Apropos of nothing, this has to be the most bizarre story of the day.

A woman came home from vacation to find a stranger living there, wearing her clothes, changing utilities into her name and even ripping out carpet and repainting a room she didn't like, authorities said.

Douglas County authorities say they can't explain why Beverly Valentine, 54, broke into an empty home and started acting like it was her own.

He never gave up. He tirelessly advocated for those who were paralyzed. He lobbied Congress to fund spinal cord research and Hollywood to make more films about social justice. Actor Christopher Reeve has died of heart failure, at 52. May he rest in peace.

Just a public interest alert if you're away from the news. Merck has pulled Vioxx off the market--a three year study showed it doubled the risk of heart attacks and increased the rate of strokes. The stock dropped 26% today. Celebrex, made by Pfizer, will likely see a surge.

84 million people have taken Vioxx since it launched in 1999. The increased risks were noticable in patients who had taken the drug for 18 months.

Update: What are the odds? Jeanne hits landfall at Sewalls Point, the same place as Frances.(12:22 am. ET. Sun.)

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TalkLeft hurricane blogger Roger is ready to blog once again from Florida. He kept us up to date from Orlando on Frances and Ivan...here comes Jeanne.

Any other readers in Florida, please let us know how you are and what's going on.

Get your latest graphics on the advance of Hurricane Jeanne here and here. Advisory is here.

TV coverage: Anderson Cooper is back amidst the pine trees, this time in Melbourne, Florida, being blown around for CNN. He's the most watchable of those reporting so far tonight.

West Palm looks like it's getting massacred. The trees are taking a big beating. Winds over 50 mph at 8:45 pm ET.

Lexis-Nexis is reaching out to lawyers and clients in Florida with a comprehensive disaster relief package. It includes a month of free Lexis for Florida bar volunteers providing pro bono legal aid to the community. So far, more than 700 lawyers have signed on across the state.

Lexis-Nexis has donated 40 laptop computers to The Florida Bar Foundation for use by the volunteer force. It has asked qualified Lexis employees to staff the Florida hotline providing advice to disaster relief victims.

Lexis -Nexis has had a "Lexis-Nexis Cares" program in place for some time, allowing employees to spend a few days per year working on pro bono projects of their choice. It now is urging employees to use some of this time to assist local relief agencies. The company also is offering to match employee donations to the Red Cross through September 30.

There's a lot more to the LN relief plan, but you get the idea. I have had the pleasure of serving on the Martindale Hubbell/Lexis-Nexis Legal Advisory Board for the past 8 years. They are an amazing company, far more like a family than a big corporation. It's a privilege to be associated with them.

Punk rock legend Johnny Ramone has died of prostate cancer. He was 55. Rest in peace.

A tribute concert and cancer research fundraiser was held in Los Angeles on Sunday to mark the band's 30th anniversary. It featured performances from Los Angeles punk band X, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Henry Rollins and others.

Along with his wife, Linda Cummings, friends including Pearl Jam rocker Eddie Vedder, singer Rob Zombie, Lisa Marie Presley, Pete Yorn, Vincent Gallo and Talia Shire were gathered at Ramone's bedside yesterday.

If you get a chance, go see the documentary, End of the Century: The Story of the Ramones. [hat tip, Jake Fogelnest, who is directing the soon-to-be-released political satire show at the Upright Citizens Brigade, George Bush, Son of a MotherF**er.]

Bump and Update: New Orleans catches a break, but Mobile, AL doesn't. The eye of Hurricane Ivan should hit Mobile by early Thursday morning.

Live hurricane bloggers: Weatherbug and Brendan Loy in Mobile and Mike Roetto in New Orleans (via Instapundit.]

Bump and Update: Hurricane Ivan is getting closer. Right now it's headed towards the Gulf Coast. Florida's western panhandle is still at risk. It's expected to arrive late Wednesday.

New Orleans may sink if it gets hit hard.

Bump and Update: Noon Monday: Ivan is 70 miles from Cuba and after that looks like it is headed next towards the Florida panhandle, Louisiana, Mississippi and the Yucatan.

Bump and Update: Rather than having several threads on Ivan as we did for Frances, this one will periodically get bumped as news develops. There's a live report in the comments now. I hope those of you in Ivan's path will keep them coming

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Get your latest graphics on the advance of Hurricane Ivan here and here. Advisory is here.

The Florida Keys were evacuated as Ivan blasted towards Jamaica. It's now threatening the Grand Caymans and Cuba. Then it looks like it will bypass the Keys and Miami and head for the Panhandle.

On MSNBC....It takes something big to knock Hurricane Frances off the cable news. There is confirmed news of a small explosion at LAX. The airport is now closed. It was in the Bradley International terminal. A bag was going through screening process and a flashlight or something similar went off. One screening employee is complaining of ringing in the ears. Another has swollen fingers. There are no reports yet of anyone going to a hospital.

It may be only a flashlight whose batteries exploded. Stay tuned. Here's an early AP report. Please use comments to update.

Hopefully Roger and Steve are still able to live blog from Orlando. Frances has hit the Florida coast with 90 mile per hour winds. It's expected to hit land tomorrow morning at Vero Beach.

Frequent TalkLeft commenter Roger says Orlando is about to be hit by Hurricane Frances. He is now securing his house and laying in food and water supplies. He has graciously agreed to live blog the storm, power permitting, as he did with Hurricane Charlie.

Feel free to contribute or comment---this is a hurricane open thread. To all our Florida readers, stay safe, let's hope it's over fast.

Update: Florida's poor can't get out.

Bump and Update: Frequent TalkLeft commenter Roger is blogging live from Orlando in the comments with a first-hand account of the hurricane. He promises to keep it up as long as he has power and internet access. He says power is intermittent right now.

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The Weather Channel and the National Weather Service are the place to be today as Hurricane Charlie hits Florida hard.