Milton has strengthened into a major hurricane on a path toward Florida not even two weeks after Hurricane Helene swamped the state's coastline. Milton is expected to hit the densely populated Tampa metro area, which has about 3.3 million people. Traffic was thick on Interstate 75 heading north Monday as evacuees fled in advance of the Milton.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Black registered voters have an overwhelmingly positive view of Vice President Kamala Harris. That's according to a recent poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. About 7 in 10 Black voters have a somewhat or very favorable view of Harris, with few differences between Black men and women voters on how they view the Democratic candidate.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is hearing a challenge to a Biden administration regulation on ghost guns, the difficult-to-trace weapons with an exponentially increased link to crime in recent years. Tuesday's case is centered on gun kits that are sold online and can be assembled into a functioning weapon in less than 30 minutes. 

STOCKHOLM (AP) — Two pioneers of artificial intelligence have won the Nobel Prize in physics. John Hopfield and Geoffrey Hinton were awarded the prize Tuesday for discoveries and inventions that formed the building blocks of machine learning. 

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The cost of a Mega Millions lottery ticket will soon more than double, but officials said they’re confident players won’t mind paying more after changes that will lead to larger prizes and more frequent winners. Lottery officials announced Monday that it will cost $5 to play Mega Millions beginning in April. That is up from the current $2 per ticket. 

In other news:

—The Associated Press

About this program

Host Terry Lipshetz is managing editor of the national newsroom for Lee Enterprises. Besides producing the daily Hot off the Wire news podcast, Terry conducts periodic interviews for this Behind the Headlines program, co-hosts the Streamed & Screened movies and television program and is the former producer of Across the Sky, a podcast dedicated to weather and climate.