Hurricane Matthew weakens slightly as heads for Jamaica and Cuba
Hurricane Matthew weakened slightly on Saturday as it moved towards Jamaica and Cuba, although with winds of up to 155 miles per hour (250 kph) it is powerful enough to wreck houses, forecasters said. The strongest hurricane in the Atlantic Ocean since Felix in 2007 was forecast to make landfall as a major storm on Monday on Jamaica's southern coast, home to the capital and Jamaica's only oil refinery. It could affect the island's main tourist areas such as Montego Bay in the north. With Matthew about 420 miles (675 km) southeast of Kingston, Jamaica, the U.S. National Hurricane Center downgraded its designation to a Category 4, from the top Category 5, on the Saffir-Simpson scale of hurricane intensity, but Jamaican authorities said they were taking all possible precautions.
Coast Guard Turns Over $50m Worth of Drugs
The crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Northland turned over approximately 2,400 pounds of cocaine to federal agents in Mayport Monday following an at sea interdiction with the help of the Jacksonville-Based Coast Guard Helicopter Interdiction Tactical Squadron near Guajira, Colombia, March 10. The transfer comes after Northland's third go-fast interdiction in as many weeks, yielding a total of 55 bales of cocaine and four bales of heroin with a total estimated street value of $50 million. Additionally, 11 suspected smugglers, and five persons suspected of supporting drug trafficking, have been transferred to federal agents as a result of Northland's law-enforcement actions.
