"Water was up over the rooftop": Florida official describes harrowing scene as search missions continue
CBSN
Devastation continues to unfold in Florida as rescue missions continue in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian.
Kevin Guthrie, director of Florida's Division of Emergency Management, said there have been more than 700 rescues so far and that they are in "hasty search" mode, while the governor said more than 1,000 rescue personnel are going up and down the Florida coast.
Guthrie described one scene — at a location that was not specified — of a completely flooded house with what was believed to be bodies inside.
More than 2 million federal employees face a looming deadline: By midnight on Thursday, they must decide whether to accept a "deferred resignation" offer from the Trump administration. If workers accept, according to a White House plan, they would continue getting paid through September but would be excused from reporting for duty. But if they opt to keep their jobs, they could get fired.
More employees of the Environmental Protection Agency were informed Wednesday that their jobs appear in doubt. Senior leadership at the EPA held an all-staff meeting to tell individuals that President Trump's executive order, "Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing," which was responsible for the closure of the agency's Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion office, will likely lead to the shuttering of the Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights as well.
In her first hours as attorney general, Pam Bondi issued a broad slate of directives that included a Justice Department review of the prosecutions of President Trump, a reorientation of department work to focus on harsher punishments, actions punishing so-called "sanctuary" cities and an end to diversity initiatives at the department.