Tropical Storm Debby churns up the East Coast

CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Tropical Storm Debby pushed bad weather up the East Coast and brought no respite to residents as far away as the Great Lakes and New Jersey, where heavy rain flooded highways and streets and stranded motorists. Officials in New York told people in basement apartments to prepare to flee as forecasters warned of flash flooding. The center of Debby was over the Atlantic Ocean east-southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, by Wednesday afternoon. The storm has brought heavy rain to Florida, Georgia and North and South Carolina since coming ashore on the Gulf Coast of Florida early Monday.

Crew of Titan sub knew they were going to die before implosion, according to more than $50M lawsuit

(AP) — The family of a French explorer who died in a submersible implosion has filed a more than $50 million lawsuit, saying the crew experienced “terror and mental anguish” before the disaster and accusing the sub’s operator of gross negligence. Paul-Henri Nargeolet was among five people who died when the Titan submersible imploded during a voyage to the famed Titanic wreck site in the North Atlantic in June 2023. No one survived the trip aboard the experimental submersible owned by OceanGate, a company in Washington state that has since suspended operations. The lawsuit was filed Tuesday. A spokesperson for OceanGate has declined to comment on it.

FBI: California woman brought sword, whip and other weapons into Capitol during Jan. 6 riot

(AP) — A California woman has been charged with taking a cache of weapons into the U.S. Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack by a mob of Donald Trump supporters. An FBI affidavit unsealed on Wednesday says Kennedy Lindsey had a short sword, a steel tactical whip, a collapsible baton, pepper spray, a butterfly knife and a flashlight taser in her possession when a U.S. Secret Service officer searched her backpack. Lindsey was arrested in Los Angeles last month on charges including disorderly conduct and possession of a dangerous weapon in a Capitol building. More than 1,400 people have been charged with Capitol riot-related federal crimes.

Study: Great Barrier Reef waters were hottest in 400 years over the past decade

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ocean temperatures in the Great Barrier Reef reached the highest they’ve been in 400 years over the past decade, research published Wednesday in the journal Nature found. Researchers from Melbourne University in Australia were able to compare recent ocean temperatures to historical ones by using coral skeleton samples from the Coral Sea to reconstruct sea surface temperature data from 1618 to 1995. They found mostly stable temperatures before 1900, and steady warming from 1960 to 2024. Temperatures were significantly higher over the past decade, when mass bleaching took place. The scientists warned that the reef likely won’t survive if planetary warming isn’t stopped.