CYPRESS, Texas (KTRK) — It has been projected that the incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz will win the seat for Texas in the United States Senate, beating out challenger Colin Allred.
The incumbent is looking at his third six-year term in the Senate.
Both candidates made last-ditch efforts to appeal with voters in the final hours of Election Day as many casted their votes
This campaign remained historic as both raised more than $160 million combined.
Allred, who would’ve be Texas’ first Black senator, hoped to capitalize on the state’s demographic shift and has made reproductive rights a key part of his campaign.
Former President Donald Trump is projected to be the next president of the United States, according to an ABC News projection issued at 5:31 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday, Nov. 6. As of 6 a.m. Eastern, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin had been projected for Trump, and the once-and-future president leads in Arizona, Michigan and Nevada as well. At this point, the most likely final outcome appears to be a 312-226 Trump victory. Plus, while it will take some time to count all the ballots, Trump looks likely to win the national popular vote for president, too.
Over the next few months, ABC News and 538 will do a lot of analysis to figure out how exactly Trump won. He may be, after all, only the second Republican presidential candidate since 1992 to win the national popular vote. That warrants not only introspection among Democrats, but a lot of quality analysis, too. And Trump’s sweep of the swing states – while not surprising – also represents a new high-water mark for his electoral success.
For now, though, here are three quick possible explanations for Trump’s victory. These insights draw primarily on the exit poll, which for various reasons is imperfect but for now remains the best source of available data on why and how different types of people voted. (We reserve the right to revisit these conclusions when more data is available.)
Inflation
For all the hubbub about various issues, statements, rallies and rhetoric during this election, the economy is unique as providing the most obvious gravitational pull toward Trump. Voters rank the cost of living in America as one of their top concerns – and no doubt it is one of the most pressing, salient and visible problems in their lives. It is not a stretch of the imagination to imagine they would punish the incumbent party for this regardless of how unfavorably they viewed Trump; in fact that is what voters have been doing all around the world over the past three years.
According to the exit poll, 35 percent of voters nationally rated the “state of democracy” as the most important factor to their vote. Eighty-one percent of these people voted for Harris and just 17 percent for Trump. But the economy was the next-most-influential issue. Among these voters, Trump led 79 percent to 20 percent. In the end, abortion did not rate as highly as Democrats might have hoped; only 14 percent rated it as their biggest concern.
It’s possible that inflation contributed to the growing divide between high-income voters and low-income voters. According to the exit poll, Democrats increased their vote share by 9 points among voters living in households that make more than $100,000 dollars a year. Among households making less, which account for about 60 percent of voters, Republicans gained 12 points on margin.
Racial polarization
Initial exit poll estimates also suggest Democratic support declined among non-white voters and rose among white voters (especially college-educated ones). The exit poll indicates Trump won white voters by 12 percentage points, 55 percent to Harris’s 43 percent. Compared to the 2020 exit poll, that is a 5-point improvement for Democrats.
Democrats performed best relative to 2020 among white college-educated voters. They moved 7 points to the left, voting 54 percent to 44 percent for Harris. Non-white non-college-educated voters, meanwhile, moved 13 points toward Trump.
The Republican’s gains with nonwhites was particularly acute among Hispanic and Latino voters. Democrats’ vote margin with the group fell by 26 points, according to the exit poll, to just a 53-percent-to-45-percent margin. Trump’s vote share with Latinos looks like it could be the best since George W. Bush’s 44 percent in 2004. Latino men moved 33 points toward Trump, one of his biggest swings.
Democratic turnout was poor
In addition to economic headwinds and deteriorating margins with their base, it looks like Democrats also simply had bad turnout. So far, around 137 million ballots have been counted for the 2024 presidential race. Predictions of final turnout are hovering somewhere in the neighborhood 152 million votes. That would be a decrease from the 158 million who voted in 2020 and would be equivalent to about 61 percent of eligible voters. That would be a decline from 66 percent in 2020.
It is also likely that the drop in turnout disproportionately affected Democrats. While we can’t be sure until we can review records of who actually voted (states will release those over the next few months), the drop-off in turnout is currently greater in the most Democratic counties across the battleground states. That is something that would uniquely hurt Harris; if you’re a Democrat, then lower turnout in the suburbs is bad, of course, but not so bad as missing the mark in Philadelphia or Milwaukee, where you’re relying on a lot of votes to carry you to victory.
Over the next few months, we’ll be able to pore over even more data about why Trump won (again). The basic explanation is that this was always going to be a hard election for Harris to win. She both failed to persuade swing voters and to get out her base where it mattered most. Democrats will have to do a lot of soul-searching to figure out how to recover.
BRAZORIA COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — A woman who was reportedly being held against her will was saved after sending a life-saving text to 911, the Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office reported.
The video above is from ABC13’s 24/7 livestream.
Brazoria County Dispatch said they received the text from a woman reporting that she was being held against her will in a moving vehicle on Nov. 2 at 10:30 p.m.
Unable to make a voice call, the victim used the text service to alert authorities that the driver, George Peters, from Houston, was intoxicated and had threatened to kill her.
Dispatchers relayed details to responding units, who intercepted the vehicle on SH-288 and safely rescued the victim.
After an investigation, deputies arrested Peters on multiple charges.
The Brazoria County Sheriff’s Office emphasized that the text-to-911 service can be crucial in situations where making a voice call is unsafe. Although there can be delays, individuals are advised to call if they can and text if they can’t.
A group of 111 OB-GYNs in Texas released a letter to elected state leaders Sunday urging them to change abortion laws they say have prevented them from providing lifesaving care to pregnant women.
The doctors pointed to recent reporting by ProPublica on two Texas pregnant women who died after medical staff delayed emergency care.
Josseli Barnica, 28, died of an infection in 2021three days after she began to miscarry. More than a dozen medical experts said Barnica’s death was preventable. However, the state’s abortion laws kept doctors from intervening until they couldn’t detect a fetal heartbeat, which didn’t happen until about 40 hours after the miscarriage started.
Nevaeh Crain, 18, died last year after developing a dangerous complication of sepsis that doctors refused to treat while her six-month-old fetus still had a heartbeat. Two emergency rooms didn’t treat her and a third delayed care, moving Crain to the intensive care unit only after she was experiencing organ failure. Medical experts said if the hospital staff had treated her early, they either could have helped Crain with an early delivery or saved her life by ending the pregnancy if the infection had gone too far.
“Josseli Barnica and Nevaeh Crain should be alive today,” the doctors wrote in their letter. “As OB-GYNs in Texas, we know firsthand how much these laws restrict our ability to provide our patients with quality, evidence-based care.”
In 2021, Texas lawmakers passed a law prohibiting doctors from performing an abortion after six weeks. The law allows members of the public to sue doctors or anyone who helps perform an abortion for $10,000.
After the Dobbs v. Jackson ruling overturned Roe v. Wade, Texas banned almost all abortions – including in cases of rape and incest. The law does create an exception for a doctor to perform an abortion when they believe it is necessary to save the life of the pregnant patient. Doctors who violate the state’s abortion law risk losing their medical license and potentially spending life in prison.
Doctors have said that confusion about what constitutes a life-threatening condition has changed the way they treat pregnant patients with complications. The Texas Medical Board has offered guidance on how to interpret the law’s medical exception, and the Texas Supreme Court has ruled that doctors don’t need to wait until there’s an imminent risk to the patient to intervene. But some physicians say the guidance is vague and that hospitals are navigating each situation on a case-by-case basis.
ProPublica’s reporting about Crain and Barnica comes as U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz and U.S. Rep. Colin Allred of Dallas face off in a heated bid for one of Texas’ two seats in the U.S. Senate. Their divergent views on abortion have been a central issue in the race, and both candidates have weighed in on Crain and Barnica’s deaths.
“Texas doctors can’t do their jobs because of Ted Cruz’s cruel abortion ban,” Allred wrote on X, linking to the story about Crain. “Cruz even lobbied SCOTUS to allow states to ban life-saving emergency abortions.”
In 2021, Cruz sponsored a 20-week federal abortion ban. He also co-introduced a bill that would allow states to exclude medical providers that perform abortions from receiving Medicaid funding. After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Cruz celebrated the decision as a “massive victory.”
Cruz has previously said he thought Texas’ exception to save the life of the pregnant mother was working. This week he reiterated that stance. He called Crain and Barnica’s deaths “heartbreaking” in an interview with The Houston Chronicle and said procedures necessary to save the life of the pregnant mother are legal in Texas.
Dozens of women have come forward saying that, after the state’s abortion ban went into effect, they were unable to get the health care they needed for their medically complex pregnancies.
Last year, state lawmakers passed a law allowing abortions for people with ectopic pregnancies, a nonviable type of pregnancy in which the embryo implants outside the uterus, as well as when a patient’s water breaks before the fetus is viable.
The doctors who signed the letter said they want to see a change in state law.
“Texas needs a change. A change in laws. A change in how we legislate medical decisions that should be between a patient, their family, and their doctor.”
Anyone who has watched Election Day coverage in the past, or is excited to do so in the hotly contested 2024 election, has probably heard anchors or analysts refer to exit polls. But what are they and how do they work?
Exit polls are surveys conducted as voters leave their polling places on Election Day. Reaching voters at that moment helps ensure that the people surveyed have actually voted. Critical questions of who won and why are answered from exit poll results. Exit polls tell what issues were important in the election and how important demographic groups voted.
Watch ABC News on Election Night for full coverage of the 2024 presidential election. Coverage starts Tuesday night at 7 p.m. ET.
How are exit polls conducted?
Interviewers stand outside polling places at randomly selected precincts across the country and approach voters at specific intervals as they exit, for example every fifth or ninth voter.
Voters who agree to participate fill out a short, confidential questionnaire and place it in a ballot box.
Interviewers phone in the results three times during the day. When a voter refuses to participate, interviewers note the gender and approximate age and race of that voter. This information is used to statistically adjust the exit poll to ensure that all voters are fairly represented in the final results.
What sort of questions are asked in an exit poll?
The exit poll questionnaire asks who people voted for, their demographics, opinions about the candidates and opinions on important issues. Here’s an example of a previous exit poll issue question, from 2022:
Do you think the condition of the nation’s economy is: 1. Excellent 2. Good 3. Not so good 4. Poor
Are exit polls accurate?
Exit polls, like any other survey, are subject to sampling and non-sampling error. Before news organizations report exit poll results or make projections, they compare results to pre-election polls and the voting history in that precinct and have statisticians and political experts carefully review the data.
After the polls close, exit poll results are weighted using the actual vote to make the data more accurate. Exit polls may be used to project the winners of races where the margin between the candidates is large. But most election projections are made after the polls close based on actual vote data.
How do exit polls account for the people who vote early or by mail?
In the 2020 presidential election, about 70 percent of voters voted before Election Day using some form of mail or early in-person voting. That number is expected to be about 60 percent in 2024.
Exit polls miss those who vote before Election Day. However, it is important to include them in the data in order to have accurate information about all voters.
Exit polls include those who vote absentee or early in two ways. The first is by conducting multi-mode polls (i.e. by phone, text and email) among those who have voted absentee or early. Second, in states with a high proportion of early in-person voters, exit polls are conducted in the weeks leading up to Election Day as these voters leave early-voting polling places. Data from the multi-mode polls and early-voter exit polls are combined with the Election Day exit poll to provide a complete picture of all voters, regardless of when they voted.
When will exit poll results be reported?
On Election Day, there is a strict embargo on any data coming from the early waves of exit poll data until 5 p.m. ET. By about 5:45 p.m. ET, some initial demographic information about voters and their views on key issues in the election will be available on ABCNews.com. After the polls close in a state, the complete exit poll crosstabs (which are data tables showing how a variety of subgroups have voted) will be posted on ABCNews.com.
ABC News will not project a winner until the last scheduled poll closing time in each state. If a race is not projected at poll closing time, the projection will incorporate actual vote data and will be made as soon as the data warrant. Information will be constantly updated throughout the evening on ABCNews.com and on all ABC News programs.
BEL AIR, LOS ANGELES — Quincy Jones, a hitmaking producer and longtime powerhouse in the music industry, died on Sunday. He was 91.
His death was announced by his publicist, Arnold Robinson, who said Jones died Sunday night at his home in Bel Air, California. Jones was surrounded by his family, including his children and siblings, at the time of his death, the announcement said.
Quincy Jones arrives at the Governors Awards on Sunday, Nov. 18, 2018, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
“And although this is an incredible loss for our family, we celebrate the great life that he lived and know there will never be another like him,” the family said in a statement.
Jones’ historic career ranged from producing Michael Jackson’s record-setting “Thriller” to prize-winning film and television scores and collaborations with Frank Sinatra and Ray Charles.
Jones rose from running with gangs on the South Side of Chicago to the very heights of show business, becoming one of the first Black executives to thrive in Hollywood and amassing an extraordinary musical catalog that includes some of the richest moments of American rhythm and song. For years, it was unlikely to find a music lover who did not own at least one record with his name on it, or a leader in the entertainment industry and beyond who did not have some connection to him.
Over the past 60 years, it was hard to find someone in the music, television or movie industries who did not have some connection to Jones.
Jones kept company with presidents and foreign leaders, movie stars and musicians, philanthropists and business leaders. He toured with Count Basie and Lionel Hampton, arranged records for Sinatra and Ella Fitzgerald, composed the soundtracks for “Roots” and “In the Heat of the Night,” organized President Bill Clinton’s first inaugural celebration and oversaw the all-star recording of “We Are the World,” the 1985 charity record for famine relief in Africa.
Lionel Richie, who co-wrote “We Are the World” and was among the featured singers, would call Jones “the master orchestrator.”
In a career which began when records were still played on vinyl at 78 rpm, top honors likely go to his productions with Jackson: “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad” were albums near-universal in their style and appeal. Jones’ versatility and imagination helped set off the explosive talents of Jackson as he transformed from child star to the “King of Pop.” On such classic tracks as “Billie Jean” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough,” Jones and Jackson fashioned a global soundscape out of disco, funk, rock, pop, R&B and jazz and African chants. For “Thriller,” some of the most memorable touches originated with Jones, who recruited Eddie Van Halen for a guitar solo on the genre-fusing “Beat It” and brought in Vincent Price for a ghoulish voiceover on the title track.
“Thriller” sold more than 20 million copies in 1983 alone and has contended with the Eagles’ “Greatest Hits 1971-1975” among others as the best-selling album of all time.
“If an album doesn’t do well, everyone says ‘it was the producers fault’; so if it does well, it should be your ‘fault,’ too,” Jones said in an interview with the Library of Congress in 2016. “The tracks don’t just all of a sudden appear. The producer has to have the skill, experience and ability to guide the vision to completion.”
The list of his honors and awards fills 18 pages in his 2001 autobiography “Q”, including 27 Grammys at the time (now 28), an honorary Academy Award (now two) and an Emmy for “Roots.” He also received France’s Legion d’Honneur, the Rudolph Valentino Award from the Republic of Italy and a Kennedy Center tribute for his contributions to American culture. He was the subject of a 1990 documentary, “Listen Up: The Lives of Quincy Jones” and a 2018 film by daughter Rashida Jones. His memoir made him a best-selling author.
Quincy Jones was honored Tuesday in Hollywood, where the music mogul and pioneer dipped his hands and feet in cem…Show more
Born in Chicago in 1933, Jones would cite the hymns his mother sang around the house as the first music he could remember. But he looked back sadly on his childhood, once telling Oprah Winfrey that “There are two kinds of people: those who have nurturing parents or caretakers, and those who don’t. Nothing’s in between.” Jones’ mother suffered from emotional problems and was eventually institutionalized, a loss that made the world seem “senseless” for Quincy. He spent much of his time in Chicago on the streets, with gangs, stealing and fighting.
“They nailed my hand to a fence with a switchblade, man,” he told the AP in 2018, showing a scar from his childhood.
Music saved him. As a boy, he learned that a Chicago neighbor owned a piano and he soon played it constantly himself. His father moved to Washington state when Quincy was 10 and his world changed at a neighborhood recreation center. Jones and some friends had broken into the kitchen and helped themselves to lemon meringue pie when Jones noticed a small room nearby with a stage. On the stage was a piano.
“I went up there, paused, stared, and then tinkled on it for a moment,” he wrote in his autobiography. “That’s where I began to find peace. I was 11. I knew this was it for me. Forever.”
Within a few years he was playing trumpet and befriending a young blind musician named Ray Charles, who became a lifelong friend. He was gifted enough to win a scholarship at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out when Hampton invited him to tour with his band. Jones went on to work as a freelance composer, conductor, arranger and producer. As a teen, he backed Billie Holiday. By his mid-20s, he was touring with his own band.
“We had the best jazz band on the planet, and yet we were literally starving,” Jones later told Musician magazine. “That’s when I discovered that there was music, and there was the music business. If I were to survive, I would have to learn the difference between the two.”
As a music executive, he overcame racial barriers by becoming a vice president at Mercury Records in the early ’60s. In 1971, he became the first Black musical director for the Academy Awards ceremony. The first movie he produced, “The Color Purple,” received 11 Oscar nominations in 1986. (But, to his great disappointment, no wins). In a partnership with Time Warner, he created Quincy Jones Entertainment, which included the pop-culture magazine Vibe and Qwest Broadcasting. The company was sold for $270 million in 1999.
“My philosophy as a businessman has always come from the same roots as my personal credo: take talented people on their own terms and treat them fairly and with respect, no matter who they are or where they come from,” Jones wrote in his autobiography.
He was at ease with virtually every form of American music, whether setting Sinatra’s “Fly Me to the Moon” to a punchy, swinging rhythm and wistful flute or opening his production of Charles’ soulful “In the Heat of the Night” with a lusty tenor sax solo. He worked with jazz giants (Dizzy Gillespie, Count Basie, Duke Ellington), rappers (Snoop Dogg, LL Cool J), crooners (Sinatra, Tony Bennett), pop singers (Lesley Gore) and rhythm and blues stars (Chaka Khan, rapper and singer Queen Latifah).
On “We are the World” alone, performers included Michael Jackson, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder and Bruce Springsteen. He co-wrote hits for Jackson – “P.Y.T (Pretty Young Thing” – and Donna Summer – “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger) – and had songs sampled by Tupac Shakur, Kanye West and other rappers. He even composed the theme song for the sitcom “Sanford and Son.”
Jones was a facilitator and maker of the stars. He gave Will Smith a key break in the hit TV show “The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air,” which Jones produced, and through “The Color Purple” he introduced Winfrey and Whoopi Goldberg to filmgoers. Starting in the 1960s, he composed more than 35 film scores, including for “The Pawnbroker,” “In the Heat of the Night” and “In Cold Blood.”
He called scoring “a multifaceted process, an abstract combination of science and soul.”
Jones’ work on the soundtrack for “The Wiz” led to his partnership with Jackson, who starred in the 1978 movie. In an essay published in Time magazine after Jackson’s death, in 2009, Jones remembered that the singer kept slips of paper on him that contained thoughts by famous thinkers. When Jones asked about the origins of one passage, Jackson answered “Socrates,” but pronounced it “SO-crayts.” Jones corrected him, “Michael, it’s SOCK-ra-tees.”
“And the look he gave me then, it just prompted me to say, because I’d been impressed by all the things I saw in him during the rehearsal process, ‘I would love to take a shot at producing your album,'” Jones recalled. “And he went back and told the people at Epic Records, and they said, No way – Quincy’s too jazzy.’ Michael was persistent, and he and his managers went back and said, Quincy’s producing the album.’ And we proceeded to make ‘Off the Wall.’ Ironically, that was one of the biggest Black-selling albums at the time, and that album saved all the jobs of the people saying I was the wrong guy. That’s the way it works.”
Tensions emerged after Jackson’s death. In 2013, Jones sued Jackson’s estate, claiming he was owed millions in royalties and production fees on some of the superstar’s greatest hits. In a 2018 interview with New York magazine, he called Jackson “as Machiavellian as they come” and alleged that he lifted material from others.
Jones was hooked on work and play, and at times suffered for it. He nearly died from a brain aneurysm in 1974 and became deeply depressed in the 1980s after “The Color Purple” was snubbed by Academy Awards voters; he never received a competitive Oscar. A father of seven children by five mothers, Jones described himself as a “dog” who had countless lovers around the world. He was married three times, his wives including the actor Peggy Lipton.
“To me, loving a woman is one of the most natural, blissful, life-enhancing – and dare I say, religious – acts in the world,” he wrote.
He was not an activist in his early years, but changed after attending the 1968 funeral of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and later befriending the Rev. Jesse Jackson. Jones was dedicated to philanthropy, saying “the best and only useful aspect of fame and celebrity is having a platform to help others.”
His causes included fighting HIV and AIDS, educating children and providing for the poor around the world. He founded the Quincy Jones Listen Up! Foundation to connect young people with music, culture and technology, and said he was driven throughout his life “by a spirit of adventure and a criminal level of optimism.”
“Life is like a dream, the Spanish poet and philosopher Federico Garcia Lorca said,” Jones wrote in his memoir. “Mine’s been in Technicolor, with full Dolby sound through THX amplification before they knew what these systems were.”
Along with Rashida, Jones is survived by daughters Jolie Jones Levine, Rachel Jones, Martina Jones, Kidada Jones and Kenya Kinski-Jones; son Quincy Jones III; brother Richard Jones and sisters Theresa Frank and Margie Jay.
HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — While scrolling social media, you may have encountered “Moo Deng,” Thailand’s viral pygmy hippo, who became an international sensation with her adorable antics and memes.
Now, hippo lovers eager to experience the charm of a pygmy hippo in real life can visit the Houston Zoo, where a new star has just arrived.
Pygmy hippo “Akobi” recently moved from San Francisco to his new home in Houston as part of a breeding program.
Guests visiting the zoo can spot Akobi beside the bongos as he explores and gets acquainted with his new home.
James Van Der Beek shared that he has been diagnosed with colorectal cancer.
The “Dawson’s Creek” star posted a statement about his health update on Instagram on Sunday after first revealing the news to People.
“‘It is cancer…’ Each year, approximately 2 billion people around the world receive this diagnosis,” he wrote. “And I’m one of them.”
He went on to explain his decision to share the news over the weekend.
“There’s no playbook for how announce these things, but I’d planned on talking about it at length with People magazine at some point soon … to raise awareness and tell my story on my own terms,” he continued. “But that plan had to be altered early this morning when I was informed that a tabloid was going to run with the news.”
Van Der Beek wrote he has “been dealing with this privately until now, getting treatment and dialing in my overall health with greater focus than ever before.”
Despite the health update, he shared that he feels hopeful about the future and apologized to those in his life who learned the news from the press.
“I’m in a good place and feeling strong,” he wrote. “It’s been quite the initiation, and I’ll tell you more when I’m ready. Apologies to all the people in my life who I’d planned on telling myself. Nothing about this process has occurred on my preferred timeline. … But we roll with it, taking each surprise as a signpost, pointing us toward a greater destiny than we would have discovered without divine intervention.”
“Please know that my family and I deeply appreciate all the love and support,” he concluded. “More to come.”
In the post, he also shared a video montage of photos of himself, as well as one image with one of his kids, set to the song “Autumn Breeze” by Richard LaForge.
ABC News has reached out to his representative for comment.
Colorectal cancer begins in the colon or rectum, often referred to as colon or rectal cancer based on its location, according to the American Cancer Society, which added that most cases start as polyps – growths on the inner lining of these organs – that become more common with age. For that reason, regular screenings with colonoscopies can not only help detect colorectal cancer, but can help prevent it, too, since a polyp can take as many as 10 to 15 years to develop into cancer.
In addition to being an actor, Van Der Beek is very much a family man. He is a father to six kids, whom he shares with wife, Kimberly.
The actor regularly shares updates of his family on his social media platform.
In an Instagram post last week, Van Der Beek is pictured dressed up in a pirate costume while sharing his favorite moment during his Halloween celebration with his family.
“I made all my own costumes growing up,” he wrote in the caption. “Didn’t really have a choice. But I loved it. Should probably have been the first warning sign to my parents that I would end up an actor .”
He continued, “But in a SPIRIT HALLOWEEN world… my six year-old was devastated that her angel costume would not arrive in time for trick-or-treating. After acknowledging the tears, she was given the project of making her own halo, which she worked on for HOURS – wrapping yellow yarn around some garden wire. Focused in a way might not have believed possible. And the look of pride on her face upon seeing the final project in the mirror was, for me… my favorite moment of Halloween. .”
Earlier this year, Van Der Beek shared his proud moment as a dad when his daughter Olivia sang Lee Ann Womack’s “I Hope You Dance” on the television show, “We Are Family,” which showcases non-famous relatives of celebrities performing duets with their hidden famous family members.
“I’m a very proud papa tonight. My first-born daughter was on ‘We Are Family’ tonight on Fox,” he said in an Instagram video at the time before sharing behind-the-scenes clips, which included sweet moments with Olivia in her first-ever trailer on set, her rehearsal with producers, and Van Der Beek singing along with his daughter as he watched the feed from backstage.
“So proud of my baby girl,” he wrote in the caption. “And I call her that because when I watched her tonight, all I could see was the newborn in the bassinet who I could not stop looking at in awe.”
Potential Storm Eighteen has become a tropical depression over the southwest Caribbean. Hurricane watches and warnings have been issued for portions of Cuba and the Cayman islands. Steady strengthening is forecast, and the depression is expected to become Tropical Storm Rafael later today and a hurricane by Wednesday.
November 4, 8 a.m.
Potential Storm Eighteen will continue to strengthen over the southwest Caribbean, and will likely become a named tropical storm later today. This system is forecast to drift northeast, before turning northwestward towards Jamaica and Cuba. Heavy rain, wind, and flooding is expected for these areas as the system intensifies into a hurricane later this week and makes landfall in far western Cuba. The official track brings the system into the Gulf of Mexico by the weekend where some uncertainty still remains in the track.
We are also monitoring a low chance of tropical development north of Hispaniola this week. This system would possibly develop later in the week, and would stay far enough away from Potential Storm Eighteen.
November 3, 6 p.m.
The tropical wave in the southern Caribbean has quickly organized and become Potential Storm Eighteen Sunday afternoon. This storm will likely become the next named storm, Rafael, within the next 24 hours. The storm will then track north through the Caribbean, passing by Jamaica and the Cayman Islands as a tropical storm or category one hurricane early this week. Then the storm is expected to enter the Gulf of Mexico midweek, potentially as a hurricane. Beyond that, there is too much uncertainty in the long-term forecast to pinpoint where the storm will go or how strong it could be later this week and/or weekend. For now, the entire gulf coast should begin monitoring the situation. It is still too early to forecast any impact quite yet.
November 3, 10 a.m.
Odds are increasing that we’ll see our next named storm in the Caribbean early next week. The National Hurricane Center currently has a disturbance in the western Caribbean tagged with an 80% chance of development by Tuesday and a 90% chance by next weekend. Models are in fairly good agreement that any potential storm would drift north into the Gulf of Mexico, but beyond that point models diverge. A landfall in Texas is an unlikely outcome, as both models and history (we’ve never had a November hurricane make landfall in Texas) are on our side, but we’re still far enough out that I won’t fully rule out that possibility.
We’ll continue to monitor it in the coming days as the storm forms and models come in to better agreement. If the storm makes landfall in anywhere in the Gulf coast it would likely be roughly 1 week from today.
November 2, 11 a.m.
A disorganized area of low pressure in the Caribbean is now up to an 80% chance of Tropical Development over the next week. Models are in fairly good agreement about the potential storm lifting north, eventually making it’s way into the Gulf of Mexico. Beyond that point there is still a good deal of model discrepancy, so we’ll be keeping an eye on it, but the odds of trouble in Texas are low.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic Basin, subtropical storm Patty has formed and is no threat to the United States.
November 1, 8 a.m.
Broad low pressure in the western Caribbean now has a 70% chance of development according to the National Hurricane Center. For now, there remains some model disagreement on the eventual path of any potential storm, with some models bringing a storm to Florida, and others suggesting a landfall in Mexico. So while an eventual landfall location is far from set in stone, we have over a week to keep an eye on this potential storm.
Elsewhere in the Atlantic we have two other areas the NHC is monitoring, both with a low chance of development.
DALLAS, TX — TGI Fridays Inc., the American casual dining chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Saturday.
The company said in a statement that fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic was the “primary driver of our financial challenges” and it will use the Chapter 11 process to “explore strategic alternatives in order to ensure the long-term viability of the brand.”
“The next steps announced today are difficult but necessary actions to protect the best interests of our stakeholders, including our domestic and international franchisees and our valued team members around the world,” Rohit Manocha, TGI Fridays’ executive chairman, said in a statement.
The bankruptcy affects TGI Fridays’ parent company, which operates 39 restaurants, and not the franchisees that control the remaining locations. The company has secured financing so all restaurants will operate as usual while it navigates the bankruptcy process.
TGI Fridays has “stopped the clock on payments of this month’s rent to landlords and other vendors, giving them breathing room to restructure,” John Bringardner, head of Debtwire, told CNN. He added that the parent company “will likely have to close or sell unprofitable locations as part of the restructuring.”
TGI Fridays got its start in 1965 in Manhattan as a place for singles to meet each other and was one of the first major chains to popularize the “happy hour” concept. The menu features a wide array of American comfort food staples, including chicken wings, potato skins and hamburgers.
Diners instantly recognize its kitschy interior with Tiffany-style lamps and big red booths, plus a big bar that’s usually the focal point of a TGI Fridays. Plus, its service staff wore “flair,” or pins and other decorative pieces on their uniforms that became a joke on the 1999 film “Office Space.”
TGI Fridays never fully recovered from the pandemic, which shuttered indoor dining at restaurants for several months. That, plus inflationary pressure on its middle class customers created a financial mess for the nearly six-decade-old chain.
In January 2024, TGI Fridays abruptly shut down dozens of locations around the United States and has quietly kept closing restaurants. Last week, it shuttered 50 locations bringing its count down to 163. Before that wave of closures this year, TGI Fridays had about 270 US locations.
TGI Fridays is privately owned by TriArtisan Capital Advisors, a private equity firm, so financial results aren’t released. However, the company said last year that total sales were projected to reach $1.6 billion in 2022 with same-store US sales growing at 8% compared to 2019.
It also changed its menu to keep up with its rivals, notably Applebee’s and Chili’s, by adding sushi, refreshing its cocktail menu and giving its appetizer selection a makeover.
In September, TGI Fridays’ operations in the United Kingdom also ran into trouble. A proposed acquisition by its UK franchisee fell through and it went bankrupt. It’s in the process of closing dozens of restaurants in the region and causing 1,000 job losses.
TGI Fridays join Red Lobster and Buca di Beppo chains, both of which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in recent months. However, the latter emerged from bankruptcy and has tapped a P.F. Chang’s executive to turn the business around.
