(WASHINGTON) — A first-of-its-kind survey has found that 3.3% of U.S. high school students identified as transgender in 2023, with another 2.2% identified as questioning.
The first nationally representative survey from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also highlights the multiple health disparities faced by transgender students who may experience gender dysphoria, stigma, discrimination, social marginalization or violence because they do not conform to social expectations of gender, the CDC reports.
These stressors increase the likelihood transgender youth and those who are questioning may experience mental health challenges, leading to disparities in health and well-being, according to the health agency.
Here are some of the findings:
More than a quarter (26%) of transgender and questioning students attempted suicide in the past year, compared to 5% of cisgender male and 11% of cisgender female students. The CDC urged schools to “create safer and more supportive environments for transgender and questioning students” to address these disparities, including inclusive activities, mental health and other health service referrals, and implementing policies that are LGBTQ-inclusive.
About 7 in 10 questioning students (69%) and transgender students (72%) experienced persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, which the CDC states is a marker of depressive symptoms.
The CDC estimates 40% of transgender and questioning students have experienced bullying at school. About a quarter of transgender students (25.3%) and more than a quarter of questioning students (26.4%) skipped school because they felt unsafe, compared with 8.5% of cisgender male students.
Trans students were more likely to experience unstable housing in the last month than cisgender students. The CDC found 10.7% of trans students and 10% of questioning students said they experienced unstable housing, compared to 2.1% of cisgender males and 1.8% of cisgender females.
The CDC noted this disparity is likely caused of discrimination, such as family rejection.
Additionally, “transgender students might experience discrimination, harassment, and assault among foster, shelter, and other social service providers that make this population less likely to be sheltered when experiencing unstable housing, compounding their vulnerability to experiences of violence, poor mental health, and suicidal thoughts and behaviors,” the report states.
The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System regularly surveys more than 20,000 high school students in both public and private schools nationwide to monitor adolescent behavior over time to identify key issues and health needs.
If you are struggling with thoughts of suicide or worried about a friend or loved one, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988 for free, confidential emotional support 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
(TAMPA, Fla.) — It has been more than 100 years since Florida’s Tampa Bay area – a region especially vulnerable to storm surge and flooding – faced a direct hit by a hurricane.
But Hurricane Milton is now heading straight for Florida’s Gulf Coast, with landfall and a 15-foot storm surge possible in Tampa by late Wednesday night, meaning residents are racing to evacuate ahead of the storm even as they continue to clean up the damage from Hurricane Helene.
Here’s why Hurricane Milton is posing such a threat to the Tampa Bay region:
Why is Tampa susceptible to flooding and storm surge?
The two major surrounding bodies of water – the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding bays – as well as the low-lying coastline make the Tampa Bay area especially susceptible to storm surge, according to experts.
The continental shelf in the Gulf of Mexico extends far offshore, up to 150 miles in some spots, according to the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. When water gets “shoved” onto the coast from tropical systems, it has nowhere to go but onto the land, Marshall Shepherd, director of the Atmospheric Sciences Program at the University of Georgia and former president of the American Meteorological Society, told ABC News.
Additionally, when it comes to storm surge, it isn’t the strength of the storm that matters, but rather the size, Shepherd noted. That’s because the larger is the storm system, the longer water gets pushed onto shore, according to Josh Dozor, general manager of medical and security assistance at International SOS, a risk mitigation company, and former deputy assistant administrator of FEMA.
“When you have a large storm, it enables the gradual, continuous buildup of storm surge as it approaches,” Dozor told ABC News. ” … That 10 to 15 feet of storm surge could result in 10 to 15 feet over what is normally dry land.”
It isn’t uncommon for rising waters from Hillsborough Bay, which comprises the northeast arm of Tampa Bay, to spill onto Bayshore Boulevard, a scenic waterfront roadway in South Tampa that serves as recreation for residents, as well as a common route for drivers. Bayshore Boulevard flooded ahead of and during Hurricane Helene, when the storm surge was less than is currently forecast for Hurricane Milton.
Hurricane Helene’s impact is still fresh
The Tampa Bay region is nowhere near done with recovery and cleanup from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall Sept. 30 and brought six feet of storm surge to the Tampa area’s coastlines. The storm’s size allowed for that surge to infiltrate homes and businesses along the Gulf Coast from Cedar Key to Fort Meyers – each of which is about two hours north and south of Tampa, respectively – residents told ABC News.
In Dunedin, Florida, located on the Gulf Coast at the northernmost tip of Tampa Bay, mountains of debris still litter the streets and people were still airing out their belongings when evacuation orders for Hurricane Milton were issued, Dunedin resident Candace Allaire, 39, COO of the Crown & Bull restaurant, told ABC News.
While the restaurant’s newly renovated kitchen weathered the brunt of Helene’s damage, the rest of the neighborhood was destroyed, Allaire said. Many homes for Allaire’s family and employees, as well as neighboring restaurants, had four feet of standing water in them for hours as Helene barreled through, she said.
The emotional toll of Helene less than two weeks ago, and Hurricane Ian two years ago, is still pervasive in the community. Rebecca Kuppler, mother to a 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter, lost everything in Hurricane Helene. The family had evacuated to Orlando ahead of the storm and heard from neighbors that the water line was rising higher and higher, she told ABC News.
“It’s not stuff,” Kuppler said of the loss. “It’s our home, it’s the memories, it’s the love, the time you put into that, and that’s what’s been really hard.”
The pile of debris outside of Kuppler’s home was still there as the forecasts for Hurricane Milton began, prompting the family to evacuate yet again.
The back-to-back storms are reminiscent of the 2004 hurricane season, when Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne all struck Florida within a six-week period.
“It’s an extreme amount of stress, and if it happens once in a while, I think people can weather it,” Dozor told ABC News. “But when it happens a couple times a year or a couple times every few years, it takes a great toll on people.”
How climate change is increasing the storm risk in the Tampa Bay region
The extreme threat from hurricanes that the Tampa Bay region faces is also likely being influenced by our changing climate.
Human-amplified climate change is the primary cause for present-day rising sea levels, according to a consensus of climate scientists. It’s also triggering more frequent and more intense extreme rainfall events, experts say.
While many factors contribute to the magnitude and impact of storm surge and coastal flooding, average sea levels for many Gulf Coast communities are more than six inches higher today than they were just a few decades ago, data shows.
Human-amplified climate change also likely affected how fast Hurricane Milton intensified as it tracked over the warmer than average waters of the southern Gulf of Mexico, according to researchers. The record-high sea surface temperatures observed in this region over the past two weeks were made up to 400 to 800 times more likely by climate change, according to a rapid attribution analysis by Climate Central.
Warm ocean waters provide the energy hurricanes need to form and intensify. The warmer the water, the more powerful the storms typically are.
While a link has been established between the unusually warm sea surface temperatures and human-caused climate change, it is not yet known to what degree that climate change may have influenced Hurricane Milton’s development.
How Tampa Bay is preparing for the storm
Mandatory evacuations are in place for six counties in Florida, with Tampa at the center of the threat. Airports, businesses and schools from Tampa to Naples, some 170 miles south, are closing in preparation for Milton.
The Tampa area is one of the top five places for evacuations due to potential storm surge, Dozor said. Tampa Mayor Jane Castor issued a dire warning, urging those in the evacuation zones to heed evacuation mandates.
“If you choose to stay in one of the evacuation areas, you are going to die,” Castor said in an interview with CNN Monday night.
While FEMA and emergency management at the state and local levels report that they are adequately prepared for Hurricane Milton, it is incumbent upon residents to follow instructions and get themselves out of harm’s way in a timely manner, Dozor said. In highly populated cities along the Tampa peninsula, like Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, it is important for people to leave early because of the limited roadways.
“There are a lot of bottlenecks that hinder quick and efficient movement of populations to be able to leave the peninsula of Tampa,” he said.
It appears that residents are heeding the warnings, Dozor noted. Beginning on Monday, standstill traffic could be seen for miles on I-75 and the Sunshine Skyway, the bridge that spans the Tampa Bay, as residents embarked on a mass exodus to safety.
At 4 a.m. on Tuesday, Candace Allaire and her fiancé evacuated north to Destin, in Florida’s panhandle, to ride out the storm. Fuel was hard to come by in preparation of their road trip, she said.
In addition, hotel availability is most major Florida cities to which residents might evacuate – such as Fort Lauderdale, Gainesville and Jacksonville – is already extremely low, Dozor said.
“All the hotels are reserved for people who’ve obviously been evacuated,” he said.
(KANSAS CITY, Mo.) — Andrew Lester, the man charged in the April 2023 shooting of Ralph Yarl after the teenager mistakenly went to the wrong house, got a new trial date on Tuesday, pending the outcome of a mental health evaluation, ABC’s Kansas City affiliate KMBC reported.
A Clay County judge rescheduled Lester’s trial, which was initially set for Oct. 7, to begin on Feb. 18, 2025, according to KMBC.
Prior to Tuesday’s hearing, Lester’s trial had been delayed indefinitely after the judge ordered on Sept. 9 that Lester undergo a mental health check to determine if he is fit to stand trial in response to a motion filed by Lester’s attorney Steven Salmon.
Salmon filed a motion in the Clay County Circuit Court on Aug. 27, requesting a mental evaluation to determine if Lester is fit to stand trial, according to court documents obtained by ABC News, where he claimed that Lester is facing health conditions that could impair his ability to understand legal proceedings or assist in his defense at trial.
The judge said on Tuesday that Lester’s mental evaluation must be complete by Nov. 9 and his next hearing was set for Nov. 26, according to KMBC.
ABC News reached out to Lester’s attorney but a request for comment was not immediately returned.
Lester, a white man, was charged with one count of felony assault in the first-degree and one count of armed criminal action, also a felony, in the shooting of Yarl, a Black teenager who mistakenly went to Lester’s Kansas City home after arriving at the wrong address to pick up his twin brothers from a play date. Lester pleaded not guilty in April 2023 and was released on a $200,000 bond.
Yarl was shot in the head and in the right arm on the evening of April 13, 2023, by Lester, according to police. The 18-year-old suffered a traumatic brain injury, his family previously told ABC News.
Exclusive: Ralph Yarl, teen shot after mistakenly going to the wrong house, seeks ‘justice’ in civil lawsuit
According to court documents, Salmon said in the motion that Lester has lost more than 50 pounds, experienced issues with his memory and has exhibited confusion surrounding the details of the case.
“Over the course of this case, Counsel has noticed a significant decline in Defendant’s overall physical health, as well as his mental acuity,” Salmon said in the motion. “The frailty of Defendant’s physical health has, in part, been because of a broken hip, heart issues and hospitalization he has suffered during the pendency of this matter.”
Salmon also noted that Lester has faced “stress” due to “overwhelming media attention, as well as death threats and other unwanted attention, making it difficult for him to interact socially with anyone.”
“The goal of the judicial system is never to hold white offenders accountable for the crimes committed against people of color,” Yarl’s mother, Cleo Nagbe, told ABC News in a statement on Sept. 9 after the trial was delayed indefinitely. “So, we wait to be proven wrong this time around, especially with a victim like Ralph.”
Andrew Lester, suspect in Ralph Yarl shooting, to undergo mental health check, judge rules
The trial was initially set after a Clay County judge ruled during an August 2023 preliminary hearing that there was enough probable cause that a felony has been committed.
“The binding over of a defendant from a preliminary hearing is fairly normal. The prosecutor simply needs to provide probable cause to bind the case over,” Salmon told ABC News after the August 2023 ruling.
Mohamed Bahi, who resigned Monday from his job in the Adams administration, was arrested Tuesday for obstructing the investigation into the mayor and his campaign.
Bahi is charged with witness tampering and destroying evidence.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Morton Plant North Bay Hospital/Google Maps Street View
(NEW YORK) — Dozens of health care facilities in Florida are suspending services and/or preparing to evacuate as Hurricane Milton approaches.
On Sunday, Pinellas County – located on the west central Florida coast and including Clearwater and St. Petersburg – issued mandatory evacuation orders for long-term care facilities, assisted living facilities and hospitals in three evacuation zones.
The order affects six hospitals, 25 nursing homes and 44 assisted living facilities, totaling about 6,600 patients, according to the order.
“Pinellas County is in the potential path of the storm and could experience life-threatening storm surge, localized flooding and hurricane force winds, [depending] on where the storm makes landfall on Wednesday,” the order read. “Many coastal areas have barely begun to recover from Hurricane Helene.”
Just north of Pinellas County, Morton Plant North Bay Hospital in New Port Richey initiated evacuation procedures Monday morning and is not accepting new patients, according to a statement from BayCare, the hospital’s parent network.
BayCare said that while all of its other hospitals are open as of Monday afternoon, elective procedures for non-urgent procedures have been canceled for Wednesday, Oct. 9, with a decision for procedures on Thursday, Oct. 11, to come shortly.
All BayCare ambulatory surgery centers, imaging centers, laboratories, urgent care facilities and behavioral health outpatient sites will also be closed Wednesday and Thursday, according to the BayCare statement.
Additionally, the James A. Haley Veterans’ Hospital, located in Tampa and affiliated with the University of South Florida Morsani College of Medicine, announced the hospital and its outpatient clinics would be closed for in-person appointments and elective surgeries from Tuesday, Oct. 9, to Thursday, Oct. 11, due to “predicted impacts from Hurricane Milton.”
University of Florida Health (UF Health) issued a tropical weather alert Monday afternoon, announcing that most UF Health hospitals, outpatient clinical facilities and physician practices remain open, with some exceptions. Facilities in Archer, Gainesville, Jacksonville, Leesburg, Naples, St. Augustine, St. Petersburg, and The Villages announced closures or modified hours ahead of Milton’s landfall.
HCA Florida Healthcare told ABC News on Monday it was working to transfer patients from hospitals most directly in the Milton’s expected path to sister facilities throughout the state. Hospitals that are transferring patients include HCA Florida Englewood Hospital in Englewood, HCA Florida Fawcett Hospital in Port Charlotte, HCA Florida Largo West Hospital in Largo, HCA Florida Pasadena Hospital in St. Petersburg, and HCA Florida West Tampa Hospital in Tampa.
However, not all health care facilities currently have plans to suspend service. A spokesperson for Tampa General Health (TGH) said no closures have been announced yet and directed ABC News to an update on the hospital’s website, which as of Monday afternoon stated that all of TGH’s “hospitals, medical offices and other facilities are continuing normal operations.”
TGH also said it activated its emergency response plan “and opened its incident command center to enable and support continued operations.”
Another network, Florida AdventHealth, issued a notice that its hospitals and emergency rooms remain open but warned that some of its operations may change “for the safety of our patients, their loved ones and our team members.”
The National Hurricane Center announced Monday that Milton had intensified to a Category 5 hurricane, with maximum sustained winds of 175 mph, and with flooding and storm surges posing a major risk for many communities on Florida’s west central coast.
(TALLAHASSEE, FL) — Florida officials are urging residents to evacuate now as Hurricane Milton intensifies and sets its sights on the state’s west coast.
Hours before the storm strengthened to a Category 5 hurricane on Monday, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis warned residents to take evacuation orders seriously.
“Time is going to start running out very, very soon,” he said at a news conference.
“Please, if you’re in the Tampa Bay area, you need to evacuate,” Kevin Guthrie, executive director of Florida Emergency Management, urged at the news conference. “Drowning deaths due to storm surge are 100% preventable if you leave.”
More than 50 counties along Florida’s west coast are now under state of emergency orders and several are under evacuation orders, including Charlotte, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota. All evacuation orders are listed on Florida’s Division of Emergency Management website.
The storm is is expected to weaken, but will still be a major Category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall in Florida late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
“If you live in a storm surge evacuation zone and you’re asked to leave by your local officials, please do that,” Michael Brennan, the director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Hurricane Center, told ABC News Live on Sunday. “You don’t have to drive hundreds of miles to get to a safe place, often just tens of miles to get inland, out of that evacuation zone, to a shelter, a friend or loved one’s home.”
Brennan also urged Floridians to prepare a disaster kit with several days’ worth of nonperishable food, water, medicine and batteries.
Ahead of landfall on Monday, President Joe Biden approved an emergency declaration for the state to allow federal assistance to begin supplementing local efforts.
Flooding is expected, and storm surge is a significant threat.
A record-breaking storm surge of 8 to 12 feet is expected in the Tampa Bay area, as Floridians continue cleaning up from the 6 to 8 feet of storm surge that was just brought on by Hurricane Helene.
As Milton churns closer, Tampa International Airport said it would suspend operations Tuesday at 9 a.m. and remain closed “until it can assess any damage after the storm,” airport officials said. St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport also said it would close Tuesday, and remain shuttered on Wednesday and Thursday.
The University of Florida said it would be canceling classes Wednesday and Thursday, but plan to reopen Friday morning.
(NEW YORK) — Meeting an exotic animal at a public attraction can fill us with wonder, but critics say that this can also be dangerous. Dana Garber said she had just such an encounter at the Endangered Ark Foundation in Hugo, Oklahoma, in 2021.
She thought their family trip would be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get close to the world’s largest living land animals.
“It was my youngest son’s birthday,” she told ABC News. “It seemed like for his birthday, it was a wonderful thing. Something we could do as a family.”
The foundation advertises itself as a sanctuary for retired circus elephants, making them a popular attraction in the state.
“I was under the impression that this was a place that was a good place for these elephants to live out their lives after their circus life,” Garber said.
Their day kicked off with the elephants, along with their handlers, greeting the family by bringing them breakfast, according to Garber. Afterwards, she recalled that they fed the elephants graham crackers over a metal fence.
“We were encouraged to pet them,” she said. “We were encouraged to go up to them.”
She recalled taking photos as she says an elephant grabbed her father-in-law with its trunk. She took more photos as she said her husband distracted the towering animal with graham crackers so it would let go of his father. However, to her horror, she said that the same elephant then grabbed her as she tried to walk past it.
“I can tell you that it felt like an anaconda,” she said, referring to the species of snake that constricts its prey. “I was being squished and held very tightly, after the elephant grabbed me and kind of swung me and thrashed me to the ground.”
Garber isn’t alone in claiming to have been injured by an exotic animal at a public attraction. ABC News reviewed government records, lawsuits and local reports to find at least 150 people over the past decade who have alleged they were injured during exotic animal encounters in the U.S.
After the incident, Garber noted that foundation staffers rushed to her aid, offering her ice. She says no one, including her, realized how seriously she had been injured. However, she said her husband — a radiologist — grew increasingly concerned over time.
“He said I wasn’t speaking coherently,” she said. “And at that point, he decided we have to get her immediately to the emergency room.”
Garber said scans revealed the extent of the damage to her knee.
“It had a lateral and a medial tibial plateau crush injury,” she said. “That along with the head injury.”
She told ABC News it has taken almost two years and multiple surgeries for her to regain function of her leg.
In the process of sorting out some of the medical bills, Garber said she reached out to Endangered Ark Foundation to get in touch with their insurance company. She said the company left a voice message suggesting she fell at their location.
“All kinds of hairs stood up on the back of my neck,” she said. “There is absolutely no way that you can get the kind of injury I sustained just by falling.”
Garber eventually filed a lawsuit, which they settled out of court without any admission of wrongdoing by Endangered Ark Foundation. The company told ABC News that they strongly refute all allegations.
“The family of Mrs. Garber continued to enjoy a full day at the foundation after the alleged incident,” it said in a statement.
Since the day she said she sustained her injuries, Garber claims to have discovered that some of the elephants at the sanctuary aren’t retired at all, and are allegedly still performing under a license for a circus called Carson & Barnes. The founders of that circus opened up the Endangered Ark Foundation in 1993 to serve as a retirement ranch for circus elephants, they say.
The circus didn’t respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
“I was under the impression that this was a true reserve and that these elephants were retired elephants that we would be seeing,” Garber said.
The Endangered Ark Foundation is one of at least 900 facilities in the U.S. that offers human interactions with wild or exotic animals as part of their business. According to critics, some of these places — known as roadside zoos — are not accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums and many have a bad track record in their treatment of animals.
In 2020, the Netflix series “Tiger King” shined a light on several such locations — particularly the since-shuttered Greater Wynnewood Exotic Animal Park, which was founded and owned by Joe Exotic.
In the wake of “Tiger King,” the Big Cat Public Safety Act was enacted in 2022. The law prohibits public contact with big cats and the new breeding of cubs for private possession.
The Humane Society of the United States, a nonprofit organization that focuses on animal welfare, investigated Exotic’s Oklahoma roadside zoo years before “Tiger King” made him infamous.
Humane Society CEO Kitty Block said her organization often steps in to investigate these facilities because the Department of Agriculture (USDA), which is charged with overseeing them, is either too slow or does too little to act.
The Humane Society highlighted Tiger Safari in Tuttle, Oklahoma, as an example. They first recorded undercover footage of people interacting with tiger cubs there in 2014, after which the USDA filed a complaint and fined the zoo $15,000.
At the time, the founder Bill Meadows told local news outlets that his park was among the cleanest in the state and that the animals were treated well. He claimed the negative publicity came because the Humane Society wanted to cut out private zoo ownership, and that his zoo had corrected the USDA citations.
However, the Humane Society returned in 2021 and discovered that the facility had moved on to promoting interactions with other animals, including otter cubs.
The USDA cited them again for causing “unnecessary discomfort.” In total, the USDA has cited Tiger Safari at least 90 times in the past decade for issues like inadequate vet care and unsanitary conditions.
Tiger Safari did not respond to ABC News’ request for comment.
“The USDA is not even enforcing the meager standards that are there,” Block told ABC News. “They are stretched too thin.”
The USDA told ABC News, in part, that they take enforcement of the federal law seriously, and that they “work with facilities to ensure they comply.”
The agency said that if a facility is consistently unable to achieve compliance, that they are referred for investigation to determine if enforcement actions like “license suspension and revocations” are appropriate.
Advocates said it’s often their responsibility to work to shut such places down. In 2020, Special Memories Zoo in Wisconsin was sued by the Animal Legal Defense Fund for violating the Endangered Species Act. It also alleged that the zoo violated state law by “operating as a public nuisance because it was violating animal cruelty laws.”
A month after the lawsuit was filed, the zoo announced it would close and begin transferring animals to different facilities. However, a fire broke out and allegedly revealed serious neglect of its animals.
Police were dispatched to the property, and footage from their body cameras shows the officers discussing how several of the animals had starved to death before the flames erupted.
Instead of going to roadside zoos to see animals, advocates recommend doing so at locations accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, a nonprofit dedicated to the advancement of zoos and public aquariums in the areas of conservation, education, science, and recreation.
The Smithsonian Zoo in Washington, D.C., is one such facility, and it maintains a strict no-touch policy with its Asian elephants. Dana Garber agreed with this approach.
“I could’ve died. I don’t want that to happen to someone else’s family,” she told ABC News. “This is going to be with me forever, I will never be able to fully move on from this.”
ABC News’ Jessica Hopper and Laura Coburn contributed to this report.
Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images
(NEW YORK) — New York City’s deputy mayor for public safety, Phil Banks III, resigned Monday in the latest fallout from the corruption scandal engulfing the administration of Mayor Eric Adams.
“We spoke yesterday and we spoke again this morning and he stated he wants to move on to other things in his life,” Adams told NY1. “I wish my good friend well.”
Banks’ brother, David Banks, resigned as schools chancellor. First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright, David Banks’ wife, is arranging her departure from the administration.
Phil Banks had his phones seized last month as part of a federal investigation into city contracts of how the police department enforced nightlife regulations. David Banks and Sheena Wright had their phones seized as well.
Phil Banks, at one point the highest-ranking uniformed officer in the NYPD, resigned from the department in 2014 amid a different corruption scandal during the prior administration. Federal prosecutors at the time named Banks an unindicted coconspirator.
Adams has pleaded not guilty to a five-count indictment charging him with bribery and fraud. He is resisting calls for his resignation.
“New Yorkers are saying keep doing the job you’ve been doing,” Adams told NY1.
(TALLAHASSEE, FL) — Hurricane Milton strengthened to a Category 4 storm Monday morning as it takes aim at Florida’s west coast.
Landfall is expected as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
Milton is closing in as Floridians are still recovering from the devastation unleashed by Hurricane Helene.
University of Florida cancels classes
The University of Florida is canceling classes on Wednesday and Thursday due to Hurricane Milton. The school plans to reopen on Friday morning, officials said.
Biden approves Florida emergency declaration
President Joe Biden has approved an emergency declaration for Florida to allow federal assistance to begin supplementing local efforts ahead of Hurricane Milton.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Milton expected to strengthen to Category 5 hurricane
Milton — currently a high-end Category 4 hurricane with 155 mph winds — is forecast to strengthen in a few hours to a Category 5 hurricane with 160 mph winds.
The storm will then weaken slightly as it approaches Florida on Wednesday night.
Milton is forecast to make landfall Wednesday night into Thursday morning as a Category 3 hurricane with 125 mph winds.
Counties issue evacuation orders
Evacuation orders have been issued in counties along Florida’s west coast, including Charlotte, Hillsborough, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas and Sarasota.
DeSantis: ‘Time is going to start running out very, very soon’
Fifty-one out of Florida’s 67 counties are under a state of emergency as the state braces for Hurricane Milton, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Monday.
The governor urged residents to pay attention to evacuation orders.
“Time is going to start running out very, very soon,” he warned.
“Please, if you’re in the Tampa Bay area, you need to evacuate,” Kevin Guthrie, executive director of Florida Emergency Management, urged at a news conference.
“Drowning deaths due to storm surge are 100% preventable if you leave.”
Waste removal trucks are urgently trying to get debris from Hurricane Helene off the streets of coastal communities before Milton hits.
DeSantis said debris will continue to be cleared until it’s no longer safe to do so.
Nearly 500 truckloads of debris from the barrier islands and Pinellas County have been moved to debris landfills in the last 24 hours, he said.
St. Pete-Clearwater, Tampa airports to close
The St. Pete-Clearwater International Airport, just outside of Tampa, Florida, will close at 12:30 p.m. Tuesday and stay shut on Wednesday and Thursday.
“The airport is in a mandatory evacuation zone and is not a public shelter,” airport officials tweeted. “Prepare and stay safe.”
Tampa International Airport will suspend operations beginning at 9 a.m. Tuesday and stay closed “until it can assess any damage after the storm,” airport officials said.
Milton strengthens to Category 4
Milton rapidly intensified to a Category 4 hurricane with 150 mph winds Monday morning.
Within hours, Milton strengthened to a Category 2, then a Category 3 and then a Category 4.
Latest forecast: Landfall expected Wednesday night
Hurricane Milton is forecast to make landfall Wednesday night or early Thursday morning as a Category 3 hurricane. Landfall is expected anywhere between just north of Tampa to south of Sarasota.
A record-breaking storm surge of 8 to 12 feet is forecast for the storm surge-prone city of Tampa. This comes just after Hurricane Helene brought a record storm surge of 6 to 8 feet to Tampa Bay.
A hurricane watch was issued for Tampa Bay and Fort Myers, while a tropical storm watch is in effect from Apalachicola to Key West.
Water inundation from Fort Myers to Tampa could be higher than the record-breaking 7 feet recorded during Helene.
Flooding is also a threat since a separate storm has dumped rain on Florida for the last several days.
Milton strengthens to Category 3
Hurricane Milton early on Monday strengthened to a major Category 3 hurricane, with wind speeds of about 120 mph, the National Hurricane Center said.
Milton strengthens to Category 2 hurricane
Hurricane Milton strengthened rapidly early Monday, with wind speeds climbing to 100 mph, making it a Category 2 hurricane, the National Hurricane Center said.
A hurricane watch was issued for the area around Tampa Bay, along Florida’s western coast.
The storm, which is in the Gulf of Mexico, is forecast to become a major hurricane on Monday, meaning its winds are expected to reach or exceed 111 mph.
Landfall is expected on Wednesday night, with the storm expected to be a Category 3 storm with winds of about 125 mph.
-ABC News’ Max Golembo
Milton forecast to be major hurricane
Hurricane Milton, which strengthened on Sunday into a Category 1 storm, is forecast to make landfall as a “major” hurricane on Florida’s west coast this week, the National Hurricane Center said.
“While it is too soon to specify the exact magnitude and location of the greatest impacts, there is an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and damaging winds for portions of the west coast of the Florida Peninsula beginning early Wednesday,” the center said in a late Sunday advisory.
(NEW YORK) — Two boys, ages 12 and 13, have been arrested and charged in a street attack last week on former New York Gov. David Paterson and his 20-year-old stepson that unfolded on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, according to officials.
The two children, whose names were not released, were arrested around 8 p.m. Saturday after turning themselves in at a police precinct with their parents, the New York Police Department said.
A third child initially wanted in the attack also turned themself in but was not charged after officers determined he was not involved, officials said.
The 12-year-old suspect was arrested on a charge of second-degree gang assault while the 13-year-old was charged with third-degree gang assault, according to the NYPD.
“Governor Paterson and his family are glad to see the suspects turned themselves in,” Sean Darcy, spokesperson for Paterson, told New York ABC station WABC. “We hope that the young people involved learn something from this unfortunate encounter.”
The attack occurred around 8:35 p.m. on Friday on 2nd Avenue near 96th Street on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, according to the NYPD.
The confrontation began as a “verbal altercation” between the suspects and the 70-year-old former governor and his stepson, the NYPD said. Police initially said that up to five suspects were involved in the attack.
The suspects had had “a previous interaction” with the stepson, Paterson’s spokesperson told WABC, noting that the attack took place near the victims’ home.
The suspects hit the victims in the face and body, police said.
Paterson and his stepson managed to fight off the attackers, the spokesperson said, and the suspects fled on foot, according to police.
The investigation of the attack is ongoing and more arrests could be made, police said.
Paterson and his stepson were both taken to the hospital in stable condition, police said, and they’ve since been released, the former governor’s spokesperson said.
Paterson, a Democrat, served as governor of New York from 2008 to 2010. He was New York’s first African American governor and the nation’s first legally blind governor.
ABC News’ Matt Foster and Emily Shapiro contributed to this report.
