of staff at the department of homeland security and tom peck, political sketch writer at the independent. welcome to the programme. it s starting to feel a bit like groundhog day on capitol hill. that s because the house is trying again for a third day to elect a speaker of the house. we ve now had eight votes. and in all eight, the republican kevin mccarthy has failed to receive enough votes. he hasn t even been able to swing the needle in his favour at all. this is the scene live in the house now where a ninth vote is under way. it already appears that he has lost to this vote as well. at least seven republicans have voted for other options. in the last vote, 20 republicans voted for an alternative candidates to mr mccarthy mainly for byron donalds, and there was also a shock vote for donald trump. remember, the speaker of the house doesn t need to be a member of congress. that vote for the former president came from matt gaetz, one of the ring leaders of those refusing t
running out. governor ron desantis declared a state of emergency for all 67 florida counties. six of them now under mandatory evacuation orders. live just a short time ago desantis gave this warning. the impacts will be far, far broader than just where the eye of the storm happens to make landfall. in some areas, there will be catastrophic flooding and life-sleetening storm surge. you don t want to put yourself in harm s way unnecessarily. and doesn t mean you need to go across god s creation to evacuate. just get to the higher ground, get into a safe structure. harris: fox weather and fox news reporters are stationed across the state of florida. we re tracking the storm 24/7 to keep you continuously updated. fox weather s nicole valdez reporting live from tampa. nicole. good morning. mandatory evacuations have been expanded for the tampa bay area and additional 90,000 people are now being told it is time to get out. that as we watch home and business owners put plywood
it could cause catastrophic flooding. aishah: i m in for sandra smith. state and local officials are telling more than 2 million to leave their homes and get out of the way of the massive storm. ian strengthening to a category 3, ripping through western cuba, 125 mile per hour winds and heavy rains slamming the island and causing heavy flooding. john: i said good wednesday, only tuesday, wednesday is when it s go time in florida, just hours to go now until the storm makes landfall, many are attempting to avoid the storm-packed highways, and those hunkering down have been clearing supermarket shelves and emptying the gas pumps. aishah: and charles watson and max gordon are live in the tampa bay area, where officials are bracing for what could be the first direct hit on the region from a hurricane in more than a century, john. john: looking ugly there in the next 36 hours. first to steve bender tracking ian for us. where is it headed, how strong is it going to be? we
This is cnn Breaking News. Breaking news here on cnn. Iran set to release five american prisoners at any moment. Right now, a jet is on stand by to bring them from teheran to qatar. Under this deal, the u. S. Has unfrozen 6 billion in iranian money that is supposed to only be used for humanitarian purposes. The u. S. Is also releasing five iranians from prison, two of them are planning to stay in america. Becky, this has been months of negotiations to lead to this point. Where do things stand right now as you sit . Reporter well, it should be the end of what has been a years long nightmare for these five iranianamerican citizens who have been held in iran, and are due for release today, expected to be delivered to the airport at any time, mediating this deal over months, being a friendly nation between the u. S. And iran. No direct negotiations between washington and teheran. Once those hostages are on the flight and wheels are up, it is about a twohour flight to doha, here in qatar, a