MyCentralFlorida

Firefighters are monitoring an area in Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge after a lightning strike caused a fire Saturday afternoon. A severe thunderstorm warning was in effect for Brevard County when lightning struck. Crews responded to Peacocks Pocket, just west of the Kennedy Space Center, near the A. Max Brewer Bridge.

Temperatures continue to soar into the mid-to-upper 90s for our holiday weekend. Afternoon highs Sunday climb to 96 with winds from the southwest at 5-10 MPH. Rain chances remain low at 10%. The best chance of rain will be in Osceola and Brevard counties late this afternoon/early evening as our

Norway on Sunday handed over diplomatic papers to the Palestinian prime minister in the latest step toward recognizing a Palestinian state, a largely symbolic move that has infuriated Israel. Ireland and Spain made a concerted pledge with Norway to recognize a Palestinian state, a historic move that increases Israel’s isolation

After 22 witnesses, including a porn actor, tabloid publisher and White House insiders, testimony is over at Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York. Prosecutors called 20 witnesses. The defense called just two. Trump decided not to testify on his own behalf. The trial now shifts to closing arguments, scheduled

At the epicenter of President Joe Biden’s promised economic boom, a slow tractor can still halt traffic. Just 81,000 people live in rural Chatham County, North Carolina. There are 1,076 farms. The old mill now houses a dance studio, a grocer and a steakhouse. For work, many people have no

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Sunday that Russia is preparing to intensify its offensive along Ukraine’s northern border, as the death toll rose to 14 in an aerial bomb attack on a large construction supplies store in the city of Kharkiv. The bombing of Kharkiv on Saturday afternoon also left 43

Bangladesh evacuated nearly 800,000 people from vulnerable areas on Sunday as the country and neighboring India awaited the arrival of a severe cyclone that has formed over the Bay of Bengal. The storm is expected to cross Bangladesh and India’s West Bengal coasts around midnight Sunday. The India Meteorological Department

With the pandemic clearly in the rearview, Americans are getting out and about, exploring their cities and their country. To help you make the most of your summer, Lyft dug through two years of ride data to find the hottest cities for eating, partying, gambling, sports, or exploring the great

Aid trucks entered Gaza from southern Israel on Sunday through a new agreement to bypass the Rafah crossing with Egypt after Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of it earlier this month. But was unclear if humanitarian groups would be able to access the aid because of ongoing fighting in

All 18-year-olds in Britain will have to perform a year of mandatory military or civilian national service if the governing Conservative Party wins the July 4 national election, the party said Sunday. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak pledged to bring back a form of national service for the first time in

Living in a tent in rebel-held northwestern Syria, Rudaina al-Salim and her family struggle to find enough water for drinking and other basic needs such as cooking and washing. Their encampment north of the city of Idlib hasn’t seen any aid in six months. “We used to get food aid,

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum is once again under the spotlight after a manager failed to consult a collections committee before purchasing a 21-star flag whose description as a rare banner marking Illinois’ 1818 admission to the Union is disputed. The flag’s acquisition through an online auction for

When Balu Natarajan became the first Indian American champion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 1985, a headline on an Associated Press article read, “Immigrants’ son wins National Spelling Bee,” with the first paragraph noting the champion “speaks his parents’ native Indian language at home.” Those details would hardly

A 60-year-old woman saw her dreams of becoming the oldest Miss Universe contestant in history melt away in a haze of sequins and selfies Saturday at Argentina’s annual beauty pageant. Alejandra Marisa Rodríguez, a hopital legal adviser whose entry into the competition had been cheered as a triumph over ageism

Emergency responders in Papua New Guinea were moving survivors of a massive landslide — feared to have buried scores of people — to safer ground on Sunday as tons of unstable earth and tribal warfare, which is rife in the country’s Highlands, threatened the rescue effort. The South Pacific island’s

The introduction of the world’s newest currency in April inspired a reggae artist to record a song praising the ZiG, or Zimbabwe Gold. The catchy tune, titled “Zig Mari,” received generous play on state television and radio. The musician, Ras Caleb, received a car and $2,000 — ironically paid in

Chinese and Japanese leaders were set to arrive in Seoul and meet with South Korea’s president separately on Sunday, a day before they gather for their first trilateral meeting in more than four years. No major announcement is expected from Monday’s trilateral South Korea-China-Japan meeting. But just resuming their highest-level,

It was late morning when The Morton Arboretum’s Senior Horticulturist Kate Myroup arrived at the Children’s Garden with a special guest: a rare, blue-eyed female Magicicada cassini cicada, spotted earlier in the day by a visitor. A lucky few saw the cicada Friday at the arboretum in Lisle, Illinois, before

Scattered severe storms continued in Oklahoma and forecasters issued a tornado warning for some parts of the state Saturday night, as some heat records were broken during the day in South Texas and people were warned of triple-digit temperatures over the long holiday weekend. The National Weather Service’s office in

Before Mark Robinson, North Carolina’s GOP candidate for governor, even stepped on stage at the state party’s convention Saturday, several state candidates took time in their own speeches to energize the crowd by vouching for Robinson’s gubernatorial bid. When the state’s lieutenant governor did take to the stage more than