Hurricane Erin churns offshore, Noem paints border wall black: Unbiased Updates, Aug. 20, 2025

Hurricane Aaron closing in, dangerous rip currents, towering waves, slamming the Carolina coast all the way to New York

Plus, Trump takes aim at the Smithsonian, saying woke is broke, and demanding America's museums tell a different story

And paint it black, Kristi Noem's new push to give Trump's border wall a fresh coat and a new message

The stories that matter, clear and credible, from across the country to around the world

These are your unbiased updates from Straight Arrow News. Good morning, I'm Craig DeGrelli

We begin with Hurricane Aaron churning off the southeast coast, sending dangerous rip currents and rough surf up the eastern seaboard

The outer banks of North Carolina are bracing for the biggest impact. The governor there declaring a state of emergency

More than 1,800 residents have already evacuated. Aaron, a strong Category 2, is tracking parallel to the shore

whipping up treacherous conditions from the Carolinas to New York. Beaches are officially closed from New York City and Long Island to parts of Delaware and New Jersey

Beachgoers have been warned to stay out of the water, and more than 75 people were rescued from rip currents earlier this week, another dozen yesterday alone

Waves of 20 feet are expected, with the National Weather Service warning of significant beach and coastal damage

As of 2 a.m., the storm was about 500 miles south-southeast of Cape Hatteras, packing 100-mile-an-hour winds

You can see here the path Aaron is expected to take over the next five days

Kind of a curve shape there. Check out this stunning view from space, captured by the International Space Station, showing just how massive this storm is

Aaron is not expected to make landfall, but satellite imagery shows it's growing more organized

with forecasters expecting the storm to strengthen as it moves north through Thursday

Now to a surprising development in the war in Ukraine The White House claims Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to sit down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky within the next

two weeks. The announcement follows Zelensky's meeting with President Trump at the White House

Monday. On social media, Trump said he called Putin himself to begin setting it up. On Fox and

Friends Tuesday, Trump said he won't join that meeting, at least not initially. They're getting

along a little bit better than I thought. Otherwise, I wouldn't have set up the two meeting. I would have set up the three, a trilat. But I think they're doing a little bit better

There's been tremendous bad blood. If that works out, if it works out, then I'll go to the trilat

and close it up. The big question now is where Putin is wanted by the International Criminal

Court for war crimes in Ukraine, making any summit location tricky. U.S. officials tell NBC

news that Budapest and Geneva are on the table. But Russia's foreign minister is pouring cold

water on the idea, saying any Putin-Zelensky meeting would need to be, quote, prepared with

the utmost care. The fight over crime in the nation's capital is escalating. Federal prosecutors

are now investigating whether Washington, D.C. police falsified crime numbers. The U.S. Attorney's

Office in D.C., led now by former Fox News host Janine Pirro, opened the probe in recent days

Sources tell the New York Times investigators are looking into whether officials downplayed crime or filed false statements

President Trump confirmed the investigation on Truth Social, writing, D.C. gave fake crime numbers to create a false illusion of safety

This is very bad and dangerous, and they are under serious investigation

The inquiry comes as Trump has declared an emergency in the Capitol

seized control of a police force, and deployed federal agents as well as the National Guard to patrol city streets

City leaders, including Mayor Muriel Bowser, insist most crime categories are actually down this year and say any issues with reporting were confined to one district

Just this spring the same U Attorney Office praised the city for a 25 drop in violent crime during Donald Trump first 100 days Some claim that crime is now down from 2023 but not overall compared to the national average

President Trump is now taking his crackdown on woke to the Smithsonian, confirming in a Truth Social post a sweeping White House review of the nation's museums

He accuses them of focusing too much on the darker chapters of American history, writing

the Smithsonian is out of control, where everything discussed is how horrible our country is

how bad slavery was, nothing about success, nothing about the future. He has now instructed his attorneys to go through the museums, similar to his regulations on

universities. The White House has already launched a formal review demanding exhibit plans

curatorial materials and internal communications from several Smithsonian museums. City and cultural leaders warn the directive sets an impossible standard and could undermine

scholarly independence. The Smithsonian has declined to comment. This morning, a new look

for the southern border wall. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced the entire wall

is being painted black at the specific request of President Trump. Noem made the announcement

in New Mexico saying the dark color will absorb the heat, make the wall hotter and harder to climb

while also extending the lifespan of the steel. Now if you look at the structure that's behind me

it's tall which makes it very very difficult to climb, almost impossible. It also goes deep into

the ground which would make it very difficult if not impossible to dig under and today we are also

going to be painting it black. That is specifically at the request of the president who understands

that in the hot temperatures down here, when something is painted black, it gets even warmer

and it will make it even harder for people to climb. Noam also credited Congress' one big beautiful bill for providing funding to finish the barrier

She says crews are now building nearly half a mile of new wall every day while Border Patrol agents report apprehensions have dropped to decades low levels President Trump went on Truth Social Tuesday proclaiming there were zero illegal entries in July

Finally this morning, a new face at Miss Universe will make history

27-year-old Nadine Ayub will represent Palestine for the first time ever at this year's pageant in Bangkok

Ayub was crowned Miss Palestine back in 2022. She will compete against more than 130 contestants at the 74th Miss Universe final on November 21st

The announcement comes as Israel expands its offensive in Gaza, fueling international criticism of the war

On Instagram, Ayyub said she's honored to be the first to represent Palestine

and will use the stage to speak up for Palestinian women and children

Before we head out, here's what we're tracking today. This morning, the Texas State House chamber will gavel back into session

Republicans could be on the cusp of passing that new redistricting map

now that Democrats are back in the state. At 10 Eastern, Google is expected to unveil its new Pixel 10 smartphone

along with updates to its watch, wireless earbuds and more. At 2 o'clock, the Federal Reserve releases minutes from its July meeting

a deeper look into why officials held rates steady despite pressure from President Trump to cut them

And later this afternoon, the Philadelphia Zoo will show off 16 critically endangered Galapagos tortoises hatched this year

A major success story for conservation. I mean, two of them have to be named, what, Liberty and Bell, right

You get the Philadelphia reference. Or how about Rocky, right? Going to fly now

Eye of the tiger. Shout out to Philadelphia this morning. By the way, don't let your Uncle Bob on Facebook be your news source

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Go to san.com slash newsletters. Those are your unbiased updates for this Wednesday

We'll see you back here tomorrow. For all of us here at Straight Arrow News, I'm Craig DeGrelli. Have a great day