Ebola creates new hot spots in Congo as responders describe ‘chaotic’ response

• October 7, 2026

By CHINEDU ASADU

The Ebola outbreak in Congo is creating new hot spots where there’s little to no support for patients, responders and officials say, as health workers admit there could still be a long way to go in fighting the disease that has killed over 4,000 people.

More than 70% of new cases are still coming from outside of known contacts and at least 60% of deaths are outside of treatment centers, Africa CDC Director-General Dr. Jean Kaseya told The Associated Press. “There are so many other people who are becoming sick, who are not tested, treated, or listed,” said Kaseya on Tuesday.

The conflict-battered, remote North Kivu province, which has emerged as the new epicenter, now accounts for around 40% of all newly confirmed cases in Congo, compared with 24% at the end of August. But the response on the ground is “chaotic,” said Stephanie Hoffmann, a project coordinator with Doctors Without Borders (MSF). “There is a lack of coordination and organization, but there’s certainly a lack of actors present here,” Hoffmann told the AP.

Congo’s deadliest Ebola outbreak — caused by the Bundibugyo virus, which has no approved vaccine or treatment — was declared in May under some of the most challenging conditions imaginable fueled by mass population movements, rebel violence, mistrust and poor welfare of front line workers.

Congo has recorded more than 8,500 cases in the outbreak, according to government data, making it the fastest-growing Ebola outbreak on record and the country’s deadliest. On Tuesday, Kenya reported its first Ebola case, a man who arrived from Congo and died while receiving treatment.

The biggest challenge to date is contact tracing, Dr. Kayesa said. Only 23% of expected contacts of Ebola patients have so far been traced. The disease is spreading in a region of Congo with intense population movements due to economic activities, conflict displacement and mining, and where there’s deep mistrust with the government and misinformation about the virus.

“I’m unable to tell you when we can stop this outbreak unless we implement the village-centered approach,” the Africa CDC chief said, calling for direct involvement of villages and local leaders in contact tracing, burials of deceased patients and isolation of cases.

Treatment centers overwhelmed as other health facilities support

Many Ebola treatment centers in North Kivu are struggling with shortages of health workers and supplies, contributing to more deaths among patients, the World Health Organization has said.

North Kivu’s case fatality rate of 58% is the highest among Congo’s seven affected provinces. The disease has spread to half of its 34 health zones. In nine of those 17 affected zones, more than half of patients with confirmed infections have died, according to Health Ministry data.

Desperate for care, patients in some parts of North Kivu have turned to regular health facilities, MSF said.

“Local healthcare workers are the ones feeling this the most because they have to make the decision between sending their community members home to potentially die by themselves or putting themselves at risk to help treat them in their health center,” said Hoffmann, coordinator of MSF’s Ebola treatment center in Butembo, North Kivu.

Some families are reluctant to report a death

Nearly five months after the outbreak was declared, it has become harder to track in parts of North Kivu, where residents still have “a hard time believing the disease exists,” said Michel Ngimba of the National Institute of Biomedical Research in Butembo.

He described cases in which families were reluctant to report a death or allow a sample to be taken from someone who died with Ebola symptoms. In other cases, families “want to arrange the funeral quickly,” Ngimba said, potentially creating new chains of transmission because the bodies of people who die from Ebola are highly contagious.

“The situation has become more difficult to monitor (and) surveillance has to deal with situations that are highly fluid and sometimes difficult to document,” he said.

AP writer Sebastien Kitsa Musayi in Beni, Congo contributed.

For more on Africa and development: https://apnews.com/hub/africa-pulse

The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

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Russia keeps a tight lid on suspected case of pneumonic plague as global concerns mount

• October 7, 2026

By The Associated Press

Russian authorities are keeping a tight lid on information about last week’s suspicious death of a lab worker in Siberia that has been surrounded by secrecy and claims that it could have been caused by pneumonic plague.

While the case has raised global concerns, Russian state TV and other national state-controlled media have steered clear of the subject. Some state-sponsored news outlets withdrew earlier reports about the case, which has topped independent online news outlets.

Russia’s public health watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor, said Sunday the lab worker was diagnosed with “pneumonia of unknown etiology,” meaning its origin was not known.

In its official, tersely worded statements, it does not link the case to pneumonic plague, saying only that “extensive” testing found no evidence her illness was caused by any of the pathogens she worked with at the Irkutsk Anti-Plague Research Institute of Siberia and the Far East.

A state TV station in Irkutsk reported she died Oct. 2 in a hospital in Shelekhov, a town just outside Irkutsk.

Officials have quarantined a hospital and are monitoring the contacts of the worker, who died of what unconfirmed media reports said could have been pneumonic plague — a less common but severe form of plague that can spread from person to person.

Moscow informed the World Health Organization that no case of plague has been registered in the Irkutsk region in southeastern Siberia.

President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would speak about the issue “very soon” with Russian President Vladimir Putin and report about it “probably tomorrow.” Wednesday is the Kremlin leader’s 74th birthday.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Wednesday that a Putin-Trump call hasn’t been set yet but could be organized quickly.

Trump said the U.S. stands ready to help Russia. Asked what the U.S. intelligence community was saying about the case, Trump said the U.S. is in “very deep discussions” on the topic.

The WHO prods Russia for more information

In response to the WHO’s request to clarify the situation in view of media reports alleging pneumonic plague as the cause of the lab worker’s death, Russia has declared that no case of plague had recently been registered in Irkutsk oblast, the U.N. organization said.

Russian health authorities reported a full range of preventive measures had been carried out — including tracing of the dead woman’s contacts, medical monitoring and lab tests, WHO said Wednesday. The Russian note relayed to The Associated Press by the WHO said the test showed “no presence of dangerous infectious disease pathogens in any of the contacts.”

The Geneva-based organization said it has requested further information to clarify the cause of the severe pneumonia, the pathogen that prompted the public health measures, and media reports of a second employee with pneumonia of undetermined cause.

The organization said it has remained in contact with Russian health authorities and offered technical support.

The Kremlin and other officials stay tight-lipped

Peskov has referred all questions to Rospotrebnadzor, which does not mention suspected plague in its reports.

In its latest statement Tuesday, the agency said “the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Irkutsk region, the cities of Irkutsk and Shelekhov is calm.” It said authorities were completing a “complex of prophylactic measures and medical observation over contacts,” adding that so far they have found two cases of COVID-19 and two cases of rhinovirus.

“No other infectious pathogens have been found among contacts,” it said.

The lab worker who died was described as highly diligent

The news outlet Lyudi Baikala — or “People of Baikal” — identified the dead lab worker as 28-year-old Darya Shipilova and said she first was hospitalized with cold symptoms Sept. 29 and died three days later.

It quoted her colleagues as saying she was a highly qualified and diligent researcher. They also emphasized that security rules at the facility, established in the 1920s to monitor and study the plague that is endemic to southeastern Siberia, are extremely strict.

The report quoted Shipilova’s neighbors as saying a team of disinfection experts did several cleanups of her apartment, leaving a strong antiseptic smell.

The hospital where she died was under quarantine, no longer admitting or discharging patients, although its outpatient clinic has continued operating, according to Mayor Maxim Modin.

Irkutsk Gov. Igor Kobzev said she died of a “particularly dangerous infection” and everyone who came into contact with her has remained under medical supervision.

The incubation period for pneumonic plague — the disease’s most virulent form — can be as short as 24 hours, according to the WHO. The lung-based illness is a less common but severe form of plague that can spread between people via respiratory particles. If untreated, the illness can be fatal, but recovery rates are high if detected and treated in time, it said.

​ Orange County Register 

Nepal ends search for thousands of flood victims, leaving some angry and others relieved

• October 7, 2026

By BINAJ GURUBACHARYA

KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — The families of thousands of people who remain missing in Nepal weeks after catastrophic floods devastated the country have expressed mixed feelings after the government said this week that it is stopping the search for victims.

The office of Prime Minister Balendra Shah decided on Monday that search and rescue operations for victims of the Aug. 26 floods will cease. Instead, authorities will concentrate on rehabilitation and reconstruction including restoring roads and bridges cut off by floods, particularly in remote areas where damaged infrastructure has made aid deliveries difficult.

Rescuers have so far recovered the bodies of at least 1,455 people, but 5,285 others remain missing, including hundreds of foreign nationals.

The government estimates reconstruction and recovery will cost $4.77 billion. Nearly 33,000 people have been affected and about 7,500 homes were damaged or destroyed.

Hopes for finding survivors were briefly revived after two Nepalese workers were rescued from an underground tunnel at the Trishuli hydropower project on Sept. 4, and again two days later when rescuers found a Chinese man at the same location.

Families of victims have held protests and vigils in Nepal, calling for search efforts to be improved.

“I am so angry at the government for giving up on search and rescue with thousands of people still missing. I just don’t understand how they can do that when we still have hope left that our loved one can still be found,” said Usha Khatri, who has spent days searching for her husband in multiple towns where the river flows and bodies have been recovered.

During her ongoing search she has checked photos of bodies that were recovered but buried for preservation until identification is made.

“Either they have to give up the body or show some solid proof that my husband is gone and only then can they declare him dead,” Khatri said.

“They have abandoned us and they should not have stopped the search,” said Mahesh Shrestha, whose brother was an engineer at a hydropower plant that was hit. “Our family demand they continue looking for him.”

Others welcomed the decision and said they are seeking government-issued death certificates.

“After so many days and weeks there is little or no hope of finding anyone alive. We are sure that none of our family members survived and we are just looking for a closure,” said Nirajan Poudel, who lost five family members in the flood.

Several people whose relatives remain missing have performed symbolic funerals. Cremation is an important final rite in the Hindu tradition and performing the ceremony even without a body provides a sense of spiritual release for some families.

Poudel said the government has so far refused to issue death certificates, saying laws need to be amended first. Death certificates are necessary in Nepal for families to receive compensation, insurance and inherit properties.

Nepal’s government did not immediately respond to a request by The Associated Press for more information about the death certificates.

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FCC considers allowing more political robocalls before midterms, including those created with AI

• October 7, 2026

By ALI SWENSON

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Communications Commission is considering a request by a conservative group to loosen rules on political robocalls, including those with artificial intelligence-generated voices, before November’s midterm elections.

Federal law currently bans most robocalls to cellphones unless the caller gets consent beforehand. The petition calls for a waiver that would allow political groups to use artificial or prerecorded voices in unsolicited wireless calls.

The Republican-led FCC advanced the request for public comment and could rule on it as soon as late October.

Consumer advocacy groups warn the proposed change could trigger a surge of unwanted, partisan and potentially misleading automated calls in the critical final days of the election, which will determine which party controls Congress for the final two years of President Donald Trump’s term.

The potential perils became evident two years ago during the presidential primary season when thousands of voters in New Hampshire received a robocall with an AI-generated voice of then-President Joe Biden. The call suggested voters should forgo casting a ballot in the primary and “save” their votes for the general election.

Under the waiver request before the FCC, some state and federal laws protecting against deception and voter intimidation would continue to prohibit certain misleading election-related messages. But granting it could weaken a major deterrent for bad actors, said Tim Harper, who leads the elections team at the Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology.

Such a ruling close to Election Day would open “a huge opportunity for abuse during a period where harm has outsized impact,” he said. “Campaigns will use this technology to target voters in deceptive ways.”

A tool for better communication or misleading messages?

The Club for Growth, a right-leaning economic policy group seeking the change, said it could help political organizations better communicate with potential voters, including in more languages, and improve polling accuracy by helping groups reach more voters. It calls current federal rules outdated and argues they dampen freedom of speech.

The nation’s communications regulatory body would have to act within a compressed schedule to grant the waiver in time to affect the midterm elections. Critics said it wouldn’t be the first time the FCC, which has become closely aligned with the president during his second term, has bypassed procedural norms to serve its political agenda.

Its Republican chairman, Brendan Carr, launched an unusual early review of broadcast licenses for several ABC-owned local broadcast stations, prompting the company to sue. It said the review years ahead of schedule was unconstitutional, a violation of free speech and a retaliation for content Trump dislikes.

The FCC didn’t respond to a request for comment on the petition.

Ana Gomez, the sole Democrat among the FCC’s three active commissioners, told The Associated Press she opposes the move and thinks it would create “a tsunami of robocalls and misinformation.”

“We’ve already seen dark money groups use AI to put candidates’ likeness behind inflammatory comments ahead of this election,” Gomez said. “Exempting political calls from the need for consumer consent would supercharge that strategy, and misleading messages could land directly on the handheld phone of nearly every voter in our country.”

Political robocalls have caused controversies before

In past elections, deceptive political robocalls have resulted in significant fines associated with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the federal law at the center of the petition.

In 2020, tens of thousands of prospective voters in majority-Black areas of the U.S. received robocalls falsely warning that if they voted by mail, they could face arrest and debt collection.

The two conservative hoaxers behind the calls, Jacob Wohl and Jack Burkman, were criminally charged for the calls and fined some $5.1 million for violating the act.

The political consultant behind the 2024 New Hampshire robocalls mimicking Biden’s voice said he did it to send a wake-up call about the potential dangers of AI. He was acquitted of criminal voter suppression charges but faced fines and civil damages associated with federal law.

Shortly after the New Hampshire robocall caught authorities’ attention, the FCC ruled that robocalls made with AI voice-cloning tools were outlawed under the consumer protection act.

The change could boost various types of AI calling

If the commission pivots to grant the Club for Growth’s petition, political groups of all stripes could amp up their use of AI to prerecord messages that play when voters pick up the phone. They also could use the technology to engage in live conversations with voters driven by AI large language models.

Mekela Panditharatne, senior counsel in the democracy program at the Brennan Center for Justice, warned that such conversations hold risks. An AI system could make false promises about a candidate or manipulate voters in conversation by providing inaccurate or incomplete information.

Harper, from the Center for Democracy and Technology, said there also could be a privacy risk for voters who might not know how an AI agent on the line with them is capturing or repurposing their data.

The Club for Growth has argued the waiver would help create a more uniform regulatory landscape, given that unsolicited automated calls to landlines are already allowed. If the waiver is granted, callers would still be limited by certain conditions, including allowing consumers to opt out and making no more than three calls within 30 days to each individual recipient.

A public comment reply period on the petition ends Oct. 19, at which point the FCC could move forward on a decision.

​ Orange County Register 

After states sue, Trump administration walks away from disability rights enforcement

• October 7, 2026

By Anna Claire Vollers, Stateline.org

A court battle that began when conservative-led states sued to block protections for transgender people has ended in a rollback of protections for people with disabilities — a result disability advocates have feared for months.

At the end of August, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services joined the handful of conservative-led states suing it, and asked a court to strike language from a federal disability-rights regulation that directed states to prioritize serving disabled people in their communities rather than in nursing homes or institutions.

Last month the judge did so, ending the case, Texas v. Kennedy, by removing all mentions of community integration from the regulation that implements a piece of landmark federal disability law known as Section 504.

The Trump administration’s move — along with a June memo from the Justice Department that argued federal law doesn’t require states to provide community-based services for disabled people — marks a sharp about-face for the federal government, which has long been the chief enforcer of such protections.

The change to the Section 504 rule, disability rights advocates fear, will make it harder for disabled people to receive services they need to live in their communities — and to stay out of institutions.

“This affects children, this affects adults, it affects your elderly parents. It affects everyone,” said Charlotte Cravins, a Baton Rouge, Louisiana, attorney whose toddler son Landry was born with Down syndrome and has impaired vision.

Landry receives publicly funded therapies that have helped him learn to crawl, pull himself up to stand, and to use American Sign Language, all while being able to live at home with his family.

But Cravins worries the ruling threatens those gains. Her husband, who was Landry’s main caregiver, recently had to return to work, and so Cravins is now caring for their son while also working. They’re hoping to get Landry assessed for nursing services and other aids that can help with daily living.

“But those services are at risk now of being unavailable,” she said.

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services told Stateline in an email that the department “remains firmly committed to protecting the civil rights of individuals with disabilities” and enforcing applicable disability rights law.

“Our commitment to ensuring that individuals with disabilities are treated with dignity, afforded equal opportunity, and are able to meaningfully access community services remains unchanged,” he said.

The U.S. Department of Justice, in an email to Stateline, said the court’s order “answered an ordinary-course request” about updated federal guidance and clarified the “proper scope” of Olmstead v. L.C., the landmark 1999 Supreme Court ruling that people with disabilities have a civil right to live and receive services in their communities rather than institutions.

Previous administrations have relied on Olmstead’s precedent to compel states to provide community-based services.

States that were plaintiffs in the lawsuit have told the court they don’t want federal interference: They said that Biden-era updates to Section 504 unfairly restricted how they’re able to spend money, and prevented them from deciding how best to care for their own residents. They said their budgets, strained by rising costs and workforce shortages, can’t always accommodate expensive services required by the law, and that with smaller Medicaid budgets they’re having to make hard choices. Removing the federal “integration mandate” would give them more flexibility.

“Florida joined this lawsuit to serve as a check on federal power, not to deny care,” Jae Williams, press secretary in the office of Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, a Republican, told Stateline in a statement.

“Reclaiming state authority gives Florida the flexibility needed to address critical public safety and homelessness issues while ensuring proper care for individuals.”

The resolution of the case “achieves the right balance,” said Sam Curtis, information officer for the Alaska Department of Law, “by keeping historical Section 504 protections in place and vacating only the unlawful new provisions that threatened Alaska’s Medicaid program, home and community based services, and systems of care for Alaskans with complex needs.”

But the change to how the feds enforce Section 504 means states may no longer have a federal monitor ensuring they provide community services, disability advocates and experts told Stateline.

“It’s part of this bigger effort from the federal government to walk away from their longstanding commitment to the right to community living,” said Alison Barkoff, director of the Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program at the Milken Institute School of Public Health at George Washington University.

Disabled people still have a legal right to receive community-based services, she said, “but the right is only as good as the enforcement.”

Gender dysphoria to disability rights

The case began back in 2024, when 17 Republican-led states sued the Biden administration over its inclusion of gender dysphoria as a protected disability under Section 504.

But then the suit morphed into something different.

After Trump was reelected and his administration made clear it would not enforce the Biden rule, several states pulled out of the lawsuit. Their attorneys general scrambled to distance themselves from it, amid a swift backlash from the disability community that warned the suit imperiled federal protections for all people with disabilities.

But in a surprising move, a handful of states chose to stick with the lawsuit. In January, they amended their complaint to ask the court to strike down the Section 504 rule that directs states to provide disabled people services in their communities whenever possible, rather than in institutions such as nursing homes and state hospitals.

By September, more states had dropped out, leaving five — Alaska, Florida, Louisiana, Montana and Texas — when the Trump administration joined them in asking the court to strike the integration provisions.

In an email to Stateline, a spokesperson for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, connected the lawsuit and its resolution to the original complaint about the inclusion of gender dysphoria, saying it defeated a “woke” rule that “would have endangered disability funding for the sake of promoting the radical trans agenda.” He did not address the removal of the integration mandate.

“This resolution ensures that Texans who rely on Section 504 and disability assistance are fully protected,” he said. “It supports family choice, ensures healthcare providers are able to provide the best possible care to Texans, and guarantees that all protections that existed prior to the 2024 Biden rule are upheld and permanently preserved.”

Barkoff emphasized that the ruling doesn’t change disability rights protections that are baked into other federal laws, such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, and precedent-setting cases such as Olmstead.

“These rights still exist, and people need to understand that,” Barkoff said.

M. Geron Gadd, a senior attorney at the National Health Law Program who focuses on disability rights cases, agreed that the ruling doesn’t eliminate states’ legal requirement to provide community-based services to disabled people.

However, she said, “it can make it much harder for people with disabilities and their families, who often are already struggling, to obtain needed services.”

States get a boost

One practical result of the judgment in this case — and the Department of Justice’s June memo that reinterpreted federal disability law and the Olmstead decision — is that disabled people may have to go to greater lengths, including suing states, to get services if they’re denied them.

The department has already retreated from disability rights cases against states including Florida and Texas, which have long pushed back against Olmstead’s scope in the hopes of persuading the feds to narrow their interpretation of disability law.

In 2023, a U.S. district court found that Florida had kept children with complex medical needs unnecessarily institutionalized in nursing facilities, violating federal disability rights law and the Olmstead integration mandate. The Justice Department filed the lawsuit during the Biden administration. The department shifted its stance this year and asked the court to vacate its decision.

The Justice Department also dropped out of a long-running case centered on claims Texas has been illegally placing thousands of disabled people in nursing homes for decades.

Disability rights groups and advocates have called for protection of federal integration requirements. Late last month, a bipartisan group of congressional representatives cosponsored a resolution to reaffirm Olmstead and the right of disabled people to receive services in their communities. A group of 100 Democratic members of Congress also signed a letter in July calling on the Justice Department to rescind its memo.

Stateline reporter Anna Claire Vollers can be reached at avollers@stateline.org.

©2026 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Prediction markets spend millions to influence state, federal governments

• October 7, 2026

By Kevin Hardy, Stateline.org

Kalshi, Polymarket and the Coalition for Prediction Markets have spent at least $3 million this year on lobbying and campaign contributions across the federal and state levels, according to a new report from the government watchdog group OpenSecrets.

Prediction market platforms say they are like commodity markets that offer contracts to speculate on the future price of corn or oil — not sportsbooks that allow gamblers to place bets. But many states reject those justifications, arguing the platforms offer a backdoor to skirt state gambling regulations, particularly on sports.

The issue has sparked action from state regulators, new legislation, and a flurry of lawsuits from states, prediction markets, and the Trump administration, which has sought to sideline state oversight.

Kalshi, by far the largest prediction market platform, has targeted much of its political spending on governors and state attorneys general.

OpenSecrets found that Kalshi poured more than $300,000 combined into the two major political organizations dedicated to electing and supporting AGs: The Republican Attorneys General Association and the Democratic Attorneys General Association.

Likewise, Kalshi donated $100,000 to the Republican Governors Association and $150,000 to the Democratic Governors Association in the first half of the year.

“Like many U.S. regulated companies, we support candidates on both sides of the aisle,” Dani Lever, a spokesperson for Kalshi, told OpenSecrets in a statement.

The analysis found Kalshi has hired at least one lobbyist in 41 states, focusing much of that effort on California and New York. That means the company has a lobbying presence in every state that has introduced prediction-market-specific legislation.

State lawmakers of both parties are growing increasingly frustrated with prediction markets, arguing they are avoiding state gambling regulations or gambling bans, gambling taxes and consumer protections.

This summer, Sara Slane, Head of Corporate Development at Kalshi, told lawmakers that the company was committed to building relationships with the states. But she said the prediction markets are not subject to state oversight, as they are regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which regulates derivatives such as futures contracts on stocks.

That five-member commission currently has four vacancies. But it has aggressively defended prediction markets and its right to oversee them — going so far as to sue nine states that attempted to regulate the industry. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, has financial stakes in both Kalshi and Polymarket.

With litigation flying on the issue, many observers expect the U.S. Supreme Court to ultimately decide what role states can play in regulating prediction markets.

In addition to its political spending in states, OpenSecrets found the industry remains committed to federal lobbying, with Kalshi alone spending nearly $1 million in the first half of the year. Those efforts focused on the CFTC, the White House, the Securities & Exchange Commission and both chambers of Congress.

Brad Lipton, director of the Roosevelt Institute’s corporate power and financial regulation program, told OpenSecrets the lobbying push was evidence of the “existential question” facing prediction markets.

“It’s not at all clear to me that their business model can compete if they are going to comply with state law,” Lipton said. “They’re really trying to create a situation, I think, where they have enough political power to overcome the legal deficiencies in their arguments.”

Stateline reporter Kevin Hardy can be reached at khardy@stateline.org.

©2026 States Newsroom. Visit at stateline.org. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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Tropical Storm Isaias to threaten US Gulf Coast, Florida Panhandle as Cat 2 hurricane, experts say

• October 7, 2026

Tropical Storm Isaias is forecast to rapidly strengthen into a dangerous Category 2 hurricane that will threaten the U.S. Gulf Coast, including part of the Florida Panhandle.

Isaias is forecast to remain a “dangerous hurricane when it makes landfall,” presumably this weekend, according to the National Hurricane Center.

“Hurricane watches will likely be required for a portion of the U.S. northern Gulf coast later today,” the National Hurricane Center said in its 5 a.m. Wednesday advisory.

Isaias “will become the first hurricane of the 2026 season, the latest first hurricane to form in the Atlantic basin in over 100 years,” according to AccuWeather.

The hurricane center’s forecast has the storm’s maximum winds peaking at 110 mph by 5 a.m. Friday, which would make it nearly a Category 3 hurricane, before moving inland by late Saturday afternoon.

Isaias developed early Wednesday and was located 285 miles west of Progreso, Mexico, and 580 miles southwest of the mouth of the Mississippi River, according to the hurricane center’s 5 a.m. advisory. Its maximum sustained winds were at 40 mph as it moved east-northeast at 8 mph.

Isaias is expected to track east-northeast for the next few days before making a turn to the northeast on Friday, according to forecasters. It likely will pass to the north of the Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday and approach the U.S. northern Gulf Coast on Friday.

The storm’s change of direction to the northeast by Friday will be “a sharp turn,” hurricane center forecasters said, and it should accelerate toward the northern Gulf Coast.

National Hurricane Center forecasters expect it to peak in strength before reaching the coast. The stronger the storm becomes, the faster it will head in that direction, the advisory said. Forecasters also said the storm is likely to “grow significantly in size” once it reaches the northern Gulf Coast.

“It should be noted that there is significant uncertainty in where the system makes the northeast turn and how fast it moves toward the coast,” the hurricane center’s advisory said.

Gov. Ron DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 25 Florida counties throughout the Panhandle and Big Bend.

“Floridians should take this time to get disaster plans in place and ensure their hurricane supply kit is stocked,” DeSantis said.

Beginning on Friday and continuing through the weekend, 3 to 6 inches of rainfall is expected across the central U.S. Gulf Coast from southeastern Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle, with up to 10 inches possible in some areas. The National Hurricane Center forecasts between 2 to 4 inches of rainfall through Thursday along coastal areas of the Bay of Campeche with higher amounts possible in Campeche and western Yucatan.

AccuWeather on Tuesday estimated rain totals of up to 8 inches could drench a swath from Alabama to the Florida Panhandle, an area that has recently seen a lot of rain, increasing the potential for flooding. AccuWeather is calling for 8-12 inches of rain across southern Alabama and Mississippi.

There is also an increasing risk of strong winds and dangerous storm surge for areas of the northern Gulf Coast, where watches could be in place as soon as Wednesday, the hurricane center said.

“Residents from Louisiana to the Florida Panhandle should closely monitor the latest forecast updates and ensure they have their hurricane plan in place,” the forecast said.

Hurricane season ends Nov. 30.

​ Orange County Register 

US futures slip as oil prices and bond yields rise with markets awaiting latest Fed minutes

• October 7, 2026

By ELAINE KURTENBACH and MICHELLE CHAPMAN, AP Business Writers

U.S. futures are retreating and bond yields are climbing again after a barrel of oil ticked back above $100 per barrel Wednesday. Much of the focus on Wall Street will be on the release of minutes from the last meeting of the Federal Reserve, where the nation’s benchmark interest rate was hiked for the first time in three years.

Futures for the S&P 500 dipped 0.1% a day after reaching a record 7,818.93. Despite worries over the Iran war, high inflation and pressures from the bond market, the index at the heart of many 401(k) accounts has soared 23% since hitting a trough in late March.

Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.3%, while Nasdaq futures declined 0.4%.

Crude prices rebounded early Wednesday. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 1.3% to $101.88. That’s about $55 more than a barrel cost at this time last year.

U.S. benchmark crude rose 0.6% to $89.99 per barrel.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels used ballistic and cruise missiles, as well as drones, to attack military facilities and airports in Saudi Arabia, the rebels’ military spokesman, Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said on social media Wednesday. He didn’t provide evidence for the claim.

Also attacked were Abha airport, military facilities in Khamis Mushait and other “critical sites” in the cities of Najran and Asir, according to Saree.

And after falling back slightly this week, bond yields are on the rise again.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 5.33%, while the 30-year Treasury climbed to 5.71%.

The Fed releases the minutes from its September meeting when U.S. central bank officials raised the key interest rate. The minutes may provide clues about where the Fed, and interest rates, are heading.

Earnings season is also just around the corner and PepsiCo will report its quarterly results Thursday. Delta Air Lines posts earnings Friday and several of the country’s biggest banks release quarterly performances next week.

Analysts expect companies in the S&P 500 to deliver overall growth of nearly 30% in earnings per share from a year earlier, according to data provider FactSet. If they’re correct, it would be the third straight quarter of growth better than 25%.

Investors have grown leery of how much growth is being driven by companies in the artificial intelligence race. Those companies can take a hit when it becomes more difficult to borrow, and the 10-year Treasury can be an indicator of credit costs ahead.

The tech sector is the biggest decliner before the opening bell. Micron Technology’s stock dropped more than 3%, while shares of Advanced Micro Devices declined nearly 2%. Shares of Nvidia and Broadcom were also lower.

In Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris lost 1% to 7,783.00, while Britain’s FTSE 100 shed 0.8% to 10,460.81. In Germany, the DAX fell 1.3% to 25,116.49. Asian markets were lower. Markets in Shanghai were closed for a national holiday.

The U.S. dollar fell to 158.13 Japanese yen from 158.10 yen. The euro slipped to $1.1197 from $1.1260.

​ Orange County Register