All About: Florence's 'violent grind', GPS satellites, North Carolinians

Florence crashed into the Carolina coast on Friday, felling trees, dumping nearly three feet of rain on some spots and leading to the death of four people before it was downgraded to a tropical storm still capable of wreaking havoc.

 

Florence's 'violent grind' leaves at least four dead in Carolinas

Florence crashed into the Carolina coast on Friday, felling trees, dumping nearly three feet of rain on some spots and leading to the death of four people before it was downgraded to a tropical storm still capable of wreaking havoc. The storm's first casualties included a mother and her baby, who died when a tree fell on their brick house in Wilmington, North Carolina. The child's father was injured and taken to a hospital.

Lockheed wins contract for U.S. Air Force GPS satellites

The U.S. Air Force said on Friday it had chosen Lockheed Martin to build 22 next-generation Global Positioning System satellites worth up to $7.2 billion, part of a major effort to modernize the GPS constellation of satellites. The so-called GPS III follow-on satellites are expected to be available for launch into space beginning in 2026, the Air Force said.

Clashing with Trump, California governor says to launch climate satellite

California Governor Jerry Brown on Friday pledged to launch a satellite that will track and detect the sources of climate pollutants, his state's latest effort to challenge the Trump administration's skepticism about the science of climate change. Brown, who was nicknamed "Governor Moonbeam" during his first stint as governor in the 1970s in part because of a proposal he made at the time to launch an emergency communications satellite for the state, said California was teaming up with earth imaging company Planet Labs to develop the technology.

New York sues U.S. to stop fintech bank charters

New York state's top banking regulator on Friday sued the federal government to void its decision to award national bank charters to online lenders and payment companies, saying it was unconstitutional and put vulnerable consumers at risk. Maria Vullo, superintendent of New York's Department of Financial Services, called the July 31 decision by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency to let financial technology companies, or fintech firms, obtain charters "lawless, ill-conceived, and destabilizing of financial markets."

U.S. to 'get moving' on asylum cases of separated migrant families

A U.S. government attorney told a federal judge on Friday the Trump administration would quickly begin to implement an agreement to reconsider asylum for hundreds of families who were separated at the U.S. border with Mexico. The government agreed this week to settle three lawsuits being overseen by Judge Dana Sabraw, a move that plaintiffs' attorneys said would allow more than 1,000 immigrant parents and their children to have their asylum claims reconsidered.

Supreme Court nominee Kavanaugh denies sexual misconduct allegation

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh on Friday denied an allegation of sexual misconduct dating back to when he was a high school student, and a senior Republican senator said there was no reason to delay his confirmation to the court. Senator Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Thursday she received information about Kavanaugh from a person she declined to identify, and that she had referred the matter to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Millions of Americans still trapped in debt-logged homes ten years after crisis

School bus driver Michael Payne was renting an apartment on the 30th floor of a New York City high-rise, where the landlord's idea of fixing broken windows was to cover them with boards. So when Payne and his wife Gail saw ads in the tabloids for brand-new houses in the Pennsylvania mountains for under $200,000, they saw an escape. The middle-aged couple took out a mortgage on a $168,000, four-bedroom home in a gated community with swimming pools, tennis courts, and a clubhouse.

Gimme shelter: North Carolinians take refuge from Florence's fury

Junia MacDaniel just wants to get home to her Chihuahuas. All 14 of them are back in the double-wide trailer McDaniel shares with her husband in New Bern, North Carolina.

The public in dark over the closure of New Mexico solar observatory

A New Mexico observatory aimed at unlocking the sun's secrets has been shut indefinitely by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation over an undisclosed security issue, leaving it at the center of its own mystery. The Sunspot Solar Observatory, near Holloman Air Force Base and White Sands Missile Range, sits atop the Sacramento Mountains in southern New Mexico. It has been closed since the FBI evacuated staff on Sept. 6.

One dead, a dozen injured in gas blasts in Boston suburbs

Dozens of gas explosions killed at least one person, injured 12 more and forced thousands to evacuate from three communities north of Boston on Thursday. Some 8,000 people were displaced after the blasts leveled dozens of homes and other buildings in Andover, North Andover, and Lawrence. Firefighters raced for hours from one blaze to another and utility crews rushed to shut off gas and electricity to prevent further ignitions.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)