Dangerous storms expected all over South and Midwest today – National & International News – FRI 31Mar2023

Dangerous storms expected all over South and Midwest today.

Trump indicted in porn star hush money case.

NATIONAL NEWS

Dangerous storms expected all over South and Midwest today

Atmospheric conditions have intensified significantly since yesterday’s predictions of severe weather. The storm system is now spread over a much wider area and the probabilities of high winds, hail and tornados have increased. North Mississippi will be experiencing severe weather for at least a day. The worst of the weather will likely come in the evening between 6pm and midnight, which makes it all the more dangerous.

Severe weather outlook from tonight to tomorrow from the National Weather Service.

 Tornado and flood advisories are already in effect for several Mississippi counties. Most are in effect now and will end around midday tomorrow, by which time the system will be moving east and losing strength.

If you can possibly stay indoors, do. Make sure your phones and other devices are charged as power outages are likely. Avoid driving if you can. If you have to drive, on no account should you drive into standing or flowing water.

Follow the storms on NWS Live Radar (opens in new tab).

NOAA Storm Prediction Center (opens in new tab).

Click here for the full story (opens in new tab).

Trump indicted in porn star hush money case

Last night, a New York grand jury voted to bring criminal charges against President Donald Trump. The grand jury, led by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, was probing hush money payments Trump made to porn star Stormy Daniels days before the 2016 election.

It’s not clear yet what crime Trump is charged with. The charges won’t become public until Trump is arrested and appears before a judge in Manhattan. That could happen as soon as next Tuesday.

In 2016, Trump’s former attorney Andy Cohen gave Daniels $130,000 to stop her selling her story to the press about an affair Daniels and Trump engaged in in 2006, shortly after Trump’s wife Melania had given birth to the couple’s son. Trump then reimbursed Cohen and recorded the expense in his accounts as “legal fees”. This falsifying of legal documents is a crime for which Trump could potentially be charged. The other potential crime would be a campaign finance violation. Prosecutors could argue the hush money payment was to aid his presidential campaign, which is illegal.

Political theater

Trump has described this case and various other criminal investigations against him as being politically-motivated “witch hunts”. But behind the scenes, Trump and his supporters seem almost gleeful about the prospect that the prosecution and attending spectacle could help rally Trump’s supporters and give him a boost in the 2024 primaries and even the general election.

This was evident a couple of weekends ago when Trump published a lengthy, all caps rant claiming he was going to be indicted and arrested the following Tuesday. This turned out to be false. In his post, Trump also called on his supporters to protest his indictment. Little came of this. Days later, reports surfaced that Trump had told advisers that he wanted to be handcuffed during his first court appearance in the case. That reportedly isn’t going to happen.

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