The Latest: Harris visiting Nevada and Arizona while Trump speaks in Michigan

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The Latest: Harris visiting Nevada and Arizona while Trump speaks in Michigan

2024-10-11 02:48 Last Updated At：02:50

As Florida grapples with the effects of Hurricane Milton, presidential campaigning remains in full swing in battleground states across the U.S.

Vice President Kamala Harris will attend a Univision town hall in Las Vegas on Thursday afternoon before going to an evening rally in Phoenix while remaining in close contact with the White House and monitoring federal disaster response efforts.

Former President Donald Trump, meanwhile, was speaking at the Economic Club of Detroit, where he complained about the federal response to Hurricane Helene as he seeks to gain a political advantage from the tropical weather.

Even amid the hurricane, however, both the Harris and Trump campaigns are using their travel strategically, trying to increase support with key voting blocs who could decide an election expected to be exceedingly close.

Former President Barack Obama is also hitting the campaign trail on Thursday night, making his first appearance for Harris at a rally in Pittsburgh. That begins what the Harris campaign says will be a series of campaign stops Obama will make on the vice president’s behalf.

Follow the AP’s Election 2024 coverage at: https://apnews.com/hub/election-2024.

Here’s the latest:

DETROIT — Donald Trump again complained about the federal response to natural disasters that have damaged much of the Southeast as he seeks to gain a political advantage from the tropical weather.

While speaking at the Detroit Economic Club on Thursday, Trump sent a message to people affected by Hurricane Milton and Hurricane Helene. He praised Republican governors of Florida, Georgia and South Carolina but suggested the federal response had been lacking, particularly in North Carolina, where he alleged the government after Helene had “not done what you’re supposed to be doing.”

“They’ve let those people suffer unjustly,” said Trump, who has for several days promoted falsehoods about the response of President Joe Biden and emergency management officials.

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden is again criticizing his predecessor, Donald Trump, for spreading misinformation about the federal government’s hurricane response efforts, declaring “Get a life, man.”

Addressing reporters Thursday about Hurricane Milton’s destruction, Biden said he wouldn’t call Trump directly. But asked what his message would be for Trump, Biden squared his shoulders and more directly faced the camera.

“Mr. President Trump, former President Trump, get a life man,” Biden said. “Help these people.”

The White House, and Biden personally, have spent days decrying Trump for making false claims about disaster response, including that federal funding is being diverted for use on people in the country illegally and that such assistance is capped at $750.

DETROIT — Donald Trump announced on Thursday that one of his two daughters, Tiffany Trump, is expecting her first baby with husband Michael Boulos.

The former president delivered the news as he gave a speech at the Economic Club of Detroit and thanked Tiffany Trump’s father-in-law, Massad Boulos.

Tiffany Trump, 30, is the daughter of Donald Trump and actor Marla Maples.

Massad Boulos is a Lebanese-born businessman who has been helping Trump with the influential Arab American community in the swing state of Michigan.

Vice President Kamala Harris has agreed to CNN town hall on Oct. 23 in Pennsylvania, her campaign chair Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a Thursday statement.

It comes after former President Donald Trump ruled out another debate with Harris after their first head-to-head contest last month. Harris had called for Trump to face her once more before polls close.

“Donald Trump’s refusal to join Vice President Harris on the debate stage again is a disservice to the American people, O’Malley Dillon said in a statement. "They deserve to see the candidates side-by-side one more time before casting their ballots for one last look at their vastly different visions for America. After backing out of 60 Minutes and doing 27 straight interviews with conservative media, unfortunately it is clear Trump would rather cocoon himself in safe spaces and avoid real questions about his harmful plans and failed divisive leadership.”

Donald Trump says CBS should lose its broadcast license over the way “60 Minutes” edited its interview with Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week.

Trump, in a post on his social media site, accused the network of perpetrating a “giant Fake News Scam” after different CBS shows, “60 Minutes” and “Face the Nation,” depicted Harris giving different answers, an apparent result of editing.

“TAKE AWAY THE CBS LICENSE. Election Interference,” Trump railed. “She is a Moron, and the Fake News Media wants to hide that fact.”

CBS has not responded to questions about the apparent discrepancies.

This is not the first time Trump has threatened to go after a network’s license.

He has said ABC deserved to lose theirs after they moderated his debate with Harris, and has previously threatened NBC and CNN for reporting he didn’t like.

The Harris campaign openly challenged Trump’s economic record ahead of the Republican nominee’s Thursday speech in Detroit, part of a broader effort to chip away at the former president’s credibility.

On a call with reporters organized by the campaign, Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, called Trump the “job-killer-in-chief.” Despite Trump’s promises to bring back factory jobs, Fain said, “The reality is Trump never brought back squat.”

Back in 2000, Michigan had nearly 900,000 factory jobs. That number nearly halved after the 2008 financial crisis, only to then slowly recover 633,900 jobs in 2018. But factory work in Michigan began to slump in 2019 and then plunged during the pandemic, all during Trump’s term. Labor Department data show that manufacturing work in the state still hasn’t fully recovered with there being 604,800 jobs in the sector as of August.

Rays say it may take 'weeks' to fully assess damage at Tropicana Field, after Milton struck region

2024-10-11 02:44 Last Updated At：02:50

The Tampa Bay Rays said it may take weeks to fully assess how much damage was done to Tropicana Field, which saw its roof ripped to shreds by the force of Hurricane Milton as the deadly storm barreled across much of Florida.

The team said no one was injured when the St. Petersburg ballpark was struck by the storm on Wednesday night. A handful of “essential personnel” were inside Tropicana Field as the roof panels were blown apart, much of the debris falling on the field and seats below.

“Over the coming days and weeks, we expect to be able to assess the true condition of Tropicana Field,” the Rays said Thursday. “In the meantime, we are working with law enforcement to secure the building. We ask for your patience at this time, and we encourage those who can to donate to organizations in our community that are assisting those directly impacted by these storms.”

Milton was the second hurricane to hit Florida's Gulf Coast in the span of two weeks, preceded by Hurricane Helene, which flooded streets and homes on that same side of the state and left at least 230 people dead across the South.

The Rays aren't scheduled to play in the ballpark again until March 27, when they are supposed to play host to the Colorado Rockies to open the 2025 season.

For as bad as the damage was, the situation at Tropicana Field could have been worse. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had said earlier in the week that there were plans for the ballpark to serve as a “temporary base camp” to support debris cleanup operations and temporarily house some first responders. But those plans were changed as the storm neared, amid concerns that the roof simply would not survive Milton's wrath.

“They were relocated,” DeSantis said at a Thursday morning news conference. “Tropicana Field is a routine staging area for these things. The roof on that ... I think it's rated for 110 mph and so the forecast changes, but as it became clear that there was going to be something of that magnitude that was going to be within the distance, they redeployed them out of Tropicana. There were no state assets that were inside Tropicana Field.”

The team previously said that Tropicana Field features the world’s largest cable-supported domed roof, with the panels made of “translucent, Teflon-coated fiberglass” supported by 180 miles of cables connected by struts.

The roof was designed to withstand wind of up to 115 mph, according to the Rays. The stadium opened in 1990 at an initial cost $138 million and is due to be replaced in time for the 2028 season with a $1.3 billion ballpark.

The Tampa Bay Lightning will not play their home opener Saturday as planned.

The NHL said Thursday that Saturday's Lightning game against the Carolina Hurricanes was postponed “amid recovery efforts in the Tampa Bay area from the impact of Hurricane Milton.”

No makeup date was immediately announced. The Lightning will open the season at Carolina on Friday, and traveled there earlier this week to get out ahead of the storm.

The change means that Tampa Bay's home opener is now set for Tuesday against Vancouver.

The Lightning also had their preseason finale, which was to have been played this past Monday against Nashville, called off because of Milton's looming arrival. That game was originally set to be played last month and was postponed then because of Hurricane Helene.

The Orlando Magic spent Thursday in San Antonio and were planning to return home on Friday, a day behind their original schedule for the week.

The Magic played a preseason game in San Antonio on Wednesday night. They intended to fly home Thursday, arriving in Orlando in the early afternoon — those plans being scrapped because of Milton.

Instead, the Magic scheduled a practice in San Antonio on Thursday and have tentative plans to fly back to Orlando on Friday. A preseason game that was to be played Friday in Orlando between the Magic and the New Orleans Pelicans was canceled and will not be rescheduled.

“There's always things bigger than the game of basketball and that's what we have to keep our perspective on,” Magic coach Jamahl Mosley said. “Knowing that there's families and homes and situations that are going through a tough time right now, we need to be mindful of that and conscious of it.”

The Magic-Pelicans game is the second NBA preseason matchup to be affected by Milton. A game scheduled for Thursday in Miami between the Heat and Atlanta Hawks was postponed until Oct. 16 because of storm concerns.

A pair of college football games are set to be played Saturday in cities that dealt with some of Milton's worst wind and rain, though there were some logistical issues that were still being discussed on Thursday in the aftermath of the storm.

In Tampa, USF is preparing play host to Memphis — a game that was pushed back from Friday to Saturday. And in Orlando, UCF is preparing to play host to Cincinnati.

Both games are scheduled to have 3:30 p.m. kickoffs.

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