Sam rapidly intensified into a hurricane Friday morning and is forecast to become a major hurricane over the weekend. While long range forecast data suggests Sam will stay out to sea, it is still too soon to credibly predict whether Sam will impact Florida or the United States.

State officials announced this week they would reverse course and accept federal money to help low-income children get food for their children.

Florida's Department of Children and Families said it is applying for a federal program that would provide $820 million to the state's low-income children.

The Summer Pandemic Electronic Transfer program provides free funding to states. Those funds are used to provide grocery benefits to children who missed out ono free or reduced-price meals while their school or child care facilities were closed.

On Tuesday, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet approved nearly 20,000 acres of land to be preserved as key links in the Florida Wildlife Corridor. Six parcels will be purchased at a cost of about $50 million.

The Act was signed earlier this year by the governor. State lawmakers doubled funding for the Florida Forever land conservation program to $100 million. They also agreed to put $300 million from federal stimulus funding toward land conservation. Much of the money is to go to purchasing links in the wildlife corridor, providing a continuous path for animals to migrate.

The new Taliban-appointed head of Kabul University says that women won't be allowed to matriculate or work outside the home "as long as [a] real Islamic environment is not provided for all."

Chancellor Mohammad Ashraf Ghairat wrote in a tweet that "women will not be allowed to come to universities or work" until the proper conditions are met.

In 1991, attorney Anita Hill testified that Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas had sexually harassed her when he was chair of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and she worked there as an adviser to him.

Ambi Ahmad Adamu received five noes in a row.

Ambi, as he's known, is a 46-year-old biochemist who lives in Bauchi, Nigeria. He earned his Ph.D. at Ahmadu Bello University and now works there as a researcher, hoping to use his research to improve the lives of Nigerians.

One topic he's addressed is how to detoxify water that's polluted by chromium 6, a carcinogenic chemical commonly found in industrial waste. Detoxification methods in use are expensive or take their own toll on the environment.

Pfizer and BioNTech are another step closer to seeking authorization for young children to receive the COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine, submitting data to the Food and Drug Administration that shows a "robust" antibody response and "favorable" safety outcomes in kids ages five to 11 who received the two-dose regimen in clinical trials.

BERLIN and KOBLENZ, Germany — Hassan Mahmoud believed his testimony about the death of his youngest brother in a Damascus prison would help bring to justice a onetime senior member of Syria's secret police. But even though the trial is thousands of miles from Syria, in Germany, he knew his testimony carried risks.

Before he was scheduled to take the stand in October 2020, in the courtroom in the western German city of Koblenz, he feared especially for another brother, Waseem, who still lived in Syria.