AP News in Brief at 11:04 p.m. EDT

Fearful residents flee Tampa Bay region as Hurricane Milton takes aim at Florida coast

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Fearful Florida residents streamed out of the Tampa Bay region Tuesday ahead of what could be a once-in-a-century direct hit from Hurricane Milton, as crews worked furiously to prevent furniture, appliances and other waterlogged wreckage from the last big storm from becoming deadly projectiles in this one.

Tuesday marked the last chance for millions of people in the Tampa metro area to prepare for lethal storm surges, ferocious winds and possible tornadoes in a place that has narrowly avoided a head-on blow from a major storm for generations.

“Today’s the last day to get ready,” said Craig Fugate, a former FEMA director who previously ran the state’s emergency operation division. “This is bringing everything.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state deployed over 300 dump trucks that had removed 1,300 loads of debris left behind by Hurricane Helene by Tuesday afternoon. In Clearwater Beach, Nick Szabo spent a second long day hauling away 3-foot (0.9-meter) piles of soggy mattresses, couches and drywall after being hired by a local resident who was eager to help clear the roads and unwilling to wait for overwhelmed city contractors.

“All this crap is going to be missiles,” he said. “It’s like a spear coming at you.”

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Milton's storm surge is a threat that could be devastating far beyond the Tampa Bay region

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — Two weeks ago, Hurricane Helene “spared” the Tampa Bay region a direct hit and yet storm surge still caused catastrophic damage, flooding homes, drowning people who decided to stay near the coast and leaving massive piles of debris that still sit along roadsides.

Now that Hurricane Milton, a more powerful storm, is heading straight for the same region, what can residents expect?

“Worse. Much worse,” said former Federal Emergency Management Director Craig Fugate, a Florida resident who previously ran the state's emergency management division.

The cities near the mouth of Tampa Bay saw some of the worst storm surge in memory during Helene even though the storm landed more than 100 miles (161 kilometers) to the north. Now forecasters say the low-lying region could be hit with 15 feet (5 meters) of storm surge.

“This isn’t water that rises slowly. This is fast-moving water with waves. It’s like a battering ram," Fugate said. "You just don’t want to be in that area. That’s how we lost a lot of lives in all those surge areas where people didn’t get out. They either drowned or were crushed by their houses collapsing on them.”

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Florida hospitals and health care facilities in Hurricane Milton's path prepare for the worst

Hospitals and other health care facilities on Florida’s Gulf Coast — still reeling from Hurricane Helene — are now revving up for Hurricane Milton.

The system, which is shaping up to be one of the most powerful to hit the region in years, is projected to make landfall a bit south of the Tampa area late Wednesday. Long-term care facilities in counties where mandatory evacuations have been issued are taking their patients elsewhere, while hospitals are largely on guard, preparing to stay open through the storm.

According to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ website, 10 hospitals have reported evacuations as of Tuesday afternoon. Three hundred health care facilities have evacuated as of this morning, the most many of the staff working there could remember, said Florida Agency for Health Care Administration deputy secretary Kim Smoak. That count included 63 nursing homes and 169 assisted living facilities.

Steve McCoy, chief of the Florida Department of Health’s Bureau of Emergency Medical Oversight, said it is the state’s “largest evacuation ever.”

Health officials are using almost 600 vehicles to take patients out of the storm’s path, tracking them with blue wristbands that show where they were evacuated from and where they are being sent. They plan to keep getting patients out through the night, until winds reach sustained speeds of 40 mph and driving conditions become unsafe.

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Hezbollah steps up rocket fire as Israel sends more troops into Lebanon

BEIRUT (AP) — Hezbollah fired another barrage of rockets into Israel on Tuesday, and the militant group’s acting leader vowed to keep up pressure that has forced tens of thousands of Israelis from their homes near the Lebanese border. The Israeli military said it sent more ground troops into southern Lebanon and that a senior Hezbollah commander was killed in an airstrike.

Dozens of rockets fired by Hezbollah were aimed as far south as Haifa, and the Israeli government warned residents north of the coastal city to limit activities, prompting the closure of more schools. The Israeli military said Hezbollah launched about 180 rockets across the border.

Sheikh Naim Kassem, Hezbollah's acting leader, said its military capabilities remain intact after weeks of heavy Israeli airstrikes across large parts of Lebanon, and attacks that killed its top commanders in a matter of days. He said Israeli forces have not been able to advance since launching a ground incursion into Lebanon last week.

Kassem, speaking by video from an undisclosed location, said Hezbollah will name a new leader to succeed longtime leader Hassan Nasrallah, “but the circumstances are difficult because of the war.”

In a statement addressed to the people of Lebanon, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called Hezbollah “weaker than it has been for many, many years.” He added: “We took out thousands of terrorists, including Nasrallah himself, and Nasrallah’s replacement, and the replacement of his replacement,” but without naming them.

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Harris gets personal in media blitz, balks at breaking with Biden on policy

NEW YORK (AP) — Kamala Harris wanted to help voters get to know her better with a cascade of media appearances Tuesday, but the most lasting impression might have been her unwillingness to break with Joe Biden.

Asked on ABC’s “The View” how she would be different from the president she’s served under for four years, Harris said “we’re obviously two different people” and “I will bring those sensibilities to how I lead.”

However, she was not able to identify a decision where she would have gone another way. “There is not a thing that comes to mind,” Harris said.

The exchange encapsulated Harris’ struggle to portray herself as a candidate who can deliver the change voters crave while also remaining loyal to the current administration. Some Harris aides privately winced as gleeful Republicans swiftly circulated clips of her response and Donald Trump swiped at her in a social media post, calling it “her dumbest answer so far.”

It wasn’t until later in the show that Harris named something that she would do differently than Biden — she would put a Republican in her Cabinet.

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Supreme Court seems open to upholding regulations on ghost guns, hard to trace weapons used in crime

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court seemed likely Tuesday to uphold a Biden administration regulation on ghost guns, the difficult-to-trace weapons found in increasing numbers at crime scenes.

In arguments that ranged from classic cars to Western omelets, key conservative justices seemed open to the government's argument that kits allowing people to make nearly untraceable guns at home can be regulated like other firearms.

Two conservative justices, Chief John Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett, previously joined with the three liberals to allow the rule to go into effect and seemed skeptical of the arguments that the Biden administration overstepped by trying to regulate gun parts rather than finished weapons.

Many of the justices' questions focused on whether the kits were close enough to functioning weapons to be regulated as guns.

Justice Samuel Alito compared the components to food, suggesting eggs, peppers and ham aren't necessarily a Western omelet so shouldn't be treated like one.

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FBI arrests Afghan man who officials say planned Election Day attack in the US

WASHINGTON (AP) — The FBI has arrested an Afghan man who officials say was inspired by the Islamic State militant organization and was plotting an Election Day attack targeting large crowds in the U.S., the Justice Department said Tuesday.

Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi, 27, of Oklahoma City told investigators after his arrest Monday that he had planned his attack to coincide with Election Day next month and that he and a co-conspirator expected to die as martyrs, according to charging documents.

Tawhedi, who arrived in the U.S. in September 2021, had taken steps in recent weeks to advance his attack plans, including by ordering AK-47 rifles, liquidating his family's assets and buying one-way tickets for his wife and child to travel home to Afghanistan, officials said.

The arrest comes as the FBI confronts heightened concerns over the possibility of extremist violence on U.S. soil, with Director Christopher Wray telling The Associated Press in August that he was "hard pressed to think of a time in my career where so many different kinds of threats are all elevated at once.”

“Terrorism is still the FBI’s number one priority, and we will use every resource to protect the American people,” Wray said in a statement Tuesday.

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As FEMA prepares for Hurricane Milton, it battles rumors surrounding Helene recovery

WASHINGTON (AP) — The rumors surrounding Hurricane Helene are many. There are false claims that people taking federal relief money could see their land seized. Or that $750 is the most they will ever get to rebuild. Or that the agency's director — on the ground since the storm hit — was beaten up and hospitalized.

As the U.S. agency tasked with responding to disasters, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been fighting misinformation since Helene slammed into Florida nearly two weeks ago and brought a wide swath of destruction as it headed north. The false claims are being fueled by former President Donald Trump and others just ahead of the presidential election, and are coming as the agency is gearing up to respond to a second major disaster: Hurricane Milton is set to strike Florida on Wednesday.

FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell told reporters Tuesday that she has never seen the disinformation problem as bad as it's been with Helene, which hit hard in North Carolina, a state key to winning the election.

"It’s absolutely the worst that I have ever seen," an uninjured Criswell said.

She said the online rumors are demoralizing for staff or volunteers who have left family behind to deploy to a disaster zone. And she said there's a real risk that local residents will hear these rumors and be too afraid to apply for the help they're entitled to.

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Musk's X to be reinstated in Brazil after complying with Supreme Court demands

SAO PAULO (AP) — The Brazilian Supreme Court's Justice Alexandre de Moraes on Tuesday authorized the restoration of social media platform X´s service in Brazil, over a month after its nationwide shutdown, according to a court document that was made public.

Elon Musk’s X was blocked on Aug. 30 in the highly online country of 213 million people — and one of X’s biggest markets, with estimates of its user base ranging from 20 to 40 million. De Moraes ordered the shutdown after a monthslong dispute with Musk over free speech, far-right accounts and misinformation. Musk had disparaged de Moraes, calling him an authoritarian and a censor, even though his rulings, including X’s suspension, were repeatedly upheld by his peers.

Despite Musk's public bravado, X ultimately complied with all of de Moraes' demands. They included blocking certain accounts from the platform, paying outstanding fines and naming a legal representative in the country. Failure to do the latter had triggered the suspension.

“The resumption of (X)’s activities on national territory was conditioned, solely, on full compliance with Brazilian laws and absolute observance of the Judiciary's decisions, out of respect for national sovereignty,” de Moraes said in the court document.

“X is proud to return to Brazil,” the company said in a statement posted on its Global Government Affairs account. "Giving tens of millions of Brazilians access to our indispensable platform was paramount throughout this entire process. We will continue to defend freedom of speech, within the boundaries of the law, everywhere we operate.”

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Grazer beats the behemoth that killed her cub to win Alaska's Fat Bear Contest

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — In a storyline better befitting a melodrama than a popularity vote, Grazer won her second Fat Bear Contest Tuesday by defeating the male behemoth that killed her cub this summer.

Grazer beat Chunk by more than 40,000 votes cast by fans watching live cameras atexplore.org of Alaska’s Katmai National Park and Preserve.

Fans cast votes online for their favorite chunky competitor in tournament-style brackets that begins with 12 bears. They picked the bear they believe best exemplifies winter preparedness by the fat they have accumulated over the summer feeding on the sockeye salmon that return to Brooks River.

The bears often perch at the top of a falls in the river, grabbing leaping salmon out of the air as the fish attempt to hurdle the waterfall to spawn upstream.

This is where Grazer’s cub died after it slipped over the waterfall and was killed by Chunk, perhaps the most dominant brown bear on the river. Grazer fought Chunk in an effort to save the cub, but it later died. The death was captured on the live cameras.

The Associated Press