Biden to announce over $600M in Florida resiliency projects following hurricanes

Biden to announce over 0M in Florida resiliency projects following hurricanes
Tristan Wheelock/Bloomberg via Getty Images

(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will travel on Sunday to Florida areas ravaged by the back-to-back hurricanes, and announce federal funding for projects to strengthen the electrical grid, according to the White House.

Biden will be touring St. Petersburg, one of the hardest hit Florida cities from Hurricane Milton last week, and reveal $612 million for six Department of Energy projects in the southeast.

Two of the projects are focused in Florida and provide a combined $94M in federal funds, according to the White House.

Gainesville Regional Utilities will use the funding to help mitigate the effects of increasingly extreme weather in north central Florida, “through storm hardening, as well as faster restoration through deployment of self-healing devices and tools that will enable more efficient and precise dispatching of field teams during outages,” the White House said in a statement.

Switched Source, a private utility technology developer, will work with Florida Power and Light to deploy Phase-EQ, which “optimizes power flow in distribution circuits, will unlock over 200 MW of system capacity, and improve reliability on circuits serving communities that are most susceptible to prolonged outages,” according to the White House.

“These investments are part of the president’s commitment to making long-term investments that protect, enhance, and upgrade our nation’s electric grid, especially in the face of extreme weather events,” the White House said in a statement.

Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening. At least 16 people were killed in the storm and over a million remain without power.

Biden has spoken to numerous state and local officials, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who he said was “very cooperative.” When asked if he would meet with DeSantis on Sunday, Biden said yes so long as the governor was available.

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E. coli cases linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders rise to 75 across 13 states: CDC
E. coli cases linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders rise to 75 across 13 states: CDC
Matt Cardy/Getty Images

The number of cases in a deadly E. coli outbreak linked to McDonald’s Quarter Pounders has risen to 75, according to new federal data released Friday.

Cases have been reported in 13 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Most of the cases have been in Colorado, which has 26 reported cases, and Montana, which has 13 reported cases, according to the CDC.

Cases have also been reported in Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming, according to the CDC, which further notes that illnesses have occurred between Sept. 27 and Oct. 10 of this year.

Of the 61 people about whom the CDC has information, 22 have been hospitalized, and two developed hemolytic uremic syndrome, a serious, potentially fatal complication of E. coli infection that can cause kidney failure, according to the CDC.

One death has been reported in Colorado in connection with the outbreak. The person was a resident of Mesa County in the western part of the state, according to the Mesa County department of health.

“The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses,” the CDC said in its update. “This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for E. coli. In addition, recent illnesses may not yet be reported as it usually takes 3 to 4 weeks to determine if a sick person is part of an outbreak.”

McDonald’s says either fresh, slivered onions or beef patties used for the Quarter Pounder may be behind the outbreak.

Following the initial announcement of the outbreak on Tuesday, the fast-food company announced it had proactively removed two ingredients from stores across two affected regions. The company’s leadership team said that a majority of other menu items are not impacted, according to the CDC investigation.

McDonald’s confirmed in a statement to ABC News that Taylor Farms is the supplier of the sliced onions the fast-food chain removed, but it is unclear whether Taylor Farms provides its products directly to McDonald’s or through an intermediary.

Taylor Farms issued a voluntary recall on Wednesday for its raw onions.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has said that raw slivered onions and the beef patties are the focus of their investigation as potential E. coli sources, but also indicated that preliminary data suggests the onions are “a likely source of contamination.”

ABC News’ Kelly McCarthy and Taylor Dunn contributed to this report.

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2 wanted, one wearing pink shower cap, in stolen New York City subway crash
2 wanted, one wearing pink shower cap, in stolen New York City subway crash
Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — A search is underway in New York City for two suspects, including one dressed all in pink, who allegedly crashed an empty subway train after brazenly walking into a station and stealing it, authorities said.

The theft of the train in the nation’s largest subway system unfolded amid the deployment of additional police officers to the subway system to combat a surge in crime. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul even deployed National Guard troops as part of a five-point plan to protect subway riders.

According to a New York Police Department incident report, the thieves, a man and a woman, stole the empty train just after midnight on Thursday at the Briarwood subway station in the borough of Queens, according to police.

“These two individuals entered an unoccupied train and operated it, causing a collision and damage to the train,” according to the NYPD incident report.

No injuries were reported and the suspects fled the area on foot, according to police.

No arrests have been announced as of Wednesday morning, police said.

The duo was caught on surveillance cameras walking through the empty train at Briarwood station before taking it on a short joy ride, police said.

One of the alleged thieves was described as a woman with a medium build and medium complexion, according to police.

“She was last seen wearing a pink shower cap, a pink sleeveless shirt, pink shorts, and carrying a pink handbag,” according to the incident report.

Her accomplice was described by police as a man with a slim build and light complexion, He was dressed in a blue tank top, red shorts and carrying a black backpack.

It was at least the second theft of a New York City subway train in less than eight months.

On Dec. 30, 2023, a group stole empty trains parked in a restricted area near the Forest Hills-71st Avenue subway station in Queens. Authorities said the group entered the operators’ compartments of two lead train cars before driving them northbound.

Amidst a 45% year-over-year spike in New York City transit crime in January, mostly due to grand larcenies, Hochul deployed 1,000 state workers, including 250 state police troopers and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police members, to assist the NYPD in enhanced baggage checks at heavily trafficked areas of the subway system.

Hochul also directed the New York National Guard to make 750 members, who are currently part of the Joint Task Force Empire Shield, available to help check subway riders’ bags for weapons.

According to the most recent NYPD crime statistics, transit crime as of Sunday is now down 5.4% from this time in 2023.

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This is when peak northern lights activity will occur
This is when peak northern lights activity will occur
Hasan Akbas/Anadolu via Getty Images

(NEW YORK) — A busy series of northern lights activity will soon come to a peak as the sun reaches its solar maximum stage in the coming months.

Several regions in the United States were treated to a multicolored light show earlier this week due to an increase in solar storm activity. The Aurora Borealis display stretched as far south as Arizona, Mississippi and Texas on Monday, images show.

The event followed other viewings in the U.S. in May and January. Opportunities to see the northern lights are expected to increase in the coming months.

How are the northern lights created?

Every 11 years, the sun’s magnetic field reaches its solar maximum, in which the number of solar flares is at its highest, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather and Prediction Center.

The northern lights occur when atoms and molecules in Earth’s atmosphere clash with a solar flare, which causes the atoms in the upper atmosphere to glow, creating a spectrum of color in the night sky.

Earth is currently approaching the peak of Solar Cycle 25, in which more sunspots with intense magnetic activity are expected, according to NOAA. Impactful space weather events are possible throughout 2024.

The current cycle is expected to peak between November 2024 and March 2026, according to NOAA. Northern lights activity will be heightened during this time, scientists say.

After the solar maximum is over, the sun’s magnetic field equalizes and returns to normal.

Where can the northern lights be seen?

The northern lights are visible — typically at the poles — as the solar flares travel through space and into Earth’s magnetic field. In the U.S., the northernmost states, such as Maine and Alaska, have the best viewing opportunities.

The lights can be seen closer to the equator depending on the strength of the geometric storms. But the further south you go, a more reddish hue is visible rather than green. This is because the curvature of the Earth causes the particles to interact higher in the atmosphere.

The Space Weather Prediction Center advises star-gazers to get away from city lights and travel to the darkest location possible for the best viewing.

Typically, within an hour or two of midnight tends to be the best time, according to NOAA.

It is notoriously hard to predict when an Aurora Borealis will occur, scientists say. Often, auroras can occur with just a 30-minute warning, according to the Michigan Technological University. Researchers typically use satellites to measure the speed and density of solar wind to forecast when conditions are favorable for the northern lights to occur.

On Thursday, the northern lights may be visible from Fairbanks to as far south as Unalakleet, Talkeetna and Tok in Alaska, according to the University of Alaska at Fairbanks, Geophysical Institute website, which tracks the phenomenon.

Intense geomagnetic storms can potentially disrupt navigation systems by interfering with radio and GPS signals, as well as electrical power networks, due to the subatomic particles that bombard the Earth, according to NOAA.

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