By Christine Sexton | Senior Reporter

“Everything that we could possibly do that is within our control has been done inside the City of Pensacola and will be done in time.”— Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves.

Graphic from the National Hurricane Center as of 2 p.m. ET on Oct. 8, 2026.

Portions of the Florida Panhandle are girding themselves for Hurricane Isaias, a potential Category 3 storm that is expected to make landfall late Friday night or early Saturday morning. Pensacola had begun evacuations and shelters opened Thursday afternoon, including a special-needs shelter. U.S. Sen. Rick Scott was in Pensacola telling people to prepare, evacuate, and stay up to date on hurricane information. 

Gov. Ron DeSantis called for the prosecution of whoever leaked the Leon County grand jury report on Hope Florida to CBS News Miami in a press conference where he reveled in an appellate court ruling ordering the grand jury report expunged. DeSantis called the ruling, written by a judge he appointed to the court months earlier, “probably the biggest judicial smackdown that I have ever seen in my entire career as an elected official.” Not everyone thinks the ruling exonerates the governor and Attorney General James Uthmeier.

Uthmeier is asking Facebook and Instagram to tighten their platforms, a motion for a temporary injunction filed in the state’s lawsuit against Meta shows. The document is part of a case the state filed in Pasco County Circuit Court against Meta. 

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