Tropical Storm Fay stalls, floods Florida
MIAMI, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Tropical Storm Fay confounded forecasters Wednesday by stalling over Central Florida and flooding brought out the National Guard.
At 2 p.m., the National Hurricane Center in Miami said the 5-day old storm had stopped advancing and was centered about 15 miles north of Cape Canaveral, Fla., where NASA closed its space launching facilities for a second day.
Fay had sustained winds of 50 mph with higher gusts, but they were mostly over the Atlantic Ocean. Flooding was the main concern. The center said it had unconfirmed reports almost 22 inches of rain was measured just to the northwest of Melbourne, near Orlando.
The storm was expected to resume a slow northward motion with a turn to the northwest on Thursday.
Models Wednesday indicated it would make a reverse-S and make a Florida landfall for a third time Thursday.
Fay struck the Florida Keys Monday night, then made landfall Tuesday near Naples, and has veered eastward and appeared set to head west again, meteorologist John Kocet of Accuweather.com said.
A contingent of National Guard members arrived in central Brevard County Wednesday afternoon to assess flooding, bridge and canal integrity, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
Denver meets DNC fundraising goal
DENVER, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- The Denver committee responsible for raising $40.6 million in funding for the upcoming Democratic National Convention has met its goal, officials say.
Political consultant Eric Sondermann said Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper should be credited with helping the committee garner the funds deemed necessary to adequately support next week's convention in the Colorado city, The Denver Post said Wednesday.
"I think you have to give credit where credit is due," Sondermann said. "(Denver Mayor John) Hickenlooper has been tenacious about this and never gave up, even when a lot of people figured we would have to make this a success even if it has to be scaled down."
The group's successful efforts come more than a month after it reported it was $11 million short of meeting its June deadline for DNC funding, the Post reported.
Hickenlooper said Tuesday the group was still fundraising in order to fund the final DNC event at Invesco Field at Mile High, adding that such efforts should be completed by Friday.
"In the last four weeks, our rate of fundraising is between two and three times what it was," the mayor said. "The (Invesco) fundraising will be done by Friday."
S. Ossetian official: nearly 1,500 died
TBILISI, Georgia, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Officials in South Ossetia said nearly 1,500 residents were killed in Georgia's military operation in the breakaway province.
Officials of the breakaway republic earlier said the number dead topped 2,000 while Russia -- which sent troops into the area and overwhelmed Georgian forces -- estimated the death toll at 1,600, the Russian news agency RIA-Novosti reported Wednesday.
However, independent reports on the number dead showed lower numbers.
"At a meeting of the emergency commission on dealing with the consequences of Georgia's act of aggression, it was announced that 1,492 people were killed in Georgia's attack on South Ossetia," government spokeswoman Irina Gagloyeva said.
Gagloyeva also said Georgia's military was holding more than 170 prisoners.
Destruction in the province's capital, Tskhinvali, include cutting off gas and electricity supplies as well as destroying the water supply utilities, she said. Electricity was partially restored Wednesday and Russia's chief sanitary official said water supplies would be restored soon.
NTSB to investigate Spanair plane crash
MADRID, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board will send investigators to Madrid assist in a probe of the crash of a Spanair jet that killed over 140 people.
Among the more than 170 passengers and crew reportedly on board the MD 82 plane, 27 were injured, El Mundo newspaper reported online.
A handful of those on board the jetliner have yet to be located among the wreckage.
The flight taking off from Madrid and bound for Las Palmas in the nearby Canary Islands crashed shortly after takeoff, witnesses and emergency officials said.
El Mundo reported that the plane's left jet engine caught on fire on takeoff.
U.S. Rep. Tubbs Jones had aneurysm
EAST CLEVELAND, Ohio, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Stephanie Tubbs Jones, D-Ohio, was listed in critical condition Wednesday in Huron Hospital in East Cleveland, Ohio, after suffering a brain aneurysm.
A hospital spokeswoman confirmed that Tubbs Jones was admitted after a police emergency late Tuesday, WEWS-TV, Cleveland, reported.
The Plain Dealer newspaper in Cleveland said 58-year-old politician suffered an aneurysm while driving and was in critical condition with limited brain function.
Tubbs Jones, who was to attend next week's Democratic National Convention in Denver, was elected to her post in 1998. Her election to the U.S. House of Representatives marked the first time a black woman was picked to represent Ohio in the U.S. Congress.
WEWS-TV said Tubbs Jones is a supporter of presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama after a lengthy campaign of supporting former White House hopeful, U.S. Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y.
Grand Canyon flooding leaves devastation
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz., Aug. 20 (UPI) -- Tribal members have returned to their Arizona homes and 11 missing tourists were found as Grand Canyon flood waters receded.
More than 250 people were evacuated because of the flooding in Havasu Canyon, which left thick mud throughout the area and impassable trails and bridges, The Arizona Republic reported Wednesday.
"It's devastating," said Drusilla Clarke, speaking for the Bureau of Indian Affairs about the Havasupai tribal areas. "My grandparents lived down there. It's going to be really hard for the people."
The missing hikers had actually been among the first airlifted from their area but their names were inadvertently left off rosters.
Not so fortunate will be the tourism fortunes upon which the tribe depends for approximately $2 million annually.
"I'm afraid it looks pretty grave," Billy Jack of the Havasupai tourism office told the Republic. "The whole area's unstable, especially toward the falls. "The tourist dollars are really critical."
