George Texs blog

Editor’s note: As a public service, the Naples Daily News is making its storm coverage free to readers as long as the region is threatened. To help us continue keeping you informed, please consider supporting us with a subscription. 5:10 AM | The latest on the track of Hurricane Ian According to Wednesday’s 5 am advisory by the National Hurricane Center, Hurricane Ian’s maximum winds have increased to 140 mph, making it a Category 4 storm. It is moving north-northeast near 10 mph. It is located about 125 miles west-southwest of Naples. Ian is expected to make landfall at about 2 pm Wednesday near the Charlotte-Lee County border as a Category 4 storm. Collier County remains under a hurricane warning. Hurricane-force winds are expected in the hurricane warning area in southwest and west-central Florida beginning Wednesday morning with tropical storm conditions expected overnight. Catastrophic wind damage is expected near the core of Ian when it moves onsh...

Note: Craig Pittman filed this column early Wednesday afternoon, before Ian made landfall. By the time you read this, we will know where Hurricane Ian made landfall, and how much destruction it caused. We’ll know how high its winds were and how much storm surge it pushed ashore. We will begin to count the number of human lives lost and the dollar amount of the damage. But I wonder how many of us will think about our elected leaders’ role in causing this to happen. One of them has even been running on what I can only call a pro-hurricane platform. Longtime Floridians often make light of storms like this one as a way to brighten the mood while putting up plywood. Someone on the Facebook group “Florida Memes” joked that there was a new drinking game : You take a slug every time the latest weather report uses the term “rapid intensification.” If you played that game with Ian, you got sozzled pretty swiftly. Megan Thee Stallion. Credit: Ashley Graham via Wikimedia Commons ...

Note: This commentary has been updated. Craig Pittman filed this column early Wednesday afternoon, before Ian made landfall. By the time you read this, we will know where Hurricane Ian made landfall, and how much destruction it caused. We’ll know how high its winds were and how much storm surge it pushed ashore. We will begin to count the number of human lives lost and the dollar amount of the damage. But I wonder how many of us will think about our elected leaders’ role in causing this to happen. One of them has even been running on what I can only call a pro-hurricane platform. Longtime Floridians often make light of storms like this one as a way to brighten the mood while putting up plywood. Someone on the Facebook group “Florida Memes” joked that there was a new drinking game : You take a slug every time the latest weather report uses the term “rapid intensification.” If you played that game with Ian, you got sozzled pretty swiftly. Megan Thee Stallion. Credit: As...

UPDATE: At a 1:45 p.m. press conference in Charlotte County, Eric Silagy, with Florida Power & Light, reported that the utility company has been able to restore the power of some 700,000 customers since the storm hit. In addition, Gov. Ron DeSantis stated that Sanibel Island off of Lee County got hit with a “biblical storm surge.” The island faces severe damage including a destroyed bridge to the island, cutting it off from the mainland. /////////// Now a tropical storm, the center of Ian is headed toward the Atlantic Ocean and projected to approach the coast of South Carolina — and it’s still considered dangerous. Life-threatening storm surges are predicted for Northeast Florida, Georgia and South Carolina, according to an 11 a.m. advisory from the National Hurricane Center. And the tropical storm also continues to create flooding for the Central and Northeast Florida areas. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of students are preparing for school on Friday. The Miami Hera...

With thousands of Floridians dying of drug overdoses caused by fentanyl, Attorney General Ashley Moody has been urging the Biden administration since mid-summer to classify the drug as a “weapon of mass destruction,” warning of the dangers posed if the potent opioid gets into the hands of an avowed enemy of the United States. “We must not sit idly by until a terrorist chooses to inflict harm using this substance on a large group of Americans – our countrymen are already dying from this poison,” Moody and 17 other attorneys general  wrote  to Biden earlier this month. But while the attorneys general push the federal government to act more forcefully to stem the epidemic, the Florida Department of Health and grassroots organizations scattered across the state are working daily in a different way: Help decrease the harms of drug use and prevent overdoses and infectious diseases. Fentanyl, an opioid, is similar to morphine, but 50 to 100 times more potent, according to the Nation...

As the effects of Hurricane Ian are felt in Orlando and the Florida peninsula, families are hunkered down inside, ready with snacks, bottled water, and perhaps paperback books to read. Amid school and business closures, it might seem tricky to keep adults and children entertained, but there are plenty of ways to make the time pass while staying safe inside. Here are a few ideas. [  Hurricane season 2022: What do you do with your kids during a hurricane?  ] As long as the power holds, it’s possible to have a movie marathon while riding out the storm at home. (EmirMemedovski / E+ via Getty Images) As long as the power stays on, it should be possible to have a great movie marathon. Pop a bowl of popcorn and queue up a good Halloween flick or two. For a fun twist, challenge your children to act out their own version of the previews before a film starts, coming up with movie ideas of their own. Grab a blanket and settle in for a cozy, almost theater-esque experience in y...

Tuesday morning sees Southwest Florida met with drizzle and breezy conditions as the ‘calm before the storm’ begins to end. Hurricane Ian made its first landfall early Tuesday in Cuba at Category 3 strength. It is expected to reach Category 4 winds but lose power slightly, coming back into Category 3 territory before an expected landfall in the Tampa Bay area Thursday. Dozens of cars could be seen in Punta Gorda Tuesday morning as residents began to evacuate. Charlotte County emergency officials issued orders for residents in Zone A — coastal communities, trailer home parks, etc. — to clear out in advance of Ian. The county’s four public shelters are now open. Lee County also activated Zone A evacuations at a Tuesday morning briefing. Portions of Zone B have also been activated and “select shelters” are being opened. Click here for a list of shelters. Sheriff Carmine Marceno urged residents to stay off the roadways as the storm intensified; ...

Hurricane Ian made landfall in western Cuba early Tuesday as a powerful Category 3 storm and is now moving toward Florida. Maximum sustained winds were at 125 mph when the eyewall moved ashore just southwest of La Coloma, Cuba, at 4:30 am, according to the National Hurricane Center. Ian weakened slightly during the latest advisory as it continues its path toward Florida. The forecast calls for Ian to become a weak Category 4 storm, with winds reaching 130 mph, within the next 12 hours. Cone of uncertainty : See the latest graphic from the NHC Satellite images : See latest satellite image from NOAA, for a clearer picture of the storm’s size Hurricane-force winds are expected in the hurricane warning area in west-central Florida beginning Wednesday morning, with tropical storm conditions expected by late today. Heavy rainfall will increase across the Florida Keys and south Florida today, spreading into central and northern Florida tonight and Wednesday, and into the S...

HOMESTEAD, Fla. – Detectives detained a woman for questioning in the overnight shooting death of a man in Homestead Saturday morning, Miami-Dade police said. Homestead police responded to the call just before 3:25 am and said the man was located in a rear alleyway in the 1300 block of Northwest 14th Street suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue crews pronounced him dead. Investigators detained a woman for questioning and believe the shooting stemmed from a domestic incident, Miami-Dade police said. Police have not publicly identified the victim nor the woman in custody. This is a developing story. Stay with Local10.com and Local 10 News for updates. Copyright 2022 by ^ – All rights reserved. Hurt in an accident? Get the help you need instantly by calling 888-577-5988 The post Man shot, killed in presumed domestic incident in Homestead first appeared on Daily Florida Press .

I follow polls. I study polls. I look to polls for insight into how people outside my immediate circle might be thinking about things. But no, I do not trust polls. If you trust something you put faith in it. Trust implies a readiness to make decisions based on what those polls tell you, and that would be foolish, particularly this year. The ongoing chaos of Donald Trump, the Dobbs decision on abortion, the after-effects of the pandemic, the rapidly changing electorate, inflation, technology … the first challenge for pollsters is to build a sample that accurately models the likely voter pool, and with so many wildcards that’s difficult to do with any degree of confidence this year. All that said, I accept in rough terms what the polls seem to be telling us here in Georgia: Raphael Warnock has a slight advantage over Herschel Walker in his re-election bid to the U.S. Senate, and Brian Kemp has a larger lead over Stacey Abrams in his re-election campaign for governor. But why? ...