Texas on alert as Beryl churns closer; landfall as hurricane likely

Texas on alert as Beryl churns closer; landfall as hurricane likely

Texas on alert as Beryl churns closer; landfall as hurricane likely, Beryl, once a hurricane and now a tropical storm, is expected to regain hurricane strength before it hits the south Texas coast late Sunday or early Monday, the National Hurricane Center said Saturday.

The storm weakened after making landfall on Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula Friday morning, after it plowed through the Caribbean and Jamaica earlier this week killing at least 11 people.

“This is a determined storm that is still strong,” Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said at a news briefing on Friday.

At 4 p.m. local time, Beryl was about 385 miles southeast of Corpus Christi in the Gulf of Mexico, traveling west-northwest at 13 mph. It was expected to continue moving northwest into Sunday, then north-northwest by Sunday night, and make landfall on the Texas coast Monday after re-strengthening to a Category 1 hurricane.

On Saturday, Beryl's winds reached up to 60 mph, with higher gusts.

Hurricane, tropical storm and storm surge watches and warnings were issued Saturday along Texas' Gulf Coast, the hurricane center said. Storm surge in Texas could reach as high as 6 feet from Mesquite Bay to Sargent and Matagorda Bay.

Tornadoes are possible Sunday, and rainfall totals were forecast between 5 to 10 inches, with as much as 15 inches in some locations.

"This rainfall will likely produce areas of flash and urban flooding, some of which may be locally considerable," the hurricane center said. "Minor to isolated moderate river flooding is also possible."'

∎ At least 11 people were killed in Jamaica, Grenada, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and northern Venezuela after Beryl tore through, officials have said. There were no casualties in Mexico.

∎ Beryl, the first hurricane of the 2024 Atlantic season, became the earliest Category 5 hurricane on record. With its rapid intensification, Beryl became a hurricane within 24 hours of formation. Within another 24 hours, its winds had increased 55 mph, reaching 130 mph, almost a Category 4 hurricane.

∎ Schools near Texas' coast canceled class activities on Monday, including the Corpus Christi and West Oso school districts. Del Mar College will close its campus on Monday, while Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi will shift to remote status.

How ocean temps have fueled Beryl: Hurricane super-charged by warm seas

'Beat the rush,' be prepared, hardware store owner says

Shop now, not later. That's what Raoul Martinez, who owns a hardware store in Corpus Christi, Texas, reminded his customers Saturday as Beryl took a turn toward the city.

"GET EVERY BATTERY CHARGED in your household," Martinez posted from the No Hassle Tools and More Facebook page early Saturday. "Have a chainsaw on hand to cut away any debris. Cut your grass now so it don’t grow like crazy. Tie down kids playgrounds and animal houses."

Worried but calm customers were buying necessities, he told USA TODAY. Martinez vowed his store will be open through the storm as long he can reach it safely.

"There are people who are going to be in need and we will never know until it happens," he said. "I have tools for everything, and I want to be at people's disposals and it's OK for me."

Martinez encouraged people to be prepared and not wait.

"Beat the rush," Martinez said. "A lot of us small businesses are taking the time out and there are little stores selling water, sand bags, and I'm at least staying open for people."

Some Texas residents asked to evacuate ahead of storm conditions

Voluntary evacuations were in place in some counties along the Texas coast.

Aransas County urged residents to evacuate but made it voluntary. Emergency officials there said anyone who lives in an RV should evacuate, as well as those in low-lying areas.

Matagorda County warned residents that floodwaters from the storm could trap them in their homes and called for voluntary evacuations in coastal areas of the county.

"The biggest concern for this situation is the coastal areas of our County. Low lying areas that normally flood are impacted," the county said in a news release on Friday.

Sandbags were being distributed in the City of Kingsville in Kleberg County as voluntary evacuation was underway in Baffin Bay, Loyola Beach and all low-lying areas of the county.Beryl's effects could start to be felt Saturday in Texas

As Beryl strengthens over the Gulf of Mexico, forecasters said Texans will already be feeling its impact Saturday ahead of its arrival.

"The exact location of Beryl's landfall is uncertain at this point, but what's most important is that heavy rainfall, strong winds and storm surge are expected for much of the state's coastline and portions of the central Gulf Coast beginning tonight into Sunday," the Weather Prediction Center said early Saturday.

Swells and "life-threatening" surf and rip currents caused by the storm are also not far off.

Tropical storm conditions are expected to start hitting Texas' coast on Sunday night.

What areas in Texas are in Beryl's path?

Multiple large urban areas in Texas, including Houston, Austin and San Antonio, lie in the storm's broad path of projection, and it's still uncertain exactly where the hurricane will pass through. Most of the state will feel at least some impacts from the storm.

The weather service in Corpus Christi also said south Texas should prepare for power outages.

About 3 to 5 feet of storm surge is likely around areas along the coast, and "the surge will be accompanied by large and destructive waves," the hurricane center said. The storm surge will impact areas from Baffin Bay to San Luis Pass, Corpus Christi Bay, Matagorda Bay, between the mouth of the Rio Grande to Baffin Bay, San Luis Pass to High Island and Galveston Bay.

Heavy rain and flash flooding are some of the greatest threats, forecasters warned. About 5 to 10 inches of rain and up to 15 inches in some areas will inundate the Texas Gulf Coast and parts of eastern Texas starting late Sunday and into next week. Flooding is likely wherever Beryl passes, Patrick said.

Deadly strikes hit Gaza as war enters tenth month

Deadly strikes hit Gaza as war enters tenth month

Deadly strikes hit Gaza as war enters tenth month, Israel carried out deadly air strikes in the Gaza Strip as the war entered its tenth month on Sunday, with fighting raging across the Palestinian territory and fresh diplomatic efforts under way to halt the violence.

Israel has said it will send a delegation in the coming days to continue truce talks with Qatari mediators that began recently in Doha.

But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman said "gaps" remained with Hamas on how to secure a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

"It was agreed that next week Israeli negotiators will travel to Doha to continue the talks. There are still gaps between the parties," the spokesman said in a statement on Friday.

Meanwhile, the fighting in Gaza continued unabated, with the Palestinian Red Crescent saying Sunday that the bodies of six people, including two children, who were killed in Israeli strikes had arrived at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah.

Paramedics also said Sunday that six people had been killed in an Israeli strike on a house in a northern area of Gaza City.

The day before, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said 16 people had been killed in a strike on a school run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) that was sheltering displaced people in Nuseirat, in central Gaza.

The Israeli military said its aircraft had targeted "terrorists" operating around the Al-Jawni school.

The military earlier said it had conducted operations across much of the Gaza Strip, including Shujaiya in the north, Deir al-Balah and Rafah in the south.

Shujaiya is among the areas the military had previously declared to be cleared of Hamas, but where fighting has since resumed.

The Hamas press office and paramedics said four journalists working for local media outlets were killed in strikes overnight into Saturday, and UNRWA said two of its employees had been killed.

UNRWA, which coordinates much of the aid delivered to Gaza, says 194 of its employees have been killed in the war.

- 'Ball in Israel's court' -

The United States, which has mediated ceasefire negotiations alongside Qatar and Egypt, has talked up the prospects of a deal, saying there is a "pretty significant opening" for both sides.

US President Joe Biden announced a pathway to a truce deal in May that he said had been proposed by Israel.

It included an initial six-week truce, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza's population centres and the freeing of hostages held by Palestinian militants.

Talks subsequently stalled, but a US official said Thursday that a new proposal from Hamas "moves the process forward and may provide the basis for closing the deal".

Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told AFP that new ideas from the group had been "conveyed by the mediators to the American side, which welcomed them and passed them on to the Israeli side".

"Now the ball is in the Israeli court."

There has been no truce since a one-week pause in November when 80 Israeli hostages were freed in return for 240 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

Pressure has mounted domestically for another hostage release deal, with regular protests and rallies in Israel.

"It's important that we reach a deal so that all the mothers can embrace their children and husbands, just as I hug my mother every morning now," rescued hostage Almog Mair Jan said in a recorded message to a rally in Tel Aviv Saturday.

The war began with Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

The militants also seized hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza, including 42 the military says are dead.

In response, Israel has carried out a military offensive that has killed at least 38,098 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory.

The war has uprooted 90 percent of Gaza's population, destroyed much of its housing and other infrastructure, and left almost 500,000 people enduring "catastrophic" hunger, UN agencies say.

The main stumbling block to a truce deal has been Hamas's demand for a permanent end to the fighting, which Netanyahu and his far-right coalition partners strongly reject.

The veteran hawk demands the release of the hostages and insists the war will not end until Israel has destroyed Hamas's ability to fight or govern.

- Lebanon attacks -

Israel and Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement have exchanged cross-border fire almost daily since the Gaza war began, but attacks have escalated over the past month.

This has raised fears of a major conflagration between the bitter enemies that could draw in others including Iran.

Israel's army said late Saturday that its jets had struck Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon and troops had fired artillery across the border "throughout the day".

Earlier Saturday, sirens blared over northern Israel and the military said it had downed a "suspicious aerial target" and that two "hostile aircraft" launched from Lebanon had hit open ground.

A source close to Hezbollah said an Israeli drone strike targeted a vehicle in eastern Lebanon Saturday, killing a Hezbollah official.

Israel said he was part of the group's air defence unit.

What went wrong for the Conservatives?

What went wrong for the Conservatives?

What went wrong for the Conservatives? The Conservative Party had become accustomed to being the Manchester City of politics.

A blue, winning machine for so long that some of its key players could barely remember anything else.

But their streak has been brought to a dramatic end.

Many Tories, both winners and losers, are almost speechless and still processing it.

One told me they were simply "not coherent".

A post-mortem on what went wrong with their tactics and leadership, and where to go next, is now beginning.

When I speak to Conservatives, several themes come up repeatedly.

Some feel Labour's policy offering was not drastically different to theirs, but think the choice became more about perceptions of "competence".

They have had five leaders, and prime ministers, in less than 10 years.

Seismic events, from Brexit to Covid to multiple leadership contests, splintered the party into ideological factions. Some Tories spent more energy plotting to take each other down than their opposition - and never really patched things up.

Scandals rocked the party in a whack-a-mole fashion, from lockdown parties to sexual misconduct allegations to a mini-budget that contributed to raising interest rates. An election betting saga was the cherry on top.

When I asked former Chief Whip Sir Mark Spencer during the campaign if the party had a conduct problem, he mentioned that other parties also had to suspend MPs for poor behaviour - which is true - but conceded this had become too regular.

Then there was the undoubted desire for change - a word Labour deployed in its campaign.

The cost of living, NHS waiting lists, and small boats were all issues voters raised on the doorstep - and felt had been getting worse, not better.

Nigel Farage's late return to the fray meant the latter theme became a particular thorn in Tory sides, with some right-leaning voters who switched to Reform UK wanting tougher immigration policies and lower taxes.

Rhetoric and policies attempting to win them back alienated some more centrist Tories who abandoned the party for Labour or the Liberal Democrats, leaving the Tories pincered in between.

This was a more comfortable switch for some centrists who didn’t feel they could vote Labour under Jeremy Corbyn.

Did these circumstances mean defeat was inevitable? Most Tories I've spoken to describe the result as "not unexpected", but some feel the scale of it could have been mitigated.

There were avoidable gaffes - like Rishi Sunak leaving D-day commemorations early.

While Boris Johnson was prone to gaffes too, some of his fans felt Mr Sunak didn’t charm voters back in the same way. The former prime minister still yielded chants of ‘Boris! Boris!’ at an eleventh-hour rally to try to energise the campaign.

There is still a lingering bafflement among some about why Mr Sunak decided to call the election in July.

Their campaign guru, Isaac Levido, had argued for a later date - hoping by then there would be more "measurables" to demonstrate their policies were having an impact.

A flight of asylum seekers taking off to Rwanda, for example, or an interest rate cut.

But he lost that argument. And the Conservatives had little evidence in their armoury of some of their policies working when they went to the electorate.

The risk of the alternative, Mr Levido's critics argued, was that more bad news could come down the road for the Tories - more Channel crossings this summer, more offenders being released because of prison overcrowding, universities going under.

But policy and identity wise, what else could the Conservatives have done? That's where their focus will lie now as a search for the soul of the party begins.

What - and who - could come next?

Mr Sunak has confirmed he will resign as Tory leader once arrangements are in place to choose his successor.

There have been murmurings for the last few weeks about whether an interim leader is appointed to avoid the awkwardness of, for example, the former PM having to do Prime Minister's Questions from the opposition benches.

Could this be someone who served in the cabinet previously - like Sir Oliver Dowden, James Cleverly, or even Jeremy Hunt, who just about scraped back into the Commons?

If so, it would probably need to be someone who doesn't actually want to run for leader full time.

Otherwise, Mr Sunak could stay on until the next Tory leadership contest concludes.

There are some MPs who have been working behind the scenes for a long time on shoring up their support, including Kemi Badenoch (the bookies' favourite) who is on the right of the party, and Tom Tugendhat, who is more to the centre.

Former contenders like Suella Braverman and former Sunak ally-turned-critic Robert Jenrick are tipped to run too.

They both spent time in the Home Office, are on the right of the party, and have criticised the government's record on immigration.

One interesting thing to note, though, is who the remaining Tory MPs are, and what that might mean for who wins support among the parliamentary party.

I've had a quick skim over the new intake of Tory MPs and who they backed in the first Tory leadership contest of July-September 2022.

Interestingly, the majority are Sunak-backers, with a hefty chunk of Liz Truss supporters too.

Suella Braverman and Kemi Badenoch have lost a couple of their key allies on the right of the parliamentary party. A couple of Mr Tugendhat’s backers are gone too.

Why do the leanings of the remaining MPs matter? Well, partly because this will determine how the Tory party decides to shape itself going forward.

Does it decide to elect someone on the right of the party, like Ms Badenoch, Mrs Braverman or Mr Jenrick, to try to stave off the growing influence of Reform UK who have now won several seats?

Some in the party argue not being tougher on issues like immigration was part of their downfall.

Or does it try to shift back toward the centre ground with a candidate like Mr Tugendhat or Mr Hunt to reclaim some of the space Labour is now trying to occupy on the political spectrum?

Some in the party argue the Tories' drift to the right was part of the problem, and alienated socially liberal, but fiscally conservative, voters.

The answer will be the result of a lot of tussling and soul-searching over the weeks to come.

New Jersey Woman's Casual Response When Black Bear Sits Down to Hang Out is Impressive

New Jersey Woman's Casual Response When Black Bear Sits Down to Hang Out is Impressive

New Jersey Woman's Casual Response When Black Bear Sits Down to Hang Out is Impressive, Wow! This bear really does enjoy Susan's company, and they make zero attempt to turn around when they see she's also on the porch. That's either a very brave bear or a very brave woman. In this case, I think trust and bravery go both ways!For most people, an encounter with a black bear would be downright frightening. Even if you're an experienced hiker who knows what to do when in the presence of a bear, you simply can't predict the animal's behavior. If you're New Jersey resident Susan Kehoe, though, a bear encounter is as normal as running into a neighbor's dog.

Susan lives in the backwoods of New Jersey, where black bears roam free year-round (aside from when they hibernate, of course). She's made peace with the animals since realizing she lives in their home, and she's even made friends with her local black bears.

In late May, Susan had one of her closest encounters while sitting outside on the porch. A curious black bear climbed up to the porch just to sit down across from her, and they were both as calm as can be. It's honestly hard to believe!Wow! This bear really does enjoy Susan's company, and they make zero attempt to turn around when they see she's also on the porch. That's either a very brave bear or a very brave woman. In this case, I think trust and bravery go both ways!

"Considering black bears are the scaredy-cats of bears," said commenter @alloftheprettylights, "this is surprising! He must really like your vibes." I know what you mean! The backyard black bears I've seen and heard about in California generally do everything they can to avoid people, but they have gotten desperate (and a lot closer to humans) during especially hot summers when water is scarce.

For Susan, who's a huge advocate for bears' freedom and well-being, black bear encounters look a bit different. While she is careful not to approach a black bear herself, she has shown only intelligence and confidence when they approach her (which they often do). According to her TikTok, their encounters happen almost daily!

Black Bear Encounters: What to Do

Even though Susan and her friends coexist peacefully in their neck of the woods, the vast majority of black bears won't be as easygoing about being close to a human. Most of the time, they'll keep their distance when they realize you're human, which is why it's recommended to talk to the bear calmly to help them distinguish what you are. Better yet, talk to your hiking buddy while walking in the woods and have a better chance of avoiding any surprises!

Please remain calm and back away slowly if you do see a black bear. If they begin to follow you, however, you may need to stand your ground and appear as large as possible. Bear spray can be a last resort if a curious bear won't leave you alone, but the majority of black bears won't let situations escalate this far. Staying safe in black bear country requires a little preparation, but these tips can save your life!

Get closer to nature with these amazing wildlife webcams

Get closer to nature with these amazing wildlife webcams

Get closer to nature with these amazing wildlife webcams, Maybe you follow Fat Bear Week and those famous salmon-slurping bears at Katmai National Park—maybe you've even watched them live through the park's webcams (that would make two of us!). Those fish-guzzling grizzlies took wildlife webcams mainstream, with thousands of daily viewers getting in on the Alaska scene from the comfort of their office chairs and living-room couches. Incredible nature, live with audio, can be right in the palm of our hands.

Luckily for us city folk, those famous bears fishing the lip of Brook Falls are far from the only wildlife we can bring (safely!) into our homes. For a dash of feel-good frolics and total cute-itude—and maybe even a little wildlife education, from the endangered California condor to the beluga whale—here are the best wildlife webcams to watch, delight in, and enjoy.

1. Explore.org

Those fat bears aren't the only ones having fun at explore.org—at any moment, you can watch a nesting bald eagle or guess whether or not that sleeping panda is about to fall out of that tree. There's livestreams of kitten rescue sanctuaries, underwater reefs, puffin loafing ledges (and burrows!), and more. Explore.org runs more than 100 livecams, so there's always somebody fluffy, feathery, or feisty putting on a show.

2. National Park Service

I don't know about you, but if there were a national parks TV channel, I would be watching it 24/7. NPS webcams come close—you can watch everything from the billowing smoke of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park to the dancing kelp off the shores of Channel Islands National Park. At Yellowstone National Park, you can watch the geysers erupt (they even come with timetables, so you know when to break for a snack) or even keep an eye on traffic. The vehicle kind. And the bison kind.

3. Smithsonian's National Zoo

The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., runs about half a dozen livecams at any given time, mostly of the zoo's biggest superstars: pandas, lions, elephants, black-footed ferrets, and—my personal eccentric favorite—the mole rat. They run 24/7, so you might wanna do nighttime checks on your nocturnal or crepuscular pals, like Shaka, Jumbe, Shera, and Amahle, the resident lions.Fun, slightly weird fact: The mole rat can move each of its front teeth separately. (That doesn't sound useful, but it must be!)

4. San Diego Zoo

The San Diego Zoo runs more than a dozen webcams, from 7:30am to 7:30pm, Pacific Time. Most are live, like the koala cam and the polar bear cam, though some are prerecorded, like the panda cam. Check out the burrowing owl cam, which you'd think would be difficult to film—but they've got cams above and below ground for a guaranteed show.

Note: Ever seen a California condor? Maybe not—there are only 500 in the world, mainly due to habitat loss, lead poisoning, poaching, power-line accidents, and DDT. (Prior to conservation efforts, numbers were down to 22.) Susil and Antiki, two adult condors at the San Diego Zoo, hatched a chick in March, and the family fun can be watched via condor cam until the chick fledges in August.

5. Monterey Bay Aquarium

Easily one of the finest aquariums in the nation, Monterey Bay Aquarium has gifted us a slew of webcams, and not just ones underwater. You can watch the playful antics of sea otters, mellow out to the hypnotic drifting of jellies, predict where the crabs will scurry, or address your fears and see how long you can stare at the shark cam. There's even an open sea cam, if you'd like to scope out the goings-on of the California coast.The Monterey Bay Aquarium has gone further with the fun and put it to a soundrack: Krill Waves Radio on YouTube offers hours of lo-fi hip-hop beats set to hours of cleaner shrimp. Hours of squid. Hours of jellyfish. Hours of otters. All floating and relaxing their days away—I think I speak for the lot of us when I say: jealous.

6. Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Birding is hot. Birding is in. (I say this as someone who spends almost as much money on birdseed as groceries.) The Cornell Lab of Ornithology has cams for your standard backyard birds—like the ones who come to the feeder cams, aka woodpeckers, cardinals, and other songbirds—and then they've got cams for species you've probably never seen or heard of before, like rufuous motmots and hellgate ospreys (what a name!). The Panama Fruit Feeders cam is especially vibrant and wild; it's where you can watch toucan TV, proverbially speaking, amongst other colorful flying friends.

7. Georgia Aquarium

At any time, you can peek into the Georgia Aquarium's 6.3-million-gallon tank called the Ocean Voyager (if you're there in person, yes, you'll be on TV). The aquarium also offers us at-home couch potatoes livecam access to puffins, sea lions, jellies, beluga whales, and more incredible creatures roaming their Southern halls.

So, no, you didn't go to the aquarium or the zoo today—you went to both.Jacqueline is a travel, nature, and science writer based in Wisconsin. Follow her work on Yahoo Creators—or find it in the wild at publications like National Geographic, Smithsonian, Travel + Leisure, and more.

Vice President Harris has a low favorability rating. Would Democrats back her if Biden doesn’t run?

Vice President Harris has a low favorability rating. Would Democrats back her if Biden doesn’t run?

Vice President Harris has a low favorability rating. Would Democrats back her if Biden doesn’t run?, As speculation about President Joe Biden’s viability in the presidential race grows, the president insists he’s in for the long haul. But if he did step aside, Democrats are signaling they’re ready to rally around his vice president, Kamala Harris.

The problem is, Harris is viewed by voters even less favorably than Biden or Donald Trump.

Since Biden stumbled badly in the June 27 debate with Trump, Harris has been in the spotlight as the most logical alternative.

She has consistently said she’s solidly behind Biden. “The President is and will remain our party’s nominee, and Vice President Harris is proud to be his running mate, and looks forward to serving at his side for four more years,” Brian Fallon, Harris’s campaign communications director, told The Bee.

Harris fared best with the public in January, 2021, just before being sworn into office, when 51% in the CNN-SRSS national poll of registered voters viewed her favorably. Biden was at 59%

Both numbers plunged as time went on. In the most recent survey, taken after the 81-year-old Biden’s troubled June 27 debate with Trump, the president was viewed favorably by 34% of registered voters and Harris by 29%. Trump was seen favorably by 39%.

“The very nature of the vice presidency presents a challenge in terms of connections with the public, and when you add in the intersection of Harris’s gender identity, multiracial background and California roots it seems a barrier to broad public acceptance is created,” said Chris Borick, director of the Muhlenberg Institute of Public Opinion in Pennsylvania.

He found that “these factors, along with her personal style, don’t easily mesh with many Americans’ comfort zone and Harris ultimately emerges with a classic likability problem.”

The Harris record

“I’m sure her past as a California attorney general and senator would come up in the campaign,” said Kyle Kondik, managing editor of Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a nonpartisan political analysis firm.

Harris, 59, was San Francisco’s top prosecutor from 2004 to 2011. In 2010, she won the race to become attorney general, serving until 2017, when she was elected to the Senate.

As attorney general, she declared herself the state’s “top cop” during a talk at the 2016 Democratic National Convention. During her tenure, some of her actions were criticized by many in the state’s communities of color.

She opposed a 2004 state initiative to ease California’s minimum mandatory sentencing laws, though as a senator proposed a plan that would end minimum mandatory sentences.

Harris also stirred controversy in California when she didn’t back the 2015 bid to require all law enforcement officials to wear body cameras, though she had agents in her own department do so. She said local governments should decide if their employees should wear them.

Harris easily won a U.S. Senate seat in 2016, defeating Democratic Rep. Loretta Sanchez. She became an instant national figure, the first Indian-American in the Senate and the first Black woman to represent California as a senator.

She became a Democratic hero of sorts–and a big Republican target–when she sparred with Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in 2017. Harris also became a leader in the bid to reform the nation’s criminal justice system, leading efforts to effect change after George Floyd died in Minneapolis in May 2020 while in police custody.

As vice president, Harris was tapped by Biden to lead an effort to help Central American countries where people were leaving for the U.S. But as undocumented immigrants continued to surge across the U.S.-Mexico border,Republicans blasted away at her, saying she was inept handling the crisis.

But many Senate Republicans supported tough bipartisan border security legislation earlier this year. The bill, which went nowhere after opposition from Trump and his supporters, was aimed at making it more difficult to cross the border and make it more difficult for migrants to seek asylum. Biden backed the bill.

Harris briefly ran for the 2020 presidential nomination, but her effort went nowhere. She was criticized for having murky positions on some issues, notably health care reform.

Vice presidential struggles

Rarely in modern times does a vice president who wants to move up get denied their party’s nomination. They’re often challenged within their own party–Walter Mondale in 1984, George H. W. Bush in 1988, Dan Quayle and Al Gore in 2000, Biden in 2020–but almost always prevail.

Economist/YouGov national polls show that during the Biden administration, 42% have had a favorable opinion of Harris, less than Biden’s 46%.

But that four point gap is comparable to the favorability ratings during President Barack Obama’s administration, when Biden was vice president. Obama’s favorability averaged 50% to Biden’s 46%.

During the Trump administration, Vice President Mike Pence averaged 39% favorability to Trump’s 41%.

There’s evidence that Democrats are ready to rally around Harris.

The KHive, a social media group of Harris backers, has been more active lately. And new Yahoo! News/YouGov poll showed that while Harris’ unfavorable ratings remain high, she’s gaining support from Democrats.

“Harris’ number has steadily improved,” since bottoming out in August 2022, said Carl Bialik, U.S. political editor at YouGov.

In last week’s poll, 31% of registered Democratic voters said they’d prefer Harris over California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who was mentioned by 17%.

The CNN-SRSS national poll, taken June 28-30 after the debate, showed Harris trailing Trump, 47% to 45%. That was the smallest gap between Trump and any Democrat. Newsom was behind 48% to 43%.

Republican criticism

Republicans are eager for a Harris run.

“She can try but there’s a lot of videotape out there. We live in an age where you can go on the internet and find anything she said in public,” said Brad Coker, managing director of Mason-Dixon Polling & Strategy in Florida.

With Biden floundering, Republicans are trying to define Harris as an unhinged liberal who has deceived voters about the president’s fitness for office.

“Every one of them (Biden supporters) has lied about Joe Biden’s cognitive state and supported his disastrous policies over the past four years, especially Cackling Copilot Kamala Harris.,” the Trump campaign said this week in a statement.

“Everything Kamala Harris touches turns into an unmitigated disaster. Whether extreme House Democrats call on Joe Biden to step aside or not, Kamala Harris deserves the blame for many of the crises making life unsafe and difficult for American families — and we plan to make her a prominent feature of the 2024 campaign,” said Will Reinert, national press secretary at the National Republican Congressional Committee.

In a digital ad released this week, the committee shows her giving a long-winded answer and ends with the statement “is this who we want to be president?”

There’s no easy answer.

Harris has recently been active in reminding voters about the 2023 Supreme Court decision restricting abortion rights.

And she’s steadfastly, unequivocally defending Biden. She was on TV the night of the debate with a strong show of support, telling CNN that while “It was a slow start. That’s obvious to everyone,” people should remember,“I’m talking about the choice for November. I’m talking about one of the most important elections in our collective lifetime.”

At a rally in Las Vegas the next day, she got more personal.

“I see Joe Biden when the cameras are on and when the cameras are off,” Harris said. “I see him in the Situation Room keeping our country safe. On the world stage, meeting with world leaders who often ask for his advice.”

She won’t talk about her own status. Earlier this week, in San Francisco, a CBS reporter asked about her future.

“I’m proud to be Joe Biden’s running mate,” Harris said.

Officers who defended the Capitol fight falsehoods about Jan. 6 and campaign for Joe Biden

Officers who defended the Capitol fight falsehoods about Jan. 6 and campaign for Joe Biden

Officers who defended the Capitol fight falsehoods about Jan. 6 and campaign for Joe Biden, Former Capitol Police Sgt. Aquilino Gonell is mostly recovered from the brutal assaults he endured from Donald Trump’s supporters on Jan. 6, 2021. But not completely. His shoulder still has limited endurance and there are screws and a metal plate holding his right foot together after bone fusion surgery.

Emotional recovery has been more difficult. Gonell struggled when he heard that former Trump visited Capitol Hill last month and received what he called a “hero’s welcome” from the Republican lawmakers Gonell had protected that day, and when Trump falsely told millions of viewers in last week’s debate that many of the violent rioters, his supporters, “were ushered in by the police.”

Trump’s Capitol Hill visit was a “triggering mechanism for my PTSD,” says Gonell, who retired from the force in 2022 due to his injuries and has recently participated in several campaign events for President Joe Biden. “We did what we had to do to keep those elected officials safe, and instead of siding with us, the officers, they have sided with a person who put their lives at risk.”

Three and a half years after the Capitol attack, Trump still falsely claims the 2020 election was stolen. He has promised that if he wins the presidency again he will pardon his supporters who violently beat police and broke into the Capitol to try and overturn the legitimate results. To counter the misinformation, Gonell and two of his fellow officers who were there that day are working with Biden’s campaign, attending events in swing states to try and make sure that voters don’t forget.

“I’m a living primary source about an important day in American history,” says Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges, who became a recognizable face shortly after the attack when a video of him being crushed between two doors went viral. “So I try to make that count, and make it so that people hear the truth from someone who was there.”

Along with former Capitol Police Officer Harry Dunn, Hodges and Gonell are telling audiences about what they went through that day and trying to lay out the contrast between Biden and Trump. It's an unusual transition for law enforcement officers who once protected members of Congress and are used to keeping their political views to themselves.

“I’m really an introvert, and I’m not someone to seek a microphone or an audience,” says Hodges, who testified along with Gonell and Dunn at the House Jan. 6 panel’s first hearing in 2021. “But I’m in this unique position where people will listen to what I say about an important issue. So I feel a moral obligation to do so.”

At recent events in Wisconsin, Nevada and Arizona, they stood with local officials and said that Trump is a danger to the country after trying to overturn Biden’s legitimate election.

“Three and a half years later, the fight for democracy still continues,” Dunn recently told a group of voters in Arizona, flanked by a handful of politically active Democratic veterans in Phoenix. “It still goes on. Donald Trump is still that threat. His deranged, self-centered, obsessive quest for power is the reason violent insurrectionists assaulted my coworkers and I.”

The officers have also aggressively pushed back on Trump’s comments at the debate, where he falsely said that there were a “relatively small” group of protesters and that the police let them enter the Capitol. More than 1,400 people have been charged with federal crimes related to the riot, and police were bloodied and injured — some seriously — as they struggled to prevent more from getting in.

Dunn, who recently lost his own bid for a congressional seat in Maryland, said after the debate that Trump’s comments were “a slap in the face, but it’s what we have come to expect from Donald Trump.”

And the officers said they are still supporting Biden, even after he failed to push back on many of Trump’s false claims about Jan. 6 and received widespread criticism for his weak showing at the debate.

“He could have been a little more forceful, but I’ll take the person who doesn’t send a mob to kill me and my colleagues over the other person,” said Gonell, who published a book last year about his experience. “Every single day I’m reminded of that horrible day. Every time I put my shoes on, I see my scar.”

Gonell was caught in the worst of the fighting on the Capitol’s west front as Trump’s supporters protesting his defeat violently tried to push past him and his fellow officers. At one point he was pulled under the crowd and lost oxygen to the point that he thought he would die.

Hodges was nearby, trapped in the heavy golden doors in the center of the Capitol’s west front as rioters beat him bloody. A video of his guttural scream as he tried to escape went viral and was played at Democrats' impeachment trial in the weeks after the attack.

Dunn, who has said he was targeted with racial slurs by Trump’s supporters during the fighting, says it has been good to travel out of the Washington area, his hometown, and talk to people who may not be watching cable news every day as he campaigns for Biden. There’s a lot they don’t know about what happened on Jan. 6, he says.

“Being able to have somebody who was there bring firsthand experience and facts retelling the story, it’s very beneficial,” Dunn said,

The officers were widely praised after Jan. 6, but their criticism of Trump in recent years has made them less popular with some Republicans. When Gonell and Dunn visited the Pennsylvania legislature this spring, some Republicans booed them.

But they are unbowed by the criticism, and have continued to try and bring more attention to their stories. Gonell was outside the Supreme Court on Monday as the justices ruled on whether Trump has immunity for his role in trying to overturn the 2020 election and criticized the justices for sending the federal case back to a lower court. The decision effectively ends any prospects that Trump could be tried before the November election.

On Friday, the court limited a federal obstruction law that has been used to charge some Capitol riot defendants.

“Every single time that the Supreme Court or any other court says that some of these people shouldn’t be held accountable, it’s a disgrace,” Gonell said.