High School Tennis: Vikings topple Rampants

A revived Hurricane Ian has pounded coastal South Carolina after causing catastrophic damage in Florida. The storm washed away parts of piers and flooded streets in parts of South Carolina. The U.S. death toll from Hurricane Ian rose to at least 27 as Florida authorities confirmed several drowning deaths and other fatalities. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement said Friday that the deaths included a 22-year-old woman ejected in an ATV rollover because of a road washout. Many other deaths were drownings, including that of a 68-year-old woman swept into the ocean by a wave. Authorities expect the death toll to rise further.

The U.S. death toll from Hurricane Ian’s passage has risen to four overall after an official said late Thursday that two residents of a hard-hit barrier island on Florida’s western coast were confirmed dead. Dana Souza, city manager of Sanibel, said the deaths were confirmed by fire officials but offered no other specifics.Two other people have also died. A 38-year old man from Lake County died Wednesday in a motor vehicle accident after his vehicle hydroplaned and a 72-year old man in Deltona was confirmed dead on Thursday. Officials with the Volusia sheriff’s office said the man went outside to drain his pool and fell into a canal.

Experts say the U.S. Supreme Court’s June ruling overturning Roe v. Wade appears to be sending more teens to their doctors in search of birth control, including long-acting reversible forms like intrauterine devices and implants. Waits for appointments are growing in some areas, Planned Parenthood is getting a flood of questions and doctors report demand even among teens who aren’t sexually active. Some patients are especially fearful because some of the new abortion laws don’t include exceptions for sexual assault. Dr. Peggy Stager said dedicated spots for insertion of the Nexplanon implant are consistently filled at her Ohio practice and requests for contraceptive refills have increased 30% to 40% since the Court's June ruling.

This week, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Zion, Illinois, opened its doors to the city’s first mosque. Members view this as a significant event because of their faith’s century-old connection to Zion’s founder and faith healer John Alexander Dowie. The evangelist envisioned Zion as a Christian theocracy and made hostile remarks about Muslims. This drew the ire of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The Ahmadis view Zion as the site of a holy miracle where their founder defended Islam and defeated Dowie in a prayer duel that ended with the latter’s death in 1907.  They have named the mosque Fath-e-Azeem, which means “a great victory” in Arabic.

This week, the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Zion, Illinois, opened its doors to the city's first mosque. Members view this as a significant event because of their faith's century-old connection to Zion's founder and faith healer John Alexander Dowie. The evangelist envisioned Zion as a Christian theocracy and made hostile remarks about Muslims. This drew the ire of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community's founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. The Ahmadis view Zion as the site of a holy miracle where their founder defended Islam and defeated Dowie in a prayer duel that ended with the latter's death in 1907.  They have named the mosque Fath-e-Azeem, which means “a great victory” in Arabic.

Rescuers continue to search for survivors in flooded homes in Florida after Hurricane Ian's passage earlier this week. Meanwhile, authorities in South Carolina are awaiting daylight Saturday to assess the damage from the storm’s strike there. Ian made another landfall Friday on South Carolina's coast and is now a post-tropical cyclone moving across parts of North Carolina and Virginia. The powerful storm terrorized millions of people for most of the week and officials say it's blamed for at least 27 deaths in Florida and three deaths in Cuba. But authorities say they expect the death toll to rise further.

An Arizona judge has refused to suspend her order that allowed enforcement of a pre-statehood law making it a crime to provide an abortion. Friday's ruling from Pima County Superior Court Judge Kellie Johnson means the state’s abortion providers will not be able to restart procedures. Abortions were halted on Sept. 23 when Johnson ruled that a 1973 injunction must be lifted so that the Civil War-era law could be enforced. Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich sought the order lifting the injunction. Planned Parenthood argued newer laws take precedence. They asked Johnson to put her ruling on hold to allow an appeal.

The University of Mississippi is paying tribute to James Meredith 60 years after integration. White protesters erupted into violence in 1962 as he became the first Black student to enroll in what was then a bastion of Deep South segregation. A resident and a French journalist were killed in the violence. The 89-year-old Meredith is being honored Saturday at an Ole Miss football game. The university is having several events on the Oxford campus. Meredith spoke at a celebration Wednesday, saying it was the best day he ever lived. But he also said problems remain.