North America

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) — Police were searching for both the weapon and the motive in a shooting at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill that left one faculty member dead and prompted an hourslong lockdown amid a search for the suspect.

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) — Idalia became a hurricane on Tuesday, threatening to bring deadly storm surge and dangerous winds to Florida’s Gulf Coast after lashing Cuba with heavy rain.

A day earlier, Florida residents loaded up on sandbags and evacuated from homes in low-lying areas along the Gulf Coast to prepare for a storm that the National Hurricane Center projected could have sustained winds of up to 120 mph (193 kph). That would make it a Category 3 hurricane — a potentially big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year’s Hurricane Ian.

NEW YORK, August 28. /TASS/: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan could visit Russia on September 8, Bloomberg reported, citing Turkish officials familiar with the situation.

Erdogan plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss a grain deal, the report said. Following the meeting, Erdogan is set to travel to a G20 summit in India.

The office of the Turkish presidency office declined to comment on Erdogan’s plans for the Bloomberg report.

WASHINGTON, Aug 27 (Reuters) - The white gunman who shot and killed three Black people at a Dollar General store in Jacksonville, Florida on Saturday was a 21-year-old who bought his guns legally and had no criminal history, local law enforcement said on Sunday.

The shooter, Ryan Christopher Palmeter, lived with his parents in a suburb of Jacksonville, Sheriff T.K. Waters told a news conference. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Aug 28 (Reuters) - The United States Transportation Department (USDOT) on Monday fined American Airlines (AAL.O) $4.1 million for unlawfully keeping thousands of passengers on the tarmac for hours, the largest-ever penalty for violating the rule.

Of the $4.1 million assessed, $2.05 million will be credited to the airline for compensation provided to passengers of impacted flights.

LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer will call on state lawmakers this week to pass legislation proactively protecting key provisions in the Affordable Care Act, including no-cost preventive services, as the nation’s health law continues to face legal challenges in federal court.

Whitmer, who is in her second term and working for the first time with a Legislature under complete Democratic control, will call for a plan to codify the Affordable Care Act during a speech Wednesday where she will outline her legislative priorities for the second half of the year.

MIAMI (AP) — Tropical Storm Idalia intensified early Monday and was expected to become a major hurricane before it reaches Florida’s Gulf coast, the National Hurricane Center said Monday, warning of an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and dangerous hurricane-force winds in Florida as soon as late Tuesday.

Heavy rainfall in western Cuba could produce flooding and landslides, forecasters said, and hurricane-force winds were expected later Monday.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis canceled a day of presidential campaign appearances to deal with crises at home as his state mourns a racist fatal shooting in Jacksonville and prepares for a tropical storm.

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — The wildfire situation showed some improvement in British Columbia on Sunday, with more people being allowed to return home, but blazes continued to threaten communities farther north in Canada’s Northwest Territories.

Hot temperatures and winds expected to gust to up to 40 kph (25 mph) were fanning flames around the Northwest Territories town of Hay River, on the south shore of Great Slave Lake.

PHOENIX (AP) — Speaker Kevin McCarthy suggested Sunday that an impeachment inquiry of President Joe Biden was becoming more likely, calling it “a natural step forward” as Congress soon ends its summer break and House Republicans seek to expand their investigative powers.

McCarthy, R-Calif., has so far avoided committing to an impeachment vote or offering a timeline for possible action. Some House Republicans are eager to go after Biden over claims of financial misconduct involving his son Hunter, but the Democratic president has not been shown to have done anything wrong.