| There are 73 days of Atlantic hurricane season remaining | | It's still too early to determine whether Hurricane Maria will impact the U.S. East Coast — and any threat wouldn't be until early next week — but a strike on Irma-weary Florida is a possibility . Maria, which was upgraded to an "extremely dangerous" Category 4 hurricane on Monday, promises to be catastrophic for already wounded Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Haiti and the Dominican Republic could also get a beating. Before that, the storm's center will move across the Leeward Islands, then slam through the extreme northeastern Caribbean Sea. Meanwhile, Hurricane Jose's 75 mph sustained winds will continue to bring rip currents and rough surf to the U.S. East Coast. Three striking stats about this grueling 2017 hurricane season: | | • | NOAA predicted an unusually active 2017 hurricane season for the Atlantic Basin, with five to nine hurricanes expected, back in May. Maria, already massive, is hurricane No. 7 so far this year. | | • | Category 3 or higher is classified a major hurricane. There have been four major Atlantic hurricanes in 2017, the most in any year since 2010. | | • | Speaking of, the Atlantic hurricane season lasts until Nov. 30, so there's time for additional storms to brew. | | | Trump on the U.N.: Location, location, location | | During the 2016 campaign, President Trump criticized the United Nations, saying the United States pays too much to support the international body. So it was no surprise that Trump had more harsh words during his first visit to the U.N. as commander-in-chief, saying the U.N. has not reached its full potential "because of bureaucracy and mismanagement." Trump did have one nice thing to say about the U.N.: It's close to one of his buildings, his Trump World Tower residential skyscraper. "I actually saw great potential across the street, to be honest with you, and it's only for the reason that the United Nations was here that that turned out to be such a successful project," he said. | | RIP Stanislav Petrov, a real superhero | | Stanislav Petrov wouldn't look as cool on the marquee as Spider-Man or Wonder Woman. But Stanislav Petrov probably saved the world , and that's superhero enough for us. Petrov was the duty officer at a missile early warning system outside Moscow on Sept. 26, 1983, when the radar screen suddenly seemed to show missiles inbound from the United States. He had just 15 minutes to determine whether the threat was real. "My cozy armchair felt like a red-hot frying pan and my legs went limp," he told RT. He ultimately concluded that any U.S. attack should have involved even more missiles and persuaded his Kremlin bosses the alert was a malfunction. On Monday, news outlets reported that Petrov died in May at age 77. Rest in peace, Mr. Petrov. And thanks. | | Politics and history at the Emmys | | With Stephen Colbert hosting and Sean Spicer making a cameo, Sunday night's Emmy Awards show had President Trump sprinkled all through it. But another recurring theme was historic firsts: "Atlanta" star Donald Glover became the first black person to win the Emmy for best director in a comedy series, while Lena Waithe became the first black woman to win for writing in a comedy series, for Master of None. "I'm glad I was able to make history," Glover said. "But that's not what I was trying to do. I was just trying to make the best product possible. I was trying to make a really good show." | | This is a compilation of stories from across USA TODAY. | |
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