Elections

Four days after historic floods battered western North Carolina, the difficulties facing county officials who are trying to stage a presidential election in the area have begun to take shape.A preliminary check of election offices in North Carolina’s flooded west showed that offices in 14 counties were closed, with officials unsure when they would open, the State Board of Elections said late Monday. One office in Haywood County, just west of hard-hit Asheville, could not be reached.While the region is largely rural, it holds a healthy share of the state’s nearly 7.7 million registered voters. Some 570,000 registered voters live in the 11 counties where less than half of the electrical power had been restored as of Monday afternoon. They include 145,000 Democrats and 185,000 Republicans.One of the hardest hit counties, Buncombe, is home to Asheville, the region’s Democratic stronghold. In most counties, however, Republicans or unaffiliated voters are dominant.Election officials face a panoply of problems. The remnants of Hurricane Helene struck the region shortly after absentee ballots were put in the mail, and the U.S. Postal Service has suspended mail service to virtually all of western North Carolina.Those ballots would have been dispatched earlier, but they had to be reprinted after Robert F. Kennedy Jr. quit the presidential race and sued to have his name removed from ballots.County officials also are likely to encounter trouble finding accessible sites for early voting, which begins Oct. 17. Finding voters who were displaced will be yet another headache. So will be registering voters, as the deadline for registering is Oct. 11.Michael C. Bitzer, an elections expert at Catawba College, said that “counties have been preparing for early voting sites that may no longer exist.”“They had reserved polling places that may have been swept away in the floodwaters,” he said. “They have voters who requested an absentee ballot and cannot receive that ballot, let alone the poll workers and the major disruption to their lives.”In 2018, after Hurricane Florence ravaged 28 counties along the North Carolina coast, the state extended the voter registration deadline and spent $400,000 for a campaign to locate displaced voters and educate other residents about voting options.Officials don’t have such plans yet, said Gerry Cohen, a veteran analyst of state government and a member of the election board in Wake County, which includes the state capital, Raleigh.“There are a lot of unknowns on what to do,” he said. “We’re a couple of days away from finding out what’s going on.” More

Worries of flooding had not been top of mind as the mountain-ringed city flourished in recent years as a haven for artists, chefs, brewmasters, entrepreneurs and retirees.Erica Scott, a wedding photographer, spent much of her life in California, but moved to Asheville, N.C., 16 years ago with a sense that she was leaving behind the perpetual threat of natural disasters. With its cool mountain climate and a setting hundreds of miles from the ocean, the city seemed like a refuge from some of the worries that come with a warming planet.“I had always felt like we were safe from climate change in this region; we talked about that a lot in town,” Ms. Scott, 55, said. “But now this makes me question that maybe there’s nowhere that’s safe.”Parts of Asheville, the fast-growing and culture-rich gem of the Blue Ridge Mountains, were wrecked by water and mud after Hurricane Helene roared up from the Florida coast on Friday, triggering catastrophic flooding across a broad swath of the Southeast.Western North Carolina saw some of the worst of it, with Gov. Roy Cooper calling it “one of the worst storms in modern history” for the region. On Monday, the city and many of the surrounding towns had no running water; power and cell service remain scarce.Asheville, set along the French Broad River, has a long history of flooding, most notably in 1916, when a pair of powerful summer storms engorged rivers and killed scores of people. Another river, the Swannanoa, flows nearby. Nearly all residents of Asheville are without running water.Loren Elliott for The New York TimesWe are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

The overnight strike in the Cola neighborhood in Beirut appeared to have been the first known Israeli strike in the city center since 2006. Israel has struck the densely populated Dahiya area to the south many times recently, with most of those strikes coming after a massive bombing attack on Friday that killed the Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah there.Strike in Beirut’s Cola neighborhoodThe strike appeared to be Israel’s first in central Beirut since 2006. More

Saudi Arabia has pledged to send financial aid to the struggling Palestinian Authority, reversing a decision made during the Trump administration to slash funding to the governing body that administers some areas in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.The promise of a cash infusion won’t resolve the authority’s financial woes, but it reflects the improved relationship between Saudi Arabia and Palestinian leaders, which frayed during the Trump era. It is also a sign that the kingdom is strengthening its support for the establishment of a Palestinian state at a time when the Saudis appear to have shifted their tone on normalizing relations with Israel.For months, the Biden administration and its allies have warned that the Palestinian Authority’s dire financial straits could foreshadow another escalation in the West Bank. Israeli forces have been stepping up raids targeting militants in which they ripped up roads and wrecked shops and homes in the territory.The Saudi foreign ministry announced on Sunday night that it would send a monthly aid package to the country’s “brothers in Palestine” to alleviate the “humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip and its surrounding areas,” without specifying the amount or intended recipients. The commitment was made during a recent visit by the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, to Saudi Arabia, according to one of his aides.“Prince Mohammed affirmed to the president, Abu Mazen, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s support for the Palestinian people politically and materially,” said Mahmoud al-Habbash, a senior adviser to Mr. Abbas. Mr. al-Habbash was referring to the Saudi crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, and Mr. Abbas, using his nickname.Saudi Arabia has agreed to deliver $60 million to the Palestinian Authority in six installments, with the first payment expected in the coming days, according to a senior Palestinian Authority official.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

Kirk was a tropical storm in the North Atlantic Ocean Monday morning Eastern time, the National Hurricane Center said in its latest advisory. The tropical storm had sustained wind speeds of 50 miles per hour.  All times on the map are Eastern. By The New York Times Where will it rain? Flash flooding can occur […] More

“I don’t care if you have roots in the business, but I think being a detective is a risk and an unsuitable job for a woman,” said Doyle, as he picked the lock on the door. “Just say the word if you want to stay in the car.”“I’d say that word is misogyny,” snapped Duncan as they entered the apartment. “My dad knew I had the right stuff — and usually the scruples — to be a P.I.” She glanced around the spotless home. “And I fortified myself this morning with a big bowl of Wheaties, the breakfast of champions.”“Time and again I’ve seen awful things in these searches,” said Doyle, as he looked around. “But there’s no sign that something happened or evidence someone in the final days before self-harm.”Duncan checked behind a curtain and saw an imprint on the shag rug where a suitcase had clearly been stored. On the desk sat an open book and a brochure for a Poconos resort. “Song of Solomon 2:16, a verse often used in weddings, is underlined in this Bible,” she announced. “Maybe this is just a love story with a secret elopement.”“I don’t care if you have roots in the business, but I think being a detective is a risk and an unsuitable job for a woman,” said Doyle, as he picked the lock on the door. “Just say the word if you want to stay in the car.”“I’d say that word is misogyny,” snapped Duncan as they entered the apartment. “My dad knew I had the right stuff — and usually the scruples — to be a P.I.” She glanced around the spotless home. “And I fortified myself this morning with a big bowl of Wheaties, the breakfast of champions.”“Time and again I’ve seen awful things in these searches,” said Doyle, as he looked around. “But there’s no sign that something happened or evidence someone in the final days before self-harm.”Duncan checked behind a curtain and saw an imprint on the shag rug where a suitcase had clearly been stored. On the desk sat an open book and a brochure for a Poconos resort. “Song of Solomon 2:16, a verse often used in weddings, is underlined in this Bible,” she announced. “Maybe this is just a love story with a secret elopement.”“I don’t care if you have roots in the business, but I think being a detective is a risk and an unsuitable job for a woman,” said Doyle, as he picked the lock on the door. “Just say the word if you want to stay in the car.”“I’d say that word is misogyny,” snapped Duncan as they entered the apartment. “My dad knew I had the right stuff — and usually the scruples — to be a P.I.” She glanced around the spotless home. “And I fortified myself this morning with a big bowl of Wheaties, the breakfast of champions.”“Time and again I’ve seen awful things in these searches,” said Doyle, as he looked around. “But there’s no sign that something happened or evidence someone in the final days before self-harm.”Duncan checked behind a curtain and saw an imprint on the shag rug where a suitcase had clearly been stored. On the desk sat an open book and a brochure for a Poconos resort. “Song of Solomon 2:16, a verse often used in weddings, is underlined in this Bible,” she announced. “Maybe this is just a love story with a secret elopement.” More

The Ratcliffe-on-Soar plant was the last surviving coal-burning power station in a country that birthed the Industrial Revolution and fed it with coal.Britain, the nation that launched a global addiction to coal 150 years ago, is shutting down its last coal-burning power station on Monday.That makes Britain first among the world’s major, industrialized economies to wean itself off coal — all the more symbolic because it was also the first to burn tremendous amounts of it to fuel the Industrial Revolution, inspiring the rest of the world to follow suit.“The birthplace of coal power is turning its back on coal forever,” said Matt Webb, an associate director at the London-based research and advocacy group, E3G.On Monday, in the middle of England, the end of Britain’s coal era will be marked by the closure of the 2,000-megawatt Ratcliffe-on-Soar facility. Uniper, the power company that operated the plant, said the 750-acre site would be converted to a “low-carbon energy hub.”The closure comes 142 years after the world’s first coal-burning power plant began producing electricity at the Holborn Viaduct in London in 1882 and, in turn, accelerating Britain’s rise as a major industrial and imperial power.Coal is the dirtiest fossil fuel. When burned, it produces greenhouse gases that have heated the Earth’s atmosphere and supersized heat waves and storms. While it was long the cheapest and most abundant source of power in many countries, including Britain, it has been replaced in recent decades by gas, nuclear power and most recently, renewables, like wind and solar.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More

CBS is experimenting with a novel way to offer real-time fact-checking of the vice-presidential debate on Tuesday. Just don’t expect the moderators to frequently jump in.The journalistic dilemma of how to fact-check national candidates on the debate stage has cropped up again and again in the 2024 election.Should CNN’s moderators — who were relatively passive when President Biden debated former President Donald J. Trump in June — have been quicker to interject? Should ABC’s moderators — who politely but firmly clarified several of Mr. Trump’s outlandish claims at the second debate on Sept. 10 — have stayed quiet?Moderation is an art, not a science. But CBS News, host of Tuesday’s vice-presidential matchup between Senator JD Vance and Gov. Tim Walz, is using technology to try something new.A QR code — the checkerboard-like, black-and-white box that can be scanned by a smartphone — will appear onscreen for long stretches of the CBS telecast. Viewers who scan the code will be directed to the CBS News website, where a squad of about 20 CBS journalists will post fact-checks of the candidates’ remarks in real time.The code will appear only on CBS; viewers who tune in on a different channel will not see it. (Nearly every major network will simulcast the debate, starting at 9 p.m. Eastern) But it is a novel approach to guide viewers, already accustomed to watching TV while hovering over a smartphone or laptop, to supplemental journalistic material elsewhere.“The idea is to give people that second-screen experience,” said Claudia Milne, the senior vice president for standards and practices at CBS News, adding, “The audience can get the takeaway they need in a responsible and smart way.”We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe. More