It should be an outstanding weekend to get outside and enjoy the warm and dry weather. However, with above normal temperatures and heat indices approaching the mid 90s, be sure to take precautions to keep cool! Only eight days until Fall arrives, unfortunately, someone forgot to tell Summer! Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 88. South wind 5 to 9 mph.
Tonight: Mostly clear, with a low around 68. South southeast wind 3 to 6 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 87. Southeast wind 3 to 6 mph.
Saturday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 65. East southeast wind 3 to 6 mph.
Sunday: Sunny, with a high near 86. South southeast wind 3 to 6 mph.
Sunday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 65.
Monday: Sunny, with a high near 88.
Monday Night: Mostly clear, with a low around 67.
Tuesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 87.
Tuesday Night: Partly cloudy, with a low around 67.
Wednesday: Mostly sunny, with a high near 85.
Wednesday Night: A chance of showers and thunderstorms. Partly cloudy, with a low around 69. Chance of precipitation is 30%.
ST. LOUIS (AP) — Incumbent Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill of Missouri and her Republican challenger, Josh Hawley, will meet in their first debate-style matchup in a race that has major national implications.
The two candidates will appear Friday at a forum during the Missouri Press Association convention in suburban St. Louis.
It is one of the nation’s most closely watched races and among a handful expected to decide which party controls the Senate, where Republicans hold a 51-49 advantage.
Hawley, the state’s first-term attorney general, has the support of President Donald Trump. McCaskill is walking a tight rope in a state Trump won by 19 percentage points in 2016. She mostly touts herself as a moderate who supports the president when it benefits Missouri and opposes him when it does not.
Myrtle Beach South Carolina just after 7a.m. EDT Friday
WILMINGTON, N.C. (AP) — The National Hurricane Center said early Friday that Florence was about to make landfall in North Carolina bringing with it life-threatening storm surge and hurricane strength winds.
The powerful storm already has inundated coastal streets with ocean water and left tens of thousands without power, and forecasters say that “catastrophic” freshwater flooding is expected over portions of the Carolinas as Hurricane Florence inches closer to the U.S. East Coast.
The National Hurricane Center said early Friday that Florence’s eyewall is beginning to approach the North Carolina coast bringing with it life-threatening storm surge.
The center said that a gauge in Emerald Isle, North Carolina, recently reported 6.3 feet (1.92 meters) of inundation. Emerald Isle is about 84 miles (135 kilometers) north of Wilmington.
And about 46 miles north of Emerald Isle in New Bern about 150 people were waiting to be rescued from rising flood waters, WXII-TV reported. The city said early Friday that two out-of-state FEMA teams were working on swift-water rescues and more teams were on the way.
Screaming winds bent trees toward the ground and raindrops flew sideways as Florence’s leading edge whipped the Carolina coast Thursday to begin an onslaught that could last for days, leaving a wide area under water from both heavy downpours and rising seas.
The storm’s intensity diminished as it neared land, with winds dropping to around 90 mph (144 kph) by nightfall. But that, combined with the storm’s slowing forward movement and heavy rains, had Gov. Roy Cooper warning of an impending disaster.
“The worst of the storm is not yet here but these are early warnings of the days to come,” he said. “Surviving this storm will be a test of endurance, teamwork, common sense and patience.”
Cooper requested additional federal disaster assistance in anticipation of what his office called “historic major damage” across the state.
More than 80,000 people were already without power as the storm began buffeting the coast, and more than 12,000 were in shelters. Another 400 people were in shelters in Virginia, where forecasts were less dire.
Prisoners were affected, too. North Carolina corrections officials said more than 3,000 people were relocated from adult prisons and juvenile centers in the path of Florence, and more than 300 county prisoners were transferred to state facilities.
Officials said some 1.7 million people in the Carolinas and Virginia were warned to evacuate, but it’s unclear how many did. The homes of about 10 million were under watches or warnings for the hurricane or tropical storm conditions.
Spanish moss waved in the trees as the winds picked up in Wilmington, and floating docks bounced atop swells at Morehead City. Ocean water flowed between homes and on to streets on the Outer Banks; waves crashed against wooden fishing piers.
Coastal towns in the Carolinas were largely empty, and schools and businesses closed as far south as Georgia.
As of 5 a.m., Florence was centered about 25 miles (35 kilometers) east of Wilmington, North Carolina. Its forward movement increased slightly to 6 mph (9 kph). Hurricane-force winds extended 90 miles (150 kilometers) from its center, and tropical-storm-force winds up to 195 miles (315 kilometers).
A buoy off the North Carolina coast recorded waves nearly 30 feet (9 meters) high as Florence churned toward shore.
Forecasters said conditions will deteriorate as the storm pushes ashore early Friday near the North Carolina-South Carolina line and makes its way slowly inland. Its surge could cover all but a sliver of the Carolina coast under as much as 11 feet (3.4 meters) of ocean water, and days of downpours could unload more than 3 feet (0.9 meters) of rain, touching off severe flooding.
Once a Category 4 hurricane with winds of 140 mph (225 kph), the hurricane was downgraded to a Category 1 on Thursday night.
Forecasters said that given the storm’s size and sluggish track, it could cause epic damage akin to what the Houston area saw during Hurricane Harvey just over a year ago, with floodwaters swamping homes and businesses and washing over industrial waste sites and hog-manure ponds.
The hurricane was seen as a major test for the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which was heavily criticized as slow and unprepared for Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico last year.
As Florence drew near, President Donald Trump tweeted that FEMA and first responders are “supplied and ready,” and he disputed the official conclusion that nearly 3,000 people died in Puerto Rico, claiming the figure was a Democratic plot to make him look bad.
Not everyone was taking Florence too seriously: About two dozen locals gathered Thursday night behind the boarded-up windows of The Barbary Coast bar as Florence blew into Wilmington.
“We’ll operate without power; we have candles. And you don’t need power to sling booze,” said owner Eli Ellsworth.
Others were at home hoping for the best.
“This is our only home. We have two boats and all our worldly possessions,” said Susan Patchkofsky, who refused her family’s pleas to evacuate and stayed at Emerald Isle with her husband. “We have a safe basement and generator that comes on automatically. We chose to hunker down.”
KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — The University of Kansas Health System has received a $66 million donation to be used for an inpatient care unit.
Health System officials said Thursday the donation from the Sunderland Foundation is the largest gift ever received by the system. The gift completes a $100 million fundraising campaign for the new unit, which will allow its Blood and Marrow Transplant Program and its Divison of Hematologic Malignancies and Cellular Therapy to come together for patient care and research.
The Sutherland Foundation helped start the campaign in 2014 with a $2 million gift.
Charlie Sunderland has served on the Hospital Authority Board for many years and also chairs the Quality and Safety Committee.
OREGON COUNTY — One person died in an accident just before 12:30a.m. Friday in Oregon County.
The Missouri State Highway Patrol reported a 2004 Harley Davidson Motorcycle driven by Marshall S. Williams, 29, Alton, was westbound on Route AA six miles east of Alton. The motorcycle hit a deer and the driver was ejected.
Williams was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to Clary Funeral Home. He was not wearing a helmet, according to the MSHP.
GREENFIELD, Mo. (AP) — A southwest Missouri father and son are charged with first-degree murder in the death of a 31-year-old man.
Trent -photo Greene Co.
59-year-old Calvin Trent and 36-year-old Willis Trent, of Greenfield were charged Tuesday in the death of Devin Hunt.
Hunt’s body was found Tuesday morning in creek in rural Dade County. Investigators say he apparently died from a gunshot wound.
Investigators say two men told police they killed Hunt after he threatened to contact the police about Trent’s daughter, who had just broken off a relationship with Hunt.
Calvin Trent is jailed in Greene County. Will is is jailed in Dade County. Both are being held without bond.
OZARK, Mo. (AP) — A judge sentenced a 55-year-old southwest Missouri man to seven consecutive life sentences for the repeated sexual assault of a young girl.
Christian County Judge Jennifer Growcock on Wednesday sentenced Doyle Hitchcock, of Ozark, who was convicted in June of 13 counts of forcible rape and sodomy.
Investigators say the sexual abuse started when the victim was younger than 12.
Hitchcock’s attorney had asked for a minimum 40-year-sentence.
WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — A new report shows Kansas plans to spend more than $4.6 million in election grants to tighten cyber-security, modernize voting equipment, audit elections and safeguard voter rolls.
FILE PHOTO KANSAS NEWS SERVICE
The U.S. Election Assistance Commission released on Thursday the Kansas plan for its share of the $380 million allocated by Congress to strengthen voting systems amid ongoing threats from Russia and others.
Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach told the commission that about half of its grant would be spent on cyber-security efforts at all levels of election administration. He said the state will supplement existing staff with outside experts.
Nearly $1.07 million is slated to ensure every voting machine in Kansas has a paper audit trail.
The remaining funds would be used to better secure the voter registration system and audit elections.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — A 23-year-old Romanian man in the United States illegally pleaded guilty to placing skimming devices on ATMs in Kansas and Missouri.
Pinhole camera discovered on ATM-file photo
The devices are used to illegally obtain PINS and debit card numbers from people who use the machines. They then transfer the numbers into gift cards.
David Velcu pleaded guilty Thursday to possession of counterfeit or unauthorized access devices.
He was arrested in April after police discovered the devices on ATMs at QuikTrips in Olathe, Kansas, and Riverside, Missouri.
Federal prosecutors said investigators recovered 15 unauthorized access devices, and 78 “re-encoded” magnetic strip gift cards, when Velcu was arrested.
Authorities said Velcu entered the U.S. from Mexico last year.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — The fate of a Missouri nail manufacturer suffering under President Donald Trump’s steel tariffs has put Republican Senate candidate Josh Hawley in a bind between his support for the president’s trade strategy and a local plant that says it could be forced to close.
Hawley spoke during President Trump’s visit to Kansas City- White House image
Mid Continent Nail Corporation says it could shutter its Poplar Bluff plant, which employs about 335 workers, as early as this month without an exemption to tariffs, the site’s Operations General Manager Chris Pratt told reporters in early September. The company previously had said that it might not survive through Labor Day but stayed open.
After Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff on imported steel, the company in June cut 60 of 500 positions at the plant in rural Butler County, where the unemployment rate is above the national average and the company is the area’s second-largest employer. Pratt said many employees also have left because of the uncertainty, and the company is not replacing those workers.
“Right now we’re counting on Josh Hawley, who says he has a good relationship with President Trump, to save the 500 jobs in Poplar Bluff, Missouri,” Pratt said after Labor Day.
Trump imposed tariffs in March, saying a reliance on imported metals threatened national security. He initially exempted Canada, Mexico and the European Union to buy time for trade negotiations, but tariffs for those countries took effect in May after talks stalled.
Mid Continent is owned by Deacero, a private Mexican company, which supplies steel for the nails made in Missouri. Company spokeswoman Elizabeth Heaton said nails are sold throughout the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean and used for industrial pallets, crating for transportation and residential construction.
Hawley, the state attorney general, and Democratic incumbent Sen. Claire McCaskill are sparring in one of the most closely-watched Senate races in the nation, with Republicans’ 51-49 majority at stake on Nov. 6. Both candidates visited the plant after tariffs began and both say they’re fighting for Mid Continent, but the issue is more delicate for Hawley.
Missouri is one of several Senate races including North Dakota, Indiana and Montana, where Republican candidates are on the defensive as trading partners retaliate against agricultural and manufacturing products from the U.S. in response to Trump’s tariffs.
In Missouri, Hawley says he supports Trump’s goal of getting tough with trading partners to get better deals for the U.S. and urges patience to see results from the negotiations. The Trump administration recently said it reached a deal with Mexico to update the North American Free Trade Agreement and is now negotiating with Canada to finalize it.
In an August letter to Deacero, Hawley says the company makes a strong case for an exemption and urges the Department of Commerce to grant it quickly.
But an exemption is unlikely to be granted quickly. The federal government has been deluged with requests for exemptions, the process is slow and some U.S. steel producers have objected to Mid Continent getting favorable treatment, saying the company could switch to U.S. suppliers.
Pratt said the plant also buys American steel, but he said there’s not enough to meet the company’s needs and noted that domestic prices rose steeply with the tariffs.
Hawley has also put pressure on the plant’s Mexican parent company to keep it open.
“As a company with a global presence and many locations, Deacero is clearly not struggling to make ends meet,” Hawley wrote in the letter. “The reality is that Deacero can afford to keep the factory open, and in turn, help keep men and women employed who simply want to do right by their families and earn a living.”
Democrat McCaskill has gone on the attack over the company’s plight, highlighting Mid Continent Nail during a June U.S. Senate hearing, pushing for the exemption and holding an August hearing in St. Louis to listen to concerns from Missouri businesses.
Instead of tariffs, McCaskill has advocated joining U.S. allies to take a stand against China’s unfair trade practices and spending more money to enforce current trade laws through the United States International Trade Commission.
In a recent Facebook post, she used the tariffs as an example to paint Hawley as a rubber stamp to Trump.
“All across the state, farmers and manufacturers are telling me how they’re being hurt by this trade war. That’s why I’m calling for it to end,” McCaskill wrote. “Hawley is supporting it because he doesn’t want an inch of daylight between him and President Trump.”
It should be an outstanding weekend to get outside and enjoy the warm and dry weather. However, with above normal temperatures and heat indices approaching the mid 90s, be sure to take precautions to keep cool! Only eight days until Fall arrives, unfortunately, someone forgot to tell Summer! Here’s the 7-day forecast from the National Weather Service:
