Rare 1787 US Constitution copy goes up for auction
A rare 237-year-old copy of the U.S. Constitution is up for auction in North Carolina, with bids already starting at $1 million. Brunk Auctions is handling the sale of the document, believed to be the only privately owned copy of its kind. There is no reserve price set for the auction.
This particular copy was printed in 1787 after the Constitutional Convention completed its draft of the nation’s framework. It was then sent to Congress under the Articles of Confederation, requesting that the states ratify it.
Charles Thomson, the secretary of Congress, printed about 100 copies of the document. Only eight are known to still exist, with the other seven held in public collections.
The history of this specific copy remains unclear. Thomson likely signed two copies for each of the original 13 states, but the whereabouts of this document over the centuries is largely unknown. It resurfaced just two years ago in Edenton, North Carolina, during the clearing of a property once owned by Samuel Johnston, North Carolina’s governor in the late 1780s.
The Constitution was found in a metal filing cabinet in a neglected room filled with old furniture.
Along with the Constitution, the document included a letter from George Washington, urging states to ratify the document and noting the need for compromise to secure the nation’s future.
Auction officials have not estimated what the final sale price might be, as few similar sales offer comparison.
The last time a comparable copy of the Constitution sold was in 1891 for $400. However, in 2021, Sotheby’s auctioned a different copy, printed for the Continental Congress, for $43.2 million, setting a record for a book or document.
Other historic items up for auction include a first draft of the 1776 Articles of Confederation and a journal from North Carolina’s 1788 convention, where representatives debated whether to ratify the Constitution.
Dozens still missing in North Carolina weeks after Helene
Gov. Roy Cooper, D-N.C., provided an update during the week of Oct. 13, on the ongoing recovery efforts in North Carolina following the devastation caused by Hurricane Helene. Cooper announced that 81 people remained missing across the state.
Initially, a task force was formed to locate 92 unaccounted-for individuals. That number fluctuated, but Cooper recently revised it down to 81. The governor expressed gratitude to the teams involved in the search efforts and shared updates of broader relief initiatives.
As of this week, 77,000 people had applied for aid through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), and $99 million in relief funds had already be distributed. FEMA was also providing temporary housing for nearly 2,000 people displaced by the storm.
Cooper also addressed growing concerns about misinformation surrounding the recovery efforts. He made a public appeal to stop the spread of false information.
In his remarks, Cooper also criticized Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, R-N.C., the Republican gubernatorial candidate, for allegedly contributing to disinformation campaigns related to the recovery.
Cooper’s comments came as safety threats against FEMA workers escalated.
Over the weekend, a man in Rutherford County was arrested for allegedly threatening to harm FEMA personnel. The suspect, who had several firearms, was released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court later this week.
Despite the challenges, Gov. Cooper remained optimistic about the recovery process in the coastal state.
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson sues CNN, alleges defamation
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, R, also the state’s Republican gubernatorial candidate, is suing CNN for $50 million for defamation. The lawsuit stems from CNN’s report that claimed Robinson made racist and sexually depraved comments on a pornography message board more than a decade ago.
The CNN report detailed Robinson allegedly referring to himself as a “Black Nazi” who wanted to reinstate slavery and described spying on women in showers.
Robinson denied the report, calling it “salacious tabloid trash.”
In the days following the report, several of Robinson’s campaign staffers resigned, and Republican presidential nominee, former President Donald Trump, distanced himself from Robinson after previously endorsing him.
Robinson’s polling numbers soon collapsed, with a poll from High Point University putting him ahead of his opponent, Democrat and current North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, by 5% back in May. Now, according to RealClearPolitics, Robinson sits over 15 percentage points behind his election opponent.
In the lawsuit, filed in Wake County Superior Court, Robinson claims CNN’s report was a “coordinated attack aimed at derailing his campaign for governor, and has already inflicted immeasurable harm to his family, his reputation and his good name.”
Harris, Trump turn to PA with 3 weeks to go until Election Day
With exactly three weeks until Election Day, both candidates have their sights set on Pennsylvania. And NASA has launched its ambitious plan to visit the largest planet in our solar system in hopes of making a new discovery. These stories and more highlight your Unbiased Updates for Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024.
Harris, Trump turn to PA with 3 weeks to go until Election Day
With just three weeks until Election Day, the 2024 presidential candidates are focusing on the key battleground states — and none may be as important as Pennsylvania and its 19 electoral votes. Both Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump took their message once again to the Keystone State on Monday, Oct. 14, each believing that if they win Pennsylvania, they will win the election.
Harris held a rally in the northwestern city of Erie, where Trump visited a few weeks ago. The vice president painted her opponent as a threat to American democracy, warning her supporters of what she calls the dangers of another Trump presidency.
“I believe so strongly that a second Trump term would be a huge risk for America and dangerous,” she said. “Donald Trump is increasingly unstable and unhinged, and he is out for unchecked power. That’s what he’s looking for.”
Harris also urged Pennsylvanians to get out to vote early as mail-in voting is now underway in the state.
Also Monday, former President Trump spoke during a town hall in Oaks, Pennsylvania, a suburb of Philadelphia. He touched on claims he’s a threat to democracy.
“When they talk about a threat to democracy, how about where they take a candidate who won fair and square, they throw them out and they put up a woman who failed, was the first one to drop out of a field of 22 and got no votes?” he said. “And this is the person we’re running against. And she is not a smart woman. That’s true. And we cannot — we’ve had that for four years. We’re not going to have it for another four years.”
Trump cut his town hall short after two attendees required medical attention, with both the former president and moderator South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem commenting on the heat in the venue. Trump then requested music be played for the remainder of the event.
Trump will be back in Georgia on Tuesday as the focus on the battleground states intensifies.
Along with rallies, the candidates are continuing their media tour to reach voters. The vice president will take part in a town hall Tuesday, Oct. 15, hosted by the radio program “The Breakfast Club” and then she will appear on Fox News on Wednesday, Oct. 16.
The group of pro-Palestinian demonstrators staged a sit-in demanding an end to U.S. support for Israel’s war against Hamas. While none of the protesters got into the stock exchange, dozens did cross the security fence put in place by police.
A New York Police Department spokesperson said officers arrested 206 people.
Since the war in Gaza started just over a year ago, more than 42,000 Palestinians have been killed and almost the entire population has been displaced, according to Gaza health officials.
North Carolina man arrested for allegedly threatening FEMA workers
Investigators in North Carolina arrested and charged a man with threatening to harm FEMA workers who were helping parts of the state devastated by Hurricane Helene.
According to the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office, William Parsons, 44, is charged with “going armed to the terror of the public” — a misdemeanor.
In a statement, the sheriff said while initial reports indicated there was a group of armed militia members threatening FEMA workers, they found Parsons acted alone. Officials said he did have a handgun and a rifle in his possession when arrested.
The arrest followed misinformation and disinformation being spread about FEMA in the wake of the natural disaster and caused FEMA to change the way it was working to help people impacted by Helene because of concerns over workers’ safety.
NASA launches mission to find signs of life on Jupiter moon
The mission, dubbed Europa Clipper, started its long journey to Jupiter’s fourth largest moon on Monday. It’s expected to enter the planet’s orbit in 2030 after a flight of 1.8 billion miles.
Pair of giant pandas set to arrive at the National Zoo
Eleven months after the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Said goodbye to its giant pandas, two new ones are on their way. The pair of giant pandas have officially left a research facility in China and are set to be flown to D.C., according to Chinese officials.
It’s not yet clear when they’ll arrive. The zoo’s website still says new pandas will be coming by the end of the year, however, on Monday, the Zoo did announce it will be closed Tuesday for the safety of the pandas and staff.
The return of panda diplomacy between China and the U.S. has already seen a pair delivered to the San Diego Zoo with another promised to San Francisco.
2,471-pound pumpkin wins world championship
A 2,471-pound pumpkin won the 51st World Championship Pumpkin Weigh-off Monday in Half Moon Bay, California, south of San Francisco, defeating its closest competitor by six pounds.
Certain FEMA operations in Ashe County, northeast of Asheville, were paused over the weekend of Oct. 12 out of an abundance of caution, according to the sheriff. The agency stopped in-person applications for aid in at least two different locations, but operations were expected to be back to normal on Monday, Oct. 14.
To the southeast of Asheville in Rutherford County, FEMA teams worked from fixed locations instead of going door-to-door after National Guard troops reported seeing “armed militia” threatening FEMA workers, according to The Washington Post.
FEMA said its search-and-rescue efforts will continue, but its disaster survivor assistance teams will continue to work at fixed locations and secure areas as a precaution while the agency assesses potential threat information.
Critical IV fluid manufacturing facility spared Hurricane Milton’s wrath
As the U.S. faces a shortage of IV fluid in the wake of Hurricane Helene, one major manufacturer was spared Hurricane Milton’s wrath. When Helene tore through North Carolina, it damaged Baxter International, a company that makes IV fluids which are critical for hospitals to fully function.
Baxter is the biggest supplier of IV bags in the country, so the hit was especially devastating, forcing hospitals to turn to other suppliers to fill the gap. One of those suppliers is B. Braun Medical in Daytona Beach. Before Hurricane Milton, the federal government helped the company move more than 60 truckloads, or about 1.5 million bags of IV solution to north Florida, where the storm’s impacts were minor.
Officials with Braun said the Daytona Beach facility was not seriously impacted by Milton and it reopened Friday, Oct. 11. The IV bags that it moved out of the storm’s path are also being returned to the facility.
Baxter started limiting customer orders after Helene. Hospitals also started conserving IV fluids and delaying some nonemergency surgeries that would require it. The Daytona Beach site is a key part of the plan to address the IV fluid shortage. Braun also said it is increasing production at its factory in Irvine, California.
Hurricane Milton likely caused $60 billion in insured losses, early estimate shows
Hurricane Milton was a one-in-1,000-year rainfall event for the Tampa, Florida, area, with wind gusts around 100 miles per hour. The roof blew off the Tampa Bay Rays’ Tropicana Field, which was supposed to house hurricane workers. Hurricane Milton has torn through Florida, and now comes the recovery.
A Morningstar analysis ahead of the storm estimated Milton’s damage could cause between $60 billion to $100 billion in insured losses. For reference, Hurricane Katrina’s insured losses totaled $100 billion in today’s dollars.
In an interview with Straight Arrow News Thursday, Oct. 10, Morningstar Senior Vice President Nadja Dreff said based on Milton’s landfall, the investment research company expects the resulting losses to be on the lower end of the range.
“Instead of the hurricane hitting head on to Tampa, we know that it actually hit slightly below, which does make a difference to what our insured loss estimates are going to be and does lower them,” Dreff, who is sector lead for Global Insurance and Pension Ratings, said.
At this point, Dreff estimates insured losses may reach $60 billion, given the forceful winds and flooding Milton brought through the state of Florida. That includes about $10 billion from the federal flood insurance program for “substantial” damages from flooding.
Insured losses from Hurricane Helene, which made landfall two weeks before Milton and devastated inland communities, will be much smaller than Milton, according to Dreff. She said insured losses there may reach up to $10 billion but are much less in comparison due to the population density in Milton’s path.
Katrina, which devastated the South in 2004, remains the largest insured-loss hurricane in the U.S.
Hurricane Ian, from 2022, is second, with about $60 billion in insured losses. Dreff expects Milton could be on par with Ian.
As a result, despite insurance prices stabilizing in Florida and surrounding areas as of late, the latest storms will likely lead to higher reinsurance rates, Dreff said.
Economy may reel from hurricanes for 6+ months, Fed president says
Recovery efforts for Hurricane Helene are just getting started in the southeastern U.S., as Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida. The back-to-back disasters less than two weeks apart will have a lasting impact on the economy, Atlanta Federal Reserve Bank President Raphael Bostic warned during the week of Oct. 6.
Bostic said hurricane season impacts could evolve over the next six months or more and is something the Fed will closely track. As Milton’s path becomes more clear, damage estimates range from tens to more than $100 billion in losses. Private insured losses from Helene are around $8 billion to $14 billion, Moody’s estimates.
“Hurricane Helene is by far the most impactful event of the current 2024 hurricane season thus far, though this may quickly change with Major Hurricane Milton due to impact Florida in the coming days,” Moody’s Chief Risk Modeling Officer Mohsen Rahnama said.
“The hurricane is going to have a substantial effect on numbers coming out of the entire Southeast. We’re going to see a very large number of people who are temporarily laid off,” Harris said. “It’s hard to know exactly how long that’s going to last…The swath of the hurricane [Helene] was quite broad, and it hit a lot of population centers. So I think that is going to have a meaningful effect.”
Supply chain shocks are also expected post-hurricanes, especially with food, medicine and gas, as people rush for supplies. The storms hinder transportation routes which bottleneck delivering goods. In addition, Milton has the potential to damage major port infrastructure in Tampa and hinder trade routes nationally and internationally.
“When we think about a huge, horrific natural disaster with a huge human toll, we tend to focus solely on the negative sides of the economic impact – and for obvious reasons,” RiverFront Investment Group Chief Investment Strategist Chris Konstantinos told Straight Arrow News. “The cold, hard economic fact is [there are] gives and takes of what happens after a catastrophe like this. There are often two sides of it.”
“There’s going to be a huge amount of infrastructure spend,” Konstantinos added. “And so for companies, industry sectors that are construction related, sometimes these things can actually be a huge stimulus of sorts in those areas. And that may, at least regionally, actually increase some of the manufacturing data that we’re seeing.”
Konstantinos also said despite massive insured losses in the short term, insurance companies can benefit from major storms in the long run because they can lock in rate hikes. In Florida, home insurance rates are already the highest in the nation, with homeowners paying an average of about $1,000 per month for coverage that does not include flood insurance.
North Carolina officials concerned about Hurricane Helene’s election impact
Hurricane Helene’s destruction in places like Asheville, North Carolina, is having a ripple effect. Now, elections officials are working to make sure everyone has a chance to vote. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has declared more than 20 counties as disaster areas in the western part of the state.
There are concerns about voter turnout and ballot delivery due to widespread damage. As a result, state officials passed emergency measures to make it easier for storm victims to cast their vote.
The North Carolina Board of Elections approved more than a dozen changes. Those changes will allow counties to alter early voting and Election Day locations, as well as allow voters to drop off absentee ballots at any board of elections office by 7:30 p.m. on election night.
“Many of these communities will be without power, without water, without internet, without cell service potentially for weeks,” said Board of Elections Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell. “Our job is to figure out, as long as there are citizens in those communities, how do we provide them with voting opportunities so that they can exercise their right to vote.”
North Carolina is a very important battleground state in the upcoming presidential election with 16 electoral votes. Former President Donald Trump narrowly won the state in 2020 and polls show it will be close again this November.
Real Clear Politics shows Trump ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris by less than one percentage point.
The state voter registration deadline remains Oct. 11 with early voting set to begin Oct. 17.
If the Waffle House stays open, people often take that as a sign a storm is not likely to devastate their area. However, if the popular breakfast chain closes down, you need to leave – at least according to the Waffle House Index.
The Waffle House Index is a real, though not scientifically backed, measure of how bad a storm is. It’s not just locals who use it, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) does too, as a way to identify communities most in need of immediate help after a storm.
Take Hurricane Helene, for example. That storm barreled through six states nearly two weeks ago, causing mass devastation.
In parts of North Carolina and Georgia — which bore the brunt of Helene’s impacts — about two dozen Waffle House restaurants are still closed, and several others are only serving a limited menu.
Waffle House has more than 1,900 locations in the U.S., mostly in the Southeast and mid-Atlantic.
The chain, which normally stays open 24/7, 365 days a year, is known for being well-prepared for disasters and either staying open through them or reopening quickly after. It has a limited menu ready to go for when there are food shortages and power outages. It can even put together “Waffle House jump teams” to quickly reopen restaurants as soon as it’s safe to after a disaster.
Waffle House has been so good at predicting how bad a storm will be that in 2011, then-FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate was the one who created the term Waffle House Index.
The Waffle House Index has three levels: green, yellow, and red. Because Waffle House already has a plan in place for power outages and limited supplies, the index rarely reaches red.
So, what is the Waffle House Index telling us about Hurricane Milton? Things aren’t looking great for parts of Florida directly in its path, with dozens of locations closing to weather out the storm.
