USA DAWN: NEWS AND UPDATES

Hurricane Mathew could brush Florida as a major hurricane before churning past the Carolinas this weekend, but the storm is now expected to turn out to sea before reaching the mid-Atlantic. A cold front forecast to advance across Maryland on Saturday is expected to help steer the storm off the North Carolina coast toward Bermuda, instead of up the coast, forecasters said. "Uncertainty increases as Matthew starts to track east-northeast and away from the coast into Sunday," meteorologists at the National Weather Service's Baltimore/Washington forecast office wrote early Wednesday. "At this time ... coastal areas of the Mid-Atlantic have the best chance to see affects from Matthew," they wrote. Hurricane Matthew could brush Florida as a major storm but is expected to turn out to sea before reaching Maryland. (NOAA/National Hurricane Center) Matthew was passing through the sparsely populated islands of the southern Bahamas early Wedn...