Dozens of Florida residents left their flooded and splintered homes by boat and by air as rescuers continued to search for survivors in the wake of Hurricane Ian. In South Carolina and North Carolina, authorities were surveying the damage on Saturday from Ian's blow. The death toll from the storm grew to nearly three dozen, with deaths reported in Cuba, Florida and North Carolina. The storm has since weakened as it rolled into the mid-Atlantic, but not before it washed out bridges and piers. It also hurdled massive boats into buildings onshore and sheared roofs off of homes, leaving hundreds of thousands without power.

Hurricane Ian almost derailed plans for one couple to wed in South Carolina on Saturday. Two families traveled to the island from Texas and North Carolina and were staying in neighboring Pawleys Island homes when Ian barreled toward the coast. Everyone gathered for a rehearsal dinner on Friday off the island but then couldn't come back to retrieve bridesmaids dresses and other gear after the storm shut off access to the beach town. A Good Samaritan on Saturday was able to bring the dresses, tuxedos and some decor to the waiting families.

One of two Texas brothers who authorities say opened fire on a group of migrants getting water near the U.S.-Mexico border was a warden at a detention facility with a history of abuse allegations. The shooting Tuesday was in rural Hudspeth County about 90 miles from El Paso. The Texas Department of Public Safety said Thursday that one man was killed and a woman was wounded. Court documents say Michael Sheppard and Mark Sheppard were charged with manslaughter. Michael Sheppard served as warden of a local detention center. A spokesman for Lasalle Corrections said Thursday the warden had been fired.

Saturday marks five years since a gunman rained bullets into an outdoor country music festival crowd on the Las Vegas Strip. The grim drumbeat of mass shootings has only continued in the years since, from New York to Colorado to Texas. Northeastern University professor James Alan Fox oversees a database maintained by The Associated Press, USA Today and Northeastern University and says there's also been a horrifying uptick in the number of mass shootings with an especially high number of people killed. The news takes a toll on survivors of the Las Vegas slaying, but a strong sense of community has also developed.

Hundreds of hot air balloons lifted off Saturday, marking the start of an annual fiesta that has drawn pilots and spectators from across the globe to New Mexico's high desert for 50 years now. The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is one of the most photographed events in the world. It has become an economic driver for the state's largest city and a rare — and colorful — opportunity for enthusiasts to gather. Three of the original pilots who participated in the first fiesta in 1972 are among this year's attendees.

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.

Max Baer, the chief justice of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, has died at age 74 only months before he was set to retire. The court confirmed Saturday that Baer died overnight at his home near Pittsburgh. It didn't give a cause of death but called his “sudden passing" a “tremendous loss for the court and all of Pennsylvania.” The court also said Justice Debra Todd is now the first female chief justice in commonwealth history. Baer was an Allegheny County family court judge and an administrative judge in family court before he was elected to the high court in 2003. He became its chief justice last year. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Baer was set to retire at the end of the year.