10 things you need to know today: August 29, 2019

1. Hurricane Dorian strengthens as it heads toward Florida

Hurricane Dorian gained strength before passing near Puerto Rico's eastern tip and through the U.S. Virgin Islands on Wednesday, causing some power outages and flooding. Dorian was upgraded Wednesday from a tropical storm to a Category 1 hurricane. Its top sustained winds reached 85 miles per hour early Thursday. Forecasters said it could develop into a more powerful Category 3 storm with 115 mph winds as it heads northwest toward the Bahamas and Florida. "All indications are that by this Labor Day weekend, a powerful hurricane will be near or over the Florida peninsula," National Hurricane Center forecasters said. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) declared a state of emergency covering 26 counties that could be in the storm's path.

The Miami Herald The Washington Post

2. Gillibrand drops out of 2020 presidential race

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday became the latest candidate to drop out of the race for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination. Gillibrand was once considered a possible contender, but she failed to meet the minimum for poll numbers and donors required to qualify for the next debate in September. "I know this isn't the result that we wanted. We wanted to win this race," she said in a video posted online. "But it's important to know when it's not your time." Her departure came after several others dropped out of the field of two dozen candidates. Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) ended his campaign in July. Former Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee, and Rep. Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) did the same earlier in August.

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The Associated Press

3. Isakson announces resignation, leaving another GOP Senate seat up for grabs

Sen. Johnny Isakson (R-Ga.) said in a statement Wednesday that he is resigning at the end of the year due to health problems, including Parkinson's disease. Isakson's retirement adds another competitive seat in the 2020 elections, when voters will choose someone to serve the rest of his term, which ends in 2022. Sen. David Perdue (R-Ga.) also will be on the ballot, seeking reelection. Having to defend two seats in Georgia will make it a little harder for Republicans to hold onto their thin Senate majority. Georgia has long been considered a solid red state but Democrats demonstrated that they can compete when their candidate, Stacey Abrams, narrowly lost the 2018 gubernatorial election to now-Gov. Brian Kemp. Abrams ruled out running for Isakson's seat.

Politico

4. Queen approves Johnson's plan to suspend Parliament

Queen Elizabeth II on Wednesday approved British Prime Minister Boris Johnson's plan to suspend Parliament from the second week of September to Oct. 14, 17 days before the date the U.K. is scheduled to leave the European Union. Jeremy Corbyn, leader of the opposition Labor Party, had written the queen urging her to withhold her approval. Johnson has vowed to lead the U.K. out of the E.U. with or without a deal on Brexit terms. Rival leaders have said a no-deal Brexit would devastate the British economy but with Parliament suspended they will have little time to pass legislation to prevent it. Former Chancellor Philip Hammond called Johnson's move "profoundly undemocratic." Demonstrators gathered in London and several other cities chanting "save our democracy," "stop the coup," and calling for Johnson to resign.

Independent The Guardian

5. Italy gets new governing coalition, avoiding new election

Italy's anti-establishment Five Star Movement and center-left Democratic Party reached an agreement Wednesday to form a new government following the collapse of the country's nationalist-populist coalition. The deal avoids a new election that could have brought hard-right leader Matteo Salvini to power. Salvini had pushed for new elections, pulling his nationalist League party's support from Five Star's governing coalition. Five Star and the Democratic Party had been political enemies, but their leaders overcame their differences to strike the deal. They told President Sergio Mattarella that Giuseppe Conte, who averted a no-confidence vote tabled by Salvini by resigning last week, should return to lead the new government. "We love Italy and we believe that it is worth trying this experiment," said Democratic Party head Nicola Zingaretti.

The New York Times CNN

6. Mythbusters' Jessi Combs dies while trying to break land speed record

Racer and TV personality Jessi Combs was killed when she crashed trying for a land-speed record, her team confirmed Wednesday. The 39-year-old former Mythbusters host, known as "the fastest woman on four wheels," was trying to break the Women's Land Speed Record of 512 mph set in 1976 by Kitty O'Neil when her 52,000 horsepower jet-powered car crashed on a dry lake bed in Oregon's Alvord Desert. "Jessi's bright smile, positivity, and tenacious pursuit of her dreams inspired everyone who met her," her family said. "Her drive and spirit were infectious, and she served as a role model for young girls and women around the world." Former Mythbusters host Adam Savage tweeted that Combs was a "brilliant and top-notch builder, engineer, driver, fabricator, and science communicator."

Jalopnik NBC News

7. U.S. trade officials reaffirm plan for higher China tariffs

The U.S. Trade Representative's office on Wednesday released an official notice confirming the U.S. will impose an additional 5 percent tariff on $300 billion worth of Chinese imports, bringing the tariff to 15 percent. It will hit some of the products on Sept. 1, and the rest, including cellphones, laptops, toys, and shoes, on Dec. 15. President Trump announced the tariff increase in a Friday tweet in response to China's plan to slap retaliatory tariffs on $75 billion worth of U.S. imports. Hundreds of business groups, including retailers and shoe companies, had urged Trump to drop the tariffs to avoid driving up prices and killing jobs.

Reuters

8. Administration ends automatic citizenship for some overseas service members' children

The Trump administration issued a policy alert on Wednesday saying children born to U.S. service members and other government employees living abroad will no longer automatically be granted U.S. citizenship. The rule announced by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services applies to three groups: Children of non-U.S. citizens adopted by employees or service members who are citizens; children of employees naturalized after the child's birth; and children whose parents don't meet residency requirements. The new policy does not make the children ineligible for citizenship. It says they are no longer considered to be "residing in the United States" for the purposes of granting citizenship, so their families will have to apply for it.

USA Today The Hill

9. Teen climate activist Greta Thunberg arrives in N.Y.

Sixteen-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg arrived in New York on Wednesday after sailing across the Atlantic. Thunberg doesn't fly because airplanes pollute too much, so she made the two-week journey in an emissions-free racing yacht ahead of her speech next month at the United Nations Climate Action Summit. Thunberg disembarked at a marina in Lower Manhattan saying she hoped to boost Americans' awareness of "the climate crisis." She also was asked if she had a message for President Trump, who has questioned the science on climate change. "My message to him is just to listen to the science, and he obviously doesn't do that," she said.

NPR The New York Times

10. CDC: U.S. could lose measles-elimination status

The U.S. could soon lose the measles elimination status it received in 2000, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases warned on Wednesday. Dr. Nancy Messonnier said there is a "reasonable chance" that the World Health Organization could strip the U.S. of the designation in October after measles has spread continuously for one year. On Sept. 30, 2018, a measles outbreak began in New York City, and since then, hundreds of new cases have appeared in 30 states. This is "incredibly frustrating and upsetting to the public health community that we may lose measles elimination status, because we do have a safe and effective vaccine," Messonnier said.

CNN