Ian arrives: Storm drops rain, spurs watches, warnings

Emergency responders are seeking to evacuate residents from the largest barrier island off Florida's Gulf Coast, and survivors there spoke of the terror of riding out Hurricane Ian in flooded homes and howling winds. A volunteer group, Medic Corps, was flying residents off Pine island by helicopter on Saturday. The bridge to Pine Island was heavily damaged by the hurricane, leaving it reachable only by boat or air. Some residents said they hadn’t seen anyone from outside the island for days and spoke of being trapped in flooded homes as boats and other debris crashed around their houses in the storm surge. Some feared they wouldn't make it.

The remnants of Hurricane Ian have downed trees and power lines across North Carolina, and at least four storm-related fatalities.. The Johnston County Sheriff's Office says a woman found her husband dead early Saturday morning after he went to check on a generator running in their garage overnight. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper's office says there were also two storm-related traffic fatalities in Johnston County on Friday, and a drowning in Martin County. Damage reports across the state were less severe than in South Carolina and Florida. But over 90,000 people statewide were without power Saturday afternoon. That was down from over 330,000 earlier in the day.

A revived Hurricane Ian has pounded coastal South Carolina after causing catastrophic damage in Florida. The storm washed away parts of piers and flooded streets in parts of South Carolina. The U.S. death toll from Hurricane Ian rose to at least 27 as Florida authorities confirmed several drowning deaths and other fatalities. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Friday that the deaths included a 22-year-old woman ejected in an ATV rollover because of a road washout. Many other deaths were drownings, including that of a 68-year-old woman swept into the ocean by a wave. Authorities expect the death toll to rise further.

The GOP is pursuing its latest legal challenge to North Carolina electoral procedures established by the Democrat-led State Board of Elections. Republicans made the move one week before North Carolina election officials begin processing by-mail ballots in the closely watched Southern swing state. The North Carolina Republican Party filed two motions in Wake County Superior Court this week, asking the court to block the board from enforcing its prohibition of county election officials scrutinizing signatures on absentee voting documents. The GOP motions mark Republicans’ latest attempts to mold election laws to their liking in a state that could shift the political balance locally and nationwide.

The U.S. death toll from Hurricane Ian’s passage has risen to four overall after an official said late Thursday that two residents of a hard-hit barrier island on Florida’s western coast were confirmed dead. Dana Souza, city manager of Sanibel, said the deaths were confirmed by fire officials but offered no other specifics.Two other people have also died. A 38-year old man from Lake County died Wednesday in a motor vehicle accident after his vehicle hydroplaned and a 72-year old man in Deltona was confirmed dead on Thursday. Officials with the Volusia sheriff’s office said the man went outside to drain his pool and fell into a canal.

The actor and activist who declined Marlon Brando’s 1973 Academy Award for “The Godfather” on his behalf in an indelible protest of how Native Americans had been portrayed on screen has died. Sacheen Littlefeather was 75.  Her niece confirmed that Littlefeather died peacefully Sunday, surrounded by loved ones at her California home. The family said the cause was breast cancer. Littlefeather’s appearance at the 1973 Oscars would become one of the ceremony’s most famous moments. Clad in buckskin dress and moccasins, Littlefeather spoke in support of the then-ongoing occupation at Wounded Knee, the American Indian Movement’s weekslong protest in South Dakota.

U.S. stocks rose broadly and Treasury yields eased off their multiyear highs as Wall Street leaves behind the worst month since the virus pandemic crashed global markets. The S&P 500 rose 1.8% in morning trading on Monday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and the Nasdaq also made solid gains. The British pound strengthened and borrowing costs for the U.K. government fell after the new, embattled government of Prime Minister Liz Truss abandoned plans to cut income tax rates for top earners, part of a package of unfunded cuts that had set off turmoil in financial markets and sent the pound to record lows.

Days after Hurricane Ian carved a path of destruction from Florida to the Carolinas, the dangers persisted, and even worsened in some places. It was clear the road to recovery from the monster storm will be long and painful. Search and rescue efforts are ongoing Monday. And Ian still is not done. The storm doused Virginia with rain Sunday. It was dissipating as it moved offshore, but officials warned there still was the potential of severe flooding along Virginia's coast and a coastal flood warning was in effect Monday. Ian was one of the strongest storms to make landfall in the United States.

Kim Kardashian will pay $1.26 million to settle Securities and Exchange Commission charges that she promoted a cryptocurrency on Instagram without disclosing she’d been paid $250,000 to do so. The SEC said Monday that the reality TV star and entrepreneur has agreed to cooperate with its ongoing investigation. The SEC said Kardashian failed to disclose that she was paid to publish a post on her Instagram account about EMAX tokens, a crypto asset security being offered by EthereumMax.

Incidents of fraud and scams are occurring more often on the popular peer-to-peer payment service Zelle, according to a report coming out Monday from the office of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, giving the public its first glimpse  into the growing problems at Zelle. The report obtained by The Associated Press also found that the large banks who partly own Zelle have been reluctant to compensate customers who have been victims of fraud or scams. For instance, less than half of the money customers reported being sent via Zelle without authorization was being reimbursed.