(FALL RIVER, Mass.) — A 10th victim has died as a result of injuries sustained in a devastating fire at an assisted-living facility in Fall River, Massachusetts, according to the district attorney’s office.
Brenda Cropper, 66, was hospitalized in critical condition following Sunday night’s five-alarm blaze at the Gabriel House, and succumbed to her injuries on Wednesday, Bristol County District Attorney Thomas M. Quinn III announced on Thursday.
The other residents killed have been identified as: 64-year-old Rui Albernaz, 61-year-old Ronald Codega, 69-year-old Margaret Duddy, 78-year-old Robert King, 71-year-old Kim Mackin, 78-year-old Richard Rochon, 86-year-old Eleanor Willett and 77-year-old Joseph Wilansky. The name of one victim, a 70-year-old woman, has not been released.
Dozens were hurt at the Gabriel House, which was home to about 70 people.
The fire “was destined to kill 50-plus people,” Fall River Fire Chief Jeffrey Bacon said at a news conference on Wednesday, praised the “heroic” first responders who he said saved dozens of lives.
Firefighters who rushed to the scene have described seeing faces in windows and “having to decide who they needed to rescue,” Bacon said, overcome with emotion.
One responder pushed through the heavy, black smoke inside the building to break into rooms and pull out nonambulatory residents, he said.
A captain at the scene found it “eerily quiet” when he responded to the front door, where flames were blowing out, the chief said.
“He knocked down the fire very quickly, to the point that countless lives were saved,” Bacon said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation. The district attorney’s office said it “does not appear to be suspicious.”
Bacon noted the fire started in a room on the second floor.
(UNION, Maine) — A 17-year-old has been arrested in the alleged murder of Sunshine Stewart, a paddleboarder who was found dead after being reported missing in Maine earlier this month.
Stewart’s cause of death was strangulation and blunt force trauma, Maine State Police revealed Thursday. The 48-year-old was found dead on July 3 at Crawford Pond in Union, a popular recreation spot near the campground where she was staying.
The suspect, who is male, was arrested without incident Wednesday night, police said. He is from Maine and came to the pond area to spend summer vacation time with his family, according to an official familiar with the investigation.
The suspect, who has not been named by police, was transported to the Long Creek Youth Development Center in South Portland, according to Maine State Police.
The Office of the Chef Medical Examiner in Augusta determined the manner of death was a homicide.
The condition of the body when it was found indicated the death was not a suicide or an accidental drowning, officials said.
The tragedy had left the residents of small, tight knit community scared.
Stewart rented a camp site at Mic Mac Family Campground for the summer season on May 1. She had only stayed on the grounds for two or three nights prior to her disappearance on the evening of July 2. The owner of the campground said she has provided hours of video to authorities in case it can prove useful.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Heat advisories are in effect from Texas to New Hampshire as dangerous temperatures grip the eastern half of the U.S.
In the Northeast on Thursday, the heat index — what temperature it feels like with humidity — is forecast to skyrocket to 105 degrees in Washington, D.C.; 103 degrees in Philadelphia; 97 in New York City; and 93 in Boston.
In the South, an extreme heat warning has been issued south of Memphis, Tennessee, and in eastern Arkansas and western Mississippi.
The heat index will soar to a life-threatening 103 degrees in Charlotte, North Carolina; 106 degrees in Nashville, Tennessee, and Shreveport, Louisiana; 107 in Memphis; and 108 in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Jackson, Mississippi.
The heat will dissipate after Thursday, but it’s expected to return next week, with nearly two-thirds of the eastern U.S. facing warmer than normal temperatures.
(WASHINGTON) — President Donald Trump said Wednesday beverage giant Coca-Cola has agreed to use cane sugar in its iconic drink in the U.S.
“I have been speaking to Coca-Cola about using REAL Cane Sugar in Coke in the United States, and they have agreed to do so,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform. “I’d like to thank all of those in authority at Coca-Cola. This will be a very good move by them — You’ll see. It’s just better!”
In a brief statement on its website, Coca-Cola said: “We appreciate President Trump’s enthusiasm for our iconic Coca‑Cola brand. More details on new innovative offerings within our Coca‑Cola product range will be shared soon.”
High-fructose corn syrup has been Coca-Cola’s primary sweetener in U.S. products since 1985. The company currently uses cane sugar in products sold in several other markets, including Mexico, the United Kingdom, Africa and the Middle East. The company also sells a limited amount of Coke in the U.S. made with sugar as a kosher option for Passover — distinguished by its yellow caps, instead of red.
A noted Diet Coke enthusiast, Trump’s relationship with the beverage giant has been well-documented.
Ahead of the inauguration for his second term, Trump received a special Presidential Commemorative Inaugural Diet Coke bottle from Coca-Cola Company Chairman and CEO James Quincey.
Why the change?
Trump didn’t specify a reason for the change. However, the announcement comes as Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s “Make America Healthy Again” initiative gains traction, which advocates for removing HFCS from American food products. The initiative cites research linking HFCS to various health issues that contributes to obesity and chronic illness.
However, studies are mixed on whether cane sugar is healthier than HFCS, with research suggesting that any added sugars, regardless of what type, increase the risk of Type 2 diabetes and other diseases. Dietitians recommend limiting added sugars of all varieties to less than 50 grams per day for most adults. One 12-ounce can of Coke has roughly 39 grams of sugar.
Coke’s switch from sugar to corn syrup
Coca-Cola’s 1985 transition to high-fructose corn syrup in the United States was primarily a business decision, the company said. The change coincided with rising sugar prices and agricultural policies that made corn syrup a more economical alternative.
(JACKSON TOWNSHIP, NJ) — One person died and 13 others were injured, including eight children, after being struck by lightning on Wednesday in New Jersey, officials said.
The strike hit the ground near a group at the Black Knight Bowbenders archery range, a well-known community site that regularly hosts events, Jackson Township Mayor Michael Reina told ABC News’ New York station, WABC.
The Jackson Township Police Department said it received a call shortly after 7 p.m. reporting multiple people struck by lightning, resulting in a male being administered CPR, while multiple other victims were being triaged.
A 61-year-old male, who was identified by the mayor as an instructor, died from his injuries. Officials are continuing to gather information before releasing his identity, according to the mayor.
The injuries ranged from “burns to non-specific complaints of not feeling well,” the police department said in a statement to WABC.
All were transported to nearby hospitals, including Jersey Shore University Medical Center. One person with more serious injuries was taken to the Livingston Burn Center.
This was the twelfth lightning fatality this year.
“This is such a tragedy,” Reina said to WABC. “My thoughts and prayers are with the victim’s family and all those injured tonight. It’s difficult to understand what happened.”
A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for the area Wednesday evening.
Much of northwest and central New Jersey was also under flood watches through Wednesday night, with storms expected to produce heavy downpours following a deadly deluge earlier this week.
A common misunderstanding is that a thunderstorm needs to be severe to be life-threatening, but that is not true. A casual summer thunderstorm that has a few rumbles of even distant thunder can be deadly.
Whether it’s raining or if it’s completely cloudy overhead or partially sunny as a storm builds, if thunder can be heard, there is a danger being outside and you should seek shelter immediately.
ABC News’ Darren Reynolds, Jason Volack and Daniel Manzo contributed to this report.
(WASHINGTON) — The Justice Department on Wednesday fired Maurene Comey from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, where she most recently led the prosecution of Sean “Diddy” Combs, multiple sources told ABC News.
A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan declined to comment. A spokesperson for the Justice Department did not immediately respond to a call for comment
Comey was a highly regarded assistant U.S. attorney who successfully prosecuted Ghislaine Maxwell, the former associate of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, and multiple gang members before the split verdict earlier this month in the trial of Combs, who was convicted of a prostitution-related charge but acquitted of more serious charges.
Comey was also involved in the office’s case against Epstein, who died by suicide in 2019 at New York City’s Metropolitan Correctional Center while he was awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Comey is the daughter of former FBI director James Comey, who President Donald Trump fired during his first term in office because he initiated the Russia investigation.
According to sources, Trump privately vented about having a Comey work in his administration.
This marks the latest shake-up for the nation’s most prominent federal prosecutor’s office.
In April, the office’s top prosecutor, Matthew Podolsky, agreed to step aside, clearing the way for Trump to install Jay Clayton, his nominee for interim U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York,
Podolsky had taken over for Danielle Sassoon, who in February resigned in protest of the Justice Department’s order to drop corruption charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams.
Sassoon had been named interim U.S. attorney by Trump when the president fired Edward Kim, who assumed the role during the change in administrations.
(PALM BEACH, FL) — Brad Edwards knows that what you are about to read may be difficult for some to accept.
A victims’ rights lawyer from Florida, Edwards has been in pursuit of the truth about financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein’s life and crimes for nearly two decades. He would be the first to say that Epstein caused incalculable damage and trauma to hundreds of women and girls.
In fact, long before Epstein became known worldwide for his crimes, Edwards presciently told a federal judge, “Because of [Epstein’s] deviant appetite for young girls, combined with his extraordinary wealth and power, he may just be the most dangerous sexual predator in U.S. history.”
That was 17 years ago.
Back then, hardly anyone listened.
In the years since, Edwards and his co-counsel — on behalf of Epstein’s victims — have sued Epstein, his estate, the federal government and several financial institutions, recovering hundreds of millions of dollars for more than 200 survivors of Epstein’s sex abuse and trafficking. He knows the victims’ stories as well as anyone and, in the course of all the litigation, he has reviewed an expansive amount of non-public documents and evidence related to the late Epstein, who died by suicide in prison in 2019 while awaiting trial for sex trafficking of minors.
Now, as the Trump administration finds itself in the midst of a firestorm over its decision not to release any additional investigative files on Epstein — after promising to produce a so-called “client list” of people connected to Epstein who may have participated in illegal acts — Edwards has decided it’s important to share what he’s learned about Epstein, much of which contradicts what many have come to believe about the case.
“Jeffrey Epstein was the pimp and the john. He was his own No. 1 client,” Edwards told ABC News. “Nearly all of the exploitation and abuse of all of the women was intended to benefit only Jeffrey Epstein and Jeffrey Epstein’s sexual desires.”
Edwards describes the enigmatic Epstein as living, essentially, two separate lives: one in which he was sexually abusing women and girls “on a daily basis,” and another in which he associated with politicians, royalty, and titans of business, academia, and science.
“For the most part, those two worlds did not overlap. And where they overlapped, in the instances they overlapped, it seems to be a very small percentage,” Edwards said. “There were occasions where a select few of these men engaged in sexual acts with a select few of the girls that Jeffrey Epstein was exploiting or abusing — primarily girls who were over the age of 18.”
“That conduct was coercive, it was exploitative, and it was bad. But it’s a small fraction of the men he was associated with,” Edwards said. “And he was abusing hundreds of women, if not a thousand. And it’s a very small fraction of those women that he was sending to men. That conduct was secondary to his abusive conduct. [Epstein] abused all of these women.”
Edwards said he is bound by attorney-client privilege and cannot ethically reveal the names of any of Epstein’s alleged associates without permission from his clients. But he said he has seen no indication that Epstein kept a list of those men, or that he made it a practice to use those instances to blackmail or extort the men, even though those men may have been legitimately concerned that Epstein had compromising information that he could use against them.
“It’s difficult to even discern, when he would send a woman to one of his friends, whether that was even a motivation. What he was not is a person on the top of a sex trafficking operation that was sending women to powerful people around the world so that he could make money. It was not a business,” Edwards said. “And I think the few examples that we have, the known examples, have led to this belief that he must have been doing that with all of the women that he was abusing. That must have just been his gig. But that wasn’t what he was doing on a daily basis. He’s a sexual abuser and predator himself.”
If Epstein kept a list of those men, Edwards said he’s not seen it.
“Did Jeffrey write the names of these people down? I’ve never seen that. I only know of certain of these individuals because of representing clients,” Edwards said. “I’ve never seen a list of people that Jeffrey Epstein kept that would say, ‘Here’s a list of men that I’ve sent women to,’ or a mix-and-match where it’s like, ‘I sent this woman to this man.'”
“That’s just not something that he was keeping,” Edwards said. “And it would be highly, highly unlikely that Jeffrey Epstein would keep a list of the people that he sent these women to. I’d imagine he would just remember it. It isn’t that many women, and it isn’t that many men.”
Over the last few months, as the controversy surrounding the on-again, off-again plan to disclose Epstein-related documents has dominated the news cycle, Edwards said he has heard from dozens of survivors concerned about the circus-like atmosphere that is forcing them to relive traumatic experiences and threatens to expose their identities, even if inadvertently. Any public release of information, Edwards said, should redact identifying information about Epstein’s victims.
“They would benefit from the story eventually dying off. But the story is not going to die off as long as there’s this lack of transparency that is allowing for conspiracy theories to continue to fester and get out of hand,” Edwards said. “So the best thing would be: Protect the victims’ names, release everything else, so that the world can see what is real, versus what is total fiction, and then everybody can move on.”
But the recent decision by the Trump administration to rule out further disclosures would seem to impact categories of material known to be in the possession of federal authorities, including Epstein’s financial records, details of his international travel, logs of boat trips to his U.S. Virgin Islands estate, and inventories of what was found in searches of his mansions in New York and elsewhere. And it raises questions whether those records, if made public, could finally lead to a better understanding of how a college dropout from Coney Island managed to accumulate astounding wealth and proximity to power — a transformation that has long defied ready explanation.
“It’s very strange to me that somebody who rarely leaves his house is somehow able to get meetings with people. And they will travel from literally all over the world to meet with him on his time, at his place, under his circumstances. Which only just leaves more questions than answers,” Edwards said. “And the fact that they’re not releasing anything is, I think, just kind of fanning the flames of the conspiracy theory that everybody that he was meeting with had something to do with illegal sex. And I know that’s not true.”
“We are all for transparency,” said Edwards. “I think the world needs to know who Epstein was, what he was doing, how he made his money, who he was meeting with, and how he might have operated in other areas of business and politics. And all of that could be done through the release of documents and knowledge that is currently within the Justice Department, with what they have. But now there’s this about-face where they were going to release everything and now all of a sudden they’re releasing nothing. I think there is a middle ground there that the public deserves.”
Edwards notes that the government’s files could also shed light on those who assisted or enabled Epstein to abuse so many women, and could finally answer speculation that Epstein was an intelligence asset of the U.S. or a foreign nation.
“[The government] should know whether or not he was an intelligence asset, whether he’s ever done work with the government, whether he’s ever had a deal with the government before,” Edwards said. “I would assume that that is also within the Epstein files. I don’t know that information. I would like to know.”
But for Edwards, the primary concern should be for the survivors of Epstein’s abuse — and he worries that the victims are an afterthought in the ongoing Washington power struggle.
“I think some [victims] believe that the government protected him, and there’s this outrage because they believe that [Epstein] was always more important than they were, and that’s why this was allowed to go on for so long. So if there was evidence that his political or other connections assisted, I think that they would want to know it,” Edwards said. “But more so, they just want this to die off. And they see it’s not dying off because of the way that it’s being handled right now. In fact, somehow there’s more attention to it today than there was when he was abusing them.”
For the well-being of the survivors, Edwards is hopeful there will soon be a resolution that will allow the victims to move on.
“I just wish everybody would step back and remember real people were hurt here, and let’s try to do what’s in their best interest, as opposed to politicizing this whole thing and making it the right versus the left,” he said. “All of that is hurting the people who are already hurt.”
(CALVERAS COUNTY, CA) — A mother and her 9-year-old son, who got stranded in a remote forest overnight on their way to a Boy Scout camp in California, were rescued after crews searching for the missing family found handwritten notes by the woman asking for help, authorities said.
Authorities credited the notes and other “breadcrumbs” left for search crews in helping find them within hours of being reported missing.
The two were traveling from Sacramento to Camp Wolfeboro in Calaveras County on Friday afternoon when they got lost in a remote area after losing the GPS signal, authorities said. The 49-year-old mother became disoriented trying to retrace their steps, and their vehicle got stuck in the dirt, stranding them in the dense forestry, according to Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson Lt. Greg Stark.
“It was a very remote location, with severe terrain, deep canyons, dense forestry,” Stark told ABC News. “That area is known for poor radio reception and poor cell service.”
Their family reported them missing early Saturday afternoon after the camp reported them overdue and they were not answering their cellphones, according to the sheriff’s office.
A volunteer search and rescue team that was already conducting training in the area was deployed, and authorities began working on a timeline and possible route based on their destination and last known location.
The search and rescue team “began assessing the terrain and the complex network of interconnecting, labyrinth-like roads to establish effective search parameters,” the Calaveras County Sheriff’s Office said. The search involved four-wheel drive vehicles, and California Highway Patrol air assets were requested, the office said.
Amid the search, campers in the area reported seeing a vehicle matching the description of the missing persons around 4 p.m. on Friday — helping confirm that search crews were in the right area, the sheriff’s office said.
Helping to further narrow the search area: At approximately 5:40 p.m. Saturday, the search and rescue team located a handwritten note left by the mother asking for help, authorities said. It was posted at an intersection of a remote Forest Service Road. A second note was found nearby.
The sheriff’s office released images of the notes, which were both dated July 11 and both said “HELP.”
“Me and my son are stranded with no service and can’t call 911,” one of the notes stated. “We are ahead, up the road to the right. Please call 911 to get help for us. Thank you!”
The other note urged rescuers to “follow the strips of brown sheet,” which was made out of a paper bag, Stark said.
They also left a trail of rocks on the road to point in their direction in case the notes blew away, Stark said.
About a mile from the second note, at approximately 6:30 p.m. Saturday, the searchers found the mother and son and their vehicle, the sheriff’s office said.
Stark credited the notes with being “extremely helpful” in finding them so quickly.
“There’s hundreds of square miles of elaborate roadworks out there,” Stark said. “They were in the search area, but putting the handwritten notes posted at the intersections — that absolutely accelerated the timeline in which they were found.”
The search team was able to free the stuck vehicle and help bring the mother and son back to the command post, where their family was waiting for them, the sheriff’s office said.
“It was obviously a very emotional reunion,” Stark said.
The sheriff’s office highlighted other efforts by the woman and her son to assist in the search, including keeping the vehicle’s hazard lights on at night for searchers on the ground and in the air to see. The son also periodically used his whistle to deploy three short bursts, an international signal for help, the sheriff’s office said.
Staying with their vehicle was also a key move, Stark said.
“If you don’t know where you are, you don’t know where you’re going, the best course of action is to stay with your car — it’s the largest object out there, easily seen by aircraft or found by searchers,” Stark said.
“They did what they should have, and it certainly worked out well,” he said.
(SAND POINT, ALASKA) — A 7.3 magnitude earthquake struck near Sand Point, Alaska, on Wednesday, prompting a tsunami warning from the National Weather Service.
The warning was later downgraded to an advisory, according to the agency.
Sand Point is located on northwestern Popof Island, off the Alaska Peninsula. It’s approximately 600 miles southwest of Anchorage, Alaska.
The earthquake struck 54 miles south of Sand Point, according to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
The tsunami advisory is in effect from South Alaska and the Alaska Peninsula to Kennedy Entrance and Unimak Pass, Alaska, on the Pacific Coast.
In addition to Sand Point, Alaskan cities Cold Bay and Kodiak are included in the advisory area.
Kodiak Police told ABC News sirens sounded in the city, which indicates to move to high ground. Any impacts in the area would be expected to arrive at approximately 2:40 p.m.
There have not been any reports of damage from the earthquake in Kodiak, according to police.
Michael Ashley of Cold Bay Lodge told ABC News he was working outside when he noticed things shaking, but says it “wasn’t very intense.”
Cold Bay was under the tsunami warning, but Ashley said “residents are not concerned since we are 100 feet above sea level.” He says these large quakes are common for the area in the summer.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(QUINAULT, WA) — At least one person is dead and two others have been injured in a small plane crash in a remote area of Olympic National Park in Washington, authorities said.
The incident occurred on Tuesday evening at approximately 6:50 p.m. when park rangers were notified of a crash in the Quinault area of Olympic National Park on a steep slope north of the Irely Lake Trailhead, according to a statement from the National Park Service.
“Rangers immediately coordinated a response with Naval Air Station Whidbey Island Search and Rescue,” officials said. “The three occupants of the plane — a Murphy SR3500 Moose — were transported to a Level 1 Trauma Center.”
Authorities said that two occupants were being treated for their injuries and that one person died due to the crash.
Officials have not yet publicly identified the people involved in the incident and have given no details about what might have caused it in the first place.
The cause of the accident is unknown and is currently under investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
