Peanut Butter News

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RALEIGH, N.C. — Thousands of people were told to start evacuating a North Carolina island Wednesday morning as Hurricane Earl threatened to sideswipe the East Coast.

The 800 or so year-round residents of Ocracoke Island were told they do not have to go, but Emergency Services Director Lindsey Mooney said officials hoped they would follow about 5,000 tourists ordered to leave for the mainland from 5 a.m.

“I don’t remember the last time there was a mandatory evacuation order for the island,” Hyde County Commissioner Kenneth Collier said.

More evacuations along the Eastern Seaboard could follow, depending on the path taken by the Category 4 storm, which was whipping across the Caribbean with winds of 135 mph.

Full Story at news.Yahoo.com

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Hurricane Earl lashed northern Leeward Islands with heavy rain and strong winds Monday after strengthening into a Category 2 storm. Hotels were shut tightly overnight as tourists sought shelter inside their rooms.

The U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said Earl could become a major hurricane Monday night or early Tuesday.

Hurricane warnings were in effect for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St. Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, St. Martin, St. Barthelemy, St. Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — The one really big question hanging over President Obama’s weekend vacation to Panama City, Florida, now has an answer.

Will he or won’t he dive into the water to send a message that the Gulf Coast is back?

The answer: He will, and sooner than expected.

“I think we’re going to go tomorrow and as I just said Ed, I’m not going to let you guys take a picture of me with my shirt off,” Obama jokingly told CNN Saturday. “You guys will tease me just like last time. I was on the front page … People commenting.”

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — Investigators will be on the scene Wednesday of a plane crash that killed former U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens and four others. Also, autopsies are expected to be completed by the end of the day.

Brutal terrain and bad weather on the remote Alaska mountain kept survivors waiting 12 hours for rescue after the crash, officials and witnesses said Tuesday.

“The weather was very challenging for those responding,” said Deborah Hersman, chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board.

Full Story at CNN.com

Los Angeles, California (CNN) — Hundreds of firefighters battled a third wildfire in the Los Angeles area early Friday as two more raged within 60 miles of one another.

The latest — known as the Crown Fire — has ignited more than 5,000 acres, fire officials said.

About 500 firefighters were at the scene, with mandatory evacuations in effect for nearly 2,000 residences.

Areas affected included some parts of Leona Valley, Ritter Ranch, Anaverde and Palmdale in northern Los Angeles County.

Full Story at CNN.com

London, England (CNN) — A solar-powered aircraft, which a team hopes will one day circle the globe, completed a 26-hour test flight in Switzerland at 9 a.m. (3 a.m. ET) Thursday.

Solar Impulse took off shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday from an airfield in Payerne, 80 miles northeast of Geneva.

The plane was piloted by Andre Borschberg, who flew to a height of nearly 28,000 feet (8,500 meters).

“I’ve been a pilot for 40 years now, but this flight has been the most incredible one of my flying career,” Borschberg said, according to the New York Times.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — Hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico would force the shutdown of BP’s relief well operations, further hampering what BP has said is the best sure-fire way of plugging the massive oil leak.

“How much time you could potentially lose when you shut down for a hurricane is more or less controlled by the circumstances,” said Dave Rensink, the incoming president of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists.

Full Story at msnbc.com

VENICE, La. – As hurricane season approaches, the giant oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is taking weather forecasters into nearly uncharted waters.

The Gulf is a superhighway for hurricanes that form or explode over pools of hot water, then usually move north or west toward the coast. It’s now the site of the worst oil spill in U.S. history and along the general path of some of the worst storms ever recorded, including Hurricane Camille, which wiped out the Mississippi coast in 1969, and Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Full Story at gnn.com

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (MAY 17) — Country music singers Brad Paisley, Keith Urban and Lady Antebellum joined other entertainment stars in performing and answering phones to help raise more than $1.5 million for flood relief for Tennessee.
“If there is a silver lining, it’s that the world is getting to see Nashville at its best through this tragedy,” Paisley said during the telethon Sunday on the GAC Network.
Paisley kicked off the telethon with an energized version of his song “Welcome to the Future.” When he finished, he looked into the audience where his wife, actress Kimberly Williams Paisley, was standing as the show’s co-host.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — Efforts were under way Sunday to contain and stop oil leaking from a well after a rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

Officials found oil was leaking Saturday from the well. The Deepwater Horizon oil rig was drilling when it exploded Tuesday night, the Coast Guard said. Rescuers on Friday suspended the search for 11 people missing after the blast and subsequent sinking of the rig.

Full Story at CNN.com

(CNN) — Punxsutawney Phil, America’s most famous rodent prognosticator, saw his shadow Tuesday, signaling six more weeks of winter.

Phil emerged from his ceremonial tree stump at Gobbler’s Knob, Pennsylvania, to a cheering crowd that had waited in the cold for his annual prediction.

It is the 99th time that Phil — in his various incarnations — has seen his shadow, according to groundhog.org, the official Web site of the groundhog club in Punxsutawney, about 75 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, in western Pennsylvania.

Full Story at msnbc.com

BEIJING – China announced plans Thursday to cut its carbon emissions by up to 45 percent as measured against its economic output — a commitment from the world’s largest polluter that builds momentum ahead of a widely anticipated climate conference in Copenhagen next month.

The announcement comes a day after President Barack Obama promised the U.S. would lay out plans to substantially cut its greenhouse gas emissions at the summit.