Surfside search efforts are at '100% full strength' as Tropical Storm Elsa nears the state, mayor says
CNN
Search and rescue efforts at the site of a Florida condo building collapse have grown even more urgent as a tropical storm barrels toward the state, threatening to challenge crews with downpours and the possibility of tornadoes.
"We're now at 100% full strength, full-on pulling everybody out of that rubble pile." Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told CNN. Tropical Storm Elsa has not hit Florida at full force yet, but the rain has begun falling. Despite the weather conditions, responders onsite were seen putting on biohazard suits and continuing the search.Elected officials, Jewish advocacy groups and civil rights leaders are vowing to “push back” against the message of a White nationalist group that staged a march last week near downtown Columbus, Ohio, calling the demonstration an act of hate unwelcome in their community – and the United States more broadly.
Senate Democrats have confirmed some of President Joe Biden’s picks for the federal bench this week in the face of President-elect Donald Trump’s calls for a total GOP blockade of judicial nominations – in part because several Republicans involved with the Trump transition process have been missing votes.