluge of thousands of vehicles, many straining under haphazardly piled towers of mattresses, plastic chairs, bags of clothing — anything people could save from their homes ahead of what is expected to be the city’s complete destruction.
Speaking to reporters ahead of his trip to London on Tuesday, President Trump said he “didn’t know too much about” the ground operation, but that Hamas “would have hell to pay” if it used hostages as human shields.
In a later news conference on Tuesday, Netanyahu said Trump invited him to visit the White House in two weeks’ time.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday.
(Nathan Howard / Associated Press)
As Israeli armor advanced into Gaza, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was traveling from Tel Aviv to Doha on Tuesday morning, where he hopes to assuage Qatar’s ire over an Israeli strike on the Qatari capital targeting Hamas leaders last week.
A statement from the office of Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani said the meeting with Rubio centered on ways to enhance defense cooperation, along with joint diplomatic efforts to reach a ceasefire.
But in a news conference in Doha on Tuesday, Majed al-Ansari, the spokesman for the country’s foreign ministry, said ceasefire talks would have “no validity… when one party wants to assassinate anybody who is willing to talk on other side.”
“What kind of talks can be held, about what?” he said.
“Our focus right now is protecting our sovereignty, and we will not look into other issues until this one is resolved.”
In response to the strike, Qatar had threatened to suspend its longtime mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel. During a summit of Arabic and Islamic States on Monday held in Doha, its leaders berated Israel and demanded concrete punitive actions. (A collective communique from the summit announced little more than condemnation.)
Earlier, Rubio said he hoped the government would continue shepherding negotiations.
“If any country in the world can help mediate it, Qatar is the one,” he said.
He added Hamas had a “very short window of time in which a deal can happen,” and that the Trump administration’s preference was for a negotiated settlement.
Demonstrators in Jerusalem hold photos Tuesday depicting Israeli hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.
(Mahmoud Illean / Associated Press)
Hamas dismissed his words in a statement on Tuesday, saying Netanyahu bears “full responsibility” for the hostages’ lives, and that the U.S. used a “policy of deception” to cover up Israeli “war crimes.”
Israel demands the group hand back all hostages, surrender and disarm. Hamas insists on a ceasefire with negotiations that would lead to an exchange of hostages and Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and Israeli troops’ withdrawing from the Gaza Strip; disarmament would happen when Israel agrees to the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
The war sparked on Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people — two-thirds of them civilians, Israeli tallies say — and kidnapping 251 others.
Israel retaliated with a full-on offensive that pulverized wide swaths of the enclave and has so far killed more than 64,000 people, the grand majority of them civilians, according to Gaza health authorities and aid groups; the Israeli military’s former chief of staff said in a recent interview more than 200,000 people have been killed or injured — more than 10% of Gaza’s 2.2 million population, a figure that aligns with the Palestinian Health Ministry’s estimates.
LET’S BRING IN FIRST WARNING METEOROLOGIST ERIC BURRIS DRY RIGHT NOW. WE WILL SEE A COUPLE OF POCKETS OF SHOWERS LATER ON TODAY. YOU KNOW, IT’S STILL WE’RE STILL FLORIDA. WE’RE STILL WATERS ON THREE SIDES OF US. YEAH, BUT LOOK AT THE SEVEN DAY FORECAST. BECAUSE HERE’S ONE THING. WE DON’T HAVE 90S. IT’S ALL UPPER 80S FOR HIGHS. AND WHILE YES, THIS WEEKEND THERE’S A FEW SHOWERS, WE GO EVEN DRIER MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY. AND THEN BY LATE NEXT WEEK, MODELS ARE SAYING WE’LL KIND OF RETURN TO A BIT OF A SUMMER PATTERN. SO SHOWERS AND THUNDERSHOWERS GET GOING. BUT AT THIS HOUR, LET’S JUST TALK ABOUT THE LACK OF MUGGINESS. WE’RE IN A COMFY TERRITORY AND TEMPERATURES AROUND TOWN LOOKING ABSOLUTELY DYNAMITE. 71. THIS IS THE COOLEST. ORLANDO HAS BEEN OFFICIALLY AT LEAST SINCE JULY 1ST. 66 DEGREES IN OCALA. YOU WERE AT ABOUT 66 YESTERDAY, BUT IT DOESN’T MAKE IT FEEL ANY LESS INCREDIBLE. AND IT’S A SATURDAY 69 OUTSIDE IN LEESBURG AND EVEN ALONG THE COASTLINE, THINGS FEEL FANTASTIC, AT LEAST INLAND A BIT, RIGHT? IT’S 77 FOR PORT CANAVERAL, BUT 74 ON MERRITT ISLAND, 72 IN PORT SAINT JOHN. SO YOU HEAD INLAND. IT FEELS GREAT. VOLUSIA COUNTY, GOOD MORNING TO YOU. 69 DEGREES IN CHESTER, 70 DEGREES FOR VICTORIA GARDENS, DELAND. AND THEN BEACHSIDE, RIGHT. 79 AT THE INLET, 80 DEGREES BEACH SAFETY HQ, WHICH IS BEACHSIDE NEAR DAYTONA BEACH. RIGHT. SO OUTSIDE IT’S BEAUTIFUL. BUT THAT BREEZE COMING IN OFF THE OCEAN IS AT LEAST INFLUENCING US JUST A LITTLE BIT. AND LATER TODAY, THAT BREEZE COMING IN OFF THE OCEAN WILL INFLUENCE US. BRINGING IN COASTAL SHOWERS. FOR NOW, THEY’RE STAYING PUT OFF THE SHORELINE, BUT THAT WILL CHANGE. MOST OF THE MOISTURE IS OVER SOUTH FLORIDA, BUT YOU CAN SEE THAT ENERGY OFFSHORE. AND LATER TODAY WE’LL TAP INTO SOME OF THAT AND BRING IT ON IN HIGHS TODAY MID 80S. BEACHSIDE, UPPER 80S ACROSS THE INTERIOR, LOWER THAN THE AVERAGE OF 90. BUT IT’S A FRESH BREEZE TEN, 15, 20 MILES AN HOUR. SO THERE’S THAT BREEZE KIND OF PICKING UP ON SOME OF THAT MOISTURE, BRINGING IN SOME SHOWERS. SAME IDEA FOR US TOMORROW. BUT IS THIS STORM SYSTEM AND COLD FRONT PULL AWAY FROM US? WE’RE ACTUALLY GOING TO GRAB SOME DRIER AIR AND PULL THAT ON DOWN. SO THAT’S WHERE OUR WORKWEEK DRIES OUT A BIT. EITHER WAY THOUGH, MAKING PLANS FOR SATURDAY LOOKS GREAT. SEAWORLD. ASIDE FROM WATCHING SOME OF THOSE COASTAL SHOWERS TRY TO WORK IN, IT’S A COMFY BREEZE FOR US TODAY. EPIC UNIVERSE, IF YOU’RE HEADING OUT TO ENJOY, OPENS UP 10 A.M., STAYS OPEN UNTIL TEN. WE’LL BE WATCHING THE RADAR FOR A FEW SHOWERS THIS AFTERNOON. OTHERWISE WE’RE LOOKING GOOD. 40% COVERAGE EAST OF TOWN. REALLY? SAME IDEA TOMORROW. DRIER. MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY AND THEN THUNDERSTORMS RETURN THURSDAY. FRIDAY. COASTAL SEVEN-DAY FORECAST LOOKING GREAT AS WELL WI
On Tuesday, California celebrated 175 years of statehood.In honor of the anniversary, California State Parks hosted a big block party at the Capitol.Thousands attended California’s big birthday bash, featuring food trucks, California-grown treats, activities, and a laser light display.See updates from the block party around 6 p.m. in the video below:Organizers said the highlight was the laser show featuring 31 laser space cannons in honor of California becoming America’s 31st state in 1850.To start the block party Tuesday evening, the state’s first partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, joined the community.There were archive tours, entertainment, and some State Parks workers and volunteers were dressed in period attire as they discussed California’s history.The State Parks director said it’s all about celebrating California’s Indigenous roots in the Golden State.”This is about more than just a block party, the 175th anniversary of California becoming a state is really about belonging. This is where you live, this is your home, the whole state is where you belong,” Armando Quintero said. Watch a livestream of the laser show in the video player below:See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app | Subscribe to our morning newsletter | Find us on YouTube here and subscribe to our channel
SACRAMENTO, Calif. —
On Tuesday, California celebrated 175 years of statehood.
In honor of the anniversary, California State Parks hosted a big block party at the Capitol.
Thousands attended California’s big birthday bash, featuring food trucks, California-grown treats, activities, and a laser light display.
See updates from the block party around 6 p.m. in the video below:
Organizers said the highlight was the laser show featuring 31 laser space cannons in honor of California becoming America’s 31st state in 1850.
To start the block party Tuesday evening, the state’s first partner, Jennifer Siebel Newsom, joined the community.
There were archive tours, entertainment, and some State Parks workers and volunteers were dressed in period attire as they discussed California’s history.
The State Parks director said it’s all about celebrating California’s Indigenous roots in the Golden State.
“This is about more than just a block party, the 175th anniversary of California becoming a state is really about belonging. This is where you live, this is your home, the whole state is where you belong,” Armando Quintero said.
Watch a livestream of the laser show in the video player below:
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