still cut off from the mainland. search and rescue operations are still under way. serious questions are being asked about whether evacuation orders came too late for some. nearly 2,000 people have been rescued so far according to the florida governor. thcht is footage from sanibel island, blue skies overhead. a neighborhood still flooded to the point that only way out is by chopper. we have two reports tonight. the first is from ft. myers beach and our randi kaye who is among the first reporters to get in and witness the enormous destruction and still on going rescue operations up close. this is what she saw. this is our first look from the ground at ft. myers beach, hurricane keyian s winds combined with the storm surge, chewed through homes and businesses. sparing nothing in its path. massive devastation. something somewhat used to my first deployment was hurricane katrina. so, you know, a lot of hurricanes over the years. this certainly is a big, big disaster. repor
conspiracy theory. opening statements were delivered for stewart rods in a courtroom today. they re accused of plotting to overthrow our government by force on january 6, 2021, among other crimes. all five have pleaded not guilty. three other members of the oath keepers have pleaded guilty to the sedition charge, as part of plea deals. two more sedition trials are scheduled to take place this year. but this is the first time in over a decade that federal prosecutors have argued that americans plotted to violently oppose the u.s. government. they re opening statement featured videos capturing the oath keepers actions at the capitol that day, along with messages and other communications among the defendants. stewart rhodes himself never entered the building on january 6th, but he was videoed on the capitol grounds. the doj has a recording from rhodes from four days after the attack saying his only regret is that the oath keepers should have brought, rifles, end quote on januar
bombings i spent a lot of time with members of a texas militia and the group all but dispersed after that incident happened for fear of retaliation and some other issues like they didn t want to pay taxes but michigan is a hot spot. why texas and michigan especially with what we re seeing in the news? well, obviously michigan is in the news and we re forced to ask why are the militias so popular there? and while experts point out that the militia growth has been a national phenomenon, i think there are three good reasons for why we re seeing militias have taken such a strong hold in the state of michigan. the first obviously is the economy. perhaps nowhere else in the country has there been a state so hard hit while our national unemployment average hovers around 10% their state average is 14%. in the county where this current militia was operating, that unemployment rate was around 17%. the second issue is that michigan has traditionally been a home for extremists. you know, it s be