Friday Scoop: Trail of Destruction

Hurricane Michael Claims 11 Lives, Leaves Parts of Florida Destroyed

Drone footage shows the devastation in Mexico Beach, Florida. (Image: PBS Video)

As the remains of a Hurricane Michael — the most powerful storm to ever hit the Florida Panhandle — moved up the East Coast last night, the extent of the devastation left behind was becoming clear to residents of Panama City, Fl., which took a direct hit.

“Smashed glass and the debris from the inside of buildings was strewn on every street. Books, records, pillows, and even office chairs lay motionless next to random pieces of roof and other building parts,” was how Alabama.com described the scene.

Deaths in Georgia, Virginia, and North Carolina were blamed on the storm, which officials say was one of the top four strongest hurricanes to strike the U.S. Recovery efforts, power restoration and rebuilding is expected to take months, if not years, in some areas.

U.S. – Saudi Relations Strained After Disappearance of Washington Post Writer

Jamal Khashoggi, a U.S.-based journalist who was last seen on October 2, when he visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, is at the center of a growing international incident.

The Hill reports, “Khashoggi was an insider of the Saudi royal court before he became a fierce critic, particularly of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. He has been living in self-imposed exile in the Washington, D.C., area since 2017 and writing columns for the Washington Post, many of which have criticized Prince Mohammed, who’s considered the day-to-day leader of Saudi Arabia.”

At least one key lawmaker in Washington has said they have information that proves Saudi Arabia killed Khashoggi. Democratic Senator Tim Kaine said, “the burden of proof is now on the Saudis to demonstrate that they were not participants in any way in harming, killing or kidnapping Mr. Khashoggi.”

President Trump is being urged to prevent further damage to Saudi relations by formally addressing the matter with the Saudi government. 

Today in a Tweet: Kayne in the Oval Office

Kayne West’s meeting with President Trump is still trending this morning. And his password is 00000?

Last But Not Least: Human Genome Sequencing is Creating a Brighter Future

Every week, five new rare diseases are being discovered.

As of now, there are around 8,000 existing disorders in which fewer than five out of 10,000 people share the same condition. While roughly 80% of all rare disorders are genetically based, genome-sequencing technology was never sufficient enough to determine the cause of the disorder, it was only able to sequence a small part of the genome in order to detect any mutations.

CMN’s Alex Mauriello reports on how recent advances in genome sequencing is changing the way rare diseases are being treated. 

Friday’s Morning Scoop was made possible by Alex Mauriello and the CMN Staff. If you’ve read all the way down here, good work. You’ve earned a couple of days off.