AP News in Brief at 6:04 p.m. EDT
Hurricane Idalia chases Florida residents from the Gulf Coast as forecasters warn of storm surge
CEDAR KEY, Fla. (AP) - Florida residents living in vulnerable coastal areas were ordered to pack up and leave Tuesday as Hurricane Idalia gained steam in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico and threatened to unleash life-threatening storm surges and rainfall.
Idalia had strengthened to a Category 2 system on Tuesday afternoon with winds of 100 mph (155 kph). The hurricane was projected to come ashore early Wednesday as a Category 3 system with sustained winds of up to 120 mph (193 kph) in the lightly populated Big Bend region, where the Florida Panhandle curves into the peninsula. The result could be a big blow to a state still dealing with lingering damage from last year´s Hurricane Ian.
The National Weather Service in Tallahassee called Idalia "an unprecedented event" since no major hurricanes on record have ever passed through the bay abutting the Big Bend.
On the island of Cedar Key, Commissioner Sue Colson joined other city officials in packing up documents and electronics at City Hall. She had a message for the almost 900 residents who were under mandatory orders to evacuate. More than a dozen state troopers went door to door warning residents that storm surge could rise as high as 15 feet (4.5 meters).
"One word: Leave," Colson said. "It´s not something to discuss."
___
10 drugs targeted for Medicare price negotiations as Biden pitches cost reductions
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Joe Biden touted the potential cost savings of Medicare's first-ever price negotiations for widely used prescription drugs on Tuesday as he struggles to convince Americans that he´s improved their lives as he runs for reelection.
The drugs include the blood thinner Eliquis, diabetes treatment Jardiance and eight other medications. The negotiation process was authorized under the Inflation Reduction Act, which Biden signed last year, capping decades of debate over whether the federal government should be allowed to haggle with pharmaceutical companies.
Any lower prices won't take effect for three years, and the path forward could be further complicated by litigation from drugmakers and heavy criticism from Republicans.
But the effort is a centerpiece of Biden's reelection pitch as the Democrat tries to show Americans he's deserving of a second term because of the work he's doing to lower costs while the country is struggling with inflation. The drug negotiations, like many of Biden's biggest policy moves, will take time to play out, and his challenge is to persuade the public to be patient.
"For all of you out there, I get it, and millions of Americans get it," Biden said at the White House. "I promise you. I´m going to have your back and I´ll never stop fighting for you on this issue."
___
HBCU president lauds students, officer for stopping Jacksonville killer before racist store attack
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - A campus security officer tipped off by observant students likely stopped the killer who fatally shot three people at a nearby Dollar General Store from carrying out his racist attack at Edward Waters University, the president of the historically Black institution said Monday.
Students reported seeing a young, white man, pull into a campus library parking lot in Jacksonville, Florida, and begin putting on tactical gear Saturday, Edward Waters University President Zachary Faison Jr. said. They immediately flagged down a security officer who was on patrol to tell them what they saw.
The officer approached the car on foot when the driver - who would later be identified as the shooter at the store - sped off, hitting a curb and narrowly avoiding a brick column, Faison said. The campus officer, who the campus president called a hero, then called the Jacksonville Sheriff´s Office and shared the description of the vehicle.
Minutes later, the gunman made his way to a Dollar General Store down the road and killed Angela Michelle Carr, 52, an Uber driver who was shot in her car; store employee A.J. Laguerre, 19, who was shot as he tried to flee; and customer Jerrald Gallion, 29, who was shot as he entered the store in the predominantly Black New Town neighborhood. The gunman killed himself after the murders.
"It´s not just on a whim that he chose to come to Florida´s first historically Black college or university," said Faison, who expressed condolences to the families of the victims and confirmed none were part of the university.
___
University of North Carolina graduate student left building right after killing adviser, police say
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) - A University of North Carolina graduate student charged with killing his faculty adviser walked into a classroom building, shot the victim and then left, authorities said Tuesday, shedding light on an attack that led to a campuswide lockdown as police searched for the gunman.
Tailei Qi, 34, was charged Tuesday with first-degree murder and having a gun on educational property in Monday´s killing of Zijie Yan inside of a science building at the state´s flagship public university.
Chapel Hill city police arrested Qi in a residential neighborhood near the campus within two hours of the attack and didn't need to use force to take him into custody, UNC Police Chief Brian Jones said at a news conference. He said investigators were still trying to determine a motive and were still searching for the gun used to kill Yan.
UNC Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz said his team has met with Yan´s colleagues and family to express condolences and offer support.
"He was a beloved colleague, mentor and a friend of so many on our campus and a father to two young children," Guskiewicz said at the news conference.
___
Lawyers indicted with Trump say they were doing their jobs. But that may be a tough argument to make
WASHINGTON (AP) - As John Eastman prepared to surrender to Georgia authorities last week for an indictment related to efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, he issued a statement denouncing the criminal case as targeting attorneys "for their zealous advocacy on behalf of their clients."
Another defendant, Rudy Giuliani, struck a similar note, saying he was being indicted for his work as Donald Trump's attorney. "I never thought I'd get indicted for being a lawyer," he lamented.
The 18 defendants charged alongside Trump in this month's racketeering indictment in Fulton County include more than a half-dozen lawyers, and the statements from Eastman and Giuliani provide early foreshadowing of at least one of the defenses they seem poised to raise: that they were merely doing their jobs as attorneys when they maneuvered on Trump's behalf to undo the results of that election.
The argument suggests a desire to turn at least part of the sprawling prosecution into a referendum on the boundaries of ethical lawyering in a case that highlights anew how Trump's own attorneys have become entangled over the years in his own legal problems.
But while attorneys do have wide berth to advance untested or unconventional positions, experts say a "lawyers being lawyers" defense will be challenging to pull off to the extent prosecutors can directly link the indicted lawyers to criminal schemes alleged in the indictment. That includes efforts to line up fake electors in Georgia and other states who would falsely assert that Trump, not Democrat Joe Biden, had won their respective contests.
___
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez suspends 2024 GOP presidential bid after failing to qualify for debate
MIAMI (AP) - Miami Mayor Francis Suarez on Tuesday suspended his bid for the presidency, dropping out of the 2024 race after failing to qualify for the first Republican debate.
The two-term mayor became the first candidate to drop out of the crowded GOP field. He launched his campaign just over two months ago as one of the last competitors to join a primary race that has so far been dominated by former President Donald Trump.
"While I have decided to suspend my campaign for President, my commitment to making this a better nation for every American remains," he said in a statement.
He did not issue an endorsement, saying instead, "I look forward to keeping in touch with the other Republican presidential candidates and doing what I can to make sure our party puts forward a strong nominee who can inspire and unify the country, renew Americans´ trust in our institutions and in each other, and win."
The 45-year-old Suarez was vying to become the first sitting mayor and first Latino elected president.
___
Russian mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin is buried in private, ending his tumultuous journey
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) - A private burial was held for Yevgeny Prigozhin, ending a tumultuous journey from St. Petersburg street thug to Kremlin-financed mercenary leader, following a suspicious plane crash two months after his brief mutiny that challenged the authority of President Vladimir Putin.
His spokespeople said Tuesday a service took place behind closed doors, and directed "those who wish to bid their farewell" to the 62-year-old head of the Wagner private military contractor to go to the Porokhovskoye cemetery in his hometown. Their statement ended media speculation on where and when Prigozhin would be laid to rest, with his funeral shrouded in secrecy.
A wooden cross towered over his flower-covered grave. Nearby stood a Russian tricolor and a black Wagner flag. Russian media cited unidentified sources as saying Prigozhin was laid to rest Tuesday without any publicity, per his family's wishes.
Members of the Russian National Guard were stationed along the fence at the cemetery, steering visitors away after it closed for the day.
Putin's spokesman said the president would not attend the service. The Russian leader had decried the armed rebellion in June as "treason" and "a stab in the back."
___
No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise is diagnosed with blood cancer and undergoing treatment
WASHINGTON (AP) - Rep. Steve Scalise, the No. 2-ranking House Republican, said Tuesday he has been diagnosed with a form of blood cancer known as multiple myeloma and is undergoing treatment.
Scalise, 57, said he will continue to serve in the House. He described the cancer as "very treatable" and said it was detected early.
The Louisiana Republican was among several people wounded in 2017 when a rifle-wielding attacker fired on lawmakers on a baseball field in Alexandria, Virginia, outside Washington. Scalise was shot in the hip and endured lengthy hospitalizations, multiple surgeries and painful rehabilitation.
The cancer diagnosis came, Scalise said, after he had not been feeling like himself in the past week. Blood tests showed some irregularities and after additional screening, he said he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma.
"I have now begun treatment, which will continue for the next several months," Scalise said in a statement. "I expect to work through this period and intend to return to Washington, continuing my work as Majority Leader and serving the people of Louisiana´s First Congressional District."
___
Man who killed 3 at a Dollar General in Jacksonville used to work at a dollar store, sheriff says
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - The Jacksonville shooter used to work at a dollar store and stopped in at one before a security guard's presence apparently led him to instead target the Dollar General down the road, where he killed three people.
He worked at a Dollar Tree from October 2021 to July 2022, Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said at a news conference Monday. And, the sheriff said, he stopped at a Family Dollar store Saturday before pulling into a parking lot at Edward Waters University, where he donned tactical gear. He left when security approached.
"Based off what we saw: him stopping off at the Family Dollar and working at a Dollar Tree previously and then him going to Dollar General, that was his intent the whole time," Waters said. "Why that store? Still hard to tell."
In audio released Tuesday from a 911 call, the gunman´s father said his son had stopped taking psychiatric medication and stayed in his room after dropping out of college and losing his job. Other records show the 21-year-old had encounters with police as a teenager, including one involving a suicide threat that led to an involuntary psychiatric evaluation.
Security footage from the Family Dollar shows him walking in and leaving a few minutes later with a small shopping bag. But after he reached his car, Waters said, a security guard pulled into the lot and the shooter left.
___
A new Titanic expedition is planned. The US is fighting it, says wreck is a grave site
NORFOLK, Va. (AP) - The U.S. government is trying to stop a planned expedition to recover items of historical interest from the sunken Titanic, citing a federal law and an international agreement that treat the shipwreck as a hallowed gravesite.
The expedition is being organized by RMS Titanic Inc., the Georgia-based firm that owns the salvage rights to the world´s most famous shipwreck. The company exhibits artifacts that have been recovered from the wreck site at the bottom of the North Atlantic, from silverware to a piece of the Titanic's hull.
The government's challenge comes more than two months after the Titan submersible imploded near the sunken ocean liner, killing five people. But this legal fight has nothing to do with the June tragedy, which involved a different company and an unconventionally designed vessel.
The battle in the U.S. District Court in Norfolk, Virginia, which oversees Titanic salvage matters, hinges instead on federal law and a pact with Great Britain to treat the sunken Titanic as a memorial to the more than 1,500 people who died. The ship hit an iceberg and sank in 1912.
The U.S. argues that entering the Titanic's severed hull - or physically altering or disturbing the wreck - is regulated by federal law and its agreement with Britain. Among the government's concerns is the possible disturbance of artifacts and any human remains that may still exist.
