More of Atlanta parking deck collapses
ATLANTA -- A parking deck under construction in Atlanta has collapsed for a second time in as many days. Atlanta Fire Rescue said Saturday that fire units were deployed to the building in the city's Midtown section for "a second major collapse" of the parking deck that partially fell Friday.
One person was injured in Saturday's collapse and taken to a hospital, though the person was "alert, conscious and breathing," Atlanta police spokeswoman Marla Jean Rooker said.
On Friday, a section of concrete on the parking deck partially collapsed, injuring six workers. Firefighters cut out one worker trapped under debris with saws and lowered him to the street, Atlanta Fire Rescue Deputy Chief Glen Riley said.
The worker had leg injuries but never lost consciousness, Riley said.
Other construction workers were injured but managed to walk away from the collapse, Riley told reporters at the scene.
A firefighter also was taken to a hospital with likely heat exhaustion, Riley said.
The collapse involved part of a prefabricated parking deck, according to fire officials. The cause for the collapse was unclear, said Jason Wasulko, a spokesman for Batson-Cook Construction Co., which is building the structure.
Firefighters raised concerns that more of the structure could collapse and fall onto Interstate 75/85, a freeway through the heart of the city.
Tropical Storm Sally strengthens in Gulf
MIAMI -- Tropical Storm Sally formed Saturday off south Florida, becoming the earliest 18th-named storm on record in an Atlantic hurricane season as it headed toward the Gulf of Mexico amid signs of strengthening further.
Sally emerged from a tropical depression swirling off the tip of Florida, on a forecast track bound for the Gulf. It was expected to become a hurricane by late Monday that could threaten a wide part of the northern Gulf coast early in the week.
The National Hurricane Center in Miami said Sally would dump heavy rain around the Florida Keys and the southern and western parts of the state. Maximum sustained winds were clocked at 40 mph with higher gusts. Additional strengthening is expected over the coming days.
"Since the system will be traversing very warm waters and through a moist air mass with moderate vertical shear for the next few days, steady strengthening is anticipated," forecasters wrote Saturday.
The storm is expected to produce 2-4 inches of rain in parts of Florida, with isolated totals up to 6 inches. Meteorologists warn of an increasing risk of life-threatening storm surge and dangerous hurricane-force winds from southeastern Louisiana to the Alabama coast.
AG to appeal ballot applications ruling
AUSTIN, Texas -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Saturday that he's appealing a judge's decision to allow the Harris County clerk to send mail-in ballot applications to all registered voters in the county.
Paxton is asking the 14th Court of Appeals in Houston to prevent Harris County Clerk Chris Hollins from sending applications to all 2.4 million Houston-area voters. A state judge ruled Friday that the county can proceed with its plan.
Paxton argues that the plan violates the state constitution and Texas election law.
"There has already been widespread confusion regarding who is and is not eligible to vote by mail during this election cycle," Paxton's office argues in the appeal. "Sending applications to millions of ineligible voters ... will only exacerbate this situation."
In Texas, mail-in ballots are generally restricted to voters who are 65 or older, disabled or will be outside their county on Election Day.
No West on Wisconsin ballot, court says
MADISON, Wis. -- A Wisconsin state court ruled that Kanye West can't appear as an independent presidential candidate on the battleground state's Nov. 3 ballot, denying the rapper's request to overturn a decision disqualifying him. West could still appeal the ruling.
Brown County Circuit Judge John Zakowski ruled that his court couldn't refute the findings of the Wisconsin Elections Commission, which concluded that West's representatives filed his nomination papers past the Aug. 4 deadline.
West's lawyers said the papers were filed before 5:01 p.m, thus meeting the "not later than 5:00 p.m." legal requirement. The court disagreed. "The court finds that, basically, 5 o'clock is 5 o'clock," Zakowski wrote in his decision.
West is also suing to overturn a decision keeping him off the ballot in West Virginia for lacking enough valid signatures, and is appealing a court ruling disqualifying him in Virginia.
Since announcing on July 4 that he's running for president, West has qualified to appear on the ballot in at least 12 states: Arkansas, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Utah and Vermont.