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this morning we are set to learn significant new details in the trials of donald trump. two key hearings in two separate cases, one in d.c., one in fulton county, georgia, moving the legal drama surrounding the former president into a new phase. and police calling it a rampage motivated by hate. a white gunman targeting black people in jacksonville, florida. shooting and killing three victims at a dollar general store. what we're learning this morning. also a major hurricane threat, tropical storm idalia gaining strength turning in the warm waters of the gulf and taking aim at florida's west coast. we are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to "cnn news central." ♪ and we are taking a look at

governor ron desantis as he prepares to make remarks about hurricane idalia, as we just said. let's listen. >> -- we also have fdle on site today evaluating security on campus and making recommendations for any additional infrastructure improvements. also, per the request at yesterday's vigil, we are able to do 100s,000 to the charity supporting victims' families and those funds are coming from vo florida so we will continue to work with those folks in the days and weeks ahead. as of 0800 today 90 miles south of cuba tropical storm idalia continues to gather strength. it will become a hurricane today and it is forecast to reach landfall as a major hurricane a category 3. it's important to point out if we were sitting here three days ago a lot of people thought it would end up being a tropical storm, then they said maybe a

category 1, yesterday it was maybe it will hit cat 2, now there doesn't seem to be anything that will continue it to strengthen. we have seen this with hurricane michael that continued to gather strength. so this is going to be a major impact and floridians should expect that this storm will be a major cat 3 plus hurricane. so please prepare accordingly. the national hurricane center currently has hurricane watches in effect for the gulf coast from sarasota up to franklin county in northwestern florida. this track, if you look at how the models are, there's a general agreement on the track that it's going to take, there's a lot of agreement that it's going to be, you know, somewhere between north of tampa and tallahassee, but anything that wobbles with this storm could change that, so pretty much anybody on the west coast of florida, i mean, you can see

major, major impacts. so please prepare accordingly. we did submit a prelandfall declaration to the federal government, we anticipate that being approved. i expanded the state of emergency to include 13 additional counties so that will be 46 that are under a state of emergency, of course, on the gulf coast but also as you look at the track of that storm you're going to see northern florida, north central florida, northeastern florida counties affected as well. so all of those counties are under a state of emergency. our state eoc is operating at a level 1, 24-hour operations. this is what we do. now, all counties in the path of idalia should have their emergency operations centers activated now. please request aid from the state as soon as possible. there's a relatively limited window here. if you request aid kevin and his

team are going to get it to you, but if you wait until, you know, six, hours before the storm hits, it's going to be much more difficult to make that happen. so tell us what your needs are, submit those requests and kevin and his team are going to work to fill those requests as expeditiously as possible. evacuation orders. i urge floridians to heed the admonitions and heed the directives from your local officials. there are going to be evacuation orders issued in all these gulf coast counties in the a and b zones. all the barrier islands, places that are low lying on the coast, you are going to be told to evacuate. so just understand that. that will be true probably from pinellas, maybe even manatee up through the big bend. keep in mind if you are told to evacuate, you do not need to drive hundreds of miles.

you do not need to leave the state of florida. you basically need to go to higher ground. almost every instance you can go tens of miles to a shelter, to a hotel, to a friend's house, whatever works for you, and you will be able to ride out the storm. the key is to not be in those areas that are going to be hit with big-time storm surge and that are going to potentially have life-threatening situations. so tens of miles, not necessarily need hundreds of miles, and the more people that do a more limited evacuation, more local evacuation, you're not going to have the highways and the roads clogged so it's not necessary to try to outrun the storm, just get to higher ground, get in a structure that is going to be able to handle the hurricane, ride it out and you will be able -- >> we've been listening to florida governor ron desantis as the state prepares for idalia saying that there will be evacuation orders, telling floridians to prepare

accordingly. still watching the track, saying if, in fact, your county gets an evacuation order you don't necessarily have to leave the state, but seek higher ground and prepare accordingly. this is something, of course, we will continue to follow closely throughout the show and we will have much more in just a few moments. let's turn to our other top story today and this morning. starting next hour two key hearings, two different cities, two major tests for two of donald trump's four criminal indictments. at 10:00 a.m. eastern judges in atlanta and washington, d.c. are set to hold dual hearings and that means that very soon we will all have a much clearer picture of the timing, the evidence and the legal peril that the former president faces ahead. in d.c. january 2nd or april 2026, those are the proposed dates as arguments over when the federal election interference trial should begin. special counsel jack smith and trump's lawyers preparing to duke it out.

and this could get fiery. last time we had a hearing with this d.c. judge she told the 2024 candidate his status as a criminal defendant will take precedent over politics. and in atlanta it's a crucial litmus test for georgia's election indictment. key evidence set to soon be presented as trump's former chief of staff mark meadows seeks to move his charges out of state court to federal court. today's fight will provide the best preview yet that the case district attorney fani willis has built against trump and his 18 accused co-conspirators. now, trump not expected to attend either hearing today as his campaign continues to profit off prosecutions. on saturday his team claimed to have raised $7.1 million since he was booked in georgia last week. there is obviously a lot to get to this morning. let's begin this hour in atlanta with cnn's katelyn polantz outside federal court. katelyn, good morning. what can we expect? >> reporter: rahel, there will be witnesses today in federal

court, they will be under oath and they will be pretty important voices who interacted with donald trump after the 2020 election. there have been witness -- four witnesses subpoenaed by georgia, that's the prosecutors in this case, to come to a hearing today in federal court because mark meadows, one of the defendants charged here, donald trump's chief of staff in the white house, meadows is trying to get this case moved or at least the case against him moved from state court into federal court, and the people that the prosecutors in this case have subpoenaed to testify today to show, to try to show that meadows was acting in a political capacity rather than as part of his official duties in the white house when he was helping trump try to challenge the election results in georgia, they include people like brad raffensperger, the secretary of state. he is expected to be at the court hearing, very likely testifying today. also an investigator that trump also called, similar to how he called raffensperger. and then two lawyers that were working more on the trump side

of things, they've been subpoenaed to the courthouse as well. so we are very likely to hear that witness testimony. the very first time in any of these criminal cases against donald trump where we will get a preview of the evidence that the prosecutors would have in any of the cases no one has had to do something like this yet, and so that is important. there's also going to be these important legal arguments around whether this case does have some sort of protection for the people who were federal officials at the time of these allegations, people like mark meadows. what happens today with meadows might not just be about him, either, it could expand out to what happens with others in the case and be quite a harbinger for what happens with donald trump in this case as a defendant as well. >> that's something we have heard a lot. this could be a predictor of what could happen with some of those co-conspirators. katelyn polantz, we will check back if this with you throughout the show. katelyn polantz, live in atlanta.

boris, this is one trial and one city, but there is another one happening today as well. >> no shortage of cases for the former president. let's focus on washington, d.c. now, where today a judge could decide when the federal election subversion case against trump could begin. trump's lawyers want to start a few years down the road, but special counsel jack smith wants to start asap, in just a few months. cnn's evan perez is outside the courthouse for us. evan, how are both sides going to be making their case? >> reporter: boris, we expect that the former president is going to be making his case to try to delay this trial as long as possible, certainly after the 2024 election. his team is asking for a trial date in april of 2026. jack smith, the special counsel, he has asked for a trial to happen in january of next year. of course, judge tanya chutkan is the one who is going to make the decision and she's already signaled that she believes that this case and the importance of this case takes precedence over

the former president's political campaign, which of course is ongoing and it is influencing some of what is happening here. the former president is facing a four-count indictment in this case, it's a narrow case, much narrower than the one you see down in georgia where katelyn is, and that was designed for a reason. he's charged with defrauding the united states, obstructing congress and of course disenfranchising voters in those states where the former president was trying to overturn the election results. again, the case was designed in a narrow fashion, perhaps to try to get it to trial as soon as possible. well, we will hear from judge chutkan in the next hour and we will see what patience she has for trying to delay this beyond the election year. of course, the former president is going to be making -- his legal team is going to be making the case that they have so much material to get through that they cannot possibly go to trial in the next year, guys.

>> evan perez outside u.s. district court in washington, d.c., thanks so much. rahel? >> boris, thank you. with me to discuss a former federal judge nancy gert ner and former manhattan district attorney jeremy saland. nancy, i want to start with you in the georgia case. you are a former federal judge. talk to me about the why. what advantage does mark meadows and his team see by wanting to move this to federal court? >> there are a couple of concrete advantages. one concrete advantage is the fact that the jury pool in federal pool draws from more than just atlanta, it would actually draw from the neighboring counties, which across the country typically means suburban voters and typically means -- would be conceivably a more pro-trump configuration than just the city of atlanta. so that's one advantage. the other advantage, it would be an opportunity to present

federal defenses, if he has any. federal defenses which would not be brought in state court. so the nature of the trial would change a bit, the audience for the trial could change, but the -- should it wind up in federal court the law, however, it still is georgia law, it still is the georgia accusations. so that would -- there are some advantages, there are some advantages and if he has any federal defenses that would be the locus for hearing those federal defenses. >> it's a great point and i want to bring jeremy into that. so same georgia law and same fulton county prosecutor, fani willis, but if you are a prosecutor you don't want this to happen. why not? you don't want this moving to federal court. >> i know my court, i know my jurisdiction and venue, i've walked that path countless times and know the judges. the substantive underlying criminal code doesn't change but there's different federal procedures that i'm not necessarily familiar with.

it's like hoosiers in the sense that the hoop is 10 feet and it's the same thing no matter what court you are in but it's very different. it's not going to change her approach or what the evidence is going to be, but it does change a little bit in the sense that you are in a different place. it's a little less familiar. >> nancy, let's stick with the georgia case, if this is a base before you what are you going to be listening for in terms of some of the witnesses today, some of the evidence in terms of whether mark meadows has what we've heard a lot, a colorable defense, has some legitimacy for moving this to federal court? >> i think the question is going to first depend on what the law is, what the standards are. if the standards are if the judge believes that the standards are low and there is some mushiness here because this is not an often used statute, whether or not it is colorable, whether -- that's a very low standard, colorable federal

defense, colorable federal claim. the other low standard would be if the judge adopts a view that all that's relevant here is that the acts took place while meadows was chief of staff. if that had been the standard the judge wouldn't have needed an evidentiary hearing because it was clear in terms of some of the accusations anyway he was chief of staff while they were happening. the fact of the timing of this evidentiary hearing means the judge wants to dig deeper than you were doing x while you were chief of staff. he wants to know whether the accusations in the atlanta case are actually causally related to meadows' jobs, under what circumstances does the chief of staff of the united states have a right to involve himself in an electoral situation, electoral college situation in a state, or under what circumstances can someone who is obviously being

involved in the campaign and not in his traditional u.s. duties, that he is involved in the campaign that he is not shielded by this law, that he doesn't have a right to access. so the judge obviously has a view of this and is digging more deeply. >> jeremy, let me give you the final word. let's pivot to d.c. we heard evan perez say that trump's team feel like there is a lot of evidence here that they need months if not years to prepare. is that a valid argument? >> i think there is an argument to be made and it's certainly an argument to be made that there is a lot of evidence, but it's not to the extent that they are making it out to be. the defense is going to throw everything that they can in the way to make this thing move as slowly as possible. that is their goal. being speedy, despite the term we have heard about speedy trial is not in their advantage, especially for donald trump in d.c. because he wants to get this beyond the election. whether it's removal, whether it's a searclf reference, motioo

review or discovery, any tool they have they're going to pursue, meaning donald trump to move this case out as long as he can and that goes for all of his cases. further and farther out, that's his friend in terms of timeline. >> sounds like we will learn more in that regard a little later today. jeremy and nancy, thank you both. boris? still to come this morning, calls for action in jacksonville, florida, after a white man shoots and kills three black people during a racially motivated attack. >> i'm sad to realize we are in 2023 and as a black person we are still hunted because that's what that was. plus, russia officially confirming the death of wagner chief yevgeny prigozhin. what that means for the future of the mercenary group. and of course we're tracking tropical storm idalia, the storm strengthening, expected to become a major hurricane by

wednesday. we are going to tell you when it's expected to make landfall as it barrels towards the florida coast.

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and experience the deep, undisturbed rest of tempur-pedic. learn more at tempurpedic.com department is investigating saturday's deadly shooting in jacksonville, florida, as a hate crime. three black people were killed at a dollar general store when a white gunman opened fire. police releasing these images from surveillance video of the shooting. just a short time earlier on sunday the shooter had been turned away from the campus of a historically black university in the area. the victims have now been identified as well. they are 52-year-old angela michelle carr, 29-year-old jerrald gallion and 19-year-old aj laguerre jr. jacksonville's sheriff said the shooter left behind racist ramblings that read like, quote, the diary of a madman.

listen. >> when a person grabs ahold of a gun with hateful intentions it's very difficult to stop that from happening. >> the attack is just the latest in recent years where a gunman has targeted black people, including at a tops supermarket in buffalo, new york, last year and a historically black church in charleston, south carolina, in 2015. president biden spoke with jacks jacksonville's mayor and the sheriff last night. the president saying we have to refuse to live in a country where black people going to the store or black students live in fear of being gunned down because of the color of their spin. let's go to jacksonville with isabel rosales. how are people holding up? >> reporter: this is such a tough scenario, they are

grappling and try to understand what has happened here. let me paint you a picture of when the shooting happened on saturday, the 60th anniversary of the commemoration of the march on washington, the fifth anniversary of a mass shooting in jacksonville, also something known as ax saturday where in the 1960s a white mob beat black demonstrators. the timing certainly doesn't help, adding to the outrage of this community that an outsider, a white man would come to this predominantly black community and carry out this act of violence. so we just learned on cnn from sheriff t.k. waters, a black man, that for some reason this shooter was, quote, very focused on this dollar general and he carried out his rampage for 11 minutes donning a tactical vest, a mask, an ar-15-style rifle, a handgun with swastikas, fired

rounds into a car killing it angela carr, this all of the victims here from black and then he turned the gun on himself. incredibly we are learning about what happened on a campus not too far from here, a historically black college, edward waters university where the shooter was there first and security actually turned him away after students spotted weird behavior from him according to the president. he says he is frustrated because his school was targeted before in a string of bomb threats against hbcus back in 2022, but he is so proud of his security team. listen. >> do you believe that lives were saved? >> oh, i think -- i think it is -- it's unconverted that we now know that this very

disturbed young man had the intention to go and murder black folks. it's not by happenstance, we believe, that he came to the first historically black university in the state first, and so we -- i think it's unconverted that this security team here at our institution saved dozens of lives and for that we're very, very grateful. >> reporter: and you heard there the president believing that his school was absolutely targeted. we just heard from the sheriff, t.k. waters, who says that they have found no indication that the shooter intended to attack the university. also brand-new from governor ron desantis, he intends to award $1 million to the school to help bolster security. boris? >> isabel rosales, live from jacksonville, florida. >> for more to discuss is the president of the jacksonville chapter of the naacp because,

boris, as you say there is a lot to discuss. isaiah, can you tell me how the jacksonville community is doing? >> good morning. glad to be here. i mean, we are holding on as best as we can, but this was a very sad, dark day in the history of jacksonville wherein this racist, white supremacist came into our community, attacking people of color, killing three. it's a very sad day and something needs to be done as it relates to sensible gun laws and gun control in this country. we saw buffalo, we saw south carolina, the jewish community, now jacksonville. five years ago we had this same issue with another mass killing.

i mean, we are holding up, we are doing as best as we can under the circumstances but it's a dark, disheartening day in our city. i drive by this store probably three to four times a day, i know exactly where it is, i i've been in it several times. for someone to come into our community, target african americans and then kill them and murder them is very unacceptable. >> you know, you mentioned that mass shooting five years ago to the day. we've learned the sheriff said that the shooter was, in fact, aware of the timing. what do you make of that, that level of what appears to be premeditation or the performative aspect at least from what we can tell now of the shooter's actions? >> i think this just goes to show how hatred exists in our country. it is not -- it has been with us for a long time, it is

continuing and all the rhetoric that we are hearing from our politicians are not helping in any way. i think there's going to have to come a time wherein this rhetoric, policies, statements that are being scrutinized by our politicians must come to an end and must end today. >> and isaiah let me ask to that end governor desantis just announced this morning that the state of florida will be giving $1 million to edward waters university. as you know, he was booed while at a vigil sunday. what more would you like to see from governor desantis? >> well, further support for the university. a million dollars is okay, but that's still not going to prevent what has happened in this community. we have to have more resources,

more counseling, stop the rhetoric and take care of these families that's been hurt by the senseless acts of this racist white serving tichl. >> let me ask you finally over the weekend i spoke with my colleague who used to be an official with the department of homeland security and she told me that jacksonville specifically is a breeding ground of neo-naziism, that they have been tracking this and seeing this. what can you tell me and tell us about the climate in jacksonville with these hate groups? >> i think the federal government and the justice department are going to have to do a better job in exercising exactly where these hate groups exist. i mean, we see these confederate monuments signs, we see the trump signs constantly on our

street -- on our streets and we know from that standpoint that there's hatred and we're just going to have to deal with it in some kind of way and the justice department needs to be right here today looking into it. >> isaiah rumlin, we appreciate the time and we're sorry for the loss in jacksonville. isaiah rumlin, thank you. so the kremlin has confirmed that yevgeny prigozhin was killed in a plane crash. we're going to take you live to moscow to find out what this means for the future of his wagner mercenary group and for vladimir putin. and how is former president donald trump's upcoming criminal trials going to impact his political future? we will pose that question to one of his former top advisers in just a few minutes. stay with us. written by those . lilike the upshaws. the nelsons. and the caggianos. run with us and start telling your story.

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welcome back. after days of speculation officials in russia are confirming that wagner mercenary group chief yevgeny prigozhin was among the ten people killed in a plane crash last week. the private jet fell out of the sky, crashing in a field near moscow. investigators said dna tests established all of the victims' identities. i want to bring in matthew chance live for us in moscow. what more are you learning about this? >> reporter: well, the authorities have reached that first -- answered that first question in the investigation, which is was yevgeny prigozhin the wagner leader actually on board that aircraft, in the past there have been plane crashes in which he's been on the passenger manifest and he has emerged a few days later saying i'm not dead.

now we have confirmation from the authorities that genetic testing has revealed that everybody on that passenger manifest including yevgeny prigozhin has been confirmed as killed. so that's something. what we don't know is why that plane which was flying from moscow to st. petersburg on wednesday plunged in a fireball into the earth. the kremlin have categorically denied any link with it, saying the allegation that is they were involved are absolute lies, but that denial hasn't done much to quell speculation both in russia and outside of russia this could have been some kind of state involvement and revenge to the uprising that yevgeny prigozhin staged back in june with wagner fighters, with him at the head, sort of marching towards the russian capital and demanding the overflow or the departure of russia's senior military leadership. again, the kremlin categorically deny that and they say that an investigation is under way now to get to the bottom of what

exactly happened. when those results are ready, they say, they will make them public, but no one is holding their breath for that, rahel. >> matthew chance, live in moscow. thank you. boris? let's dig deeper on the involvements with john bolton, a former national security adviser in the white house and former ambassador to the united nations. thanks for being with us. now that the kremlin has confirmed that prigozhin is dead how does this change the dynamic not only on the battlefield in ukraine but also internally in russian politics? >> i don't think there's any question that blowing away prigozhin, his top deputy and several other wagner group officials puts putin in a stronger hand. i've heard some people say, oh, he is still at risk. look, shakespeare said uneasy lies the head that wears the crown. that's always true. i think the lesson that russia's

elites around the world learned is that putin is deadly serious and if you go after him, you better succeed, which prigozhin didn't. i think putin's attention now will turn to trying to make up for the abysmal performance of the russian military in ukraine and i'm very worried that if the gridlock in the ukrainian spring offensive continues that putin will try something diplomatically in september/october to try to freeze the battle lines, create a new de facto boundary for russia and try to turn the page on the military side so he can recover and regroup. >> ambassador, russia, as you noted, has had very little success on the battlefield, most of it recently has actually come from the wagner mers tear group. how does their dynamic change with prigozhin out of the picture? >> well, i think a lot of people were asking why did it take putin two months to assassinate

prigozhin after the failed june mutiny, and i think one reason for that is that putin and his team do value the wagner group. they created it. they asked prigozhin and others to put it together. they funded it through russian government funds to give them basically a deniable military capability in the middle east and across africa. and more recently used in ukraine, as you point out. so it's a valuable asset. i don't think they want to destroy it. they may rebrand it, but i think putin wanted to be sure, as sure as he could be that he would have control over key parts of the wagner group if prigozhin suddenly met his maker and i suspect he believes he has that now and he wants to focus everybody's attention, regular military and wagner group, on not losing any more ground in ukraine. >> what about on the other side of the conflict, kyiv has asked for patience as the counteroffensive has produced little results, but it doesn't

appear that we're going to see a break through in gridlock. >> you know, the military experts disagree on it. certainly progress has been slower than we wanted but that's what gives putin the opportunity here for a diplomatic ploy, look to go split france, possibly germany, possibly significant chunks of the united states electorate away from continuing to aid ukraine. if putin said, look, this war has gone on long enough, let's have a ceasefire in place, let's negotiate immediately what will emmanuel macron of france do? he may well jump in to be the peace maker. germany's position is shaky and, let's face it, the white house has not aided the ukrainians in the most effective way, they're about to go into a very shaky election for president biden, maybe he wants to be a peace maker. >> ambassador, while we have you, you mentioned the upcoming election. your former boss, donald trump, after being processed in a georgia jail on thursday managed

to have the single biggest day of fundraising for his entire campaign, in a day he raised over $4 million, $7 million in total since thursday. do you believe there's still a lane for another republican to take the primary? >> yes, i do, and i think it's difficult but i think this could all turn, both for the primary, but particularly for the general election, on whether any of the four pending criminal indictments actually come to trial and get a jury verdict before the election because i think if a jury convicts trump, i think that could be fatal either to getting the nomination or certainly in november. all of the other legal proceedings have either had no effect or, as you point out in this fundraising news, have benefited trump, but i think a jury verdict of guilty is something very different. i think even a lot of maga trumpers really don't want to elect a convicted felon

president. the difficulty for republicans is that the convention is in august, but many of the primaries and caucuses begin quite early next year. so the argument has to be made to republican voters, don't vote for somebody who may be a felon by the time we get to our convention. >> during the republican debate last week we saw so many of trump's rivals raise their hands saying they would support him even if he was convicted. >> i think that's a big mistake. i tell you, the greatest risk for the republican party is to nominate trump and have the democrats nominate somebody other than joe biden, who rivals trump in unpopularity. the american people in several polls have said they do not want a rematch of biden and trump as in 2020. i think if the democrats nominated somebody else, they would have a much better chance against trump. >> former ambassador john bolton, we appreciate the time and the perspective, sir,

thanks. and coming up for us, hurricane watches are in effect along florida's gulf coast as tropical storm idalia gathers strength. idalia expected to become a category 3 hurricane before slamming into florida in less than 48 hours. we will speak to a florida first responder who is preparing for the worst. we will be right back. tourists tourists that turn into scientists. tourist taking photos that are analyzed by ai. so researchers can help life underwaterer flourish. ♪ right now get a free footlong at subway. like the subway series menu. buy one footlong in the app, get one ee. for freeee. that's what i'm talking about. order in the subway app today. with new scope squeez mouthwash concentrate, just add water. squeez to control the strength of your mouthwash. and find a zone all your own. ♪ ♪ scope squeez.

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ask your doctor. right now tropical storm idalia is churning toward florida, gaining strength in the gulf and it's expected to intensify to a category 3 hurricane by the time it makes landfall on wednesday. more than 10 million floridians are under hurricane watches including in the tampa and st. peers burring metro area. >> a number of florida counties

are already declared states of emergency, that including hillsborough county where tampa is located. joining us is the fire and rescue rob pairing. we appreciate you being with us today. what is your first priority right now? >> right now our message to our residents and visitors is to start executing your plans. start preparing your homes for any kind of wind event, securing any kind of anything that could become a projectile. get any important documentation in order. birth certificates, insurance information, social security cards. prepare for an electrical power interruption, post storm. cash out in case atms are down and even download your kid's favorite movie in case they need it throughout the storm. >> that is good advice to parents, rob. i grew up in florida and i know so many of my neighbors growing up unless it was a category 4 or

5 storm they would not get up from the couch. they wouldn't leave their homes. what's your message to folks that don't really take a category 3 like this seriously? >> the message is, you know, there is some complacency with floridians, as you mentioned, and these storms are unpredictable. that cone of uncertainty is just that, it's uncertain. it's up to mother nature to where are the storms going to hit and to what intensity it's going to hit. so we need to prepare for a major category 3 hurricane to hit the bay area and, you know, execute those plans and reach out to the resources that we have available locally. >> and, rob, for those who have not grown up in florida or who are not as familiar with hurricanes, paint a picture for us. what happens when a category 3 hurricane makes landfall and hits florida? >> so the biggest life threat in a hurricane event is those storm surge. so our county administration along with emergency management

is working diligently to decide next steps and we're going to protect our residents against that storm surge. the wind event is something that you shelter for and you prepare for an electrical interruption if that's the case afterwards. so if you are, you know, new to the area, go to our local resources and see where you are in the evacuation, if that's ordered. there has not been an order for anything yet, but, you know, just use the resources we have and start executing your plan. >> so important to point out, as you did, rob, about the cone of uncertainty. last year in the same area they were expecting hurricane ian, it wound up hitting further south and causing all sorts of devastation, rob herrin, we will be in contact. thanks so much. >> thank you. and coming up for us, covid cases in the u.s. are rising, but should you worry about catching the virus? why experts say there are still good reasons not to treat it casually. we will explain when we come

back.

idalia. covid cases in the united states are once more creeping up. but now thanks to vaccines and acquired immunity people are less likely to be hospitalized or die from the virus than they were in 2020, but has the danger passed? let's find out with cnn medical correspondent meg tirrell, and so should people worry about catching covid? >> well, boris, the risk has declined a lot which is the good news, because of the existing immunity across the u.s. it is estimated that 90% of the u.s. population has been

infected with covid or vaccinated against covid, and that immunity is going to provide us against the most severe effects. we are in an uptick though, with hospitalizations and deaths up 21% of the most recent week of data. that is off of a low base, so it is not as high as we have seen in the pandemic, but there is more covid going around right now. in terms of the risks that people are looking at beyond hospitalizations and deaths, the long covid, and the risks of reinfection, and there is something known as affecting the kids called mis-c which is the inflammatory response that happens after infection, and the good news is that with the vaccination and the built-up immunity, most of the things have declined, but there is the risk of the long covid and perhaps less than 10% with the vaccination according to one doctor's estimate, and in terms of the reinfection, it is that

being infected a second time, it is the risk of being more severe, and that is the reason that doctors say it is not a good idea about being casual to catch covid right now. >> and meg a new vaccine coming out, and what can you tell us about that? >> there is. we have a solid date of when to expect it. the cd c's outside group of advisers is to meet september 12th to discuss recommending vaccine, and this is after the fcc has signed off, and so if all goes well, we should see the vaccines by the end of that week to protect against this existing strain and to provide better protection. >> thank you. rahel? >> two key hearings in a central case that involves former president.

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this hour, two key hearings for president trump and his storm of legal challenges -- one in atlanta, georgia, and one in washington, d.c. his lawyers arriving moments ago to the d.c. courthouse and how the hearings might define the next phase of the cases against the former president. a deadly weekend of violence. a