Florence Strengthens To Category Four (Melbourne, FL) -- Hurricane Florence is stronger, and that strength will be felt along the coast. While the storm won't hit Florida directly, the National Weather Service predicts east central Florida will experience rough surf starting today.
There's also a high risk of life-threatening rip currents. Breaking waves could reach up to eight feet in height, and that could cause some beach erosion starting tomorrow.
Brevard County Will Not Appeal Blue Origin Ruling (Titusville, FL) -- Brevard County will move forward with Plan B when it comes to funding a deal with rocket maker Blue Origin. The county commission decided last week not to appeal a judge's ruling that prevented the county from borrowing eight million dollars to pay for incentives for the company.
Instead, the company will receive annual payments from the North Brevard Development District. As part of the deal, Blue Origin will create more than 300 jobs at its factory at Kennedy Space Center and invest 160-million dollars.
Substitute Teacher Arrested (Daytona Beach, FL) -- A teacher is facing charges for her actions against some students in Volusia County. Deputies last week arrested 59-year-old Mohga Kodsy for the incident at Turie T. Small Elementary School.
They say she was substitute teaching and ordered four girls to stand and face the wall, but when the girls kept turning around, she pushed their heads into the wall. The parents of two of the girls pressed charges, and Kodsy is facing two felonies.
Man Bitten By Gator (Clearwater, FL) -- Three bystanders are credited with helping prevent a game of disc golf from turning deadly. A man was attacked by an alligator yesterday in Clearwater as he tried to get a disc that landed in a pond.
Three men who heard Richard Peel's screams ran to help and pulled him out of the gator's jaw to safety. FWC trappers came and removed the gator, which turned out to be eleven-feet long.
FSU Student Baker Acted (Tallahassee, FL) -- An FSU student found naked in the woods is being treated under the Baker Act. Nineteen-year-old Justin Shields was found Sunday after he had been missing since Wednesday.
He was found in the woods in a remote area that Leon County deputies say he had no reason to be in. Shields is now in the hospital, and detectives plan to talk to him once his condition improves.
Police Searching For Suspects Who Offered A Man A Ride, Then Robbed Him (Chicago, IL) -- Two women in Chicago are accused of offering a man a ride and then robbing him. WGN-TV says the victim hopped into a dark-colored sedan early Sunday morning with the women but they took his cell phone and credit cards before tossing him out of the car.
It appears he thought he was getting into a ride share vehicle but was fooled. There have been at least half-dozen similar events in Chicago throughout the summer where people in the River North or Near North areas thought they were getting into a ride-share vehicle they were waiting for, and got robbed.
TODAY IN HISTORY:
2012, Christopher Stevens, the U.S. Ambassador to Libya, was among four Americans killed in an attack on the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya.
2001, nearly three-thousand people were killed in the worst terror attack on U.S. soil. Nineteen men hijacked four planes in a coordinated attack. Two planes were slammed into the World Trade Center, causing the massive Twin Towers to collapse and change the New York City skyline forever. Another plane crashed into the Pentagon, while the fourth went down in Pennsylvania after the passengers on board revolted against their hijackers. The attack was traced to the terrorist group al-Qaeda, which led to a war in Afghanistan and eventually the death of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011.
1974, "Little House on the Prairie" premiered on NBC Television.
1967, "The Carol Burnett Show" aired for the first time on CBS Television. The popular program stayed on the air for eleven years.
1789, President George Washington appointed Alexander Hamilton the first Secretary of the Treasury.