(NEW YORK) — A deadly heat wave continues as 90 million Americans across 16 states from Washington to Florida are under heat alerts on Saturday.
The all-time global heat record is in jeopardy at Furnace Creek in Death Valley. The current world record is 134ºF. Death Valley has only reached above 130 degrees five times.
It has been the hottest first two weeks of July on record for Phoenix and Tucson, Arizona, as well as Tampa, Fort Myers and Key West, Florida. El Paso, Texas, has been in 100-degree days for 29 days in a row and Saturday will mark a full month. The forecast calls for 100-degree days for at least the next week. Sunday will be the big day for record temperatures. At least 38 records are in jeopardy from Oregon to Key West, Florida.
Water temperatures are also staying hot off the Florida coast as a maritime heat wave continues. Water temps in the 90s are widespread off the southern Florida coast. This means anyone looking for relief from the heat won’t find it in the water.
Canadian fires ramping up
There are currently 910 active wildfires in Canada – with more than 4,000 fires already this year having burned more than 24 million acres of land – a record start. The season, however, is far from over.
Much of the new smoke is being funneled in from British Columbia and Alberta thanks to northwesterly winds into the U.S. from a low pressure system over the Manitoba and Ontario province border.
The smoke is strongest this morning over places like Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Bismarck, North Dakota.
By 7 a.m. on Sunday the smoke will have spread to Chicago, Illinois, and Indianapolis, Indiana, remaining strongest in Pierre, South Dakota, and Sioux City, Iowa.
On Sunday evening as the last weekend sunset nears, the smoke will be in Nashville, Tennessee, and Columbus, Ohio. Atlanta, Georgia, will even have a hazier sky. Air quality alerts are in effect from Montana to Kentucky either for current smoke or in anticipation of the smoke. The smoke has aided cooler-than-average temperatures for parts of the Upper Midwest.
Flood watch in the Northeast
Forty million Americans in the Northeast are under a Flood Watch this weekend. Saturated soil and a few rounds of heavy rain/storms this weekend may lead to flooding along waterways and low-lying areas.
Over the weekend, a widespread 2-4 inches are expected for much of the Northeast with some areas accumulating more than 4 inches of rain, namely in parts of eastern Pennsylvania along with parts of New Jersey, New Hampshire and Maine.
(HOOVER, Ala.) — Alabama police are continuing their search for a woman who went missing after she called 911 saying she saw a toddler walking on the side of a highway.
The Hoover Police Department said 25-year-old Carlethia “Carlee” Nichole Russell made a 911 call on Wednesday to report that she saw a toddler walking on the side of Interstate 459 in Alabama at around 9:30 p.m.
Russell then stopped her car to check on the toddler and called a family member to report what she saw. The family member lost contact with Russell, but the line remained open, according to police.
Police who responded to her 911 call found the Russell’s vehicle and some of her belongings at the scene when they arrived. But, they were unable to find her or a child in the area.
Police said they have not received any additional calls of someone missing a small child.
Police said a single witness reported seeing a grey vehicle and a man standing outside Russell’s car, but police have no further information about that person or the vehicle.
Russell was wearing a black shirt, black pants and white Nike shoes, according to police.
An anonymous donor is offering $20,000 for the safe return of Russell and Crimestoppers of Metro Alabama are offering an additional $5,000.
“We are leaving nothing off the table and no stone unturned in investigating some of these facts,” Hoover Police Department Lieutenant Daniel Lowe said at a press conference.
(LOS ANGELES) — Debra Tate, the sister of slain actress Sharon Tate, has publicly pleaded for years to keep members of the Manson family cult behind bars despite their eligibility to petition for parole.
That includes Leslie Van Houten, who was released on parole Tuesday after spending 53 years in prison for the murders of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca.
According to her attorney, Van Houten is now in a “transitional living facility.” She was released to parole supervision and “will have a three-year maximum parole term with a parole discharge review occurring after one year,” the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation said.
While Manson didn’t commit the killings himself, he commanded his followers to do so. Manson died in prison in 2017.
Now, Debra Tate is speaking out for the first time since Van Houten’s release in an exclusive interview with “Nightline.”
“Is she a nice girl? No. Is she an animal? I think she was then, and I fear that she still is,” Debra Tate said.
Van Houten was 19 when she participated in the Aug. 10, 1969, murders of Leno LaBianca, a wealthy grocer, and his wife, Rosemary LaBianca, at their Los Angeles home. The LaBiancas were both stabbed to death and the word “war” was carved on Leno LaBianca’s stomach – which authorities said were all under the orders of cult leader Charles Manson. Van Houten was convicted of the murders in 1971.
“I prayed until I was gritting my teeth that in every kiss or every smile or every pleasurable action that [Van Houten] might have during freedom, she gets a flashback of the screams, the grunts, the blood,” Debra Tate said.
The LaBianca murders occurred one day after Manson followers killed actress Sharon Tate and four others in the California home Tate shared with her husband, filmmaker Roman Polanski. Sharon Tate was 26 and pregnant at the time of her murder. Van Houten did not participate in the Tate killings.
Van Houten was convicted and sentenced to death for the LaBianca murders in 1971, but her sentence was later reduced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after capital punishment was outlawed in the state.
Van Houten was up for parole more than 20 times before her release earlier this week. California Gov. Gavin Newsom and his predecessor previously blocked her parole four times.
At her 19th parole hearing, Van Houten said, “As a rehabilitated woman, I would like to state that the insight I have gained is not meant to excuse any of my acts.”
Debra Tate says the killing of her beloved sister had a profound effect on her life.
“My dad retired from the military. He went out on his own quest to find the killers. My college money got absorbed into things. It affected everything I did. It had catastrophic direct effects,” Debra Tate said.
Debra Tate has appeared at every parole hearing for every Manson family member since the murders occurred.
“We’re talking about one of the most murderous cults in America. Is it worth giving that a free pass? There are a lot of people that I would give a free pass, but these people are not amongst them,” Debra Tate said.
In a statement to “Nightline,” Cory LaBianca, the victims’ daughter, said, “[Van Houten’s] release may be considered legal, but to me and my family, it is ethically and morally wrong.”
(NEW YORK) — After nearly 13 years, New York investigators arrested the man they allege is responsible for the deaths of three sex workers that were among several corpses found in Gilgo Beach in Long Island, New York.
And all it took was extra sleuthing based on newly discovered evidence and ultimately a discarded pizza crust, according to investigators.
Court documents detailed the 16 months of surveillance and investigation into Rex A. Heuermann, a Long Island architect and married father of two, who has now been charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, whose bodies were found covered in burlap along Ocean Parkway on Long Island’s South Shore in December 2010.
Ten bodies were found in the area between 2010 and 2011. The investigation is ongoing.
Although he is not charged in the death of another victim who was found on the beach, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who went missing in 2007, Heuermann was named the “prime suspect” in her death, prosecutors said.
Heuermann was held on no bail after his attorney entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf in Suffolk County Friday.
Suffolk County prosecutors assembled an “experienced team of investigators, analysts, and prosecutors,” in January 2022 with local police and FBI to try and solve the cold case, court documents said. Their efforts led them on the path to Heuermann’s arrest Thursday.
On March 14, 2022, two months into the renewed joint investigation, investigators said they discovered a Chevrolet Avalanche that was registered to the suspect and seen by a witness during Costello’s disappearance, according to court documents.
“This discovery led to a comprehensive investigation of Defendant Heuermann which consisted of over 300 subpoenas, search warrants and other legal processes to obtain evidence,” prosecutors said in the court documents.
The Chevy Avalanche has been impounded for evidence according to Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.
Authorities: Cell phone records connect suspect to victims
Among the evidence authorities said they collected from the subpoenas and search warrants were Heuermann’s cell phone records.
Investigators said the suspect used burner phones to contact the three women during the time they were reported missing between 2007 and 2010. The suspect allegedly used Barthelemy’s phone to make “taunting phone calls to Ms. Barthelemy’s family members” and allegedly used Brainard-Barnes’ cellphone to check her voicemail, according to court documents.
Authorities said cell tower records for Heuermann’s personal cell phone and cell phone site locations showed that his personal phone and the burner phones were connected allegedly to the murders traveled between Massapequa, Long Island and Midtown Manhattan, near where Heuermann worked, at the same times of the victims’ disappearances.
“Investigators could find no instance where Heuermann was in a separate location from these other cellphones when such a communication event occurred,” prosecutors alleged in the court documents.
Prosecutors alleged that after each of the murders, the suspect got rid of the burner phones.
Authorities said cell phone records and travel records showed that Heuermann’s wife and children were away from New York state on vacation during the time of the victims’ disappearances, according to court documents.
Alleged secret online life
Authorities said further digging found that Heuermann had several other burner cell phones and email accounts, according to court documents.
The suspect allegedly signed up for the accounts using fictitious names to search for sex workers and created a Tinder account that looked for “dates” or “hookups,” according to court documents.
Internet search records from the burner phones showed that between March 2022 and June 2023 indicated the suspect searched for sites “related to active and known serial killers, the specific disappearances and murders of Maureen Brainard-Barnes, Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman, and Amber Costello, and the investigation into their murders,” as well as “sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography and child pornography,” prosecutors alleged.
“This supported our decision to keep our investigative focus secret and we didn’t want to give him any insight into what we were doing,” Tierney said at a news conference Friday afternoon.
Prosecutors said they discovered selfies of Heuermann that he sent to other persons using one of his burner e-mail accounts to allegedly solicit sex.
When the suspect was arrested at his home Thursday, one of the burner phones allegedly linked to the suspicious searches, was recovered, court documents said.
Investigators: Pizza crust cracks DNA puzzle
Hair samples were found on the bodies of Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello, however, authorities said could not get a DNA match to a suspect at the time they were discovered.
A new analysis was done in 2020 on a hair sample found on Waterman’s body using more advanced DNA and was able to determine that it came from a man and got more genetic information, according to Tierney.
“Because it was out there for so long those hairs were degraded, so you couldn’t use traditional DNA analysis on it,” Tierney said. “The investigation proceeded but technology proceeded as well.”
After investigators said they linked the Chevy Avalanche in early 2022 to Heuermann, he was under surveillance, according to the court documents.
On Jan. 26, investigators saw Heuermann throw a pizza box into a trash can in Midtown Manhattan, according to authorities.
A swab of leftover crust in the box was taken by crime lab specialists and sent for DNA testing, shortly after, investigators said.
On June 12, authorities say the results came back showing that Heuermann’s DNA was a match to the male hair found on Waterman’s body.
(FARGO, N.D.) — Police in Fargo, North Dakota, say one of their own was killed in a shooting Friday, an incident that also critically injured two other officers and injured two civilians.
The suspect died as a result of the shooting which took place at the intersection of 25th Street South and 9th Avenue South, Fargo Police said in a press release overnight.
“A total of five individuals sustained injuries in this incident. The Fargo Police Department can confirm that one of its officers has died as a result of sustained injuries and two remain in critical condition this evening,” the City of Fargo said in a statement regarding the shooting. “Two other involved civilians sustained serious injuries, including the suspect who has died as a result of the shooting.”
Police initially evacuated residents in the area of the shooting during the investigation but confirmed shortly after that there was no longer a threat to the general public, police said.
The investigation is ongoing and the identities of those involved are not being released at this time as the process of notifying family members is currently ongoing. The motive for the shooting is currently unknown.
The Fargo Police Department confirmed that they will not be releasing any additional information prior to a scheduled press conference on Saturday morning at 4:30 p.m. ET.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — Mayor Yemi Mobolade made history in May when he was elected as the first Black immigrant and non-GOP mayor of Colorado Springs, Colorado. The former pastor ran as an independent on a platform, he says, that focused on “quality of life” over party lines.
“To [any]one in this room who is in utter disbelief that Republicans and Democrats and Independents can work together, can find common ground, maybe even like each other, tonight is for you,” Mobolade told supporters after he was elected.
Mobolade immigrated to the United States from Nigeria almost 30 years ago. He became an American citizen in 2017. To coincide with the 6-year anniversary of his naturalization, Mobolade spoke to “GMA3” hosts Eva Pilgrim and DeMarco Morgan about his platform and vision for Colorado Springs.
EVA PILGRIM: You became a citizen six years ago. I’m curious, though, why did you decide to run for mayor?
YEMI MOBOLADE: Yeah, today is a special day for me. Six years ago, I rose my right hand and swore my allegiance to this great country. And, you know, for 21 years leading up to that, I’ve loved my city. I’ve participated in this democracy, but there was one thing missing – I wasn’t able to vote. And six years ago, that all changed.
I’m all in, and to be all in, I took that one step further, and I felt I ran for office because my city needed my leadership. My city needed what I had to offer. And what I have to offer is sound leadership, pragmatic leadership and a leadership that transcends and puts our quality of life ahead of politics.
DEMARCO MORGAN: And mayor, talk about a historic win. Colorado Springs is a heavily conservative, Republican-run city, and you flat out won it unaffiliated. You say you want to disrupt politics. How do you plan to do that? You’ve already done it.
MOBOLADE: We’re already doing that. I believe my city is hungry for leadership that puts our quality of life ahead of special interest, and I just think there’s a tiredness. There’s a tiredness with the political landscape. And they say, you know, desperate times call for desperate measures. I actually say, desperate times call for a new kind of leadership. And sometimes it takes someone with my story, my profile, especially my immigrant story, to remind us of the best of who we are as Americans.
PILGRIM: Let’s talk a little bit about some of the issues facing our country. So many cities across the nation are dealing with gun violence. It’s an issue your city knows all too well after the 2022 mass shooting at Club Q. I mean, what can we do to stop this? Is there anything we can do?
MOBOLADE: No, absolutely. And this is a perfect example where good leadership is needed – not just leadership that prioritizes partisan talking points, because public safety is one of the things I ran on. And I ran on public safety, because that’s what I heard from my residents. That’s a No. 1 priority.
My wife and I are parents of three young kids, so it’s always on the top of our minds. And Club Q was a devastating event in our community. And while justice has been served, the work of justice has only begun. And that’s bringing healing to many of the survivors affected and their family members, but also ensuring that our community is safe. So for my city, ensuring that we are able to recruit and retain our law enforcement officers and provide them the training that they need to do their job well and effectively and to keep our community safe.
MORGAN: Mayor, let’s talk about the problems at the border. It’s a top issue for voters. Migrants are being shipped to cities all across the country, including here in New York. What goes through your mind when you see that happening?
MOBOLADE: Right, I think the immigration story right now is a very complex one. And many times, it is limited to the border issues. And we have to do that dance between caring for people; at the same time, ensuring that we are keeping our country safe. It’s very similar to the work of being a mayor of this great city, even when we talk about issues like homelessness. How do we balance, how we do the dance between showing compassion at the same time and ensuring that we are keeping our community safe?
I do believe the immigrant story, though, it’s limited to the border conversation. And there are so many immigrants like me who have chosen to come here and find community, find work, find family. We are entrepreneurs. We are business owners. We provide jobs. We are in the tech sector, medical sector, and we are bringing in the values that are very aligned to the American way of life of hard work, family and also a brighter future.
And I think that whole story must be told – not just a fragment of the story. And that, from my assessment, I’d say that’s one of the challenges of this conversation.
(NEW YORK) — A suspect has been arrested in connection with three of the 10 victims linked to the Gilgo Beach, New York, murders, authorities said.
New York City architect Rex Heuermann is charged with the murders of Melissa Barthelemy, Megan Waterman and Amber Costello, whose bodies were found covered in burlap along Ocean Parkway on Long Island’s South Shore in December 2010, according to court records unsealed Friday in Suffolk County Criminal Court.
Barthelemy disappeared in July 2009, Waterman disappeared in June 2010 and Costello was last seen in September 2010. The three women were between 22 and 27 years old and all worked as sex workers, court records said.
Shortly before each woman vanished, she had contact with a person using a “burner” cellphone without a verified identity, according to court records. The cellphones of two victims were used by the killer after their deaths, according to records.
On five occasions in the summer of 2009, someone in midtown Manhattan — which is where Heuermann’s office is located — used Barthelemy’s phone to make “taunting phone calls to Ms. Barthelemy’s family members,” court documents said. Some of the calls “resulted in a conversation between the caller, who was a male, and a relative of Melissa Barthelemy, in which the male caller admitted killing and sexually assaulting Ms. Barthelemy,” documents said.
According to court documents, records established that Heuermann’s wife was out of town when Barthelemy, Waterman and Costello disappeared.
A fourth victim, Maureen Brainard-Barnes, who vanished in July 2007, was also tied to the three women. While Heuermann is not charged in the death of Brainard-Barnes, the court document said he is the “prime suspect in her death.” The investigation into Brainard-Barnes’ death is ongoing, officials said Friday.
“Each of the four victims were found similarly positioned, bound in a similar fashion by either belts or tape,” court documents said.
Male hair was recovered from the burlap used to wrap Waterman’s body, and that DNA was found to be a match to leftover pizza crust Heuermann threw into a Manhattan garbage can in January 2023, according to court documents.
Heuermann, 59, a married father of two, used one of his burner phones “to conduct thousands of searches related to sex workers, sadistic, torture-related pornography and child pornography,” court records said.
Other searches were “related to active and known serial killers,” and the disappearances of the Gilgo Beach victims. One search, according to court records, was, “Why hasn’t the Long Island serial killer been caught.”
He also allegedly searched for photos of the Gilgo Beach victims and their relatives, Tierney said.
Heuermann also searched for and viewed articles about the authorities investigating him, according to documents.
The suspect was arrested in Manhattan Thursday night, authorities said, and law enforcement was seen outside his home in Massapequa Park on Long Island Friday morning.
Heuermann first came up as a suspect in the investigation in March 2022, Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney said Friday.
Heuermann was tracked through his car, a Chevrolet Avalanche, which was discovered in 2022. A witness to Costello’s disappearance reported seeing a Chevrolet Avalanche, court records said.
Detectives also tracked Heuermann through cellphone records, according to court records. Tierney said cellphone mapping led investigators to zero in on areas in Massapequa Park and midtown Manhattan.
Fears of a serial killer on the South Shore of Long Island began in 2010 with the discovery of a woman’s body along Ocean Parkway.
Over the next year, the bodies of seven more women, a man and a toddler were discovered in the same general area.
Investigators have long believed it was possible there was more than one killer because of the different conditions of the victims. Additionally, the wooded stretches along Ocean Parkway were long known as dumping grounds for bodies.
Jasmine Robinson, a cousin of victim Jessica Taylor, told reporters she was “shell shocked” by the arrest.
Taylor disappeared in 2003 at the age of 20. Partial remains were found in 2003 and additional remains were discovered in 2011 along Ocean Parkway.
“I hope that she’s remembered as a beautiful young woman” and not as a sex worker, Robinson said Friday.
Robinson said she is grateful for the hard work of law enforcement and hopes the investigation will continue.
“We have never stopped working on this case,” Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone said. “The work is not done here, but this is a major, major step forward in achieving a goal we have had from the very beginning — and that is to bring closure to these families.”
Heuermann is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of second-degree murder.
Defense attorney Michael Brown entered a not guilty plea on Heuermann’s behalf at his arraignment on Friday. Heuermann only spoke his name in court. He was ordered held on no bail.
Following the appearance, his lawyer told reporters that, through tears, Heuermann told him, “I didn’t do this.”
“I know there is a community out there that, as the facts unfold, will be sleeping a lot easier tonight,” New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said Friday. “And a lot of families, whose lives have been turned upside down, always wondering, questioning what happened, and will the perpetrator ever be brought to justice?”
“The day has finally come when someone so depraved of heart who would kill individuals, innocent individuals, in the prime of their young lives, is finally brought to justice,” she said.
ABC News’ Mark Crudele contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A 22-year-old man has been arrested and charged in connection with the fatal shooting of a 12-year-old boy in Boston.
Walter Hendrick has been charged with unlawful possession of a firearm, unlawful possession of ammunition and improper storage of a firearm, because someone under 18 had potential access to it, according to the Boston Police Department.
Officers responded to the report of a person shot on Thursday to find a 12-year-old suffering from a gunshot wound. The victim was transported to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead, police said.
Boston police said they were still investigating the facts and circumstances of the incident.
Further investigation into the incident led to Hendrick’s arrest.
“Clearly this is an unnecessary death, it appears, of a young person in our city,” Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said at a press conference.
“We are doing all we can to combat gun violence, but I implore folks if you have guns in your home, particularly illegal or whatever, turn them into us or let us know what we can do to take those off your hands. These guns on the streets cause damage,” Cox said.
Hendrick was set to be arraigned in Dorchester District Court on Friday morning.
“Unfortunately, we are here on yet another sad and tragic afternoon that frankly stems from, again, too many guns being on our streets. Young loss of life like this is simply unacceptable. It is tragic and absolutely unspeakable,” Suffolk County District Attorney Kevin Hayden said at a press conference.
“It is a horrible tragedy for the entire city whenever any one of our young people is lost and for a child of this age being lost to gun violence is a nightmare — in the summer when our kids should be enjoying, having fun, playing and growing, this is especially a nightmare for a mom and for a family,” Boston Mayor Michelle Wu said at a press conference.
“I just want to send our deepest condolences to loved ones and family who are grieving what no family should have to grieve,” Wu said.
(NEW YORK) — With abortion clinics being forced to shut down in Indiana on Aug. 1, providers are rushing to see as many patients as they can before they close their doors.
Abortion clinics in Indiana will no longer be able to provide care starting Aug. 1 when a ban strips their licenses, despite the procedure temporarily remaining legal in the state. Licenses will be stripped after state’s Supreme Court upheld the ban on June 30 concluding litigation of a legal challenge.
Planned Parenthood — Indiana’s largest abortion provider — announced that all their abortion appointments have been booked through when the ban goes into effect.
“What we are doing on the ground here is to try to scramble to see as many patients as possible in the next few weeks before our clinics are shut down again,” said Dr. Katie McHugh, an OB-GYN and abortion provider at Planned Parenthood and Women’s Med clinics in Indiana.
Abortion will remain legal in the state due to a second lawsuit, which continues to work its way through the courts, that claims the law violates protections for religious freedom and access to abortions should remain for those who seek to obtain abortions due to their religious beliefs. As this case is litigated, abortions will still temporarily be legally permitted — but care will only be available at hospitals.
Nearly 99% of abortions in 2022 in Indiana were provided in abortion clinics, according to Indiana’s state record of pregnancy terminations. Only 140 of the 9,529 abortions performed in the state last year were done at hospitals. Last year, Planned Parenthood provided about 64% of the abortions performed in Indiana, according to the statistics.
McHugh said not all hospitals provide abortion care for all cases, and even if it is available it is significantly more expensive to receive care at a hospital compared to an abortion clinic, according to McHugh.
“It is very expensive to have any kind of care at a hospital, much less a procedure. And so that is a very, very significant concern for patients in Indiana and patients who have come to Indiana for their abortion,” McHugh said.
This especially limits access to women traveling from other states whose insurance will not cover abortion care due to restrictions in their home state, according to McHugh.
Dr. Carrie Rouse, a maternal fetal medicine specialist and director of labor and delivery at Indiana University, told ABC News that the hospitals where she provides care in the state only allow abortions for “medical indications.”
“Hospitals in this state that have abortion services, only have them when there is a specific medical indication,” Rouse said. “So even before the ban went into effect, the hospitals where I work, for example, will only provide termination services if there is medical complication of pregnancy or fetal diagnosis in cases of rape and incest, so kind of mirroring the more strict exceptions that the ban has in place.”
While Rouse said she does not have knowledge of what abortions are permitted at five other hospitals listed in Indiana’s terminated pregnancy report, only five abortions in total were provided at those facilities in 2022.
Indiana also borders a large number of the 15 states that have ceased all abortion services since Roe v. Wade was overturned last year.
Planned Parenthood said the number of out-of-state patients that received medication abortions in Indiana has increased 100% since Roe was overturned and increased 160% for patients who received surgical abortion care. With clinics closing, the state will no longer be available to people from out-of-state.
“We see people from Kentucky and Tennessee and West Virginia and Alabama and Louisiana and all over the South and Midwest where other bans have already been enacted,” McHugh said. “And people are desperate for this very normal, very safe health care.”
Indiana currently has the third-highest maternal mortality rate in the country, according to Planned Parenthood.
After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, Indiana was the first state to enact a new abortion ban. This abortion ban briefly went into effect last September before it was temporarily blocked by a court just days later.
The ban makes providing an abortion a level 5 felony, only allowing three exceptions for when a woman’s life is in danger, the fetus is diagnosed with a fatal anomaly or if the pregnancy was a result of rape or incest, but only up to 12 weeks of pregnancy. The near-total ban upheld by the court replaced a previous 22-week abortion ban. It also eliminates all abortion clinics in the state.
Providers who violate the ban will have their license revoked and could face between one to six years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.
(NEW YORK) — Life-threatening heat is baking 14 states from Arizona to Texas to Florida.
In the West, temperatures on Friday are forecast to reach 110 degrees in Redding, California, and 116 degrees in Phoenix and Palm Springs, California.
All-time records could be broken in the Southwest this weekend.
In Phoenix, where temperatures have been above 110 degrees for 14 days in a row, the heat is forecast to soar to a scorching 119 degrees this weekend.
Las Vegas is expected to reach its all-time high temperature of 117 degrees on Sunday.
Death Valley, California, could hit 130 degrees, nearing its hottest temperature on record — 134 degrees — which was set in 1913.
The West’s extreme heat is spreading this weekend with heat alerts expanding to the Pacific Northwest.
This heat wave will likely peak on Sunday for much of the region and may continue into next week in some areas.
The Southeast is also enduring a dangerous heat wave.
On Friday, the heat index — what the temperature feels like with humidity — is forecast to hit 108 degrees in Dallas, San Antonio and New Orleans; 110 degrees in Jackson, Mississippi; and 105 in Charleston, South Carolina.
In Miami, where it’ll feel like 102 degrees on Friday, the heat index has climbed over 100 degrees for 33 straight days.
Click here for tips on how to stay safe in the heat.
