National

(NEW YORK) — As schools and libraries across the country face record-breaking attempts to remove books from shelves, most Americans are opposed to book restrictions in public schools, according to a new survey.

In 2023, the American Library Association (ALA) documented 4,240 unique book titles targeted for censorship, as well as 1,247 demands to censor library books, materials and resources.

The targeting of unique book titles increased by 65% from 2022 to 2023, reaching the highest level ever documented by ALA.

These efforts have increased alongside state legislation restricting certain school content on topics like race, sex, gender and more.

However, a new study by the Knight Foundation — a nonprofit that provides grants for journalism and the arts — found that two-thirds of Americans oppose efforts to restrict books. There are more strong opponents than strong supporters of book restrictions, with a 3-1 divide among respondents.

The study found that 62% of Americans oppose their state government legislating what content is allowable in school books.

Public school parents are more likely to be in favor of book restrictions, but more than half of parents (59%) still oppose book restrictions. This is lower than the 67% opposition rate among non-parents.

About 7% of parents with reading-age children reported their child reading an age-inappropriate book from school, and 25% of pre-K-12 parents are concerned about this happening in the future.

Classroom or library content restrictions are often based on concerns about what is deemed “age-appropriate” for certain ages — as is the case in legislation in Florida, Utah, Texas and other states.

More survey participants said it is a bigger concern to restrict students’ access to books that have educational value than it is for them to have access to books that have inappropriate content, especially when it comes to students in middle school and high school.

Six in 10 survey respondents saw age appropriateness as a legitimate reason to restrict students’ book access. However, the report found that far fewer say it is legitimate to block access to books that contradict parents’ political views, religious beliefs or moral values.

Most public school parents are confident in the appropriateness of their school’s book selections. The study also found that 78% of all adults say they are confident that their community’s public schools select appropriate books for students to read.

Though the public feels strongly about the issue — 62% call it highly important — very few have taken action themselves on the issue. Only 3% have personally engaged in the debate, according to the report — 2% engaging to maintain access and 1% to restrict access.

Conservatives are over-represented in the support for book restrictions, making up 57% of book restriction supporters but only 27% of all adults, according to the Knight Foundation. Conservatives are also less likely to feel politically represented in public school books.

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(NEW YORK) — After nearly two and a half months of searching, law enforcement officials zeroed in on fugitive Joshua Zimmerman, who has been on the run since escaping from the DeSoto County Circuit Court Building in Mississippi on June 14.

The United States Marshals Service located Zimmerman at a restaurant in Chicago on Tuesday, authorities said, where he barricaded himself inside. The standoff was ongoing as of late Tuesday night, with the restaurant surrounded by the Chicago SWAT team.

The investigation into Zimmerman’s escape has been extensive, with contributions from federal, state and local agencies.

“We have been working diligently for 68 days, alongside various organizations, to bring this case to a close,” a DeSoto County spokesperson noted. “We appreciate the public’s patience as we have intentionally kept details quiet to avoid spreading misinformation.”

Officials said they remain focused on extradition plans and are hopeful for a resolution soon.

“We are eager to return Zimmerman to our detention facility so we can thoroughly investigate the circumstances surrounding his escape,” the spokesperson said.

The high-profile case has garnered significant media attention, with major networks and public figures such as Dog the Bounty Hunter following the developments closely. 

The spokesperson acknowledged the broad interest in the case, saying, “This is a significant event, and we are committed to bringing it to a successful conclusion.”

Zimmerman was charged with murdering a woman in Houston, Texas, in 2023. He was arrested on Sept. 29, 2023, by law enforcement in Mississippi on separate felony charges, as reported last year by ABC News’ Houston station KTRK-TV.

The additional charges included attempted murder, armed robbery, felon in possession of a firearm and a charge in relation to the theft of a car.

Zimmerman escaped custody while being brought to the De Soto County courthouse for a hearing along with several other inmates.

De Soto County District Attorney Matthew Barton explained that Zimmerman was able to slip away from the group, change clothes and remove his shackles. Surveillance cameras recorded Zimmerman leaving the courthouse wearing khaki pants and a white shirt.

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(NEW YORK) — A former Minneapolis police officer convicted in the death of George Floyd was released from prison Tuesday, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed to ABC News.

Thomas Lane, 41, pleaded guilty in May 2022 to state charges of aiding and abetting second-degree manslaughter. As part of the plea deal, prosecutors agreed to dismiss charges against him for aiding and abetting second-degree unintentional murder.

He was sentenced to three years in prison for the state charges.

Previously, in February 2022, a federal jury convicted Lane — as well as two other former officers — for violating Floyd’s civil rights when they failed to intervene in his murder in May 2020.

He was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in prison for the federal charges.

Lane served the two sentences concurrently at FCI Englewood in Colorado. His sentence on federal charges expired earlier this year, according to a Bureau of Prisons spokesperson, while his sentence on state charges ended Tuesday.

Lane will spend the next year on supervised release, a spokesperson for the Minnesota Department of Corrections told ABC News.

Derek Chauvin — the officer who kneeled on Floyd’s neck for more than nine minutes, killing him — was convicted on murder charges and sentenced to 22 1/2 years in prison.

In a move unrelated to Lane, Chauvin was moved to a federal prison in Big Springs, Texas, on Tuesday, according to a source familiar with the situation. Chauvin was stabbed at a federal prison in Phoenix last November.

In the wake of Floyd’s murder, protests against racial injustice and police brutality broke out across the U.S. and even internationally, drawing millions.

“Thomas Lane served his time and paid his debt to society. I wish him well in his re-entry into his community,” Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement to Duluth ABC affiliate WDIO-TV.

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(CHESTERFIELD, Va.) — A Virginia man is in critical condition after being shot by a 2-year-old, police said.

According to the Chesterfield County Police Department, the unidentified man was about to leave the house Monday morning and had “placed his handgun on a nearby chair.”

The toddler retrieved it and “accidentally discharged the firearm, shooting the victim,” police said.

Police said the man was airlifted to the hospital in critical condition.

Neither the child nor anyone else in the house was injured, police said.

According to Virginia ABC affiliate WRIC, the victim is the boyfriend of the child’s mother.

An investigation into the incident is ongoing.

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(BEAUFORD, S.C.) — A Massachusetts man vacationing with his family in South Carolina has been missing since Friday and is endangered, authorities said.

Stanley Kotowski, 60, was last seen Friday morning leaving his family’s vacation rental on Hilton Head Island, according to his family. He is believed to be barefoot and did not take any personal items such as his phone or wallet, according to the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office.

Kotowski has been struggling with anxiety recently, his family told ABC Savannah, Georgia, affiliate WJCL.

“He had really bad insomnia for about a month. This is like a brand-new thing,” his wife, Jackie Kotowski, told WJCL. “He doesn’t have dementia. His anxiety just kept getting worse and worse and worse and he started to get a little paranoid, and he thought someone was chasing him.”

His son, Zak Kotowski, told WJCL that his father is otherwise healthy.

“He’s a strong person, he’s athletic. He could, even in a delirious state, shoeless, he could get a few towns over,” Zak Kotowski told the station.

Kotowski was reported missing by his family about two hours after he was last seen, according to Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Master Sergeant Daniel Allen. He has been listed as endangered due to his mental state, the length of time he has been missing and because he was last seen on a Ring camera without any shoes on, Allen said.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office continued to search for Kotowski on Tuesday.
 

Search efforts have included K9s, helicopters, drones, boats, and foot patrol, the sheriff’s office said. There have been some tips but none that have panned out, Allen said.

“Unfortunately with all the efforts that they’ve been putting out, from literally air, land and water, we have not made contact with him at this point,” Allen told ABC News on Tuesday.

Kotowski’s information has been entered into national databases and sent out to agencies statewide, the sheriff’s office said.

His family said they are not leaving Hilton Head Island without him while pleading for people to help.

“We just want him to come home,” Jackie Kotowski told WJCL. “We need help from anybody who can assist us in finding him.”

Zak Kotowski also had a message for his dad: “We love you. Come home, we just want you home.”

Kotowski was last seen wearing a gray Coors Light T-shirt, dark-colored shorts and no shoes, as captured on a Ring camera footage shared by the Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office. He is approximately 6 feet tall and weighs around 200 pounds, with short brown hair and brown eyes and a thick Boston accent.

The Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office has asked residents to review their cameras and check their property for any signs of Kotowski. Anyone with information is asked to call the sheriff’s office at 843-524-2777.

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(HOUSTON) — A murder charge has been filed against a 35-year-old driver police allege struck and killed an innocent bystander on a sidewalk in Houston over the weekend while attempting to mow down his domestic partner.

Sanden James George was identified Monday evening by the Houston Police Department as the suspect arrested in a deadly crash near downtown Houston early Sunday morning.

George was charged with murder in the killing of a 41-year-old nightclub manager whom he allegedly struck with a car while attempting to run over his domestic partner, police said.

“An initial investigation, evidence from the scene, and witness statements determined a male suspect got into a physical altercation with a woman, 24, before attempting to intentionally strike her with his vehicle. She was not seriously injured. The suspect’s vehicle struck another woman and he fled on foot,” Houston police said in a statement.

The woman who was killed, whose name is pending verification by the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences, was pronounced dead at the scene by Houston Fire Department paramedics.

In addition to murder, George was charged with assault of his partner, police said.

The incident unfolded around 3 a.m. after patrol officers in the city’s Midtown area responded to a report of a pedestrian being hit by a car, according to Houston homicide detectives.

“It’s my understanding that the victim, the decedent, was actually the manager of one of the nightclubs and was preparing to go home,” Robert Klementich, a spokesperson for the Houston Police Department, said during a news conference Sunday.

Witnesses, including the alleged intended target, told police the suspect and his domestic partner were involved in an altercation at a nightclub and left the establishment, Klementich said.

Upon leaving the nightclub, George allegedly got into his car and started driving around crashing into multiple vehicles, Klementich said.

George’s domestic partner alleged to investigators that the suspect intended to strike her with the vehicle when he hit the innocent bystander, Klementich said.

“She was able to get out of the way,” Klementich said of the suspect’s companion. “Unfortunately, an innocent bystander who was walking on the sidewalk was struck by the suspect’s vehicle.”

George allegedly fled the scene on foot, but police found him in the area with the help of witnesses and took him into custody, according to homicide investigators. George was taken to a hospital and treated for minor injuries before being booked at the Harris County Jail, authorities said.

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(NEW YORK) — The Department of Homeland Security’s internal watchdog says it has uncovered an “urgent issue” with how immigration officials handle cases involving unaccompanied migrant children, warning in a new report that the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has been unable to keep track of all unaccompanied minors released from government custody.

The interim report, sent to Congress on Tuesday and obtained by ABC News, said that — in the past five years — more than 32,000 unaccompanied migrant children failed to appear for their immigration court hearings, and ICE was “not able to account” for all of their locations.

“Without an ability to monitor the location and status of [unaccompanied migrant children], ICE has no assurance [they] are safe from trafficking, exploitation, or forced labor,” Inspector General Joseph Cuffari wrote in his interim report.

He urged ICE to “take immediate action to ensure the safety of [unaccompanied children] residing in the United States.”

Cuffari’s report is part of a broader audit of ICE’s ability to track unaccompanied migrant children who have been released or transferred from U.S. custody after entering the country.

According to the interim report, immigration officials transferred more than 448,000 unaccompanied migrant children from 2019 to 2023, spanning both the Trump and Biden administrations. After interviewing more than 100 officials and visiting ten ICE field offices, the inspector general found that immigration officials “cannot always monitor the location and status of unaccompanied migrant children who are released … and [then] did not appear as scheduled in immigration court.”

When unaccompanied migrant children do not show up to court, federal judges will often issue several continuances — to postpone the hearings for months — until they are left with no choice but to issue deportation orders.

Earlier this year, ABC News attended several hearings at immigration court in Hyattsville, Maryland, where federal judges were forced to issue removal orders for unaccompanied migrant children who did not appear for their scheduled hearings. And for those who do appear, only 56% are represented by counsel, according to the Department of Justice.

ABC News previously reported that tens of thousands of unaccompanied young migrants are representing themselves before federal immigration judges due to a litany of issues crippling the court system.

In his interim report, Cuffari said that as of May 2024, more than 291,000 unaccompanied children had not been placed into removal proceedings because ICE had not served them notices to appear or scheduled a court date for them. Accordingly, the number of unaccompanied children who failed to appear for their court dates “may have been much larger” than 32,000 had ICE issued notices or scheduled court dates for those 291,000 children.

“Immigration court hearings are often ICE’s only opportunity to observe and screen [children] for trafficking indicators or other safety concerns,” the interim report said. 

So, according to the report, when ICE fails to service notices to appear, or schedule court dates, that “reduces opportunities to verify their safety.”

The report cited a number of key challenges for ICE, noting that, among other issues, “ICE still lacks adequate staffing, which can limit officers’ time and ability to check the location or immigration case status of migrants.”

“Resource constraints also impact [their] ability to issue [notices] to all [unaccompanied children] after their release from HHS’ custody,” the report said.

The report also said that ICE is burdened by “manual, multi-step processes to share information on [children] who do not appear in court.”

The watchdog suggested that Homeland Security officials “develop and implement an automated system to document court appearances and maintain address information of unaccompanied migrant children.”

Agency officials agreed with the watchdog’s recommendation to incorporate an automated tracking mechanism, according to a brief response included with the 18-page interim report. But they also suggested that the assessments in the watchdog’s interim report failed to articulate some structural challenges that complicate their ability to track migrant children and “therefore lead to misunderstandings about the process.”

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(DETROIT) — The Detroit Police Department is seeking public help in their search for an arson suspect who burned four vehicles and damaged two others late last week.

Authorities released a video of the incident on Aug. 15, which occurred at around 1:45 p.m. in a post office parking lot on Harper Ave, near the intersection with Morang Ave. on the east side of the city.

In the footage, a hooded man can be seen breaking the window of a white 2018 Chevy Traverse in the parking lot, before pouring accelerant inside. The suspect then lit the fuel, with the subsequent explosion throwing him backwards against another vehicle. The suspect fell to the floor and then ran from the scene.

“The suspect is described as a heavy set male,” read the appeal from the Detroit Police Department published on Monday. “He was last seen wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt with a white shirt underneath, and blue jeans. Six vehicles were damaged and four vehicles were burned as a result of this incident.”

Authorities are offering a $500 reward related to the case.

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(NEW YORK) — More than 600 pounds of methamphetamine have been found concealed within a shipment of celery in California, officials said.

The incident occurred on the evening of Aug. 9 when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers at the Otay Mesa Commercial Facility in California encountered a 34-year-old man driving a commercial tractor-trailer who was seeking entry into the United States from Mexico, according to a statement on Monday issued by CBP.

“The driver, who held a valid border crossing card, was transporting a shipment declared as celery,” authorities said. “Following routine procedures, CBP officers directed the driver, the tractor-trailer, and its cargo to secondary inspection for a more thorough examination.”

During that inspection, a CBP K-9 unit alerted officers to the presence of narcotics and officials ended up intercepting 629 pounds of methamphetamine contained within 508 packages hidden among the celery with an estimated street value of approximately $755,000, officials said.

“Our officers’ vigilance and expertise once again thwarted an attempt to smuggle narcotics disguised as everyday produce,” said Rosa E. Hernandez, port director for the Area Port of Otay Mesa. “This discovery underscores our unwavering commitment to protecting our communities from the perils of drug trafficking.”

CBP officers subsequently seized the narcotics and the commercial tractor-trailer involved in the smuggling attempt and the currently unnamed driver was handed over to Homeland Security Investigations for further investigation.

CBP credits this seizure as a result of Operation Apollo, “a holistic counter-fentanyl effort that began on Oct. 26, 2023, in southern California, and expanded to Arizona on April 10, 2024,” authorities said. “Operation Apollo focuses on intelligence collection and partnerships, and utilizes local CBP field assets augmented by federal, state, local, tribal, and territorial partners to boost resources, increase collaboration, and target the smuggling of fentanyl into the United States.”

The investigation into this case remains open.

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(WILMINGTON, Del.) — A federal judge on Monday rejected the latest attempt by President Joe Biden’s son Hunter Biden to dismiss several tax-related charges he faces in Los Angeles, all but ensuring that the case will go to trial as scheduled early next month.

In July, attorneys for Hunter Biden filed a pair of motions seeking to dismiss his cases in both California and Delaware, citing a decision by a federal judge in Florida to dismiss the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump.

But on Monday, U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi, the Los Angeles-based federal judge overseeing the tax case, denied that bid, concluding in a seven-page ruling that his attorneys’ arguments failed on both procedural and factual grounds.

Scarsi, in denying the motion, cited Hunter Biden’s previous ill-fated efforts to dismiss the case.

“As he concedes in his notice of the motion, Mr. Biden plainly seeks reconsideration of issues already decided upon his February motion,” Scarsi wrote, concluding that “there is no valid basis for reconsideration of the court’s [prior] order denying Mr. Biden’s motion to dismiss the indictment.”

The judge, however, determined that Hunter Biden will not face sanctions after Scarsi earlier threatened to sanction him after Hunter Biden’s attorneys suggested in court filings that special counsel David Weiss only brought the charges after he was elevated to special counsel. Biden’s legal team acknowledged in a subsequent filing that their claim had been “inartfully” articulated.

On Monday, Scarsi wrote that he would not sanction Hunter Biden, in part because of a recent shakeup of his legal team, but issued a warning, saying, “Counsel’s conduct warrants an admonition: candor is paramount.”

Hunter Biden faces nine felony and misdemeanor charges stemming from his failure to pay $1.4 million in taxes for three years during a time when he was in the throes of addiction. The back taxes and penalties were ultimately paid in full by a third party, identified by ABC News as Hunter Biden’s attorney and confidant, Kevin Morris.

The trial is scheduled to begin on Sept. 5. Hunter Biden has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

The president’s son was found guilty on three firearm-related charges in a separate case in Delaware earlier this summer.

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