Here's the biggest news you missed this weekend
Hurricane Ida makes landfall as Category 4 monster
After slamming into Louisiana's coast as a Category 4 storm, Hurricane Ida continues to batter the state Sunday night, cutting power to New Orleans and endangering millions of people with howling winds and a storm surge that partially reversed the flow of the Mississippi River. The storm first crashed ashore near Port Fourchon, less than 100 miles south of New Orleans. A short time later it made a second landfall a few miles to the north, near Galliano. By then, power was out to more than 300,000 homes and businesses in the state, according to the tracking website poweroutage.us. That figure closed in on 750,000-plus by early evening as it moved through Houma and headed toward New Orleans, where officials urged calm for those who chose to not to evacuate.
The storm, which Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards said could be the most powerful to slam the state in more than 160 years, prompted evacuations in New Orleans and around the state. Hurricane Ida's landfall comes 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina struck the area, flooding most of New Orleans and killing almost 2,000 people in one of the most severe hurricanes in U.S. history.
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Afghanistan: US conducts drone strike on ISIS-K threat; roughly 300 Americans seek evacuation
A U.S. drone strike on Sunday targeted an "imminent ISIS-K threat" to the airport in Kabul, where officials have warned of additional attacks following a suicide bombing last week. A U.S. official said the airstrike hit a vehicle that included a suicide bomber. There were no initial indications of civilians being killed in the strike, said a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, but the military is continuing to assess the aftermath. It was the second known airstrike against ISIS-K terrorists since a suicide bomber on Thursday killed 13 U.S. service members and more than 169 Afghans near a gate to the Kabul airport.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Sunday that the U.S. is doing “everything possible” to get out about 300 American citizens who indicated they want to leave Afghanistan by the Aug. 31 deadline. The White House said Sunday that about 2,900 people were evacuated from Kabul in the last 24 hours that ended at 3 a.m. Sunday. Since Aug. 14, about 114,400 people have been evacuated from Afghanistan. The U.S faces a self-imposed deadline Tuesday to evacuate Americans who want to escape.
- Department of Defense identifies the 13 US service members killed in the Afghanistan airport bombing.
- 'Egregiously mishandled' or inevitably 'messy'?What went wrong in US withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Real quick
- Italian meat recall: 862,000 pounds of salami, prosciutto recalled for possible salmonella.
- 13 beers, an empty table: Restaurants are honoring the US service members killed in Kabul in a quiet, but powerful way.
- 'A pivotal day for us': Crews battle to protect Lake Tahoe region from wildfire.
- Lupita Nyong'o and more stars mourn Chadwick Boseman one year after his death: 'He was an angel on this planet.'
- Kanye West's long-awaited 10th studio album 'Donda' dropped unexpectedly Sunday morning. Fans are loving it so far.
- Texas House passes Republican-backed elections bill, overcoming Democratic delays.
Delta variant may double risk of hospitalization among unvaccinated
The highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus may double the risk of hospitalization among unvaccinated people, according to a new study. The U.K. study is part of a growing body of evidence that suggests the latest delta variant may be causing more severe illness than prior strains. "This large national study found a higher hospital admission or emergency care attendance risk for patients with COVID-19 infected with the delta variant compared with the alpha variant," researchers found.
- COVID-19 is surging among America's youth. Doctors worry children of color face the greatest risk.
Ed Asner, seven-time Emmy winning actor, dies at 91
Edward Asner, known to millions as gruff but lovable newsman Lou Grant, died Sunday at age 91. His publicist, Charles Sherman, confirmed to USA TODAY that Asner died on Sunday surrounded by his family. Hard-drinking, tough-talking Grant, who originated on CBS' "The Mary Tyler Moore Show" and grew to headline on drama spinoff "Lou Grant," made Asner a household name. Asner, a U.S. Army veteran, took on a broad range of roles over an acting career that spanned seven decades, playing burly cops and 5 o'clock-shadowed heavies in pre-"Mary" '60s dramas while endearing himself to younger generations who wouldn't know Lou Grant from Ted Baxter in 2003's "Elf" and 2009's "Up."
'Freedom is a constant struggle': Thousands march for voting rights
Thousands converged on the nation's capital Saturday to demand the protection of voting rights, walking in the footsteps of the 250,000 people who marched in the historic March on Washington 58 years before. As part of March On for Voting Rights, civil rights leaders, including Martin Luther King III, Arndrea Waters King and the Rev. Al Sharpton, also led marches in Houston, Miami, Phoenix and more than 40 other cities. Cliff Albright, co-founder of Black Voters Matter, said the nationwide rallies follow in the footsteps of the direct action and civil disobedience strategies King used. March On for Voting Rights is calling on Congress to pass the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Act and the For the People Act, and oppose nearly 400 bills in 48 states that organizers say "amount to shameful, outright voter suppression."
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This is a compilation of stories from across the USA TODAY Network. Contributing: Associated Press.