Hurricane Idalia made landfall Wednesday blasting Florida with winds near 125 miles an hour and a wall of water that caused heavy flooding. Thousands chose to get out of harm's way, while others hunkered down for the first major storm to strike the state this year. So far, officials reported two rain-related traffic deaths. Geoff Bennett reports.
《Hurricane Idalia; John Dailey, Tallahassee mayor; Tree City USA; FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell; 》

In our news wrap Wednesday, the White House announced a grant of $95 million to strengthen the electrical grid on the island of Maui following the wildfires there, a federal judge ruled Rudy Giuliani defamed two Georgia election workers by accusing them of ballot fraud in the 2020 vote and the U.S. says intelligence shows Putin is trying to buy weapons from North Korea for the war in Ukraine.
《Kremlin conceded the plane crash that killed Russian Yevgeny Prigozhin could have been foul play; former Roman Catholic Cardinal Theodore McCarrick (93) will not be tried on charges that he sexually assaulted a teenage boy in 1974. McCarrick has dementia; 》

For the second time this summer, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell froze up while answering questions during a press conference. The Republican stared blankly for about 30 seconds Wednesday afternoon in Kentucky. There was a similar moment for the Senator on Capitol Hill last month. Congressional Correspondent Lisa Desjardins reports.
《Mitch McConnell; 1/3 of Senators over 70 years old; McConnell, at 80, is the fourth oldest; potential government shutdown at the end of September; 》

In the last two years, six countries across western and central Africa suffered what the UN has called an epidemic of coups. That number is now seven. Wednesday, soldiers in Gabon seized power immediately after election results were announced. Gabon is an oil-rich country and one of France’s most important allies in Africa. Nick Schifrin discussed more with Oge Onubogu of the Wilson Center.
《western and central Africa has seen an epidemic of coups; Gabon, 7th country since 2021; Gabon is an oil-rich country; Ali Bongo reelected for a third term, since 2009; before that, Ali's father, Omar Bongo, had been president for 41 years; Ali, under house arrest; Bongo family dynastic rule is the problem in the case of Gabon; Oge Onubogu, director of the Africa Program at the Wilson Center; people not necessarily in support of the millitary, but an opportunity for a transition; democracy in Africa in decline; military taking advantage; 》

A shooting at the Univ. of North Carolina this week left one professor dead and a community reeling. A campus lockdown lasted three hours, alarming students and staff who barricaded themselves for safety. The school's paper, The Daily Tar Heel, published a front page showing messages sent between friends and loved ones throughout the event. Amna Nawaz discussed more with editor Emmy Martin.
《Zijie Yan, an associate professor in the Department of Applied Physical Sciences was shot; Yan was an adviser to the alleged gunman, a graduate student; The Daily Tar Heel, school newspaper; Emmy Martin, editor in chief; 》

Judy Woodruff recently examined how the loss of thousands of local newspapers across the country is depriving communities of some of the glue that holds them together and fueling division. She now looks at how some news outlets are managing to hang on and whether what they’re doing is sustainable. It’s part of her series, America at a Crossroads.
《岐路に立つアメリカ; Judy Woodruff; local newspapers; Anne Adams; The Recorder, local newspaper; about 2,500 local newspapers, a quarter of the total, have folded since 2005; one-fifth of U.S. residents now live in news deserts; Mississippi Today, nonprofit digital news source; Sarabeth Berman, CEO of American Journalism Project, venture philanthropy; nonprofit model is showing promise in urban settings, economic realities persist for small local newspapers that still depend on subscriptions and advertising; how to come together around a common set of facts to solve the issues that are confronting us in the 21st century; 》

Some say tennis is a metaphor for life, involving anticipation, problem-solving and incredibly hard work. For 25-year-old Frances Tiafoe, now one of the top 10 players in the world, those were lessons learned early, both on and off the court. Amna Nawaz caught up with Tiafoe at the U.S. Open in New York for our arts and culture series, CANVAS.
《Frances Tiafoe; Big Foe, Tiafoe's nickname; DMV, District/Maryland/Virginia; Frances Tiafoe Sr. and Alphina Kamara, fled civil war in Sierra Leone in the 1990s, raising Frances and his twin brother, Franklin, in the U.S.》