National

(NEW YORK) — For the second time this month, at least six historically black universities and colleges have received bomb threats.

Howard University, Bowie State University, Bethune-Cookman University, Southern University, Delaware State University and Albany State University have all reported potential threats Monday.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation is aware of the series of bomb threats and is working with law enforcement to address potential threats.

“As always, we would like to remind members of the public that if they observe anything suspicious to report it to law enforcement immediately,” the FBI said in a statement to ABC News.

The acting deputy director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms & Explosives, Thomas Chittum, also said that agents from the bureau are responding to the reports.

“We can confirm that ATF has responded,” Chittum told reporters on a call Monday. “Of course, it is a federal crime to use interstate facilities to make a bomb threat, and so ATF will provide our investigative expertise and support to that investigation, but obviously, the facts are preliminary and unfolding.”

Albany State University in Georgia received notice of a bomb threat to the academic buildings of its campus. As local law enforcement officials investigate, all ASU campuses remained closed and employees and students were told not to report to campus.

Bowie State University in Maryland is also investigating a bomb threat with bomb technicians from the Maryland State Fire Marshal. The campus remains closed as K9s conduct sweeps of university buildings.

“OSFM Bomb Technicians and explosive detection K9s are assisting @BowieState PD with a telephonic bomb threat,” a tweet from the agency read. “Maryland State Police are on the scene. The investigation is active. Prince George’s County Police Department is also on the scene.”

Southern University and A&M College also received a bomb threat Monday and went into lockdown. The university told students classes were canceled and that they should remain in their dorm rooms until an all-clear was issued.

Delaware State University told ABC News that University Police are investigating and that employees and commuter students have been instructed not to report to the campus until further notice. Residential students have also been asked to remain in their dorm rooms.

Howard University and Bethune-Cookman University also report potential bomb threats to their campuses, according to ABC-affiliate ABC7 News.

Judson Bible College, which is not an HBCU, was also targeted.

On Jan. 4, at least seven historically Black colleges and universities received bomb threats, according to school officials.

However, no bombs were found on the campuses of Florida Memorial University, North Carolina Central University, Prairie View A&M University, The University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, Florida Memorial University, Norfolk State University and Xavier University of Louisiana.

The threats forced campuses to lockdown or evacuate and local law enforcement was alerted.

Editor’s note: ABC News incorrectly listed the HBCUs targeted with bomb threats Monday. Judson Bible College was included but it is not an HBCU, however it was also targeted.

ABC News’ Luke Barr contributed to this report.

 

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(NEW YORK) — Two Bridgeport, Connecticut, detectives involved in the case of Lauren Smith-Fields, who was found dead in her apartment after a date last month, have been placed on administrative leave and are being investigated by the police department’s internal affairs office, according to the mayor.

Disciplinary actions may also be taken against Bridgeport Police detectives Kevin Cronin and Angel Llanos, due to a “lack of sensitivity to the public and failure to follow police policy” in the handling of the two cases, according to a statement from Joseph P. Ganim, the city’s mayor.

“It is an unacceptable failure if policies were not followed,” Ganim said. “To the families, friends and all who care about the human decency that should be shown in these situations in this case by members of the Bridgeport Police Department, I am very sorry.”

The detectives are also being investigated for their handling of the case of Brenda Lee Rawls, who was found dead and alone in her home on Dec. 12.

Smith-Fields was found dead in her apartment that same day, shortly after meeting a man on a dating app.

The families of Smith-Fields, 23, and Rawls, 53, claim the police failed to notify them of the deaths and say they learned of the deaths from others. Both women are Black.

The supervisory officer who was in charge of overseeing these investigations retired from the department on Friday, the mayor said, adding that the cases are both under active investigation and have been reassigned.

Both cases are both under active investigation and have been reassigned.

The news comes just days after the Connecticut chief medical examiner’s office announced that Smith-Fields’ cause of death was “acute intoxication due to the combined effects of fentanyl, promethazine, hydroxyzine and alcohol” and the medical examiner ruled the manner of death an “accident.”

The cause and manner of death in Rawls’ case are still undetermined, the Connecticut Office of the Chief Medical Examiner reports.

The Bridgeport Police Department said it was unable to respond to ABC News’ request for comment and union Council 4 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees did not respond. It is unclear if Cronin and Llanos have legal representation.

Smith-Fields’ family announced earlier this month it plans to file a lawsuit against the city of Bridgeport, Connecticut, as well as the Bridgeport Police Department, alleging that police haven’t properly investigated her death and have violated their civil rights.

“The way they handled her investigation was literally disgraceful, disgusting, horrible. It was not even human,” Lakeem Jetter, Smith-Fields’ brother, said in an interview with Good Morning America.

 

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(NEW YORK) — A plea deal that would have allowed a white man convicted in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery to serve a large part of his sentence in federal prison was rejected by a U.S. District Court judge on Monday.

Judge Lisa Godbey Wood’s decision to turn down Travis McMichael’s plea agreement with federal prosecutors came after Arbery’s parents and two aunts gave emotional statements asking the judge to reject the deal and proceed with a federal trial next week.

A second hearing on a plea deal the government’s attorneys negotiated with McMichael’s father, 66-year-old Gregory McMichael, was also scheduled to occur on Monday. However, since Godbey Wood said her decision would be the same in the elder McMichael’s case, Gregory McMichael’s lawyer said there was no need for a hearing.

Both men and their neighbor, 52-year-old William “Roddie” Bryan, were convicted on state murder charges in Arbery’s 2020 death. They were sentenced to life in prison. Travis and Gregory McMichael were sentenced without the possibility of parole.

A federal prosecutor told the judge during Monday’s hearing that the agreement called for the men to immediately be turned over to the Federal Bureau of Prisons to serve 30 years in a federal penitentiary before being returned to the Georgia Department of Corrections to serve the remainder of their sentence.

Godbey Wood gave both men the option to go forward with their guilty pleas and risk her giving them a harsher sentence than what they agreed to, or to withdraw their pleas and go to trial starting on Monday.

The judge gave them until Friday to decide.

Federal prosecutors filed notices of plea agreements for Travis McMichael, 35, and Gregory McMichael, on Sunday in U.S. District Court in Brunswick, Georgia, and requested Monday’s hearing for Godbey Wood to review the deal.

No plea agreement was announced for Bryan.

Prior to Monday’s hearing, Arbery’s relatives slammed the plea deal, alleging it was done behind their back.

“This proposed plea is a huge accommodation to the men who hunted down and murdered Ahmaud Arbery,” the family’s attorney, Lee Merritt, said in a statement. “The family is devastated at this development, their wishes are being completely ignored and they do not consent to these accommodations.”

Arbery was out for a jog on Feb. 23, 2020, in the Satilla shores neighborhood near Brunswick, Georgia, when the McMichaels assumed he was a burglar, armed themselves and chased him in their pickup truck. Bryan joined the five-minute pursuit, blocking Arbery’s path with his truck and recorded Travis McMichael fatally shooting Arbery with a shotgun during a struggle on his cellphone.

Arbery’s parents, Wanda Cooper-Jones and Marcus Arbery, asked the federal court to be allowed to assert her right under federal law to oppose the plea deal directly before the court.

“The DOJ has gone behind my back to offer the men who murdered my son a deal to make their time in prison easier for them to serve,” Cooper-Jones said in a statement. “I have made it clear at every possible moment that I do not agree to offer these men a plea deal of any kind. I have been completely betrayed by the DOJ lawyers.”

During a news conference in Georgia on Monday, Merritt said Cooper-Jones and Arbery’s father will be allowed to speak at the hearing scheduled for 2 p.m. on Monday. Merritt said the parents plan to ask a federal judge to reject the plea deal.

When Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer convicted on state charges of murdering George Floyd, reached a plea agreement on federal charges that he violated Floyd’s civil rights, he asked to be sent to federal prison even though he is expected to serve more time than the 22 years he was sentenced to in state court.

In response to Chauvin’s plea deal, legal experts told ABC News that federal penitentiaries run by the Bureau of Prisons tend to better than state prisons. The experts said federal prisons have fewer overcrowding issues, more comfortable bunks and even better food and educational resources than often cash-strapped state prisons. High-profile inmates, especially former law enforcement officers like Chauvin and Gregory McMichael, tend to also get greater protection in federal prison, the experts said.

The federal Bureau of Prisons estimated that the annual cost of housing an inmate in a federal facility in 2020 was a little over $39,000.

The annual cost of housing an inmate in a Georgia state prison is roughly $20,000, according to a 2015 study by the Vera Institute of Justice, a nonprofit research and policy organization.

“Federal prison is going to be a lighter sentence for these men,” Merritt said.

Merritt also cited an ongoing investigation by the Department of Justice into conditions at Georgia state prisons that was launched in September.

The DOJ said in a statement that the investigation is primarily focused on whether Georgia provides inmates reasonable protection from physical harm at the hands of other prisoners and staff.

Cooper-Jones said at Monday’s news conference that she finds the plea deal “disrespectful.”

“I fought so hard to get these guys in state prison,” Cooper-Jones said.

She said she learned of the deal on Sunday and has had discussions with DOJ attorneys since.

“I told them very, very adamantly I wanted them to go to state prison and do their time,” Cooper-Jones said.

In a separate news conference, Marcus Arbery said that finding out about the deal made him “mad as hell.”

He said his son’s death was a racially-motivated murder and “we want 100% justice, not half justice.”

He added, “I don’t want no chance of trying to make their lives easy.”

 

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(NEW YORK) — The Midwest is bracing for a storm that could bring major snowfall and leave dangerous ice on roadways.

The storm is set to strike Tuesday through Thursday. A winter storm watch has been issued from Colorado to Michigan, including Kansas City, St. Louis, Chicago, Indianapolis and Detroit.

More than 1 foot of snow is possible between Chicago and Indianapolis and also near Detroit.

This storm is expected to drop freezing rain and sleet — leaving dangerous, icy roads — in a huge part of the country, especially in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.

By Thursday morning the wind chill — what temperature it feels like — is forecast to drop to 14 degrees in St. Louis, 0 degrees in Chicago, minus 25 degrees in Minneapolis, minus 17 degrees in Amarillo, Texas, and minus 16 in Denver.

Meanwhile, by the end of the week the Northeast will be thawing out, with temperatures rising to the mid 40’s in New York City and Boston.

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(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 884,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 63.8% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jan 31, 10:10 am
Prime Minister Trudeau tests positive

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he tested positive for COVID-19 Monday morning.

“I’m feeling fine — and I’ll continue to work remotely this week while following public health guidelines,” Trudeau tweeted. “Everyone, please get vaccinated and get boosted.”

Jan 31, 10:04 am
‘Partygate’ report finds ‘failures of leadership and judgement’ by UK leaders

The initial findings of a long-awaited investigative report into lockdown-breaching parties allegedly attended by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his staff were published Monday, saying, “there were failures of leadership and judgement.”

The probe led by senior civil servant Sue Gray looked into claims that Johnson and his staff flouted COVID-19 restrictions they imposed on England in 2020 and 2021 by holding parties at 10 Downing Street, his official residence and office in London. Johnson has been facing growing anger and calls for his resignation over the allegations, which are also being investigated by London’s Metropolitan Police Service.

“At least some of the gatherings in question represent a serious failure to observe not just the high standards expected of those working at the heart of Government but also of the standards expected of the entire British population at the time,” Gray wrote in the 12-page report, which included two blank pages. “At times it seems there was too little thought given to what was happening across the country in considering the appropriateness of some of these gatherings, the risks they presented to public health and how they might appear to the public.

“There were failures of leadership and judgment by different parts of No. 10 and the Cabinet Office at different times,” she added. “Some of the events should not have been allowed to take place. Other events should not have been allowed to develop as they did.”

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office told ABC News in a statement earlier Monday that Gray “has provided an update on her investigation to the Prime Minister.”

Johnson is expected to address members of Parliament during Monday afternoon’s session.

Jan 31, 7:38 am
‘Partygate’ report delivered to Boris Johnson, UK government says

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received a highly anticipated report from an investigation into allegations that he and his staff attended parties during England’s strict lockdown, the U.K. government said Monday.

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office told ABC News in a statement that senior civil servant Sue Gray “has provided an update on her investigation to the Prime Minister.”

Johnson is expected to address members of Parliament during Monday afternoon’s session.

The prime minister is facing calls for his resignation over claims he and his staff flouted COVID-19 restrictions they imposed on England in 2020 and 2021 by holding parties at 10 Downing Street, his official residence and office in London.

London’s Metropolitan Police Service is also investigating the so-called “partygate” allegations.

Jan 31, 4:37 am
New York City offering free home delivery of antiviral pills

New York City’s health department is now offering free, same-day, at-home delivery of COVID-19 oral antiviral medications, Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday.

“Delivering the antiviral pills to you at home if you’re an eligible New Yorker and it’s for free,” Adams said during a press conference at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. “We want you to take advantage of this. This is a great deal and a great program we put together, and it’s proven to keep people out of the hospital, particularly those who are at-risk or seriously ill. It’s a win-win for us.”

The city’s pharmacy partner, Alto Pharmacy, will deliver antiviral pill treatments Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer, and Molnupiravir, made by Merck, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. Both medications were approved in December for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19.

“New York is one of the only places in the nation where we are doing this free deliver,” Adams told reporters.

With a limited supply of pills, the city restricted delivery to only residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have mild or moderate symptoms.

“Oral antiviral pills, like Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, taken for five days help stop the virus from reproducing, which reduces the amount of virus in the body and prevents symptoms from getting worse,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi said during Sunday’s press conference.

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(NEW YORK) — Former Miss USA Cheslie Kryst died Sunday, her family confirmed. She was 30 years old.

In a statement, Kryst’s family wrote, “In devastation and great sorrow, we share the passing of our beloved Cheslie. Her great light was one that inspired others around the world with her beauty and strength.”

“She cared, she loved, she laughed and she shined,” Kryst’s family added. “Cheslie embodied love and served others, whether through her work as an attorney fighting for social justice, as Miss USA and as a host on Extra. But most importantly, as a daughter, sister, friend, mentor and colleague — we know her impact will live on.”

Kryst died by apparent suicide in New York City, where she lived.

Just hours before the incident, she shared a photo of herself on Instagram and wrote in the caption, “May this day bring you rest and peace.”

Kryst was crowned Miss USA as Miss North Carolina in May 2019. She earned her law degree and an MBA at Wake Forest University. Following her graduation, Kryst became licensed to practice law in both North Carolina and South Carolina and worked as a civil litigation attorney. She also worked pro bono for clients who were low-level drug offenders.

Kryst also became a correspondent for Extra and was nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards.

In response to the news of her death, Extra paid tribute to the former Miss USA winner and said, “our hearts are broken.”

“Cheslie was not just a vital part of our show, she was a beloved part of our ‘Extra’ family and touched the entire staff,” Extra wrote on their Instagram page. “Our deepest condolences to all her family and friends.”

Kryst spoke out about mental health during her reign as Miss USA, saying she spoke with a counselor and took steps to protect her mental health.

“I do a lot to maintain my mental health, and the most important thing that I did is talk to a counselor,” she wrote in a post on the Miss USA Facebook page in 2019. “When I’m not talking to a counselor, I take time at the end of every single day to just decompress. I unplug. I shut my phone off. I don’t answer messages. I just sit and watch my favorite movies.”

Dr. Jennifer Ashton, ABC News chief medical correspondent, said Monday on Good Morning America that when someone dies by suicide, people may wonder if they missed warning signs. But there should be no blame.

“If you’ve lost someone to suicide, this is not your fault,” said Ashton, who wrote the book Life After Suicide after her ex-husband died by suicide five years ago. “It can be difficult to pick up on these because what’s on the surface may not reflect what’s on the inside.”

If someone is worried about a friend or loved ones’ mental health, specific signs that people can look for include a person giving away their possessions and pets, saying they are a burden, showing behavioral changes like being more withdrawn or expressing feelings that they’ve lost hope, according to Ashton.

“The first and most important thing is you have to actually ask them, ‘Are you having thoughts of suicide or self-harm?'” said Ashton. “This will not put an idea in their head. If they answer yes, take that seriously. Do not leave them alone. Assure them there is always hope and help.”

Ashton continued, “Acknowledge that you can see they’re in pain. If necessary, bring them to an emergency room and get professional help.”

If you are in crisis or know someone in crisis, call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK (8255) or contact the Crisis Text Line by texting HOME to 741741. You can reach Trans Lifeline at 877-565-8860 (U.S.) or 877-330-6366 (Canada) and The Trevor Project at 866-488-7386.

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(BOSTON) — Boston is digging out from the record-tying snowfall left behind by this weekend’s massive nor’easter.

Boston tied its record for most snow in one day in January with a whopping 23.6 inches.

The Boston suburb of Sharon, Massachusetts, saw even more snow, with 30.4 inches recorded in Saturday’s storm.

More than 100,000 customers lost power at the height of the storm, mostly in Massachusetts. About 3,000 customers remained without power in Massachusetts Sunday night.

Boston Mayor Michelle Wu lifted the city’s snow emergency Monday morning and said schools will be open.

Bu it’s not just New England feeling the freeze this weekend.

Temperatures plunged as low as the 20s in Florida on Sunday, reaching 25 in Palmdale and 28 in East Naples.

Temperatures fell to record lows of 30 degrees in Vero Beach, 32 in Fort Pierce and 35 in Fort Myers.

Temperatures in the Sunshine State will start to warm up on Monday.

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(NEW YORK) — As the COVID-19 pandemic has swept the globe, more than 5.6 million people have died from the disease worldwide, including over 884,000 Americans, according to real-time data compiled by Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Systems Science and Engineering.

About 63.8% of the population in the United States is fully vaccinated against COVID-19, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:

Jan 31, 7:38 am
‘Partygate’ report delivered to Boris Johnson, UK government says

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has received a highly anticipated report from an investigation into allegations that he and his staff attended parties during England’s strict lockdown, the U.K. government said Monday.

A spokesperson for the Cabinet Office told ABC News in a statement that senior civil servant Sue Gray “has provided an update on her investigation to the Prime Minister.”

Johnson is expected to address members of Parliament during Monday afternoon’s session.

The prime minister is facing calls for his resignation over claims he and his staff flouted COVID-19 restrictions they imposed on England in 2020 and 2021 by holding parties at 10 Downing Street, his official residence and office in London.

London’s Metropolitan Police Service is also investigating the so-called “partygate” allegations.

Jan 31, 4:37 am
New York City offering free home delivery of antiviral pills

New York City’s health department is now offering free, same-day, at-home delivery of COVID-19 oral antiviral medications, Mayor Eric Adams announced Sunday.

“Delivering the antiviral pills to you at home if you’re an eligible New Yorker and it’s for free,” Adams said during a press conference at Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx. “We want you to take advantage of this. This is a great deal and a great program we put together, and it’s proven to keep people out of the hospital, particularly those who are at-risk or seriously ill. It’s a win-win for us.”

The city’s pharmacy partner, Alto Pharmacy, will deliver antiviral pill treatments Paxlovid, developed by Pfizer, and Molnupiravir, made by Merck, according to a press release from the mayor’s office. Both medications were approved in December for emergency use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat COVID-19.

“New York is one of the only places in the nation where we are doing this free deliver,” Adams told reporters.

With a limited supply of pills, the city restricted delivery to only residents who have tested positive for COVID-19 and have mild or moderate symptoms.

“Oral antiviral pills, like Paxlovid and Molnupiravir, taken for five days help stop the virus from reproducing, which reduces the amount of virus in the body and prevents symptoms from getting worse,” New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Dave A. Chokshi said during Sunday’s press conference.

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(HARRISBURG, Pa.) — A future where motorists share streets and highways with driverless cars may still be years away, but transportation experts are saying now’s the time for elected leaders to plan for that scenario.

Pennsylvania is the latest state to test drive the idea.

The state’s Senate Transportation Committee approved a non-partisan bill on Jan. 26 that would expand regulatory rules concerning the operation and testing of highly automated vehicles, aka HAVs, and allow them to operate without anyone inside.

Legislators could vote on the bill later this year — if approved, it would go into effect 90 days.

Transportation policy experts told ABC News that while there’s clearly a need to create legal guardrails before the vehicles become commonplace, a unified national framework would be most efficient.

Bryan Reimer, director of MIT’s Advanced Vehicle Technology Consortium, told ABC News that while state actions are good in the short term, it’s more important if they can spur a bigger movement.

“It is clear we need to create a responsible disclosure when things happen with automated vehicles,” he told ABC News. “There needs to be a discussion.”

The Pennsylvania Lawmakers who sponsored SB 965 have said that they created it to boost their state’s HAV industry, which includes a self-driving test lab at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh and eight private companies.

Under current Pennsylvania law, a human must be in the driver seat of an autonomous vehicle while it’s in operation. The new bill removes that requirement.

Some states, such as Texas, Florida and Georgia, already allow HAVs to be operated without a human inside as long as the vehicle is registered with the state.

Pennsylvania State Sen. Wayne Langerholc Jr., SB 965’s lead sponsor, told reporters at a Jan. 5 news conference that companies are heading to other states with more lenient rules on driverless vehicles.

“We dare to stay ahead of the curve,” Langerholc said.

Similar to laws in other states, Pennsylvania’s proposal would require vehicle owners to register within the state and remain at the scene of any accident involving another vehicle or a pedestrian.

Vehicle owners also must “submit proof of financial responsibility to the department self-certifying that the highly automated vehicle is covered by insurance or proof of self-insurance in an amount not to exceed $5 million,” according to the bill’s current language.

Pennsylvania Secretary of Transportation Yassmin Gramian, a supporter of the bill, said the autonomous vehicle industry already has generated 6,300 jobs for the state — and SB 965 becoming law would mean adding even more.

The bill has the support of several groups, including the Greater Pittsburgh Chamber of Commerce.

“There’s added economic benefit that will be created and produced for many years,” Gramian said during the Jan. 5 news conference. “We cannot wait and become reactive anymore. The industry is moving very fast.”

While the bill has broad support from legislators, one Pennsylvania-based transportation researcher told ABC News that leaders haven’t covered all of their bases.

Philip Koopman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University, warned lawmakers in an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the bill’s current language lacks specific guidance in several areas.

Specifically, Koopman told ABC News, the bill lacks details on the potential legal liabilities of HAV companies linked to incidents, particularly if said vehicle doesn’t have a single owner or operator.

The current bill “is filled with ambiguities,” Koopman added. “If an ordinary citizen gets hurt, or possibly killed, it’s unclear who to get compensation from.”

MIT’s Reimer also said the bill doesn’t address the training that local law enforcement will need to properly regulate HAVs and investigate incidents. The National Transportation Safety Board currently investigates all crashes involving self-driving vehicles.

“I would argue states generally don’t have the technical expertise to regulate a feature set that falls predominantly under federal regulations,” he added. “It’s not just about waiting for police response. They need to get the data from the companies and look at software.”

Koopman also noted that, according to its current language, the bill would supersede any local regulation on autonomous vehicles, such as those put in place by former Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto that stipulated companies must issue constant reports about self-driving field tests.

“One of the things is,” Koopman continued, “we have a system that is working fairly working well now.”

Koopman, who worked for the U.S. Department of Transportation and is a member of a committee that developed autonomous vehicle safety standards for the Society of Automotive Engineers International, said he’s reached out to state lawmakers to get more clarification on the bill’s safety measures.

Although Langerholc said the bill would incorporate the SAEI standards, Koopman noted that the bill’s current language does not.

“If they want to use public roads as a laboratory, they need to provide something in return and lay out the rules now,” Koopman said. “Otherwise we’re going to head to more court battles.”

As of Friday, Koopman said none of the bill’s sponsors has returned his request to speak. Langerholc’s office didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from ABC News.

The transportation experts said that as more states begin considering their own HAV-related regulations in the coming years, the best solution still would be federal guidelines to protect both people and commerce.

“It is a failure of national policy,” Reimer said, “that states are creating this patchwork system.”

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(LAS VEGAS) — Nine people died on Saturday in a “chaotic” traffic collision involving six vehicles in North Las Vegas, officials said.

“We have not seen a mass-casualty traffic collision like this before,” Alexander Cuevas, public information officer for the North Las Vegas Police, told reporters late Saturday.

Fifteen people had been involved in the incident, Cuevas said. Two were transported from the scene to University Medical Center, where one later died, he said. The other remained in critical condition, he said.

Officials said speed was a factor in the crash. It was unknown whether impaired driving had been a factor, they said.

The National Transportation Safety Board said on Sunday that it is sending a go-team to investigate the crash in coordination with the North Las Vegas Police Department.

A Dodge Challenger heading north “at a high rate of speed” on Commerce Street ran a red light prior to the crash at about 3 p.m., Cuevas said citing statements from witnesses.

“And, with that, it struck multiple vehicles and, unfortunately, it was a chaotic event,” Cuevas said.

Several vehicles were pushed off the road into a vacant lot near the intersection of Commerce Street and Cheyenne Avenue, officials said.

The driver of the Challenger was among the dead, officials said. The deceased ranged from young juveniles to middle-aged adults, Cuevas said. Their identities will be released by the coroner’s office, police said.

“Our thoughts and our prayers are with the families who are experiencing a tremendous and unnecessary loss due to a careless, senseless act,” Pamela A. Goynes-Brown, a member of the North Las Vegas City Council, said.

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