(CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis.) — More than two dozen people were injured in a tractor accident at an apple orchard in Wisconsin, authorities said.
The incident was reported Wednesday morning at Bushel and a Peck Apple Orchard in Chippewa Falls.
Emergency personnel were dispatched for a “tractor accident involving two hay wagons with kids and adults,” Chippewa Fire District Deputy Chief Cory Jeffers told reporters.
The fire department activated its mass casualty protocol so that outside agencies could help respond to the incident, Jeffers said. One helicopter from the Mayo Clinic was called in, he said.
Twenty-five individuals were transported from the scene to various agencies, Jeffers said.
Details on the ages of the victims, including how many were children, were not immediately available.
Marshfield Medical Center-Eau Claire received seven patients from the incident who are being treated for minor to serious injuries, a spokesperson confirmed to ABC News.
The scene has since been cleared, Jeffers said.
All of the children who were still at the scene have been reunited with their families, he added.
ABC News left a message with the orchard seeking comment.
Chippewa Falls is located about 12 miles northeast of Eau Claire.
(PAWLET, Ver.) — A man, his wife and her 13-year-old son were found shot to death at their Vermont home, state police said, with authorities looking for a suspect.
Officers responded to a report of a “suspicious person” early Sunday, Vermont State Police said. The investigation led them to a home in the town of Pawlet, where they found the three victims dead, police said.
State police identified the victims on Tuesday as Brian Crossman Sr., 46, who was a Pawlet government official; his wife, Erica Crossman, 41; and her son and his stepson, Colin Taft, 13.
All three died from gunshot wounds and their deaths have been ruled as homicides by the Vermont Chief Medical Examiner’s Office, state police said. Brian Crossman was shot in the head and torso, Erica Crossman was shot in the head and her son had multiple gunshot wounds, state police said.
No one is in custody in connection with the homicides, Vermont State Police said Tuesday.
“Initial work by detectives indicates this was an isolated event with no identified threat to the community,” state police said.
No additional details are available at this time amid the ongoing investigation, police said.
Brian Crossman had joined the Pawlet Select Board this year, where he served as a liaison to buildings and development and to the town’s highway department, according to the town’s website.
Flowers were left in his honor at the Pawlet Town Hall ahead of a board meeting Tuesday night, Albany, New York, ABC affiliate WTEN reported.
Pawlet Select Board Chair Mike Beecher remembered him as a “friend and neighbor” and a “hardworking community member.”
“This tragedy that struck him and his family has also hit our community hard, and we are shaken and grieving,” Beecher said in a statement Tuesday. “Our hearts go out to everyone affected by this devastating loss. The town of Pawlet will work to get through this as we always get through hard times, by supporting each other and doing our best to carry on.”
Pawlet, a town of about 1,400 people, is located in western Vermont on the New York state line.
M. Zoeller/US Geological Survey / Handout/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
(HILO, Hawaii) — Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano, one of the most active in the world, is erupting again, prompting a volcano watch alert in surrounding areas, according to officials.
The eruption is occurring within a remote area of Hawaii Volcanoes National Park, according to the U.S. Geological Survey’s (USGS) Hawaiian Volcano Observatory.
Lava began flowing from a new fissure vent that opened from east to west within the volcano’s Nāpau Crater early Tuesday morning, the USGS said.
Several lava fountains about 32 feet high and pools of lava on the floor of the crater were observed by helicopters flying over the eruption Tuesday morning.
A separate fissure west of the Nāpau Crater began emitting lava on Monday, stopping after a few hours and then resuming activity later that evening, according to the USGS, which also noted that the eruption was preceded by a sequence of below-ground earthquakes.
About 17 earthquakes were detected beneath the Kilauea summit region between Monday and Tuesday. The earthquakes occurred at depths between .6 and 1.9 miles below the ground surface, the USGS said.
The USGS issued a volcano watch – known as a code orange – which means that an eruption is either likely or occurring but with no, or minor, ash.
There is no immediate threat to life or infrastructure, but residents nearby may experience volcanic gas emissions related to the eruption, the USGS said.
Yet hazards remain around the Kilauea caldera from the instability of the Halemaʻumaʻu crater wall, the USGS said. Ground cracking and rockfalls can be enhanced by earthquakes.
Volcanic smog, known as vog, presents airborne health hazards to people and livestock and has the potential to damage agricultural crops and other plants, according to the USGS.
The USGS further warned that additional ground cracking and outbreaks of lava around the active and inactive fissures in Kilauea are also possible.
Another potential hazard is Pele’s hair, a volcanic glass formation produced from cooled lava that’s stretched into thin strands. The USGS warns that winds could carry lighter particles from the strands downwind. Contact with the particles can cause skin and eye irritation, according to the USGS.
Eruptions at Kilauea have been destructive in the past. In 2018, more than 600 properties were destroyed by heavy lava flow that stretched from the Kilauea summit to the ocean.
Unusual eruptions that were described as being similar to a “stomp-rocket toy,” a children’s toy that involves launching a rocket into the air after stomping on the release mechanism, contributed to the severity of the lava flow and could potentially impact future eruptions, according to a paper published earlier this year in Nature Geosciences.
The area surrounding the rim of Kilauea’s Halemaʻumaʻu crater has been closed to the public since 2008 due to the hazards.
ABC News’ Bonnie Mclean contributed to this report.
(NEW YORK) — A search is underway in New York City for two suspects, including one dressed all in pink, who allegedly crashed an empty subway train after brazenly walking into a station and stealing it, authorities said.
The theft of the train in the nation’s largest subway system unfolded amid the deployment of additional police officers to the subway system to combat a surge in crime. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul even deployed National Guard troops as part of a five-point plan to protect subway riders.
According to a New York Police Department incident report, the thieves, a man and a woman, stole the empty train just after midnight on Thursday at the Briarwood subway station in the borough of Queens, according to police.
“These two individuals entered an unoccupied train and operated it, causing a collision and damage to the train,” according to the NYPD incident report.
No injuries were reported and the suspects fled the area on foot, according to police.
No arrests have been announced as of Wednesday morning, police said.
The duo was caught on surveillance cameras walking through the empty train at Briarwood station before taking it on a short joy ride, police said.
One of the alleged thieves was described as a woman with a medium build and medium complexion, according to police.
“She was last seen wearing a pink shower cap, a pink sleeveless shirt, pink shorts, and carrying a pink handbag,” according to the incident report.
Her accomplice was described by police as a man with a slim build and light complexion, He was dressed in a blue tank top, red shorts and carrying a black backpack.
It was at least the second theft of a New York City subway train in less than eight months.
On Dec. 30, 2023, a group stole empty trains parked in a restricted area near the Forest Hills-71st Avenue subway station in Queens. Authorities said the group entered the operators’ compartments of two lead train cars before driving them northbound.
Amidst a 45% year-over-year spike in New York City transit crime in January, mostly due to grand larcenies, Hochul deployed 1,000 state workers, including 250 state police troopers and Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police members, to assist the NYPD in enhanced baggage checks at heavily trafficked areas of the subway system.
Hochul also directed the New York National Guard to make 750 members, who are currently part of the Joint Task Force Empire Shield, available to help check subway riders’ bags for weapons.
According to the most recent NYPD crime statistics, transit crime as of Sunday is now down 5.4% from this time in 2023.
Republican vice presidential nominee, Sen. J.D. Vance speaks with media at the airport before he departs, Sept. 14, 2024, in Greenville, N.C. (Allison Joyce/Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Haitian migrants residing in Springfield, Ohio, shared with ABC News their harrowing experiences of living in constant fear, expressing deep concerns about their safety that prevent them from venturing outside their homes.
In a town of more than 58,000 residents, threats of bombings and shootings led to the closure of city buildings and schools for several days. Wittenberg University canceled all activities on Sunday and classes on Monday as a precautionary measure.
James Fleurijean, a Haitian Community Help & Support Center member, stated that the continual spread of false and divisive statements from prominent politicians was fostering an environment of fear.
“I know some parents like for this period of time they’re trying to keep their children home, like, by the time they see how things gonna be, like, wait for a couple of weeks to see if things that are calm down, or if things gonna escalate,” Fleurijean said. “You see, that’s why, like some parents, they don’t even send their children to school, like, for this week.”
Politicians, including former President Donald Trump, have heightened their fears. At the presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris last week, Trump claimed, “In Springfield, people are resorting to eating dogs, cats, and other household pets.”
Trump did not specify the ethnicity of the migrants he claimed were eating pets in Springfield, but on X, his running mate JD Vance continuously raised the issue of Haitian illegal immigrants draining social services.
“Kamala Harris dropped 20,000 Haitian migrants into a small Ohio town and chaos has ensued,” Vance said on X.
Vance appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and informed reporters that Ohio locals have been lodging complaints for at least a year now.
“I have heard firsthand from multiple constituents – people who made 911 calls a month ago, a year ago, who were making these complaints,” Vance said. “I trust my constituents more than I do the American media that has shown no interest in what’s happened in Springfield until we started sharing cat memes on the Internet.”
ABC News spoke with a 28-year-old Haitian man who wanted to remain anonymous. He said he had come to Springfield from New Jersey less than a year ago to search for work. While waiting for ABC News, a passerby yelled “TRUMP” at him, he said.
The man mentioned that he used to see a lot of Haitians on the street, but he doesn’t see them anymore. He believes they are afraid. He mentioned that the Haitian community has felt terrorized.
Ohio’s Republican Gov. Mike DeWine has dismissed the rumors about Haitian immigrants eating pets as nonsense. He says the discussion has to stop and the focus should be on moving forward, not dogs and cats.
“Ohio is on the move, and Springfield has really made a great resurgence with a lot of companies coming in,” DeWine said. “These Haitians came in to work for these companies. They’re very happy to have them there. And, frankly, that’s helped the economy.”
The majority of the 12,000 to 15,000 migrants who have arrived in Springfield over the past four years are from Haiti, according to the city of Springfield. These Haitian migrants left their country due to gang-related violence and poverty, in search of stability, safety, and job opportunities. They came to the U.S. under the Temporary Protected Status designation.
Former film producer Harvey Weinstein appears in Manhattan Criminal Court for a pretrial hearing, following his overturned sex crimes conviction, in New York City, July 19, 2024. (KENA BETANCUR/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
(NEW YORK) — Harvey Weinstein’s criminal sexual assault case is scheduled to return on Wednesday to a Manhattan courtroom — and if Weinstein shows up he will be arraigned on a new indictment.
The charges remain sealed until Weinstein appears. The former movie mogul missed his last court date after being rushed to the hospital for emergency heart surgery.
The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office presented to the grand jury allegations of three separate women who said Weinstein sexually assaulted them. Their allegations were not part of the initial trial of Weinstein that ended in a conviction, which was later overturned on appeal.
“We will do everything in our power to retry this case, and remain steadfast in our commitment to survivors of sexual assault,” a spokeswoman for Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg said in a statement earlier this year, when the conviction was overturned.
Weinstein has denied all claims of sexual misconduct, saying his encounters were consensual.
Sean “Diddy” Combs attends Sean “Diddy” Combs Fulfills $1 Million Pledge To Howard University At Howard Homecoming – Yardfest at Howard University on October 20, 2023 in Washington, DC. (Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Combs)
(NEW YORK) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is expected to learn Wednesday afternoon whether he will continue to be held without bail on charges including sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy.
The music mogul’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, appealed Judge Robyn Tarnofsky’s Tuesday decision to detain the 54-year-old pending trial. The appeal hearing is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET Wednesday.
Combs is alleged to have run an “enterprise that he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson and other crimes,” according to the indictment unsealed Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors said Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct” from 2008 to the present. The allegations mirror 11 civil complaints filed against him since 2023.
Explaining the decision to deny Combs bail, Tarnofsky said: “My concern is that this is a crime that happens behind closed doors.”
Federal prosecutors argued that Combs poses an ongoing threat to the community.
“The defendant also poses a significant risk of obstructing justice,” prosecutors said. “During the course of the charged conduct, the defendant has attempted to bribe security staff and threatened and interfered with witnesses to his criminal conduct.”
“He has already tried to obstruct the Government’s investigation of this case, repeatedly contacting victims and witnesses and feeding them false narratives of events,” prosecutors added.
“There are simply no conditions that would ensure that the defendant’s efforts to obstruct and tamper with witnesses will stop,” prosecutors said.
Agnifilo asked the judge to release Combs on a $50 million bail package, disputing the prosecutors’ characterization of his client as a flight risk. The lawyer said Combs arrived in New York on Sept. 5 and “came here to face it.”
Agnifilo said Combs is trying to sell his private plane. Agnifilo said he took possession of his client’s passport and those of five of his relatives.
He also argued that when Combs took two trips — to a graduation party for one of his children and a whitewater rafting trip — “we told the government where he was going.”
“Trust has to be earned and we have earned it,” he told the judge.
In this July 10, 2023, file photo, a resident of the neighborhood takes a picture of a house with extensive damage along Peartree Ln in a gated community of Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., the morning after several houses began sliding down a canyon. (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images, FILE)
(NEW YORK) — As the embattled cliffside city of Rancho Palos Verdes continues to face indefinite utility shutoffs due to landslide risk, a neighboring Southern California community has lost gas services this week.
Officials from Rolling Hills, an adjacent city on the Palos Verdes Peninsula, announced that SoCal Gas shut off services to 34 homes in the area on Monday.
Additionally, electricity company Southern California Edison announced 51 households are preparing to lose power indefinitely no later than Wednesday evening, according to a statement from Rolling Hills officials.
This means services could be shut off any time before Wednesday at 6:00 p.m. PT, according to officials who note the utility companies are responsible for notifying customers of their service status.
Mayor Leah Mirsch released a statement Monday, saying, “The safety and well-being of our residents remains the City’s top priority.”
“We are all impacted by the outages and are committed to holding the utility companies accountable – pushing them to implement solutions that will restore services both quickly and safely,” Mirsch added.
Earlier this month, California Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency in the Portuguese Bend area of Rancho Palos Verdes as SoCal Gas and Southern California Edison shut off services to nearly 250 residences due to broken pipes and power lines causing hazards.
Residents in the growing landslide zone, which officials said earlier this month had spread about 680 acres over the past year, were advised to leave the area following the loss of vital power.
Photos show foundational damage to multi-million dollar properties and the surrounding roadways have become a reality amid the increasingly shifting landscape.
Newsom said land movement in the area has “significantly accelerated following severe storms in 2023 and 2024.”
Larry Chung, vice president of electric utility company Southern California Edison (SCE), said during a community meeting this month that there’s “no timeframe” for power restoration in the impacted areas due to the instability of the land.
“We can not predict how much the slide will accelerate in the coming weeks and months,” Chung said.
The Rancho Pales Verdes Peninsula is located about 30 miles south of Los Angeles.
“There is no playbook for an emergency like this one,” Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn, who represents the area, said at a news conference on Sept. 1. “We’re sparing no expense. This is bigger than Rancho Palos Verdes. This land movement is so gigantic and so damaging that one city should not have to bear the burden alone.”
Hahn said at the time the county committed $5 million to respond to the disaster.
It has not been announced if L.A. County’s funding and Newsom’s executive order will extend to the Rolling Hills community.
Charlie Raine, a Rolling Hills resident, told ABC News affiliate KABC-TV he’s worried about his elderly neighbors in the wake of the shutoffs.
“There’s a lot of people that are dealing with this, and it’s overwhelming for them,” he told the outlet. “I’m somewhat capable of doing this for myself, certainly, and I feel sort of obligated to help other people try and get through this.”
Rolling Hills officials said the Rotary Club of Palos Verdes Peninsula is organizing donation efforts for residents who have been affected by the landslide.
Generator and solar installation permits are being expedited to support alternative power solutions, according to officials.
(NEW YORK) — Schools in a Kentucky country reopened Tuesday under heavy police guard for the first time since a massive search was launched for a suspect in an interstate shooting that injured five people 11 days ago.
As the suspect, 32-year-old Joseph Couch, remained on the loose Tuesday, the Laurel County Public Schools reopened campuses to its nearly 9,000 students.
“We will not live our lives in fear,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said during a news conference Tuesday.
The school district said in a statement that the reopening plan “prioritizes the safety of our students and staff.”
“The reopening plan provides enhanced security measures for bus transportation services, school campuses and extra-curricular activities,” the school district said.
Tuesday’s search for Couch continued to focus in the thick woods of the Daniel Boone National Forest, according to the Kentucky State Police.
Both state and federal teams have combed through at least 28,000 acres of the more than 700,000-acre national forest, but have yet to find any sign of Couch, officials said.
As the search continues in the national forest, officials said they are expanding the hunt for Couch to the communities surrounding the forest.
Beshear said additional state resources are being made available to help with the ongoing search efforts.
The FBI and the U.S. Marshals Service are assisting in the search.
The search for the gunman began on Sept. 7, after police responded to reports that a dozen vehicles traveling on Interstate 75 near London, Kentucky, had been struck by gunfire, officials said.
The Laurel County Sheriff’s Office said 20 to 30 shots were fired from a hillside near I-75’s exit 49.
Couch was initially named as a person of interest after deputies found his SUV abandoned on a forest road near exit 49, officials said. An AR-15 rifle Couch purchased in the hours before the shooting and investigators believe was used in the incident was also found in the woods near Couch’s vehicle along with a bag with Couch’s name written on it, officials said.
A day after the shooting, Couch was upgraded to the primary suspect. Investigators warned that Couch should be considered armed and dangerous.
In addition to searching the national forest, a tip prompted investigators this week to search a home in Laurel County, but found no evidence of Couch having been there, officials said.
Before the interstate shooting, according to the arrest warrant, a Laurel County 911 dispatcher received a call from a woman who alleged Couch texted her before the interstate shooting and “advised he was going to kill a lot of people. Well, try at least.” The text message was sent to the woman at 5:03 p.m. on Sept. 7, about a half-hour before the interstate shooting started, according to the arrest warrant.
“Couch sent another message to [the woman] that read, in part, ‘I’ll kill myself afterwards,'” according to the arrest warrant.
Evidence photo shows Brendan Banfield and his au pair, Juliana Peres Magalhaes. (Fairfax County Commonwealth Attorney’s Office)
(NEW YORK) — A grand jury has indicted 39-year-old Brendan Banfield in the stabbing death of his wife and murder of another man in the couple’s bedroom 19 months after the killing, according to Virginia’s Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Office.
Banfield is accused of fatally stabbing 37-year-old Christine Banfield and shooting Joseph Ryan, 38, in February 2023.
Banfield’s charging in the case comes months after the family’s 24-year-old live-in au pair was charged in the case.
“We know Brendan Banfield and Juliana Magalhaes, the family au pair, were involved in a romantic relationship at the time of the murders,” Fairfax Police Chief Kevin Davis said at a press conference Monday.
Banfield was indicted on four charges of aggravated murder and one charge for the use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. He is accused of the premeditated murder of the two.
If convicted, he could face a life sentence without the possibility of parole. For the firearm charge, he could face a mandatory minimum of three years.
“The great investigative work of the Fairfax County Police Department led us to new information which was instrumental in securing today’s indictment,” Fairfax County Commonwealth’s Attorney Steve Descano said during the press conference.
Investigators would not reveal what new information led to Monday’s arrest.
ABC News has reached out to an attorney for Brendan Banfield for comment.
The Banfield couple were married and living in their family home with their then-4-year-old daughter at the time of the murders.
Police responded to a 911 call from the home on Feb. 24, 2023, and found Ryan dead in an upstairs bedroom as a result of gunshot wounds. Christine Banfield was stabbed.
She was taken to a local hospital, where she was pronounced dead, according to police.
Police said they recovered two firearms and a knife from the home at the time of the murder.
Police also carried out another search warrant at Banfield’s house on Monday.
Magalhaes has been in custody since her arrest, according to police. Her trial is scheduled to begin in November.
The two are being held in the same adult detention center, according to Descano.
