TASK DEFINITION: Given a paragraph, generate a claim that is supported by the given paragraph. 1) The claim must contain information from within the paragraph. 2) A sentence within the paragraph can be used as a claim. 3) The claim should not have contradictions within the paragraph. 4) The claim should be at most one sentence long.
PROBLEM: Dorian has the potential to put millions of people at risk, along with holiday attractions such as Walt Disney World, the NASA launchpads along the Space Coast, and even President Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. The Miami-based National Hurricane Center said Dorian was packing maximum sustained winds of 140 mph (225 kph) as it churned an unpredictable path toward Florida. “Although fluctuations in intensity are possible early next week, Dorian is expected to remain a powerful hurricane during the next few days,” the NHC said in a statement on Friday. On Florida’s east coast, where Dorian’s winds are expected to quickly gather speed on Monday morning, residents snapped up bottled water, plywood and other supplies as fast as they could be restocked. Some gas stations had run out of fuel. “They’re buying everything and anything that applies to a hurricane, flashlights, batteries, generators,” said Amber Hunter, 30, assistant manager at Cape Canaveral’s ACE Handiman hardware store. In the Bahamas, evacuations were already underway, two days before Dorian is expected to bring a life-threatening storm surge forecast at up to 10 to 15 feet (3 to 4.5 meters) to the northwest of the islands. NHC Director Ken Graham saw a worrying, unpredictable situation for Florida, with the hurricane set to hit land somewhere up its east coast and potentially linger over the state, spinning slowly. “Slow is not our friend, the longer you keep this around the more rain we get,” Graham said in a Facebook Live video. It was unclear where the hurricane would hit land, but the results were expected to be devastating: “Big-time impacts, catastrophic events, for some areas 140 mph winds, not a good situation,” said Graham. Mindful of that warning, Cocoa Beach Mayor Ben Malik was putting up storm shutters on his Florida home on Friday afternoon and worrying about the flooding Dorian could unleash on his barrier island town. “It’s slowed down, we’re looking at a multiple-day event, we were hoping it would just barrel through and leave,” Malik said of forecasts that Dorian could sit over Florida for up to two days, dumping up to 18 inches (46 cm) of water. “I’m really worried about the amount of rain we’ll be getting.”  Florida Governor Ron DeSantis urged residents to have in reserve at least a week’s worth of food, water and medicine. President Donald Trump told reporters before leaving for Camp David for the weekend: “We’re thinking about Florida evacuations, but it’s a little bit too soon. We’ll probably make that determination on Sunday.”  But Fort Pierce Mayor Linda Hudson urged its 46,000 residents who planned to evacuate not to delay. “It’s decision time now. Don’t wait until I-95 north and I-75 north and the turnpike are parking lots,” said Hudson, who experienced two devastating hurricanes in 2004. Dorian’s course remains unpredictable. One of Florida’s last major hurricanes, 2017’s Irma, swept up the peninsula, instead of hitting the east coast. Florida residents like Jamison Weeks, general manager at Conchy Joe’s Seafood in Port St. Lucie, planned on staying put. “I’m planning on boarding up my house this evening,” said  Weeks. “The mood is a little tense, everybody’s a little nervous and just trying to prepare as best as possible.”  In the Bahamas, Freeport’s international airport was set to close on Friday night and not reopen until Sept. 3, amid worries that Dorian will slam tourist hotspots on the archipelago. Dorian began on Friday over the Atlantic as a Category 2 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson Wind Scale. By Friday night it was moving at nearly 10 mph (16 kph), giving it time to intensify before making landfall. Two thousand National Guard troops will have been mobilized for the hurricane by the end of Friday, with 2,000 more joining them on Saturday. Florida officials also were making sure all nursing homes and assisted living facilities had generators. Only one in five Florida nursing homes plans to rely on deliveries of temporary generators to keep their air conditioners running if Dorian knocks out power, a state agency said on Friday, short of the standard set by a law passed after a dozen people died in a sweltering nursing home after 2017’s Hurricane Irma. North of Cape Canaveral, the Kennedy Space Center’s 400-foot (122-m) launch tower was dragged inside a towering vehicle assembly building to shelter it from Dorian, a video posted by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)-owned space launch center showed.

SOLUTION: Hurricane Dorian swirls toward anxious Florida, packing 140-mph winds.

PROBLEM: Duck droppings from the central Dutch province tested positive for the highly contagious H5 strain of the disease, the deputy economic affairs minister wrote in a letter to parliament. “Based on this information I am considering follow-up measures,” deputy minister Sharon Dijksma wrote. Dutch authorities said earlier on Monday they will slaughter 50,000 birds at a poultry farm after bird flu was discovered nearby. Separate testing indicated that farm infections, which have led to the culling of around 300,000 birds at four locations, were not all from the same source, the letter said. The H5N8 strain of bird flu detected at the farms has never been founded in humans. It has led to the destruction of millions of farm birds in Asia, mainly South Korea, after an outbreak earlier this year. A government statement said tests had confirmed an outbreak of the H5N8 strain at one farm in the western municipality of Zoeterwoude, where 28,000 laying hens were ordered destroyed on Sunday. A cull at a nearby farm announced on Monday was a precautionary measure, it said. Animal health authorities are testing poultry at other farms in the area. Transport restrictions were imposed on the sector two weeks ago that have hit around 2,000 poultry businesses. The Netherlands is the world’s largest exporter of eggs and the largest exporter of poultry meat in the European Union. Some experts believe that wild birds migrating from Asia carried the disease to Europe, where it infected flocks in Germany, Britain and the Netherlands.

SOLUTION: Dutch discover bird flu in wild ducks, cull continues.

PROBLEM: The Huntsman Mental Health Institute will aim to provide research-based treatment and help fund the University of Utah Health’s psychiatry department, according to a news release. The Huntsmans already have a major cancer research center in Utah that bears the family name. The late Jon Huntsman Sr. was the founder of a company that refines raw materials that go into thousands of products. His adult children said at a news conference that they hope the institute helps change the stigma and misperceptions about mental health. “Every family deals with mental health. We have either held the hand of somebody or had our hand held by somebody dealing with mental health,” said Christena Huntsman Durham, vice chairwoman of the Huntsman Foundation, the Deseret News reported. “We are so excited to put a name and a face to it and start addressing real issues and stop the judgment.” The donation, which will be given over 15 years, is the largest single gift ever given to the university, said University of Utah President Ruth V. Watkins.

SOLUTION:
Huntsmans give $150M to start mental health institute.