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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Live from NPR News, I'm Lakshmi Singh. Jamaica is bracing for what could be the strongest known hurricane to strike the island. Hurricane Melissa's top sustained winds have intensified to 175 miles per hour, according to the latest reports from the National Hurricane Center. NPR's Rebecca Herscher has more.
Chapter 2: What is the impact of Hurricane Melissa on Jamaica?
Category 5 hurricanes have extremely powerful winds, strong enough to knock down homes that are made of wood and rip off most roofs. And Hurricane Melissa is also moving extremely slowly, which means it will linger over land, dumping huge amounts of rain. The storm is expected to bring multiple feet of rain to some parts of Jamaica.
That's particularly dangerous because the island has hills and mountains. When a large amount of rain falls in such an area, it can cause deadly flash flooding because the water picks up speed as it flows downhill. Climate change makes large, rainy hurricanes like Melissa more likely. Rebecca Herscher, NPR News.
With the government shutdown running nearly four weeks, House Speaker Mike Johnson returned to the podium today to detail how the political standoff in Washington over agency funding is acutely affecting services to millions of Americans. This morning, the public heard from Small Business Administrator Kelly Loeffler.
Small businesses that rely on federal contracts, thousands of them across the country, have received stop work orders. Thousands more who rely on federal workers as their customers are seeing their revenue dry up.
Air traffic controllers are expected to miss their first full paycheck tomorrow. The U.S. had already been experiencing a shortage of personnel responsible for sky safety. King Charles has again been heckled over his younger brother, Prince Andrew's, involvement in the Epstein affair.
The scandal loomed on a day when the monarch unveiled a national memorial for gay veterans in the English Midlands. NPR's Lauren Fair reports the event was King Charles' first official event in support of LGBTQ rights.
King Charles laid flowers at a bronze sculpture carved with words from personal letters once used to incriminate gay service members. An independent commission found they suffered systemic abuse under a ban on homosexuality in the military that lasted until the year 2000.
Crowds lined up to thank the king for his support for LGBTQ rights, but others yelled at him about his younger brother's friendship with Jeffrey Epstein.
How long have you known about Andrew and Epstein?
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