His racial comments 'kicked/whipped/stirred up a storm' in the newspapers. [=newspapers criticized his racial comments very strongly]
The college was quiet that morning, but it was 'the calm before the storm'. Thousands of students would arrive later.
Newspapers have 'weathered the storm' of online information by providing news online themselves.
(..) Can't do that. It's a hundred and nine degrees. It's getting hotter. We need all the speed we can get. Leave it up. It's just a little storm. Ain't no big deal. Something moving down there. Phosphorous and plankton. It's the same thing we saw back at the beach. (..)2008 Journey to the Center of the Earth