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The USS LST 393 Veterans Museum now has an exhibit honoring military dogs. The exhibit was finished being built just in time to honor Cena, a 10-year-old black lab that received a hero's farewell last most before being euthanized

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A museum display in western Michigan is honoring military dogs.

The Muskegon Chronicle reports the exhibit is at the USS LST 393 Veterans Museum and is housed at the WWII-era warship in Muskegon. Ron Morzfeld, museum manager, notes the dogs are military veterans and their "courage and sacrifice need to be honored and remembered."

The exhibit has been in the works for more than a year and was finished in time to honor Cena, a 10-year-old black lab that received a hero's farewell last month before being euthanized. The cancer-stricken dog served three tours in Afghanistan with the U.S. Marines.

A procession with Jeep convoys is planned Saturday before a funeral with military honors for Cena at the Michigan War Dog Memorial in the southeastern Michigan community of South Lyon.

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Information from: The Muskegon Chronicle, http://www.mlive.com/muskegon

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Museum display in western Michigan honors military dogs

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A museum display in western Michigan is honoring military dogs. The Muskegon Chronicle reports the exhibit is at the USS LST 393 Veterans Museum and is housed at the WWII-era warship in Muskegon. Ron Morzfeld, museum manager, notes the dogs are military veterans and their "courage...

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CASE OF THE WEEK: Case of Michelle Von Emster AND the secret service states that by next month they would have used all their money protecting the trump family.

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Taylor Swift "broke twitter" because she dropped a new album and a lot of people were talking about it.

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Taylor Swift Drops New Single, Divides Twitter and 'Breaks the Internet'

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"Look What You Made Me Do" is the first track from her upcoming album "Revolution," but not everyone is loving it

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California's state Supreme Court has voted on speeding up the death penalty cases.

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California's state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Proposition 66. The voter initiative is intended to speed up the state's death penalty cases, which sometimes take more than 20 years to be resolved.

But the court also eased the strict deadlines called for in the proposal, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The plan called for death penalty cases to be completed within five years, but the five justices who formed the majority opinion said such a time schedule could not be guaranteed.

The justices noted that placing death penalty cases on a faster schedule would likely result in higher court-related costs for the state.

The initiative was supported by 51 percent of voters in November, the Bee reported.

Despite the death penalty being legal in California, the state has not carried out an execution in more than a decade, with multiple appeals being among the contributing factors.

Meanwhile, another key obstacle remained before executions can resume in the state: Getting approval for a new lethal injection method.

The next step in that process was expected Friday, when state corrections officials say they will seek regulatory approval for a revised drug protocol to execute inmates.

The new regulations would allow California's death row inmates to be executed using one of two different drugs or choose the gas chamber.

In California, condemned inmates are more likely to die of old age than be executed. The state has nearly 750 inmates on death row, and only 13 have been executed since 1978 -- the most recent in 2006.

Nearly 400 death penalty appeals are pending.
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.

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California Supreme Court backs plan to speed death penalty cases

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California's state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Proposition 66. The voter initiative is intended to speed up the state's death penalty cases, which sometimes take more than 20 years to be resolved. But the court also eased the strict deadlines called for in the proposal, the Sacramento Bee reported.

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A 53 year old Florida man, Mark Asay, was executed using a drug never before used for the lethal injection in the U.S. He had no last statement and did not show any indication of pain during his execution.

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Unless a stay is issued, Mark Asay, 53, is scheduled to die by lethal injection after 6 p.m. ET.

Asay was convicted in 1988 of the racially motivated murders of two men in Jacksonville the previous year.

A jury found him guilty of killing Robert Lee Booker -- who was black -- and Robert McDowell. Before he shot Booker, he called him a racial epithet, according to CNN affiliate WJAX.

Prosecutors say he killed McDowell, who was dressed as a woman, after saying he would pay him for sex, the station reported.

The planned execution marks Florida's first since a U S Supreme Court ruling temporarily halted the practice in early 2016, saying the state's sentencing process was unconstitutional because it gave judges, rather than juries, too much power in deciding whether to execute an inmate.

Since then, Florida passed a law requiring a unanimous jury recommendation for the death penalty, and Gov. Rick Scott rescheduled Asay's execution for Thursday.

The state will use etomidate as one of three drugs in the lethal injection, marking the first time the sedative has been used in an execution, according to WJAX. Etomidate will be a substitute for midazolam, a controversial drug that has become harder to get because some drug manufacturers don't want it used in executions.

One midazolam manufacturer, West-Ward Pharmaceuticals, filed a brief in support of eight inmates in Arkansas in April, saying it tries to ensure its medication isn't used in executions.

This month, the Florida Supreme Court rejected arguments from Asay's attorneys t hat the new drug would cause too much pain, according to WJAX. The state's highest court turned down a motion to block the execution, saying the inmate had not shown it would lead to more pain.

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florida to execute convicted killer mark asay using new drug - cnn

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Florida set to execute death row inmate using new drug

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Unless a stay is issued, Mark Asay, 53, is scheduled to die by lethal injection after 6 p.m. ET. Asay was convicted in 1988 of the racially motivated murders of two men in Jacksonville the previous year. A jury found him guilty of killing Robert Lee Booker -- who was black -- and Robert McDowell.

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Russian ambassador for Sudan, Mirgayas Shirinsky was found dead at his home with symptoms of a heart attack and was unable to be saved. Shirinsky has been the ambassador since to Sudan 2013. He has been the 4th Russian emissary to die overseas in 2017, but nothing about his death seam suspicious.

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Jaguars owner Shad Khan says he´d be absolutely open to signing Collin Kaepernick.

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Jacksonville Jaguars Scott Polacek Stephen B. Morton/Associated Press Twitter Logo Featured Columnist
Blake Bortles and Chad Henne are currently battling for the Jacksonville Jaguars' starting quarterback job, but team owner Shad Khan reportedly would be open to throwing Colin Kaepernick into the mix as well.

On Thursday, Mike Dempsey of 1010 XL in Jacksonville, Florida, said he asked Khan whether he would be fine signing the former San Francisco 49er "if his football people recommended" it, and Khan replied "absolutely."

Kaepernick-who made headlines last season by kneeling during the national anthem to protest social injustice in the United States-is still unsigned despite previously leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl and throwing 16 touchdowns to just four interceptions last season.

He met with the Seattle Seahawks in May and drew considerationfrom the Baltimore Ravens, but he still remains a free agent after opting out of his contract with San Francisco earlier this year.

Khan's comment comes after activists held a "United We Stand" rally Wednesday outside of the NFL's New York City headquarters. The rally supported Kaepernick and was estimated to have drawn more than 1,200 people, per The Undefeated's Jason Reid.

As for Jacksonville, Bortles and Henne aren't exactly Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers.

Ian Rapoportof NFL Network reported Henne will start Thursday's preseason game against the Carolina Panthers, but the University of Michigan product hasn't thrown a regular-season pass since 2014. He has thrown 58 touchdowns and 63 interceptions throughout his NFL career since the Miami Dolphins selected him in the second round of the 2008 draft.

He is competing with Bortles, who has yet to seize the starting job this season despite the Jaguars having selected him third overall in 2014. He has 51 interceptions in 46 career games and hasn't led Jacksonville to the postseason in his three seasons at the helm of the franchise.

Kaepernick has six playoff games on his resume.

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Jaguars Owner Shad Khan Says He'd Absolutely Be Open to Signing Colin Kaepernick

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Jacksonville Jaguars Scott Polacek Stephen B. Morton/Associated Press Twitter Logo Featured Columnist Blake Bortles and Chad Henne are currently battling for the Jacksonville Jaguars' starting quarterback job, but team owner Shad Khan reportedly would be open to throwing Colin Kaepernick into the mix as well.

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The North Korean spies Ukraine caught stealing missile plans

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international relations and national security

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The North Korean spies caught stealing plans | CNN

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Grainy surveillance images show two North Korean spies photographing what they think are top-secret missile designs in Ukraine.

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German police seize 5,000 Trump-shaped ecstasy pills

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ISIS released a video that had an American boy that spoke about how the war will not end in the middle east, but on our lands. This video came a day after pictures were released of a teenage suicide bomber.

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Andrea Syron, a 36 year old model and actress  was told that the buzzing in her ear was just an allergy symptom, or a bad cold, or fluid trapped in her ear. Syron finally went to see an ear-nose-and-throat doctor and the results of her test were not even close to what other doctors had told her. She had an irregularity in her arteries in her brain, called an ateriovenous malformation. AVM is a fatal brain disorder and only one in about 4,000 people have this. Syron had surgery two moths ago, but she may need another one in the future. Andrea is now raising awareness about AVM and the conditions and symptoms misdiagnosed by doctors.

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Health 16 hrs ago Amanda MacMillan

When Andrea Syron began noticing a buzzing in her ear-that later grew to a strange "whooshing"-she knew something was wrong. But for months, doctors told her it was just allergies, a bad cold, or fluid trapped in her ear.

It wasn't until the 36-year-old actress and model saw an ear-nose-and-throat doctor, and underwent imaging scans, that she got a correct diagnosis: an irregularity in the arteries lining her brain, called an ateriovenous malformation (AVM), that was causing the blood vessels above her ear to pulsate.

"I went for a CT scan and when it came back they saw a shadow behind my right ear," Syron, who lives in Grand Blanc, Michigan, told the Daily Mail. "I had an MRA scan and then they discovered I had an AVM."

Syron was relieved to know that she "wasn't crazy," but was faced with a new worry: AVMs can be extremely dangerous. People who have these irregular blood-vessel connections are at increased risk of a fatal brain bleed, blood clot, or stroke -often with little or no warning beforehand.

Luckily, AVMs are treatable if doctors can identify them before one of those complications occurs. Syron had surgery two months ago to repair about half of the irregularities in or around her brain, and she may need another operation in the future. Now, the Daily Mail reports, Syron is raising awareness about the condition that turned her into a self-described "ticking time-bomb," and the symptoms that were missed and misdiagnosed by her doctors.

To be clear, AVMs aren't common; it's estimated they affect about one in every 2,000 to 5,000 people. Even so, they can happen to anyone-and getting a diagnosis, as Syron was finally able to do, can be life-saving. Here are a few things to know.
RELATED: I Was Fit, Ate Healthy, and Still Had a Stroke at 41. Here's What I Wish I Had Known
AVMs are tangles of abnormal blood vessels

In a healthy cardiovascular system, arteries carry high-pressure, oxygen-rich blood from the heart to the brain, and veins carry it back (low-pressure, sans oxygen) in the other direction.

But where AVMs form, those blood vessels are tangled or abnormally connected. Blood may bypass normal brain tissue, and be diverted directly from the arteries to the veins.

When this happens, the normal slow-flow of blood through the veins becomes "very fast, swirling, and turbulent," Huy Do, MD, an interventional neuroradiologist with Stanford Health Care, tells Health. (Dr. Do is not involved with Syron's diagnosis or treatment, but has operated on many other patients with AVMs.)

That's dangerous, says Dr. Do, because the vein's higher pressure can cause it to swell like a balloon. "At some point, the walls of these veins will rupture, and then the patient will have bleeding in the brain that can lead to a major stroke," he says.
RELATED: The Early Signs of Stroke You Need to Know-Even If You're Young
They don't usually cause symptoms

In many ways, Syron is lucky that one of her AVMs was located just above her ear, says Dr. Do. "She was probably able to notice that fast-flowing stream of blood because it was right next to her hearing apparatus," he says. "A lot of people don't have symptoms at all until these things cause problems-and the number one problem they cause is bleeding."

That doesn't mean that everyone else with an AVM is doomed, though. Headaches, vision or nerve problems, and seizures can also be signs of an otherwise hidden AVM, and should always be taken seriously by physicians, says Dr. Do. And even if a brain bleed does occur, most are not fatal-although seeking treatment right away is very important, and some do cause permanent neurological damage.
RELATED: 17 Surprising Things That Affect Stroke Risk
Surgery can be very effective

If doctors can identify and diagnose an AVM before it's too late, they can also treat it with surgery or embolization-a process in which parts of blood vessels are blocked off-or a combination of both. In Syron's case, surgeons inserted a catheter into a large artery in the actress's groin, and threaded it through her body, around her heart, and into the lining of her brain, the Daily Mail reported.

They then injected onyx, an embolization material, to close off the abnormal connections in her veins and arteries. Doctors only intended to close off three of Syron's ten fistulas, or abnormal openings, "but the surgery was going so well my doctor, Dr. Boyd Richards, decided he was able to close off three more," she said.

Dr. Do says it's important for people with AVMs to know that a diagnosis is not a death sentence. "We have very good techniques and surgical procedures to treat and cure these problems and prevent life-ending or life-altering strokes," he says.
RELATED: 1 5 Diseases Doctors Often Get Wrong
They're often congenital, but not usually hereditary

Scientists don't know why AVMs affect some people and not others. They are usually congenital, which means they form even before a person is born. And according to the American Stroke Association, they're not usually inherited from parents or passed onto children.

Still, cases of AVMs in families have been reported. If you have a family history of hemorrhagic stroke (stroke due to bleeding), Dr. Do says it's not a bad idea to mention this to your doctor and ask if you should be monitored with specific screenings. "Your primary care doctor might not know much about this topic," he adds, "so you may have to be referred to a neurosurgeon or an interventional neuroradiologist who deals with and treats these problems."
Eat clean (and save money!) this fall by signing up for our 21-Day Healthy Lunch Challenge
A healthy lifestyle is a good defense

Eating well, exercising, not smoking, and otherwise taking care of yourself won't prevent AVMs from forming or make existing ones go away-but it can help keep your blood pressure in a healthy range, which may reduce the risk of an AVM rupturing, says Dr. Do.

"High blood pressure is a common risk factor for a lot of vascular diseases," he explains. "I don't think it's been proven that high blood pressure could increase the chances of an AVM rupturing, but it makes sense that the vessels could weaken under higher pressure."

Plus, he adds, staying fit and healthy-and getting regular physicals-can help you and your doctor stay in tune with your body and recognize anything out of the ordinary. "A good lesson here is to listen to your body, alert your doctor to any new symptoms, and get a second opinion if you still aren't satisfied," he says.
Slideshow: 11 Heart Failure Facts Cardiologists Want You to Know

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This Woman's Potentially Fatal Brain Condition Was Misdiagnosed as Allergies

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Health 16 hrs ago Amanda MacMillan When Andrea Syron began noticing a buzzing in her ear-that later grew to a strange "whooshing"-she knew something was wrong. But for months, doctors told her it was just allergies, a bad cold, or fluid trapped in her ear.

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Raina Nash- In Texas Hurricane Harvey is currently occurring. There is about 35 inches of rain. Experts say this is a life threatening storm. Residents are to evacuate quickly. Hurricane Harvey is quickly becoming category 2 with high winds up 110 mph.

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Raina Nash- In Texas Hurricane Harvey is currently occurring. There is about 35 inches of rain. Experts say this is a life threatening storm. Residents are to evacuate quickly. Hurricane Harvey is quickly becoming category 2 with high winds up 110 mph.

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Powerful Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas | CNN

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Hurricane Harvey, now a Category 4 storm, is hitting the Texas coast with harsh winds and torrential rain. Houston, Corpus Christi and Galveston are in its path.

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Bill Nye files suit against Disney, claiming he was hoodwinked out of $9 million in earnings from "Bill Nye The Science Guy"

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Bill Nye the Science Guy has turned his attention to accounting.

The famed science enthusiast filed suit against Disney on Thursday, claiming the media giant hoodwinked him out of more than $9 million in earnings from "Bill Nye the Science Guy."

The beloved television series originally aired between 1992 and 1997, gaining a loyal following among children while winning multiple broadcasting awards for its fun, science-focused programming. It's still streamed on services like Netflix .

Two decades after production wrapped up, Nye has accused Disney of fraud and breach of contract in a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court. Disney subsidiaries including Buena Vista Television and ABC are also named as defendants.

Disney and the other defendants did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Related: It's been a tough year in the courtroom for media companies

The lawsuit claims that Nye, who was owed 16.5% of the show's profits, became suspicious after Disney-owned Buena Vista demanded he repay a large portion of his 2007 "Science Guy" earnings, citing an "accounting error."

Nye doubted the company's bookkeeping. But his efforts to engage the firm in negotiations to resolve the matter were "futile," according to the lawsuit. Nye claims that Buena Vista stopped making royalty payments in 2008 because of the dispute.

The suit says that Nye eventually hired an auditor to review the company's records, but the inquiry was delayed for years and the defendants allegedly did not provide all the requested documentation.

The "defendants failed to engage in the process in good faith," says the suit, which accuses the companies of engaging in "an ongoing, deliberate conspiracy to deceive Mr. Nye."

According to the complaint, the limited documentation provided to auditors showed revenues were skewed and royalties went unreported.

Nye claims that he has suffered damages of at least $9.4 million, while the defendants enriched themselves with "ill-gotten" profits of over $28 million.

CNNMoney (London) First published August 25, 2017: 10:21 AM ET

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Bill Nye to Disney: You owe me $9 million for 'Science Guy'

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The famed science enthusiast filed suit against Disney on Thursday, claiming the media giant hoodwinked him out of more than $9 million in earnings from "Bill Nye the Science Guy." The beloved television series originally aired between 1992 and 1997, gaining a loyal following among children while winning multiple broadcasting awards for its fun, science-focused programming.

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California Supreme courts votes to speed up the death row penalty cases.

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California's state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Proposition 66. The voter initiative is intended to speed up the state's death penalty cases, which sometimes take more than 20 years to be resolved.

But the court also eased the strict deadlines called for in the proposal, the Sacramento Bee reported.

The plan called for death penalty cases to be completed within five years, but the five justices who formed the majority opinion said such a time schedule could not be guaranteed.

The justices noted that placing death penalty cases on a faster schedule would likely result in higher court-related costs for the state.

The initiative was supported by 51 percent of voters in November, the Bee reported.

Despite the death penalty being legal in California, the state has not carried out an execution in more than a decade, with multiple appeals being among the contributing factors.

Meanwhile, another key obstacle remained before executions can resume in the state: Getting approval for a new lethal injection method.

The next step in that process was expected Friday, when state corrections officials say they will seek regulatory approval for a revised drug protocol to execute inmates.

The new regulations would allow California's death row inmates to be executed using one of two different drugs or choose the gas chamber.

In California, condemned inmates are more likely to die of old age than be executed. The state has nearly 750 inmates on death row, and only 13 have been executed since 1978 -- the most recent in 2006.

Nearly 400 death penalty appeals are pending.
The Associated Press contributed reporting to this story.

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California Supreme Court backs plan to speed death penalty cases

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California's state Supreme Court on Thursday upheld Proposition 66. The voter initiative is intended to speed up the state's death penalty cases, which sometimes take more than 20 years to be resolved. But the court also eased the strict deadlines called for in the proposal, the Sacramento Bee reported.

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Powerball winner mavis wins $758 million dollars. After she wins she said she quits here job.

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One Powerball ticket among the millions sold across the country has made 53-year-old Massachusetts resident Mavis Wanczyk a very rich person.

The Massachusetts State Lottery announced Wanczyk as the holder of the lucky ticket for Wednesday's $758.7 million Powerball jackpot, the largest haul in North American history for a single winning ticket.

"It's just a pipe dream I've always had," Wanczyk told reporters during a press conference Thursday. "It's just a chance I had to take."

Wanczyk bought the Powerball ticket at the Pride Station and Store near where she works in Chicopee, located some 90 miles west of Boston. The winning numbers for the jackpot drawn Wednesday night were 6, 7, 16, 23, 26, and the final number, called the Powerball, was 4.

Wanczyk said she bought two quick-pick tickets and a third ticket for which she picked out the numbers herself, and the latter was the lucky one. Some of the numbers she chose were birthdays, one was her lucky number 4 and others were random, she said.

A colleague was with her at the time she checked her numbers and told her she had won the $758.7 million Powerball jackpot, the second-largest in the game's history. Wanczyk, a mother to a 31-year-old daughter and a 26-year-old son, said she was in shock.

"I couldn't drive anywhere, I couldn't do anything," Wanczyk, who still appeared stunned by her luck, told reporters Thursday.

The odds of matching all six numbers are only one in 292.2 million.

In addition to the single jackpot winner, there were 9,397,723 other players who won non-jackpot prizes totaling $134,981,575. California had the most winners by far, with 1,172,477.

Massachusetts was home to two other winning tickets worth $1 million -- one was sold at Handy Variety in Watertown and the other at Sandy's Variety in Dorchester.

Initially, the Massachusetts State Lottery erroneously announced that the jackpot winning ticket was sold at Handy Variety. The lottery issued a correction Thursday morning.

"When manually recording the names of the retailers that sold the jackpot winning ticket and the $1 million winning tickets, the information was transcribed incorrectly. We apologize for the confusion this created and remain thrilled that a jackpot winning ticket and two $1 million winning tickets were sold here in Massachusetts," Michael Sweeney, executive director of the Massachusetts State Lottery, said in a statement.

The estimated Powerball jackpot will now be reset to $40 million.

Wednesday's winning jackpot is second only to a $1.6 billion prize shared by three people in January 2016.

The $758.7 million amount reflects the annuity payout option, in which the winner receives 30 payments over 29 years, increasing 5 percent annually.

Lottery officials said nearly all winners take the cash option, which would be around $443.3 million minus federal and state taxes. Federal tax for the Powerball jackpot is 25 percent and Massachusetts, state tax is 5 percent, so they would collectively eat up 30 percent of the winnings.

As ABC News reported Wednesday morning, Powerball officials told ABC News they expected to sell 170 million tickets between last Saturday and tonight's drawing.

Powerball is played in 44 states plus Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, all of which collectively oversee the game.

ABC News' Kelly McCarthy and Morgan Winsor contributed to this report.

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$758.7M Powerball winner speaks out, calls jackpot 'a pipe dream'

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One Powerball ticket among the millions sold across the country has made 53-year-old Massachusetts resident Mavis Wanczyk a very rich person. The Massachusetts State Lottery announced Wanczyk as the holder of the lucky ticket for Wednesday's $758.7 million Powerball jackpot, the largest haul in North American history for a single winning ticket.

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Hurricane Harvey strengthens, threatens U.S. with most powerful storm in 12 years

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Hurricane Harvey intensified early on Friday into potentially the most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in more than a decade, as authorities warned locals to shelter from what could be life-threatening winds and floods.
Follow the Storm
Harvey is set to make landfall late Friday or early Saturday on the central Texas coast where Corpus Christi and Houston are home to some of the biggest U.S. refineries. Oil and gas operations have already been disrupted and gasoline prices have spiked.

"Now is the time to urgently hide from the wind. Failure to adequately shelter may result in serious injury, loss of life, or immense human suffering," the National Weather Service said.

Harvey grew into a category 2 storm with winds of 110 mph (177 kph) as it moved northwest about 145 miles (233 km) off Port O'Connor, Texas, the National Hurricane Center said.

Up to 35 inches (97 cm) of rain are expected over parts of Texas, with winds up to 125 mph, and sea levels may surge as high as 12 feet (3.7 meters). Louisiana could get 10 to 15 inches of rain. Flood warnings are in effect for Louisiana and northern Mexico.

"Life-threatening and devastating flooding expected near the coast due to heavy rainfall and storm surge," the hurricane center said.

The storm's approach triggered evacuations and forced classes to be canceled on Friday at dozens of schools along the south Texas coast, home to 5.8 million people from Corpus Christi to Galveston.

Harvey also forced the cancellation or delay of at least 40 flights in and out of major airports in Texas on Friday, according to Flightaware.com, which tracks airline traffic.

Louisiana and Texas declared states of disaster, authorizing the use of state resources to prepare. President Donald Trump has been briefed and is ready to provide resources if needed, the White House said on Thursday.

Harvey is forecast to come ashore as a Category 3 hurricane, the NHC said, the third most powerful on the Saffir-Simpson scale. That would make it the first major hurricane to hit the mainland United States since Hurricane Wilma struck Florida in 2005.

The NHC expects Harvey to move slowly and linger over Texas for days. Some tracking models forecast that the storm could circle back out over Gulf waters after making landfall, and then hit the Texas coast again.

Houston, the nation's fourth most populous city, warned residents of flooding from close to 20 inches of rain over several days.

GASOLINE PRICES SPIKE

More than 45 percent of the country's refining capacity is along the Gulf Coast, and nearly a fifth of the nation's crude oil is produced offshore. Ports from Corpus Christi to Texas City, Texas, were closed to incoming vessels.

The government said 9.6 percent of crude output capacity was shut and 14.6 percent of natural gas production was halted.

Three refineries in Corpus Christi and one farther inland at Three Rivers were shutting down ahead of the storm. Concern that Harvey could cause shortages in fuel supply drove benchmark gasoline prices to a three-week high.

One other refinery reduced output and others were considering shutting.

Prices for gasoline in spot physical markets on the Gulf Coast rose even more, hitting a one-year high.

The U.S. government has emergency stockpiles of crude available to plug disruptions, and has regularly used them to dampen the impact on energy supplies of previous storms.

The stockpiles in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve were last used in 2012, after Tropical Storm Isaac shut down 95 percent of oil output in the Gulf and hit Louisiana. The government has not yet said if it plans to use the reserve after Harvey.

Profit margins for refineries producing gasoline rose by more than 12 percent on Thursday, on course for their biggest daily percentage gain in six months, according to Reuters data.

Houston-based energy bank Tudor Pickering Holt & Co said in a research note not to expect significant nor lasting production impacts from Harvey. But it said it would impact some production and disrupt refinery runs, imports and exports, "which will show up in the weekly inventory numbers for the next few weeks."

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp have evacuated staff from offshore oil and gas platforms in the storm's path.

The storm could also bring flooding to shale oil fields in southern Texas that produce more than one million barrels of oil a day.

EOG Resources Inc said it had curtailed drilling and shut some production in the Eagle Ford shale region. Noble Energy Inc and Statoil ASA also said they were evacuating some staff from production facilities.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Milwaukee and Brian Thevenot in Corpus Christi; Editing by Robin Pomeroy and Phil Berlowitz)

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Hurricane Harvey strengthens, threatens U.S. with most powerful storm in 12 years

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Hurricane Harvey intensified early on Friday into potentially the most powerful hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland in more than a decade, as authorities warned locals to shelter from what could be life-threatening winds and floods.

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There have been reports that, in Cuba, there is a new sonic weapon in use that works by using high intensity sound. People believe the target to be American and Canadian officials representing their country, because at least 16 of these government officials have been recently diagnosed with "mild traumatic brain injury" and are experiencing symptoms.

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Reports that a mysterious sonic weapon has been used to target American diplomats in Cuba are puzzling scientists.

Citing a review of medical records, CBS News reported Wednesday that some U.S. and Canadian diplomats in Cuba have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury, and likely damage to the central nervous system, after an apparent sonic attack targeted their homes.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said that she could not confirm the CBS report during a press briefing Thursday. "We would never give information about the the health status of one of the Americans," she said.

Nauert did confirm that at least 16 U.S. Government employees have experienced some kind of symptoms and have been provided medical treatment in America and Cuba.

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that U.S. diplomats in Havana had been the victims of "health attacks" that left them with hearing loss. His comments came shortly after the State Department issued a vaguely worded statement saying there had been "incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms." U.S. officials later revealed that American diplomats had suffered unexplained losses of hearing. Canada's government also said at least one Canadian diplomat in Cuba also had been treated for hearing loss.
ARMY BUILDING NEW 'AMBIDEXTROUS' MULTI-PURPOSE GRENADE
The reports have baffled scientists. "The story is mysterious indeed," explained Dr. Jürgen Altmann, a physics professor at Technische Universität Dortmund in Germany, in a statement emailed to Fox News. "I know of no acoustic effect that would produce concussion-like symptoms; according to my research strong effects on humans require loudness levels that would be perceived as very loud noise while exposed."

With scant details on the apparent attack, Altmann said that it is impossible to draw any clear conclusions about what happened.

Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. Charles Liberman told LiveScience that sound-induced hearing loss requires the part of that senses audible sound to be overloaded.

Like Altmann, Liberman noted the lack of information on the incidents, and said that it's hard to explain what type of device may have been used.
ARMY TESTS HIGH-TECH AIRDROP SYSTEM THAT 'SEES' ITS TARGET
"High intensity sound at nearly any frequency can cause adverse physiological effects or behavioral changes in people," added Dr. Scott Masten, a toxicology expert at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, in a statement emailed to Fox News. "We are not aware of any published research on health effects of sound when used to intentionally cause harm."

Cuba's government has denied any involvement in the incidents and the State Department has not identified the source of the attacks."We're not assigning responsibility at this point, we don't know who the perpetrator was of these incidents," said Nauert during Thursday's press briefing. "The investigation is ongoing and we will continue to try to find the source of these incidents and the perpetrator."

There has, however, been speculation that the devices used against the U.S. diplomats generated infrasound, a low frequency sound below the human hearing range. In a paper published last year with the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., researcher Ryan Littlefield explained that "the term 'infrasound' defines itself as the inaudible frequency range below the human bandwidth of around 20Hz." In the paper, Littlefield describes infrasound's potential military use "to immobilise or impair targets."

Another possibility is that ultrasound, which is above 20Khz, and also cannot be heard by humans, was employed. "One may speculate whether ultrasound (that is inaudible) was used, but projecting it over a considerable distance and/or through walls or closed windows is difficult," said Altmann.

The Technische Universität Dortmund professor noted that one possible explanation for the symptoms experienced by the diplomats might be the use of ototoxic chemicals that cause hearing loss.
HIGH-TECH 'BAZOOKA' FIRES A NET TO TAKE DOWN DRONES
Ototoxic chemicals, which include some industrial chemicals, can damage the cochlea in the inner ear and the auditory neurological pathways. More than 750 different groups of chemicals are considered ototoxic, according to the Government of Western Australia.

Altmann added that he is not aware of any sound weapons. "The only thing that might come close is the so-called LRAD, a big loudspeaker for audible noise," he explained.

Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) technology also has already been used by law enforcement as a "sound cannon" to disperse large groups of people. Gizmodo reports that LRAD was used to emit a painful shrill that forced protestors to cover their ears during G20 protests in Pittsburgh in 2009.

A federal judge recently ruled that a lawsuit regarding the New York Police Department's use of sound cannons can move forward, noting that it may be considered a form of excessive force.

The lawsuit was filed by six people who said they experienced migraines and hearing damage after the police used the sound cannons during the 2014 protests surrounding the police chokehold death of Eric Garner.
Additional reporting by Fox News' Matthew Libassi. The Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

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Sonic weapons reported in Cuba: Could sound be harnessed in an attack?

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Reports that a mysterious sonic weapon has been used to target American diplomats in Cuba are puzzling scientists. Citing a review of medical records, CBS News reported Wednesday that some U.S. and Canadian diplomats in Cuba have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury, and likely damage to the central nervous system, after an apparent sonic attack targeted their homes.

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Two North Korean spies were jailed after being caught trying to steal top-secret missile plans from a garage in the Ukraine.

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international relations and national security

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How 2 North Korean spies were caught | CNN

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Two North Korean spies were jailed after being caught trying to steal top-secret missile plans from a garage in the Ukraine. CNN's Nick Paton Walsh has the story.

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An 11-year old girl is making what some call a remarkable recovery after a 12-year poured scalding hot water on her at a sleepover. The 12-year old was taken into custody after the event.

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11-year-old suffers severe burns in sleepover prank

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The 11-year-old girl who suffered second- and third-degree burns to her face and shoulders during a sleepover prank allegedly put on by a school bully is making a remarkable recovery.

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New law in Little Rock Arkansas schools have to show 'In God We Trust'. Taxpayers wont pay for this.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The official motto of the U.S. written across our money and monuments could soon appear on the walls of Arkansas public schools.

A new law states elementary and secondary schools shall display a framed picture or poster of "In God We Trust" above an American flag in their libraries and classrooms.

While superintendents told us they'll continue to review the act, citizens weighed in on the debate.

"It should be there," said Sharon Sumpter from Mulberry. "We need to turn more back to our religion, our roots and why our country was founded."

"If you take 'In God We Trust' out, I mean that's basically telling them God's dead, you know?," said Doug Wilburn from North Little Rock.

"It seems like kind of a marginal issue, not great but not terrible either," said Anne Wilson from Little Rock.

Taxpayers won't be fronting the bill for the new displays.

Act 911 states they either have to be donated from a private organization or purchased with funds made available through voluntary contributions to the local school boards or the Building Authority Division of the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.

The law also requires the motto to appear in any public building that's maintained or operated by state funds.

Schools across the Natural State are also in the process of putting up posters to help students in need.

Act 379 requires public and charter schools to post the Child Abuse Hotline number in student bathrooms, among other places on campus.

The Arkansas Department of Education now offers these posters both in English and Spanish on its website to comply with the law.

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Arkansas Mandates New School Motto: 'In God We Trust'

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The official motto of the U.S. written across our money and monuments could soon appear on the walls of Arkansas public schools. A new law states elementary and secondary schools shall display a framed picture or poster of "In God We Trust" above an American flag in their libraries and classrooms. While superintendents told us they'll continue to review the act, citizens weighed in on the debate.

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Texas coast gets 35 inches of rain; They are declaring that everything the hurricane will bring will make southern Texas uninhabitable for weeks or even months; People start to evacuate southern Texas.

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Powerful Hurricane Harvey makes landfall in Texas | CNN

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Hurricane Harvey, now a Category 4 storm, is hitting the Texas coast with harsh winds and torrential rain. Houston, Corpus Christi and Galveston are in its path.

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The Samsung Chief was just sentenced to 5 years in prison. This is a huge blow to Samsung because they are the worlds largest smartphone maker. He was charged with bribery and other corruption charges. Lee Jae-Yong was thought to be sentenced to 12 years at first, but instead got 5.

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A South Korean court has found Lee Jae-yong, the de facto chief of the sprawling Samsung business empire, guilty of bribery and other corruption charges.

Lee, the billionaire son of Samsung's ailing chairman, was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday, well short of the 12-year sentence prosecutors had sought.

The criminal conviction is a blow for Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker and South Korea's biggest family-run conglomerate whose businesses are estimated to account for around 15% of the country's entire economy.

The so-called "trial of the century" has gripped South Korea for months. It's part of a hugeinfluence-peddling scandal that brought down the government of former President Park Geun-hye.

Related: South Korea's long history of light sentences for business leaders

"The public is disappointed that this kind of large-scale crime caused by cozy relations between politics and business still happens -- it's not in the past but remains a reality," Judge Kim Jin-dong said in court. He also laid some of the blame on Park, saying the former president made "aggressive demands" of Samsung.

Wearing a navy suit and holding a manila envelope, Lee remained seated and silent as the judge read out the verdict.

He was found guilty of bribing Park in exchange for government support for a merger that helped him tighten control over Samsung. The 49-year-old executive, who is also known as Jay Y. Lee, has been the de facto leader of Samsung since his ailing father was left incapacitated by a 2014 heart attack.

Related: Samsung's Galaxy Note 8 aims to rebuild consumer trust

The court also found Lee guilty of perjury, concealing criminal profits, embezzlement and hiding assets overseas. Lee has denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers said Friday they reject the court's decision and will appeal immediately.

Prosecutors presented Lee as a savvy tycoon who knew exactly what he was doing when Samsung paid tens of millions of dollars to entities linked to a confidante of Park in order to win government backing for the key merger.

The conviction caps a rocky 12 months for Samsung, beginning with the embarrassing fiasco over its fire-prone Galaxy Note 7 smartphone last fall.

Samsung Electronics' shares closed down 1.1%in Seoul following the verdict Friday. But the stock is still not far below the record high it hit last month.

And although the guilty verdict is a black mark on Samsung's reputation, analysts said Lee's prison sentence is unlikely to affect the tech giant's day-to-day operations. The company has continued to post strong profits since he was first detained in the case.

Lee is following in the footsteps of many other chiefs of South Korea's big family-run conglomerates, known as chaebol. His father, Samsung chairman Lee Kun-hee, was twice sentenced to prison -- and twice pardoned.

Serving jail time "is like a rite of passage," David Kang, director of the University of Southern California's Korean Studies Institute, said in an interview before the verdict was announced. "The question will really be how long does he serve."

Related: How Samsung dominates South Korea's economy

Newly elected President Moon Jae-in campaigned as a "clean" candidate, promising to crack down on the power of the chaebol. The question is whether he'll eventually pardon Lee.

On his first trip to the U.S. earlier this year, Moon was accompanied by about 50 South Korean business leaders, including executives from Samsung and other major conglomerates.

Moon's administration "is just going to work with these companies," Kang said. "So how different is it really going to be?"

A spokesman for Moon said Friday that he hoped Lee's case would be "an opportunity to eradicate the longstanding cozy relations between politics and business, which have been an obstacle to further advancing our society."

Four other former Samsung executives were also found guilty of bribery and other corruption charges at the trial, receiving prison sentences ranging from two and a half to four years. Two of them had their sentences suspended.

They are also all appealing their convictions.

-- Paula Hancocks, Lauren Suk, Taehoon Lee, Sol Han and Carolyn Sung contributed to this report.

CNNMoney (Hong Kong) First published August 25, 2017: 2:37 AM ET

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Samsung chief gets 5-year prison term for corruption

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Lee, the billionaire son of Samsung's ailing chairman, was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday, well short of the 12-year sentence prosecutors had sought. The criminal conviction is a blow for Samsung, the world's largest smartphone maker and South Korea's biggest family-run conglomerate whose businesses are estimated to account for around 15% of the country's entire economy.

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Sonic weapons have been reported to be in use in Cuba. The big question is: Can sound be harnessed in an attack? The sonic weapons have been used to target American diplomats in Cuba. It has been reported that some American and Canada diplomats that are in Cuba, have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injuries and can likely have damage to their central nervous systems after they were targeted in their own homes.

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Reports that a mysterious sonic weapon has been used to target American diplomats in Cuba are puzzling scientists.

Citing a review of medical records, CBS News reported Wednesday that some U.S. and Canadian diplomats in Cuba have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury, and likely damage to the central nervous system, after an apparent sonic attack targeted their homes.

State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said that she could not confirm the CBS report during a press briefing Thursday. "We would never give information about the the health status of one of the Americans," she said.

Nauert did confirm that at least 16 U.S. Government employees have experienced some kind of symptoms and have been provided medical treatment in America and Cuba.

Earlier this month, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said that U.S. diplomats in Havana had been the victims of "health attacks" that left them with hearing loss. His comments came shortly after the State Department issued a vaguely worded statement saying there had been "incidents which have caused a variety of physical symptoms." U.S. officials later revealed that American diplomats had suffered unexplained losses of hearing. Canada's government also said at least one Canadian diplomat in Cuba also had been treated for hearing loss.
ARMY BUILDING NEW 'AMBIDEXTROUS' MULTI-PURPOSE GRENADE
The reports have baffled scientists. "The story is mysterious indeed," explained Dr. Jürgen Altmann, a physics professor at Technische Universität Dortmund in Germany, in a statement emailed to Fox News. "I know of no acoustic effect that would produce concussion-like symptoms; according to my research strong effects on humans require loudness levels that would be perceived as very loud noise while exposed."

With scant details on the apparent attack, Altmann said that it is impossible to draw any clear conclusions about what happened.

Harvard Medical School Professor Dr. Charles Liberman told LiveScience that sound-induced hearing loss requires the part of that senses audible sound to be overloaded.

Like Altmann, Liberman noted the lack of information on the incidents, and said that it's hard to explain what type of device may have been used.
ARMY TESTS HIGH-TECH AIRDROP SYSTEM THAT 'SEES' ITS TARGET
"High intensity sound at nearly any frequency can cause adverse physiological effects or behavioral changes in people," added Dr. Scott Masten, a toxicology expert at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, in a statement emailed to Fox News. "We are not aware of any published research on health effects of sound when used to intentionally cause harm."

Cuba's government has denied any involvement in the incidents and the State Department has not identified the source of the attacks."We're not assigning responsibility at this point, we don't know who the perpetrator was of these incidents," said Nauert during Thursday's press briefing. "The investigation is ongoing and we will continue to try to find the source of these incidents and the perpetrator."

There has, however, been speculation that the devices used against the U.S. diplomats generated infrasound, a low frequency sound below the human hearing range. In a paper published last year with the University of Portsmouth in the U.K., researcher Ryan Littlefield explained that "the term 'infrasound' defines itself as the inaudible frequency range below the human bandwidth of around 20Hz." In the paper, Littlefield describes infrasound's potential military use "to immobilise or impair targets."

Another possibility is that ultrasound, which is above 20Khz, and also cannot be heard by humans, was employed. "One may speculate whether ultrasound (that is inaudible) was used, but projecting it over a considerable distance and/or through walls or closed windows is difficult," said Altmann.

The Technische Universität Dortmund professor noted that one possible explanation for the symptoms experienced by the diplomats might be the use of ototoxic chemicals that cause hearing loss.
HIGH-TECH 'BAZOOKA' FIRES A NET TO TAKE DOWN DRONES
Ototoxic chemicals, which include some industrial chemicals, can damage the cochlea in the inner ear and the auditory neurological pathways. More than 750 different groups of chemicals are considered ototoxic, according to the Government of Western Australia.

Altmann added that he is not aware of any sound weapons. "The only thing that might come close is the so-called LRAD, a big loudspeaker for audible noise," he explained.

Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) technology also has already been used by law enforcement as a "sound cannon" to disperse large groups of people. Gizmodo reports that LRAD was used to emit a painful shrill that forced protestors to cover their ears during G20 protests in Pittsburgh in 2009.

A federal judge recently ruled that a lawsuit regarding the New York Police Department's use of sound cannons can move forward, noting that it may be considered a form of excessive force.

The lawsuit was filed by six people who said they experienced migraines and hearing damage after the police used the sound cannons during the 2014 protests surrounding the police chokehold death of Eric Garner.
Additional reporting by Fox News' Matthew Libassi. The Associated Press contributed to this article. Follow James Rogers on Twitter @jamesjrogers

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Sonic weapons reported in Cuba: Could sound be harnessed in an attack?

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Reports that a mysterious sonic weapon has been used to target American diplomats in Cuba are puzzling scientists. Citing a review of medical records, CBS News reported Wednesday that some U.S. and Canadian diplomats in Cuba have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury, and likely damage to the central nervous system, after an apparent sonic attack targeted their homes.

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Deadly clashes have broken out in India after a spiritual leader was accused of raping 2 of his followers.

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deadly clashes break out in india after guru convicted of rape - cnn

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Deadly clashes break out in India after guru convicted of rape

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Deadly clashes broke out Friday in northern India after followers of Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh clashed with officers in the city of Panchkula.

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2 North Korean spies were caught stealing missile plans in Ukraine. Ukraine denied any links between them and North Korea's long-range missiles. Instead they said Russia may have provided Pyongyang with the improved missile designs. Russia has since denied any support towards North Korea.

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international relations and national security

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The North Korean spies caught stealing plans | CNN

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Grainy surveillance images show two North Korean spies photographing what they think are top-secret missile designs in Ukraine.

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The Texas coast is bracing for impact as Hurricane Harvey bears down on its shores. The storm, forecast to be a Category 3 (111-130 mph winds) hurricane by the time it makes landfall, is expected to be the worst to hit the state in nearly two decades.

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Five hours after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas around 10 p.m. as a Category 4 storm, it was downgraded to a Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, a decrease from 130 mph when it made landfall.

Interested in Hurricane Harvey?

Add Hurricane Harvey as an interest to stay up to date on the latest Hurricane Harvey news, video, and analysis from ABC News.

And Harvey was downgraded to a Category 3 storm around 1 a.m., after winds decreased to 125 mph.

Harvey also made a second landfall on the northeastern shore of Copano Bay around the time it was downgraded to Category 3.

The storm is the strongest to hit the state in decades, with catastrophic flooding expected. The last Category 4 storm to hit the U.S. was Charley in 2004 in Florida, while the last Category 4 storm to hit Texas was Carla in 1961.

Residents staying in the area frantically stocked up on food, water and gas, while others heading out of the storm's path boarded up windows and doors of their homes and businesses.

Airlines canceled flights, schools were shuttered while concerts and other planned events in Houston and coastal cities were postponed.

The hurricane's effects are expected to linger for days, with heavy rainfall through next week estimated to be as high as 40 inches in some areas.

"This is going to be a storm we talk about, unfortunately, for at least the next seven days," ABC News Chief Meteorologist Ginger Zee said Friday on " GMA."

Here's what we know about the storm.

What's ahead

Harvey made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane over the northern end of San Jose Island between Port Aransas and Port O'Connor at 10 p.m. local time Friday, with sustained winds of about 130 mph and stronger gusts, according to the National Weather Service. At the time, the storm's eye was 30 miles away from the coastal city of Corpus Christi, Texas.

The National Weather Service warned Harvey could bring a potentially devastating storm surge, heavy rainfall and wind hazards to the Lone Star State's coast. A tornado watch is in effect for areas of southeastern Texas and southwest Louisiana.

Life-threatening storm surge waters could reach 9 to 13 feet above ground level. Catastrophic flooding is expected across parts of the area. And rainfall will be heavy, with an estimated 15 to 30 inches of rain falling in many areas and as high as 40 inches in some from today through Wednesday, the National Weather Service said.

Here's a projected timeline for Hurricane Harvey thus far, according to forecasts from the National Weather Service:

Saturday: Harvey roared ashore late Friday evening. The storm's path going forward remains uncertain but it is forecast to meander near or just inland of the middle of the Texas coast through the weekend.

Sunday through Monday: Some forecast models show Harvey expanding across the Gulf Coast as it makes its way over southern Texas.

Tuesday through Wednesday: The hurricane could, according to some models, move northeast and then re-emerge briefly over the Gulf of Mexico before making a second landfall in northeastern Texas or western Louisiana.

Preparation and evacuations

Storm preparation began in earnest on Wednesday and intensified on Thursday. Shoppers lined up to fill their carts with food and water, while lines for gas stretched out of many stations. Some people also got to work boarding up their homes and businesses to protect against the expected 100-plus mile per hour winds. Even the Texas Department of Transportation in Victoria boarded up its windows on Thursday.

As of Friday, governors had declared states of emergencies for 30 counties in Texas and statewide for Louisiana.

Corpus Christi resident Alex Garcia bought bottled water, bread and other basic grocery items in the Houston suburb of Sugar Land because they were likely more available there than back home, where stores were "crazy," he told The Associated Press.

And as Houston resident Bill Pennington prepared his one-story home for another deluge in the flood-prone city, the father told The Associated Press he comforted his nervous 9-year-old son by saying, "We know how to handle it. We'll handle it again."

The Coast Guard said Thursday it was sending shallow-depth vessels to Texas and Louisiana that are capable of responding in flooded urban areas. And with gale force winds predicted to arrive within 24 hours, the Coast Guard on Thursday also ordered a nearly total closure of ports in Houston, Texas City, Galveston, Freeport and Corpus Christi.

By Friday afternoon, the Coast Guard had already completed its first search-and-rescue mission, rescuing 12 people from a 160-foot vessel near Port Mansfield, Texas.

Texas officials announced mandatory evacuations for all seven counties on the coast: Calhoun County, San Patricio County, Refugio County, Brazoria County, Jackson County, Victoria County and Matagorda County. In four of those countries, officials ordered their entire county to evacuate and warned those who chose to stay behind that their rescue could not be guaranteed. Voluntary evacuations were urged for residents in other areas.

While a mandatory evacuation order is not in place for Corpus Christi, Mayor Joe McComb did advise residents to voluntarily evacuate ahead of the storm.

Mayor McComb strongly encourages evacuation, especially the low lying areas of Area A and B as seen in the map below (pink and yellow area). pic.twitter.com/Z5gspafgSn
- CityOfCorpusChristi (@cityofcc) August 24, 2017

Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Brock Long urged people in the path of the storm to heed warnings and to take evacuation orders seriously.

"This may be the first major landfall hurricane we've had since 2005," Long said in an interview on "Good Morning America" Friday. "So there's going to be damage."

As of Friday morning, FEMA had amassed more than 96,000 liters of water, 306,000 meals and 4,500 tarps at incident support bases in Seguin and Fort Worth, Texas, as well as in Camp Beauregard, Louisiana, should the states need them.

Storm preparations have extended to New Orleans, where FEMA said it's working to make sure the Louisiana city's pumps are functioning in anticipation of the seven to 10 inches of rainfall expected there. The National Guard is also readying 500,000 sandbags, FEMA said.

More than 120,000 people have lost power in the Corpus Christi area as a result of Hurricane Harvey so far.

How officials are responding

Politicians and officials have taken a proactive approach to the storm.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said Thursday night that he had discussed storm preparation with President Donald Trump, as well as with the heads of FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security. On Friday, Abbott sent a letter to Trump requesting a presidential disaster declaration in anticipation of Hurricane Harvey.

"Granting this request will provide Texans the additional resources needed to protect themselves, their property and rebuild their lives if necessary after Hurricane Harvey," Abbott said in a statement.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said at the press briefing Friday afternoon that Trump is planning to visit Texas "early next week."

Many state and local officials have urged residents to pay attention to evacuation orders, as it will be too late to leave once the storm hits.

Over the next several days we can expect possibly 10-20 inches n our City w/a probability of flooding in parts of our City. Be prepared. st
- Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) August 25, 2017

Trump announced on Twitter late Friday that he had approved Abbott's request for a disaster declaration in Texas, formally making federal funds and resources available to assist state recovery efforts.

At the request of the Governor of Texas, I have signed the Disaster Proclamation, which unleashes the full force of government help!
- Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 26, 2017

Texas' hurricane history

The storm is already being compared to Hurricane Bret, which hit Texas on Aug. 22, 1999. That storm made landfall in Kenedy County, just south of Corpus Christi, according to the National Weather Service -- a path that was similar to the one forecast for Hurricane Harvey.

Here's a timeline of some of the recent hurricanes to hit Texas and the damage they caused:

Hurricane Bret (Aug. 22, 1999): The Category 3 storm made landfall on a Sunday evening about 60 miles south of Corpus Christi. Luckily, the area is sparsely populated compared to Corpus Christi, and so problems were limited. Central Kenedy County received more than 15 inches of rain over two days, according to the NWS. The storm did about $88 million in damages in 2017 figures. Four Americans died in the storm.

Hurricane Claudette (July 15, 2003): While Claudette came ashore as only a Category 1 storm with maximum winds of 90 miles per hour, it did extensive damage after coming ashore at Port O'Connor, about 100 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, and moving inland across Calhoun County, according to the NWS. Two people were killed.

Hurricane Rita (Sept. 24, 2005): The last Category 3 storm to make landfall in Texas was Rita, though it did so much farther north than Harvey is expected to land. Rita, which hit just three weeks after Hurricane Katrina, made landfall right along the Texas-Louisiana border with sustained winds of 120 miles per hour. The town of Center, Texas -- near Nacogdoches -- received 10.48 inches of rain in the storm, but it moved quickly through the area, limiting rainfall accumulation. Still, 59 people from Texas were killed in the storm, according to the NWS, and a number of others died in a bus accident during evacuations.

Hurricane Ike (Sept. 13, 2008): Ike, the last hurricane to make landfall in Texas, hit near Galveston as a Category 2 storm after decimating areas of the Caribbean in the week prior with winds as high as 145 miles per hour. By the time it hit Galveston, winds were at a sustained maximum of 110 miles per hour, according to the NWS. The massive size of Ike resulted in substantial rainfall totals for the area. The highest total was 18.9 inches near Spring Creek, south of Houston, according to the NWS. Some sensors measuring storm surge actually failed due to salt water, according to a NOAA report, but the highest total was 17.5 feet in Chambers County.

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Hurricane Harvey downgraded to Category 2 storm as winds weaken

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Five hours after Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas around 10 p.m. as a Category 4 storm, it was downgraded to a Category 2 storm, with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph, a decrease from 130 mph when it made landfall. And Harvey was downgraded to a Category 3 storm around 1 a.m., after winds...

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Shooting and hostage situation in Charleston, South Carolina. Police rule that shooting was not terrorism, or an act of racism. One person is pronounced dead. The shooter was a "disgruntled employee".

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charleston shooting: hostage situation ends with 1 dead - cnn

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1 dead in Charleston hostage situation, officials say

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A "disgruntled employee" who shot and killed a person and wounded another at a Charleston, South Carolina, restaurant was shot and critically wounded, Mayor John Tecklenburg told reporters Thursday. Several hostages were safely released.