Entertainment

Sebastian Stan, Jeremy Strong on the Donald Trump biopic ‘The Apprentice’

Pief Weyman

Sebastian Stan is a young Donald Trump in The Apprentice, in theaters Friday.

The film follows Trump’s journey to become the man we know him as today, through his beginnings as the protégé to cutthroat attorney Roy Cohn, played by Jeremy Strong.

Stan told ABC Audio he researched the period in which Trump is not as well remembered to “try to kind of piece together what happened,” including the former president’s stint at military school and his early relationship with his father.

“You’re putting a puzzle together and you’re hopefully trying to do it in a way that people don’t expect or haven’t seen,” Stan said. “That meant looking at all of the things that we know so far and getting them aside to get to the truth.”

In order to play Cohn, Strong said he approached it like he approaches every job.

“This is probably a controversial statement, but I don’t see him as a villain,” Strong said. “I don’t really see anyone as a hero or a villain. I think that that’s a false dichotomy. He’s certainly complex, but I approach him the same way I approach any character I’ve ever played, and I’ve played people who people think are despicable and I’ve played people who people think are, you know, wonderful.”

With the presidential election looming, Stan says The Apprentice is worth watching.

“Coming at this from a human place and truly asking ourselves, ‘How do I instinctively feel about this person? Is this someone I trust? Is this someone I believe? Does it even matter?’ You know, I think there’s value in that, and there’s a lot at stake. And if we value truth and truly freedom, not convenient freedom, not selective freedom, then, yeah, I think it’s worth watching.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

1 dead, 23 rescued after being trapped underground in Colorado gold mine: Officials

Nina Raingold/Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — One person is dead and nearly two dozen others were rescued Thursday after being stuck underground due to an equipment failure in a Colorado gold mine, officials said.

The individuals were part of a tour group and became stuck near the bottom of Mollie Kathleen Gold Mine in Cripple Creek around noon MDT on Thursday, according to officials.

Teller Counter Sheriff Jason Mikesell said one person had died in the incident, and that 23 people had been stuck in the mine shaft.

“I am relieved that 12 of the people trapped in the Mollie Kathleen Mine have been safely rescued,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis said in a statement Thursday night.

“Our deepest condolences to the family and friends of the individual lost in this incident,” he added.

Eleven others were rescued earlier in the day Thursday, including two children, officials said.

They were able to bring up the trapped adults four at a time to get the remaining 12 rescued, County Sheriff Jason Mikesell said during a presser after the rescue.

The death was related to the elevator malfunction but no further details were available, Mikesell said.

To begin the rescue, engineers had to repair at the elevator stuck at 500 feet, check the cables and then run a test round by sending it down to the 1000-foot level and back up.

After that was successful, the rescue began, according to Mikesell.

Local hospital UCHealth said they had received seven patients, all of whom were treated and released after the incident.

Elevator and mine safety experts went to the site to inspect the elevator’s safety before it was used to bring those trapped up to ground level, according to Mikesell.

There were three plans in total, Mikesell said, but being able to repair the elevator was plan A.

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) and Mine Safety will investigate the incident.

As the individuals were stuck, Mikesell said there was no concern about oxygen running out, adding that they had water, chairs and blankets and were able to communicate with rescuers.

The mine, which is about 1,000 feet deep, is a popular tourist destination.

They haven’t had an incident like this since 1986, Mikesell said.

Multiple agencies, including search and rescue teams, responded to the incident with heavy equipment.

In a statement Thurasday afternoon, Gov. Polis said he was monitoring the situation and sending state resources to assist in rescue efforts.

“I have spoken to the Teller County Sheriff and County Commissioners and will stay in touch through the course of this rescue effort,” Polis said at the time. “The state is assisting Teller County and sending resources to rescue those inside the mine.”

“We will do everything possible and assist the county to ensure a speedy and safe resolution of the situation,” Polis added.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Politics

Biden joins growing calls for Congress to return to pass certain hurricane relief

Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden on Thursday joined growing calls from Democrats and even one Republican to bring Congress back to pass certain additional disaster aid funding in the wake of the devastation in southeastern states caused by back-to-back hurricanes.

Biden told reporters that the Small Business Administration is “pretty right at the edge now,” and it would take “several billion dollars” to help businesses recover in the affected states.

“I think that Congress should be coming back and moving on emergency needs immediately,” he said, but notably did not say the same about Federal Emergency Management Agency funding before Election Day.

Former President Donald Trump has falsely claimed FEMA has run out of disaster funds because the money was “stolen” to use instead to help migrants, a claim the White House has strongly denied, saying the money comes from separate funding “spigots.”

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas insisted Thursday that FEMA has enough disaster funding to handle the immediate needs from Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton and related tornado damage.

Even as raised the dire need for more SBA funding, Biden said he has not reached out to House Speaker Mike Johnson about bringing House lawmakers back to Washington.

While Johnson has committed to passing relief after the election, he has resisted pressure from Democrats, especially, to bring the House back before Election Day, explaining it will take time for states to assess the need.

“Congress will provide,” Johnson promised during an interview this past weekend on “Fox News Sunday.” “We will help people in these disaster-prone areas. It’s an appropriate role for the federal government, and you’ll have bipartisan support for that, and it’ll all happen in due time, and we’ll get that job done. There shouldn’t be any concern about that.”

There are similar calls from lawmakers for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to reconvene the upper chamber.

Dozens of House Democrats sent a letter to Johnson making their case as he toured damage in western North Carolina on Wednesday with Republican Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd and GOP Rep. Chuck Edwards.

“Recent legislation has provided initial relief funds, yet these provisions fall critically short of what will be necessary to address the scale of destruction and the recovery needs for Fiscal Year 2025. We, therefore, urge you to immediately reconvene the US House of Representatives so that it can pass robust disaster relief funding,” the letter, signed by 63 Democrats, said.

The speaker’s office declined to comment to ABC News directly on the letter, instead referring to Johnson’s public comments on the topic.

Democrats are not alone in their request.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, a Florida Republican who evacuated her home in Pinellas County, also wants Johnson to bring lawmakers back for a special session.

Luna, who has been spreading misinformation about FEMA funding, posted a statement on X claiming that additional funding would be approved.

“If Congress goes into a special session we can get it passed immediately,” she said.

Mayorkas also stressed the gravity of the situation following a tour of western North Carolina on Thursday.

Although he said that FEMA has the funding to handle hurricanes Helene and Milton and related tornadoes, he said the federal flood insurance program is in the red.

“We are working on a continuing resolution that is not stable footing for the work that we do in disaster response. And so that is why I underscore the need for Congress to act swiftly upon its return,” Mayorkas said.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Business

Gas shortages caused by Hurricane Milton will take days to address, experts say

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

(TAMPA, Fla.) — Hurricane Milton left widespread gasoline shortages across Florida after it made landfall on Wednesday night and cut across the state. The damage exacerbated fuel outages that began before the storm arrived, as millions fled from its path.

Nearly a quarter of the roughly 7,900 gas stations in the state have run dry, petroleum data firm GasBuddy reported Thursday. Oil Price Information Service, or OPIS, another company that tracks the sector, found as much as half of the state’s gas stations lack fuel, Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst at OPIS, told ABC News.

Across Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg, almost two thirds of gas stations are without fuel, according to GasBuddy.

Experts said they expect the gas shortages to persist for days, hamstringing businesses and everyday people as Florida begins to recover from Hurricane Milton.

The delayed return of gasoline in the region owes to disruption at Port Tampa Bay, which says it handles more than 43% of the state’s petroleum imports. Far-reaching power outages will also impede gas service, since gas stations depend on power to pump fuel from storage tanks and deliver it into vehicles, experts said.

“This kind of situation isn’t solved overnight,” Jon Davis, chief meteorologist at Everstream Analytics, told ABC News. “It’s going to take many days to work itself out and get the situation back to normal.”

Port Tampa Bay, which remains closed, appears to have averted serious damage from the storm, the port said in a statement on Thursday morning. However, the port also noted that it continues to face road closures and flood concerns in the surrounding area.

“Some damage was observed to buildings but there has been no significant damage to docks, so far,” said the statement. “We are working with our fuel terminal operators to assess their facilities and learn when they will be able to return to service.”

Port Tampa Bay did not respond to an ABC News request for comment about the extent of damage from the storm.

While the port escaped a disaster that could have hampered fuel supplies in the state for weeks, the ongoing disruption still poses significant challenges for gas delivery in the short term, Jason Miller, a professor of supply-chain management at Michigan State University, told ABC News.

“It does seem we’ve avoided a worst-case scenario,” Miller said.

Depending on the extent of damage at the port, gas stations may come to rely on truck deliveries for the transport of fuel, Miller said. In that case, it would take some time to build up the capacity necessary to overcome the state’s gas outages, he added.

“It’s not a solution that you could implement tomorrow,” Miller said.

The potential return of port operations or the supplemental fuel from trucks would both rely on the state’s roads, some of which were damaged by the storm, experts noted. Such infrastructure may require repairs before gasoline carriers can safely deliver fuel to stations.

“The road issue can get taken care of in the next day or two,” Davis said.

Even if Port Tampa Bay comes back online and trucks join in to aid the recovery, a significant additional problem must first be addressed: power shortages. Gas stations require power to pump fuel from storage tanks into customers’ vehicles, and more than 3.4 million customers are currently without power in Florida, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.

Port Tampa Bay said on Thursday that it remains without power, which it needs to operate oil terminals that make up a critical step in the supply chain.

More than 50,000 linemen have been pre-staged across Florida to restore power, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday.

“In a perfect world, power comes back quickly,” OPIS’ Cinquegrana said. “I think by early next week we might still see some stations out but for the most part you’ll get pretty close to normal.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Entertainment

‘Bridgerton’ star Nicola Coughlan dishes on season 4 and its “different types of love stories”

Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for TIME

Bridgerton star Nicola Coughlan is teasing what to expect during the popular series’ upcoming fourth season.

In an interview Wednesday with Good Morning America at the 2024 Time 100 Next Gala in New York City, Coughlan, who portrays Penelope Featherington in the Regency era-inspired show, said her character is now “happily married” to Colin Bridgerton (Luke Newton).

“It’s very fun to be playing like a happily married person with a very cute baby,” she said. “It feels like they went through all their strife last time.”

“So they get to come back and just be in love and have the best time together,” she added.

The show, which focuses on specific Bridgerton characters’ storylines each season, followed Colin and Penelope’s friends-to-lovers romance in season 3. The third season also exposed Penelope’s secret identity as Lady Whistledown, the anonymous writer who details the gossip of the ton in a pamphlet, and how that exposed secret played out in her relationship with Colin.

Next season, the storyline of Colin’s brother Benedict Bridgerton (Luke Thompson) will be explored. In September, it was revealed that his love interest, Sophie Baek, will be portrayed by Yerin Ha.

Coughlan didn’t reveal much about what to expect, but said that Thompson and Ha are “hard at work being our leads this time.”

“They’re doing an amazing, amazing job,” she said.

Coughlan added that she admires the series for focusing on a wide range of love stories, including an upcoming queer storyline with Francesca Bridgerton (Hannah Dodd) and Michaela Stirling (Masali Baduza) that was hinted at last season.

“I love Bridgerton because it’s a show that tells all different types of love stories,” she said. “So everyone should feel represented in it.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

St. Petersburg woman who lives across from Tropicana Field recounts Hurricane Milton: ‘It was horrifying’

ABC News

(ST.PETERSBURG, Fla.) — As Hurricane Milton pummeled the St. Petersburg area, with winds strong enough to shred the roof of Tropicana Field, Kristy Austin said it sounded like a “freight train” was coming through her apartment building.

“It sounded like the ocean was hitting our windows and the water was just pouring through,” Austin, who lives across the street from the stadium, told ABC News on Thursday.

Water was coming in the windows of her eighth-floor apartment, going up to almost her knees, Austin said, while the wind also howled.

“We thought the windows were going to blow and might cut us and kill us,” she said.

Austin said she and her best friend grabbed blankets and emergency bags with their birth certificates and ended up sheltering in the windowless stairwell on the 14th floor of their building all night.

“It still sounded like a freight train coming through the building,” she said. “And the whistling of the storm, it was really scary.”

The St. Petersburg area saw gusts up to 102 miles an hour during Hurricane Milton. More than 18 inches of rain also fell.

The roof of Tropicana Field, home of the Tampa Bay Rays, lay in tatters Thursday, most of it completely ripped off during the high winds. The roof was built to withstand 115 mph winds, according to the Tampa Bay Rays media guide.

No one was injured as the stadium roof was torn off during the storm, officials said. The Tampa Bay Rays said Thursday they are working with authorities to secure the building.

“We are devastated by the damage incurred by so many,” the team said.

Ahead of Hurricane Milton’s arrival, Tropicana Field was set up to serve as a base camp for operations and 10,000 first responders. However, in a press conference Thursday morning, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis confirmed they were moved out of Tropicana as the forecast changed.

“As it became clear that there was going to be something of that magnitude that was going to be within the distance, they redeployed them out of Tropicana,” DeSantis said.

Pinellas County had no no running water in the immediate aftermath of Milton after several water main breaks overnight, officials said. By Thursday afternoon, officials said potable water service was back but that pressure may be low.

As St. Petersburg cleans up from the powerful storm, Steven Kauvaris, who lives near Tropicana Field, wanted to see the devastation firsthand.

“That was honestly just pretty impressive,” Kauvaris told ABC News near the stadium Thursday morning. “It’s definitely impressive to see the kind of damage that this storm created.”

Austin said she decided not to evacuate because her building is secure and on the hospital grid, so she didn’t lose electricity. Between the damage to Tropicana Field and the flooding in her apartment, she said she’s never seen anything like Milton.

“It was horrifying,” she said. “We weren’t sure if we were going to make it out alive.”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Entertainment

‘Nobody Wants This’ renewed for season 2

Stefania Rosini/Netflix

The hit series Nobody Wants This is getting a second season.

Netflix announced Thursday that the romantic comedy about a podcast host named Joanne (Kristen Bell) and Noah (Adam Brody), an unconventional rabbi, will continue next year.

The series, which was created by executive producer Erin Foster and debuted on the streaming platform in September, followed Joanne and Noah’s unexpected relationship as they navigated their differing outlooks on life, as well as their “well-meaning, sometimes sabotaging families,” according to a synopsis.

The show became an instant hit for its realistic and charming take on modern dating.

In a statement shared in a press release from Netflix about season 2 of Nobody Wants This, Foster said working on the show will “forever be a career highlight for me.”

“The incredible cast, crew, producers and executives all made this into the show it is today, and to experience viewers’ reactions to this series now that it’s out in the world has been more than anything I could have dreamed,” she said. “I’m so lucky to be able to continue this story, and to do it alongside Jenni Konner and Bruce Eric Kaplan, who I’ve been such a fan of since Girls. … Justice for healthy relationships being the most romantic!”

The series also stars Justine Lupe, Timothy Simons, Sherry Cola and Tovah Feldshuh.

Nobody Wants This season 2 is slated to premiere on Netflix in 2025, according to the streaming platform.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

National

Hurricane Milton damage emerges after storm passes into Atlantic Ocean

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

(TAMPA, Fla.) — The fiberglass roof of Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, was left in tatters, a 10,000-square-foot sheriff’s facility was demolished and several people were killed at a senior living community in St. Lucie County. That was among the widespread damage emerging Thursday after Hurricane Milton slammed Florida’s west coast with ferocious wind gusts, torrential rain and at least 36 reported tornadoes the whirling storm spawned even before making landfall, officials said.

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said Thursday at least 10 people are confirmed dead, likely caused by the tornadoes.

Search and rescue is the “highest priority” at the moment, Mayorkas said.

“Milton may have passed, but the danger it poses has not,” he said. “Downed power lines. Floodwaters, non-potable drinking water and debris are creating deadly conditions. Keep listening to local officials and shelter in place until it is safe.”

Officials said state, county and National Guard search-and-rescue crews had rescued hundreds of people, including more than 400 trapped by high water at an apartment complex in Clearwater.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said earlier that authorities are still assessing damage in hard-hit areas, including Siesta Key south of Sarasota, where Helene made landfall around 8:30 p.m. ET Wednesday as a Category 3 storm packing 120 mph winds.

“Right now, it looks like Sarasota County had the most significant storm surge, likely somewhere between 8 to 10 feet. And remember with Helene, we had 15 to 20 feet up in Taylor County,” DeSantis said at a news conference.

However, DeSantis said the early damage assessment indicates the hurricane, which came on the heels of the devastation wrought by Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago, “was not the worst-case scenario.”

“The storm did weaken before landfall and the storm surge as initially reported had not been as significant overall as what was observed for Hurricane Helene,” DeSantis said.

The most tornado warnings in state history

About 125 homes were destroyed by suspected tornadoes before the hurricane came ashore, many of them mobile homes in communities for senior citizens, said Kevin Guthrie, the director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management.

At least 36 tornadoes were reported across Florida, and, according to the National Weather Service, there were 126 tornado warnings issued Wednesday across the southern half of the state, the most in any day on record for the state of Florida and the second most of any state in the nation for one day.

The St. Lucie Medical Examiner confirmed Thursday that four people were killed when a tornado ripped through the Spanish Lakes County Club Village, a retirement community in St. Lucie County. No further details were released.

St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson told ABC News that a twister also demolished his department’s 10,000-square-foot storage facility, which was constructed of red iron.

“Our team was within 50 yards of this structure that got hit,” Pearson said. “And we were actually storing all of our high-water rescue vehicles and our patrol vehicles (were) in this structure to prevent them from damage from the hurricane. Within seconds, a tornado came through and just demolished the structure.”

Sarasota Mayor Liz Alpert told ABC News Thursday morning that the storm toppled numerous trees in her city and pushed several boats onto shore. She said the windows of some high-rises were also broken and that a small bridge leading to Lido Key was compromised.

“Overall, I think we’re doing better than we thought. In the city of Sarasota, believe it or not, we had no calls for rescues,” said Alpert, adding that most residents in the town heeded evacuation warnings.

Roof blows off Tropicana Field, crane collapses on Tampa Bay Times office

Dramatic photos and videos emerged overnight as Milton ripped into Florida. Winds of 90 mph whipped through downtown St. Petersburg, collapsing a crane at a building construction site there, according to city authorities. No injuries were reported, but video from the scene showed damage to nearby buildings.

Wind also tore off a large portion of the translucent fiberglass roof at the Tropicana Field stadium in the city, home of the Tampa Bay Rays baseball team.

“The majority of the roof has been ripped off and is now located south of the stadium,” St. Petersburg City Development Administrator James Corbett said Thursday morning, adding that 14 staff members inside the stadium at the time of the incident were found safe.

The non-retractable dome stadium, built in 1990, was to be used as a staging area for first responders.

The storm also dumped 18 inches of rain on St. Petersburg, causing flooding and serious damage to key infrastructure, including drinking water systems, power lines and sewage facilities, officials said.

Don Tyre, the city’s building official, said a 500-foot section of a T-crane being used to construct a 46-story residential skyscraper in downtown St. Petersburg collapsed due to the high winds, striking a nearby building. However, the remaining 600-foot section was intact and will be inspected by an engineer before it is brought back into service.

There were no reports of injuries from the toppled crane. Part of the crane fell onto the office of the Tampa Bay Times, wrecking the newspaper’s newsroom.

Times’ officials said Thursday morning that its building was closed ahead of Milton’s landfall and no employees were inside the office when the crane collapsed.

Milton also caused a major water main break in St. Petersburg, which is impacting portable water service across the city. The subsequent shutdown of the water main is expected to last until necessary repairs can be completed, officials said.

Tampa-area 7-Eleven store damaged

To the north of Tampa, the Pasco Sheriff’s Office said authorities received more than 140 calls regarding roadway obstructions. First responders “are working to remove these hazards as quickly as possible,” the office wrote on X.

The Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office reported significant storm damage to a 7-Eleven store northwest of Tampa, with Sheriff Chad Chronister warning of downed trees and power lines in the county. Chronister urged residents to stay indoors while responders cleared the damage.

Hundreds of apartment complex residents rescued

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said his department’s personnel were stationed across the county and responded to several rescue calls.

“We had eight high-water rescue teams ready to assist, and it became necessary to utilize them overnight,” the sheriff said. “Fortunately, there were no serious injuries reported, but we did have significant rescues.”

One notable rescue operation occurred at a Clearwater apartment complex, where rising waters threatened the lives of about 2,000 residents, the sheriff’s office said.

“We rescued approximately 430 people using high-water vehicles and boats,” Gualtieri said. “The water was so high that it reached the second-floor balconies of some apartments, but thankfully, many residents had moved to higher ground.”

Gualtieri added, “We appreciate the cooperation of the residents, especially those on the barrier islands, who evacuated and helped minimize the impact of the storm. We are all working together to rebuild and recover from this challenge.”

ABC News’ Victoria Arancio and Ahmad Hemingway contributed to this report.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Health

St. Petersburg officials turn off water after main breaks during Milton landfall. Here are the health risks

Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images

(ST. PETERSBURG, Fla.) — Residents of St. Petersburg — on Florida’s central-west coast — were temporarily left without clean drinking water after a water main break occurred during Hurricane Milton.

City officials said the break caused them to shut off potable water services at 12 a.m. ET on Thursday until repairs could be made.

“Residents and businesses should prepare for this temporary shutdown, which is expected to last until the necessary repairs can be completed,” the city said in a release.

“Repairs to the water line will begin once it is safe for crews to be outside. Affected areas may already be experiencing low water pressure or service interruptions,” the release continued.

By Thursday afternoon, officials said potable water service was back but that pressure may be low.

Additionally, officials said a helicopter from the Sheriff’s Office in Pinellas County, where St. Petersburg is located, was assisting in searching for water main leaks.

Typically, water distribution systems are kept under enough pressure that, even when there are cracks, dirty water and contaminants are unable to get in. However, when a water main breaks, system pressure drops and pathogens are allowed to seep in.

“When water main breaks, we can see the obvious water coming out, and we think, ‘Oh, we’re losing water.’ But what’s happening in other areas of the system is the pressure is going down,” Dr. Sandra McLellan, a distinguished professor at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s School of Freshwater Sciences, told ABC News.

“What is in the soils can seep into the pipes. … If there’s a water main break and there’s a lot of flooding or a lot of rainwater, then all of that sewage that’s kind of sitting around these pipes and in the soil can seep into our drinking water systems,” she continued.

Some of the contaminants may be visible to the naked eye and just lead to discoloration or cloudy water. Other containments may not visible and lead to serious illnesses including E. coli or norovirus.

McLellan said people may not realize their drinking water is contaminated until they experience symptoms of illness.

“There’s no real way to easily test for pathogens in the water because they’re kind of at low levels,” she said. “So it isn’t that everybody’s going to get sick, but, if 100 people drink the water, chances are one or two people may be drinking a part of the water that contains those pathogens.”

Dr. Norman Beatty, an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine and an infectious disease physician, told ABC News that ingesting bacteria found in storm surge waters can lead to diarrheal illnesses, but can progress to sepsis in some and lead to hospitalization.”

The city issued a boil water notice for water used for drinking, cooking and brushing teeth and said it will remain in place as repairs continue.

Beatty recommends using bottled water until the water is drinkable or boiling water.

“When boiling water, start the timer once you reach a rolling boil and after one minute, let the water cool naturally. If water is cloudy, let is settle and then filter through a clean coffee filter paper or clean cloth,” he said.

McLellan said after a main break, crews will dig up the street, fix the pipes and restore pressure. She added that after pressure is restored, one flushing of the pipes should restore clean drinking water.

If people are worried about their water supply, she recommended they use a pitcher with a home water filter before drinking tap water.

“I think people think, ‘Oh, if my water’s off, of course there’s a problem. But if my water’s on, the water will be safe,'” she said. “But we really have to remember, in areas where there’s hurricanes, there’s certainly damage that could happen, so it’s better to be on the safe side.”

On Wednesday evening, St. Petersburg officials also turned off power to two sewer treatment plants in the northeast and southwest part of the to protect employees and the facilities from potential storm surges.

As of Thursday morning, sewer services were back online, and city crews were out inspecting and re-energizing both plants.

Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida’s west coast as a Category 3 hurricane Wednesday night.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday morning that the hurricane “thankfully” spared the state from “the worst-case scenario” but that flooding Is expected to continue over the next several days.

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

Entertainment

William Shatner introduces Julien’s Auctions’ “Bid Long and Prosper” event

Julien’s Auctions

William Shatner, the man who is synonymous with Star Trek, appears in a new video from Julien’s Auctions to promote its forthcoming “Bid Long and Prosper” event. 

The spot has Shatner reunited with the very Trek communicator he held as Capt. James T. Kirk on the show 60 years ago. The prop — which, the spot specifies, does not produce its iconic “chirp” as heard in the promo — will be one of more than 200 items from the groundbreaking sci-fi franchise in the auction on Nov. 9.

The piece is expected to fetch between $100,000 and $200,000 — but as in nearly every case, screen-used props often sell for much more than the estimates.

Also up for grabs is Kirk’s screen-used phaser prop, expected to sell in that same price range. 

Other items that were close to Shatner, literally, include the Starfleet uniform he wore, with an estimated price of $65,000 to $85,000. 

The actor, author and real-life space traveler says, “When I did my three-year stint on Star Trek, each year we were in jeopardy of not being renewed.” The fact that the show ignited a “phenomenon,” Shatner says, “Nobody could have anticipated that.”

The navigation console from the Enterprise is also hitting the block, and you can be sure it will go for more than the $50,000 to $70,000 estimation.

Shatner also reminisced about his real-life trip off-planet in 2022, aboard a Blue Origins rocket, and spoke of the “passion” Star Trek stoked in people to pursue careers in aeronautics and engineering. Shatner enthused, “My gosh! That’s incredible!”

Copyright © 2024, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.