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The Senate race in Michigan has become so divisive and contentious that the fiancé of Democratic Rep. Haley Stevens said he will not vote for the party’s nominee, Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.
He predicted Michigan would reject El-Sayed too.
The defection to Republican Mike Rogers follows several others by high-profile Jewish Democrats in Michigan who say they won’t vote for El-Sayed because of his rhetoric about Israel and the war in Gaza.
Jason Turkish’s engagement to Stevens was announced after she lost the Aug. 4 primary to El-Sayed. He told reporters in a video posted Wednesday that El-Sayed did not bring the party together after the bruising primary as the couple had hoped.
“When he says ‘genocide’ over and over again, when he refuses to condemn an ad that says Jews are to blame for the price of bananas, he makes my community less safe,” Turkish said.
El-Sayed did distance himself from an incendiary ad released this week that tied the cost of groceries to the U.S. involvement in the war in Gaza, but Turkish was among a chorus of people who wanted a more forceful condemnation.
Stevens said on a CNN appearance late Wednesday she also wants El-Sayed to disavow that ad, which is not produced by his campaign.
She planned to vote for El-Sayed: “Like a lot of households across America, we’re a household divided. I still very much want our Democratic nominee — his name is Abdul — to win this race.”
Florida is known as the Sunshine State, but it may not live up to its name this winter.
That’s because El Niño is expected to bring frequent fronts and elevated potential for severe storms to the state, and it could be “one of the most active winters in history” there, according to Tampa-based meteorologist Jeff Berardelli.
In Tampa and Miami, two to three times the average amount of rainfall is possible from November through March, according to seasonal forecasts.
The state’s dry season runs from October through May, but from this year into next, mid-range forecast scenarios show around two feet of total rainfall, with the most extreme scenarios indicating up to around three feet — about as much precipitation as D.C. receives in a typical year.
Although seasonal forecasts are less precise than daily forecasts, a strong El Niño can improve their accuracy because of its predictable influence on the atmosphere.
That’s because extremely warm equatorial waters strengthen the southern branch of the jet stream, which is expected to flow over Florida this winter and fuel frequent storms.
Although El Niño doesn’t guarantee specific weather outcomes, Florida is heading into winter with the strongest El Niño on record.
The closest modern El Niño precedent is the winter of 1997-98, when Florida’s deadliest tornado outbreak struck the Orlando area in February 1998. From November 1997 to March 1998, almost 40 inches of rain fell in Tampa.
According to data from the Florida Department of Health, the state’s population has grown from around 15 million to over 23 million between 1998 and 2024 — an increase of about 50 percent.
That means more people may be exposed to potentially hazardous weather in the months ahead, including snowbirds who head south for Florida’s typically pleasant winter climate.
Good morning. It’s Thursday, Oct. 29, and my heart was warmed this morning by these divorced couples who married each other again. It’s actually not as rare as you might think.
The midterm campaign leads today’s edition of The 7 briefing. A pair of presidents, Donald Trump and his predecessor Barack Obama, yesterday brought their star power to battleground states.
In Georgia, Obama criticized Trump over rising prices. He said Trump officials had mobilized less over that issue than over his recent Cheesecake Factory jibe about Trump’s White House renovations.
In Ohio, Trump called for the prosecution of Mary Peltola, the Democratic Senate candidate in Alaska, following accusations that her campaign helped recruit an outside contender for her race.
Further down in the briefing, we cover rising ACA premiums, the World Series and how to tell if your dog is feeling depressed. One bit of advice: keep an eye on the vigor of their tail wagging.
Read today’s edition of The 7 here.
The death of a Haitian immigrant college student who stepped into traffic in late August after losing protection from deportation was ruled a suicide, the coroner’s office in Clark County, Ohio, said Wednesday.
Pierre Damas Bel, 20, was distraught over being outfitted with an ankle monitor after the Trump administration ended temporary protected status that allowed him to live and work legally in the United States, his family said.
He parked alongside a highway in Springfield on the morning of Aug. 31, got out of his vehicle and walked into traffic, the Ohio State Highway Patrol said at the time. He was hit by a tractor-trailer and declared dead at the scene.
The death certificate, signed by acting Clark County Coroner Aamir Khan, was finalized in mid-October, according to the coroner’s office.
President Donald Trump’s administration has terminated temporary protected status for the majority previously covered by it, including an estimated 350,000 Haitians.
Springfield — where Trump falsely accused Haitians of eating pets in 2024 — has struggled with job losses as Haitians have left or hunkered down.
In response to a request for comment, the Department of Homeland Security defended the decision by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to require Bel to wear an ankle bracelet, calling him “a non-detained illegal alien.”
“Any attempts to blame ICE for the death of Pierre Damas Bel are FALSE,” a DHS spokesperson wrote in an email.
Additional Coverage
The streak of record ocean temperatures in the key region where El Niño is measured has now reached 150 days.
The average water temperature in that remote stretch has climbed to 86.4 degrees Fahrenheit — and as high as 88.8 degrees in some spots. Before this year, the record highest reading was 85.7 degrees, set in 2015.
But El Niño is about more than just these numbers, and this remarkable ocean heat is causing chaotic weather across western South America.
“Peru and Ecuador are bracing for the mother of all modern [El Niño] events,” said Abraham Levy, director of a meteorological consulting firm in Peru.
Recent severe weather in Guayaquil, Ecuador, prompted the U.S. Embassy there to issue an alert message to American citizens in the region.
Data shared by Levy showed that nearly 20 inches of rain have fallen in Guayaquil during October — compared to an average of 0.2 inches. That’s about 100 times the normal monthly amount and about 43 percent of the annual average.
Late last week, storms caused severe flooding in Ecuador’s Quito, and torrential rainfall has recently caused destructive mudslides in Chile’s capital city of Santiago.
In Peru, Levy said El Niño is making headlines every day. Ocean temperatures just offshore there are as much as 9.4 degrees Celsius (16.9 degrees Fahrenheit) above average.
“Now that the rainy season is about to begin, we may see the real deal,” Levy said, referring to conditions that Peru’s neighbors Ecuador and Chile are already experiencing.
Across the United States, this winter could be a doozy because of El Niño. Some of the most notable potential impacts include:
- Active storm tracks along the West and East coasts
- Significant coastal and freshwater flood threats across California
- Greatly elevated chances for unusual rainfall and severe weather across Florida
CNN, MS NOW and Politico on Wednesday filed an amended complaint in federal district court, alleging that the White House blocking them from the Oval Office and Air Force One violates their First Amendment rights to press freedom.
The outlets won a preliminary injunction securing their access to the White House grounds, but have been excluded from these presidential spaces. Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., a partner at Gibson Dunn representing the news organizations, said the outlets’ journalists have been kept away from “the very locations that the President most frequently engages with the press.”
Boutrous said the exclusions “make it harder for the press to cover some of the most important events in the world for the benefit of the American people.”
A spokesperson for the White House pushed back in a statement.
“No person and no journalist has a constitutional right to access to the President’s Oval Office, Air Force One, or other sensitive and private facilities,” the spokesperson said. “When publications lie, fabricate, and ignore the truth, proximity matters less and they can write their fiction from outside of these secure facilities.”
The amended lawsuit comes one week after Boutrous threatened additional legal action if CNN, in particular, was not allowed back on Air Force One.
A D.C. lawmaker wants to boost the next mayor’s salary to $290,000, which would make the city’s top leader among the highest-paid in the country.
The proposal from council member Anita Bonds (D-At Large) to raise the pay by $40,000 would benefit Janeese Lewis George, the Democratic mayoral nominee, who is expected to easily win Tuesday’s general election and succeed outgoing Mayor Muriel E. Bowser (D).
The proposed new salary is higher than the $258,750 that Zohran Mamdani earns as New York’s mayor. New York has a population of more than 8.5 million, while D.C.’s is about 700,000.
The country’s top mayoral salary is the reported $383,760 in San Francisco, though Mayor Daniel Lurie, an heir to the Levi Strauss fortune, is doing the job for $1 a year. Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass earns about $318,000.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist whose perks include living rent-free in Gracie Mansion, turned down a raise to $305,800 passed by the New York City Council in July.
Lewis George, who also describes herself as a democratic socialist, said in a statement Wednesday that she did not request the proposed pay raise and that she would vote against the legislation.
“Families in this city are stretched on childcare, housing and their utility bills, and I am not going to ask them to pay more for the job of the mayor,” she said.
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