Landfall ~8:30pm CT Friday near Destin as a Category 2 (after flirting with Cat 3 that morning). At least 4 dead. Nearly 900,000 customers lost power across Florida, Alabama and Georgia — about 430,000 in Florida alone, with Escambia County at 73% out. Now post-tropical but still dumping rain with flash-flood and tornado threats pushing through the Southeast. DeSantis says a major catastrophe was avoided: "very different" from Michael. Trump approved federal emergency declarations for Florida and Alabama — 27 Florida counties on the assistance list, including Citrus. Sources: Washington Examiner · Tallahassee Democrat · Pensacola News Journal.

1–3 feet of surge along the Citrus–Pinellas coast Friday into the weekend, with a coastal flood advisory for Citrus through Saturday morning. The Withlacoochee is at flood stage this afternoon — 28.3 feet — docks and boat ramps underwater in Citrus and Marion counties. Drier air moves in Monday. Sources: FOX 13 Tampa Bay · National Weather Service.

Nine dead including the shooter in a residential-neighborhood shooting Friday — two children and a pregnant woman among the dead. Police arrived within minutes, tipped by a gunshot-detection system; no more shots were fired after officers got there. The police chief called it "deeply disturbing." Sources: AP.

Speaking at the White House Saturday, Trump said Ukraine needs a new president, claiming Zelenskyy hasn't done enough to end the war — and blamed Zelenskyy for America's diesel prices. The same day, Russian strikes killed at least 20 in Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region, and Kyiv is furious about his Putin diesel deal, warning it funds Moscow's war effort. Sources: AP.

Friday's deal: 300,000 tonnes of Russian diesel released immediately, 1.5 million more to follow, plus eased Russia sanctions — aimed at the fuel-price spike ahead of the midterms. Farmers and truckers say the domestic side of it (a dyed-diesel tax cut) barely dents record prices. The underlying fuel is real; the framing is the product — right-fed sells a president strong-arming cheaper fuel, left-fed sells a president funding the other side's war. Sources: Al Jazeera · NBC News · Insurance Journal.

Erik Prince's Congo outfit ambushed — date wrinkle, treat as thin

Per Reuters via the aggregator tip line: contractors for Erik Prince's Vectus Global were ambushed in the Democratic Republic of Congo, ~20 dead or wounded — former UFC fighter and Green Beret Tim Kennedy reportedly shot three times in the leg, now at Walter Reed. Date wrinkle: Congo's government says the attack happened September 17 — this is surfacing now, single-sourced through aggregation. Treat as thin until confirmed. Sources: Reuters (via aggregator) · Rantingly (tip).