NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — The suspect in a shooting at a private Christian school in Nashville on Monday is dead, officials said.

The Nashville Fire Department said on Twitter there are “multiple patients” but their conditions were not immediately clear. The shooting occurred at The Covenant School.

The shooter died after being “engaged by” officers, Metro Nashville Police said in a Twitter post. It was not immediately clear whether the shooter died by suicide or was shot by police.

The Covenant School has had an enrollment of about 200 students from preschool to sixth grade in recent years and was founded as a ministry of Covenant Presbyterian Church in 2001, according to the school’s website.

NEW YORK (AP) — The Manhattan grand jury investigating former President Donald Trump over hush money payments returned on Monday to hear more evidence, with still no word on when it might be asked to vote on a possible indictment.

It was the first time the panel was hearing testimony in the Trump probe since last Monday, when a witness favorable to the ex-president appeared before the grand jury. The jurors did not meet at all on Wednesday, one of the days when they ordinarily convene, and heard other matters on Thursday.

The grand jury is now back on Trump, according to a person familiar with the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss secretive proceedings. It was not immediately clear whether an additional witness might be called before the panel.

Trump raised anticipation that criminal charges were imminent with a March 18 post on his social media platform in which he said he expected to be arrested last Tuesday. He has since used the absence of an indictment to claim, furnishing no evidence, that the investigation is somehow faltering.

The Republican former president has also escalated his rhetoric, warning that “potential death & destruction” would accompany any indictment. He also posted a photo of himself holding a baseball bat next to a picture of District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat. On Thursday, Trump referred to Bragg, Manhattan’s first Black D.A., as an “animal.”

(CNN) — Fourth time’s the charm for this mischievous pup — hopefully.

Ralphie, who made headlines after a New York animal shelter described him as a “fire-breathing demon,” has finally been adopted for the fourth time, according to the shelter.

The Niagara SPCA said in a Friday Facebook post they received more than 700 applications to adopt the adorable but troublesome French bulldog.

They finally honed in on Ralphie’s “perfect adopter,” a man named Jason who trains dogs professionally for the Department of Energy in Tennessee.

Ralphie will join Jason’s pack of other dogs, consisting of another French bulldog, a Dachshund, and a German shepherd.

Although the shelter originally specified Ralphie should go to a family without other dogs, they said through training, the pup was able to get “over his reactivity around other dogs.” He was sent to a six-week boarding and training program after a third adoption attempt didn’t pan out.

The SPCA explained Jason is “uniquely qualified” to care for Ralphie because two of his dogs also had bite histories, just like Ralphie, before joining his household.

Jason will “provide him with structure, and give him an outlet for all that Frenchie energy,” wrote the shelter. “He dedicates his life to dogs and that’s what makes him a perfect match for Ralphie.”

The “unicorn adopter” has already created a dedicated Facebook and Instagram so fans can follow Ralphie’s journey as he acclimates to his new family.

Jason has already posted several updates of life with Ralphie, including photos from a hike he took with the reformed “whole jerk” dog and pictures of the pup chowing down on a bagel.

“We wish our tiny, reformed terror all the best and we look forward to hearing about all of his adventures,” wrote the shelter in its Facebook post.

(CNN) — Twitter said parts of its proprietary code were posted online and had been exposed until Friday when the company had the material removed from the web and filed for a court order to hunt down the source of the leak.

The leak saw excerpts of Twitter’s source code — the programming that powers the Twitter platform and its internal tools — posted to the online software repository GitHub, according to a court filing Friday by a Twitter attorney. The files were posted by a pseudonymous GitHub user, identified only by the handle FreeSpeechEnthusiast. The account was created on Jan. 3 and does not appear to have posted any other material besides the Twitter code.

The code leak represents the latest mishap for Twitter as CEO Elon Musk has sought to reverse a sharp decline in revenues through substantial layoffs and other cost cutting measures that some experts had already said risked making the platform less safe. Leaked source code can not only provide insight into how a company designs its product but can also give criminals the chance to find or exploit security flaws and vulnerabilities.

Twitter has launched an effort to identify the person or group behind the FreeSpeechEnthusiast GitHub account, as well as anyone who may have interacted with the leaked code. On Friday, Twitter filed for a subpoena at the US District Court for the Northern District of California, which Twitter hopes will compel GitHub to hand over IP addresses, contact information, and access logs associated with the incident.

“The purpose for which Twitter’s DMCA Subpoena is sought is to obtain the identity of an alleged infringer or infringers, and such information will only be used for the purpose of protecting Twitter’s rights,” Twitter wrote in its filing to the court.

GitHub removed the content on Friday after Twitter submitted a copyright claim to the company. GitHub declined to comment on the matter but said it publicly posts all copyright takedown requests and referred CNN to Twitter’s request. Twitter, which has cut much of its public relations team under Musk, automatically responded to a request for comment with an email containing a poop emoji.

The leak was first reported by The New York Times.

The leak comes as Musk has sought to place more of his own imprint on the social media platform he purchased last year. The acquisition prompted a wave of advertisers to flee the platform over fears the deal would lead to a rise in hate speech and an increase in reputational risks for brands. Musk has blamed the advertiser revolt for steep losses at the company, and has aggressively pushed the company’s subscription service, Twitter Blue, as an alternative revenue stream. He has also said Twitter will charge fees for other software applications to access Twitter’s platform.

On Saturday, reports on an internal memo by Musk outlining employee stock awards suggested that Twitter was valued at about $20 billion, or less than half of the $44 billion Musk paid for the company. (CNN has not independently confirmed the memo’s existence or its contents.) In the memo, Musk reportedly defended the changes he has made at the company and claimed that Twitter’s valuation could someday exceed $250 billion.

The same day, Musk tweeted that prior to the changes he made, Twitter only had $1 billion in cash, which he said represented about four months’ worth of expenses and an “extremely dire situation.” But, he added, things are looking up.

“Now that advertisers are returning, it looks like we will break even in Q2,” he said.

(CNN) — A one-eyed cat named Crash is the first-ever cat to win the Cadbury Bunny contest, making him the brand’s official “spokesbunny” for the year.

The chocolate company announced Crash’s win in a news release Tuesday. The lucky winner is an 8-year-old from Boise, Idaho, according to the release.

Crash was injured in a “devastating” car accident, according to the release. The accident left him “severely injured and left with one eye.”

While healing at a local shelter, Crash’s “quirky, outgoing personality” earned him the love of shelter staff, the release said.

As the winner of the Cadbury Bunny tryouts, Crash will star in the 2023 Cadbury “Clucking Bunny” commercial. He’ll also receive a prize of $5,000 for himself, as well as $5,000 “to the shelter of his choice,” according to the release.

Crash’s owner, Maddie Corey, expressed her pride at her furry friend’s accomplishment in the release.

“We are jumping with joy to hear Crash is the next Cadbury Bunny but not surprised as he is always the center of attention in any room. He’s been through so much over the past few years and we appreciate the love his friends, family and cat enthusiasts across the country have shown,” said Corey. “We can’t wait to see Crash take center stage for this year’s Cadbury Clucking Bunny Commercial and share his story with the world.”

Crash’s commercial will premiere March 25, according to the release. He follows in the footsteps of Annie Rose, a therapy dog named last year’s Cadbury Bunny, and Betty, a tree frog who took home the prize in 2021.

It is the fifth year of the Cadbury Bunny tryouts, but the first year the brand has specifically sought out rescue pets. Crash was chosen from thousands of entries, according to a March 6 news release from Cadbury. The adorable group of finalists included a chinchilla named Ande, a sheep named Timmy, and a duck named Ping.

(CNN) — He’d longed to go on a “crazy adventure” for years, and as Liam Garner’s high school graduation day grew closer, the teenager was more determined than ever to make his escape.

An experienced cyclist, Garner, who is from Long Beach, California, had previously ridden from Los Angeles to San Francisco, and realized that he could pedal across the continent without much difficulty if he chose to.

After reading a book by adventurer Jedidiah Jenkins, who biked from Oregon to Argentina, Garner decided that he would cycle from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the northernmost point in the United States accessible by road, to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost point of South America.

And while many of his school friends were preparing for college, Garner began preparing for the adventure of his life.

Epic adventure

“I spent the entire month after I graduated just getting the equipment and then I left,” Garner tells CNN Travel. “It was really rapid. It wasn’t planned out very hard to begin with.”

Garner was 17 when he set off on a KHS Zaca mountain bike with just a tent, a sleeping bag, around a day’s worth of food and water, some portable batteries, a medical kit, and extra parts for his bike.

He began his journey across the Pan-American Highway, a network of roads extending across the Americas, on August 1, 2021.

The teenager, who had already amassed a significant number of followers from his TikTok video series following his trip to San Francisco, decided to document the journey, which saw him cycle through 14 countries, including Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Colombia, Peru, Chile and Argentina.

“There’s an official route, and then there’s unofficial routes,” he explains. “I basically made my own [route] as I went along. As long as I was going south every day, I knew I was going in the right direction.”

Garner admits that his parents, who are separated, weren’t particularly thrilled about the prospect of their teenage son riding all the way to South America alone.

He says his mother refused to believe him at first and went through “probably eight months of terror” while he didn’t actually tell his father until after he’d set off, as he was so sure he’d be against it.

“He called me while I was in Alaska, and I told him where I was,” Garner explains, before adding that both are now his biggest supporters and avidly follow his progress.

Biking benefits

Although Garner initially began cycling because he didn’t have a car, he now considers it the best way to travel, and wouldn’t have wanted to do this trip any other way.

“It’s the most intimate way to travel,” he says. “You go so slow, and you have to physically work to get to places. So you really gain an attachment to the most random little towns and curves in the road.

“There’s something about being self-sufficient and knowing that you got somewhere on your own two feet. I feel like sometimes when you drive or fly, it’s as if you’re just teleporting to a place. You weren’t outside. You weren’t smelling things. You weren’t touching things.”

The teenager spent around four and a half months biking across Mexico and describes the experience as one of the most significant of his life.

“My whole family is from Mexico,” he explains. “I grew up going [to Mexico] but I never learned the language. So it’s one thing to visit every year, and it’s one thing to live there.

“So crossing the entire country on a bike and reconnecting with my culture and staying with my family and learning the language in the place my family is from was so deeply important to me.”

Unfortunate setbacks

Garner left California with very little money and says he’s been surviving on a budget of around $430 a month.

He notes that he’s heard people commenting that he’s only able to do what he’s doing “because he’s a straight white, rich guy,” and is keen to point out that this simply isn’t the case.

“I am a first generation Mexican immigrant. And I’m not rich,” he says. “This was self-supported. And it really doesn’t take that much money to do this.

“I don’t want people to think that you need to be rich to bike tour. I’ve met people from all economic statuses.

“People can do it and stay in hotels every night, and I’ve seen people literally just have trash bags on the back of a bike.

“I’ve seen people of all ethnicities, solo and with partners, in every country that I’ve been in. And I have met so many incredible, inspiring women. It’s really available to everyone.”

Garner had a riding companion named Logan for around eight months or so of the trip. However, he departed when they reached Colombia, and Garner traveled solo for the remainder of the journey.

Of the many countries he cycled through, he was particularly surprised by El Salvador, which he describes as “one of the most peaceful, nicest, quietest countries.”

While the trip was full of incredible highs, Garner also experienced some crushing lows throughout the journey.

He says he was robbed at least five times and had to spend a month in hospital after coming off his bike in Colombia and landing on his head.

“The idea that you might get hurt, and something really awful might happen is in your mind traveling so much,” he says, before explaining that he received around 40 stitches and had to have plastic surgery to repair his ear and stitch it back together.

“But it wasn’t really a reality until I got hurt in Colombia. I was blacked out for about 15 minutes and it took me a few hours to even be able to speak again.”

Garner decided to write a will after the incident, and says that having to stay still for weeks took a huge toll on him.

He admits that he briefly considered giving up during a particularly difficult time after he was robbed in the south of Mexico and struggled with extreme heat.

“For about two and a half weeks, me and my partner Logan had no connection to the outside world,” he explains.

“We didn’t have cell phones. The weather was difficult. it was over 40 degrees Celsius (104 F) every single day. I got sick during that time.”

According to Garner, the pair were only able to bike for a few minutes before having to pull over due to the heat and discussed potentially taking the bus home once they reached Central America.

“There’s no point in torturing ourselves,” he recalls saying at the time. “This is not fun.”

Thankfully, the weather was much cooler once they reached Guatemala a week or so later, and they decided to persevere.

Final push

During the last month of his journey, Garner thought of little else than his “wheel crossing the last inch of pavement” and sometimes got so emotional that he’d “start crying on the bike for no reason, even though it hadn’t happened yet.”

He finally arrived in Ushuaia on January 10, after cycling 32,000 kilometers (nearly 20,000 miles) over the course of 527 days.

However, Garner, now 19, says that the moment he had spent so much time imagining felt somewhat anticlimactic.

“It [Ushuaia] was a really touristy town, and there were so many people,” he explains. “I couldn’t really get any alone time. And I was a little disappointed.”

Feeling slightly dejected, he decided to head to a national park for a few days and spend some time reflecting on his time on the road.

“I realized that I didn’t care what the last town was,” he says. “It was just getting there. And I know that’s very cliche, but that really was what I came to the conclusion of.”

Garner was soon joined by his partner Chloe, who he first met during his trip to San Francisco, and had stayed in touch with.

He says the pair were just friends at first, but their friendship blossomed into something more while Garner was on the road.

“For about a year, over the course of my trip, we did long distance,” he says.

The couple are now backpacking their way back to California, taking pretty much the same route that Garner took on his way over — he’s shipped his bike to a friend in Chile, who is sending it on to Long Beach for him.

“We were hoping to make it home in July for summer,” he adds. “But it’s open ended. We still have about four to five months, and that’s plenty of time backpacking home.

“It’s really nice for me to get to see the places one more time before I transition to normal life.”

Inspiring others

Once he returns home, Garner plans to write a book about his trip in the hopes of inspiring other young people to take on a journey such as this.

He says he regularly receives messages from people who’ve seen his story on Instagram or TikTok and have felt compelled to do something similar.

“I’ve actually gotten so many more messages than I ever thought I would,” he says. “And people are really doing it.

“I follow some of the people that messaged me, and they’re actually biking from Alaska to Argentina now.

“It’s an amazing feeling to know that I’m getting more people into it, because there were people that were responsible for getting me into it. And it makes me feel great to do the same.”

While he’s very much looking forward to catching up with his family and friends, some of whom have been busy studying while he’s been away, Garner has absolutely no regrets about taking a different path.

“If I had stayed home, and I had gone to community college, or something along those lines, would I have really been a better person than I am now?” he asks.

“Would I really be as open minded as I am now? I strongly think that I wouldn’t be. That’s why I think this was the most competent decision I’ve ever made in my life. I’ve never been more sure about something I’ve done.”

NEW YORK (AP) — Socks are rising on Wall Street Monday as battered banks show more strength, at least for now.

The S&P 500 was 0.6% higher as of 9:55 a.m. Eastern time. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 250 points, or 0.8%, to 32,490 and the Nasdaq composite rose 0.5%.

Markets have been in turmoil following the second-and third-largest U.S. bank failures in history earlier this month. Investors have been hunting for what banks could be next to fall as the system creaks under the pressure of much higher interest rates.

First Citizens ‘ stock soared 43% after it said it would buy most of Silicon Valley Bank, whose failure sparked the industry’s furor earlier this month. As part of the deal, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. agreed to share some of the losses that may arise from some of the loans First Citizens is buying.

Other banks that investors have highlighted as the next potential victims of a debilitating exodus of customers also strengthened.

First Republic Bank rose 18.2% and PacWest Bancorp rose 4.9%. Most of the focus in the U.S. has been on banks that are below the size of those that are seen as “too big to fail.”

A broader worry has been that all the weakness for banks could cause a pullback in lending to small and midsized businesses across the country. That in turn could lead to less hiring, less growth and a higher risk of a recession. Many economists were already expecting an economic downturn before all the struggles for banks.

The worries are international. In Europe, Credit Suisse’s stock tumbled so quickly this month that regulators brokered its takeover by rival Swiss banking giant UBS. At the end of last week, the market’s sights set on Deutsche Bank, whose stock fell sharply as analysts questioned why it had come under pressure.

“So far, regulators and lawmakers have worked together to keep the crisis under control, and they have used all the help they could to do so,” Naeem Aslam of Zaye Capital Markets said in a commentary. “This particular element is keeping the hope alive that whatever the issue was with Deutsche Bank, lawmakers are going to address it, as there is simply too much to lose if things are left alone.”

On Monday, Deutsche Bank shares rose 5.6%. Other big banks across Europe also found some stability. These giant banks don’t share many characteristics with the smaller and mid-sized banks in the United States that have been under pressure. But all are navigating much more scrutiny from investors broadly. Their world has become much more difficult because interest rates have jumped very high very quickly.

The Federal Reserve and other central banks announced their latest increases to interest rates in recent weeks as they fight inflation that’s still gripping worldwide. Higher rates can undercut inflation by slowing the economy, but they raise the risk of a recession. They also hurt prices for stocks, bonds and other investments.

The Fed has pulled its key overnight rate to a range of 4.75% to 5%, up from virtually zero at the start of last year. It indicated last week that the troubles in the banking system could end up acting like rate hikes on their own, by slowing lending.

The managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva, told a conference in Beijing on Sunday that risks to financial stability have risen as interest rates climbed. She said actions by central banks and other regulators have helped to ease strains on markets, “but uncertainty is high, which underscores the need for vigilance.”

The Fed has hinted it may raise rates just one more time this year before leaving them alone for a while. Traders on Wall Street, though, don’t believe it. Many are betting the central bank will have to cut rates as soon as this summer to prop up the economy.

Huge, quick swings in expectations for the Fed have caused historic-sized moves in the bond market.

Yields jumped Monday in their latest lunge. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which helps set rates for mortgages and other important loans, rose to 3.50% from 3.37% late Friday. It was above 4% earlier this month.

The two-year yield, which moves more on expectations for the Fed, rose to 3.97% from 3.77%. It was above 5% earlier this month.

Lower rates can act like steroids for stocks, and technology and other high-growth stocks tend to get a particularly big boost. That has helped to steady the S&P 500, which is Wall Street’s main barometer of health. It’s dominated by Big Tech stocks, such as Apple and Microsoft, and it’s been able to rise this month even with all the worries about banks.

Other areas of the market that don’t benefit from such Big Tech stocks have been weaker. The Russell 2000 index of smaller stocks, for example, is on track for a 7.6% loss this month versus a 0.7% gain for the S&P 500.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A man who sped away from a traffic stop in Florida last week shot and critically wounded a sheriff’s officer before killing himself following a standoff at his home, officials said.

The shooting early Sunday morning left Officer Malik Daricaud, 25, in “tenuous condition” and “fighting for his life,” Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said during a news conference.

When no one answered the door at Tyliko Maduro’s home, the officers contacted the 32-year-old man’s mother, Waters said, describing the body cam footage. She agreed to come over, and approached the front door with one officer, while another was stationed around the corner of the house and Daricaud stayed a few feet back.

She knocked a couple of times and yelled, “hello,” before unlocking and pushing open the door. A dog came out the door and a volley of shots rang out.

Daricaud fell backwards and collapsed onto the ground, Waters said.

The other officers and Maduro’s mother were not injured, the Florida Times-Union reported.

The sheriff said Maduro was armed with a semiautomatic rifle.

No shots were fired by the officers, he said.

Maduro had been stopped on March 19 for running a red light and fled from officers. They did not pursue him because he was only stopped for the traffic offense, the sheriff said.

The officers went to the home on Sunday to follow up.

“I believe all they were going to do was ask some questions. They weren’t going to kick his door down. There was no probable cause for that,” Waters said.

Neither officer had their guns drawn, but the other officer had his Taser out as a precaution, the sheriff said.

A SWAT team came to the home and residents were asked to shelter in place for much of the morning.

Maduro didn’t have any convictions on his record or any other indications of potential violence, Waters said.

“It’s hard to explain what’s in someone’s mind when they do something like that,” Waters said.

Waters said he went to the hospital and was able to speak with Daricaud, who is married and has young children.

“When I was there this morning he was in a lot of pain … the way it was explained to us, he was still in a really tenuous situation and we’re just hoping he makes a full recovery,” Waters said.

FORT WALTON BEACH, Florida (WALA) — A former Navy rescue swimmer from Illinois is charged with attempted murder after an Okaloosa Island condominium security guard says the man tried to drown him in the property’s swimming pool Friday night, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office.

Seth Andrew Beavers, 33, of Sterling, Ill., is being held on no bond in the Okaloosa County Jail in Crestview, Fla.

Deputies were called to Waterscape Condominiums, 1110 Santa Rosa Blvd., in Fort Walton Beach, Fla., around 10:15 p.m. The condo’s security guard told deputies that Beavers was at the pool after hours. When asked to leave, Beavers reportedly started a fight, telling the security guard he would drown him, according to the OCSO.

The victim reported that Beavers rolled him into the pool while holding him against his will, hit him in the head, then pushed him under water. The victim, who cannot swim, said he was able to briefly get away and tried to get out of the pool, but Beavers struck him again, wrapped his arm around his neck, and pulled him back into the water, fully submerging his head as if trying to purposefully drown him, according to the sheriff’s office.

Beavers is a former Naval rescue swimmer, the OCSO said.

Authorities said the victim told deputies he feared he was going to die during the encounter.

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has captured some stunning new images revealing the changing seasonal conditions on two of our solar system’s largest planets – Uranus and Jupiter.

The icy gas giant Uranus is particularly intriguing, as it follows an unusual 84-year orbit around the sun while also rolling on its side. This means that for 42 years at a time, parts of one hemisphere are without sunlight, creating extreme seasonal changes on the planet’s surface.

Thanks to the Hubble telescope’s powerful imaging capabilities, scientists can now observe these seasonal transformations in greater detail than ever before. Images captured just seven years apart show the planet’s orientation shifting significantly as it moves along its orbit.

But it’s not just Uranus that’s caught the attention of astronomers.

Hubble has also been tracking the changing weather patterns on Jupiter, another gas giant in our solar system. The telescope’s observations reveal the planet’s famous Great Red Spot shrinking in size, while other storm systems appear and disappear over time.

These new images serve as a reminder that, just like here on Earth, other planets in our solar system experience seasonal changes that can be tracked and studied over time. With the help of powerful instruments like the Hubble telescope, scientists can continue to unlock the secrets of our cosmic neighbors and better understand the workings of our solar system as a whole.

(CNN) — Jeremy Renner is continuing on his road of recovery and taking his followers along with him.

The “Mayor of Kingstown” star posted on the Instastories portion of his verified Instagram account over the weekend and shared a video in which he was doing physical therapy on an anti-gravity treadmill.

Renner can be heard saying that the machine allows him to only feel “40% of my weight” while walking.

According to the Running Physio site, such treadmills “feature a bubble that inflates with air, then surrounds the user’s lower body. This gently lifts them off the treadmill which reduces pressure on the lower body.”

The actor was crushed by a snow plow he had been operating on New Year’s Day near his Nevada home.

Since then, Renner has been sharing posts about his miraculous recovery.

“Now is the time for my body to rest and recover from my will,” Renner captioned his weekend video.

(CNN) — Two tigers have been recaptured after escaping a Georgia safari park during a tornado warning Sunday morning, according to the park.

In a Facebook post, the Wild Animal Safari park in Pine Mountain wrote that it sustained “extensive tornado damage.”

No staff or animals were injured but “several animal enclosures” were breached and “two tigers briefly escaped,” said the park.

Since then, both big cats have been “found, tranquilized, and safely returned to a safe enclosure.”

Wild Animal Safari, a drive-through park, is home to over 75 species of animals housed on 250 acres of land, its website says. Tigers are included in the park’s “walkabout” section, where guests can observe animals in a more zoo-like environment, the website says.

In a Sunday morning Facebook post, the Troup County Sheriff’s Office said it received a report of a tiger “unaccounted” for inside the park in Pine Mountain, Georgia.

The park announced that it was closed for Sunday on Facebook. “We have sustained damage at the park and will not be open today,” the post said. “We are working diligently to keep our team and animals safe and will update with more news as it is available.”

The storm came after a tornado warning was issued for parts of Georgia, including southeastern Troup County.

Troup County authorities received reports of trees and power lines down after severe weather hit the area, the sheriff’s office said in a Facebook post Sunday morning.

“We are receiving MULTIPLE reports of trees down, damage on houses and power lines down,” the agency wrote. “If you do not have to get on the roads this morning please do not travel.”

The county is located about 70 miles southwest of Atlanta.

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel’s largest trade union group launched a strike across a broad swath of sectors Monday, joining a surging protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary — a plan that is facing unprecedented opposition.

The strike by the Histadrut umbrella group, which represents nearly 800,000 workers in health, transit and banking, among many other fields, could paralyze large parts of Israel’s economy, which is already on shaky ground, ratcheting up the pressure on Netanyahu to suspend the overhaul.

Departing flights out of the country’s main international airport were grounded in protest, affecting thousands of travelers. Other sectors were also falling in line, with local governments, which manage pre-schools and other essential services, as well as a main doctors union announcing they would walk out.

The growing resistance to the plan came hours after tens of thousands of people burst into the streets around the country in a spontaneous show of anger at Netanyahu’s decision to fire his defense minister after he called for a pause to the overhaul. Chanting “the country is on fire,” they lit bonfires on Tel Aviv’s main highway, closing the throughway and many others throughout the country for hours. Thousands of protesters were gathering Monday outside the Knesset, or parliament, in a bid to ramp up the pressure on the government.

The overhaul, driven by Netanyahu, who is on trial for corruption, and his allies in Israel’s most right-wing government ever, has plunged Israel into one of its worst domestic crises. It has sparked a sustained and intensifying protest movement that has spread to nearly all sectors of society, including its military, where reservists have increasingly come out publicly to say they will not serve a country veering toward autocracy.

The turmoil has further divided Israel, magnifying longstanding and intractable differences over the country’s character that have riven it since its establishment. The protesters say they are fighting for the very soul of the nation, seeing the overhaul as a direct challenge to Israel’s democratic ideals. The government has labelled them anarchists out to topple a democratically-elected leadership.

The crisis has also shined a light on Netanyahu himself, Israel’s longest serving leader, and the lengths he may be willing to go to maintain his grip on power, even as he battles the corruption charges. The firing of his defense minister at a time of heightened security threats in the West Bank and elsewhere, appeared to be a last straw for many, prompting a new surge of opposition.

“Where are we leading our beloved Israel? To the abyss,” Arnon Bar-David, the union group head, said in a rousing speech to applause. “Today we are stopping everyone’s descent toward the abyss.” The group had sat out the monthslong protests but the defense minister’s firing appeared to provide the impetus for the drastic measure.

On Monday, as the embers of the highway bonfires were being cleared, Israel’s ceremonial President Isaac Herzog urged Netanyahu to immediately halt the overhaul, calling on the government to put aside political considerations for the sake of the nation.

“The entire nation is rapt with deep worry. Our security, economy, society — all are under threat,” he said. “Wake up now!”

Opposition leader Yair Lapid said the crisis was driving Israel to the brink.

“We’ve never been closer to falling apart. Our national security is at risk, our economy is crumbling, our foreign relations are at their lowest point ever, we don’t know what to say to our children about their future in this country,” Lapid said. “We have been taken hostage by a bunch of extremists with no brakes and no boundaries.”

It was unclear if the strikes would prompt Netanyahu to halt the overhaul. Universities across the country said they were shutting their doors “until further notice.” Israeli media reported that a lawyer representing Netanyahu in his corruption trial threatened to quit if the overhaul was not halted.

The developments were being watched in Washington, which is closely allied with Israel yet has been uneasy with Netanyahu and the far-right elements of his government. National Security Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson said the United States was “deeply concerned” by the developments in Israel, “which further underscore the urgent need for compromise.”

“Democratic values have always been, and must remain, a hallmark of the U.S.-Israel relationship,” Watson said in a statement.

Netanyahu had reportedly spent the night in consultations and was set to speak to the nation, but later delayed his speech. Some members of Netanyahu’s Likud party said they would support the prime minister if he did heed calls to halt the overhaul, but the architect of it, Justice Minister Yariv Levin, a popular party member, has said he would resign.

Netanyahu’s hard-line allies pressed him to continue on. “We must not halt the reform in the judicial system and we must not give in to anarchy,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said.

Netanyahu’s dismissal of Defense Minister Yoav Gallant appeared to signal that the prime minister and his allies will barrel ahead this week with the overhaul plan. Gallant had been the first senior member of the ruling Likud party to speak out against it, saying the deep divisions were threatening to weaken the military.

Netanyahu’s government pledged to forge ahead with a parliamentary vote this week on a centerpiece of the overhaul — a law that would give the governing coalition the final say over all judicial appointments. A parliamentary committee approved the legislation on Monday for a final vote.

The government also seeks to pass laws that would would grant the Knesset, as Israel’s parliament is called, the authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions and limit judicial review of laws.

A separate overhaul law that would circumvent a Supreme Court ruling to allow a key coalition ally to serve as minister was being delayed following a request from that party’s leader.

Netanyahu and his allies say the plan will restore a balance between the judicial and executive branches and rein in what they see as an interventionist court with liberal sympathies.

But critics say the laws will remove Israel’s system of checks and balances and concentrate power in the hands of the governing coalition. They also say that Netanyahu has a conflict of interest because of his corruption trial.

Netanyahu faces charges of fraud, breach of trust and accepting bribes in three separate affairs involving wealthy associates and powerful media moguls. He denies wrongdoing and has dismissed accusations that the legal overhaul is designed to find him an escape route from the trial.

Netanyahu returned to power late last year after a protracted political crisis that sent Israelis to the polls five times in less than four years. The elections were all a referendum on Netanyahu’s fitness to serve while on trial for corruption.

HAVANA (AP) — Cubans voted Sunday in National Assembly elections with attention focused on voter turnout amid a deep economic and migratory crisis.

With 470 candidates running for the legislature’s 470 seats, and no opposition challengers, the election’s outcome is a foregone conclusion. Voters essentially will do no more than endorse a slate of candidates vetted by Communist Party officials, critics say.

What observers will be watching Sunday is whether a trend of declining voter participation continues as Cuba’s government struggles to turn around deteriorating economic conditions.

Participation in elections in Cuba is high but has been on the decline for a decade.

The National Electoral Commission said that for last November’s municipal elections about 31% of eligible voters abstained from voting, That translates to 69% participation, which is still high by international standards, but a substantial decline for Cuba where voting is not compulsory but traditionally was considered a national duty. The rate of abstention for national elections was 14% in 2018, and only 6% in 2013.

Michael Shifter, a senior fellow at the Inter-American Dialogue, a Washington think tank, said the trend toward non-participation in Cuban elections reflects growing discontent with the deteriorating economy and the migration crisis.

“There may be different reasons that explain the increase in abstention, but an important factor is undoubtedly the growing distaste for the government’s poor performance,” he said.

Cuba’s government says the system is inclusive and builds unity while steering clear of the divisiveness of party politics or any ill effects of big-money donors.

President Miguel Díaz-Canel voted Sunday in the province of Villa Clara where he was born. He acknowledged the economic difficulties, power outages and fuel shortages amid which the elections were being held.

“Some may put the economic situation ahead but most people know that despite the difficult economic situation we are working together,” he said. “If we were once again a colony of the United States, the problems would only increase.”

Julio Antonio Martínez Estrada, a lawyer, professor and fellow at Harvard University, said he believes participation will continue to decline, in part due to the economy.

“It is a response to the political and socio-economic problems of recent years,” Estrada said.

The voting takes place as hundreds of thousands of people migrate, including 300,000 alone to the United States in recent months. The migrants are still on voters’ lists but can’t vote because they are outside the country.

National Assembly elections are held every five years and are technically nonpartisan. But they fall under the indirect control of the ruling Communist Party.

Half of the 470 candidates come from municipal assemblies chosen in local elections last November. The other half are nominated by groups representing broad swaths of society — such as women’s groups and worker’s unions. All are vetted by election committees with ties to the party.

The National Assembly is nominally the country’s highest governing power. It approves laws and votes for the president and executive officials from among its members.

In practice, the chamber typically endorses initiatives and the leadership favored by the Communist Party, which is the only political party allowed on the island nation.

The new National Assembly is expected to convene on April 19, when it will vote on the executive leadership, with current President Miguel Díaz-Canel expected to be re-elected.

Candidates include major Cuban leaders such as Díaz-Canel, semi-retired former Communist Party leader Raúl Castro and Economy Minister Alejandro Gil. Candidates also include musician Eduardo Sosa, LGBT community representative Mariela Castro and Elián González, who as a child in 2000 famously became the center of a diplomatic custody battle between Cuba and the United States.

A raging fire broke out in a home on East Dayton Circle and seven people who were staying at the vacation rental property managed to escape safely. The Fort Lauderdale Fire Department responded to the scene and worked tirelessly to control the flames.

According to officials, the fire started inside one of the rooms and was quickly contained. Photos from the scene show the intense heat and flames pouring from a window as firefighters worked to extinguish the blaze.

All seven were unharmed and are currently receiving support from local authorities.

The cause of the fire is currently under investigation, but does not appear suspicious, said officials.

High pressure continues to be locked in across South Florida, while a cold front stalls over the Southeast with the active weather stays well North. Therefore, South-Southeast winds will continue here with above normal temperatures and mainly dry conditions. Temperatures in some areas could reach 90 degrees in the afternoon hours.

A weakening cold front is set to work its way down the Floriday Peninsula on Wednesday and reach South Florida. This will be our best chance out of the entire weak to see a few showers and maybe even a thunderstorm.

Once it arrives, it will stall to the South as high pressure builds across the mid-Atlantic states to increase winds out of the Northeast and bring some relief from the heat with highs going into the low 80’s starting Thursday. There will also be lower humidity.

Have a wonderful day South Florida and make it a safe one!

Vivian Gonzalez

Meteorologist, AMS Certified

WSVN Channel 7

Fort Lauderdale Police are currently on the hunt for a driver who hit a man and left him to die in the middle of the road. The victim’s body was found near 24th Street and West Broward Boulevard, Sunday morning.

Video footage of the area showed the victim lying on the ground and covered by a tarp while police investigated the scene.

According to the police, they are working to track down the person responsible for this tragic hit-and-run incident. The victim has not yet been identified, and the motive behind the incident remains unknown.

The police have urged anyone with information to come forward and help with the investigation. Witnesses or anyone who may have seen anything suspicious in the area on Sunday morning is being asked to contact the Fort Lauderdale Police Department at (954) 828-5700.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — An asteroid big enough to wipe out a city harmlessly passed between Earth and the moon’s orbit this weekend, missing both celestial bodies.

Saturday’s close encounter offered astronomers the chance to study a space rock from just over 100,000 miles (168,000 kilometers) away. That’s less than half the distance from here to the moon, making it visible through binoculars and small telescopes.

While asteroid flybys are common, NASA said it’s rare for one so big to come so close — about once a decade. Scientists estimate its size somewhere between 130 feet and 300 feet (40 meters and 90 meters).

Discovered a month ago, the asteroid known as 2023 DZ2 passed within 320,000 miles (515,000 kilometers) of the moon on Saturday and, several hours later, buzzed the Indian Ocean at about 17,500 mph (28,000 kph).

“There was no chance of this ‘city killer’ striking Earth, but its close approach offers a great opportunity for observations,” the European Space Agency’s planetary defense chief Richard Moissl said in a statement.

Astronomers with the International Asteroid Warning Network see it as good practice for planetary defense if and when a dangerous asteroid heads our way, according to NASA.

The Virtual Telescope Project provided a live webcast of the close approach.

The asteroid won’t be back our way again until 2026. Although there initially seemed to be a slight chance it might strike Earth then, scientists have since ruled that out.

WACO, Texas (AP) — Facing a potential indictment, Donald Trump took a defiant stance at a rally Saturday in Waco, disparaging the prosecutors investigating him and predicting his vindication as he rallied supporters in a city made famous by deadly resistance against law enforcement.

With a hand over his heart, Trump stood at attention when his rally opened with a song called “Justice for All” performed by a choir of people imprisoned for their roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Some footage from the insurrection was shown on big screens displayed at the rally site as the choir sang the national anthem and a recording played of Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.

The extraordinary display opened Trump’s first rally of his 2024 Republican presidential campaign. He then launched into a speech brimming with resentments and framed the probes, including a New York grand jury investigation, as political attacks on him and his followers.

“You will be vindicated and proud,” Trump said “The thugs and criminals who are corrupting our justice system will be defeated, discredited and totally disgraced.”

Trump’s event at the airport grounds in Waco was part of a broader effort by the former president to use the potential indictment as a rallying cry for supporters to maintain his status as the GOP frontrunner in what is expected to be a crowded primary. It came one day after Trump raised the specter of violence should he become the first former president in U.S. history to face criminal charges.

Trump declared his innocence in the Manhattan investigation into a hush money payment made during the 2016 election to porn actor Stormy Daniels to keep her from going public about a sexual encounter she said she had with Trump years earlier. A grand jury hearing the case is expected to meet again on Monday.

Trump said the Manhattan district attorney was investigating him “for something that is not a crime, not a misdemeanor, not an affair.”

Some of Trump’s recent rhetoric, including at the rally, has echoed language he used before the Capitol insurrection by a mob of his supporters seeking to stop the transfer of power to Democrat Joe Biden, who won the presidential election.

Trump declared Saturday that his “enemies are desperate to stop us” and that “our opponents have done everything they can to crush our spirit and to break our will.”

He added: “But they failed. They’ve only made us stronger. And 2024 is the final battle, it’s going to be the big one. You put me back in the White House, their reign will be over and America will be a free nation once again.”

Trump could be indicted soon by a Manhattan grand jury investigating a $130,000 payment that Trump’s longtime lawyer and fixer, Michael Cohen, made as Trump was in the throes of his 2016 presidential campaign.

Trump later reimbursed Cohen and his company logged the reimbursements as a legal expense. Cohen has already served time in prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance charges and lying to Congress, among other crimes.

Trump’s eyebrow-raising choice of venue in Waco for his first rally came amid the 30th anniversary of a 51-day standoff and deadly siege between U.S. law enforcement and the Branch Davidians that resulted in the deaths of more than 80 members of the religious cult and four federal agents and has become a touchstone for far-right extremists and militia groups.

Trump’s campaign insisted the location and timing of the event had nothing to do with the Waco siege or anniversary. A spokesperson said the site, 17 miles from the Branch Davidian compound, was chosen because it was conveniently situated near four of the state’s biggest metropolitan areas — Dallas/Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and San Antonio — and has the infrastructure to handle a sizable crowd.

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said before Trump’s arrival that he was the one who had suggested Waco as the venue. Any suggestion Trump had picked the city because of the anniversary was “fake news. I picked Waco!” he told the crowd.

Trump did not make any direct references in his speech to Waco’s history, telling the crowd of thousands that he told Patrick he wanted to hold his rally in a place with overwhelming support, not “one of those 50-50 areas,” and said he told Patrick, “Let’s go right into the heart of it.”

At several points, Trump criticized Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is expected to run for president and is seen as his strongest potential challenger for the GOP nomination. Trump called his onetime ally disloyal and said he was “dropping like a rock.”

Audience members were holding red and white signs handed out by the campaign that said “Witch Hunt,” “Trump 2024” and “I stand with Trump.”

Hours before Trump arrived, hundreds of his supporters began streaming into the airport past vendors selling merchandise including Trump flags, bumper stickers and action figures.

Among them was Eugene Torres, 41, who said he was unfazed by the prospect that Trump could be indicted.

“It’s just another political attack on him to keep him from running and winning this race again,” said Torres, who is from the Texas coast city of Corpus Christi.

Alan Kregel, 56, traveled with his wife from Dallas to see Trump in person for the first time. While he voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, he said he felt the former president’s “methods and vocabulary” often detracted from his policies. But now, two years out of office, he said he is more supportive of Trump than he was before.

“He’s an innocent man, just persecuted,” said Kregel, arguing an indictment would help Trump win in 2024.

Trump has spent weeks now railing against the New York probe and in a post on his social media site on Friday warned of “potential death & destruction in such a false charge” if he’s charged with a crime.

In a move that seemed designed to preempt a formal announcement, he claimed last Saturday that he would be arrested the following Tuesday. While that did not happen, Trump has used the days since to try to shape public perception — echoing a strategy he has used before, including during special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.

Trump has also repeatedly invoked violence, urging his supporters to protest, and used increasingly racist and dehumanizing rhetoric as he has launched ever more personal attacks against Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg.

On Friday, a powdery substance was found with a threatening letter in a mailroom at Bragg’s offices, authorities said. Officials later determined the substance wasn’t dangerous.

Even before the threatening letter was sent to Bragg’s office, Democrats warned that Trump’s remarks had the potential to incite violence.

“The twice-impeached former president’s rhetoric is reckless, reprehensible and irresponsible. It’s dangerous, and if he keeps it up he’s going to get someone killed,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said.

In addition to the Manhattan case, Trump is also facing an investigation in Georgia over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election as well as federal investigations into his handling of classified documents and possible obstruction, as well as his efforts on Jan. 6.

ROLLING FORK, Miss. (AP) — A massive tornado obliterated the modest one-story home that Kimberly Berry shared with her two daughters in the Mississippi Delta flatlands, leaving only a foundation and some random belongings — a toppled refrigerator, a dresser and matching nightstand, a bag of Christmas decorations, some clothing.

During the storm Friday, Berry and her 12-year-old daughter huddled and prayed at a nearby church that was barely damaged, while her 25-year-old daughter survived in the hard-hit town of Rolling Fork, some 15 miles (24 kilometers) away.

Berry shook her head as she looked at the remains of their material possessions. She said she’s grateful she and her children are still alive.

“I can get all this back. It’s nothing,” said Berry, 46, who works as a supervisor at a catfish growing and processing operation. “I’m not going to get depressed about it.”

Like many people in this economically struggling area, she faces an uncertain future. Mississippi is one of the poorest states in the U.S., and the majority-Black Delta has long been one of the poorest parts of Mississippi — a place where many people work paycheck to paycheck in jobs tied to agriculture.

Two of the counties walloped by the tornado, Sharkey and Humphreys, are among the most sparsely populated in the state, with only a few thousand residents in communities scattered across wide expanses of cotton, corn and soybean fields.

Sharkey’s poverty rate is 35%, and Humphreys’ is 33%, compared to about 19% for Mississippi and under 12% for the entire United States.

“It’s going to be a long road to recovery, trying to rebuild and get over the devastation,” Wayne Williams, who teaches construction skills at a vocational education center in Rolling Fork, said Sunday as people across town hammered blue tarps onto damaged roofs and used chainsaws to cut fallen trees.

The tornado killed 25 and injured dozens in Mississippi. It destroyed many homes and businesses in Rolling Fork and the nearby town of Silver City, leaving mounds of lumber, bricks and twisted metal.

The local housing stock was already tight, and some who lost their homes said they will live with friends of relatives. Mississippi opened more than a half-dozen shelters to temporarily house people displaced by the tornado.

President Joe Biden issued an emergency declaration for Mississippi early Sunday, making federal funding available to hardest-hit areas.

Berry spent the weekend with friends and family sorting through salvageable items at her destroyed home near a two-lane highway that traverses farm fields. She said she walked to the church before the tornado because her sister called her Friday night and frantically said TV weather forecasters had warned a potentially deadly storm was headed her way. Berry said as the storm rumbled and howled overhead, she tried to ignore the noise.

“That’s the only thing that was stuck in my head was just to pray, pray and cry out to God,” she said Saturday. “I didn’t hear nothing but my own self praying and God answering my prayer. I mean, I can get another house, another furniture. But literally saving my life — I’m thankful.”

Her sister, Dianna Berry, said her own home a few miles away was undamaged. She works at a deer camp, and she said her boss has offered to let Kimberly Berry and her daughters live there for as long as they need.