. >> reporter: despite the risks, rex and cindy whiteman have chosen to stay. >> we've done everything we can to prepare. and it's too hard to and this is home. >> reporter: prepared to ride out his first hurricane in more than a decade. gabe gutierrez, apalachicola, florida. >>> al roker joining us. when can we expect landfall? >> some time late tonight, savannah. but you can see the eye of the storm right now. this is strengthening. if there's any good news, it doesn't have a lot of time to strengthen much more. so that's good. we have tornado watches in effect in sfrl florida, and we're watching 85 miles south of apalachicola, 75 mile-an-hour winds. landfall late tonight in the panhandle. by early saturday afternoon it's off the carolina coast. the cone of uncertainty still includes boston, new york. it will continue to expand. we may be talking about this into early next week. we have tropical storm watches, hurricane warnings and tropical storm warnings all the way from atlantic city to apalachicola. storm surges, the onshore, 6 to 9 feet in the big bend area, georgia north caroli

. >> reporter: despite the risks, rex and cindy whiteman have chosen to stay. >> we've done ev and it's too hard to pack up and leave. and this is home. >> reporter: prepared to ride out his first hurricane in more than a decade. gabe gutierrez, apalachicola, florida. >>> al roker joining us. when can we expect landfall? >> some time late tonight, savannah. but you can see the eye of the storm right now. this is strengthening. if there's any good news, it doesn't have a lot of time to strengthen much more. so that's good. sfrl florida, and we're watching hermine 85 miles south of apalachicola, 75 mile-an-hour winds. landfall late tonight in the panhandle. by early saturday afternoon it's off the carolina coast. the cone of uncertainty still includes boston, new york. it will continue to expand. we may be talking about this into early next week. we have tropical storm watches, hurricane warnings and tropical storm warnings all the way from atlantiit storm surges, the flooding that comes onshore, 6 to 9 feet in the big bend area, georgia north carolina coast could see 1 to 3 feet. we have

. >> reporter: rex and cindy whiteman are ignoreing the mandatory evacuation for the storm's cone. >> it's going to be 70-mile-an-hour winds. we've done everything to prepare. >> reporter: while they plan to ride it out floridains in 51 counties in a state of emergency are making the same preparations, gathering sandbags to keep the water out. but in some parts of the tampa bay area it wasn't enough. pictures from the air show just some of the flooding. >> this storm, hurricane is life threatening. >> reporter: today florida governor scott closed all state his message echos that of forecasters warning of potential dangers -- high winds, downed trees and power lines to name a few. >> the danger of life threatening storm surge -- this is a serious situation. >> reporter: while some are dealing with a mess to clean up others are bearing down, prepared for what's to come. for people who choose to ignore the mandatory evac orders local officials say they don't get help if they call 911. we're told they don't want to endanger emergency respond ez so that won't be anyone to save the last hur

in august of this year, we deployed the b-2 from whiteman to guam. at least the second time this year that we have deployed these aircraft to the u.s. pacific command area of responsibility. in march 2013, two b-2 spirit bombers conducted a long-range precision strike by flying more than 6,500 miles to the korean peninsula and returning to the continental u.s. in a single continuous mission. i know that you understand how important missions like this are to demonstrating our commitment and our capabilities and what an important role they have in deterrence, particularly as we look at the actions of north korea. they continue our adversaries continue to develop advanced systems which eventually could hold even our homeland at risk. i know there's been a lot of discussion regarding the affordability of maintaining -- upgrading nuclear triad. there are some improvements in the communications systems of the b-2 spirit which will extend the viability of this flexible, dual use platform. what would be the consequences of a delay in completing the communica

in addition, i'm proud the 131st bomber wing at whiteman of the missouri national guard was the first national guard unit to be certified to conduct a nuclear mission. this took a tremendous amount of work at whiteman and nature medicine out of commitment on the part of the active air force at that base along with the missouri national guard.issouri can i get your commitment today to continue this integration and continue to love the guard to play this important role going forward? >> so, senator, i'm a huge fan of the total force. the guard and reserve provide a huge capability to our forces worldwide, so i pledge to constantly advocate for full integration of the guard and to all of our military forces across the board. if i'm confirmed it will be inside strike,. >> i also want to talk about missile defense as it relates to north korea. the first ballistic missile defense test against icbm missile range target will be conducted this fall. first time it has happened since a 1984 took a second ground-based interceptor was scheduled, but due to budgetary constraints it will have to fli

in august of this year, we deployed the b-2 from whiteman to guam. at least the second time this year that we have deployed these aircraft to the u.s. pacific command area of responsibility. in march 2013, two b-2 spirit bombers conducted a long-range precision strike by flying more than 6,500 miles to the korean peninsula and returning to the continental u.s. in a single continuous mission. i know that you understand how important missions like this are to demonstrating our commitment and our capabilities and what an important role they have in deterrence, particularly as we look at the actions of north korea. they continue our adversaries continue to develop advanced systems which eventually could hold even our homeland at risk. i know there's been a lot of discussion regarding the affordability of maintaining -- upgrading nuclear triad. there are some improvements in the communications systems of the b-2 spirit which will extend the viability of this flexible, dual use platform. what would be the consequences of a delay in completing the communica

. >> reporter: rex and cindy whiteman are ignoring the mandatory evacuation order for apalachicola, their town in the big band at the center of the storm's cone. >> it's going to be 70-mile an hour winds. we've done everything we can to prepare. >> reporter: floridians in 51 counties in a state of backs to keep water out, but in some parts of the tampa bay area it wasn't enough. pictures from the airshow just some of the flooding. >> this storm, hurricane, is life threatening. >> reporter: today florida governor rick scott closed all state offices to give people more time to prepare. his message echos that of forecasters warning of potential dangers, high winds, downed trees and power lines to name a few. >> the danger of life threatening storm surge, this already dealing with a mess to clean up, others are bearing down prepared for what's to come. >> anyone choosing to ignore the mandatory evacuation orders will not get help if they call 911. local officials don't want to endanger lives of first responders. so they won't get help if they stay. >>> there are new concerns about the zika vi

caucus is here with you today and we have a very great here for you and our panel consists of stacy whiteman publisher of two books, we also had an author in the new book coming out. we will let you know all about it. our discussion today in your presentation and handout today in 2013 i'm referencing i actually have another date that's even better every 200 chiller books published this is only according to the children's council and of those 3200 bucks 93 were about african-american children in addition to that there was an article written by walter dean myers that said we are the people of color in children's books. our panels panel's gonna discuss where are the people of color and in children's books and how far had we come and where are we going. we will begin our panel. >> everyone is all set. i just introduced your names i want you all to go around and actually give a brief introduction of yourself and what you do and how we come together to be on this panel. i will start with stacy. i am the publisher of two books. you might know us for our picture books like black all around. we had b

investigatessors are trying to figure out what happened before a woman died on i-190. 40 thee-year-old christen whiteman was killed after her s.u.v. flipped over and she was flown from the vehicle near the route 2 interchange. no other cars were involved and no one was hurt. trash bag opening kickoff a local beach now plans to testify against her ex-boyfriend. an attorney for rochelle bond tells the globe, testifying against michael mccarthy is the only thing she lives for at this point. bond's daughter bella was found on deer island in june of 2015 and was known as baby doe until she was identified. prosecutors say mccarthy killed the toddler and the couple put her body in a refrigerator for a few days before dumping her in the openings. mccarthy is charged with first bond is charged with an accessory. police searching for a suspect in an arson in sturbridge at a wal-mart. crews say the building filled with smoke, forcing people to evacuate. store was closed today. one shopper after another today was turned away from the store. >> i came back this morning thinking that things would be in order, but the

>> reporter: near apalachicola, mandatory evacuations, despite the risk, rex and cindy whiteman chose to stay and ride out the storm. >> we have done everything we can to prepare and it's too hard to pack up and leave. so -- and this is home z. the last hurricane to strike florida was wilma in 2005, a powerful category 3 storm that killed five people. today the threat from hermine extending up the east coast, parts of georgia and north carolina under a state of emergency. dangerous rip currents expected through the holiday weekend. >> we're always worried, sure. yeah. what you do what you can do, and hope for the best. >> reporter: authorities here in florida are now assessing the damage here in the pan handle. but craig, as you know, the concern now is the storm moving east and north, georgia and south carolina and up and down the east coast, dangerous rip currents, as well as tropical storm warnings and watches really up a large portion of the east coast, craig. >> gabe gutierrez, thank you. let's get to florida's capital of tallahassee, about an hour, roughly half hour north of whe

a 43 year-old kristin whiteman was killed after her suv flipped over and she was thrown from the vehicle near the route 2 interchange. no other cars were involved and no one there was hurt. >> russia is denying one of its missiles brought down the malasian airline flight shot down over the ukraine in 2014. dutch prosecutors announced this morning they have evidence directly linking the kremlin to the missile. it shows it was eastern ukraine before the strike and then transported back to russia after it was launched. russia's defense minister rejected that report. >> by now, we have all seen the pictures. first responders rescuing people trapped by flood waters and coming up, i go along in the waters to see how first responders here train for exactly this kind of situation. >> plus, a thief caught on camera taking a family's beloved pet. still ahead the reason the dog's owner believed the person in the video is actually tricked into committing a crime. drizzle, too. i'm going to show you when steadier rain arrives this week and when we will finally break the unsettled weather pattern. >>

near apalachicola there were mandatory evacuations despite the risk rex and cindy whiteman chose to stay and ride out the storm. >> we've done everything we can to prepare and it's too hard to pack up and leave and this is home. >> reporter: the last hurricane to strike florida was wilma in 2005, a powerful category 3 storm that killed five people. parts of georgia and north carolina under a state of emergency, dangerous rip currents. >> we're always worried. sure. but you do what you can do and hope for the best. >> reporter: again, hermine is weakening as it is downgraded to a tropical storm. authorities here in florida are now assessing the damage as other states brace for impact. matt and savannah. >> gabe, thanks a lot. >>> let's find out where the how bad it's going to be. al is over at the weather wall tracking the latest path. good morning. >> good morning. let's look live right now, st. simons, georgia, st. simons island, georgia, the storm has moved into southern georgia, the core of it, but you can see the effects right now, the winds are howling, the waves have come up and th

in addition i'm really proud the 131st bomber wing at whiteman, of the missouri national guard was the first national guard unit to be certified to conduct a nuclear nation. this took a tremendous amount of work at a tremendous amount of n commitment on the part of the the active air force at that base along with the missouri national guard.i can a teacher commitment today to continue this integration and continue to allow the card to play this important role going d forward? >> so senator, i'm a huge fan of the total force. the guard and reserve provide a huge capability to our forces worldwide. i pledge to constantly advocate for full integration of the guard into all our military forces across the board. if i'm confirmed, it will be inside stratcom. >> i also want to talk about this will defense as it relates to north korea. the first ballistic missile to defense test, target will be conducted in us all. first time this happened sincete 1984. a second ground-basednce interceptor is scheduled for fy 2017 but due to budgetary constraints it will have to sli to fy has been scheduled fo

them inside" rex and cindy whiteman are ignoring the mandatory evacuation order for apalachicola.. their town, in florida's big bend is at the center of the storm's cone?? (sot / cindy whiteman - apalachicola, florida :xx - :xx) "it's going to be 70 mph winds, we've done everything we can to prepare."while they plan to ride it out, floridians in 51 counties, now in a state of emergency, are making the same preparations? ? gathering sandbags to parts of the tampa bay area it wasn't enough?? pictures from the air show just some of the flooding. (sot / governor rick scott - (r) florida :xx - :xx) "this is life threatening today florida governor rick scott closed all state offices to give people more time to prepare. his message echoes that of forecasters warning of potential dangers. high winds, downed trees and power lines to name a few?? (sot / richard knabb - noaa meteorologist :xx - :xx)09 01 17 "the danger of life threatening storm surge, this is a serious situation." and with a mess to cleanup, others are bearing down?? prepared for what's to come. cedar key, sarah rosario nbc n