Residents of the storm-pummeled Gulf Coast steeled themselves Tuesday for yet another tropical weather strike as Tropical Storm Zeta took aim at southeast Louisiana, fraying the nerves of evacuees from earlier storms and raising concerns in New Orleans about the low-lying city’s antiquated drainage pump system. Zeta, the 27th named storm of a very busy Atlantic hurricane season, was a hurricane when it began raking across Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula early Tuesday. It emerged in the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm but was expected to regain hurricane strength before landfall south of New Orleans on Wednesday evening.

Facing extreme wildfire conditions this week that included hurricane-level winds, the main utility in Northern California cut power to nearly 1 million people while its counterpart in Southern California pulled the plug on just 30 customers to prevent power lines and other electrical equipment from sparking a blaze. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. avoided major wildfires during its outage, while Southern California Edison is trying to determine if one of its power lines started a massive fire that drove nearly 100,000 people from their homes in Orange County during fierce winds and extremely dry conditions early Monday. “I don’t know why they did not shut power off,” said attorney Gerald Singleton, who has sued utilities for devastating wildfires caused by their equipment.

When Republican Sen. Susan Collins had to vote on a Supreme Court justice in 2018, she deliberated under the spotlight for weeks, building suspense that ended with a dramatic floor speech. When she announced her support for President Donald Trump’s nominee, she triggered an onslaught of Democratic anger. On Monday, Collins cast her vote against Trump’s pick without any speech and quickly headed home to Maine to try to save her political career. Collins’ contrasting moves on the Supreme Court nominations of Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett underscore the difficulty for a senator trying to find middle ground in an election in which the battle lines appear starker than ever.

Melania Trump lined up squarely with her husband Tuesday on her first solo trip of the 2020 campaign, slamming Joe Biden, Democrats and the media as she pushed the president’s reeelection message in the battleground state of Pennsylvania. The first lady defended Donald Trump’s record on COVID-19 even as he continues to play down the threat of a virus that has killed more than 226,000 Americans. She sought to shift the blame to Democrats, who she said tried to “put their own agendas ahead of the American people’s well-being” and focused on a “sham impeachment” instead of the coronavirus. Mrs. Trump also denounced what she called Biden’s “socialist agenda” and criticized media coverage of “idle gossip and palace intrigue” in the White House.

Tensions between the European Union and Turkey have risen further after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan questioned the mental state of his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron. Several EU officials harshly criticized Erdogan’s comments over the weekend and the bloc’s executive arm, the European Commission, said on Monday that the Turkish leader should change his approach if he does not want to derail the bloc’s attempts at renewed dialogue with his country. Erdogan said Saturday that Macron needed his head examined.

Her gates haven’t closed for thousands of years. This week, they will finally re-open.  Mama Rochel has been a symbol of hope for us throughout golus. For thousands of years, we have come to her to pour out our hearts, for we knew she would always listen. But with the changes of 2020, the gates to Mama Rochel’s resting place have been closed, gathering dust and eerily silent. Until now. This Wednesday, the Vaad HaRabbanim has received special permission to open her doors for several individuals. Several choshuv people have been selected to come and pour their hearts out for Klal Yisroel. They will take time to pray carefully for every person that donates tzedakah to Vaad HaRabbanim’s mission to take care of Corona’s biggest victims.

Rav Amnon Yitzchak filed a lawsuit against Facebook, Google, and Youtube, after according to Rav Yitzchak, the three internet companies refused to remove ads that “were slanderous” against him. In the advertisements, that Rav Yitzchak has requested be removed, it is written, among other things, that he has called on the public to burn the books of Maran Hagaon HaRav Ovadia Yosef. Rabbi Yitzchak’s attorney, Matan Shock, claims that such a statement was never made by Rabbi Yitzchak. The Judge presiding over the trial, which took place on Tuesday in Rishon LeZion’s Magisterial Court, heard the claims of both sides, that of Rabbi Yitzchak, and those of Google and Facebook.

One out of five yeshiva bochurim in “capsule” programs in Israeli yeshivas contracted the coronavirus during the Elul zeman in August through September, Channel 13 News reported this week. According to the report, about 6,500-7,000 yeshiva bochurim out of the 35,000 who attended yeshivos using capsule programs tested positive for the coronavirus. Widespread outbreaks were identified in many yeshivos right before the end of the zeman after Yom Kippur, forcing bochurim to stay in coronavirus hotels for Sukkos instead of traveling home.

Rav Chaim Baruch Amar, z’l, of Netivot, passed away of the coronavirus at the age of 49 in Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva in the early hours of Tuesday morning. Rav Amar, who had no pre-existing medical conditions, was a Rebbe in the Talmud Torah Ohel Moshe and the Netivei Ohr kiruv school and was devoted to his students. He also was involved in being marbitz Torah through distributing Daf Yomi material. The niftar dedicated his life to saving lives and doing chessed. He was a volunteer for Hatzalah, Magen David Adom and the Chasdei Yosef chessed organization and often distributed food to the needy, especially on Friday afternoon.

Protests over the death of Walter Wallace Jr. turned violent in Brooklyn on Tuesday night. In Downtown Brooklyn, protesters broke windows and started small fires. About 200 people marched from Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn on Tuesday. There are reports of vandalism, including glass shattered at a bus stop and an American flag that was set on fire. At one point, a car ended up driving through some police officers who were trying to stop them. The protests started over the death of Wallace Jr., who was killed in Philadelphia. Arrests at Atlantic Avenue after protests in Brooklyn. One protestor told me I couldn’t shoot video and grabbed my phone. pic.twitter.com/0jnHpJCgTJ —