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Hurricane Isaias lashes the US Gulf Coast with wind and rain as it nears the Florida Panhandle
GULF BREEZE, Fla. (AP) -- Intensifying winds whipped palm trees and thundering waves crashed along the beaches of the Florida Panhandle and Alabama on Friday as Hurricane Isaias swirled just offshore, picking up speed as it charged toward the U.S. Gulf Coast.
The Category 3 storm weakened only slightly in the afternoon and was on course to arrive in the evening as a major hurricane -- and the first hurricane of an unusually quiet Atlantic season.
"Things are going to get really, really treacherous over the next couple hours," said Jamie Rhome, deputy director for the National Hurricane Center.
Tracking late Friday afternoon showed landfall would likely take place over the western panhandle near the Pensacola area, said Robbie Berg, a national warning coordinator for the hurricane center.
Forecasters warned of a significant storm surge, damaging winds, flooding and possibly even tornadoes before the storm loses steam as it moves inland and delivers strong winds and rain well north into Atlanta.
Wind gusts up to hurricane strength began to lash the Gulf shoreline in the early evening, hours before Isaias was expected to come ashore in the low-lying coastal area known for powdery white sand beaches that are dotted with vacation homes, waterfront bars and seafood shacks.
A hurricane warning was in place from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the western Florida Panhandle. Several counties announced mandatory evacuations while Mobile, Alabama, imposed a curfew beginning Friday evening until morning.
Residents in Panama City, Florida, braved the rain while filling sandbags Friday to protect their houses.
"I mean, it's just the nature of the beast. It's Florida," said Corliss Stone, who works for the fire department.
One of the biggest concerns is a storm surge that could be as high as 6 to 9 feet, according to the hurricane center. Places most at risk include Florida's Pensacola Beach and the Gulf Islands National Seashore.
Anne Petzold, who lives with her husband in the Florida beach community of Gulf Breeze, said everyone in their neighborhood planned to ride out the storm. The couple installed hurricane shutters and picked up anything in their yard that could turn into a projectile.
"Everybody does what they can do, everybody asks if they need help -- they ask for help, they offer help. All good," she said. "It's just another adventure."
Dangerous conditions are expected throughout the western panhandle, southern Alabama and southern Mississippi, the National Hurricane Center said.
Trump names commentator Katie Zacharia of his media company as next White House press secretary
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump announced Friday that Katie Zacharia, a communications adviser for his media company, will succeed Karoline Leavitt as White House press secretary.
Trump revealed his selection of Zacharia on his Truth Social platform, where he often makes political and official announcements. Zacharia is a conservative commentator for Trump Media & Technology Group, which operates the social media site.
In naming Zacharia, Trump described her as "a loyal and brilliant supporter, right from the beginning."
In a social media post, Zacharia thanked Trump and called it the "honor of a lifetime." She added that Trump's leadership is "a blessing to this country."
"The work ahead is to continue delivering strong results for our Country and communicating to the American people the major wins that this Administration is making every single day," she wrote on X.
Zacharia briefly worked as a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security earlier this year and has been a commentator for Fox News and Newsmax. Trump said Zacharia had been involved in his presidential campaigns, notably in swing states.
A request for comment left with Zacharia was not immediately answered. A LinkedIn profile noted that she earned a law degree from Pepperdine University.
Leavitt announced her departure Aug. 12 and left the position Aug. 27.
She will serve as an on-air contributor on Fox News Channel beginning Nov. 1, the network said Monday.
Leavitt became press secretary in January 2025, and left the position, she said, to spend more time with her young children. Prior to serving in the White House, Leavitt was national press secretary for Trump's 2024 presidential campaign.
Vance expresses doubts about Pentagon plan to livestream Fort Hood shooter's execution
HEBRON, Ky. (AP) -- Vice President JD Vance cast doubt Friday on whether the Pentagon will livestream the execution of Fort Hood shooter Nidal Malik Hasan in December but told reporters that if it is livestreamed, "I'm not going to be watching it."
The Republican vice president said, "I don't know that that's actually going to happen," when asked about the plans that the Pentagon confirmed Thursday. But Vance then tried to set aside the controversy over the plans for a public execution and said Hasan's crimes should not be forgotten.
Hasan was convicted of killing 13 people and injuring 32 others in a shooting spree at the military base in 2009.
"So whatever the controversy is about the method of the execution, I hope that people don't forget that this is a guy who brutally murdered a lot of innocent people," Vance said.
"Now, that said, I mean, look, if it's ultimately livestreamed, I'm not going to be watching it," he added.
Vance is a convert to the Catholic Church, which has long opposed capital punishment.
President Donald Trump had endorsed Hasan's execution by firing squad during a Wednesday political event in Texas, suggesting "he deserves it."
However, Trump was noncommittal when asked Friday whether he wanted the execution livestreamed. "Well, they're making a determination about that," Trump told reporters before traveling to a political event in Syracuse, New York.
But he again endorsed the firing squad as the method.
"He will be killed. He will be, through firing squad," Trump told reporters. "I really don't care how he goes, as long as he goes. And I think the death penalty is a very worthy way of going for him."
Trump did not answer when asked if he would watch a livestreamed execution.
Trump establishes committee to investigate Federal Reserve's Lisa Cook in latest effort to fire her
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Donald Trump opened another chapter in his effort to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook Friday by establishing a "committee of inquiry" to investigate allegations that she made false statements in mortgage applications.
The inquiry will include a hearing at the White House Nov. 5, Trump said in a written memo, that Cook "shall" attend to answer questions from the committee. The hearing wouldn't be public but a transcript would be published, the memo said.
Trump's extraordinary demand that Cook testify before the committee will likely renew concerns about threats to the Federal Reserve's independence. The president has repeatedly called for the central bank to cut its key interest rate, but just last month, the Fed raised it instead, led by Chairman Kevin Warsh, whom Trump appointed earlier this year.
Trump's attempts to fire Cook from the Fed's seven-member board of governors represent the first time in the central bank's 113-year history that a president has sought to remove a Fed governor. Cook was appointed by former President Joe Biden and is the first Black woman on the Fed's board. Trump's attacks on her followed other efforts to oust or indict Black officials, such as New York Attorney General Letitia James and Gen. Charles Q. Brown, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
"As President, it is my job to ensure the laws are faithfully executed, including by firing subordinates who cannot be trusted to tell the truth and follow the law," Trump wrote in the memorandum.
Cook's attorneys, Abbe Lowell and Norman Eisen, said they were considering having Cook appear at the Nov. 5 hearing and respond to the charges.
"We have engaged with the White House to evaluate whether the process proposed has a possibility of being a genuine one and not simply a box checking exercise," Lowell and Eisen said in a statement. "Governor Cook welcomes the opportunity to present the facts so she can clear her name and demonstrate there is no legal basis to fire her."
The "committee of inquiry" will be composed of Kevin Hassett, the president's top economic adviser, who has frequently echoed Trump's criticisms of the Fed; Keith Sonderling, the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics, whom the president has also appointed to lead the Labor Department, and Andrea Lucas, the chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, whom Trump appointed in November 2025.
Justice Department won't enforce registration rules on silencers and certain guns after court ruling
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Justice Department moved Friday to allow more people to purchase firearm suppressors -- known as silencers -- short-barreled rifles and certain other guns without registering them with the federal government following a court ruling that struck down provisions of a key law.
The Trump administration announced the enforcement policy changes after a Texas judge in August ruled the permitting process was unconstitutional. The judge's ruling was limited to the parties involved in that case, but the Justice Department said Friday it would no longer enforce the registration requirements more broadly.
"The direction from the President, Congress, and the courts is clear," Rob Cekada, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said in an emailed statement. "ATF is now following suit with our enforcement posture while continuing to ensure we remain focused where we are needed the most: combating violent crime in American communities."
It's the latest move by the Trump administration to ease restrictions on firearms opposed by gun rights groups. Gun rights activists have long complained that the registration requirements -- which meant filling out a form, being fingerprinted, and waiting for government approval -- were overly burdensome.
At issue in the Texas case were regulations in a 1930s-era law, the National Firearms Act, which was passed in response to concerns about mafia violence.
U.S. District Judge James Hendrix in Texas said the rules for purchasing a silencer, short-barreled rifle, short-barreled shotgun and other certain other firearms must fall after the Republican-controlled Congress and President Donald Trump eliminated a $200 permit tax on the devices. The Justice Department opted not to appeal the judge's decision.
Cekada told The Associated Press on Friday that after the judge's ruling, federal law enforcement was inundated with questions from the public and members of Congress about how the government was going to handle enforcement nationwide. The Trump administration believed that the "best and fairest thing to do" was to address the rules nationwide to avoid a confusing patchwork of regulations across the country, Cekada said in an interview.
New York prosecutors seek to sustain their case against Luigi Mangione, despite his federal plea
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York prosecutors sought Friday to keep their murder case going against Luigi Mangione, arguing that his federal guilty plea shouldn't end a separate, state-court case over the killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
The state and federal prosecutions center on "different harms, different evils, different purposes, different crimes," Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Joel Seidemann and colleagues wrote in a court filing.
Mangione's defense lawyers are trying to get the state murder and weapons charges thrown out, citing double jeopardy. It's the legal precept that broadly prevents a person from being repeatedly prosecuted for the same crime, though the particulars can be complicated and disputed when different courts are involved.
In response to prosecutors' filing Friday, Mangione's attorneys pointed to their own previous court papers arguing that the state and federal governments are "prosecuting the same man twice for the same event."
A ruling is expected in late autumn.
At stake is whether Mangione will continue to face a trial in a New York state court in Manhattan and, potentially, how much prison time he will serve if he's convicted. He's already looking at the likelihood of a lengthy federal sentence. A state conviction, if there is one, could add more time.
The Manhattan prosecutors argue that double jeopardy doesn't apply to Mangione's situation. Though their case and the federal prosecution both concern Thompson's December 2024 killing, the Manhattan prosecutors contend that the specific charges involve different legal elements and criminal conduct.
Mangione pleaded guilty in August to federal stalking and cyberstalking charges, admitting in court that he traveled across state lines to New York to kill Thompson and then shot him from behind on a Manhattan street. The 28-year-old said he gunned for the CEO after experiencing years of severe back pain and "navigating the obstacles of the health insurance system."
In the state case, meanwhile, Mangione pleaded not guilty in 2024 to murder, weapons and fake-ID charges. If he goes to trial, his admission in federal court might be used against him.