Photography by Keith Getter (all rights reserved)/Getty Images
(ST. LOUIS) — A record amount of rain has poured down on the St. Louis area overnight as the area has recorded 7.02 inches of rainfall since midnight, which surpassed the old record of 6.85 inches set almost 107 years ago on Aug. 20, 1915.
The historic rainfall event is causing widespread flash flooding across the region Tuesday morning with some areas getting more than half a foot of rain in just a few hours.
Heavy rain will continue for St. Louis and its surrounding areas through Tuesday morning as thunderstorms sit over Missouri. However, a short break in the weather is expected Tuesday afternoon and into the evening but more heavy rain with flooding is expected to continue Wednesday morning.
The St. Louis Fire department says there’s been a report of a partial roof collapse and possible natural gas leak at the scene of a storage facility at St. Louis Zoo. Further details were not immediately available.
The fire department also says there are several vehicles trapped in high water with Rescue Squads responding in small boats.
(UVALDE, Texas) — Mandy Gutierrez, principal of Robb Elementary School in Texas, was suspended with pay Monday, her attorney, Ricardo Cedillo, confirmed to ABC News.
A special legislative investigation into the May 24 massacre at the school found that Gutierrez was aware of security problems prior to a shooter accessing the school — killing 19 students and two teachers — but she had not had the problems fixed.
District officials declined to discuss the suspension or what it means.
Gutierrez joins school district police chief Pete Arredondo, still on unpaid administrative leave. The Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District has recommended Arredondo be fired.
The chief has been singled out for a series of catastrophic failures in leading the police response to the massacre that ignored the possibility that children and teachers could be saved had the teenage gunman been confronted and neutralized, as standard police protocol dictates.
News about Gutierrez’s suspension began circulating just before a regularly scheduled school board meeting Monday night. During the session, the board announced that the 2022-23 school year would start on Sept. 6 as the district puts in place a series of security improvements and arrangements for emotional and social support services.
Before officials announced their plans, the board was again greeted by family members of victims of the shooting, as well as other community residents disturbed with the way the district’s leaders have acted since May 24.
“These parents are still hurting. And they want answers,” Daniel Myers, a pastor, told the board.
Brett Cross, father of Uziyah Garcia, who was killed in the massacre, pointed to board members, saying only one of those present had reached out to his family. He demanded someone on the board take responsibility for failures that allowed the shooting to occur in the first place and how the district has handled the aftermath.
“You care more about your damn selves than you do for our children,” Cross told the board. “Why have y’all still not taken accountability for y’all’s mess-ups? Can any one of y’all look me dead in the eyes and say, ‘Look, we messed up?'”
Finally, board member Luis Fernandez confessed that “everybody messed up.”
“So, let’s recap: Two months later… nothing has changed,” Belinda Arreola told the board. “We are once again banging our heads against a brick wall, demanding answers and accountability… Getting nowhere because it’s always something.”
“I feel that no amount of security will ease our hearts and our minds,” Tracy Byrd said, pointing to the significant loss of life, despite heavy law enforcement response. The board did not respond.
Among the security improvements announced were that Wi-Fi and communications problems identified by investigators would be the subject of an audit starting Tuesday. Officials are also now conducting a search for an interim district police chief, and the district police force will be reorganized. Other improvements announced were that new video camera systems have arrived and are being installed this week, and vestibules and school access points are being reviewed by consultants and limited.
The district’s Raptor security system is being reworked so emergency alerts are clearer for users. The district has also asked for 30 to 40 state troopers to be on hand to assist on the first day of school.
Among social and emotional support announced were that there will be five more licensed counselors, one per campus, as well as telemedicine to include psychiatric and counseling services via the UT Health System. It was also announced that the district will use the Rhithm app, a morning assessment to ask students how they’re doing and feeling, and that parent support will be available via the Bereavement Center, to include individual support available to anyone in the community in need.
(NEW YORK) — The Mega Millions jackpot has reached an estimated $810 million ahead of Tuesday night’s drawing, making it the third largest jackpot in the game’s history.
Tuesday night’s historic jackpot is possible after no one had the winning numbers following Friday night’s drawing.
The Mega Millions winning numbers in Friday’s drawing were: 14-40-60-64-66. The Mega Ball was 16 and Megaplier was 3.
Only four Mega Millions jackpots have been won this year; in California, Minnesota, New York and Tennessee.
Tuesday’s Mega Millions drawing will be held at 11 p.m. ET and has a cash value of $470.1 million, the company said in a press release.
The largest Mega Millions jackpot was $1.537 billion on Oct. 23, 2018, when one winning ticket was sold in South Carolina. In January 2021, one winning ticket was sold in Michigan, with an estimated prize of $1.05 billion.
Lottery winners have two options, take the money as a lump sum payment or annuity payments over 29 years.
Most winners usually take the lump sum payments, but record inflation has complicated matters, experts said.
“If we believe that inflation will be here for a while, then you may want to consider taking the annuity versus taking the lump sum,” tax and estate planning attorney Kurt Panouses told ABC News’ Deirdre Bolton.
(INDIANAPOLIS, Ind.) — The Indiana Senate heard public testimony on a proposed abortion bill Monday, with passionate pleas from both anti-abortion rights and abortion-rights advocates.
Monday’s testimony comes prior to the legislature’s vote on Senate Bill I, which is slated for Tuesday at 1 p.m.
The proposed bill would ban all abortions in the state from the moment of conception, with exceptions for rape, incest, threats to the health of the mother, or due to fatal fetal abnormalities.
The bill would not hold women accountable, criminally, but rather those who perform abortions outside of these exceptions.
While testimony began, abortion-rights protestors could be heard from outside the Statehouse in Indianapolis, where the hearing took place.
Vice President Kamala Harris also came to Indianapolis in preparation for the legislature’s Tuesday vote, meeting with lawmakers to discuss the bill.
Dozens of Indiana residents shared testimony before state senators, calling for changes to the bill, some arguing for more restrictions, and others pleading for less.
On both sides, much of the hourslong testimony pointed to vagueness within the proposed law.
Several doctors testified that they or their colleagues will become fearful of performing abortions and potentially put their patients at risk.
“We want emergency physicians to be able to provide life-saving interventions and treatments consistent with the standard of care without fear of prosecution,” Daniel Elliott, an emergency physician, said during the hearing.
Amy Caldwell, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Indiana, testified to the same sentiment, adding that it’s important for physicians to have safe, private conversations with their patients about their health.
Ariel Ream, an Indiana woman who sought pregnancy through IVF, said she’s fearful of losing that protected relationship with her doctors.
“Who gets to decide when my life is truly at risk?” Ream said during the hearing. “When am I hemorrhaging enough to be able to get care, what doctor is not going to be scared, as we’ve heard today, to not lose their license to give you the care they need?”
Others, including Elizabeth Manring, think the vagueness needs to be addressed in order to create more restrictions.
She asked senators to vote against this bill and instead “close the loopholes large enough to drive a truck through and actually work to stop abortion in Indiana.”
Advocates for abortion and anti-abortion rights both raised questions about the implication of religion within the law.
Several anti-abortion rights advocates referenced the Bible, in favor of a complete ban on abortion with no exceptions for rape or incest.
“If the language of the bill isn’t changed, innocent children will die. God’s wrath will continue to be stored up against us and the Republican Party will lose many of its God-fearing constituents,” Seth Leeman said.
Brian Shrank, who said he ministers outside of abortion clinics, referenced a 10-year-old girl who came to Indiana to receive an abortion after becoming pregnant from rape, saying, “God gave that girl life.”
Rabbi Aaron Spiegel argued against the bill for fewer restrictions, saying that the ban from conception is against the beliefs of Judaism and therefore not coherent with the Constitution’s pledge to freedom of religion.
Grey Lesesne, a reverend at an Episcopal Christian church in Indianapolis, said that this bill would harm many of his congregants.
“I’m asking you to give Hoosier women and pregnant people the dignity and respect to make these difficult decisions with their doctors, their families and their communities of faith,” Lesesne said.
Several women came forward to share their experiences with abortion.
One, Danielle Spry, said that she “cannot even fathom the trauma” that having to go through with her pregnancy would have caused her.
Spry said that she was told her daughter would not have been able to survive after birth, due to fatal fetal abnormalities that would not allow her lungs or heart to work properly.
Spry added that she believes women should be able to carry any pregnancy to term, but that she was grateful that she had a choice.
Public testimony will continue for the bill at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, leading up to a 1 p.m. vote on the bill by state senators.
(NEW YORK) — Accused New York City subway shooter Frank James will tentatively stand trial early next year for allegedly opening fire on a Manhattan-bound N train in Brooklyn in April.
A federal judge in Brooklyn on Monday set a trial date for Feb. 27, 2023, after prosecutors disclosed a vast amount of evidence in the case.
“Videotaped post-arrest statements made by the defendant on or about April 13, 2022,” along with “videos of the defendant collected from YouTube,” will all be part of the case, prosecutors said in a court filing.
The government has collected numerous photos, records and reports and turned them over to James’ defense team.
On April 12, James allegedly shot and wounded 10 commuters before he was caught in the East Village following a manhunt through parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. No one was killed.
James has pleaded not guilty to federal terrorism charges. He was also charged with discharging a firearm during a crime of violence.
Police said he drove to Brooklyn in a rented U-Haul not too far from the 36 Street station from which he slipped away after the shooting on a train across the platform.
Law enforcement officials set off on a 24-hour manhunt for the suspect right after the shooting. Several callers to the New York Police Department tipline said a man matching the description of the shooter was wandering around the Lower East Side and East Village.
James himself was one of those people police believe called into the tipline. The caller claimed police were looking for him and he’d be waiting at a McDonald’s on Sixth Street and First Avenue. Police responded to the area, and James was arrested without incident shortly afterward.
(WASHINGTON) — At a House subcommittee hearing last week on the economic impact of mass shootings on local communities, Mayor of Buffalo, New York, Byron Brown, testified about the aftermath of the shooting at a supermarket in May that killed 10 people and left three injured.
Since the shooting, the city has spent more than $500,000 on “police, fire, sanitation [and] other municipal services,” Brown told ABC News, in addition to the financial impact on businesses, families of the victims and survivors, and other unexpected costs. Last month, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced a $50 million investment earmarked for East Buffalo, where the shooting occurred.
Brown spoke with ABC News about the emotional and financial impact of the shooting in Buffalo, which he says has not received any federal support yet, the reopening of Tops supermarket and how the community has responded in the wake of what law enforcement authorities called racially-motivated violence.
GMA3: Welcome back to GMA3, everybody. Buffalo, New York, Texas, an elementary school there, a Fourth of July parade in Illinois. You know what I’m talking about here. We’re talking about the series of mass shootings we’ve seen. They continue, it seems, in this country, and it profoundly affects the communities in which they occur. And last week, a congressional subcommittee hearing addressed not only the devastating loss of life from these events, but the long-term economic impact these communities often suffer. Want to bring in now somebody who testified at the hearing, Buffalo, New York, Mayor Byron Brown. Mr. Mayor, thank you so much for being here. And I know that some numbers we can get into, statistics and whatnot, but I just want to start with you speaking from the heart for a second. Just how is your community doing?
BROWN: You know, it has been very painful for our community. People are in trauma. We are healing, wrapping our arms around each other and doing everything that we can to get through this most painful time in our community.
GMA3: Mr. Mayor, can you tell me, I saw that you spent almost half a million dollars that you didn’t expect to spend in the immediate weeks after the shooting. That just has to do with vital services that were needed, overtime for many of your folks in the community, your police officers, your fire department. Are you getting what you need? I know the federal government often promises and wants to be there to help, but are you getting those types of resources and financial resources that you need in your community right now?
BROWN: We’re having those conversations. We haven’t gotten any financial resources from the federal government at this point. I’ve sent the message that I believe strongly that communities that experienced mass shootings there should be federal financial support; in this case an act of domestic terrorism fueled by racism and white supremacy. The impact has been very devastating to this community financially. May 14, when the shooting occurred and in the two weeks thereafter, the city spent over half a million dollars – police, fire, sanitation, other municipal services. And that price tag has continued to grow ever since.
And so the economic impact is a significant one, not only on the municipality un-budgeted costs, but on the families, on the survivors, on the surrounding community, and on businesses in the community around the Tops supermarket.
GMA3: Mr. Mayor, have you gotten a commitment that that money is coming?
BROWN: The federal government has been very responsive. President Biden has been here in Buffalo. Vice President Harris has been here. The Attorney General, Merrick Garland, has been to Buffalo. We’ve had several meetings in Washington.
And it is my hope that the federal government will step up, will see the pressing need in this community and financially will support the needs of residents, families of victims, survivors of the shooting and the city itself.
GMA3: We talked about [the fact] that the Tops grocery store, the supermarket, was such a vital part of the community. It was one of a few grocery stores that serve so many people in that area. And the subcommittee did hear testimony about property values going down and business activity going down in cities in areas where there have been mass shootings. How has that community begun to recover in that aspect? Is it back to being a place that is bustling? I know the supermarket has reopened.
BROWN: The supermarket reopened July 15. Every day since the supermarket has reopened, the parking lot has been full. A strong message that hate will not win, that the love in the community will conquer hate. People are showing that they want the supermarket to be open, that they need the supermarket and that they’re willing to come back to the supermarket.
Obviously, some people [feel] uncomfortable to come back to that location because of the horrible tragedy. Ten people killed, three wounded. We’ve partnered with a company called Instacart to expand at-home delivery from the supermarket and to expand grocery pick-up at the supermarket. So we are doing everything that we can to not let those alarming statistics of the horrible impacts of mass shootings take hold in the Buffalo community.
As I said, people are rallying around each other. There have been food distributions, concerts, marches, rallies, everything that we can think of to keep the community together and send a message to the nation and to the world that evil will not win, that hate will not win, and that white supremacy will not win.
GMA3: Mr. Mayor, you said two things there that jumped out at me. Keep the community together, and they’ve been rallying around each other. But how can you take this moment and again, when you talk about unity in moments like this, I know you’re tired of hearing it, but Buffalo has historically been for a long time one of the most racially segregated cities in this country. And there are brown and Black communities there that have long suffered. How can you take this moment now and do something? And how can you do something to bridge that divide and division in your community? Because a lot will argue that your community was targeted in the first place because of that segregation. The shooter actually looked up a place where there was a high percentage of African-Americans. It ended up in your community.
BROWN: The shooter attacked Black Buffalo. But many people that we’ve heard from all across the country feel like this was an attack on Black America because the goal of this racist white supremacist shooter was to kill as many Black people as possible. And so this could have occurred anywhere in the country, anywhere in the state where there was a high concentration of Black people.
So we have to focus on defeating white supremacy, making it impossible for white supremacy to proliferate. But our goal now is to build back East Buffalo, the Black community of Buffalo, the city of Buffalo, better and stronger than ever before, to hopefully get resources from the federal government, from our state government.
Gov. Kathy Hochul has already committed over $50 million to East Buffalo. And so we will use those resources and work with the community to invest heavily to make this community better, stronger and more united than it has been previously.
(NEW YORK) — A California wildfire cutting a path of destruction through a tinderbox of vegetation and tough terrain near Yosemite National Park grew overnight to nearly 17,000 acres, state fire officials said Monday.
The Oak Fire burning in Mariposa County, which has prompted the evacuation of more than 6,000 people, went from zero containment on Sunday to 10% containment on Monday as more than 2,000 firefighters battling the blaze made progress overnight, according to Cal Fire.
“Fire activity was not as extreme as it has been in previous days. Firefighters made good headway,” Cal Fire said in an updated incident report released Monday morning.
Despite being challenged by rugged terrain and temperatures ranging from the high 90s to 100 degrees, firefighters managed to save the small community of Mariposa Pines, on the north edge of the fire, according to Cal Fire.
The blaze made a “hard push” Sunday evening in the direction of Mariposa Pines, which has a population of nearly 300 people, according to Cal Fire. Three firefighting strike teams managed to prevent flames from jumping a road and spreading into the Sierra Nevada mountains community, Cal Fire officials said.
Firefighters were also making progress on the east and south sides of the fire, officials said. The northeast side of the blaze, according to Cal Fire, was moving into an area where there are burn scars left by the 2018 Ferguson Fire, which charred nearly 97,000 acres.
Severe drought conditions has left large pockets of dried out vegetation, helping to fuel the quick-moving blaze, fire officials said. The Oak Fire is now the largest fire to erupt in the state this year.
The fire started around 2 p.m. Friday near the Mariposa County town of Midpines, Cal Fire said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency for Mariposa County over the weekend and his office announced the state has secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help provide resources as it responds to the blaze.
The fire has destroyed or damaged at least 15 structures, according to Cal Fire. A preliminary damage estimate by Cal Fire found that at least seven homes in Mariposa County have been destroyed.
No deaths or serious injuries have been reported.
Among the residents who were evacuated were newlyweds Steve and Andrea Ward. The couple returned to their home on Sunday to find it nearly burned to the ground, but took solace in parts of the structure still standing, including a wooden arch in front of their home where they exchanged wedding vows.
“Just to see that space, I honestly thought it was going to be burnt to the ground. I’m surprised it’s still standing,” Andrea Ward told ABC station KFSN-TV in Fresno, California.
The couple said they not only plan to rebuild their home, but vowed to pitch in and rebuild their community. Steve Ward said the devastation has made their bonds with the community and their love for each other stronger.
“If I gotta prioritize keeping her safe versus keeping the house safe, I’m gonna take her,” Steve Ward said of his wife.
Smoke from the Oak Fire is expected to drift into parts of the San Francisco Bay Area nearly 200 miles away and affect air quality, according to the Bay Area Air Quality Management District.
Smoke from the fire could be seen from International Space Station, officials said. The National Weather Service released a time-lapse smoke forecast map showing smoke blanketing high elevations over the entire Bay Area by Tuesday.
This is the third wildfire to burn in Mariposa County over the past two weeks.
The Washburn Fire, which started on July 7 near the southern entrance of Yosemite National Park, is 87% contained after burning over 4,800 acres. The containment of the fire, which at one point was inching dangerously close to the park’s large sequoia grove, Mariposa Grove, allowed the southern entrance of the park to reopen July 16.
The cause of the Washburn Fire remains under investigation.
The smaller Agua Fire, which started on July 18, is now fully contained after burning some 420 acres. The fire was caused by a car, officials said.
(NEW YORK) — Former GOP Rep. Steve Buyer was arrested Monday on insider trading charges.
According to the complaint, Buyer, who has done consulting work since leaving Congress in 2011, “misappropriated material non-public information that he learned as a consultant and used [it] … to place timely, profitable securities trades in brokerage accounts in his own name and the names of others.”
In March 2018, Buyer attended a golf outing with an executive of T-Mobile, one of his consulting clients, from whom he learned about the company’s then-nonpublic plan to acquire Sprint, the complaint said. Buyer began purchasing Sprint securities the next day, and, after news of the merger leaked in April 2018, Buyer saw an immediate profit of more than $107,000, according to the complaint.
In total, Buyer’s fraudulent trading activity based on nonpublic information in 2018 and 2019 resulted in profits of at least $349,846.61, the complaint said.
Buyer was arrested in Indiana where he was expected to make an initial appearance in federal court later Monday.
Buyer, who was first elected to the House from Indiana in 1992, announced in 2010 he would not seek another term amid ethical questions involving fundraising.
Monday’s arrest was the result of a joint investigation by several federal agencies including the Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission.
It wasn’t immediately clear who was representing Buyer following his arrest.
(NEW YORK) — As the heat hovering over much of the country continues, residents on the East Coast will soon have another extreme weather event to contend with: severe storms.
More than 52 million people living along the Interstate 95 corridor will be under threat of severe thunderstorms on Monday afternoon.
As the storm system moves east, it will effectively end a nearly weeklong heat wave from Boston to Washington, D.C.
Records for heat were broken over the weekend in Newark, New Jersey, which hit 102 degrees for the fifth day in a row, breaking the all-time record for consecutive days over 100. Boston surpassed its record at 100 degrees, Philadelphia broke its record at 99 degrees and Providence, Rhode Island, did the same at 98 degrees. New York City’s LaGuardia Airport tied its heat record at 98 degrees.
Heat alerts remained in the Northeast on Monday, with hot and humid conditions from Maryland to Massachusetts.
Monday afternoon, a cold front is expected to pass through the region with severe thunderstorms, damaging winds, hail and the possibility of isolated tornados.
There will be a break in the heat following the storm system with temperatures in the Northeast staying in the 80s over the next several days.
However, scorching conditions will continue Monday afternoon in the Pacific Northwest, down the coast to central and Southern California and stretching to the Midwest, Plains and Southeast.
Triple-digit temperatures are expected in cities like Portland and Medford, Oregon; Fresno, California; San Antonio, Houston and Dallas; Tulsa, Oklahoma; Little Rock, Arkansas; and Shreveport, Louisiana. In Tennessee, Nashville is expected to hit 102 degrees, while Memphis is expected to reach 108 degrees.
A strong push of monsoon moisture into the Southwest will bring elevated threats for flash flooding Monday and through the week. Flood watches have been issued for Arizona, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado.
