Be wary of hurricanes that start with the letter “I.”
The ninth letter of the alphabet leads all others in the number of named Atlantic storms that have been retired over the decades due to their destruction or high death tolls.
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Residents pick up sandbags at the James Seals Jr. Parks & Recreation Center as they prepare for Hurricane Isaias expected landfall along the Gulf Coast, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Octavio Jones)
FILE - Caskets, that floated from their tombs during flooding from Hurricane Ida, sit along a roadside in Ironton, La., Sept. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Edie Kearns stands on the floor of her home that was destroyed by a tornado associated with Hurricane Ivan in Marianna, Fla., Sept. 17, 2004. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FILE - A bicyclist making his way past a stranded taxi on a flooded New York City street as Tropical Storm Irene passes through on Aug. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
FILE - Bruce Hickey walks along the waterfront littered with debris and shrimp boats in the mobile home park where he and his wife Kathy have a winter home on San Carlos Island, Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Oct. 5, 2022, one week after the passage of Hurricane Ian. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
Next up is Isaias, which became the first hurricane of the Atlantic season on Wednesday night. Whether it lives up to the misery of others whose first letter it shares remains to be seen. The latest forecast appeared to be less dramatic than those of other scarier storms.
Isaias was expected to make landfall on the northern Gulf Coast late Friday or early Saturday, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami.
“We just have to be prepared for the worst,” said Jeff Collier, mayor of Dauphin Island, Alabama, a 15-mile (24-kilometer) long barrier island at the mouth of Mobile Bay. “We take all of the storms seriously, once they get into the Gulf."
Atlantic hurricanes have been given names since 1953, and 100 of them are no longer used. There have been 14 storms with “I” names retired, including 12 this century. When eastern and central Pacific hurricanes are considered, that retired “I” list grows to 20.
Ten Atlantic storm names starting with “F” have been retired, followed by “C” with nine, and “D” and “M” with eight apiece, according to a list compiled by the hurricane center.
Hurricanes starting with “I” typically occur in the middle of the June 1-Nov. 30 season, when warming ocean waters can supercharge a storm's energy.
The timing of Isaias is an exception to this trend, due to the current super El Niño weather pattern, which stunted Atlantic hurricane formations through September while cranking out storms throughout the Pacific region.
Isaias came one day shy of tying a 121-year-old record for the latest-forming initial hurricane of the Atlantic season.
Of the 55 costliest hurricanes to hit the United States, a dozen began with the letter “I", including four in the top 10.
Category 4 Ian in 2022 came in at No. 3 with $119.6 billion in damage. Ian hammered Florida with such ferocity that it wiped out whole neighborhoods, tossed boats onto highways, swept away beaches and swamped homes in roof-deep waters.
Category 4 Ida, devastating parts of Louisiana in 2021, was the sixth-costliest hurricane at $84.6 billion. Category 4 Irma tore through the Florida Keys in 2017 for No. 8 at a cost of $64 billion. Category 2 Ike made landfall near Galveston, Texas, in 2008 for No. 10 at $43.2 billion. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it based these figures on the 2024 Consumer Price Index adjusted cost.
The 2020 hurricane season exhausted that year’s alphabetical list of storm names by mid-September, so later storms were identified using Greek letters, including Iota, the 30th named storm of that record-breaking year.
Category 4 Iota decimated Nicaragua and Honduras in November 2020 only two weeks after another hurricane had passed through the region.
The World Meteorological Organization, which oversees storm naming, later decided not to use the Greek alphabet for future storms, citing potential confusion when translated into other languages. Instead, a supplemental list of names will be used when the standard list is exhausted in a particular season.
Ivan tore through Grand Cayman island in 2004, damaging or destroying an estimated 95 percent of the buildings there, the National Weather Service said. Then it slammed into the United States, spawning 118 tornadoes from Florida to Pennsylvania, more than any other tropical system since modern-day records have been kept starting in 1950, the weather service said. The storm was blamed for 124 deaths, including 57 in the United States.
Ivan formed during an El Niño, and churned a loopy path. After coming ashore near Gulf Shores, Alabama, it went up to Virginia, then back down through southeast Florida, returning into the U.S. Gulf and to Texas.
In 2011, Hurricane Irene sent cars bobbing down rivers, swept away covered bridges, put millions in the dark and killed dozens of people. It made landfall along the North Carolina coast, then veered north along a densely populated corridor. New York City took a direct hit, but the heaviest rains were further inland.
In Vermont, the storm killed six people, washed homes off their foundations and damaged or destroyed more than 200 bridges and 500 miles (805 kilometers) of highway. It was the costliest Category 1 U.S. hurricane on record since at least 1980, with estimated total damage of $18.8 billion.
Associated Press writer Kim Chandler in Montgomery, Alabama, contributed to this report.
Residents pick up sandbags at the James Seals Jr. Parks & Recreation Center as they prepare for Hurricane Isaias expected landfall along the Gulf Coast, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Mobile, Ala. (AP Photo/Octavio Jones)
FILE - Caskets, that floated from their tombs during flooding from Hurricane Ida, sit along a roadside in Ironton, La., Sept. 27, 2021. (AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)
FILE - Edie Kearns stands on the floor of her home that was destroyed by a tornado associated with Hurricane Ivan in Marianna, Fla., Sept. 17, 2004. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FILE - A bicyclist making his way past a stranded taxi on a flooded New York City street as Tropical Storm Irene passes through on Aug. 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Peter Morgan, File)
FILE - Bruce Hickey walks along the waterfront littered with debris and shrimp boats in the mobile home park where he and his wife Kathy have a winter home on San Carlos Island, Fort Myers Beach, Fla., Oct. 5, 2022, one week after the passage of Hurricane Ian. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell, File)
Attorneys for three news organizations banished from the White House by the Trump administration are in court Thursday. U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly is hearing arguments nearly three weeks after CNN, MS NOW and Politico were abruptly banned from White House grounds, with President Donald Trump decrying their “fake news.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration is suspending tech giant Microsoft from a program to apply for green cards for workers who come to the U.S. to live and work using an H-1B visa. Vice President JD Vance accuses the company of fraud.
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That’s according to a Congressional Research Service report updated this week.
The downed aircraft include what the military has publicly acknowledged as lost — like those destroyed as part of the rescue mission to recover two downed aviators in Iran — as well as dozens of drones the military has refused to discuss.
The report says that among the 81 damaged or destroyed aircraft were 45 MQ-9 Reaper drones, 12 F-15E Strike Eagle jets, seven KC-135 Stratotanker aerial refueling aircraft and an F-35A Lightning II fighter jet.
It offers insight into the toll of the war because the military hasn’t released a definitive list or report on the damage that equipment and bases have sustained.
While the report draws some of its information from media reports and not government sources, prior versions of it have been cited by the Pentagon’s inspector general.
President Trump on Wednesday approved major disaster declarations for six states, one territory and one tribe, according to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Hawaii, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Utah, Guam and the Pueblo of Zuni tribe all received major disaster declarations, which unlock federal support and funding for disasters deemed beyond the capacity of the jurisdiction to handle on its own.
Trump approved two declarations for Hawaii for Hurricanes Lala and Lowell, which impacted the state just weeks apart. However, the approval only permits funding for repairs to public infrastructure, not the individual assistance that helps survivors with repairs and temporary housing.
Trump denied requests from Tennessee and Illinois along with West Virginia’s appeal of an earlier denial, all for summer storms. He hasn’t approved any requests for hazard mitigation assistance — which adds dollars to build back with more resilience — for more than a year.
Washington Metropolitan Police say they’ve made no arrests in the theft of former Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy’s bust from the site of the stadium named for him after his assassination in 1968 as he campaigned for president.
An MPD spokesperson said there were no updates to the theft, first reported by The Washington Post. The stadium, the former home of Washington’s NFL team, has been demolished. The bust, which stood outside the main entrance, was left behind on a pedestal. According to the police report, it was stolen between Sept. 15 and Oct. 1, when MPD was notified.
It was unclear if the site has cameras. Attempts to reach Events DC’s sports and entertainment division, which manages the site, for comment were unsuccessful.
U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly is hearing arguments nearly three weeks after CNN, MS NOW and Politico were abruptly banned from White House grounds, with the president decrying their “fake news.”
Kelly granted a two-week temporary restraining order against the ban, but it expires Thursday. The outlets have asked the court to halt the ban until the case is resolved, saying the Trump administration has “persisted in unpredictably and inconsistently implementing its ban” despite the restraining order — including selectively keeping CNN from participating in White House pool duties.
“The White House’s words and actions leave little doubt that it will immediately reinstitute a complete ban of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO if allowed the opportunity,” lawyers for the networks wrote in a filing on Sept. 28.
It was the latest development in the escalating drama between the Trump administration and the news media, which has raged in various arenas during his second term. At its core, though, are multiple First Amendment questions.
The Trump administration is suspending tech giant Microsoft from a program to apply for green cards for workers who come to the U.S. to live and work using an H-1B visa. Vice President JD Vance accuses the company of fraud.
Vance said Thursday, “If you do the math, for every worker that Microsoft laid off, they replaced that worker with one and a half foreign indentured servants.” Vance spoke in a White House news conference announcing the decision.
The H-1B program has long been a target of President Trump’s supporters who say the program undercuts American workers and is rife with abuse.
The Associated Press is reaching out to Microsoft for comment.
Obama, the nation’s first Black president, has endorsed David Crowley, who’s seeking to become Wisconsin’s first Black governor. Crowley received Obama’s endorsement in a video posted online Thursday.
Obama says that like him, Crowley started his political life as a community organizer. Crowley was raised in poverty in Milwaukee, and Obama says his “life story is about overcoming adversity and his life’s work is about bringing people together.”
Crowley faces Republican U.S. Rep. Tom Tiffany, who’s been endorsed by President Trump.
Trump won Wisconsin twice and lost once, all three decided by less than a percentage point. Obama won Wisconsin by 7 points and 14 points. Those were the only two presidential elections out of the past seven in Wisconsin that were decided by more than a point.
Few Americans think either major political party has the advantage on artificial intelligence issues, the new AP-NORC poll shows.
About 4 in 10 Americans say they don’t trust either the Democratic Party or the Republican Party on AI, while nearly 2 in 10 trust both parties equally. The rest are split between trusting the Republicans and the Democrats.
Even people who identify with the parties are ambivalent about their ability to handle the issue. Only about half of Republicans and Democrats say their party is better equipped to handle AI issues, and roughly 3 in 10 in each case say neither party is.
President Trump also gets a low rating on his handling of the issue, with 67% of U.S. adults disapproving of his performance on AI.
About 8 in 10 U.S. adults say it’s “extremely” or “very” important for the U.S. government to ensure AI stays under human control, according to the new AP-NORC poll.
They’re about as likely to want the government to prioritize protecting the country’s workforce. Most U.S. adults also think minimizing environmental harm and growing the U.S. economy are highly important. About half say this about promoting technological innovation, and slightly fewer say that about competing with China.
Republicans are more likely than Democrats to say it’s highly important to grow the U.S. economy and to compete with other countries like China. Democrats, on the other hand, are more likely to say it’s at least “very” important to minimize environmental harm.
About two-thirds of Americans think AI is developing “too fast,” according to a new AP-NORC poll. About 3 in 10 say its development has been “about right” and only 8% say it’s moving “too slow.”
The risk that powerful AI models could evade human control and hurt humanity, once the stuff of science fiction, has been emerging as a more pressing concern. Even leaders of the companies that are developing frontier AI models are calling for a slowdown so government regulation can catch up.
There’s bipartisan concern about the speed of AI’s development. About three-quarters of Democrats say AI is developing “too fast,” while only about half of Republicans share that worry.
People under 30 years old also express higher levels of concern than people 60 or older, the survey found.
Rubio is reiterating that the Trump administration will keep trying to facilitate a negotiated settlement to Russia’s war in Ukraine but that it’s been difficult.
“We have tried, we will continue to try, but we’re also not going to invest in pointless processes if we can’t make progress,” he told reporters in Portugal after new Russian strikes in eastern Ukraine killed 30 people.
Rubio warned about the danger of the stalemate in the war because it can lead to escalation.
“That escalation could wind up being a sabotage campaign in neighboring countries that are members of NATO,” he said. That could “quickly turn what is a war between two countries into a much broader and far more dangerous regional conflict.”
European officials have accused Moscow of a campaign of sabotage and disruption aimed at undermining support for Ukraine and destabilizing European nations.
President Trump attacked Michigan Democratic Senate nominee Abdul El-Sayed in a late Wednesday social media post, referring to him as “Mohammed” and saying he “goes back to the days of the Jihad.”
“He is a RADICAL Extremist, Terrorist Sympathizer,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
In a social media post, El-Sayed, a former public health official who was born in the U.S. to Egyptian immigrant parents, responded by pointing out that the president knows his name: “He says it every day.”
“But he’s not just attacking me. He’s attacking all of us,” El-Sayed wrote. “He thinks he can use my name and my faith to distract us from the suffering his policies are inflicting on us at the pump, at the grocery store, and at the doctor’s office.”
The Democratic former president called the former Atlanta mayor a friend in a video message released Thursday.
“As a former judge, council member and mayor, Keisha believes that public service is about putting you first,” Obama said, touting Bottoms’ proposals to expand Medicaid and pre-kindergarten access, raise pay for firefighters and police officers, and eliminate state sales tax on groceries.
Obama also endorsed Deb Haaland for New Mexico governor and Troy Jackson in Maine’s Senate race on Thursday, as he steps up his midterm campaign activity.
Bottoms faces Republican Rick Jackson, a billionaire who’s spent more than $100 million of his own money in the race.
Jackson has President Trump’s endorsement and said during his primary that he’d be “Trump with a Southern tone.” But he’s recently removed some mentions of Trump from his campaign website.
Bottoms, who also was an adviser to former President Joe Biden, got Biden’s endorsement during her primary campaign.
Texas Democrat James Talarico said Thursday he agrees with President Trump that he and Republican Ken Paxton should debate ahead of the midterm election in their Senate contest.
“Ball’s in your court,” Talarico said in a social media post, tagging Paxton.
In a Truth Social post late on Wednesday after holding a rally with Paxton in Texas, Trump said Talarico should make the debate happen right away.
“He should immediately report to a Debate Stage against Ken Paxton, who is ready, willing, and able,” Trump said.
A message seeking comment was sent to Paxton’s campaign.
The Texas Senate contest is one of the most closely watched in the nation. A reliably Republican state, where Trump won in 2024 by almost 14 percentage points, Texas has become competitive with Election Day less than a month away.
Trump on Thursday is expected to hand out several of the nation’s highest science and technology honors, including to the entrepreneur and former DOGE chief Elon Musk.
The awards will be granted at “Science: A New Golden Age,” an afternoon summit that the White House says will highlight rapid changes in the scientific landscape, including in artificial intelligence technology, which the president refers to as super intelligence.
Musk is expected to receive the National Medal of Science alongside Google co-founder Sergey Brin, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, and Lisa Su, CEO of the semiconductor company Advanced Micro Devices.
Trump will also grant the National Medal of Technology and Innovation to Dell Technologies CEO Michael Dell and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
“These recipients are helping ensure America keeps leading the world in innovation,” said Liz Huston, a White House spokesperson.
Trump says his administration will make one-time payments of $90 per person to help more than 20 million Medicare enrollees pay for their Part B premiums. It will cost about $2 billion.
Less than one-third of all Medicare recipients are eligible for the payments, which are expected to be sent out this week. Not eligible are roughly 35 million Medicare Advantage enrollees, millions of other people with disabilities and low-income Medicare recipients.
Some 20.8 million people in the original Medicare Part B who are living in the United States, not receiving premium assistance from Medicaid or not paying an income-related monthly adjusted amount.
The Part B program covers expenses such as doctor’s visits, ambulance services and lab tests. Total monthly costs generally start at about $200 and vary with income.
Payments will come out of the Medicare Improvement Fund created by Congress in 2008 and intended to make improvements to the Medicare fee-for-service program. This is not the first time the fund has been used.
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President Donald Trump, facing protesters and a poor political climate, fought to rally Texas voters behind Senate candidate Ken Paxton on Wednesday night in a bid to stave off sweeping Democratic victories in the nation’s most populous red state.
But Trump’s remarks were not focused solely on Paxton.
Speaking to a packed Freeman Coliseum, Trump also pledged to award retired baseball star Roger Clemens the Presidential Medal of Freedom, restated his support for the death penalty for drug dealers and clarified recent comments in which he talked about the possibility of Iran bombing American cities as part of a recurring riff about how high fuel costs are “a small price to pay” for the war.
“You want to see problems? Let them hit San Diego, let them hit Los Angeles,” Trump said. “We’re not going to let that happen. We protect our cities. We protect our country.”
The president’s message was interrupted repeatedly by protesters, including by one who appeared to be close to the stage. In all, at least a dozen demonstrators interrupted the president. Some were led away by police.
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President Donald Trump waves to reporters as he walks on the South Lawn upon his arrival at the White House, Thursday, Oct. 8, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally at the Freeman Coliseum in San Antonio, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2026. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
