President Trump Declares State of Emergency in Florida Ahead of Hurricane Michael

President Donald J. Trump declared a state of emergency in Florida yesterday as the state prepares for Hurricane Michael to make landfall in the coming hours, Brett Samuels reports for The Hill.

“The emergency declaration, which is retroactive to Sunday, will provide additional federal assistance and resources to Florida in its preparation and recovery efforts,” Samuels writes. “The measure also includes additional debris removal and emergency protective assistance to several counties that are expected to be hardest hit by the storm, including Gulf, Hamilton, Jackson, Jefferson, Madison and Suwannee.”

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In The Salt Lake Tribune, Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta and the U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams point out that the opioid crisis has been crippling for many Americans, ultimately keeping them out of the growing workforce. “President Trump has declared the opioid epidemic a national public health emergency, committing the full resources of his Administration to helping Americans impacted by opioid addiction,” they write.

“Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Tuesday he made ‘real progress’ in his latest meeting with North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, and said he believes the two countries are back on a path toward denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula,” Joel Gehrke reports in the Washington Examiner. At the White House, Secretary Pompeo told reporters that “while there's still a long way to go and much work to do, we can now see a path to where we'll achieve the ultimate goal, which is the full and final verified denuclearization of North Korea.”

In The Hill, Allen Gutierrez—Associate Administrator for the Office of Entrepreneurial Development at the Small Business Administration—writes that SBA Administrator Linda McMahon has been re-doubling efforts to support Hispanic entrepreneurs. “The Trump administration is committed to providing Hispanic entrepreneurs with not only the resources they need to succeed, but also the right policies. Hispanic Americans are better off economically today than they were before this administration’s policies were put in place.”