(ATLANTA) — An attorney for ex-DOJ official Jeffrey Clark made his case for access to communications between Fulton County prosecutors and the White House counsel’s office on Thursday, claiming that the Georgia election interference case against his client was brought with “political purpose.”
Harry MacDougald, Clark’s lawyer, said he needed access to those communications because, he alleged, the Biden White House “has its fingerprints on all four criminal prosecutions of President Trump,” and Clark needs the documents to build a case for dismissal on the grounds of selective prosecution.
Clark is accused by the DA of making false statements to senior Justice Department officials in December 2020, urging them to tell Georgia officials that the DOJ had “significant concerns” about the 2020 election results in the state.
Clark, who waved his appearance, was not present in court Thursday.
Alex Bernick, a prosecutor with the Fulton County DA’s office, said in court that their office’s written communication with the White House amounts to two letters “about logistics and procedures.”
“It wasn’t about obtaining any type of evidence,” Bernick said.
Fulton County Judge Scott McAfee said he wanted to review the relevant documents in his chambers and would study the case law before making a decision.
“Why don’t we start there?” McAfee said. “After I’ve had a chance to review, I’ll make the findings … in a written order.”
Clark earlier argued in court filings that the records he was seeking may be material to the outcome of his case “if it supports an argument that the prosecution of the case is tainted with partisan political objectives coordinated with, suggested or directed by the White House.” But he also conceded those communications may have been for “legitimate non-political reasons.”
In his motion, Clark also suggested that the DA’s correspondence with the federal government “may show” that the DOJ refused to grant requests for two DOJ officials to testify before the grand jury that was probing the case — an assertion they base on a New York Times article on the investigation.
If true, Clark’s attorneys said, that would be beneficial to Clark’s case.
Trump, Clark, and 17 others pleaded not guilty in August to all charges in a sweeping racketeering indictment for alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in the state of Georgia.
Defendants Kenneth Chesebro, Sidney Powell, Jena Ellis and Scott Hall subsequently took plea deals in exchange for agreeing to testify against other defendants.
(LOS ANGELES) — Marcus Eriz has been found guilty of murder in the Orange County, California, road rage incident that killed 6-year-old Aiden Leos in 2021.
Eriz was convicted of second-degree murder, shooting into an occupied vehicle and two felony enhancements of the personal discharge of a firearm causing great bodily injury and death.
“While we will never know what Aiden would have become, we know that the pursuit of justice did not end until his killer was captured and this child murderer was prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer said in a statement after the verdict.
Eriz will be sentenced on April 12. The 26-year-old faces 40 years to life in prison.
On May 21, 2021, just 10 days after his birthday, Leos was shot and killed sitting in his booster seat while his mother, Joanna Cloonan, was driving him to kindergarten in Yorba Linda.
During Cloonan’s testimony this month, she said her and her son were on the 55 freeway when a white Volkswagen SportWagen cut her off abruptly while she was in the carpool lane driving northbound, according to Los Angeles ABC station KABC.
Cloonan reportedly said she got out of the carpool lane to avoid being behind the car and showed her middle finger in reaction to being cut off. After, a person in the VW opened fire through the rear of Cloonan’s car, striking Aiden in the back seat.
After a weekslong manhunt, authorities arrested then 24-year-old Marcus Eriz, and his girlfriend, Wynne Lee, then 23, at their home in Costa Mesa, California, on June 6, 2021, according to California Highway Patrol.
Investigators later determined Lee was driving and Eriz shot at Cloonan’s car that fatal day.
Lee was subsequently charged with being an accessory after the fact and possessing a concealed firearm in a vehicle. Her pretrial hearing is set for Feb. 9. Lee remains free under GPS monitoring on $100,000 bond.
“They took my son’s life away,” Cloonan told ABC News in an interview on “Good Morning America” in 2021. “He was beautiful and he was kind and he was precious, and you killed him for no reason. And I want to find them and I want there to be justice to be served for my son.”
During her January 2024 testimony, Cloonan tearfully recalled Leos’ final moments after their car was shot at.
“I heard a noise that sounded like a big rock hit the car,” Cloonan said during the trial, according to KABC-TV. “I heard my son say, ‘Ow.’ I looked behind me and his head was hanging down.”
Cloonan emotionally explained how she tried to save Leos’ life but could tell that her young son was “dying very quickly.”
“I immediately pulled over to the side of the freeway. I attempted to get him out of his car seat. I noticed that he was dying very quickly. I put my hand on his belly. I put him close to my body to try to save his life and I called 911,” she said, according to KABC.
During her testimony, Cloonan revealed how she discovered what exactly happened during the fatal incident, and that it was a gunshot through her car that took her son’s life.
“I remember being surrounded. I couldn’t see what was going on with him. I looked at the back of my car and saw a hole. And I asked a man, ‘Is that a bullet hole? Is that what happened?’ And he said, ‘It appears to be so.'”
Leos was taken to Children’s Hospital of Orange County where he was later pronounced dead.
When Cloonan was shown a photo of Leos during her testimony, she broke down in tears, according to KABC.
During the trial – which began in Orange County on Jan. 18 – prosecutors played a recording of Eriz’s original interrogation with authorities, according to KABC.
Eriz reportedly admitted that “for some reason,” after Cloonen showed her middle finger at him and Lee, he reached into the backseat of their vehicle, pulled out his gun and shot at Cloonen’s car.
When asked what the motive was behind the attack, he reportedly said, “I don’t have an answer. Because I’m stupid. I didn’t think of anything. I didn’t think of the consequences or anyone.”
Eriz claimed he could not remember if he shot at her car from inside his own vehicle or if he shot from outside the passenger door window. Eriz said he did not aim deliberately, according to KABC.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial this week in New York City to determine whether he will have to pay former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll additional damages for defaming her in 2019 when he denied her allegations of sexual abuse.
Last year, in a separate trial, a jury determined that Trump was liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, and that he defamed her in a 2022 social media post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!”
Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has said he doesn’t know who Carroll is.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 25, 2:48 PM
‘This is not America,’ Trump mutters as he leaves court
“Not America,” Donald Trump muttered as he exited the courtroom following his testimony.
“It’s not America. This is not America,” he repeated, his voice rising as he slowly walked toward the courtroom exit.
Court is adjourned until 3:30 p.m. ET, at which point attorneys will conference with the judge.
Closing arguments are currently scheduled for tomorrow.
Jan 25, 2:33 PM
Trump testifies he denied allegations to defend himself
“Do you stand by your testimony in your deposition?” Trump’s attorney, Alina Habba, asked Trump on the witness stand.
“100% yes,” Trump responded.
“Did you deny the allegation to defend yourself?” Habba asked. “Yes I did, that’s exactly right,” Trump responded.
“Mr. President, did you ever instruct anyone to hurt Ms. Carroll?”
“No, I just wanted to defend myself, my family and frankly the presidency,” Trump answered.
The judge struck everything after the word “no.”
On cross-examination Carroll’s attorney Roberta Kaplan asked whether this is the first trial with Carroll that Trump has attended. He said yes.
On redirect, Trump affirmed he was represented by counsel.
Trump then stepped down from the stand, his testimony over after all of three minutes.
Jan 25, 2:26 PM
Judge provides instructions on scope of testimony
Prior to Trump taking the witness stand, Judge Lewis Kaplan reminded the parties, outside the jury’s presence, that a prior trial found “Mr. Trump in fact sexually abused Ms. Carroll by forcibly and without consent inserting his fingers into her vagina” and that “Ms. Carroll did not make up her claim of forcible sexual abuse.”
Kaplan said the prior trial also established Trump’s statements of denial were defamatory and that Trump “knew they were false, had serious doubts as to the truth of what he said or made those statements with a high degree of awareness that they were probably false.”
The judge reminded the defense that Trump cannot make any argument “disputing or undermining those determinations.” He said “there is cause for concern” that Trump’s testimony might contain inadmissible evidence.
“I want to know everything he is going to say,” Kaplan told defense attorney Alina Habba.
“That he stands by his deposition,” Habba responded. “He is going to say that he did not make the statements to hurt Ms. Carroll.”
Habba said Trump will also say that he had to respond to the allegation and did not instruct anyone to disparage Carroll.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, complained that while Habba was giving her proffer, “Mr. Trump said under his breath that he never met her and had never seen her before.”
Kaplan said the jury would be instructed that, regardless of what Trump says on the witness stand, “he did it.”
Trump was overheard saying he was not at the first trial and that he does not “know this woman” as Habba tried to affirm Trump understood the confines of his testimony.
“So he will comply with the rulings?” Kaplan asked. “That is my understanding,” Habba replied.
The judge has limited the examination to three questions: Does he stand by the deposition? Did he deny the allegation because an accusation had been made? And did he instruct anyone to hurt Carroll?
Jan 25, 2:19 PM
Trump takes the stand
“Defense calls President Donald Trump,” attorney Alina Habba said as Trump took the stand in his own defense.
Jan 25, 1:56 PM
Trump, observing proceedings, is more subdued than last week
With the morning session completed, a more subdued Donald Trump has been in the courtroom today.
Unlike when Trump attended the trial last week, there have been no outbursts from Trump and no sparring with the judge. There are hardly any of the audible comments or hand gesturing that was observed earlier.
Instead, Trump has sat calmly and listened to the testimony, occasionally conferring quietly with his attorneys. When a video was played of him from just a few days ago repeating the claim that he “didn’t know” E. Jean Carroll, he nodded along with the video and silently mouthed the words “true.”
In fact, the only real disturbance today came when a cell phone — which Judge Kaplan strictly prohibits in the courtroom — rang in the galley.
“Whose telephone was that?” the judge asked. “Take that man out of here.”
It turned out to be Trump campaign spokesperson Stephen Cheung– who was removed from the courtroom by security.
Trump may take the witness stand when the proceedings resume after a break.
Jan 25, 1:31 PM
Carroll’s friend testifies she was ‘very concerned’ for her
On cross-examination by Carroll’s attorney Shawn Crowley, former television newswoman Carol Martin explained the safety concerns she said she had due to her association with E. Jean Carroll and her lawsuit against Donald Trump.
“I am a huge consumer of news and I keep up with everything that I can, as it happens, and the climate in the country felt dangerous to me,” said Martin, a longtime friend of Carroll’s. “Mr. Trump was saying he didn’t lose the election and I was very concerned that my friend was right in the middle of a lawsuit like this one.”
She also testified her comments about Carroll’s “narcissism” and “lifestyle” were made out of concern that Carroll might lose at trial. Martin testified that when she called Carroll a “drug addict,” she meant she was very passionate.
“I used the word drug addict. Bad word to use,” Martin said.
“Are you suspicious of her motives?” asked Crowley.
“I am not suspicious of her motives,” Martin replied.
Jan 25, 12:53 PM
Carroll has at times ‘enjoyed the attention,’ friend testifies
Former television newswoman Carol Martin, testifying as a hostile witness for the defense, said that her longtime friend E. Jean Carroll “has an admirable reputation in the workplace.”
Martin testified that she did, “on some levels,” have concern for her safety and her daughter’s safety after Carroll went public in 2019 with her sexual assault accusation against Donald Trump. Martin was among the friends Carroll had told about the assault.
“As I saw the popularity of that article, my daughter became more concerned,” Martin said of the 2019 New York magazine story in which Carroll made the accusation.
“Ms. Carroll assured you she didn’t have security concerns?” defense attorney Alina Habba asked. “That was her opinion,” Martin said. “Jeanie didn’t want us to worry.”
Habba has argued that the harm Carroll said she suffered as a result of Trump’s defamatory statements is overblown.
“Did you think Ms. Carroll enjoyed the attention?” Habba asked. “At points, in early years,” Martin responded. She also affirmed she had texted a friend that Carroll’s “narcissism had run amok.”
Martin testified that “at some point” she became frustrated with what Habba described as Carroll’s “celebratory behavior” in connection with her lawsuits against Trump. “It’s a difference in our personalities, but we work around it,” Martin said.
At one point Martin said she felt Carroll was “loving the adulation.”
“Do you believe Ms. Carroll is enjoying this fame to some extent?” Habba asked. “I think she is adapting to this phase in her life. Enjoying is a multifaceted word,” Martin said, ending her direct examination.
Jan 25, 11:50 AM
Judge denies defense’s motion for directed verdict
The defense’s motion for a directed verdict, made after Carroll’s attorneys rested their case, asked the judge to end the trial due to a lack of evidence.
“Ms. Carroll has failed to establish any causal link between her claim for damages and President Trump’s statement,” defense attorney Alina Habba said. “On causation alone, she has not proven her facts.”
Habba argued, as she did in her opening statement, that people were disparaging Carroll prior to Trump issuing his defamatory denials. She also argued Carroll could not prove she received death threats at the time because she deleted messages that contained them, prompting an interjection from the judge.
“Your theory here is that she should be punished because, before there was litigation, she deleted tweets that could be helpful to her?” Judge Lewis Kaplan asked. “That’s not my argument,” Habba replied. “Sounds like it,” the judge said.
Carroll’s attorney, Roberta Kaplan, argued that she had met her burden.
“We believe there is more than ample evidence, causation, here to allow the case to go to the jury,” Roberta Kaplan said.
The judge denied the defense’s motion. Next up will be the defense’s first witness.
Jan 25, 11:31 AM
Carroll rests her case, defense seeks directed verdict
Following concluding statements, E. Jean Carroll’s attorneys have rested their case.
They will now give way to Trump’s attorneys to present the defense’s case.
The defense, meanwhile, has asked the judge for a directed verdict to halt the proceedings and decide the case in their favor.
Jan 25, 11:12 AM
Carroll’s attorneys highlight clips from Trump’s 2022 deposition
E. Jean Carroll’s attorneys ended their defamation case against former President Trump by showing the jury some of Trump’s social media posts and soundbites from his campaign rallies in which he repeats the defamatory statements he has made about her.
The jury also saw a portion of Trump’s videotaped deposition for Carroll’s case that he sat for in October 2022, in which Trump was given a copy of the 2019 New York magazine article that first published Carroll’s sexual assault allegation.
“Did you ever read this article?” plaintiff’s attorney Roberta Kaplan asked in the deposition. “No,” Trump responded.
Kaplan, in the deposition, also read Trump’s defamatory response to the article and asked, “Do you stand by the statement?” Trump responded, “Yes.”
The jury also heard Trump in the deposition affirm that he stood by a June 24, 2019, statement in which he said Carroll was “not my type.”
“You meant she was not your type, physically right?” Kaplan asked. “Physically, she’s not my type,” Trump responded. “The only difference between me and other people is that I’m honest.”
The jury also saw the excerpt of the deposition in which Trump was handed an old black-and-white photo of him, his first wife Ivana, Carroll, and her then-husband John Johnson, and temporarily mistook Carroll for his second wife Marla Maples.
After the confusion, Kaplan, in the deposition, asked Trump if the three women he married were his type, and Trump answered, “Yeah.”
Trump, in the deposition, also conceded that he had no information about Carroll’s political party or evidence that she was pursuing a political agenda.
The jury also saw an excerpt of a videotaped deposition Trump gave in April 2023 as part of Trump’s separate civil fraud lawsuit in which Trump boasted about his wealth, and estimated that the value of his Mar-a-Lago resort is $1.5 billion — possibly meant to show the jury that Trump can afford a large damage award.
Jan 25, 10:26 AM
Carroll is a ‘truth teller,’ former editor says
E. Jean Carroll was a “beloved” columnist at Elle magazine, her former editor testified as the final witness in Carroll’s case.
“She was beloved by the readers,” Roberta Myers testified. “I would say she was the most prominent columnist that we had. I thought of her column as a destination. People would often pick up the magazine and go to her column first.”
“She’s a truth-teller,” Myers said of Carroll.
On cross-examination, defense attorney Alina Habba established that Myers is a registered Democrat who did not vote for Trump in either 2016 or 2020.
When Habba asked whether Myers planned to vote for Trump in 2024, Myers answered, “I don’t think I have to say what I plan to do.”
Trump watched Myers’ testimony from his seat at the defense table.
Jan 25, 10:19 AM
Elle magazine editor takes the stand
After a late start, today’s proceedings are underway in former President Trump’s defamation damages trial.
Roberta Myers, the former editor-in-chief of Elle magazine, where E. Jean Carroll was an advice columnist, has taken the stand to testify for Carroll.
Trump is seated at the defense table with his attorneys.
Jan 25, 9:57 AM
Trump is in court
Former President Donald Trump has arrived in court this morning.
The proceedings, which were scheduled to get underway at 9:30 a.m. ET, were off to a late start.
Jan 25, 9:00 AM
Carroll’s attorneys expected to rest their case
If former President Trump takes the stand in his own defense today, it will happen after Carroll’s attorneys rest their case.
Carroll’s lawyers plan to call one final witness: Robbie Myers, the former editor-in-chief of Elle magazine, where Carroll was an advice columnist.
As part of the defense’s case, Trump’s lawyers also plan to call Carol Martin, a friend of Carroll’s who testified in the earlier assault and defamation trial.
Jan 25, 7:53 AM
Trump indicates he’ll attend trial today, could take stand
In a post to his Truth Social platform overnight, former President Trump indicated that he will attend his defamation damages trial today.
“But now I’m heading back to New York City for a trial based on False Accusations, from perhaps decades ago — The woman has no idea when!” Trump wrote.
Carroll has accused Trump of assaulting her around 1996 but can’t pinpoint the year.
In a series of other posts, Trump also disparaged Carroll, said she made up her story, and suggested she was a paid political operative.
If Trump takes the stand today, he would be banned from using any of those defenses based on a pretrial ruling by Judge Lewis Kaplan which determined that — because a jury last year already found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and then defaming her — Trump is barred from arguing that he did not sexually abuse Carroll or that he never met her.
(NEW YORK) — Jennifer Crumbley, the mother of Michigan school shooter Ethan Crumbley, will testify in her own defense, lawyer Shannon Smith said Thursday as her manslaughter trial got underway with opening statements.
“Jennifer Crumbley is going to take the stand and tell you about her life, her son … and when he did something she could have not have predicted,” Smith said, though a date for her testimony was not announced.
The mother is facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter for her role in the November 2021 shooting that left four students dead and seven other injured.
Jennifer Crumbley pleaded not guilty to all charges in December 2021. A separate trial for her husband, James Crumbley, who is also facing four counts of involuntary manslaughter, will begin in March.
The trial is a rare case of parents being charged in connection to a child’s mass shooting.
Jury selection was completed on Wednesday with 12 jurors and five alternates.
On Thursday, prosecutors started with opening statements, arguing that the Crumbleys did not secure the firearm used in the shooting in a way to prevent their son from getting access to it. Prosecutors also argued that Jennifer Crumbley “was still given the opportunity” to prevent the shooting on the day it happened, but did not.
Days before the shooting, a teacher allegedly saw Ethan Crumbley researching ammunition in class, and the school contacted his parents but they didn’t respond, according to previous information shared by prosecutors. But Jennifer Crumbley did text her son, writing, “lol, I’m not mad at you, you have to learn not to get caught,” according to prosecutors.
Hours before the shooting, the prosecution has alleged that a teacher saw a note on Ethan Crumbley’s desk that was “a drawing of a semi-automatic handgun pointing at the words, ‘The thoughts won’t stop, help me.’ In another section of the note was a drawing of a bullet with the following words above that bullet, ‘Blood everywhere.'”
The Crumbleys were called to the school over the incident, and said they’d get their son counseling, but did not take him home, prosecutors said.
Prosecutor Marc Keast also alleged Thursday that Jennifer Crumbley privately communicated concerns about Ethan Crumbley with her husband ahead of the shooting.
The defense argued in its opening statements that Jennifer Crumbley had no way to know what was going to happen and that she did not know anything about guns before the shooting.
Smith added that the school did not inform Jennifer Crumbley of her son’s problematic issues and said she did not take him home the morning of the shooting because he wanted to stay at school and the school allowed him to remain in class.
Witnesses take the stand
The first two witnesses to take the stand Thursday were educators at Oxford High School, where the shooting took place.
The first, Molly Darnell — who previously gave testimony in hearings for Ethan Crumbley — was shot through her left arm. She described “locking eyes” with Ethan through her office door before he fired at her with the bullet injuring her left arm. Darnell also detailed barricading herself in her office until law enforcement came to the door.
Darnell made a makeshift tourniquet out of the cardigan she wore to school that day to stem the bleeding from her arm, she said.
Reacting to a photo of her office door, which contained bullet holes, Darnell told prosecutors, “He was aiming to kill me.”
Kristy Marshall, the assistant principal at Oxford High School at the time of the shooting, took the stand as the second witness. Marshall had also previously been the principal at the shooter’s elementary school. Marshall described encountering the shooter and one of his victims in the hallway during the rampage and recognizing him from when he was in elementary school.
“It seemed so odd that it was him. I asked him, ‘Buddy are you OK? What’s going on?’ When he didn’t respond, he looked away, that’s when I knew it was him, he was the shooter,” Marshall said.
Prosecutors then played surveillance video from inside Oxford High School during the shooting that could not be broadcast. The video appeared to be so upsetting that both Jennifer Crumbley and Smith started crying, drawing heated objections from the prosecution, which said the defense was defying the judge’s order to not show too much emotion in court.
Smith, who claimed she did not cry while the video was playing, demanded a break.
Ethan Crumbley, who was 15 years old at the time of the shooting, was sentenced to life without parole in December after he pleaded guilty to 24 charges, including first-degree premeditated murder and terrorism causing death.
Crumbley’s parents are accused of allowing Ethan Crumbley access to the gun used in the shooting and failing to recognize warning signs.
During his plea hearing in October 2022, Crumbley admitted in court that he asked his father to buy him a specific gun and confirmed he gave his father money for the gun and that the semi-automatic handgun wasn’t kept in a locked safe.
ABC News’ Whitney Lloyd contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump is on trial this week in New York City to determine whether he will have to pay former Elle magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll additional damages for defaming her in 2019 when he denied her allegations of sexual abuse.
Last year, in a separate trial, a jury determined that Trump was liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the dressing room of a Manhattan department store in the 1990s, and that he defamed her in a 2022 social media post by calling her allegations “a Hoax and a lie” and saying “This woman is not my type!”
Trump has denied all wrongdoing and has said he doesn’t know who Carroll is.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Jan 25, 7:53 AM
Trump indicates he’ll attend trial today, could take stand
In a post to his Truth Social platform overnight, former President Trump indicated that he will attend his defamation damages trial today.
“But now I’m heading back to New York City for a trial based on False Accusations, from perhaps decades ago — The woman has no idea when!” Trump wrote.
Carroll has accused Trump of assaulting her around 1996 but can’t pinpoint the year.
In a series of other posts, Trump also disparaged Carroll, said she made up her story, and suggested she was a paid political operative.
If Trump takes the stand today, he would be banned from using any of those defenses based on a pretrial ruling by Judge Lewis Kaplan which determined that — because a jury last year already found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll and then defaming her — Trump is barred from arguing that he did not sexually abuse Carroll or that he never met her.
(NEW YORK) — Communities in the southern and eastern United States are grappling with dangerous floods from heavy rainfall, while dense fog envelops a swath of the country.
Major flash flooding on Wednesday affected areas from Louisiana to Mississippi, where localized rainfall totals ranged from 5 to 9 inches. Over the past few days, heavy rain also hit parts of eastern Texas, just north of Houston, where more than 8 inches fell.
On Thursday, the worst of the flooding is expected to be from Louisiana to western North Carolina and northern Georgia, where some areas could get in excess of 5 inches of rain with flash floods in the forecast. The major cities that could be impacted include New Orleans, Louisiana; Jackson, Mississippi; Mobile, Alabama; Birmingham, Alabama; Montgomery, Alabama; Atlanta, Georgia; Knoxville, Tennessee; and Asheville, North Carolina.
The heavy rain is forecast to move north where there is still snow in the Midwest to the Northeast. A flood watch has been issued for the rain that will fall on top of the snowmelt and ice jams.
As of early Thursday, 15 states from Texas to Rhode Island are under flood alerts.
The East is expected to get waves of rain through the weekend.
Meanwhile, millions of Americans are waking up to extreme fog in at least 25 states from New Mexico to New York on Thursday morning. There are already reports of visibility being near zero in cities such as New Orleans, Louisiana; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Chicago, Illinois.
There are also reports of low visibility in major cities on the East Coast, including New York, New York; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Some areas will see this dense fog through most of the day.
Temperatures are forecast to stay mild for the East Coast this week, with the warmest air along the Interstate 95 travel corridor.
On Thursday, temperatures are expected to be near 60 degrees Fahrenheit in Washington, D.C.; in the 50s in New York, New York; and near 50 in Boston, Massachusetts. The mild air is forecast to linger over the next few days, with near 50 degrees for New York, New York; 60s for Washington, D.C.; 70s for Atlanta, Georgia; and summer-like 80s for Orlando, Florida.
(NEW YORK) — The Federal Aviation Administration released final instructions to airlines to begin conducting inspections of their 737 Max 9 planes Wednesday — a move that will eventually allow them to fly again.
The agency had grounded nearly 200 of the planes after an Alaska Airlines flight lost one of its door plugs mid-flight earlier this month.
Alaska Airlines released a statement Wednesday evening confirming its plans to return some of its 737 MAX aircraft back to the skies on Friday following thorough inspection.
“The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Wednesday, Jan. 24, approved a thorough inspection and maintenance process for the 737-9 MAX aircraft. Alaska Airlines is ready to perform these detailed inspections of our planes,” the statement read.
“Each of our aircraft will only return to service once the rigorous inspections are completed and each aircraft is deemed airworthy according to the FAA requirements. We have 65 737-9 MAX in our fleet. The inspections are expected to take up to 12 hours for each plane,” the airline said.
The statement continued, confirming Jan. 26 would be the date that select aircraft would return to operation: “Following these inspections by our skilled Alaska Maintenance technicians, we expect to bring our first few planes back into scheduled commercial service on Friday, Jan. 26.”
On Jan. 5, the door plug fell out of the Alaska Airlines plane after it took off for Ontario, California, from Portland, Oregon. Six crew members and 171 passengers were on board Flight 1282, the airline previously said.
“We grounded the Boeing 737-9 MAX within hours of the incident over Portland and made clear this aircraft would not go back into service until it was safe,” FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said in a statement Wednesday. “The exhaustive, enhanced review our team completed after several weeks of information gathering gives me and the FAA confidence to proceed to the inspection and maintenance phase.”
With this development, airlines could have Max planes back in the air as early as this weekend, however, Whitaker cautions that this does not mean Boeing can return to “business as usual.”
“However, let me be clear: This won’t be back to business as usual for Boeing. We will not agree to any request from Boeing for an expansion in production or approve additional production lines for the 737 MAX until we are satisfied that the quality control issues uncovered during this process are resolved,” Whitaker said.
Boeing said in a statement Wednesday that they would continue to fully cooperate with the FAA and “will continue to cooperate fully and transparently with the FAA and follow their direction as we take action to strengthen safety and quality at Boeing. We will also work closely with our airline customers as they complete the required inspection procedures to safely return their 737-9 airplanes to service.”
In a note to employees, United COO Toby Enqvist signaled the company intends to have the Max back in the air on Sunday.
According to Wednesday’s press release, the FAA approved its detailed set of inspection and maintenance instructions after a thorough review of data from 40 inspections of grounded planes. The FAA also convened a Corrective Action Review Board. The CARB, made up of safety experts, scrutinized and approved the inspection and maintenance process.
The enhanced maintenance process includes an inspection of specific bolts, guide tracks and fittings, detailed visual inspections of left and right mid-cabin exit door plugs and dozens of associated components, retorquing fasteners and correcting any damage or abnormal conditions.
The news comes on the heels of another airline incident. On Tuesday, the FAA announced it would investigate after a tire under the front nose of a Delta Boeing 757 fell off one of the wheels and rolled down a nearby embankment.
The incident occurred on Saturday around 11:15 a.m. local time at Georgia’s Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport while Delta Flight 982 was taxiing before takeoff to Bogota, Colombia.
No injuries were reported in the incident, the FAA said.
In a statement Tuesday, Delta offered an apology “to our customers for the inconvenience.”
(JOLIET, Ill.) — Police in Joliet, Illinois, arrested Kyleigh Cleveland-Singleton, 21, who they identified as the girlfriend of shooting suspect Romeo Nance, for obstructing justice.
Police said she made statements to detectives on Jan. 22 to “prevent the apprehension of the suspect and obstruct this investigation.”
Nance, 23, was identified by police earlier this week as the suspect in shootings at several locations in Joliet. Eight people were killed and nine shot over two days in what authorities have called a “reign of terror.”
Nance died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound outside of a gas station in Natalia, Texas, after a police standoff, officials said.
Cleveland-Singleton, of Joliet, was located and questioned by police in the evening on Jan. 22, according to a news release.
“Following questioning of Cleveland-Singleton, Detectives believed that she made statements in order to prevent the apprehension of the suspect and obstruct this investigation,” the statement said.
The Will County State’s Attorney Office approved one count of obstructing justice, police said.
She was arrested, processed and transported to the Will County Adult Detention Facility, law enforcement said.
(PHILADELPHIA) — Philadelphia police are on a manhunt for a teenage murder suspect who escaped from a hospital Wednesday and is “considered dangerous,” the department announced.
Authorities identified the escaped prisoner as 17-year-old Shane Pryor, who was being held on murder charges, Deputy Commissioner of Investigations Frank Vanore said in a news conference Wednesday.
Pryor escaped from the emergency room parking lot of Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia around noon Wednesday after he was brought in for an apparent hand injury.
“He was able to escape from staff and run from this area on foot,” Vanore said.
Vanore described Pryor as a Black male with a light complexion and is 5’7″ weighing 180 pounds. He was last seen in the University Avenue and Civic Center Boulevard area wearing blue sweatpants, a blue sweatshirt and slides with socks on his feet.
Vanore said investigators reviewing surveillance footage spotted Pryor entering and exiting buildings in the area following his escape.
United States Marshals Service Philadelphia posted on X Wednesday night that it’s believed Pryor may be operating a stolen Ford F-150 and asking for the public’s assistance in keeping an eye out for the vehicle.
No lockdowns have been put in place for Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and authorities believe he is no longer near the hospital, Venore said.
Philadelphia authorities encourage anyone with information regarding Pryor to call 911 and to not approach the suspect.
(NEW YORK) — The Florida Board of Governors voted Wednesday to prohibit state funding to be used toward Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, including “political or social activism” activities on campus in a 15-2 vote.
The regulation prohibits state universities from using state or federal funds to promote, support or maintain any programs or campus activities that “advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion as defined in this regulation; or promote or engage in political or social activism as defined in this regulation.”
The decision by the Florida Board of Governors, the 17-member governing body for the State University System of Florida, will affect all public universities in the state.
The vote is the latest decision to target DEI programming by the state. Last week, the Florida Board of Education approved regulations that limit public funding of programs, activities, and policies towards DEI initiatives in public colleges.
The ruling comes almost a year after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis signed Senate Bill 266, prohibiting universities from expending any state or federal funds, regardless of source, to promote, support, or maintain any programs or campus activities.
The regulation provides guidance on what amounts to advocacy of DEI, state or federal funds; and will require institutions to designate an agent to ensure they are observing the prohibited expenditure provisions of the regulation.
DEI, as defined by the Boards’ regulation, is “any program, campus activity, or policy that classifies individuals on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin, gender identity, or sexual orientation and promotes differential or preferential treatment of individuals on the basis of such classification.”
The regulation also defines political or social activism as “any activity organized with a purpose of effecting or preventing change to a government policy, action, or function, or any activity intended to achieve a desired result related to social issues, where the university endorses or promotes a position in communications, advertisements, programs, or campus activities.”
DEI are initiatives rooted in the 1960s anti-discrimination legislative movement that introduced laws to address labor issues based on protected classes. Some of these laws include the Equal Pay Act of 1963, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 1967. DEI initiative efforts aim to further create equitable workplaces and schools for underrepresented communities as defined by DEI professionals.
DeSantis has spearheaded numerous efforts affecting DEI and education around race in Florida. In 2021, DeSantis announced the Stop the Wrongs to Our Kids and Employees (W.O.K.E.) Act, a bill that would have restricted race-related curriculum in colleges and universities. The bill was blocked by a federal judge in November 2022.
However, months later, DeSantis requested data from state universities and colleges on courses and programs that include “diversity, equity and inclusion” and “critical race theory.
The fate of DeSantis’ legislation will be decided on a bench trial set for October.
