(FLORIDA KEYS, Fla.) — Hurricane Rafael, now a powerful Category 2 hurricane, could strengthen into a major Category 3 hurricane later in the day before making landfall in Cuba on Wednesday night.
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.
By the weekend, Rafael will weaken as it stalls in the Gulf of Mexico.
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.
(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.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory is already beginning to elicit requests from his supporters charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol for delays in their cases due to the potential they could be pardoned after Trump’s inauguration.
Attorneys for Christopher Carnell, a 21-year-old defendant from North Carolina who was found guilty earlier this year of felony and misdemeanor charges over his participation in the Capitol assault, requested Wednesday morning that D.C. District Judge Beryl Howell delay a status hearing in his case scheduled for later this week, citing Trump’s past promises to pardon his supporters.
“Throughout his campaign, President-elect Trump made multiple clemency promises to the January 6 defendants, particularly to those who were nonviolent participants,” their filing said. “Mr. Carnell, who was an 18 year old nonviolent entrant into the Capitol on January 6, is expecting to be relieved of the criminal prosecution that he is currently facing when the new administration takes office.”
Judge Howell denied Carnell’s request to delay his status hearing in an order on Wednesday.
The filing had stated that Carnell’s attorneys reached out to Trump’s office to get further information “regarding the timing and expected scope of clemency actions relevant to his case.”
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 1,500 people across the country in the last four years over their roles in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, part of what the Justice Department has described as one of the largest criminal investigations in its history.
The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office has continued to arrest individuals on a near-daily basis, many of whom have been charged with carrying out violent assaults on police protecting the building.
In addition to Trump’s promises to pardon many of those who participated in the attack, it’s widely expected the ongoing criminal investigation will be shuttered once Trump takes office.
(WASHINGTON) — President-elect Donald Trump’s election victory is already beginning to elicit requests from his supporters charged in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol for delays in their cases due to the potential they could be pardoned after Trump’s inauguration.
Attorneys for Christopher Carnell, a 21-year-old defendant from North Carolina who was found guilty earlier this year of felony and misdemeanor charges over his participation in the Capitol assault, requested that D.C. District Judge Beryl Howell delay a status hearing in his case scheduled for later this week, citing Trump’s past promises to pardon his supporters.
“Throughout his campaign, President-elect Trump made multiple clemency promises to the January 6 defendants, particularly to those who were nonviolent participants,” their filing said. “Mr. Carnell, who was an 18 year old nonviolent entrant into the Capitol on January 6, is expecting to be relieved of the criminal prosecution that he is currently facing when the new administration takes office.”
The filing further stated Carnell’s attorneys have reached out to Trump’s office to get further information “regarding the timing and expected scope of clemency actions relevant to his case.”
Federal prosecutors have charged more than 1,500 people across the country in the last four years over their roles in the Jan. 6 assault on the Capitol, part of what the Justice Department has described as one of the largest criminal investigations in its history.
The D.C. U.S. Attorney’s office has continued to arrest individuals on a near-daily basis, many of whom have been charged with carrying out violent assaults on police protecting the building.
In addition to Trump’s promises to pardon many of those who participated in the attack, it’s widely expected the ongoing criminal investigation will be shuttered once Trump takes office.
(NEW YORK) — Americans are going to the polls Tuesday to cast their ballots in the historic election between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump.
Surveys ahead of Election Day found the two candidates in a virtual dead heat nationally and in several key swing states.
Broad economic discontent, sharp divisions about the nation’s future and polarized views of the major-party candidates mark voter attitudes nationally in ABC News’ preliminary exit poll results.
The state of democracy prevailed narrowly as the most important issue to voters out of five tested in the exit poll.
The country and democracy
Voters broadly express more negative than positive views about the country’s direction: Just 26% are enthusiastic or satisfied with the way things are going, versus 72% dissatisfied or angry.
More voters see American democracy as threatened than say it’s secure, 73% to 25%. Still, about six in 10 in these preliminary exit poll results say the country’s best days are ahead of it, versus about a third who say the country’s best days are in the past.
Extremism and candidate favorability
Fifty-five percent call Trump’s views “too extreme,” and he’s underwater in personal favorability, 44%-55%. Fewer call Harris’ views too extreme (46%), though she’s also underwater in personal favorability, albeit slightly, 48%-50%.
Favorability isn’t determinative: Just 40% saw Trump favorably in 2016, when he won the Electoral College (albeit not the popular vote). One reason is that almost as few, 43%, had a favorable view of his opponent that year, Hillary Clinton. (In 2020, Trump’s favorability rating was 46%; Joe Biden’s was 52%.)
Underscoring the emotion associated with the contest, preliminarily 36% of voters say they’d be “scared” if Trump were elected, while 29% would be scared by a Harris win.
The economy and Biden
The economy remains a key irritant. Voters say it’s in bad shape by 67%-32%. And 45% say their own financial situation is worse now than four years ago, versus 30% the same, with just 24% doing better. The “worse off” number exceeds its 2008 level, then 42%, and far outpaces its shares in 2020 (20%) and 2016 (28%).
Biden takes the heat, with just a 41% job approval rating (58% disapprove). It’s been a challenge for Harris to persuade voters she’s taking a new direction from Biden’s. (Biden’s approval rating is the lowest for an incumbent president in exit polls since George W. Bush’s 27% as he left office in 2008. Trump managed 50% job approval in 2020, yet Biden beat him anyway).
(CECIL TOWNSHIP, Pa.) — Fracking has been on the national stage this election season and swing state Pennsylvania, with its 19 electoral votes in play, is at the center of the issue with one the largest natural gas deposits in the U.S.
Eight years ago, Michelle Stonemark built her dream home in Cecil Township, Pennsylvania, on the same street as much of her extended family. She was followed by some new neighbors — a fracking operation.
As the Stonemarks’ home was under construction, a natural gas company built a well pad for oil and gas production just a few feet away.
“I was scared to death. I was scared about what harms it would cause us,” she told ABC News’ Stephanie Ramos.
It’s a significant industry in Pennsylvania, but there is precedent for states banning fracking — it’s happened in California, Maryland, New York, Vermont and Washington.
Only Congress has the power to completely ban fracking, but presidential candidates Donald Trump and Kamala Harris see it as a topic that resonates with voters in the Keystone State.
Former President Trump says Harris is against the practice.
“Starting on Day One of my new administration, I will end Kamala Harris’ war on Pennsylvania energy,” he said at an Oct. 26 rally. “And we will frack, frack, frack.”
In 2019, when Harris was running for the Democratic presidential nomination, she firmly stood for a ban on fracking. During a CNN town hall on climate change in 2019 when she was still a senator, Harris said, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.”
Now, Vice President Harris has positioned herself as a supporter of fracking. Harris reiterated that she would not ban fracking during the ABC News Presidential Debate.
“I will not ban fracking. I have not banned fracking as vice president of the United States,” she said during September’s ABC News debate. “And, in fact, I was the tie-breaking vote on the Inflation Reduction Act, which opened new leases for fracking.”
The Stonemarks documented the experience of living so close to an active fracking operation, with video showing flames shooting into the sky in the middle of the night as excess natural gas was burned off.
Their windows and tools in their garage often vibrate with the hum of machinery at the nearby well pad.
“The noise that comes off of that … are low-level sounds, low-level frequencies, more like a bass that cause vibrations, more like a constant hum, the kind of noise you feel in your chest and in your ears and in your head,” Michelle Stonemark told ABC. “We suffered from headaches and nosebleeds during that time.”
In Cecil Township, there’s legislation that would require new fracking operations to be placed at least 5,000 feet away from schools and 2,500 feet away from homes. The current minimum distance is 500 feet. The city council passed the resolution on Monday night.
Stonemark supports the legislation, but it may not change her situation. The family has already upgraded their air filters and installed air quality monitors outside, but she’s angry about it.
“Every day we wake up and we don’t know what we’re going to get. We don’t know how loud it’s going to be, how what it’s going to smell like outside,” she told ABC News. “[Or] If my kids can play outside; we don’t know if we can have people over.”
She’s also concerned that it’s causing health issues for the family.
“We don’t know if the nosebleed my daughter has is from fracking. We don’t know if the nausea and the headaches that we’re feeling are from fracking,” she said. “Every day is undue stress and anxiety on myself, my husband, my kids. So, yeah, it pisses me off.”
In 2023, a taxpayer-funded study conducted by the University of Pittsburgh found that children who live within one mile of unconventional natural gas development — including fracking — were found to be five to seven times more likely to develop lymphoma, a type of cancer. It was also linked to adverse birth outcomes and exacerbating existing asthma symptoms.
In the race for the White House, politicians are hoping a vow to keep fracking will secure them votes. However, the issue is more complex for the people with fracking operations in their backyard. Even pro-fracking Republicans like Scott Byrd are in favor of the proposed changes.
“First of all, I’m very pro fracking,” he told ABC News. “It just has to be done in an industrial rural area.”
However, Byrd noted that neither of the candidates have offered particulars on the issue.
“I’m mainly motivated by responsibilities as a parent,” he said. “You see your two children, you have to do everything you can do to protect them.”
In a statement to ABC News, Range Resources, which runs fracking operations in Cecil Township, noted that it works closely with “municipalities and residents to foster open communication, address community concerns, and proactively minimize any potential impacts.”
However, it said that the township’s ordinance is “a stark outlier from the 50 other municipalities where Range operates, as it seeks to restrict future natural gas development within its borders.”
Byrd emphasized the need to frack safely.
“If the technology is not there to do it without hurting children, everybody else, we need to get more into research and development. We’re not just going to jump the gun,” he said. “They’re running with it and ignoring the risks. We have to do something.”
Stonewall noted that fracking is a polarizing topic, but it shouldn’t be something people are simply for or against.
“I’m neither for it or against it — I believe it has its place. I believe that we need to be an energy independent nation,” she said. “I just don’t believe that we need to be doing it at the expense of people living their everyday lives.”
(NEW YORK) — On Election Day 2024, Rudy Giuliani cannot escape the consequences of his defamation of two Georgia poll workers in the aftermath of Election Day 2020.
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the former New York City mayor to appear in court later in the week to explain why he allegedly “secreted away” his property and failed to transfer anything into the custody of former election workers Ruby Freeman and Shay Moss, as he was ordered to do last month to fulfill a $148 million judgment.
A judge last year found that Giuliani had defamed the mother and daughter when he falsely accused them of committing election fraud while they were counting ballots in Georgia’s Fulton County on Election Day in 2020.
Two weeks ago, Giuliani was ordered to transfer personal property “including cash accounts, jewelry and valuables, a legal claim for unpaid attorneys’ fees, and his interest in his Madison Avenue co-op apartment” to Freeman and Moss as part of the judgment.
When the receivership controlled by the two election workers was finally granted access to Giuliani’s Manhattan apartment, they discovered Giuliani “had moved virtually all of its contents out approximately four weeks ago–something that neither Defendant nor Defendant’s counsel had bothered to mention,” the poll workers’ attorney, Aaron Nathan, said in a letter to the court.
“Defendant nor his counsel thought to mention that the receivership property contained in the Apartment had been secreted away,” Nathan said in the letter.
“More concerningly,” the attorney told the judge, “Defendant and his counsel have refused or been unable to answer basic questions about the location of most of the property subject to the receivership.”
“Save for some rugs, a dining room table, some stray pieces of small furniture and inexpensive wall art, and a handful of smaller items like dishes and stereo equipment, the Apartment has been emptied of all of its contents,” Nathan’s letter said. “Notably, that includes the vast majority (if not all) of the valuable receivership property that was known to be stored there, including art, sports memorabilia, expensive furniture, and other items not conspicuous enough to appear in listing photographs.”
When the receivers asked Giuliani’s representatives where the items are located, Nathan said those inquiries were “met predominantly with evasion or silence.”
A spokesperson for Giuliani said in response that “Mayor Giuliani has made available his property and possessions as ordered.”
“A few items were put into storage over the course of the past year, and anything else removed was related to his two livestream programs that stream each and every weeknight across his social media platforms,” the spokesperson said. “Opposing counsel, acting either negligently or deliberately in a deceptive manner, are simply attempting to further bully and intimidate Mayor Giuliani until he is rendered penniless and homeless.”
Giuliani is scheduled to appear in court this Thursday afternoon.
His lawyer had asked if Giuliani could appear by phone since he was scheduled to appear on a live radio broadcast at that time, but the judge would not allow it.
(WASHINGTON) — While Election Day is finally here, more than 83 million people have already cast their ballots.
Election Day was trending on the busy side, with roughly half of the 161.42 million registered voters still heading to the polls.
In Georgia, one of seven key swing states, long lines were forming outside polling stations, officials said, despite more than 4 million people in the Peach State having already voted.
In Fulton County, Georgia’s most populous county, which includes the city of Atlanta, nearly 30,000 people had cast their in-person ballots by 9:40 a.m. Tuesday, a little more than three-and-a-half hours after the polls opened at 7 a.m., said Nadine Williams, the Fulton County director of registration.
“All polling sites are secure with an active security presence,” said Williams, adding that the county had received five “non-credible” bomb threats Tuesday morning, two of which prompted the evacuation of voting locations for about 30 minutes each.
“Outside of these brief interruptions, Election Day has been quiet, with minimal issues reported and we remain prepared to address any misinformation or additional disruption to ensure a smooth experience for all voters today,” Williams said.
Of the 83 million voters nationwide who have already cast ballots, 45 million did so in person while 38 million mailed in ballots, according to the University of Florida Election Lab. About 37.7% of the early votes were cast by registered Democrats while 35.9% of Republicans voted early, according to the lab.
In the 2020 presidential election, 66% of eligible voters cast ballots, the highest of any national election. President Joe Biden beat Trump 51.31% to 46.85%, according to the Federal Election Commission.
This election is expected to be even closer than 2020.
An ABC News/Ipsos poll released Saturday showed Harris with an overall three-point advantage over Trump among likely voters nationwide, 49% to 46%.
Both Harris and Trump have spent the last week of the campaign barnstorming in battleground states, fighting tooth and nail for every last undecided vote. On Monday, the candidates engaged in a sprint to the finish line, holding multiple rallies in North Carolina and Pennsylvania.
In a sampling of nine states, including the battleground states of Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina and Pennsylvania, 54% of the early voters were women and 43.8% were men, according to the lab. The largest block of early voters, 39.4%, were 41- to-65-year-olds, while voters over 65 represented 34.5% of the early vote.
Younger voters — 26 to 40 years old — made up 17.5% of the early vote, while 8.7% of voters 18 to 25 cast early ballots, according to the lab.
Some states like North Carolina, another key swing state, have shattered records for early voting.
More than 4.4 million voters have cast early ballots in North Carolina, 4.2 million of them in person, according to the lab. The North Carolina Board of Elections said the number of early voters broke a record, surpassing the 3.6 million early votes cast in the 2020 election, officials said.
In the swing state of Pennsylvania, at least 1.8 million people voted early via mail-in ballots, according to the Florida Election Lab, which reported that 55.7% of the earlier voters were women and 32.8% were men.
Early voting in Georgia began on Oct. 15, and more than 3.7 million people voted in person, while another 265,648 cast mail-in ballots, according to the lab. A breakdown of the early voters showed 55.7% were women and 43.5% were men, according to the lab.
In other battleground states, Michigan saw 3.2 million voters casting mail-in ballots, 55% women and 44.9% men; 2.3 million cast early mail-in ballots in Arizona, 40.8% of whom are registered Republicans and 32% Democrats, according to the lab.
In Nevada, another swing state, a little over 1 million voters cast early ballots, including 543,271 who voted in person and 556,062 who sent in mail-in ballots, the lab reported. Of those who voted early in Nevada, 37.5% were Republican and 33.7% were Democrat, according to the lab.
And in the battleground state of Wisconsin, 1.5 million people voted early, including 949,157 who cast in-person ballots and 561,616 who cast mail-in ballots, the lab reported.
ABC News’ Olivia Rubin contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Even before the pandemic took hold in 2020, Americans drifted away from their social circles, dedicating more and more time to solitary activities. This shift has deepened feelings of social isolation, leaving many individuals longing for connections and companionship that once felt more accessible.
Approximately 20% of American adults are grappling with “daily loneliness,” according to a recent Gallup report, marking the highest level in two years. The U.S. Surgeon General, often referred to as the “Nation’s Doctor,” declared that we are currently facing a serious loneliness epidemic. They also stated that Generation Z — those born from the mid-1990s to the early 2010s — might be the loneliest generation.
Chronic loneliness — prolonged feelings of loneliness and social isolation — affects not only your mental health but also has physical consequences.
“It can do everything from increase rates of high blood pressure, heart disease, increased rates of dementia, and actually decrease how long we live,” Dr. Kelli Harding, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Medical Center, told “Nightline.”. “It’s as risky for health as, you know, smoking 15 cigarettes a day.”
To combat the loneliness epidemic, professional cuddlers like Jasmine Siemon from Bethesda, Maryland, are leading the way. She uses platonic touch therapy to assist adults dealing with issues such as intimacy, anxiety and loneliness.
Siemon told “Nightline” she always does a consultation to see what made the person interested in touch and cuddle therapy.
“I want to know what their touch history is. There’s a clear understanding of having agency over your body in the session,” she said. “At no point am I going to touch you in a way that you’re not comfortable with or that you’re not curious about, and vice versa. So the boundaries are the rigid boundaries — no touching anywhere a bathing suit covers.”
Siemon acknowledged that while her job may sound unusual to some, she has seen how her work has helped people like Elliot Wallace, who has been having cuddle therapy sessions with Siemon for a year.
“I found myself being nervous in certain cases, whether people were very close, like moving in too close or taking up my space or even being touched,” Wallace said. “And I wanted to find a way to not have that [be] threatening anymore.”
Since Wallace works a lot from home, he says it makes it harder for him to meet people. He sought out Siemon to help him discover who he is, so he can be more open and vulnerable with people.
While Siemon says she has seen how her work has helped some people, consulting a professional cuddler may not suit everyone. Experts warn that if cuddle therapy ends suddenly, it can lead to feelings of abandonment, rejection, loss and even despair.
Professional cuddlers are just one option for coping with loneliness, which can manifest in various ways. Kaari Hostler, a recent college graduate who has moved from the Midwest to New York City, hopes to connect with others, but the 22-year-old isn’t seeking love or romance. Instead, she’s looking to make friends.
Hostler was searching for ways to branch out when she came across “The Girls NYC” online. It’s an exclusive social group for women looking to make friends in their early 20s in New York City.
When attending these events, there is one important rule: you must come alone. Similar groups focusing on finding connections, like dinner parties and running clubs, are rising across the U.S.
“We spend so much time online, we end up isolating ourselves,” Hostler said. “It’s not a substitute for actual human interaction.”
Through social media, people can connect and game with others across continents. TikTok trends like “Get Ready With Me” videos — which show the process of someone getting ready for an event or activity — can help you feel connected to your favorite influencers. There are also dating and friendship apps.
However, these are remote and experts say may not be a good substitute for actual human interaction.
“Gen Z has had it tough,” Dr. Harding said. “They didn’t have a traditional graduation from high school. They have also been part of this great experiment of social media we are learning without guardrails.”
Like Hostler, 38-year-old Quincy Winston struggled to make new friends after relocating to Phoenix with his wife, Latoya, in 2015.
However, a heartfelt conversation with his wife sparked an idea.
“Her girlfriends are very organized, very tight knit,” said Winston. “A lot of my friends at the time were distant,” adding his wife told him that “it’s important for men to seek out friendship and build camaraderie.”
In 2022, Winston formed the Phoenix Professional Black Men’s Friends Group, a space for men to meet locally and find new friends.
“So for me, it’s been a self-discovery,” Winston said. “It’s been a journey. I’ll thank my wife every day for kind of opening up about my own emotions and encouraging other men to support other men.”
Winston’s group now has nearly 200 members, and helps men connect with something he says some men may struggle with.
“I think there’s a term out there,” Winston said. “Emotional intelligence — guys, you have to work at that. What do I need to do in order to be a friend and make friends and have friends and keep friends?”
Experts say loneliness does not discriminate, and could happen to anyone at any age.
At the New Ground Estate in London, 26 residents are making history — living at the first and only co-housing community in the United Kingdom dedicated to women aged 50 and over.
Some have likened this housing situation to a real-life version of “The Golden Girls,” the TV show that followed four older women living together in Miami.
“It is really beneficial because there’s that sense of community,” Dr. Harding said. “I think it can also reframe how we think about aging.”
Everyone at New Ground has their own flats but there are also communal living spaces — all run by the ladies themselves.
Jude Tisdall is 73 years old and moved into the community in 2018.
“There’s a few people here who are of a certain age and are inspirational and are fit and still active and doing things,” Tisdall said. “I think that has made me really, really think about is I’m going to live to the nth degree till I die. And that’s what I’ve got to do.”
Kelsey Klimara, Arturo Ruiz, Sabrina Shanghie and Caroline Kucera contributed to this report.
