House heads toward passage of Harvey aid bill, debt hike

Conservative grumbling aside, the House is heading toward backing a $15.3 billion disaster aid package that President Donald Trump and Democrats have linked to a temporary increase in America's borrowing authority and keeping the government funded through December. The House vote on Friday would send the massive package to Trump for his signature, replenishing rapidly dwindling emergency accounts as Florida braces for the impact of Hurricane Irma this weekend and Texas picks up the pieces after the devastation of the Harvey storm.

Former US presidents raising money for hurricane relief

The five living former U.S. presidents said Thursday they would team up to create the "One America Appeal" to raise money for storm recovery as Texas and Louisiana seek to regroup from Harvey and Florida and the Atlantic coast brace for Hurricane Irma. The hurricane recovery effort was announced by former presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter.

Veteran Texas Democrat to head Harvey rebuilding effort

Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Thursday tapped a veteran Democrat to lead the state's recovery effort after Harvey, which is shaping up to be among the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. John Sharp is chancellor of Texas A&M University and doesn't plan to leave that job while heading the new Governor's Commission to Rebuild Texas.

Military video shows scale of devastation in St Martin after Hurricane Irma

The Dutch defence ministry has taken shocking pictures and footage that show the devastation that Hurricane Irma has caused to St Martin. It is hard to find a single building that hasn't suffered some kind of damage as a result of the 185mph winds that are crashing their way across the Caribbean at the moment.

DeVos expected to share plans on Title IX enforcement

Hurricane Irma has blacked out much of Puerto Rico as the dangerous Category 5 storm raked the U.S. territory with heavy wind and rain while staying just out to sea. Officials in the island chain south of the Florida mainland are expected to announce mandatory evacuations as Hurricane Irma moves west through the Caribbean toward the state.

Most Florida flood zone property not insured

As Hurricane Irma bears down on Florida, an Associated Press analysis shows a steep drop in flood insurance across the state, including the areas most endangered by what could be a devastating storm surge. In just five years, the state's total number of federal flood insurance policies has fallen by 15 percent, according to Federal Emergency Management Agency data.

Calling the intellectual right

The current state of conservatism is bleak. With Donald Trump dragging the GOP into an abyss bearing the lowest approval numbers a president has had in any first year, a series of racist attacks in the name of conservatism, and cable news going the way of MSNBC, there appears to be a political natural disaster ready to take a final blow at the Republicans; and it's Typhoon Trump.

.com | House passes $7.9bn Harvey aid bill

The House on Wednesday overwhelmingly passed $7.9 billion in Hurricane Harvey disaster relief as warring Republicans and Democrats united behind help for victims of that storm, as an ever more powerful new hurricane bore down on Florida. The 419-3 vote sent the aid package - likely the first of several - to the Senate in hopes of sending the bill to President Donald Trump before dwindling federal disaster reserves run out at the end of this week.

Irma eyes Southeast as it lashes Caribbean

SEPTEMBER 06: Alexis Ramos looks out to sea at Luquillo Beach prior to the passing of Hurricane Irma on September 6, 2017 in San Juan, Puerto Rico. The category 5 storm is expected to pass over Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands today, and make landfall in Florida by the weekend.