(COLLEGE STATION, Texas) — An evacuation order has been lifted after authorities responded to 24 new wildfires that burned 7,774 acres in north Texas on Tuesday, according to the Texas A&M Forest Services.
Officials say that hot temperatures, winds and drought conditions will continue the threat of fires in the area.
The evacuation was issued in response to the Chalk Mountain Fire, which spread from Somervell County into Hood County on Tuesday.
The Hood County judge issued a mandatory evacuation in the area of Hutchinson, Coleman Ranch Road, Rock Church Highway and Nocal in Tolar around 7:45 p.m. before the evacuation was lifted around two hours later.
The Chalk Mountain Fire burned 6,000 acres, destroyed at least 12 structures and was 10% contained as of Wednesday morning, according to the Texas A&M Forest Service.
As of Wednesday morning, the service was not able to confirm how many of the affected structures were homes.
The National Weather Service has issued a red flag warning for northern Texas and southern Oklahoma as gusty winds near 30 miles per hour, combined with extremely dry vegetation — which can fuel fires — and dangerous heat nearing 110 degrees threaten the area on Wednesday.
The Texas A&M Forest Service also responded to a fire about 70 miles west of Fort Worth, where a fire at Possum Kingdom Lake reached 500 acres burned and 10% containment as of Tuesday night.
At least five homes have been burned from the fire, the service said.
The service said they are using bulldozers to dig containment lines around the fires and aircraft to drop water on the growing flames.
As of Wednesday morning, no injuries have been reported at either fire.
According to the Texas A&M Fire Service, 214 counties are under burn bans on Wednesday, meaning that individuals in those counties are prohibiting from any outdoor burning until further notice.
The East County Fire in Kaufman County is currently at 500 acres burned and 40% containment.
A number of large fires have reached 80 to 90% containment, including the West Bend Fire that has burned 6,522 acres and the Nethery Road Fire that has burned 3,262 acres.
In addition to the North Texas fires that continue to burn, the service said that the risk for significant fires is spreading to east Texas.
With the COVID-19 pandemic easing in this country, and life slowly returning to normal, what exactly will that mean? ABC Audio spoke with Amanda Fialk [FALK], PhD, chief of clinical services at the treatment community The Dorm, about what to expect.
Long story short, we’ve all experienced trauma, Dr. Fialk says, but how we process it will be different.
“It will be interesting to see what normal looks like and feels like,” Dr. Fialk says. “I think ‘normal’ is a relative concept, especially for people who struggle with mental illness. You know, I think returning to a pre-COVID type world, it doesn’t necessarily feel as exciting to people who maybe don’t struggle with mental illness.”
She explains, “People lost jobs, people lost loved ones, people were unable to participate in milestones, they stopped going to school, there’s a lot of loss and a lot of grief. And you don’t just process grief overnight.”
Dr. Fialk continues, “It’s not just gone because the imminent danger is no longer there. The lasting effects of the trauma linger…even when the outside environment is seemingly safe again.”
She explains, “You can almost compare it to…when people are…fighting in a war and the war is over. They’ve survived, they’re safe, they get to come home to their families. You would think that there’s just a ton of excitement and joy…and there might be that. But in addition to that, there’s also anxiety and fear involved in the re-entry.”
Dr. Fialk added, “Reintegration anxiety is normal! For many it will take time to adjust. Returning to ‘normal’ life is…a journey, not a destination.”
She suggests, “Rather than being critical or harsh or judgmental with self, be gentle and compassionate with oneself and one’s feelings.”
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — The effort to create a commission to look into the events of the January 6 seige of the U.S. Capitol will face its first major test when it heads to the Senate, where it faces stiff opposition from Republicans.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced his opposition and aims to unite Republicans against approving the commission.
“I do not believe the additional, extraneous commission that Democratic leaders want would uncover crucial new facts, or promote healing. Frankly, I do not believe it is even designed to do that,” said McConnell.
Several rank-and-file Republicans echoed sentiments made by House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who says the commission will become politicized and claim Democrats will delay the finding to make political hay.
Democrats argue Republicans are afraid of what the commission might find, saying the GOP is too beholden to former President Donald Trump, who is accused of inciting the insurrection over pushing myths about the 2020 election.
It has been proven through various audits, investigations and hand-counted ballot recounts that the election was not, quote, “stolen.”
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted his political counterparts, saying, “We need an independent, trusted, bipartisan commission now more than ever. It is critically important to establish a trusted record of events and begin to restore faith in our democracy.”
The commission aims to appoint a 10-member outside panel to look into how the January 6 riot started and the events that took place after protestors took the Capitol. The bipartisan commission would share subpoena power with an equal number of staff for each side.
10 Republican senators would need to break from their ranks to approve the commission, but it is uncertain if that will happen.
In anticipation of the vote, Gladys Sicknick, the mother of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, as well as other Capitol Police officers met with Republican leaders in hope to change their minds and have them support the measure.
While few can argue that ending COVID-19 pandemic restrictions isn’t a good thing, all that staying at home has apparently taken a toll on our driving skills.
Thirty-seven percent of the respondents in a new survey admit they’ve entirely forgotten how to drive.
The non-scientific poll of 2,000 Americans commissioned by Nextbase Dash Cams revealed that 47% say they haven’t driven more than 50 miles per month since the pandemic began. As a result, 35% say their driving skills aren’t what they used to be pre-COVID, and 39% say they’re more nervous driving now than they ever have been. Thirty-four percent said they’d like to re-take driver’s ed to get more comfortable behind the wheel.
For those who have ventured out on the road, 53% of respondents said the highways and byways have been a “free-for-all” post-lockdown, as people got used to driving — and not following the rules — when there were fewer cars on the road.
As a result, 46% of respondents say they’ve become increasingly annoyed at other drivers: 33% say they’re using their horns more than ever; 25% say they’ve flashed their lights at annoying motorists; and 21% have even yelled out the window at other drivers. Fifteen percent admit they’ve cut off other drivers to express their discontent.
Nexbase director Richard Browning explains, “[W]e’ve seen a significant increase in shared consumer dash cam video vividly documenting incidents of dangerous driving and road rage.”
Considering this, it’s no surprise that 39% of respondents said they’re more anxious about driving now than ever.
All of this is especially bad considering 62% of those surveyed said they plan to take a road trip of 100 miles or more this summer.
(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:
Senate to consider January 6 attacks commission; Republicans opposing measure
Senate Republicans are poised to quash an effort today to establish a bipartisan, independent commission to study the January 6 attacks on the U.S. Capitol that that left five people dead. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell announced his opposition last week, along with his House GOP counterpart, Rep. Kevin McCarthy, ahead of the House vote that approved the measure, with 35 Republicans joining Democrats. McConnell called the commission “a purely political exercise that adds nothing to the sum total of information,” and noted that there is already an ongoing joint investigation into the attacks by the Senate Rules and Homeland Security committees, which are expected to produce a report in early June. Democrats counter that the real reason Republicans are opposed is because they’re beholden to former President Donald Trump, who was impeached for inciting the mob that ransacked the Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 election and who continues to claim, falsely, that the election was stolen.
The mother of Brian Sicknick, the officer who died after the Capitol insurrection, and Sicknick’s partner, Sandra Garza, are scheduled to meet today with a number of GOP senators, including Mitt Romney and Susan Collins, with the intention of pressing Republicans to vote in favor of the independent commission.
Nine dead in San Jose mass shooting Wednesday
Nine people were shot to death at the Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail yard in San Jose, California, on Wednesday morning, according to the Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office. One victim remains hospitalized in critical condition. The suspect, identified as 57-year-old VTA employee Samuel Cassidy, also is dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound, sheriff’s spokesperson Russell Davis said. Santa Clara County Sheriff Laurie Smith said Thursday morning that two semiautomatic handguns and 11 magazines with ammunition were found in the area Cassidy where took his life at the rail yard.
An angry and emotional Governor Gavin Newsom, noting he visited the region after a mass shooting in Gilroy two years ago, declared Wednesday, “It begs the damn question what the hell is going on in United States of America? What the hell’s wrong with us?” A White House proclamation directs that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff at the White House, and all public buildings and military and naval posts, to respect the shooting victims. The incident brings to 232 the number of mass shootings in the U.S. this year.
New unemployment claims fall to pandemic low number
Some 406,000 new claims for unemployment were filed in the week ending May 15, according to Thursday-morning numbers released by the Department of Labor. This is the lowest level for initial claims since March 14, 2020, when it was 256,000, and also is a decrease of 38,000 from the previous week’s unrevised level of 444,000 new claims. The numbers are another sign the job market is healing as the pandemic wanes. There are currently 15,802,126 Americans collecting unemployment benefits from all state and federal programs.
COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections, deaths and vaccinations.
Latest reported COVID-19 numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 168,471,416
Global deaths: 3,500,001. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 591,957.
Number of countries/regions: at least 192
Latest reported COVID-19 numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 33,191,164 reported cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 591,957. California has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 63,017.
U.S. total people tested: 461,869,272
The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in California, with 3,781,120 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 39.51 million. This ranks third in the world after England, which has 3,902,160 cases, and Maharashtra, India, which leads the world with 5,650,907 reported cases. Texas is second in the U.S., with 2,949,009 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 29 million.
Latest reported COVID-19 vaccination numbers in the United States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a total of 359,849,035 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. Of those, 289,212,304 doses have been administered, with 165,074,907 people receiving at least one dose and 131,850,089 people fully vaccinated, representing 49.7% and 39.7% of the total U.S. population, respectively. The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines each require two doses to be effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires a single dose to be effective.
Now 3.5 million global COVID-19 deaths as infection rates decline; US vaccinations also declining
Yet another grim pandemic milestone has been crossed, with 3.5 million global COVID-19 deaths now reported. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University puts the number of fatalities at 3,500,001 as of Thursday morning. The United States accounts for 17% of global deaths, with 591,957 reported. That remains more than any other nation, though it’s suspected that India could be significantly underreporting its coronavirus fatalities, which currently officially number 315,235 but could be more than double that figure. Even given those daunting numbers, the World Health Organization reports that for the week of May 17-23, there were over 4.1 million new COVID cases and 84,000 new deaths reported worldwide, a 14% and 2% decrease, respectively, when compared to the figures reported the previous week.
In the U.S., where COVID-19 infections, hospitalizations and deaths continue to decline rapidly, so too is the vaccination rate falling. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports the seven-day average of vaccine doses administered has now dropped to just over 1.7 million doses a day — down by nearly 50% in the last six weeks. Just over 50% of the U.S. adult population is fully vaccinated, with nearly one in four of all Americans fully vaccinated, at 39.7%. People aged 65 and older are the most-vaccinated U.S. demographic, with the CDC reporting 74.1% are fully vaccinated against COVID-19. States and businesses continue to offer perks and other incentives to promote continued immunization.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — With researchers across the globe trying to accurately pinpoint the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic, President Joe Biden ordered Wednesday for U.S. intelligence agencies to “redouble their efforts” in pinpointing how the virus passed onto humans.
In addition, the president wants U.S. agencies to ask “specific questions for China.”
President Biden noted a report researching if the pandemic was cased by human contact with an infected animal or from a lab incident in China provided inconclusive results. Because of that, he has ordered a second report to be completed in 90 days to “bring us closer to a definitive conclusion.”
In a public statement, the president said, “As of today, the U.S. Intelligence Community has ‘coalesced around two likely scenarios’ but has not reached a definitive conclusion on this question.”
“Here is their current position: ‘while two elements in the IC leans toward the former scenario and one leans more toward the latter – each with low or moderate confidence – the majority of elements do not believe there is sufficient information to assess one to be more likely than the other,” he added.
The theory that the virus was created in the the Wuhan Institute of Virology and somehow escaped is a popular theory among Republicans, as it was pressed by former President Donald Trump and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
President Biden’s order joins the growing global dissatisfaction with how the World Health Organization and China are conducting research to identify the virus’ origin.
COVID-19 adviser Andy Slavitt said of the renewed push, “”We need to get to the bottom of this, and we need a completely transparent process from China. We need the WHO to assist in that matter. We don’t feel like we have that now.”
(NEW YORK) — Here are today’s In Crisis headlines:
George Floyd’s family meets with Biden, lawmakers on policing reform
President Biden met with the family of George Floyd at the White House Tuesday for over an hour on the one-year anniversary of Floyd’s death, as well as with key lawmakers involved in policing reform negotiations. The path forward on Capitol Hill for the George Floyd Justice in Policing Act remains unclear, but negotiators say they’ve made progress and expressed optimism this week about its prospects. Biden himself said he was “optimistic” lawmakers would reach an agreement on policing reform sometime after Memorial Day. Outside the White House, attorney Benjamin Crump, who represents the Floyd family, said Biden told them he’s not looking for a “rushed” reform bill. The Floyd family returned to Capitol Hill later to meet separately with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker of New Jersey and South Carolina Republican Senator Tim Scott, the latter of whom declared lawmakers are “making progress” on the legislation and promised the family that legislation would be named after Floyd.
Manhattan district attorney convenes special grand jury in Trump probe
The Manhattan District Attorney’s office has convened a special grand jury that could decide whether an indictment is warranted against former President Donald Trump or his eponymous company, sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The DA has used previously empaneled grand juries during the investigation into the way Trump properties are valued to obtain loans or lower tax bills. However, if there are going to be criminal charges, the special grand jury is the one that would make that determination. Empaneling a special grand jury suggests the case has reached an advanced stage, but as yet there have been no charges filed. Potential witnesses have been contacted in recent weeks about appearing before the special grand jury, the sources told ABC News. Trump has insisted he runs a clean business and has called the investigation a “witch hunt.”
COVID-19 numbers
Here’s the latest data on COVID-19 coronavirus infections, deaths and vaccinations.
Latest reported COVID-19 numbers globally per Johns Hopkins University
Global diagnosed cases: 167,898,407
Global deaths: 3,487,458. The United States has the most deaths of any single country, with 590,994.
Number of countries/regions: at least 192
Latest reported COVID-19 numbers in the United States per Johns Hopkins University
There are at least 33,166,902 reported cases in 50 states + the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. This is more than in any other country.
U.S. deaths: at least 590,994. California has the greatest number of reported deaths in the U.S., with 62,986.
U.S. total people tested: 460,952,396
The greatest number of reported COVID-19 cases in the U.S. is in California, with 3,779,998 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 39.51 million. This ranks third in the world after England, which has 3,899,813 cases, and Maharashtra, India, which leads the world with 5,626,155 reported cases. Texas is second in the U.S., with 2,946,817 confirmed cases out of a total state population of 29 million.
Latest reported COVID-19 vaccination numbers in the United States
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports a total of 359,004,955 COVID-19 vaccine doses have been distributed in the U.S. Of those, 287,788,872 doses have been administered, with 164,378,258 people receiving at least one dose and 131,078,608 people fully vaccinated, representing 49.5% and 39.5% of the total U.S. population, respectively. The Moderna and Pfizer/BioNTech vaccines each require two doses to be effective. The Johnson & Johnson vaccine requires a single dose to be effective.
White House touts 50% COVID-19 adult population full vaccination rate
The White House COVID-19 Task Force is taking a victory lap, announcing that 50% of the adult U.S. population is now fully vaccinated against COVID-19. The latest numbers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show 50% of the population aged 18 and older is fully vaccinated, a total of 129,054,480 people. Additionally, the White House said 25 states and the District of Columbia have fully vaccinated 50% or more of their adult population, while nine states have recently crossed the threshold of 70% of adults who’ve received at least one shot. Currently, 61.6% of the total 18+ adult U.S. population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, according to the CDC. Dr. Ashish Jha told ABC’s Good Morning America Wednesday, “We have never done this in the history of America. No country has gotten this many people vaccinated this quickly.”
CDC updates COVID-19 deaths projection
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has updated their forecast of COVID-19 deaths, currently projecting the U.S. will see a total of 596,000 to 606,000 fatalities by the week ending June 19. The previous forecast was for a total of 594,000 to 604,000 by the week ending June 12. The forecast represents a continued decrease in the number of daily COVID-19 deaths. Data compiled by Johns Hopkins University puts the current total number of U.S. coronavirus deaths at 590,994.
(WASHINGTON, D.C.) — The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced Tuesday that half of U.S. adults — 129 million people over 18 — are fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
In adults over 65 years old, that number rises to 73 percent — or 40 million individuals.
Even more promising, nearly half of all Americans of all ages, that’s 164 million people, have obtained at least one dose of the vaccine.
In nine states, 70 percent of their population over the age of 18 — Connecticut, Hawaii, Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Rhode Island and Vermont — are fully vaccinated.
At least 25 states — including Washington, D.C. — have reported at least half of the adult population being given at least one COVID-19 dose.
The Food and Drug Administration approved of vaccines to anyone over 16 in mid-April and, at the start of May, allowed the Pfizer vaccine to be administered to children over the age of 12.
Those under 12 are still ineligible for the vaccine pending further study.
“The progress that we have made … is due to all of you who have gotten vaccinated, who have contributed not only to your health but to mine and my family’s and my friends’ and yours, and the health of people who can’t get vaccinated because of their medical condition,” COVID-19 adviser Andy Slavitt said during a White House coronavirus response team briefing on Tuesday. “You’ve contributed to our country.”
Tonight, ABC News is marking the one-year anniversary of George Floyd’s death with the special After Floyd: The Year that Shook the World – A Soul of a Nation Special.
The one-hour special will be hosted from Minneapolis by daytime talk show host Tamron Hall and GMA3: What You Need to Know co-anchor T.J. Holmes.
It features in-depth interviews with Floyd’s family, civil rights attorney Ben Crump, civil rights leader and founder and president of National Action Network Rev. Al Sharpton, How to Get Away with Murder and Insecure actor Kendrick Sampson and more. Singer Aloe Blacc will also deliver a moving performance.
Holmes tells ABC Audio he hopes people will watch the special and embrace whatever emotion they might be feeling.
“Whatever it is, just feel,” he says, recounting the advice of his friend and colleague Dr. Jennifer Ashton. “Because you can’t heal unless you feel. So if people watch it and you come out of it feeling very hopeful, great. If you come out of it feeling angry, that’s fine. If you come out of it with whatever emotion, that’s O.K.”
“But I encourage everybody to just…whatever the year has been for you and whatever you take out of looking back at the year, just feel — and that’s O.K.,” he adds.
After Floyd: The Year that Shook the World – A Soul of a Nation Special airs tonight at 10 p.m. ET on ABC. It can be viewed the next day on demand and on Hulu.
In an effort to get more people vaccinated against COVID-19, United CEO Scott Kirby tells ABC News his company launched a sweepstakes that could win you free flights for a year.
“Your Shot To Fly” is simple: any new or existing members of United’s MileagePlus loyalty program who uploads their vaccination records to the airline’s mobile app or website between today and June 22 will be entered to win a round-trip flight for two, in any class, anywhere in the world the airline flies.
Thirty pairs of tickets will be given out throughout the month of June, Kirby says.
What’s more, on July 1, United will choose five randomly selected entrants to the sweepstakes to win the grand prize of travel for a year “for themselves and a companion — also in any class of service, anywhere in the world United flies.”
The airline is not only touting its cooperation with the Biden Administration’s initiative to get as many Americans vaccinated as possible, but also showcasing that United is the only U.S. airline to which COVID-19 vaccination and testing results can be directly uploaded through its app and website.
