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(NEW YORK) — The Isabella County Sheriff’s Office is aiming to resolve non-emergency calls by phone after blowing through its fuel budget due to soaring gas prices.

MedStar Mobile Healthcare, an emergency medical services system in Fort Worth, Texas, has seen its gas expenses increase dramatically. During the month of May last year, MedStar spent $96,547.94 on fuel; this past May, it spent $223,582.55, according to Matt Zavadsky, chief transformation officer for MedStar.

The response volume only marginally increased while the fuel costs rose, he said.

“It’s a significant impact, on top of the other financial impacts adversely affecting EMS agencies,” Zavadsky told ABC News. “For rural EMS agencies that travel great distances, and have more challenging finances, the impact could be even greater.”

A travel boom that’s increasing the demand for gas also comes amid a shortage of crude oil supply due to sanctions over the Russian invasion of Ukraine, driving up prices at the pump in recent months, experts told ABC News.

The average price of a gallon of gas nationwide reached $5 on Thursday, according to GasBuddy. As of Thursday, AAA had the average price of a gallon of gas just under $5 — at $4.97, up from about $4.33 a month ago and $3.07 a year ago.

The increase has caused agencies like sheriff’s offices and fire departments to closely monitor their fuel budget and issue new policy directives to limit gas mileage — without impacting emergency response.

“Most sheriffs that I know will budget what their need is and maybe 10% more, but not 100% more,” Matthew Saxton, CEO and executive director of the Michigan Sheriffs’ Association, told ABC News.

This week, the Isabella County Sheriff’s Office in central Michigan announced that it has “exhausted” its fuel funds, with several months to go before a budget reset. As a result, it said it will be managing what non-emergency calls it can over the phone.

“Deputies will continue to provide patrols to all areas of the county, they will respond to those calls that need to be managed in person. Any call that is in progress with active suspects will involve a response by the deputies,” Sheriff Michael Main said in a Facebook post. “I want to assure the community that safety is our primary goal, and we will continue to respond to those types of calls.”

County officials told Flint, Michigan, ABC affiliate WJRT they plan to address the budget concerns in the coming weeks.

“I know that once we meet, we’re going to resolve this,” Isabella County Commissioner Jerry Jaloszynski told the station.

As director of the Franklin County Emergency Management Agency, Ryan Buckingham said he issued a policy directive regarding non-emergency activities a couple of months ago when gas prices in the southern Illinois county were approaching $4 per gallon.

“I have a small budget to work with. I have to look out for that pretty quick,” Buckingham told ABC News. “When it hits $5 a gallon, it gets even worse.”

Buckingham said the agency has used up 76% of its fuel budget so far this fiscal year, which started Dec. 1, 2021.

“We’re about 25% over the mark right now as far as where we should be budget-wise,” he said, noting that the agency typically doesn’t go over its allotted budget unless it’s had to respond to something like a major disaster.

To help curtail fuel costs, Buckingham said the agency is looking to limit travel for meetings and training. For instance, instead of driving an hour away for specialty dive training, personnel may train in a local pool.

Emergency response will not be affected “no matter what,” he said.

In rural Colorado, near Durango, Upper Pine River Fire Protection District Fire Chief Bruce Evans started noticing a “significant” increase in gas prices in January. In the last three months, fuel expenses have increased 36%, said Evans, cutting into the fuel budget.

“We’ve used 65% of that budget,” said Evans. “We should have only used 45%.”

The department has started exploring ways to reduce the number of vehicles that it has on the road outside an emergency response, including “no drive Friday,” where personnel work from home if they can, Evans said. They may need to look to reallocate more funds to their fuel budget.

“We know we’re going to have to put more money in, but we’re also trying to be conservative,” he said.

For EMS systems, the higher prices come as agencies have also increased wages to retain workers during the pandemic, Zavadsky said. Agencies will likely need to dip into their reserves or reallocate funds to cover the rising costs, he said.

Volunteer EMS personnel who use their personal vehicles to go to calls “may be less able to respond due to the high fuel prices,” he said.

“Those double-whammy cost increases, without any real mechanism to generate more revenue, is crippling most EMS agencies,” Zavadsky said.

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(GADSDEN CITY, Al.) — A police officer shot and killed a man who allegedly tried to enter an elementary school in northeast Alabama Thursday morning, authorities said.

Gadsden City Schools Superintendent Tony Reddick told reporters that a “potential intruder” tried to open several doors at Walnut Park Elementary School, which had students and staff inside for summer school.

A school resource officer with the Rainbow City Police Department came outside to “engage the guy in conversation” before the interaction began to escalate, Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon Horton told ABC News.

The SRO called for backup from the Gadsden Police Department. Responding officers found the SRO in a “physical altercation” with the suspect on the school’s lawn, the sheriff said. After multiple attempts to subdue the suspect, a Gadsden officer fatally shot the suspect, according to Horton.

Horton said he did not know whether the suspect was armed. The Alabama Law Enforcement Agency, which is investigating the shooting, said in a press release that the subject allegedly tried to take the SRO’s gun.

ALEA did not say that the suspect tried to enter the school, but that he allegedly tried to “make forcible entry” into a Rainbow City patrol car. ABC News has asked the agency for clarity.

“The incident occurred near Walnut Park Elementary School in Gadsden; however, no children were involved or harmed over the course of the incident,” ALEA said in a statement.

ALEA identified the suspect as Robert Tyler White, 32, of Bunnlevel, North Carolina.

According to Horton, the doors to the school were locked after “everything nationally” — citing last month’s mass shooting at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, where a gunman entered the building through an unlocked door.

The Etowah County Sheriff’s Office sent an alert shortly after 10 a.m. urging people to avoid the area around the school due to an “ongoing police incident.”

The suspect never entered the school and police relocated students to another location, authorities said.

ALEA said it will turn over the results of its investigation to the Etowah County District Attorney’s Office.

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(HOUSTON) — The family of a couple murdered more than four decades ago finally has some answers about what happened to their baby daughter, who was not found among the remains of her parents.

Authorities were previously unable to determine the identities of two people found dead in a wooded area in Houston in 1981, according to a statement from the office of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. They were likely murdered between December 1980 and January 1981, Brent Webster, Texas first assistant attorney general, said during a press conference Thursday afternoon.

That changed last year, when investigators used genetic genealogy to positively identify the bodies as Florida couple Tina Gail Linn Clouse and Harold Dean Clouse Jr., according to Paxton.

The couple’s family members had not heard from them since October 1980, according to the statement, while Baby Holly was left at a church in Arizona, Webster said.

Two women who identified themselves as members of a nomadic religious group brought Holly to that church, Webster said. They were wearing white robes and were barefoot and said their religious beliefs included separating male and female members and practicing vegetarian habits and not using or wearing leather goods.

The women also indicated they had given up a baby before at a laundromat, Webster said. Investigators believe the group traveled around the Southwest U.S., including in Arizona, California and Texas, and had been seen in the region asking for food, Webster said.

Around the time of their murders, the families of Baby Holly received a call from someone identifying herself as Sister Susan, who said she wanted to return their car to them in exchange for money, Webster said. The woman said that the couple had joined their religious group and no longer wanted contact with their families and were giving up all of their possessions.

The family agreed and contacted local authorities, Webster said. When they met at a racetrack in Daytona, several people — two to three women and possibly a man — showed up, Webster said. Police officers purportedly took the women into custody, but there is no record of a police report on file that has been found yet, something Webster described as “common” for the time.

The family that raised Baby Holly are not suspects in the murder of her biological parents, Webster said.

Once the bodies were identified, the family began searching for Baby Holly, who was recently reunited with the family after many years, Paxton said. On Tuesday, Baby Holly met some members of her parents’ family virtually, Webster said.

Holly is 42 years old and “alive and well,” living in Houston, Paxton said. She has already been reunited with some of her biological family, who provided statements describing the reunion.

Baby Holly’s grandmother, Donna Casasanta, said in a statement that finding her granddaughter was “a birthday present from heaven,” since she was found on her father’s birthday.

“I prayed for more than 40 years for answers and the Lord has revealed some of it,” Casasanta said.

Cheryl Clouse, Holly’s aunt, said it was “so exciting” to meet her for the first time.

“It is such a blessing to be reassured that she is alright and has had a good life,” Cheryl Clouse said. “The whole family slept well last night.”

Sherry Linn Green, another one of Holly’s aunts, said she dreamed about her sister, Tina, after reuniting with her niece.

“In my dream, Tina was laying on the floor rolling around and laughing and playing with Holly like I saw them do many times before when they lived with me prior to moving to Texas,” Sherry Linn Green said. “I believe Tina’s finally resting in peace knowing Holly is reuniting with her family.”

Les Linn, Holly’s uncle, said he met Holly about eight months after learning she was alive.

“To go from hoping to find her to suddenly meeting her less than 8 months later — how miraculous is that?” Linn said. “All of the detectives involved…They all expressed such fortitude to get to the bottom of this case.”

Authorities did not reveal the new identity of Baby Holly but stated that she has been notified of the identities of her biological parents and has been in contact with her extended biological families.

“They hope to meet in person soon,” the statement read.

Paxton commended his office’s newly formed cold case and missing persons unit on the work done to bring answers to the Linn and Clouse families.

“My office diligently worked across state lines to uncover the mystery surrounding Holly’s disappearance,” Paxton said. “We were successful in our efforts to locate her and reunite her with her biological family.”

The Texas Office of the Attorney General collaborated with the Lewisville Police Department, the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office in Florida, the Arizona Attorney General’s Office, the Harris County Sheriff’s Office and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to close the case.

“We are thrilled that Holly will now have the chance to connect with her biological family who has been searching for her for so long,” said John Bischoff, vice president of the missing children division at the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children. “We hope that this is source of encouragement for other families who have missing loved ones and reminds us all to never give up.”

The investigation into the murders of Tina Gail Linn Clouse and Harold Dean Clouse Jr. is ongoing, Paxton said.

Officials are expected to hold a news conference Thursday afternoon to provide details on the case.

ABC News’ Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.

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(UVALDE, Texas) — According to a preliminary assessment of the Robb Elementary School shooting, state investigators believe the decision to delay police entry into the classroom was made in order to allow time for protective gear to arrive on scene, an official briefed on a closed-door presentation by the head of the Texas Department of Public Safety tells ABC News.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(SMITHSBURG, Md.) — Three people are dead and one critically injured after a shooting at a factory in Smithsburg, Maryland, Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

The alleged gunman was wounded in an ensuing shootout with state police, authorities said.

The Washington County Sheriff’s Office said it responded to reports of an active shooter at Columbia Machine at around 2:30 p.m. and found the victims.

The alleged shooter had fled the scene and was apprehended by Maryland State Police in nearby Hagerstown based on a description of the suspect, the sheriff’s office said.

The suspect and a state trooper exchanged gunfire, and both were injured and transported for medical treatment, the sheriff’s office said.

“There is no confirmed active threat to the community in relation to this incident,” the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.

The FBI and Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are assisting in the investigation.

Washington County Sheriff spokesperson Sgt. Carly Hose said the alleged shooter is a man, though no additional information on the suspect or a possible motive was released.

Hose could not confirm the employment status of the suspect or victims.

Columbia Machine manufactures concrete products equipment. Smithsburg is about 70 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.

 

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(SMITHSBURG, Md.) — Multiple victims have been reported in a shooting in Smithsburg, Maryland, Thursday afternoon, authorities said.

“The suspect is no longer a threat to the community,” the Washington County Sheriff’s Office said.

Smithsburg is about 70 miles northwest of Washington, D.C.

Additional information was not immediately available.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Sterling Jewelers, the multibillion-dollar parent company of shopping mall stalwarts Kay Jewelers, Jared and Zales, agreed to resolve a legal dispute involving, among other things, allegations of promotions traded for sexual favors.

Tens of thousands of current and former employees sued in a class arbitration that included sexual harassment accusations against senior executives and wage violations. The class grew to 68,000 plaintiffs who claimed women were discriminated both in compensation and in promotions.

The company was also accused of having a policy “prohibiting employees from discussing their pay with each other,” which “made it difficult for women to identify instances where they were paid less than male employees performing the same job.”

Sworn statements also described a corporate culture in which annual managers’ retreats allegedly became no-spouses allowed “booze fests” where male executives “prowled around the [resort] like dogs that were let out of their cage,” and that “there was no one to protect female managers from them,” arbitration documents show.

The alleged incidents took place between late 1990s to the 2000s, according to the sworn statements.

Ohio-based Sterling Jewelers and the law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC announced the agreement, which calls on the company, a subsidiary of UK-based Signet Jewelers, to pay $175 million. Of that, $125 million would be split among the class members and the rest would go to the lawyers.

The agreement is subject to the arbitrator’s approval.

“For the past four years, we’ve been successfully transforming Signet’s business model and culture. I want to thank our dedicated team members for helping to create our welcoming and inclusive environment where everyone is invited to be their authentic self. We believe prioritizing diversity, equity and inclusion grows high-functioning teams and fosters a culture of appreciation and development,” Gina Drosos, CEO of Signet Jewelers, said in a statement. “This settlement is an important step in bringing closure to a nearly 15-year-old case.”

Signet has discontinued the pay and promotions practices at issue in the lawsuit and offered mentorship and leadership training for women.

“This settlement provides for significant monetary relief for our clients and ensures that the practices that gave rise to this case will not recur. And we applaud Sterling Jewelers for undertaking important and meaningful changes to its workplace policies, which have moved it forward as a leader in gender equality,” said Joseph Sellers, of Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC.

ABC News’ Kelly McCarthy contributed to this report.

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(GRAND RAPIDS, Mich.) —  The prosecutor in Kent County, Michigan, has decided to charge Grand Rapids police officer Christopher Schurr with second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of Patrick Lyoya during a traffic stop in April.

Lyoya, an immigrant from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, was shot in the head on April 4 after Schurr pulled him over for an unregistered license plate. His death prompted protests throughout Grand Rapids.

Schurr turned himself in and is expected to be arraigned Friday, according to Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker, who made the charging decision.

Body camera video showed Schurr shouting at Lyoya to “get back in the car” at the beginning of the footage, which was released nine days after the shooting.

Schurr can be heard asking Lyoya if he spoke English and then demanding that Lyoya show his driver’s license. Lyoya turned to a passenger in the car and started to walk away from Schurr.

The officer grabbed Lyoya and struggled with him before Schurr eventually forced him to the ground and shouted, “Stop resisting,” “let go” and “drop the Taser.” Police said Lyoya had grabbed at the officer’s stun gun during the altercation.

The body camera was deactivated during the struggle, according to police.

Lyoya was then shot from behind, according to an independent autopsy report backed by Lyoya’s family.

“He’s on his hands and knees facing away from the officer. There are so many other things the officer could have done instead of pulling his gun out and shooting him in the back of the head,” Crump told ABC News in April.

ABC News’ Adisa Hargett-Robinson contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The Department of Justice said Thursday it was opening an investigation into Louisiana State Police to determine whether its officers engaged in regular use of excessive force or racially discriminatory policing.

Accusations of excessive use of force by LSP officers, especially against Black people, go as far back as 2019. Ronald Greene died in May 2019 after failing to stop for an unspecified traffic violation and subsequently leading LSP on a chase in northern Louisiana, near Monroe.

The family has disputed the police report and released photos of Greene from after the incident showing what appear to be multiple bruises and lacerations around his face and head. In body camera audio obtained by ABC News in 2020, a trooper can be heard saying, “I beat the ever-living f— out of him,” and, “Choked him and everything else trying to get him under control.”

The DOJ’s civil investigation will review the LSP’s policies, training and supervision. The DOJ will also look into LSP’s systems of accountability, including misconduct complaint intake, investigation, review, disposition and discipline.

“Based on an extensive review of publicly available information and information provided to us, we find significant justification to investigate whether Louisiana State Police engages in excessive force and engages in racially discriminatory policing against Black residents and other people of color,” Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke said in a statement.

Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, LSP Col. Lamar Davis and Deputy General Counsel Gail Holland have all been informed of the investigation and pledged to cooperate, the Justice Department said.

“Protecting the civil rights of all Americans and building trust between law enforcement and the communities they serve are among the Justice Department’s most important responsibilities,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland.

The governor’s office and LSP did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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(AUSTIN, Texas) — Texas state lawmakers convened in Austin on Thursday for a special session to launch an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the Uvalde elementary school massacre.

“It is our goal to conduct a thorough, objective and nonpartisan examination … so that we, as a chamber, may move forward in determining the best possible solutions to prevent something like this from ever occurring again,” Texas state Rep. Dustin Burrows, chairman of the committee investigating the shooting, said in an opening statement.

Law enforcement officials are expected to testify in the coming weeks, Burrows said.

“The committee may produce a preliminary report in order to accommodate the need to have some information out to the public before a full and thorough investigation has taken place and we will do our best to keep everyone apprised of that timeline, as we know it,” he said. “I want to assure those watching that answers and solutions will come — and we will work as quickly as possible to get to that point.”

Texas state Rep. Joe Moody added, “We can’t let mass shootings, especially in our schools, be normalized. I was in high school when Columbine happened. And it was shocking because it was unheard of at the time.”

“Failing to tackle these issues because they’re difficult or politically uncomfortable is cowardly and morally wrong,” Moody said. “We have a duty to do what we can because our children’s lives are on the line. That’s why this committee is so important. When the issues are this complex and the stakes are this high, we need facts first. … We have to cut through the noise and the partisanship and deliver the truth. Only then can we make the informed policy decisions that are urgently needed.”

Nineteen students and two teachers were gunned down in the May 24 mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde. As gunshots rang out, parents gathered outside of the school, urging officers to enter the building.

After 77 minutes of gunfire, a tactical unit breached the classroom door and killed the gunman.

Law enforcement has come under immense scrutiny for failing to act faster.

Law enforcement and state officials have repeatedly corrected themselves and at times provided conflicting details about their response. At one point, a Texas Department of Public Safety official said the on-scene commanding officer, school district Police Chief Pete Arredondo, made the “wrong decision” to wait to breach the barricaded classrooms.

At a separate news conference Thursday, Hal Harrell, superintendent of the Uvalde Consolidated Independent School District, wouldn’t address any personnel questions and would not confirm if Arredondo, who has since been sworn in on the city council, is still employed by the district.

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