Thursday, November 10 top stories
It is Thursday, November 10. Here are today’s top stories.
Cat. 1 Hurricane Nicole hits eastern Florida
Cat. 1 Hurricane Nicole made landfall on Florida’s eastern coast this morning just south of Vero Beach with sustained wind speeds of about 70 mph. It is very rare for a hurricane to make landfall in November.
Some beachfront homes in Wilbur-by-the-Sea collapsed into the ocean due to pounding surf.
News reports said over 345,000 homes and businesses across central Florida were without power. Weather forecasters said the storm, which is now a tropical storm, will bring heavy downpours, strong winds, and flooding across the Southeast over the next two days.
Arizona, Nevada still counting ballots
Election workers in Arizona and Nevada are still counting thousands of ballots in close races to decide who wins their Senate races.
Nevada’s incumbent Democratic Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto is currently trailing her Republican challenger Adam Laxalt by about 15,000 votes. There are still a lot of ballots to be counted. One county in Nevada said they received 18,000 mail-in ballots on Election Day (Tuesday, November 8) and another 4,000 on Wednesday. A mail-in ballot must be postmarked by Election Day for it to be counted.
In Arizona, incumbent Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly is currently leading his Republican challenger Blake Masters by about 100,000 votes, but just like in Nevada, there are still a lot of ballots to be counted. USAToday said there are still 600,000 ballots to be counted in the state. Arizona requires ballots to go through a signature verification process.
Arizona also has a gubernatorial race that is very close with Democrat Katie Hobbs leading Republican Kari Lake by about 13,000 votes. They’re still counting.
UK student banned after racist assault
Sophia Rosing, a 22-year-old student at the University of Kentucky, was permanently banned from the campus after a viral video showed her assaulting and shouting racial slurs against a Black student worker, Kylah Spring.
This happened early Sunday morning at a residence hall. Kylah worked as a desk clerk and said when she noticed that Sophia seemed to be under the influence and asked if Sophia was okay, Sophia started to punch and kick her while hurling racial slurs. Kylah kept her cool and blocked or held Sophia back.
Sophia was arrested and charged with public intoxication, assault, assault on a police officer, and disorderly conduct.
UK’s president said Sophia is no longer a student and will not be allowed to re-enroll. She was supposed to graduate this May. Sophia’s attorney said she will seek help for the issues she has.
CBS News said Kylah gave a statement at a rally on campus on Monday night and said, “You will not break my spirit and you will be held accountable for your actions. I only pray that you open your heart to love…”
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Blind man arrested after cane mistaken for gun
A 61-year-old blind man named James Hodges was arrested on October 31 by two cops who thought his walking cane was a gun. This happened in Lake City, Florida.
NBC News explained that James was stopped after cops observed him walking on a crosswalk when a traffic control device indicated not to walk. That morning was foggy and drivers were using their headlights. A cop thought James had a chrome pistol with a white grip in his back pocket and approached him to ask what was in his pocket. James said it is a “navigating aid,” showed the cane, and asked what the problem was. The cops asked for his ID, but he refused to provide it and the situation escalated to the point that James was put in handcuffs and taken to jail.
The sheriff has issued an apology and said the two cops will be suspended. One of them was demoted and will be ineligible for any raises or promotions for two years. Both cops will have to undergo training in civil rights.
Piece of space shuttle Challenger found on ocean floor
Divers who were a part of a History Channel documentary crew happened to find a piece of the space shuttle Challenger on the Atlantic Ocean floor near Florida. The space shuttle exploded after lifting off in 1986, killing all seven onboard.
NASA confirmed that the piece was a part of the space shuttle. It had 8-inch square tiles that are usually found on a space shuttle’s belly. A video clip from the History Channel showed divers brushing off the sand from the tiles as fish swam above it.
NASA administrator Bill Nelson said the discovery allows the world to pause once again and think about the lives lost in the tragedy.
Biden to meet with Chinese leader Xi
President Biden will meet with China’s leader Xi Jinping in person for the first time on Monday at the G20 summit in Indonesia.
The White House said the two are expected to discuss tensions over Taiwan, North Korea’s recent missile launches, the war in Ukraine, and climate change. Russian President Putin is not going to the summit.
Axios said both leaders recently cleared major political hurdles — with the U.S. midterm elections going better than expected for Biden and the Democratic Party and with Xi securing a third term at the Chinese Communist Party Congress.
That is all the top stories for today. See you tomorrow and stay with the light.
https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/09/us/university-of-kentucky-student-banned-from-campus-reaj/index.html
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/legally-blind-florida-man-arrested-cane-confused-gun-rcna56396
https://www.axios.com/2022/11/10/biden-xi-jinping-g20-summit-meeting