内容摘要：Wood recommends contacting your servicer to ask for options, which can include forbearance, deferment or applying for an income-driven repayment plan.

Wood recommends contacting your servicer to ask for options, which can include forbearance, deferment or applying for an income-driven repayment plan.

“It does feel like old-school technology, but they are lifesaving devices,” Smith said.Radios can be particularly valuable in the South, where many

when people are sleeping. “This can wake you up in the middle of the night with the alarm,” Smith said.The National Weather Service encourages people to have multiple ways of being warned, which can include weather radios, a cellphone app or other method in case power is lost. Redundancy is key, Smith said.The ideal places to take shelter are enclosed, underground shelters and basements, or a safe room above ground that’s designed to withstand tornadic winds.

But many people don’t have that option — in Oklahoma, for example, the clay soil makes building basements expensive, so lots of homes don’t have them.If you have to be above ground in a tornado, “your goal is to put as many walls and barriers between you and the outside as you possibly can,” Smith said.

Smith recommends using mattresses, couch cushions or other sturdy items to protect yourself from deadly flying or falling debris. Bicycle or sports helmets can provide crucial head protection. It’s important that they are stored in a convenient place so they can be retrieved quickly, when you have only minutes or seconds before the storm strikes.

A car seat can help protect a small child, Smith says, and can be brought inside ahead of time.months later after the General Assembly tweaked the law and the court’s only woman who overturned the ban had to retire because of her age.

Since the U.S. Supreme Courtand ended a nationwide right to abortion in 2022, most Republican-controlled states have begun enforcing new bans or restrictions while most Democrat-dominated ones have sought to protect abortion access.

Currently, 12 states enforce bans on abortion at all stages of pregnancy, with limited exceptions. South Carolina and three others prohibit abortions at or about six weeks into pregnancy -- often before women realize they’re pregnant.The fight over South Carolina’s abortion law is not over. A federal judge this month allowed to continue a lawsuit by five OB-GYN doctors who said they can’t properly treat patients because they fear they could be charged with crimes due to the vague definitions of heartbeat and the exceptions allowing abortions only when a fatal fetal anomaly exists or a woman’s life is at risk.