Hurricane Rafael strengthens to Category 3 before landfall in Cuba: Latest track and forecast
ABC News
(FLORIDA KEYS, Fla.) — Hurricane Rafael strengthened to a major Category 3 hurricane as it neared the coast of Cuba on Wednesday afternoon.
Rafael is expected to bring life-threatening storm surge, hurricane-force winds and flash flooding to the western part of the island.
A tropical storm warning is in effect for the Florida Keys, where heavy rain, gusty winds and even tornadoes are possible on Wednesday and into Thursday morning.
Rafael will move into the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday and start weakening.
Rafael isn’t posing a major threat to the U.S. Gulf Coast, but some of the tropical moisture could move toward the coast and add to the rain from an approaching cold front.
Most models predict Rafael sitting in the Gulf into next week and possibly moving southwest toward Mexico.
Andrew Savulich/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images, FILE
(NEW YORK) — Opening statements will begin Friday in the trial of subway rider Daniel Penny charged in the May 2023 choking death of Jordan Neely, a homeless man, in a New York City subway car.
The jury was seated Wednesday. The trial is expected to last between four and six weeks, according to Judge Max Wiley.
Penny, a former Marine, has pleaded not guilty to the charges of second-degree manslaughter and criminally negligent homicide in Neely’s death.
Wiley denied Penny’s bid to dismiss his involuntary manslaughter case in January.
Penny put Neely, 30, in a fatal chokehold “that lasted approximately 6 minutes and continued well past the point at which Mr. Neely had stopped purposeful movement,” prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office have said.
Penny’s attorneys said they were “saddened at the loss of human life” but that Penny saw “a genuine threat and took action to protect the lives of others,” arguing that Neely was “insanely threatening” to passengers aboard the F train in Manhattan.
Witness accounts differ on Neely’s behavior on the train, prosecutors say.
They note that many witnesses relayed that Neely expressed that he was homeless, hungry and thirsty, and most of the witnesses recount that Neely indicated a willingness to go to jail or prison.
Some witnesses report that Neely threatened to hurt people on the train, while others did not report hearing those threats, according to police sources.
Some witnesses told police that Neely was yelling and harassing passengers on the train; however, others have said though Neely had exhibited erratic behavior, he had not been threatening anyone in particular and had not become violent, police sources also told ABC News following the incident.
Some passengers on the train that day said they didn’t feel threatened — one “wasn’t really worried about what was going on” and another called it “like another day typically in New York. That’s what I’m used to seeing. I wasn’t really looking at it if I was going to be threatened or anything to that nature, but it was a little different because, you know, you don’t really hear anybody saying anything like that,” according to court filings by the prosecution.
Other passengers described their fear in court filings. One passenger said they “have encountered many things, but nothing that put fear into me like that.” Another said Neely was making “half-lunge movements” and coming within a “half a foot of people.”
Neely, who was homeless at the time of his death, had a documented mental health history and a history of arrests, including alleged instances of disorderly conduct, fare evasion and assault, according to police sources.
Less than 30 seconds after Penny allegedly put Neely into a chokehold, the train arrived at the Broadway-Lafayette Station: “Passengers who had felt fearful on account of being trapped on the train were now free to exit the train. The defendant continued holding Mr. Neely around the neck,” said prosecutor Joshua Steinglass in a court filing against Penny’s dismissal request.
According to prosecutors, footage of the interaction, which began about 2 minutes after the incident started, captures Penny holding Neely for about 4 minutes and 57 seconds on a relatively empty train with a couple of passengers nearby.
Prosecutors said that about 3 minutes and 10 seconds into the video, Neely ceases all purposeful movement.
“After that moment, Mr. Neely’s movements are best described as ‘twitching and the kind of agonal movement that you see around death,'” the prosecutor said.
The defense argued Penny had no intent to kill, but Steinglass noted that the second-degree manslaughter charge only requires prosecutors to prove Penny acted recklessly, not intentionally.
“We are confident that a jury, aware of Danny’s actions in putting aside his own safety to protect the lives of his fellow riders, will deliver a just verdict,” Penny’s lawyers, Steven Raiser and Thomas Kenniff, said after Penny’s request to dismiss the charge was denied.
In a past statement to ABC News, an attorney representing Neely’s family said, “This case is simple. Someone got on a train and was screaming so someone else choked them to death. Those two things do not and will never balance. There is no justification.”
“Jordan had the right to take up his own space. He was allowed to be on that train and even to scream. He did not touch anyone. He was not a visitor on that train, in New York, or in this country,” attorney Donte Mills said.
An ABC News graphic shows the expected path of a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico on Monday, Sept. 9, 2024. — ABC News
(NEW YORK) — Tropical Storm Francine is churning in the Gulf and is set to strengthen to a hurricane before making landfall in Louisiana.
Francine is forecast to be a Category 1 hurricane with 85 mph winds by Wednesday. Landfall is forecast in western Louisiana on Wednesday afternoon.
A hurricane watch has been issued in Louisiana, from Cameron to Grand Isle.
A storm surge watch is in effect from Texas to the Mississippi-Alabama border.
By Tuesday morning, Francine’s outer bands will bring heavy rain and gusty winds to Texas. The rough weather will last through the day along the coast, including Houston.
By Wednesday morning, conditions will deteriorate rapidly in southwestern Louisiana. Heavy rain and flooding is expected throughout the day.
About 5 to 8 inches of rain, with locally up to 1 foot, is forecast from Louisiana to the western Florida Panhandle through Thursday morning.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — Authorities warned of the potential for more attacks on ballot boxes after a series of arson incidents in Oregon and Washington state.
Ballot boxes in Portland, Oregon, and Vancouver, Washington, were set on fire with incendiary devices early Monday, police said. Authorities believe the two incidents, as well as a similar incident that occurred earlier this month in Vancouver, are connected.
“Investigators believe it is very possible the suspect intends to continue these targeted attacks across the area,” Portland Police Bureau spokesperson Mike Benner said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
Benner described the suspect sought in the three incidents as a white male between the ages of 30 and 40 with “balding or very short hair,” a thin face and medium to thin build.
“We believe this suspect has a wealth of experience in metal fabrication and welding,” Benner said.
Police are seeking one suspect in the case, Benner said.
Portland Police Chief Bob Day said that without a suspect in custody they “have to assume that there are other events that are likely to occur,” but that he is encouraged by the progress in the investigation so far.
Police had previously released photos of a suspect vehicle being sought in connection with the incidents. The vehicle is believed to be a Volvo S-60 from 2001 to 2004 with a tan or light-gray interior. The vehicle has dark wheels, unpainted body trim and no front license plate, police said.
The FBI is investigating the incidents, an agency spokesperson said.
Benner said police intend to add extra patrols around ballot boxes in the wake of the attacks. Officers will also have “high visibility” in terms of their presence next week, Day said.
The most recent incidents occurred early Monday, when two ballot boxes were set on fire with incendiary devices that had been attached to them, police said.
Three ballots were damaged in the Portland incident, while fire suppressant prevented further damage, election officials said. Multnomah County Elections Director Tim Scott told ABC News that 409 ballots inside the ballot box “were undamaged” and preserved thanks to the fire suppressant.
Clark County Auditor Greg Kimsey told ABC News on Wednesday that the county has identified 475 damaged ballots in the Vancouver incident. The ballot box had a fire suppression device, which did appear to work very well, he said.
It is unclear at this time how many ballots were completely destroyed, he said.
Election officials in both states said they would ensure impacted voters have replacement ballots in time.
Monday’s incident is similar to an incident that occurred on Oct. 8 in Vancouver, in which a ballot box was set on fire, police said.
The incendiary device used in that incident had “Free Gaza” and “Free Palestine” on it, two sources familiar with the ongoing investigation told ABC News.
The two subsequent devices, set off in the early hours of Monday morning in Vancouver, Washington and nearby Portland, Oregon, carried the slogan “Free Gaza,” according to the sources.
One of the sources told ABC News it was unclear whether these markings reflect the views of a pro-Palestine activist — or if it was an individual trying to manipulate existing divisions in the U.S.
ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Lucien Bruggeman and Chris Boccia contributed to this report.
