Today’s Big Story

Milton Hits Hard

The monster storm slams Florida as a Category 3 hurricane

Hurricane Milton made landfall on Wednesday night near Siesta Key, Florida, as a dangerous Category 3 storm before weakening to a Category 1 as it moves over the state, according to the National Hurricane Center. This is the fifth hurricane to make landfall in the U.S. this year.

The storm has already dropped about 16 inches of rain on St. Petersburg, representing a more than a 1-in-1,000 year rainfall for the area. Meanwhile, deaths were reported in St. Lucie County, Florida, after a tornado tore through a mobile home retirement community, the county sheriff told CNN.

Bands of heavy rain containing strong wind gusts are spreading across parts of the state, but according to the Weather Channel, the storm will be in the Atlantic by later Thursday morning. The damage is already piling up. Deaths were reported from a tornado in Fort Pierce, and wind destroyed the roof of the Tampa Bay Rays’ stadium. Flooding was reported on both coasts, from Tampa to St. Augustine.

Forecasters warned that storm surge could reach as high as 13 feet, and a flash flood warning was in place for several cities in the Tampa Bay region. More than 5.5 million people were under storm surge warnings and more than 13 million under a flood watch, according to the National Weather Service. As of right now, more than 3 million households and businesses have lost power across Florida, according to poweroutage.us. And that number may continue to rise. The extent of the storm’s damage remains unclear so far as officials wait for daybreak to assess conditions, with some beginning recovery efforts in the early hours of Thursday.

Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, who oversees the Federal Emergency Management Agency, spoke to ABC News about their preparations for the storm. “We have already, approximately 900 or so FEMA personnel are already present and situated there. Some of them have been situated there in response to Helene,” said Mayorkas. “Some were positioned in recovery efforts for prior hurricanes. We have got incident management assistant teams, urban search and rescue.” President Joe Biden also confirmed he pre-deployed thousands of federal personnel to areas affected by the storm, including more than 1,000 Coast Guard members.

Biden and Netanyahu Finally Speak

But the call carried the weight of the worst relationship between the United States and Israel in years

For the first time in two months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke with President Joe Biden today ahead of an Israeli Cabinet vote on the response to Iran's missile attack and after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant's trip to the U.S. was called off, Israeli and U.S. officials told NBC News. The White House described the dialogue as “direct” and “productive”, and said Biden and Netanyahu had agreed to stay in “close contact” in the coming days. Vice President Kamala Harris also joined the call.

However, when the meeting ended, American officials said nothing about Israel’s plans, or whether Netanyahu indicated he would heed Biden’s warnings not to hit nuclear or energy sites, which the White House fears could lead to an escalating cycle of Iranian missile strikes and Israeli responses. But it was clear that the relationship between the United States and Israel is strained. American officials do not dispute that Israel needs to react to maintain deterrence. But at this point, administration officials would settle for acts of sabotage, as long as the situation does not escalate what has already turned into a regional conflict.

Netanyahu’s office, meanwhile, confirmed that the prime minister had recently spoken with former President Donald Trump. The Republican, who is in the midst of a close White House race against Harris, called Netanyahu last week and “congratulated him on the intense and determined operations that Israel carried out against Hezbollah,” according to Netanyahu’s office.

The Nobel Prizes Are Being Handed Out

It’s been a banner week for artificial intelligence research

What do you know about the Nobel Prize? Did you know that there are five separate prizes awarded to those who—during the preceding year—have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind, as established by the 1895 will of Swedish chemist, engineer, and industrialist Alfred Nobel, in the year before he died?

Well, they’re being handed out right now. So far, it’s been a banner week for artificial intelligence research: In case it wasn’t clear, it’s now possible to win a Nobel Prize by studying it and contributing to other fields—it was used for the chemistry prize for a breakthrough discovery predicting and designing the structure of proteins, the building blocks of life. Meanwhile, “a U.S. scientist who won the 2024 Nobel physics prize for his pioneering work on artificial intelligence said Tuesday he found recent advances in the technology ‘very unnerving’ and warned of possible catastrophe if not kept in check.”

And later today, the prize for literature will be handed out. As the New York Times points out, these are not like the National Book Awards, which celebrate great books and stories. This is more focused on writers and their contribution to the art. “Greatness is not the same as popularity. The great books are the ones you’re supposed to feel bad about not having read. Great writers are the ones who matter whether you read them or not.”

Making the Perfect Turf

Researchers work to fine tune the grass for the 2026 World Cup

Just in case you haven’t heard yet: In less than two years, one of the world’s biggest sporting events is coming back to North America. The United States, Mexico and Canada will host the 2026 World Cup, holding games in 16 cities.

While Michigan won’t serve as an official venue, the state will play a key role in all 16 pitches planned for the tournament. Michigan State University announced this week that its “turfgrass management program” has been tapped to provide the playing surfaces for the tournament. The goal is making sure the grass in each venue will be in prime condition and will have a consistent feel for the world class athletes racing up and down the field.

Each stadium will present their own unique challenges, including differing climates and altitudes. MSU just hosted a field day to show FIFA and its partners some of its latest developments. They showed them how the turfgrass is grown and how the turf interacts with an athlete’s cleats using a specialized machine that, according to Yahoo! Sports, “mimics the rigors of gameplay.”

The Long Read

Young people say the culture and aesthetics of wine meld with their lifestyles, whether they’re drinking or not

Focus your energy.