Millions of Americans along Hurricane Isaias’ projected path have been placed under a threat-to-life warning as the storm advances toward the U.S. Gulf Coast.

In an alert issued Thursday, the National Weather Service (NWS) urged residents to prepare for potentially deadly winds equivalent to Category 1 or Category 2 hurricane strength.

“Remaining efforts to protect life and property should be urgently completed,” the NWS said.

Hurricane warnings are in effect along portions of the Mississippi coast, southern Alabama and the Florida Panhandle, including Pascagoula, Mobile, Gulf Shores, Pensacola, Destin and Panama City.

The warning zone extends inland to communities such as Citronelle, Bay Minette and Brewton in Alabama, along with Milton and Crestview in Florida.

The weather service is calling on residents in affected areas to complete preparations immediately and reach secure shelter before conditions deteriorate.

Isaias, currently a Category 1 hurricane, is expected to intensify into a Category 2 storm before reaching land just east of Mobile Bay, Alabama, late Friday night. It is the first hurricane of the 2026 Atlantic season.

AccuWeather hurricane specialists warned that Isaias could strengthen into a major hurricane before landfall, potentially producing a deadly storm surge, destructive winds, torrential rain, tornadoes and widespread power outages.

Mandatory evacuations have been ordered in parts of Florida as newly formed Hurricane Isaias threatens the Gulf Coast with life-threatening flooding and powerful winds.

The storm formed in the Gulf on Wednesday night, setting a record as the latest first hurricane of an Atlantic season since satellite monitoring began.

AccuWeather meteorologists currently expect Isaias to be a Category 2 hurricane when it reaches the U.S. Gulf Coast late Friday or in the early hours of Saturday.

A hurricane warning extends from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, along the Alabama coastline to the Florida Bay/Gulf county line. Storm surge could inundate some coastal locations with five to seven feet of water.

The threat has prompted evacuations in Florida’s Okaloosa and Gulf counties, while the remainder of the Panhandle is under a state of emergency. Alabama has declared a state of emergency in counties along its Gulf Coast.

The National Weather Service issued an urgent appeal to millions of people in Isaias’ projected path, warning: “Evacuation efforts should soon be brought to completion before driving conditions become unsafe.”

“Leave immediately if evacuation orders are given for your area to avoid being cut off from emergency services or needlessly risk lives.”

AccuWeather’s forecast places Isaias moving northeast across the Gulf on Thursday before turning north toward the U.S. coastline on Friday.

The storm is projected to reach Category 1 hurricane strength by 8pm ET Thursday, then strengthen to Category 2 before making landfall near the Mississippi-Alabama border around 11pm ET Friday.

Based on Isaias making landfall as a Category 2, wind gusts of 100 to 120mph are forecast near and just east of the center. 

AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jon Porter warned: ‘However, because of the swift forward speed and broadening wind field of Isaias as the storm moves inland, damaging winds and power outages are likely to extend well inland.’

The NWS told communities from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to Gulf County, Florida, to prepare for the possibility of ‘long-duration power outages.’ 

Monster storm surges of up to seven feet near and east of Isaias’ center are also expected for the Northern Gulf Coast, with towns and cities in Mississippi and Florida’s Panhandle hit the hardest.

However, AccuWeather meteorologists warned that the ‘most substantial impact from the brewing storm will be from heavy rainfall.’

Isaias is forecast to dump three to seven inches of rain across the central Gulf Coast from Friday through the weekend, with isolated totals of up to 10 inches and flash flooding possible. 

Fears of a devastating storm have left shelves empty in towns and cities along the US Gulf Coast, as locals stock up on everything from toilet paper to water and canned food.

Images on social media show long lines at gas stations and depleted supermarket shelves.

Florida local Stephen Page posted on Facebook: ‘Stores are already run over, and shelves are empty at many places.

‘Lines at gas stations are long, and people are in full prep mode. So again, I say, if you haven’t started, now is the time!’

Another Floridian, Stephanie Michelle, said she experienced panic buying at the grocery store.

‘The store was full, the parking lot was full, shelves were empty, and the carts were all full! People were everywhere, and traffic was a nightmare,’ she added.

The Atlantic has yet to produce a hurricane in 2026, putting the season within reach of a record set in 1905 for the latest first hurricane.

If forecast models are correct and Isaias develops into a hurricane, it would be deemed a record-breaking storm.

Meteorologist Matt Devitt said on X: ‘Isaias will likely be one of the most significant storms of the 2026 Atlantic Hurricane Season with a landfall in the US.’

The owners of a Pittsburgh gay bar began receiving death threats after a drag performer appeared in blackface during an ill-fated tribute to late actor Tim Curry.

Blue Moon Bar, which bills itself as “the Friendliest Gay Bar in Pittsburgh,” canceled several performances after photos from a Sept. 23 event circulated online, showing a drag artist wearing makeup widely condemned as racist blackface.

According to reports, the performer was attempting to portray Hexxus, the villain from the 1992 animated film “FernGully: The Last Rainforest.” Curry provided the character’s voice.

The act triggered an immediate backlash after images spread across social media. Critics said the performer’s dark makeup closely resembled blackface—an offensive practice the bar should have prevented.

Fellow drag performer Pinapple Honeydew criticized the appearance in an Instagram post, writing, “How this person was even allowed to step on stage wearing this is beyond me.”

“This is actual disgusting, racist behavior being given a stage to perform and no one thinking twice about it,” Honeydew added.

Honeydew also called the performance an inappropriate way to honor Curry, an LGBTQ+ icon who died in August.

“What happened to just wearing a black outfit,” the performer wrote. “Out of all of Tim Curry’s iconic characters, you HAD to do this one??”

“And you HAD to do blackface in order to portray a character no one was going to recognize anyway???” the drag artist continued. “F–king insane.”

Nearly a week after the event, Blue Moon Bar issued an apology on Facebook. “We were just made aware yesterday that this happened last week,” management wrote on Sept. 29.

Bar officials said they were not present during the performance and that two guest hosts, who do not typically oversee the venue’s open stage, had run the event. Management said it was “horrified” and “blindsided” by what occurred.

The statement said the guest hosts “somehow didn’t realize at the time what was happening,” while emphasizing that the bar was not excusing their conduct.

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“Whatever the intent, blackface is racist and harmful and it is never acceptable. We are sorry that it happened in our bar,” management said.

The bar also apologized to anyone offended or triggered by photos of the performance, as well as to those who witnessed it in person.

Blue Moon later canceled its open stage on Sept. 30, saying it and that evening’s host had received too many death threats to safely proceed. “We do not feel comfortable putting on the show this evening,” the bar said in a Facebook post.

Management also posted a warning outside the performer’s dressing room: “Absolutely NO Preformances Based on Race, Ethicity, or Nationality (that is not your own) Will Be TOLERATED!!!”

The unidentified performer told QBurgh that an attempt to accurately recreate the character’s appearance “caused an egregious error that resulted in harm to a community I love and care for.”

The drag artist said they “want to be held accountable” and intended to make amends, apologizing “for the harm caused to the community, the hosts, and the patrons.”

“Intent does not matter when it comes to the effects of what’s been done,” the performer told the publication.

Blue Moon Bar management did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

It comes just weeks after an LGBT venue was at the center of another storm in a teacup, when Last Ditch, a lesbian bar in Greenfield, Massachusetts, briefly became the most notorious bar in America.

The struggling bar’s owners scrapped their longstanding COVID mask requirements for just one night in a week in an attempt to boost business, the Boston Globe reported.

But the move brought out extreme reactions among some members of the local LGBT community, with critics dramatically calling it a “mass disabling event” or even a “eugenicist” attack.

Another said they hoped the bar got “firebombed” for the crime of trying to keep the lights on.

– Anti-Israel groups rally across the U.S. on the Oct. 7 anniversary, chanting “long live the intifada”
– Former Hamas hostage Maya Regev challenges Hasan Piker’s UT Austin event with her account of survival
– Zohran Mamdani’s $30 million antisemitism plan includes expanded funding for an anti-Israel group

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators held rallies across the country to mark the first anniversary of the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Chanting “long live the intifada,” activists marched through communities from New York to California, with some confrontations involving police and counter-protesters. The nationwide demonstrations prompted heightened security around college campuses, government buildings and other prominent civic sites as tensions escalated.

Rabbi Steve Leder, a consultant on season one of “Nobody Wants This,” told News Media that actor Adam Brody presented his views on Gaza as fact rather than opinion.

Former Hamas hostage Maya Regev confronted Hasan Piker’s controversial rhetoric during a tense appearance connected to his event at UT Austin. Regev challenged Piker’s claims about the Oct. 7 attacks with a harrowing firsthand account of her captivity in Gaza. Her emotional testimony offered a stark contrast to the streamer’s political framing and left the audience visibly shaken.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is facing criticism over a proposed $30 million initiative to combat antisemitism. Critics reacted angrily after details indicated that the plan would increase funding for Partners Against Hate, directing millions of dollars to the Arab American Association of New York, which they describe as a vocal anti-Israel advocacy group.

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Bishop Robert Stearns, founder and executive director of Eagles’ Wings, is urging Christians to maintain their support for Israel following the Oct. 7 attacks. Stearns says standing with the Jewish state is both a moral and biblical obligation, warning that growing international indifference and rising antisemitism endanger Israel’s survival as well as core Judeo-Christian values.

“It is like turning September 11 into a day of mourning for al-Qaeda terrorists. We will not let this happen. We will remember those who were murdered, and we will never forget who was behind this massacre,” Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Danny Danon said of anti-Israel protests held to mark the Oct. 7 anniversary.

Looking for more on this topic? Find additional antisemitism coverage from Fox News here.

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Federal prosecutors in New York on Thursday unsealed additional charges against ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, accusing him of conspiring with his wife to torture people held in Venezuelan prisons.

The superseding indictment, made public in Manhattan federal court, alleges that Maduro’s government targeted Americans for torture because he “assigned blame to the United States for the instability in Venezuela.”

Prosecutors said Maduro “presided over this system of repression and torture,” while accusing his wife, Cilia Flores, of helping him establish it.

“When Maduro became President of Venezuela in or about 2013, he authorized the use of torture against specific individuals and oversaw a system designed to use torture, military detention, and violence as a means of repression against the political opposition,” the indictment alleges.

The superseding indictment charges Maduro with one count of conspiracy to commit torture. Flores faces one count of conspiracy to commit torture and one count of narcoterrorism.

“As alleged in the indictment, the Maduro regime subjected over a dozen American citizens to torture while held in custody of the Venezuelan government — including drugs, electrocution, sexual assault, and more,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement. “They will now answer for their crimes.”

According to the indictment, Maduro also allegedly joined a plot to torture an American whose only perceived value was that he might be “useful in a prisoner exchange with the United States.”

The American, identified as Victim-8, was visiting relatives in Venezuela when officers allegedly attacked him from behind, seriously injuring his back and leaving him hospitalized for an extended period. During his transfer from the hospital to prison, Venezuelan officers allegedly “electrocuted Victim-8’s testicles and put a pressure device on his ankles, causing him to faint several times,” the superseding indictment says.

Prosecutors allege the abuse continued after Victim-8 was imprisoned. At one point, one of his torturers reportedly told him that his U.S. citizenship was the only reason he remained alive because “Victim-8 could be useful in a prisoner exchange with the United States,” according to the indictment.

The indictment also describes the alleged abuse of Victim-9 after Maduro claimed victory in 2024, following an election the United States called a sham. Venezuelan authorities allegedly beat the American for two days, striking his face, head and stomach roughly every half-hour. “The beatings caused permanent injury to Victim-9’s eye,” prosecutors wrote.

Victim-9 spent about a year in custody and was released on Jan. 15, 2026, two weeks after Maduro was ousted, the indictment says. He and other Americans were nevertheless warned “they were not allowed to say the Venezuelan government had hurt them or had otherwise subjected them to abuse,” according to prosecutors.

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In January 2002, Venezuelan authorities detained an American identified as Victim-7 on allegations that he had taken part in a conspiracy to assassinate Maduro. Officials brought him to a concrete house, where they allegedly tortured him for two or three days. The indictment says officers punched him in the face and abdomen, covered his face and poured a noxious liquid over it, causing him to vomit, and then forced him to consume the vomit.

Victim-7 was later transferred to Boleita Norte prison, where prosecutors allege the torture continued. The alleged abuse included electric shocks to his arms, legs and genitals, asphyxiation, beatings, deprivation of food and water, and forced injections of a substance that caused seizures.

Maduro was not in court Thursday. Flores appeared for a related proceeding, and the federal judge overseeing the case denied her request for pretrial release on bail.

“Jail is not a nice place to be, but these are serious allegations,” Judge Alvin Hellerstein said. “I don’t think the conditions are there to release her.”

Flores’ attorney, Mark Donnelly, argued that she needs a medical procedure and would be unable to recover in a jail cell. He proposed house arrest accompanied by a private security detail.

Federal prosecutors opposed the request, accusing Flores of “horrific acts.” They said “witnesses who were in the room” would testify about the torture she allegedly helped carry out with her husband.

Maduro and Flores are expected to be arraigned on the new charges at a later date.

Both have previously pleaded not guilty to narcoterrorism and drug-trafficking charges. They maintained their innocence during their first court appearance in January, after U.S. forces captured them in a military operation in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.

In a court filing last month, Maduro’s lawyer argued that the former president is immune from prosecution because he led a sovereign nation.

Former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, have been charged in US federal court with conspiring to commit torture, according to a newly unsealed indictment.

The couple has been held in the United States since early January, when US authorities seized them during a surprise overnight raid at their home in Caracas.

The indictment alleges that Maduro and Flores “sat atop” a “violent power structure” that approved the torture of targeted individuals, including US citizens believed to threaten Maduro’s hold on power.

According to the charging document, the alleged abuse included electric shocks, asphyxiation, rape, forced nudity, prolonged isolation, starvation and confinement in punishment cells. It also allegedly involved psychological torture, including threats against victims’ families and children, according to a copy reviewed by the Daily Mail. 

Maduro and Flores were already facing US charges alleging that they conspired to smuggle drugs into the country.

Prosecutors allege that Maduro used his presidential position to oversee a system of repression that relied on violence against political opponents. The alleged campaign included arbitrary detentions and the torture of detainees, including US citizens.

Maduro has challenged the legality of his arrest and transfer to the United States, calling the operation a “kidnapping.”

President Donald Trump and members of his administration have defended the raid as a “surgical law enforcement operation.”

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The Justice Department has also charged Maduro in connection with narco-terrorism, cocaine trafficking and illegal weapons offenses, according to court documents.

Maduro and Flores have both pleaded not guilty to every charge.

At an earlier federal court appearance this year, Maduro remained defiant.

“I’m still the president of my country,” he said during his January arraignment, where he appeared to spend much of the proceeding writing angrily on a legal pad.

“I’m a prisoner of war,” he later declared while being escorted from court to the Brooklyn detention center where he is being held.

In the months since his detention, Maduro has reportedly lost weight and has often appeared relaxed or even cheerful in photographs showing him in shackles and prison tracksuits.

Images dated June 25 showed him grinning while wearing a gray tracksuit and white sneakers at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center.

This is a breaking news story. Check back soon for updates.  

Text messages reviewed by The Wall Street Journal reportedly show that Kimberly Guilfoyle, the former fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., asked a prominent MAGA donor to cover a $100,000 credit card bill just days before her confirmation hearing to become ambassador to Greece.

“Honey please I need you to get this done for me today,” the 57-year-old former Fox News host allegedly wrote to Eric Deters in a July 3, 2025, Signal message, according to the Journal.

Guilfoyle followed the request with a praying-hands emoji and attached a PDF containing payment instructions from American Express.

“You could just send it here,” she reportedly told Deters. “It won’t show up anywhere if you wire money to American Express that’s all that will show. Please.”

Deters, 63, had promised to provide Guilfoyle with as much as $1 million if she helped bring his legal and tax matters before senior Trump administration officials. However, he resisted her urgent six-figure request.

“Your needing $100,000 urgent [sic] unfortunately is not going to work,” Deters reportedly replied. “I can’t do this without getting a divorce.”

According to the Journal, Guilfoyle continued pressing him, writing: “I’ve been calling you for over a week straight. You could be here meeting with [then-IRS Commissioner] Billy Long.”

Deters ultimately refused to send the money, despite Guilfoyle’s reported promise that she would “be your Trump ride or die, forever and ever” if he agreed to help.

“She never came through on anything,” Deters later complained to the Journal.

Guilfoyle appeared before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee six days later. The Senate ultimately confirmed her 51-47 on Sept. 18.

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Deters reportedly first met Guilfoyle in 2020, when he launched Freedom Fest, an event opposing COVID-19 mandates. Guilfoyle, the former wife of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, was paid a total of $300,000 to speak alongside other members of the Trump family at later editions of the festival.

Federal Election Commission records cited by the Journal also show that Deters, a former Ohio morning radio DJ, donated $125,000 to a pro-Trump political action committee in 2022.

The relationship between Deters and Guilfoyle reportedly grew closer after the 2024 election. Deters sought Guilfoyle’s help in securing the extradition of an Ohio doctor who fled to Pakistan after being charged with defrauding insurers through unnecessary surgeries on children. At the same time, Deters was facing an IRS investigation over a deduction he claimed in 2020 after selling a stake in his family business.

The messages reportedly show Guilfoyle repeatedly urging Deters to keep the details of their arrangement private.

“Eric, I really wish you would stop papering all these things. It’s really dangerous and not helpful to you or me while you could simply just call me on Signal,” she allegedly wrote in one message.

“What a nightmare, you’ll literally cost me my ambassadorship stop writing,” she added in another message sent in January 2025, weeks after President Trump nominated her.

Guilfoyle’s attorney, Jesse Binnall, told the Journal that she disputed the authenticity of the messages but did not provide specific details about her denial.

Binnall did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.

The U.S. Embassy in Athens also did not immediately respond to a request for comment. An official nevertheless defended Guilfoyle’s record to the Journal, saying: “Guilfoyle’s career in and out of public service is guided by deep and abiding values. She was fully vetted by the bipartisan Senate Foreign Relations Committee and confirmed by the U.S. Senate. The ambassador remains committed to representing the American people with dedication and integrity.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio declined to comment on the report when questioned by journalists Thursday during an official visit to Greece.

“You guys walk around thinking that because some source told you something and you reported it, it’s the gospel,” Rubio scolded as Guilfoyle looked on. “It’s not the gospel. It’s not the gospel for me. That’s not the way we do things.”