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Earl skirts across Outer Banks, flooding coastal areas
Kill Devil Hills, North Carolina (CNN) - A weakened Hurricane Earl brushed North Carolina's Outer Banks overnight, flooding coastal highways and sending residents inland.
"In multiple locations, waves have crashed over the tops of the dunes and are now flooding several portions of the main state highway on both the north and south sides through the Outer Banks. This is all happening south of the area called the Oregon Inlet," CNN's David Mattingly reported from the community of Waves. "The water is six to eight inches deep and seems to be getting deeper by the minute."
Ben McNeely from Charlotte, North Carolina, was riding the storm out in the community of Manteo.
"We're in the middle of the island," McNeely said. "Surf's up, waves are up ... We're fully surrounded by water." Read more
President mulls new measures to spark economy
Washington (CNN) - After a week mostly focused on Iraq and Mideast diplomacy, it's back to the economy for President Barack Obama, who will deliver remarks Friday on the August unemployment numbers.
Then, Obama is scheduled to give two big speeches next week to try and frame his administration's response to the recession, less than two months ahead of a midterm election where Democratic majorities in the House and Senate are on the ropes.
Senior aides confirm the president recently asked his economic team to come up with various proposals he could roll out to show that amid high anxiety across the nation, he's still working hard to jump-start the economy, including more federal spending on infrastructure projects and tax cuts popular with the business community such as a permanent extension of the research and development tax credit. Read more
Chicago gang leaders hold press conference
300 people were shot in July in Chicago, 33 died. And Chicago's police chief Jody Weis is trying to do something about it. He brought in gang leaders for a surprise meeting and gave them an ultimatum: stop the killing or they, and their gangs, will be targeted. Some gang leaders and community leaders were less than thrilled and yesterday called a press conference of their own. Saying they can't be held accountable for other's actions.
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